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diff --git a/1713.txt b/1713.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..de3346b --- /dev/null +++ b/1713.txt @@ -0,0 +1,13426 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Lincoln, by Nathaniel Wright Stephenson + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Lincoln + Lincoln; An Account of His Personal Life, Especially of + Its Springs of Action as Revealed and Deepened by the + Ordeal of War + +Author: Nathaniel Wright Stephenson + +Release Date: February 21, 2006 [EBook #1713] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LINCOLN *** + + + + +Produced by An Anonymous Volunteer and David Widger + + + + + +LINCOLN + +An Account of His Personal Life, Especially of Its Springs of Action as +Revealed and Deepened by the Ordeal of War + + +By Nathaniel Wright Stephenson + + +Authority for all important statements of facts in the following pages +may be found in the notes; the condensed references are expanded in the +bibliography. A few controversial matters are discussed in the notes. + +I am very grateful to Mr. William Roscoe Thayer for enabling me to use +the manuscript diary of John Hay. Miss Helen Nicolay has graciously +confirmed some of the implications of the official biography. Lincoln's +only surviving secretary, Colonel W. O. Stoddard, has given considerate +aid. The curious incident of Lincoln as counsel in an action to recover +slaves was mentioned to me by Professor Henry Johnson, through whose +good offices it was confirmed and amplified by Judge John H. Marshall. +Mr. Henry W. Raymond has been very tolerant of a stranger's inquiries +with regard to his distinguished father. A futile attempt to discover +documentary remains of the Republican National Committee of 1864 has +made it possible, through the courtesy of Mr. Clarence B. Miller, at +least to assert that there is nothing of importance in possession of +the present Committee. A search for new light on Chandler drew forth +generous assistance from Professor Ulrich B. Phillips, Mr. Floyd B. +Streeter and Mr. G. B. Krum. The latter caused to be examined, for +this particular purpose, the Blair manuscripts in the Burton Historical +Collection. Much illumination arose out of a systematic resurvey of the +Congressional Globe, for the war period, in which I had the +stimulating companionship of Professor John L. Hill, reinforced by many +conversations with Professor Dixon Ryan Fox and Professor David Saville +Muzzey. At the heart of the matter is the resolute criticism of Mrs. +Stephenson and of a long enduring friend, President Harrison Randolph. +The temper of the historical fraternity is such that any worker in +any field is always under a host of incidental obligations. There is +especial propriety in my acknowledging the kindness of Professor Albert +Bushnell Hart, Professor James A. Woodburn, Professor Herman V. Ames, +Professor St. George L. Sioussat and Professor Allen Johnson. + + +CONTENTS + + FOUNDATIONS + I THE CHILD OF THE FOREST + II THE MYSTERIOUS YOUTH + III A VILLAGE LEADER IV REVELATIONS + V PROSPERITY + VI UNSATISFYING RECOGNITION + + PROMISES + VII THE SECOND START + VIII A RETURN TO POLITICS + IX THE LITERARY STATESMAN + X THE DARK HORSE + XI SECESSION + XII THE CRISIS + XIII ECLIPSE + + CONFUSIONS + XIV THE STRANGE NEW MAN + XV PRESIDENT AND PREMIER + XVI "ON TO RICHMOND!" + XVII DEFINING THE ISSUE + XVIII THE JACOBIN CLUB + XIX THE JACOBINS BECOME INQUISITORS + XX IS CONGRESS THE PRESIDENT'S MASTER? + XXI THE STRUGGLE TO CONTROL THE ARMY + XXII LINCOLN EMERGES + + AUDACITIES + XXIII THE MYSTICAL STATESMAN + XXIV GAMBLING IN GENERALS + XXV A WAR BEHIND THE SCENES + XXVI THE DICTATOR, THE MARPLOT, AND THE LITTLE MEN + XXVII THE TRIBUNE OF THE PEOPLE + XXVIII APPARENT ASCENDENCY + XXIX CATASTROPHE + XXX THE PRESIDENT VERSUS THE VINDICTIVES + + VICTORY + XXXI A MENACING PAUSE + XXXII THE AUGUST CONSPIRACY + XXXIII THE RALLY TO THE PRESIDENT + XXXIV "FATHER ABRAHAM" + XXXV THE MASTER OF THE MOMENT + XXXVI PREPARING A DIFFERENT WAR + XXXVII FATE INTERPOSES + + BIBLIOGRAPHY + + NOTES + + +ACKNOWLEDGMENT + +The author and publisher make grateful acknowledgement to Ginn and +Company, Boston, for the photograph of St. Gaudens' Statue; to The +Century Company of New York for the Earliest Portrait of Lincoln, which +is from an engraving by Johnson after a daguerreotype in the possession +of the Honorable Robert T. Lincoln; and for Lincoln and Tad, which is +from the famous photograph by Brady; to The Macmillan Company of New +York for the portrait of Mrs. Lincoln and also for The Review of the +Army of the Potomac, both of which were originally reproduced in Ida M. +Tarbell's Life of Abraham Lincoln. For the rare and interesting portrait +entitled The Last Phase of Lincoln acknowledgment is made to Robert +Bruce, Esquire, Clinton, Oneida County, New York. This photograph was +taken by Alexander Gardner, April 9, 1865, the glass plate of which is +now in Mr. Bruce's collection. + + + + + +I. THE CHILD OF THE FOREST + +Of first importance in the making of the American people is that great +forest which once extended its mysterious labyrinth from tide-water to +the prairies when the earliest colonists entered warily its sea-worn +edges a portion of the European race came again under a spell it had +forgotten centuries before, the spell of that untamed nature +which created primitive man. All the dim memories that lay deep in +subconsciousness; all the vague shadows hovering at the back of the +civilized mind; the sense of encompassing natural power, the need to +struggle single-handed against it; the danger lurking in the darkness +of the forest; the brilliant treachery of the forest sunshine glinted +through leafy secrecies; the Strange voices in its illimitable murmur; +the ghostly shimmer of its glades at night; the lovely beauty of the +great gold moon; all the thousand wondering dreams that evolved the +elder gods, Pan, Cybele, Thor; all this waked again in the soul of the +Anglo-Saxon penetrating the great forest. And it was intensified by the +way he came,--singly, or with but wife and child, or at best in very +small company, a mere handful. And the surrounding presences were not +only of the spiritual world. Human enemies who were soon as well armed +as he, quicker of foot and eye, more perfectly noiseless in their tread +even than the wild beasts of the shadowy coverts, the ruthless Indians +whom he came to expel, these invisible presences were watching him, in +a fierce silence he knew not whence. Like as not the first signs of that +menace which was everywhere would be the hiss of the Indian arrow, or +the crack of the Indian rifle, and sharp and sudden death. + +Under these conditions he learned much and forgot much. His deadly need +made him both more and less individual than he had been, released +him from the dictation of his fellows in daily life while it enforced +relentlessly a uniform method of self-preservation. Though the unseen +world became more and more real, the understanding of it faded. It +became chiefly a matter of emotional perception, scarcely at all a +matter of philosophy. The morals of the forest Americans were those of +audacious, visionary beings loosely hound together by a comradeship +in peril. Courage, cautiousness, swiftness, endurance, faithfulness, +secrecy,--these were the forest virtues. Dreaming, companionship, +humor,--these were the forest luxuries. + +From the first, all sorts and conditions were ensnared by that silent +land, where the trails they followed, their rifles in their hands, had +been trodden hard generation after generation by the feet of the Indian +warriors. The best and the worst of England went into that illimitable +resolvent, lost themselves, found themselves, and issued from its +shadows, or their children did, changed both for good and ill, +Americans. Meanwhile the great forest, during two hundred years, was +slowly vanishing. This parent of a new people gave its life to its +offspring and passed away. In the early nineteenth century it had +withered backward far from the coast; had lost its identity all along +the north end of the eastern mountains; had frayed out toward the sunset +into lingering tentacles, into broken minor forests, into shreds and +patches. + +Curiously, by a queer sort of natural selection, its people had +congregated into life communities not all of one pattern. There were +places as early as the beginning of the century where distinction +had appeared. At other places life was as rude and rough as could be +imagined. There were innumerable farms that were still mere "clearings," +walled by the forest. But there were other regions where for many a mile +the timber had been hewn away, had given place to a ragged continuity +of farmland. In such regions especially if the poorer elements of +the forest, spiritually speaking, had drifted thither--the straggling +villages which had appeared were but groups of log cabins huddled along +a few neglected lanes. In central Kentucky, a poor new village was +Elizabethtown, unkempt, chokingly dusty in the dry weather, with muddy +streams instead of streets during the rains, a stench of pig-sties at +the back of its cabins, but everywhere looking outward glimpses of a +lovely meadow land. + +At Elizabethtown in 1806 lived Joseph Hanks, a carpenter, also his niece +Nancy Hanks. Poor people they were, of the sort that had been sucked +into the forest in their weakness, or had been pushed into it by a +social pressure they could not resist; not the sort that had grimly +adventured its perils or gaily courted its lure. Their source was +Virginia. They were of a thriftless, unstable class; that vagrant +peasantry which had drifted westward to avoid competition with slave +labor. The niece, Nancy, has been reputed illegitimate. And though +tradition derives her from the predatory amour of an aristocrat, there +is nothing to sustain the tale except her own appearance. She had a +bearing, a cast of feature, a tone, that seemed to hint at higher social +origins than those of her Hanks relatives. She had a little schooling; +was of a pious and emotional turn of mind; enjoyed those amazing +"revivals" which now and then gave an outlet to the pent-up religiosity +of the village; and she was almost handsome.