When the newly formed Republican party met in Chicago in the spring of 1860 to nominate a Presidential candidate, few people dreamed that Abraham Lincoln had a chance. A short time before that, he himself had written to a newspaper editor: “I must in all candor say I do not think myself fit for the presidency.”
It was generally accepted in 1860 that the nomination honors were going to the handsome William H. Seward of New York. There could hardly be any question about that, for straw ballots were taken on the trains carrying the delegates to Chicago, and they gave Seward twice as many votes as all the other candidates combined. On many of the trains there was not a single ballot cast for Abraham Lincoln. It is possible that some of the delegates did not even know that such a man existed.
The convention met on Seward's fifty-ninth birthday. How fitting! He was positive that he would receive the nomination as a birthday present. He was so confident of it that he said good-by to his colleagues in the United States Senate and invited his intimate friends to attend a great feast of celebration at his home in Auburn, New York; and a cannon was rented, hauled into his front yard, loaded, and cocked up in the air, ready to boom the joyous news to the town.
If the convention had started balloting on Thursday night, that cannon would have been fired, and the story of a nation would have been changed; but the voting could not begin until the printer delivered the papers necessary for keeping the tally. And the printer, on his way to the convention, probably stopped for a glass of beer. At any rate, he was late, and consequently there was nothing for the convention to do that Thursday evening but sit and wait for him.
Mosquitoes were bad in the hall, the place was hot and stuffy, and the delegates hungry and thirsty; so some one stood up and moved that the convention adjourn until ten o'clock the next morning. A motion to adjourn is always in order; it takes precedence over all other motions and it is nearly always popular. This one carried with a rush of enthusiasm.
Seventeen hours elapsed before the convention assembled again. That is not a long time, but it was long enough for Seward's career to be wrecked, and Lincoln's made.
The person largely responsible for the wrecking was Horace Greeley, a grotesque-looking man with a head as round as a cantaloupe; with thin, silky hair as light as an albino's; and with a string necktie that usually worked itself out of place until the bow was approximately under his left ear.
Greeley was not even advocating the nomination of Lincoln, but he was determined with all the bitterness of his soul to even up an old score with William H. Seward and Seward's manager, Thurlow Weed.
The trouble was this: For fourteen years, Greeley had fought side by side with these men; he had helped make Seward Governor of New York and then United States Senator; and he had aided Weed tremendously in his battle to become and remain political boss of the State.
And what had Greeley gotten out of all this struggle and combat? Very little but neglect. He had wanted to be made State printer, and Weed had taken that place for himself. He had longed to be appointed postmaster of New York City, and Weed did not offer to recommend him. He had aspired to be governor, or even lieutenant-governor, and Weed not only said “no,” but said it in a way that hurt and rankled.
Finally, when he could stand no more, Greeley sat down and wrote a long, stinging letter to Seward. It would fill seven pages of this book, and every paragraph of it was seared with bitterness.
That fiery message had been written on Saturday night, November 11, 1854.... And this was 1860. Greeley had waited six long years for an opportunity to get his revenge, but at last it had arrived, and he made the most of it. He didn't go to bed at all, that fateful Thursday night while the Republican nominating convention was having a recess in Chicago; but from sundown until long after dawn, he hurried from delegation to delegation, reasoning, arguing, pleading. His paper, the “New York Tribune,” was read all over the North; and it influenced public opinion as no other paper had ever done. He was a famous man, voices were hushed whenever he appeared, and the delegates listened to him with respect.
He hurled all kinds of arguments against Seward. He pointed out that Seward had repeatedly denounced the Masonic order; that in 1830 he had been elected to the State Senate on the anti-Mason ticket, and, as a consequence had aroused bitter, widespread, and undying resentment.
Later, when he was Governor of New York, Seward had favored the destruction of the common-school fund and the establishment of separate schools for foreigners and Catholics, and thus had stirred up another hornet's nest of fiery hatred.
Greeley pointed out that the men who had made up the once powerful Know Nothing party were violently opposed to Seward and would vote for a hound dog in preference to him.
And that wasn't all. Greeley pointed out that this “arch agitator” had been too radical, that his “bloody program” and talk of a higher law than the Constitution had frightened the border States, and that they would turn against him.
“I will bring you the men who are candidates for governor in these States,” Greeley promised, “and they will confirm what I say.”
He did, and the excitement was intense.
With clenched fists and blazing eyes, the gubernatorial candidates in Pennsylvania and Indiana declared that Seward's nomination meant inevitable defeat in their States, inevitable disaster.
And the Republicans felt that, to win, they must carry those States.
