PART III. LOGAN AFTER THE WAR. HIS PERSONAL APPEARANCE, AND SOME OF HIS CHARAC TERISTICS. "To few, but wondrous few, the powers belong Who nobly earns, in council and debate, A man of wisdom and of lion heart; And pleads and fights to save his country's cause, IS LOGAN! Names like his shall never die !" THE personal appearance of General Logan was commanding. He was of medium height, with a very robust physical development, a broad and deep chest, massive body, and small hands and feet. His features were handsome and regular, his complexion swarthy, his hair and heavy mustache long and jet black, while his piercing black eyes shone with a peculiar light when aroused to anger, or danced with humor and pleasure whenever such emotions bestirred him. One who had known him long and intimately, summed up his character, while Logan was yet alive, in these words: "He has a large and comprehensive mind stored with liberal views. He has a heart open to acts of the rarest generosity and kindness. He is a warm friend and a forgiving enemy, only implacable when basely wronged. He likes a good cigar, but otherwise is rigidly temperate. Inured from his earliest youth to severest hardships, he never shrinks from a duty that involves effort or fatigue. He works chiefly at night, and when most men are asleep in their beds Logan is busy at his desk. When a student, he accustomed himself to think and compose while walking the floor; hence his ease and ready command of language on the platform. He is one of the few men, if not the only man, in Congress, who never "corrects" his speeches. His voice is strong, yet musical and sympathetic, and his utterances rapid, yet distinct. One of his peculiar characteristics is the wonderful influence he exercises over men by his personal magnetism. This is most marked on the field of battle, and in his speeches when fully aroused, and is largely due not alone to his absolute sincerity, but to the ability he possesses to control and concentrate the whole nerve-power of his brain upon a single object." But we must hasten to glance briefly at Logan's career as a public man, after the war. LOGAN THE STATESMAN-THE COOPER UNION MEETING-HE FRUSTRATES THE ATTEMPT OF THE DEMOCRATIC LEADERS TO CAPTURE OUR UNION GENERALS. Shortly after the close of the war an attempt was made by certain influential men of New York City, in the interest of the Democratic Party, to capture the great Union Generals of the war. It was supposed that, with a little finesse, Grant and Logan especially, who, before the war broke out, were Democrats, could easily be trapped back into the Democratic Party, and that the other leaders of our armies and navies would follow them, and thus give that party some chance for reinstatement in power, and rehabilitate it with the control of the Government. They knew, what the people then did not know, that Andrew Johnson, elected Vice-President on the Republican platform, and who had succeeded to the Presi dency on the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, was still at heart a Democrat, despite his grandiloquent utterances against treason to the Government and against traitors. Under the guise, then, of a grand Union meeting to support the administration of President Johnson and to welcome the victorious generals of the war, they got up a monster assemblage at the Cooper Institute Building in that city, on June 7, 1865, at which Grant and Logan and Blair were present by special invitation. Of course it was a very grand and flattering ovation that they thus received, to which Grant responded only by bowing. Logan being called on to speak, shifted the honor to Blair's shoulders. Blair fell into the trap, and unreservedly indorsed the President's programme. Then the people clamored to hear Logan, and Logan made them a thoughtful and eloquent speech, in which he foreshadowed. the difficulties of reconstruction, and said: The great questions that have been before the people for the last four years are now settled; the rebellion is suppressed; slavery is forever dead; the power of this great Government has been felt and is well understood, not only at home, but abroad; the supremacy of the laws of the country, with its Constitution, has been maintained by the prowess of Americans; the people of America have satisfied themselves -for there was once some doubt of it—that they can maintain the laws and the Constitution of the land, suppress rebellion, and cause all men to bow in humble submission to the Constitution and the laws. But he also said, and his words opened the eyes of many to the snare that had been laid for them: My friend General Blair suggested an idea to me on this subject. [the object of the meeting], that this meeting was called for the purpose of approving the administration of President Johnson. ["Yes," "Yes," and cheers.] So far as his administration has developed itself, I certainly have no fault to find with it. ["Good," "Good."] What there may be to object to in the future I don't know; but if there is anything objectionable, then, as a matter of course, as the questions arise the country will have a right to decide for itself whether the President is in the right or in the wrong. |