(1) + +History has preserved no clue why this girl who was rather the best of +her sort chose to marry an illiterate apprentice of her uncle's, Thomas +Lincoln, whose name in the forest was spelled "Linkhorn." He was a +shiftless fellow, never succeeding at anything, who could neither read +nor write. At the time of his birth, twenty-eight years before, his +parents--drifting, roaming people, struggling with poverty--were +dwellers in the Virginia mountains. As a mere lad, he had shot an +Indian--one of the few positive acts attributed to him--and his father +had been killed by Indians. There was a "vague tradition" that his +grandfather had been a Pennsylvania Quaker who had wandered southward +through the forest mountains. The tradition angered him. Though he +appears to have had little enough--at least in later years--of the +fierce independence of the forest, he resented a Quaker ancestry as an +insult. He had no suspicion that in after years the zeal of genealogists +would track his descent until they had linked him with a lost member of +a distinguished Puritan family, a certain Mordecai Lincoln who removed +to New Jersey, whose descendants became wanderers of the forest and sank +speedily to the bottom of the social scale, retaining not the slightest +memory of their New England origin.(2) Even in the worst of the +forest villages, few couples started married life in less auspicious +circumstances than did Nancy and Thomas. Their home in one of the alleys +of Elizabethtown was a shanty fourteen feet square.(3) Very soon after +marriage, shiftless Thomas gave up carpentering and took to farming. +Land could be had almost anywhere for almost nothing those days, and +Thomas got a farm on credit near where now stands Hodgenville. Today, it +is a famous place, for there, February 12, 1809, Abraham Lincoln, second +child, but first son of Nancy and Thomas, was born.(4) + +During most of eight years, Abraham lived in Kentucky. His father, +always adrift in heart, tried two farms before abandoning Kentucky +altogether. A shadowy figure, this Thomas; the few memories of him +suggest a superstitious nature in a superstitious community. He used +to see visions in the forest. Once, it is said, he came home, all +excitement, to tell his wife he had seen a giant riding on a lion, +tearing up trees by the roots; and thereupon, he took to his bed and +kept it for several days. + +His son Abraham told this story of the giant on the lion to a playmate +of his, and the two boys gravely discussed the existence of ghosts. +Abraham thought his father "didn't exactly believe in them," and seems +to have been in about the same state of mind himself. He was quite sure +he was "not much" afraid of the dark. This was due chiefly to the simple +wisdom of a good woman, a neighbor, who had taught him to think of the +night as a great room that God had darkened even as his friend darkened +a room in her house by hanging something over the window.(5) + +The eight years of his childhood in Kentucky had few incidents. A hard, +patient, uncomplaining life both for old and young. The men found their +one deep joy in the hunt. In lesser degree, they enjoyed the revivals +which gave to the women their one escape out of themselves. A strange, +almost terrible recovery of the primitive, were those religious furies +of the days before the great forest had disappeared. What other figures +in our history are quite so remarkable as the itinerant frontier +priests, the circuit-riders as they are now called, who lived as Elijah +did, whose temper was very much the temper of Elijah, in whose exalted +narrowness of devotion, all that was stern, dark, foreboding--the very +brood of the forest's innermost heart--had found a voice. Their religion +was ecstasy in homespun, a glory of violent singing, the release of a +frantic emotion, formless but immeasurable, which at all other times, in +the severity of the forest routine, gave no sign of its existence. + +A visitor remembered long afterward a handsome young woman who he +thought was Nancy Hanks, singing wildly, whirling about as may once have +done the ecstatic women of the woods of Thrace, making her way among +equally passionate worshipers, to the foot of the rude altar, and there +casting herself into the arms of the man she was to marry.(6) So did +thousands of forest women in those seasons when their communion with a +mystic loneliness was confessed, when they gave tongue as simply as +wild creatures to the nameless stirrings and promptings of that secret +woodland where Pan was still the lord. And the day following the +revival, they were again the silent, expressionless, much enduring, +long-suffering forest wives, mothers of many children, toilers of +the cabins, who cooked and swept and carried fuel by sunlight, and by +firelight sewed and spun. + +It can easily be understood how these women, as a rule, exerted little +influence on their sons. Their imaginative side was too deeply hidden, +the nature of their pleasures too secret, too mysterious. Male youth, +following its obvious pleasure, went with the men to the hunt. The women +remained outsiders. The boy who chose to do likewise, was the incredible +exception. In him had come to a head the deepest things in the forest +life: the darkly feminine things, its silence, its mysticism, its +secretiveness, its tragic patience. Abraham was such a boy. It is +said that he astounded his father by refusing to own a gun. He earned +terrible whippings by releasing animals caught in traps. Though he had +in fullest measure the forest passion for listening to stories, the +ever-popular tales of Indian warfare disgusted him. But let the tale +take on any glint of the mystery of the human soul--as of Robinson +Crusoe alone on his island, or of the lordliness of action, as in +Columbus or Washington--and he was quick with interest. The stories of +talking animals out of Aesop fascinated him. + +In this thrilled curiosity about the animals was the side of him least +intelligible to men like his father. It lives in many anecdotes: of his +friendship with a poor dog he had which he called "Honey"; of pursuing +a snake through difficult thickets to prevent its swallowing a frog; of +loitering on errands at the risk of whippings to watch the squirrels in +the tree-tops; of the crowning offense of his childhood, which earned +him a mighty beating, the saving of a fawn's life by scaring it off just +as a hunter's gun was leveled. And by way of comment on all this, there +is the remark preserved in the memory of another boy to whom at the time +it appeared most singular, "God might think as much of that little fawn +as of some people." Of him as of another gentle soul it might have been +said that all the animals were his brothers and sisters.(7) + +One might easily imagine this peculiar boy who chose to remain at home +while the men went out to slay, as the mere translation into masculinity +of his mother, and of her mothers, of all the converging processions +of forest women, who had passed from one to another the secret of their +mysticism, coloring it many ways in the dark vessels of their suppressed +lives, till it reached at last their concluding child. But this would +only in part explain him. Their mysticism, as after-time was to show, he +had undoubtedly inherited. So, too, from them, it may be, came another +characteristic--that instinct to endure, to wait, to abide the issue of +circumstance, which in the days of his power made him to the politicians +as unintelligible as once he had been to the forest huntsmen. +Nevertheless, the most distinctive part of those primitive women, the +sealed passionateness of their spirits, he never from childhood to the +end revealed. In the grown man appeared a quietude, a sort of tranced +calm, that was appalling. From what part of his heredity did this +derive? Was it the male gift of the forest? Did progenitors worthier +than Thomas somehow cast through him to his alien son that peace they +had found in the utter heart of danger, that apparent selflessness which +is born of being ever unfailingly on guard? + +It is plain that from the first he was a natural stoic, taking his +whippings, of which there appear to have been plenty, in silence, +without anger. It was all in the day's round. Whippings, like other +things, came and went. What did it matter? And the daily round, though +monotonous, had even for the child a complement of labor. Especially +there was much patient journeying back and forth with meal bags between +his father's cabin and the local mill. There was a little schooling, +very little, partly from Nancy Lincoln, partly from another good woman, +the miller's kind old mother, partly at the crudest of wayside schools +maintained very briefly by a wandering teacher who soon wandered on; but +out of this schooling very little result beyond the mastery of the A B +C.(8) And even at this age, a pathetic eagerness to learn, to invade the +wonder of the printed book! Also a marked keenness of observation. He +observed things which his elders overlooked. He had a better sense of +direction, as when he corrected his father and others who were taking +the wrong short-cut to a burning house. Cool, unexcitable, he was +capable of presence of mind. Once at night when the door of the cabin +was suddenly thrown open and a monster appeared on the threshold, a +spectral thing in the darkness, furry, with the head of an ox, Thomas +Lincoln shrank back aghast; little Abraham, quicker-sighted and +quicker-witted, slipped behind the creature, pulled at its furry mantle, +and revealed a forest Diana, a bold girl who amused herself playing +demon among the shadows of the moon. + +Seven years passed and his eighth birthday approached. All this while +Thomas Lincoln had somehow kept his family in food, but never had he +money in his pocket. His successive farms, bought on credit, were never +paid for. An incurable vagrant, he came at last to the psychological +moment when he could no longer impose himself on his community. He must +take to the road in a hazard of new fortune. Indiana appeared to him +the land of promise. Most of his property--such as it was--except his +carpenter's tools, he traded for whisky, four hundred gallons. Somehow +he obtained a rattletrap wagon and two horses. + +The family appear to have been loath to go. Nancy Lincoln had long been +ailing and in low spirits, thinking much of what might happen to her +children after her death. Abraham loved the country-side, and he had +good friends in the miller and his kind old mother. But the vagrant +Thomas would have his way. In the brilliancy of the Western autumn, with +the ruined woods flaming scarlet and gold, these poor people took their +last look at the cabin that had been their wretched shelter, and set +forth into the world.