83, after most of the prominent actors in the
scene were dead and the animosities caused by the controversy were
largely allayed--at a time, too, when Holt realized that he was growing
old and recognized more keenly than ever the importance of leaving
behind a final refutation of the calumnies that had been heaped upon
him--he appealed to Speed, who, he believed he had reason to assume was
in possession of the exact facts of the case; but all that could be
wrung from him were evasive words to the effect that he saw the petition
for clemency in the President's office, without intimating whether it
was before or after Mrs. Surratt's execution, and that he did not "feel
at liberty to speak of what was said at cabinet meetings." An exchange
of letters followed between the two in which Speed excused himself for
six months on the pleas of bereavement and press of business, and that
he had lost his glasses, when he finally replied:--"After very mature
and deliberate consideration, I have come to the conclusion that I
cannot say more than I have said." It is no wonder, then, that Holt,
driven to desperation by such treatment, wrote to Speed:--"Your
forbearance towards Andrew Johnson, of whose dishonorable conduct you
have been so well advised, is a great mystery to me. With the stench of
his baseness in your nostrils you have been all tenderness for him,
while for me ... you have been as implacable as fate."

While spending the summer of 1888 in Princeton, Massachusetts, I read in
the _North American Review_ for July of the same year the correspondence
relating to the Surratt question between Holt and Speed in 1883. Knowing
Judge Holt as I did, having firm faith in his version of the
controversy, believing him to be a victim of gross injustice and
realizing withal how keenly through all these years he had felt the
sting of misrepresentation, I wrote him a lengthy letter. It was not
long before I received his reply, and I copy it here, as I believe it
casts an additional sidelight upon a subject which caused this brilliant
and high-minded gentleman bitter suffering from which he never wholly
recovered. I add several more letters written to me by him which are
beautiful in expression but pathetic in character.

WASHINGTON, August 26th, 1888.

Mrs. M. Gouverneur,

My dear Madam:

Your kind letter of the 14th instant was quite a surprise,
but a very agreeable one I assure you. My reply has been
t