So, suddenly, the flood-tide that had been running toward Seward began to recede. And Lincoln's friends rushed about from delegation to delegation, trying to persuade those who were opposed to Seward to concentrate on Lincoln. Douglas was sure to be nominated by the Democrats, they said, and no man in the country was better equipped to fight Douglas than Lincoln. To him, it was an old job; he was used to it. Besides, Lincoln was born a Kentuckian, and he could win votes in the doubtful border States. Furthermore, he was the kind of candidate the Northwest wanted—a man who had fought his way up from splitting rails and breaking sod, a man who understood the common people.
When arguments like these didn't succeed, they used others. They won Indiana's delegates by promising Caleb B. Smith a place in the Cabinet, and they won Pennsylvania's fifty-six votes with the assurance that Simeon Cameron would sit at Lincoln's right hand.
On Friday morning the balloting began. Forty thousand people had poured into Chicago, eager for excitement. Ten thousand wedged into the convention hall, and thirty thousand packed the streets outside. The seething mob reached for blocks.
Seward led on the first ballot. On the second, Pennsylvania cast her fifty-two votes for Lincoln, and the break began. On the third, it was all but a stampede.
Inside the hall, ten thousand people, half crazed with excitement, leaped upon the seats, shouting, yelling, smashing their hats on one another's heads. A cannon boomed on the roof—and thirty thousand people in the streets raised a shout.
Men hugged one another and danced about wildly, weeping and laughing and shrieking.
One hundred guns at the Tremont House belched and barked their volleys of fire; a thousand bells joined in the clamor; while whistles on railway engines, on steamboats, on factories, were opened and tied open for the day.
For twenty-four hours the excitement raged.
“No such uproar,” declared the “Chicago Tribune,” “has been heard on earth since the walls of Jericho fell down.” In the midst of all this rejoicing, Horace Greeley saw Thurlow Weed, the erstwhile “maker of Presidents,” shedding bitter tears. At last, Greeley had his sweet revenge.
In the meantime what was happening down in Springfield? Lincoln had gone to his law office as usual that morning and tried to work on a case. Too restless to concentrate, he soon tossed the legal papers aside and went out and pitched ball for a while back of a store, then played a game or two of billiards, and finally went to the “Springfield Journal” to hear the news. The telegraph office occupied the room above. He was sitting in a big arm-chair, discussing the second ballot, when suddenly the operator burst down the stairway, crying: “Mr. Lincoln, you are nominated! You are nominated!”