(9) + + + + +II THE MYSTERIOUS YOUTH + +Vagrants, or little better than vagrants, were Thomas Lincoln and his +family making their way to Indiana. For a year after they arrived they +were squatters, their home an "open-faced camp," that is, a shanty with +one wall missing, and instead of chimney, a fire built on the open side. +In that mere pretense of a house, Nancy Lincoln and her children spent +the winter of 1816-1817. Then Thomas resorted to his familiar practice +of taking land on credit. The Lincolns were now part of a "settlement" +of seven or eight families strung along a little stream known as Pigeon +Creek. Here Thomas entered a quarter-section of fair land, and in the +course of the next eleven years succeeded--wonderful to relate--in +paying down sufficient money to give him title to about half. + +Meanwhile, poor fading Nancy went to her place. Pigeon Creek was an +out-of-the-way nook in the still unsettled West, and Nancy during the +two years she lived there could not have enjoyed much of the consolation +of her religion. Perhaps now and then she had ghostly council of some +stray circuit-rider. But for her the days of the ecstasies had gone by; +no great revival broke the seals of the spirit, stirred its deep waters, +along Pigeon Creek. There was no religious service when she was laid +to rest in a coffin made of green lumber and fashioned by her husband. +Months passed, the snow lay deep, before a passing circuit-rider held +a burial service over her grave. Tradition has it that the boy Abraham +brought this about very likely, at ten years old, he felt that her +troubled spirit could not have peace till this was done. Shadowy as she +is, ghostlike across the page of history, it is plain that she was a +reality to her son. He not only loved her but revered her. He believed +that from her he had inherited the better part of his genius. Many years +after her death he said, "God bless my mother; all that I am or ever +hope to be I owe to her." + +Nancy was not long without a successor. Thomas Lincoln, the next year, +journeyed back to Kentucky and returned in triumph to Indiana, bringing +as his wife, an old flame of his who had married, had been widowed, and +was of a mind for further adventures. This Sarah Bush Lincoln, of +less distinction than Nancy, appears to have been steadier-minded and +stronger-willed. Even before this, Thomas had left the half-faced camp +and moved into a cabin. But such a cabin! It had neither door, nor +window, nor floor. Sally Lincoln required her husband to make of it a +proper house--by the standards of Pigeon Creek. She had brought with her +as her dowry a wagonload of furniture. These comforts together with her +strong will began a new era of relative comfort in the Lincoln cabin.(1) + +Sally Lincoln was a kind stepmother to Abraham who became strongly +attached to her. In the rough and nondescript community of Pigeon Creek, +a world of weedy farms, of miserable mud roads, of log farm-houses, the +family life that was at least tolerable. The sordid misery described +during her regime emerged from wretchedness to a state of by all the +recorders of Lincoln's early days seems to have ended about his twelfth +year. At least, the vagrant suggestion disappeared. Though the life +that succeeded was void of luxury, though it was rough, even brutal, +dominated by a coarse, peasant-like view of things, it was scarcely by +peasant standards a life of hardship. There was food sufficient, if not +very good; protection from wind and weather; fire in the winter time; +steady labor; and social acceptance by the community of the creekside. +That the labor was hard and long, went without saying. But as to +that--as of the whippings in Kentucky--what else, from the peasant point +of view, would you expect? Abraham took it all with the same stoicism +with which he had once taken the whippings. By the unwritten law of the +creekside he was his father's property, and so was his labor, until +he came of age. Thomas used him as a servant or hired him out to +other farmers. Stray recollections show us young Abraham working as +a farm-hand for twenty-five cents the day, probably with "keep" in +addition; we glimpse him slaughtering hogs skilfully at thirty-one cents +a day, for this was "rough work." He became noted as an axman. + +In the crevices, so to speak, of his career as a farm-hand, Abraham got +a few months of schooling, less than a year in all. A story that has +been repeated a thousand times shows the raw youth by the cabin fire +at night doing sums on the back of a wooden shovel, and shaving off its +surface repeatedly to get a fresh page. He devoured every book that came +his way, only a few to be sure, but generally great ones--the Bible, +of course, and Aesop, Crusoe, Pilgrim's Progress, and a few histories, +these last unfortunately of the poorer sort. He early displayed a bent +for composition, scribbling verses that were very poor, and writing +burlesque tales about his acquaintances in what passed for a Biblical +style.(2) + +One great experience broke the monotony of the life on Pigeon Creek. +He made a trip to New Orleans as a "hand" on a flatboat. Of this trip +little is known though much may be surmised. To his deeply poetic nature +what an experience it must have been: the majesty of the vast river; the +pageant of its immense travel; the steamers heavily laden; the fleets of +barges; the many towns; the nights of stars over wide sweeps of water; +the stately plantation houses along the banks; the old French city with +its crowds, its bells, the shipping, the strange faces and the foreign +speech; all the bewildering evidence that there were other worlds +besides Pigeon Creek! + +What seed of new thinking was sown in his imagination by this Odyssey +we shall never know. The obvious effect in the ten years of his life +in Indiana was produced at Pigeon Creek. The "settlement" was within +fifteen miles of the Ohio. It lay in that southerly fringe of Indiana +which received early in the century many families of much the same +estate, character and origin as the Lincolns,--poor whites of the edges +of the great forest working outward toward the prairies. Located on good +land not far from a great highway, the Ohio, it illustrated in its +rude prosperity a transformation that went on unobserved in many such +settlements, the transformation of the wandering forester of the lower +class into a peasant farmer. Its life was of the earth, earthy; though +it retained the religious traditions of the forest, their significance +was evaporating; mysticism was fading into emotionalism; the +camp-meeting was degenerating into a picnic. The supreme social event, +the wedding, was attended by festivities that filled twenty-four hours: +a race of male guests in the forenoon with a bottle of whisky for a +prize; an Homeric dinner at midday; "an afternoon of rough games and +outrageous practical jokes; a supper and dance at night interrupted +by the successive withdrawals of the bride and groom, attended by +ceremonies and jests of more than Rabelaisian crudeness; and a noisy +dispersal next day."(3) The intensities of the forest survived in hard +drinking, in the fury of the fun-making, and in the hunt. The forest +passion for storytelling had in no way decreased. + +In this atmosphere, about eighteen and nineteen, Abraham shot up +suddenly from a slender boy to a huge, raw-honed, ungainly man, six feet +four inches tall, of unusual muscular strength. His strength was one of +the fixed conditions of his development. It delivered him from all fear +of his fellows. He had plenty of peculiarities. He was ugly, awkward; +he lacked the wanton appetites of the average sensual man. And these +peculiarities without his great strength as his warrant might have +brought him into ridicule. As it was, whatever his peculiarities, in +a society like that of Pigeon Creek, the man who could beat all +competitors, wrestling or boxing, was free from molestation. But Lincoln +instinctively had another aim in life than mere freedom to be himself. +Two characteristics that were so significant in his childhood continued +with growing vitality in his young manhood: his placidity and his +intense sense of comradeship. The latter, however, had undergone a +change. It was no longer the comradeship of the wild creatures. That +spurt of physical expansion, the swift rank growth to his tremendous +stature, swept him apparently across a dim dividing line, out of the +world of birds and beasts and into the world of men. He took the new +world with the same unfailing but also unexcitable curiosity with which +he had taken the other, the world of squirrels, flowers, fawns. + +Here as there, the difference from his mother, deep though their +similarities may have been, was sharply evident. Had he been wholly at +one with her religiously, the gift of telling speech which he now began +to display might have led him into a course that would have rejoiced +her heart, might have made him a boy preacher, and later, a great +revivalist. His father and elder sister while on Pigeon Creek joined the +local Baptist Church. But Abraham did not follow them. Nor is there a +single anecdote linking him in any way with the fervors of camp meeting. +On the contrary, what little is remembered, is of a cool aloofness.(4) +The inscrutability of the forest was his--what it gave to the stealthy, +cautious men who were too intent on observing, too suspiciously +watchful, to give vent to their feelings. Therefore, in Lincoln +there was always a double life, outer and inner, the outer quietly +companionable, the inner, solitary, mysterious. + +It was the outer life that assumed its first definite phase in the years +on Pigeon Creek. During those years, Lincoln discovered his gift of +story-telling. He also discovered humor. In the employment of both +talents, he accepted as a matter of course the tone of the young +ruffians among whom he dwelt. Very soon this powerful fellow, who could +throw any of them in a wrestle, won the central position among them by a +surer title, by the power to delight. And any one who knows how peasant +schools of art arise--for that matter, all schools of art that are +vital--knows how he did it. In this connection, his famous biographers, +Nicolay and Hay, reveal a certain externality by objecting that a story +attributed to him is ancient. All stories are ancient. Not the tale, but +the telling, as the proverb says, is the thing. In later years, Lincoln +wrote down every good story that he heard, and filed it.