George Boutwell

The one writing which in an historical point of view contributed most largely to recruit the armies of the Republic during the Rebellion was Webster's speech in reply to Hayne.

It is nearer the truth to say that what passes for society in New England never tolerated abolitionists nor encouraged abolitionism.

In the workshops, the barrooms and other popular resorts the laugh was turned against the slave-owners; the ground was prepared for the popular enthusiasm which recruited the armies that exhausted the South, and Lowell must share with…

Nor can any series of statements be more untruthful and absurd than the statements of the writer that "thenceforth it became creditable to advocate abolition in drawing rooms, and to preach it from fashionable city pulpits to congregations…

Of enemies he had but few--of warm friends but few--the many had confidence in his integrity in the affairs of government, and in his ability to guide those affairs in ordinary times.

As a member of the House of Representatives and of the Senate he was noted for fairness, for freedom from bitterness of opinion upon party questions, and for good sense in action.

General Sherman was not a friend to the Catholic Church in the last years of his life and there is no honor in the attempt to enroll his name among its devotees now that he is dead and cannot speak for himself.

Of the thousands that one may meet in a lifetime, General Sherman was among the freest from anything in the nature of hypocrisy or dissimulation.

At the end it may be claimed justly, that they were three great soldiers--that they served the country with equal fidelity--that they lived and acted without the manifestation in either of a feeling of rivalry, and that they earned the…

When we consider the vastness of the command with which Grant was entrusted through a period of more than a year, the magnitude and success of his operations, and the tenacity with which he prosecuted all his varied undertakings, it must…

I fancy it to be a struggle between the Democratic Party, backed by the entire power of the regular army and the People.

A Free State government upon the basis of immediate emancipation can be acquired as early as March with the general consent of the People, and without any material opposition, in such a manner as to draw after it all the Southern States…

How many times I have spoken to you in the old Executive Chamber of the importance to the whole world of the possession of Mexico--and of the power it would infallibly give to this continent, as in Europe to those who possessed it.

I do not doubt in the slightest degree the success of the Government in the end, but it grieves me to see how slow we have been and still are in comprehension and preparation.

We have now, or shall have by and by to do what we should have done at the start, rely upon ourselves and prepare for our work upon a scale proportionate to its magnitude.

How sadly all our anticipations in regard to the war have failed us,--the insurrection of the blacks, the material deficiencies of the South, their want of men, and worst of all the friendship or the indifference of England.

His interest in the fortunes of the laboring classes was a permanent interest, and they are largely indebted to him for the passage of the eight-hour law by the Congress of the United States.

He was the possessor of an elastic spirit; he was always hopeful of the future and in adversity he saw or fancied that he saw, days of prosperity for himself, for his party, for the commonwealth and for the country.

The spirit of philanthropy animated his politics, and the doctrines of peace controlled his public policy.

He was so great that it was not a humiliation to acknowledge a change in opinion, or to admit an error in policy or purpose.

The reference of the question at issue to the tribunal at Geneva was a conspicuous instance of the adjustment of a grave international dispute by peaceful methods.

If others depart from this rule in their dealings with us, we may be compelled to follow their precedent.

I would respect the rights of all nations, demanding equal respect for our own.

But General Grant was destitute of the war spirit, and he chose to exhaust all the powers of negotiation before he would advise a resort to force.

The people of the United States were embittered against the Government of Great Britain, and had General Grant chosen to seek redress by arms he would have been sustained throughout the North with substantial unanimity.