Read The Impeachment of Abraham Lincoln for Free Online Page A

drunk. He was a short man, with sloppy black hair and the early paunch of the leisured life. He was,like Jonathan, the heir apparent to his family business; although, to be sure, whereas the Hillimans were decently off, the Bannermans with their banking fortune rivaled the Astors and the Cookes. They were friends because Elise Hilliman expected her children to have wealthy friends; and because Fielding was some sort of distant cousin of Meg Felix, Jonathan’s fiancée. Still, he had agreed to take rooms in the Bannerman mansion on Ninth Street only because he was assured that Fielding would be in Europe with his parents, who were trying to marry off the three dreadfully plain Bannerman sisters to minor princelings. Had Jonathan known that Fielding would be in residence, he might have chosen to live somewhere else.
    “That is the silliest thing I have ever heard,” said Jonathan.
    “Is it? Didn’t I hear somewhere that one of the articles of the impeachment accuses your man of seeking to overthrow the Congress by force?” He laughed, spilling his brandy. He took no notice. Spills were what servants were for. Ellenborough, the mulatto butler, materialized at once with a napkin and a fresh glass. “But it doesn’t matter what Lincoln does,” Fielding continued. “Know why? Because the price of gold rose today. Henry Foreman told me at the club. He’s with Jay Cooke & Co. If the price of gold is rising, that means the dollar is falling, which means that the bankers believe that Mr. Lincoln will be removed. And you know what my father says. Never bet against the bankers.”
    Jonathan stirred, perceiving through the haze of spirits and smoke that he was about to be subjected to another of his friend’s wild theories about what malevolent forces lay behind the impeachment. “Your father
is
a banker.”
    But Fielding preferred his own arguments. “I say. When am I going to meet this negress of yours?”
    “I beg your pardon.”
    “The Canner woman. We were talking about the impeachment down at the club, and Tubby Longchamps is sharing a few secrets, and he mentions her. Do you know Tubby at all? No? He was in my year at Harvard, you know, and he’s deputy to the sergeant-at-arms now. At the House of Representatives. Good old Tubby. He always did know where there was nice clean graft to be found, didn’t he? Goodness me. Why, once, right in the middle of the Yard, he had this idea that we might put one over on old Connie Felton. This was before Felton was made president of the college. In those days he taught freshman Greek. And Tubby, bless him, suggested that we—”
    Jonathan was all at once apprehensive. Fielding Bannerman might be a snob, but he and his Harvard friends constituted a web of sources General Baker’s Secret Service would envy.
    “Fields. The impeachment. What did Tubby say?”
    “He said he met the Canner woman last week. Your negress. She was on an errand at the Library of Congress, picking up some books for the lawyers.” A frown. “Or was she returning them? Oh dear. I’m not sure Tubby told me which.” He took a long swallow of brandy. “The point is, your Miss Canner dropped the books. Of course none of the Washington gentlemen lifted a finger. Not for a negress. But you know Tubby’s eye for the ladies. He helped her pick up the books. And he says she’s really quite exquisite. Naturally, she thanked him, and you should hear Tubby describe that dulcet voice of hers. How dare you keep her to yourself, Hills. When do I meet her? Say, old man. Why not invite her for dinner? Tell you what. I’ll bring Miss Hale. We can make it a foursome. How’s that?”
    “Fields, please. The impeachment. What secrets did Tubby share?”
    “Ah! Well. He says that if Wade becomes President he will make Mr. Ebon Ward Secretary of the Treasury.”
    “Who on earth is Ebon Ward?”
    “Secretary of the Steel Board, old man. I’d have thought you’d know all about it, because of your family.”
    “My