(5) When it +reappeared it had become his own. Who can doubt that this deliberate +assimilation, the typical artistic process, began on Pigeon Creek? +Lincoln never would have captured as he did his plowboy audience, set +them roaring with laughter in the intervals of labor, had he not given +them back their own tales done over into new forms brilliantly beyond +their powers of conception. That these tales were gross, even ribald, +might have been taken for granted, even had we not positive evidence +of the fact. Otherwise none of that uproarious laughter which we may be +sure sounded often across shimmering harvest fields while stalwart young +pagans, ever ready to pause, leaned, bellowing, on the handles of their +scythes, Abe Lincoln having just then finished a story. + +Though the humor of these stories was Falstaffian, to say the least, +though Lincoln was cock of the walk among the plowboys of Pigeon Creek, +a significant fact with regard to him here comes into view. Not an +anecdote survives that in any way suggests personal licentiousness. +Scrupulous men who in after-time were offended by his coarseness of +speech--for more or less of the artist of Pigeon Creek stuck to him +almost to the end; he talked in fables, often in gross fables--these +men, despite their annoyance, felt no impulse to attribute to him +personal habits in harmony with his tales. On the other hand, they +were puzzled by their own impression, never wavering, that he was +"pureminded." The clue which they did not have lay in the nature of his +double life. That part of him which, in our modern jargon, we call his +"reactions" obeyed a curious law. They dwelt in his outer life without +penetrating to the inner; but all his impulses of personal action were +securely seated deep within. Even at nineteen, for any one attuned to +spiritual meaning, he would have struck the note of mystery, faintly, +perhaps, but certainly. To be sure, no hint of this reached the minds +of his rollicking comrades of the harvest field. It was not for such as +they to perceive the problem of his character, to suspect that he was a +genius, or to guess that a time would come when sincere men would form +impressions of him as dissimilar as black and white. And so far as it +went the observation of the plowboys was correct. The man they saw was +indeed a reflection of themselves. But it was a reflection only. Their +influence entered into the real man no more than the image in a mirror +has entered into the glass. + + + + +III. A VILLAGE LEADER + +Though placid, this early Lincoln was not resigned. He differed from the +boors of Pigeon Creek in wanting some other sort of life. What it was he +wanted, he did not know. His reading had not as yet given him definite +ambitions. It may well be that New Orleans was the clue to such stirring +in him as there was of that discontent which fanciful people have called +divine. Remembering New Orleans, could any imaginative youth be content +with Pigeon Creek? + +In the spring of 1830, shortly after he came of age, he agreed for once +with his father whose chronic vagrancy had reasserted itself. The whole +family set out again on their wanderings and made their way in an oxcart +to a new halting place on the Sangamon River in Illinois. There Abraham +helped his father clear another piece of land for another illusive +"start" in life. The following spring he parted with his family and +struck out for himself.(1) His next adventure was a second trip as a +boatman to New Orleans. Can one help suspecting there was vague hope in +his heart that he might be adventuring to the land of hearts' desire? +If there was, the yokels who were his fellow boatmen never suspected +it. One of them long afterward asserted that Lincoln returned from New +Orleans fiercely rebellious against its central institution, slavery, +and determined to "hit that thing" whenever he could. + +The legend centers in his witnessing a slave auction and giving voice to +his horror in a style quite unlike any of his authentic utterances. The +authority for all this is doubtful.(2) Furthermore, the Lincoln of 1831 +was not yet awakened. That inner life in which such a reaction might +take place was still largely dormant. The outer life, the life of the +harvest clown, was still a thick insulation. Apparently, the waking of +the inner life, the termination of its dormant stage, was reserved for +an incident far more personal that fell upon him in desolating force a +few years later. + +Following the New Orleans venture, came a period as storekeeper for +a man named Denton Offut, in perhaps the least desirable town in +Illinois--a dreary little huddle of houses gathered around Rutledge's +Mill on the Sangamon River and called New Salem.(3) Though a few of +its people were of a better sort than any Lincoln had yet known except, +perhaps, the miller's family in the old days in Kentucky--and still a +smaller few were of fine quality, the community for the most part was +hopeless. A fatality for unpromising neighborhoods overhangs like a doom +the early part of this strange life. All accounts of New Salem represent +it as predominantly a congregation of the worthless, flung together by +unaccountable accident at a spot where there was no genuine reason for +a town's existence. A casual town, created by drifters, and void of +settled purpose. Small wonder that ere long it vanished from the map; +that after a few years its drifting congregation dispersed to every +corner of the horizon, and was no more. But during its brief existence +it staged an episode in the development of Lincoln's character. However, +this did not take place at once. And before it happened, came another +turn of his soul's highway scarcely less important. He discovered, or +thought he discovered, what he wanted. His vague ambition took shape. He +decided to try to be a politician. At twenty-three, after living in New +Salem less than a year, this audacious, not to say impertinent, young +man offered himself to the voters of Sangamon County as a candidate for +the Legislature. At this time that humility which was eventually his +characteristic had not appeared. It may be dated as subsequent to New +Salem--a further evidence that the deep spiritual experience which +closed this chapter formed a crisis. Before then, at New Salem as +at Pigeon Creek, he was but a variant, singularly decent, of the +boisterous, frolicking, impertinent type that instinctively sought the +laxer neighborhoods of the frontier. An echo of Pigeon Creek informed +the young storekeeper's first state paper, the announcement of his +candidacy, in the year 1832. His first political speech was in a curious +vein, glib, intimate and fantastic: "Fellow citizens, I presume you all +know who I am. I am humble Abraham Lincoln. I have been solicited by +many friends to become a candidate for the Legislature. My politics are +short and sweet like the old woman's dance. I am in favor of a national +bank. I am in favor of the internal improvement system and a high +protective tariff. These are my sentiments and political principles. If +elected, I shall be thankful; if not it will be all the same."(4) + +However, this bold throw of the dice of fortune was not quite so +impertinent as it seems. During the months when he was in charge of +Offut's grocery store he had made a conquest of New Salem. The village +grocery in those days was the village club. It had its constant +gathering of loafers all of whom were endowed with votes. It was the one +place through which passed the whole population, in and out, one time +or another. To a clever storekeeper it gave a chance to establish a +following. Had he, as Lincoln had, the gift of story-telling, the gift +of humor, he was a made man. Pigeon Creek over again! Lincoln's wealth +of funny stories gave Offut's grocery somewhat the role of a vaudeville +theater and made the storekeeper as popular a man as there was in New +Salem. + +In another way he repeated his conquest of Pigeon Creek. New Salem had +its local Alsatia known as Clary's Grove whose insolent young toughs led +by their chief, Jack Armstrong, were the terror of the neighborhood. The +groceries paid them tribute in free drinks. Any luckless storekeeper +who incurred their displeasure found his store some fine morning a total +wreck. Lincoln challenged Jack Armstrong to a duel with fists. It was +formally arranged. A ring was formed; the whole village was audience; +and Lincoln thrashed him to a finish. But this was only a small part +of his triumph. His physical prowess, joined with his humor and his +companionableness; entirely captivated Clary's Grove. Thereafter, it was +storekeeper Lincoln's pocket borough; its ruffians were his body-guard. +Woe to any one who made trouble for their hero. + +There were still other causes for his quick rise to the position of +village leader. His unfailing kindness was one; his honesty was another. +Tales were related of his scrupulous dealings, such as walking a +distance of miles in order to correct a trifling error he had made, in +selling a poor woman less than the proper weight of tea. Then, too, by +New Salem standards, he was educated. Long practice on the shovel at +Pigeon Creek had given him a good handwriting, and one of the first +things he did at New Salem was to volunteer to be clerk of elections. +And there was a distinct moral superiority. Little as this would have +signified unbacked by his giant strength since it had that authority +behind it his morality set him apart from his followers, different, +imposing. He seldom, if ever, drank whisky. Sobriety was already the +rule of his life, both outward and inward. At the same time he was +not censorious. He accepted the devotion of Clary's Grove without +the slightest attempt to make over its bravoes in his own image. He +sympathized with its ideas of sport. For all his kindliness to humans of +every sort much of his sensitiveness for animals had passed away. He was +not averse to cock fighting; he enjoyed a horse race.(5) Altogether, in +his outer life, before the catastrophe that revealed him to himself, +he was quite as much in the tone of New Salem as ever in that of Pigeon +Creek. When the election came he got every vote in New Salem except +three.