Lincoln's lower lip trembled slightly, his face flushed. For a few seconds he stopped breathing.
It was the most dramatic moment of his life.
After nineteen years of desolating defeats, he had been suddenly whirled to the dizzy heights of victory.
Men rushed up and down the streets shouting the news. The mayor ordered the firing of a hundred guns.
Scores of old friends flocked about Lincoln, half laughing, half crying, shaking his hands, tossing their hats into the air, yelling in mad excitement.
“Excuse me, boys,” he pleaded; “there is a little woman down on Eighth Street who will want to hear this.”
And away he dashed, his coat-tails sailing behind him.
The streets of Springfield were rosy all that night with the light of bonfires fed by tar-barrels and rail fences, and the saloons never closed their doors.
It wasn't long before half of the nation was singing:
Old Abe Lincoln came out of the wilderness,
Out of the wilderness, out of the wilderness;
Old Abe Lincoln came out of the wilderness,
Down in Illinois.
一八六〇年春,新組建的共和黨在芝加哥召開會(huì)議,提名總統(tǒng)候選人。當(dāng)時(shí),幾乎沒有人能想到亞伯拉罕·林肯還能有機(jī)會(huì)參加競選。因?yàn)榫驮诓痪们埃诮o一位報(bào)社編輯的信中說道:“老實(shí)說,我覺得自己根本不適合當(dāng)總統(tǒng)?!?/p>
當(dāng)時(shí),大家普遍認(rèn)為最有可能獲得提名的是英俊的紐約州人威廉·蘇華德(William H. Seward)。對于這一點(diǎn),幾乎沒有人有異議。代表們在前往芝加哥的火車上舉行了一次意向投票,結(jié)果蘇華德的票數(shù)是其他候選人票數(shù)總和的兩倍。在許多車廂里,林肯一票也沒有。很多代表大概根本不知道有林肯這個(gè)人。
大會(huì)召開那天正好是蘇華德五十九歲生日,多巧??!蘇華德對自己獲得提名很有把握,并打算將此作為自己的生日賀禮。他非常自信,甚至提前和參議院的同事們告別,并邀請密友們前往紐約州的老家奧本參加盛大的慶功宴。他還租了一門加農(nóng)禮炮,放在家中前院,填上炮彈,炮口朝天,隨時(shí)準(zhǔn)備將當(dāng)選的喜訊告訴全鎮(zhèn)的人。
如果大會(huì)如期在周四晚上舉行投票,那么這門禮炮一定能物盡其用,而美國歷史也會(huì)就此改變。但是投票議程卻未能順利進(jìn)行,因?yàn)槿鄙儆?jì)票用的紙張。而那位送紙的印刷員,大概是在去大會(huì)的路上喝了點(diǎn)酒,總之是遲到了。因此周四晚上,大會(huì)上的所有代表只能坐著干等,什么也不能做。
當(dāng)晚蚊子猖獗,會(huì)議室中十分悶熱,代表們又餓又渴。于是有人站出來鼓動(dòng)大家將會(huì)議延期至第二天上午十點(diǎn)。要求延期總是合乎程序的,總是優(yōu)先于其他請求的,也總是受歡迎的。這一次的延期要求,引起了一陣歡呼。
會(huì)議推遲了十七個(gè)小時(shí)。這段時(shí)間不算長,但足以打碎蘇華德的美夢,將林肯推上總統(tǒng)的寶座。
讓蘇華德美夢破碎的幕后推手是霍勒斯·格里利(Horace Greeley)。他長相怪異,腦袋圓得像個(gè)甜瓜,頭發(fā)稀疏,如絲綢般光亮,但又白得像白化病人一樣。他系著蝶形領(lǐng)結(jié),可領(lǐng)結(jié)總是移位,一不小心便移到了左耳下方。
格里利實(shí)際上并不擁護(hù)林肯,但他心中對威廉·蘇華德和蘇華德的經(jīng)理人瑟洛·威德(Thurlow Weed)充滿了怨恨,并下定決心報(bào)仇雪恨。
他們之間的積怨是這樣的:他曾與蘇華德和威德并肩作戰(zhàn)十四年,他幫助蘇華德成了紐約州州長和國會(huì)參議員,而威德能成為美國政界大佬并守住地位,也多虧了他提供的巨大幫助。
而格里利又從這些奮斗和戰(zhàn)爭中得到了什么呢?除了不被重視,幾乎沒有其他收獲。他曾想做州印刷官,威德卻自己坐上了那個(gè)位子。他想做紐約市的郵政局長,威德卻沒有推薦他。他渴望成為州長,或者副州長,可是威德不僅拒絕了他,還深深地傷害了他,讓他的心中滿是怨懟。