(6) + +But the village was a small part of Sangamon County. Though Lincoln +received a respectable number of votes elsewhere, his total was well +down in the running. He remained an inconspicuous minority candidate. + +Meanwhile Offut's grocery had failed. In the midst of the legislative +campaign, Offut's farmer storekeeper volunteered for the Indian War +with Black Hawk, but returned to New Salem shortly before the election +without having once smelled powder. Since his peers were not of a +mind to give him immediate occupation in governing, he turned again to +business. He formed a partnership with a man named Berry. They bought on +credit the wreck of a grocery that had been sacked by Lincoln's friends +of Clary's Grove, and started business as "General Merchants," under the +style of Berry & Lincoln. There followed a year of complete unsuccess. +Lincoln demonstrated that he was far more inclined to read any chance +book that came his way than to attend to business, and that he had "no +money sense." The new firm went the way of Offut's grocery, leaving +nothing behind it but debt. The debts did not trouble Berry; Lincoln +assumed them all. They formed a dreadful load which he bore with his +usual patience and little by little discharged. Fifteen years passed +before again he was a free man financially. + +A new and powerful influence came into his life during the half idleness +of his unsuccessful storekeeping. It is worth repeating in his own +words, or what seems to be the fairly accurate recollection of his +words: "One day a man who was migrating to the West, drove up in front +of my store with a wagon which contained his family and household +plunder. He asked me if I would buy an old barrel for which he had no +room in his wagon, and which he said contained nothing of special value. +I did not want it but to oblige him I bought it and paid him, I think, +a half a dollar for it. Without further examination I put it away in the +store and forgot all about it Sometime after, in overhauling things, +I came upon the barrel and emptying it upon the floor to see what it +contained, I found at the bottom of the rubbish a complete edition of +Blackstone's Commentaries. I began to read those famous works, and I had +plenty of time; for during the long summer days when the farmers were +busy with their crops, my customers were few and far between. The more I +read, the more intensely interested I became. Never in my whole life was +my mind so thoroughly absorbed. I read until I devoured them."(7) + +The majesty of the law at the bottom of a barrel of trash discovered at +a venture and taking instant possession of the discoverer's mind! Like +the genius issuing grandly in the smoke cloud from the vase drawn up out +of the sea by the fisher in the Arabian tale! But this great book was +not the only magic casket discovered by the idle store-keeper, the +broken seals of which released mighty presences. Both Shakespeare and +Burns were revealed to him in this period. Never after did either for a +moment cease to be his companion. These literary treasures were found +at Springfield twenty miles from New Salem, whither Lincoln went on foot +many a time to borrow books. + +His subsistence, after the failure of Berry & Lincoln, was derived from +the friendliness of the County Surveyor Calhoun, who was a Democrat, +while Lincoln called himself a Whig. Calhoun offered him the post of +assistant. In accepting, Lincoln again displayed the honesty that was +beginning to be known as his characteristic. He stipulated that he +should be perfectly free to express his opinions, that the office should +not be in any respect, a bribe. This being conceded, he went to work +furiously on a treatise upon surveying, and astonishingly soon, with the +generous help of the schoolmaster of New Salem, was able to take up his +duties. His first fee was "two buckskins which Hannah Armstrong 'fixed' +on his pants so the briers would not wear them out."(8) + +Thus time passed until 1834 when he staked his only wealth, his +popularity, in the gamble of an election. This time he was successful. +During the following winter he sat in the Legislature of Illinois; a +huge, uncouth, mainly silent member, making apparently no impression +whatever, very probably striking the educated members as a nonentity in +homespun.(9) + +In the spring of 1835, he was back in New Salem, busy again with his +surveying. Kind friends had secured him the office of local postmaster. +The delivery of letters was now combined with going to and fro as a +surveyor. As the mail came but once a week, and as whatever he had to +deliver could generally be carried in his hat, and as payment was in +proportion to business done, his revenues continued small. Nevertheless, +in the view of New Salem, he was getting on. + +And then suddenly misfortune overtook him. His great adventure, the +first of those spiritual agonies of which he was destined to endure so +many, approached. Hitherto, since childhood, women had played no part +in his story. All the recollections of his youth are vague in their +references to the feminine. As a boy at Pigeon Creek when old Thomas was +hiring him out, the women of the settlement liked to have him around, +apparently because he was kindly and ever ready to do odd jobs in +addition to his regular work. However, until 1835, his story is that of +a man's man, possibly because there was so much of the feminine in +his own make-up. In 1835 came a change. A girl of New Salem, a pretty +village maiden, the best the poor place could produce, revealed him to +himself. Sweet Ann Rutledge, the daughter of the tavern-keeper, was +his first love. But destiny was against them. A brief engagement was +terminated by her sudden death late in the summer of 1835. Of this +shadowy love-affair very little is known,--though much romantic fancy +has been woven about it. Its significance for after-time is in Lincoln's +"reaction." There had been much sickness in New Salem the summer in +which Ann died. Lincoln had given himself freely as nurse--the depth +of his companionableness thus being proved--and was in an overwrought +condition when his sorrow struck him. A last interview with the dying +girl, at which no one was present, left him quite unmanned. A period of +violent agitation followed. For a time he seemed completely transformed. +The sunny Lincoln, the delight of Clary's Grove, had vanished. In +his place was a desolated soul--a brother to dragons, in the terrible +imagery of Job--a dweller in the dark places of affliction. It was his +mother reborn in him. It was all the shadowiness of his mother's world; +all that frantic reveling in the mysteries of woe to which, hitherto, +her son had been an alien. To the simple minds of the villagers with +their hard-headed, practical way of keeping all things, especially love +and grief, in the outer layer of consciousness, this revelation of an +emotional terror was past understanding. Some of them, true to their +type, pronounced him insane. He was watched with especial vigilance +during storms, fogs, damp gloomy weather, "for fear of an accident." +Surely, it was only a crazy man, in New Salem psychology, who was heard +to say, "I can never be reconciled to have the snow, rains and storms +beat upon her grave."(10) + +In this crucial moment when the real base of his character had been +suddenly revealed--all the passionateness of the forest shadow, the +unfathomable gloom laid so deep at the bottom of his soul--he was +carried through his spiritual eclipse by the loving comprehension of two +fine friends. New Salem was not all of the sort of Clary's Grove. Near +by on a farm, in a lovely, restful landscape, lived two people who +deserve to be remembered, Bowlin Green and his wife. They drew Lincoln +into the seclusion of their home, and there in the gleaming days of +autumn, when everywhere in the near woods flickered downward, slowly, +idly, the falling leaves golden and scarlet, Lincoln recovered his +equanimity.(11) But the hero of Pigeon Creek, of Clary's Grove, did not +quite come hack. In the outward life, to be sure, a day came when the +sunny story-teller, the victor of Jack Armstrong, was once more what +Jack would have called his real self. In the inner life where alone +was his reality, the temper which affliction had revealed to him was +established. Ever after, at heart, he was to dwell alone, facing, +silent, those inscrutable things which to the primitive mind are things +of every day. Always, he was to have for his portion in his real self, +the dimness of twilight, or at best, the night with its stars, "never +glad, confident morning again." + + + + +IV. REVELATIONS + +From this time during many years almost all the men who saw beyond the +surface in Lincoln have indicated, in one way or another, their vision +of a constant quality. The observers of the surface did not see it. +That is to say, Lincoln did not at once cast off any of his previous +characteristics. It is doubtful if he ever did. His experience was +tenaciously cumulative. Everything he once acquired, he retained, both +in the outer life and the inner; and therefore, to those who did not +have the clue to him, he appeared increasingly contradictory, one thing +on the surface, another within. Clary's Grove and the evolutions from +Clary's Grove, continued to think of him as their leader. On the other +hand, men who had parted with the mere humanism of Clary's Grove, who +were a bit analytical, who thought themselves still more analytical, +seeing somewhat beneath the surface, reached conclusions similar to +those of a shrewd Congressman who long afterward said that Lincoln was +not a leader of men but a manager of men.(1) This astute distinction +was not true of the Lincoln the Congressman confronted; nevertheless, it +betrays much both of the observer and of the man he tried to observe. In +the Congressman's day, what he thought he saw was in reality the shadow +of a Lincoln that had passed away, passed so slowly, so imperceptibly +that few people knew it had passed. During many years following 1835, +the distinction in the main applied. So thought the men who, like +Lincoln's latest law partner, William H. Herndon, were not derivatives +of Clary's Grove. The Lincoln of these days was the only one Herndon +knew. How deeply he understood Lincoln is justly a matter of debate; +but this, at least, he understood--that Clary's Grove, in attributing +to Lincoln its own idea of leadership, was definitely wrong. He saw in +Lincoln, in all the larger matters, a tendency to wait on events, to +take the lead indicated by events, to do what shallow people would have +called mere drifting. To explain this, he labeled him a fatalist.(2) The +label was only approximate, as most labels are. But Herndon's effort +to find one is significant. In these years, Lincoln took the +initiative--when he took it at all--in a way that most people did not +recognize. His spirit was ever aloof. It was only the every-day, the +external Lincoln that came into practical contact with his fellows. + +This is especially true of the growing politician. He served four +consecutive terms in the Legislature without doing anything that had +the stamp of true leadership. He was not like either of the two types of +politicians that generally made up the legislatures of those days--the +men who dealt in ideas as political counters, and the men who were +grafters without in their naive way knowing that they were grafters. +As a member of the Legislature, Lincoln did not deal in ideas. He was +instinctively incapable of graft A curiously routine politician, one who +had none of the earmarks familiar in such a person. Aloof, and yet, more +than ever companionable, the power he had in the Legislature--for he had +acquired a measure of power--was wholly personal. Though called a Whig, +it was not as a party man but as a personal friend that he was able to +carry through his legislative triumphs. His most signal achievement was +wholly a matter of personal politics. There was a general demand for +the removal of the capital from its early seat at Vandalia, and rivalry +among other towns was keen. Sangamon County was bent on winning +the prize for its own Springfield. Lincoln was put in charge of the +Springfield strategy. How he played his cards may be judged from the +recollections of another member who seems to have anticipated that noble +political maxim, "What's the Constitution between friends?" "Lincoln," +he says, "made Webb and me vote for the removal, though we belonged +to the southern end of the state. We defended our vote before our +constituents by saying that necessity would ultimately force the seat +of government to a central position; but in reality, we gave the vote +to Lincoln because we liked him, because we wanted to oblige our friend, +and because we recognized him as our leader."(3) + +And yet on the great issues of the day he could not lead them. In 1837, +the movement of the militant abolitionists, still but a few years old, +was beginning to set the Union by the ears. The illegitimate child +of Calvinism and the rights of man, it damned with one anathema every +holder of slaves and also every opponent of slavery except its own +uncompromising adherents. Its animosity was trained particularly on +every suggestion that designed to uproot slavery without creating an +economic crisis, that would follow England's example, and terminate the +"peculiar institution" by purchase. The religious side of abolition came +out in its fury against such ideas. Slave-holders were Canaanites. The +new cult were God's own people who were appointed to feel anew the joy +of Israel hewing Agag asunder. Fanatics, terrible, heroic, unashamed, +they made two sorts of enemies--not only the partisans of slavery, +but all those sane reformers who, while hating slavery, hated also the +blood-lust that would make the hewing of Agag a respectable device of +political science. Among the partisans of slavery were the majority +of the Illinois Legislature. Early in 1837, they passed resolutions +condemning abolitionism. Whereupon it was revealed--not that anybody +at the time cared to know the fact, or took it to heart--that among +the other sort of the enemies of abolition was our good young friend, +everybody's good friend, Abe Lincoln. He drew up a protest against +the Legislature's action; but for all his personal influence in other +affairs, he could persuade only one member to sign with him. Not his +to command at will those who "recognized him as their leader" in the +orthodox political game--so discreet, in that it left principles for +some one else to be troubled about! Lincoln's protest was quite too far +out of the ordinary for personal politics to endure it. The signers +were asked to proclaim their belief "that the institution of slavery is +founded on both injustice and bad policy; but that the promulgation of +abolition doctrines tends rather to promote than to abate its evils."(4) + +The singular originality of this position, sweeping aside as vain both +participants in the new political duel, was quite lost on the little +world in which Lincoln lived. For after-time it has the interest of a +bombshell that failed to explode. It is the dawn of Lincoln's intellect. +In his lonely inner life, this crude youth, this lover of books in a +village where books were curiosities, had begun to think. The stages of +his transition from mere story-telling yokel--intellectual only as the +artist is intellectual, in his methods of handling--to the man of ideas, +are wholly lost. And in this fact we have a prophecy of all the years +to come. Always we shall seek in vain for the early stages of Lincoln's +ideas. His mind will never reveal itself until the moment at which +it engages the world. No wonder, in later times, his close associates +pronounced him the most secretive of men; that one of the keenest of his +observers said that the more you knew of Lincoln, the less you knew of +him.(5) + +Except for the handicap of his surroundings, his intellectual start +would seem belated; even allowing for his handicap, it was certainly +slow. He was now twenty-eight. Pretty well on to reveal for the first +time intellectual power! Another characteristic here. His mind worked +slowly. But it is worth observing that the ideas of the protest were +never abandoned. Still a third characteristic, mental tenacity. To +the end of his days, he looked askance at the temper of abolitionism, +regarded it ever as one of the chief evils of political science. And +quite as significant was another idea of the protest which also had +developed from within, which also he never abandoned. + +On the question of the power of the national government with regard to +slavery, he took a position not in accord with either of the political +creeds of his day. The Democrats had already formulated their doctrine +that the national government was a thing of extremely limited powers, +the "glorified policeman" of a certain school of publicists reduced +almost to a minus quantity. The Whigs, though amiably vague on most +things except money-making by state aid, were supposed to stand for a +"strong central government". Abolitionism had forced on both parties a +troublesome question, "What about slavery in the District of Columbia, +where the national government was supreme?" The Democrats were prompt +in their reply: Let the glorified policeman keep the peace and leave +private interests, such as slave-holding, alone. The Whigs evaded, tried +not to apply their theory of "strong" government; they were fearful +lest they offend one part of their membership if they asserted that +the nation had no right to abolish slavery in the District, fearful of +offending others if they did not. Lincoln's protest asserted that "the +Congress of the United States has the power, under the Constitution, to +abolish slavery in the District of Columbia but the power ought not to +be exercised, unless at the request of the District." In other words, +Lincoln, when suddenly out of the storm and stress that followed Ann's +death his mentality flashes forth, has an attitude toward political +power that was not a consequence of his environment, that sets him +apart as a type of man rare in the history of statesmanship. What other +American politician of his day--indeed, very few politicians of any +day--would have dared to assert at once the existence of a power and +the moral obligation not to use it? The instinctive American mode of +limiting power is to deny its existence. Our politicians so deeply +distrust our temperament that whatever they may say for rhetorical +effect, they will not, whenever there is any danger of their being taken +at their word, trust anything to moral law. Their minds are normally +mechanical. The specific, statutory limitation is the only one that for +them has reality. The truth that temper in politics is as great a factor +as law was no more comprehensible to the politicians of 1837 than, +say Hamlet or The Last Judgment. But just this is what the crude young +Lincoln understood. Somehow he had found it in the depths of his own +nature. The explanation, if any, is to be found in his heredity. Out +of the shadowy parts of him, beyond the limits of his or any man's +conscious vision, dim, unexplored, but real and insistent as those +forest recesses from which his people came, arise the two ideas: the +faith in a mighty governing power; the equal faith that it should use +its might with infinite tenderness, that it should be slow to compel +results, even the result of righteousness, that it should be tolerant of +human errors, that it should transform them slowly, gradually, as do the +gradual forces of nature, as do the sun and the rain. + +And such was to be the real Lincoln whenever he spoke out, to the end. +His tonic was struck by his first significant utterance at the age of +twenty-eight. How inevitable that it should have no significance to the +congregation of good fellows who thought of him merely as one of their +own sort, who put up with their friend's vagary, and speedily forgot it. + +The moment was a dreary one in Lincoln's fortunes. By dint of much +reading of borrowed books, he had succeeded in obtaining from the +easy-going powers that were in those days, a license to practise law. In +the spring of 1837 he removed to Springfield. He had scarcely a dollar +in his pocket. Riding into Springfield on a borrowed horse, with all the +property he owned, including his law books, in two saddlebags, he went +to the only cabinet-maker in the town and ordered a single bedstead. +He then went to the store of Joshua F. Speed. The meeting, an immensely +eventful one for Lincoln, as well as a classic in the history of genius +in poverty, is best told in Speed's words: "He came into my store, set +his saddle-bags on the counter and inquired what the furnishings for a +single bedstead would cost. I took slate and pencil, made a calculation +and found the sum for furnishings complete, would amount to seventeen +dollars in all. Said he: 'It is probably cheap enough, but I want to +say that, cheap as it is, I have not the money to pay; but if you will +credit me until Christmas, and my experiment here as a lawyer is a +success, I will pay you then. If I fail in that I will probably never +pay you at all.' The tone of his voice was so melancholy that I felt for +him. I looked up at him and I thought then as I think now that I never +saw so gloomy and melancholy a face in my life. I said to him: 'So small +a debt seems to affect you so deeply, I think I can suggest a plan by +which you will be able to attain your end without incurring any debt. I +have a very large room and a very large double bed in it, which you are +perfectly welcome to share with me if you choose.' 