終于,格里利忍無可忍,給蘇華德寫了一封長信。這封信足以占據(jù)這本書七頁的篇幅,它的每一段都充滿了躍然紙上的苦澀與痛苦。
那封信是一八五四年十一月十一日周六晚上寫的,現(xiàn)在是一八六〇年,那復(fù)仇的機(jī)會(huì),格里利已經(jīng)等待了六年。終于,機(jī)會(huì)來了,而他也充分地利用了這次機(jī)會(huì)。在那個(gè)關(guān)鍵的周四晚上,在共和黨提名大會(huì)休會(huì)期間,格里利徹夜未眠。從傍晚至凌晨,他奔波在各個(gè)代表團(tuán)之間,曉之以理動(dòng)之以情地游說著代表們。他主編的報(bào)紙《紐約論壇報(bào)》遍布整個(gè)北方,對輿論導(dǎo)向有絕對的影響力。他本身就是一個(gè)名人,不管走到哪里,人們都能安靜地聽他說話,因此代表們也充滿尊重地聽取了他的意見。
他列舉了各種蘇華德不會(huì)成為美國總統(tǒng)的論據(jù)。他指出蘇華德曾不斷地攻擊共濟(jì)會(huì),并表示蘇華德之所以能在一八三〇年當(dāng)選參議員,靠的就是反對共濟(jì)會(huì)人士的支持,而蘇華德本人也因此招來了持久而廣泛的怨恨。
后來,在擔(dān)任紐約州州長期間,蘇華德又同意廢除公立學(xué)?;穑瑫r(shí)還主張為外國人和天主教徒另設(shè)學(xué)校。這一舉動(dòng)無異于捅了馬蜂窩,一時(shí)間又惹了一身腥。
格里利還指出,曾經(jīng)強(qiáng)大的無知黨(4)的元老們強(qiáng)烈反對蘇華德,寧愿投票給色鬼也不愿投給他。
格里利的說辭遠(yuǎn)不止這些。他表示,蘇華德是一個(gè)非常激進(jìn)的“別有用心的煽動(dòng)者”,周圍的州都害怕他提出的“血腥計(jì)劃”和制定高于憲法的法律的言論,因此也絕不會(huì)支持他做總統(tǒng)。
“我可以把那些州的州長競選人帶來,”格里利承諾道,“他們可以證明我所言非虛?!?/p>
格里利說到做到,而那些州長候選人的情緒也非常激動(dòng)。
賓夕法尼亞州和印第安納州的州長候選人握緊了拳頭,雙目噴火地宣布如果蘇華德參加總統(tǒng)大選,他們州絕對不會(huì)支持,蘇華德在他們州注定慘敗。
而共和黨認(rèn)為,若想贏得總統(tǒng)大選,必須拿下這些州。
于是突然間,支持蘇華德的聲潮平息了下來。與此同時(shí),林肯的朋友們也奔走在各個(gè)代表團(tuán)之間,試圖說服那些反對蘇華德的代表支持林肯。他們是這樣說的:民主黨肯定是道格拉斯當(dāng)選,而在這個(gè)世界上,除了林肯,大概沒人有能耐與道格拉斯一戰(zhàn)了。對于林肯來說,對戰(zhàn)道格拉斯不是什么新鮮事,他早就順手了。另外,林肯出生于肯塔基州,因此他定能拿下那些搖擺不定的邊界州。除此之外,林肯是那種符合西部胃口的候選人——一個(gè)從劈木條、墾荒地一路爬上來的候選人,一位懂得民間疾苦的候選人。
當(dāng)這些說辭并不奏效的時(shí)候,林肯的團(tuán)隊(duì)改變了策略。他們以承諾迦勒·史密斯(Caleb B. Smith)進(jìn)入內(nèi)閣為條件,拿下了印第安納代表團(tuán)。他們向賓夕法尼亞代表團(tuán)承諾讓西米恩·卡梅?。⊿imeon Cameron)成為林肯最得力的助手,從而贏得了其五十六張支持票。
周五早晨,投票開始了。四萬位代表懷著激動(dòng)的心情涌入了芝加哥。一萬人進(jìn)入了會(huì)議大廳,另外三萬人擠滿了大廳外面的角落。
在第一輪投票中,蘇華德暫時(shí)領(lǐng)先。但在第二輪投票中,賓夕法尼亞州將其五十二張選票投給了林肯,打破了原先的僵局。到第三輪投票時(shí),林肯已勢如破竹。
會(huì)議大廳內(nèi)那一萬人十分瘋狂,他們跳上椅子,大聲地叫嚷著,扯下帽子就往旁邊人身上扔。屋頂傳來了加農(nóng)禮炮的轟鳴聲——街上的三萬人齊聲歡呼起來。
人們互相擁抱,高興得手舞足蹈。他們歡笑著、尖叫著,眼中涌動(dòng)著激動(dòng)的淚水。
特里蒙特飯店響起了一百聲槍鳴以示慶賀,喜慶的鐘聲不絕于耳。火車、輪船和工廠也開始鳴笛慶祝這一不同尋常的日子。
這場狂歡整整持續(xù)了二十四個(gè)小時(shí)。
對此,《芝加哥論壇報(bào)》是這樣寫的:“自耶利哥之墻坍塌后,世上便再也沒有過這般喧囂了?!痹谝黄矐c中,霍勒斯·格里利看到了往昔的“總統(tǒng)制造家”瑟洛·威德流下了苦澀的淚水。終于,格里利復(fù)仇成功了。
與此同時(shí),春田市又是怎樣的情形呢?那天早上,林肯像往常一樣去了辦公室,打算研究一個(gè)案子??墒撬纸乖?,根本無法集中注意力。沒過多久,他便收起了手頭的法律文件離開了辦公室。他在一家店鋪后面投了會(huì)兒球,接著又玩了幾把臺球,最后去看《春田市日報(bào)》,等候競選的消息。電報(bào)辦公室在樓上。林肯坐在樓下一張大扶手椅中,與人討論著第二輪投票的情況。突然間,電報(bào)操作員沖下了樓梯,大聲喊道:“林肯先生!你被提名了!你被提名了!”
林肯的下嘴唇微微顫抖著,臉色因激動(dòng)而泛著紅光。有那么幾秒鐘,他甚至忘記了呼吸。
這是他一生中最激動(dòng)人心的瞬間。
在凄涼的失敗里掙扎了十九年后,林肯突然間沖上云霄,來到了令人眼花繚亂的勝利的頂端。
激動(dòng)的人群在街上橫沖直撞,叫嚷著這一天大的新聞。市長下令鳴槍一百下以示慶賀。
林肯的舊友們蜂擁至他的身邊,又哭又笑,握著他的手,將帽子拋入空中,極度興奮地喊叫著。
“抱歉了,伙計(jì)們,”林肯懇切地說道,“第八大街上還有一個(gè)小女人等著聽這個(gè)消息呢?!?/p>
林肯疾奔而去,衣服的后擺在身后飄蕩。
那一晚屬于狂歡的人群——焦油桶和木圍欄燃燒而發(fā)出的火光將春田市的大街小巷染上了一層玫紅色,各家的酒館也徹夜未歇。
沒過多久,半個(gè)美國都在唱這首歌:
老亞伯·林肯從荒野中來,
從荒野中來,從荒野中來,
老亞伯·林肯從荒野中來,
來到了伊利諾伊州。
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