'Where is your room?' +he asked. 'Up-stairs,' said I, pointing to the stairs leading from the +store to my room. Without saying a word, he took his saddle-bags on his +arm, went upstairs, set them down on the floor, came down again, and +with a face beaming with pleasure and smiles exclaimed, 'Well, Speed, +I'm moved.'"(6) + +This was the beginning of a friendship which appears to have been the +only one of its kind Lincoln ever had. Late in life, with his gifted +private secretaries, with one or two brilliant men whom he did not meet +until middle age, he had something like intimate comradeship. But +even they did not break the prevailing solitude of his inner life. His +aloofness of soul became a fixed condition. The one intruder in that +lonely inner world was Speed. In the great collection of Lincoln's +letters none have the intimate note except the letters to Speed. And +even these are not truly intimate with the exception of a single group +inspired all by the same train of events. The deep, instinctive reserve +of Lincoln's nature was incurable. The exceptional group of letters +involve his final love-affair. Four years after his removal to +Springfield, Lincoln became engaged to Miss Mary Todd. By that time he +had got a start at the law and was no longer in grinding poverty. If not +yet prosperous, he had acquired "prospects"--the strong likelihood of +better things to come so dear to the buoyant heart of the early West. + +Hospitable Springfield, some of whose best men had known him in the +Legislature, opened its doors to him. His humble origin, his poor +condition, were forgiven. In true Western fashion, he was frankly put +on trial to show what was in him. If he could "make good" no +further questions would be asked. And in every-day matters, his +companionableness rose to the occasion. Male Springfield was captivated +almost as easily as New Salem. + +But all this was of the outer life. If the ferment within was constant +between 1835 and 1840, the fact is lost in his taciturnity. But there is +some evidence of a restless emotional life. + +In the rebound after the woe following Ann's death, he had gone questing +after happiness--such a real thing to him, now that he had discovered +the terror of unhappiness--in a foolish half-hearted courtship of a +bouncing, sensible girl named Mary Owens, who saw that he was not really +in earnest, decided that he was deficient in those "little links that +make up a woman's happiness," and sent him about his business--rather, +on the whole, to his relief.(7) The affair with Miss Todd had a +different tone from the other. The lady was of another world socially. +The West in those days swarmed with younger sons, or the equivalents +of younger sons, seeking their fortunes, whom sisters and cousins were +frequently visiting. Mary Todd was sister-in-law to a leading citizen +of Springfield. Her origin was of Kentucky and Virginia, with definite +claims to distinction. Though a family genealogy mounts as high as the +sixth century, sober history is content with a grandfather and great +grandfather who were military men of some repute, two great uncles who +were governors, and another who was a cabinet minister. Rather imposing +contrasted with the family tree of the child of Thomas Lincoln and Nancy +Hanks! Even more significant was the lady's education. She had been to a +school where young ladies of similar social pretensions were allowed to +speak only the French language. She was keenly aware of the role marked +out for her by destiny, and quite convinced that she would always in +every way live up to it. + +The course of her affair with Lincoln did not run smooth. There were +wide differences of temperament; quarrels of some sort--just what, +gossip to this day has busied itself trying to discover--and on January +1, 1841, the engagement was broken. Before the end of the month he +wrote to his law partner apologizing for his inability to be coherent +on business matters. "For not giving you a general summary of news, +you must pardon me; it is not in my power to do so. I am now the most +miserable man living. If what I feel were distributed to the whole human +family, there would not be one cheerful face on earth. Whether I shall +ever be better, I can not tell. I awfully forebode I shall not. To +remain as I am is impossible. I must die or be better, it appears to me +. . . a change of scene might help me." + +His friend Speed became his salvation. Speed closed out his business and +carried Lincoln off to visit his own relations in Kentucky. It was the +devotion of Bowlin Green and his wife over again. But the psychology +of the event was much more singular. Lincoln, in the inner life, had +progressed a long way since the death of Ann, and the progress was +mainly in the way of introspection, of self-analysis. He had begun to +brood. As always, the change did not reveal itself until an event in the +outward life called it forth like a rising ghost from the abyss of his +silences. His friends had no suspicion that in his real self, beneath +the thick disguise of his external sunniness, he was forever brooding, +questioning, analyzing, searching after the hearts of things both within +and without.. + +"In the winter of 1840 and 1841," writes Speed, "he was unhappy about +the engagement to his wife--not being entirely satisfied that his heart +was going with his hand. How much he suffered then on that account, +none knew so well as myself; he disclosed his whole heart to me. In the +summer of 1841 I became engaged to my wife. He was here on a visit when +I courted her; and strange to say, something of the same feeling which +I regarded as so foolish in him took possession of me, and kept me very +unhappy from the time of my engagement until I was married. This will +explain the deep interest he manifested in his letters on my account.... +One thing is plainly discernible; if I had not been married and happy, +far more happy than I ever expected to be, he would not have married." + +Whether or not Speed was entirely right in his final conclusion, it is +plain that he and Lincoln were remarkably alike in temperament; that +whatever had caused the break in Lincoln's engagement was repeated in +his friend's experience when the latter reached a certain degree of +emotional tension; that this paralleling of Lincoln's own experience +in the experience of the friend so like himself, broke tip for once +the solitude of his inner life and delivered him from some dire inward +terror. Both men were deeply introspective. Each had that overpowering +sense of the emotional responsibilities of marriage, which is bred in +the bone of certain hyper-sensitive types--at least in the Anglo-Saxon +race. But neither realized this trait in himself until, having blithely +pursued his impulse to the point of committal, his spiritual conscience +suddenly awakened and he asked of his heart, "Do I truly love her? Am I +perfectly sure the emotion is permanent?" + +It is on this speculation that the unique group of the intimate letters +to Speed are developed. They were written after Lincoln's return to +Springfield, while Speed was wrestling with the demon of self-analysis. +In the period which they cover, Lincoln delivered himself from that same +demon and recovered Serenity. Before long he was writing: "I know what +the painful point with you is at all times when you are unhappy; it is +an apprehension that you do not love her as you should. What nonsense! +How came you to court her? Was it because you thought she deserved it +and that you had given her reason to expect it? If it was for that, why +did not the same reason make you court Ann Todd, and at least twenty +others of whom you can think, to whom it would apply with greater force +than to her? Did you court her for her wealth? Why, you said she had +none. But you say you reasoned yourself into it. What do you mean by +that? Was it not that you found yourself unable to reason yourself +out of it?" And much more of the same shrewd sensible sort,--a picture +unintentionally of his own state of mind no less than of his friend's. + +This strange episode reveals also that amid Lincoln's silences, while +the outward man appeared engrossed in everyday matters, the inward +man had been seeking religion. His failure to accept the forms of his +mother's creed did not rest on any lack of the spiritual need. Though +undefined, his religion glimmers at intervals through the Speed letters. +When Speed's fiancee fell ill and her tortured lover was in a paroxysm +of remorse and grief, Lincoln wrote: "I hope and believe that your +present anxiety and distress about her health and her life must and will +forever banish those horrid doubts which I know you sometimes felt as +to the truth of your affection for her. If they can once and forever +be removed (and I feel a presentment that the Almighty has sent your +present affliction expressly for that object) surely nothing can come +in their stead to fill their immeasurable measure of misery. . . Should +she, as you fear, be destined to an early grave, it is indeed a great +consolation to know she is so well prepared to meet it." + +Again he wrote: "I was always superstitious. I believe God made me one +of the instruments of bringing you and your Fanny together, which union +I have no doubt lie had foreordained. Whatever He designs He will do for +me yet. 'Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord' is my text now." + +The duality in self-torture of these spiritual brethren endured in all +about a year and a half, and closed with Speed's marriage. Lincoln was +now entirely delivered from his demon. He wrote Speed a charming letter, +serene, affectionate, touched with gentle banter, valiant though with +a hint of disillusion as to their common type. "I tell you, Speed, our +forebodings (for which you and I are peculiar) are all the worst sort +of nonsense. . You say you much fear that that elysium of which you have +dreamed so much is never to be realized. Well, if it shall not, I dare +swear it will not be the fault of her who is now your wife. I have no +doubt that it is the peculiar misfortune of both you and me to +dream dreams of elysium far exceeding all that anything earthly can +realize."(8) + + + + +V. PROSPERITY + +How Lincoln's engagement was patched up is as delicious an uncertainty, +from gossip's point of view, as how it had been broken off. Possibly, as +many people have asserted, it was brought about by an event of which, in +the irony of fate, Lincoln ever after felt ashamed.(1) An impulsive, +not overwise politician, James Shields, a man of many peculiarities, was +saucily lampooned in a Springfield paper by some jaunty girls, one of +whom was Miss Todd. + +Somehow,--the whole affair is very dim,--Lincoln acted as their literary +adviser. Shields demanded the name of his detractor; Lincoln assumed +the responsibility; a challenge followed. Lincoln was in a ridiculous +position. He extricated himself by a device which he used more than once +thereafter; he gravely proposed the impossible. He demanded conditions +which would have made the duel a burlesque--a butcher's match with +cavalry broadswords. But Shields, who was flawlessly literal, insisted. +The two met and only on the dueling ground was the quarrel at last +talked into oblivion by the seconds. Whether this was the cause of the +reconciliation with Miss Todd, or a consequence, or had nothing to do +with it, remains for the lovers of the unimportant to decide. The only +sure fact in this connection is the marriage which took place November +4, 1842.(2) + +Mrs. Lincoln's character has been much discussed. Gossip, though with +very little to go on, has built up a tradition that the marriage was +unhappy. If one were to believe the half of what has been put in print, +one would have to conclude that the whole business was a wretched +mistake; that Lincoln found married life intolerable because of the +fussily dictatorial self-importance of his wife. But the authority +for all these tales is meager. Not one is traceable to the parties +themselves. Probably it will never be known till the end of time what +is false in them, what true. About all that can be disengaged from this +cloud of illusive witnesses is that Springfield wondered why Mary Todd +married Lincoln. He was still poor; so poor that after marriage they +lived at the Globe Tavern on four dollars a week. And the lady had been +sought by prosperous men! The lowliness of Lincoln's origin went ill +with her high notions of her family's importance. She was downright, +high-tempered, dogmatic, but social; he was devious, slow to wrath, +tentative, solitary; his very appearance, then as afterward, was +against him. Though not the hideous man he was later made out to be--the +"gorilla" of enemy caricaturists--he was rugged of feature, with a lower +lip that tended to protrude. His immense frame was thin and angular; his +arms were inordinately long; hands, feet and eyebrows were large; skin +swarthy; hair coarse, black and generally unkempt. Only the amazing, +dreamful eyes, and a fineness in the texture of the skin, redeemed the +face and gave it distinction.(3) Why did precise, complacent Miss Todd +pick out so strange a man for her mate? The story that she married +him for ambition, divining what he was to be--like Jane Welsh in the +conventional story of Carlyle--argues too much of the gift of prophecy. +Whatever her motive, it is more than likely that she was what the +commercialism of to-day would call an "asset." She had certain qualities +that her husband lacked. For one, she had that intuition for the main +chance which shallow people confound with practical judgment. Her soul +inhabited the obvious; but within the horizon of the obvious she was +shrewd, courageous and stubborn. Not any danger that Mary Lincoln would +go wandering after dreams, visions, presences, such as were drifting +ever in a ghostly procession at the back of her husband's mind. There +was a danger in him that was to grow with the years, a danger that the +outer life might be swamped by the inner, that the ghosts within might +carry him away with them, away from fact--seeking-seeking. That this +never occurred may be fairly credited, or at least very plausibly +credited, to the firm-willed, the utterly matter-of-fact little person +he had married. How far he enjoyed the mode of his safe-guarding is a +fruitless speculation. + +Another result that may, perhaps, be due to Mary Lincoln was the +improvement in his fortunes. However, this may have had no other source +than a distinguished lawyer whose keen eyes had been observing him +since his first appearance in politics. Stephen T. Logan "had that +old-fashioned, lawyer-like morality which was keenly intolerant of any +laxity or slovenliness of mind or character." He had, "as he deserved, +the reputation of being the best nisi prius lawyer in the state."(4) +After watching the gifted but ill-prepared young attorney during several +years, observing the power he had of simplification and convincingness +in statement, taking the measure of his scrupulous honesty--these were +ever Lincoln's strong cards as a lawyer--Logan made him the surprising +offer of a junior partnership, which was instantly accepted. That was +when his inner horizon was brightening, shortly before his marriage. A +period of great mental energy followed, about the years 1842 and 1843. +Lincoln threw himself into the task of becoming a real lawyer under +Logan's direction. However, his zeal flagged after a time, and when the +partnership ended four years later he had to some extent fallen back +into earlier, less strenuous habits. "He permitted his partner to do all +the studying in the preparation of cases, while he himself trusted to +his general knowledge of the law and the inspiration of the surroundings +to overcome the judge or the jury."(5) Though Lincoln was to undergo +still another stimulation of the scholarly conscience before finding +himself as a lawyer, the four years with Logan were his true student +period. If the enthusiasm of the first year did not hold out, none the +less he issued from that severe course of study a changed man, one who +knew the difference between the learned lawyer and the unlearned. His +own methods, to be sure, remained what they always continued to be, +unsystematic, not to say slipshod. Even after he became president his +lack of system was at times the despair of his secretaries.(6) Herndon, +who succeeded Logan as his partner, and who admired both men, has a +broad hint that Logan and Lincoln were not always an harmonious firm. +A clash of political ambitions is part explanation; business methods +another. "Logan was scrupulously exact and used extraordinary care in +the preparation of papers. His words were well chosen, and his style +of composition was stately and formal."(7) He was industrious and very +thrifty, while Lincoln had "no money sense." It must have annoyed, if it +did not exasperate his learned and formal partner, when Lincoln signed +the firm name to such letters as this: "As to real estate, we can +not attend to it. We are not real estate agents, we are lawyers. We +recommend that you give the charge of it to Mr. Isaac S. Britton, +a trust-worthy man and one whom the Lord made on purpose for such +business."(8) + +Superficial observers, then and afterward, drew the conclusion that +Lincoln was an idler. Long before, as a farm-hand, he had been called +"bone idle."(9) And of the outer Lincoln, except under stress of need, +or in spurts of enthusiasm, as in the earlier years with Logan, this +reckless comment had its base of fact. The mighty energy that was in +Lincoln, a tireless, inexhaustible energy, was inward, of the spirit; it +did not always ramify into the sensibilities and inform his outer life. +The connecting link of the two, his mere intelligence, though constantly +obedient to demands of the outer life, was not susceptible of great +strain except on demand of the spiritual vision. Hence his attitude +toward the study of the law. It thrilled and entranced him, called into +play all his powers--observation, reflection, intelligence--just so +long as it appeared in his imagination a vast creative effort of the +spiritual powers, of humanity struggling perilously to see justice done +upon earth, to let reason and the will of God prevail. It lost its +hold upon him the instant it became a thing of technicalities, of mere +learning, of statutory dialectics. + +The restless, inward Lincoln, dwelling deep among spiritual shadows, +found other outlets for his energy during these years when he was +establishing himself at the bar. He continued to be a voracious reader. +And his reading had taken a skeptical turn. Volney and Paine were now +his intimates. The wave of ultra-rationalism that went over America in +the 'forties did not spare many corners of the land. In Springfield, as +in so many small towns, it had two effects: those who were not touched +by it hardened into jealous watchfulness, and their religion naturally +enough became fiercely combative; those who responded to the new +influence became a little affected philosophically, a bit effervescent. +The young men, when of serious mind, and all those who were reformers by +temperament, tended to exalt the new, to patronize, if not to ridicule +the old. At Springfield, as at many another frontier town wracked by +its growing pains, a Young Men's Lyceum confessed the world to be out of +joint, and went to work glibly to set it right. Lincoln had contributed +to its achievements. An oration of his on "Perpetuation of Our Free +Institutions,"(10) a mere rhetorical "stunt" in his worst vein now +deservedly forgotten, so delighted the young men that they asked to have +it printed--quite as the same sort of young men to-day print essays on +cubism, or examples of free verse read to poetry societies. Just what +views he expressed on things in general among the young men and others; +how far he aired his acquaintance with the skeptics, is imperfectly +known.(11) However, a rumor got abroad that he was an "unbeliever," +which was the easy label for any one who disagreed in religion with the +person who applied it. The rumor was based in part on a passage in an +address on temperance. In 1842, Lincoln, who had always been abstemious, +joined that Washington Society which aimed at a reformation in the use +of alcohol. His address was delivered at the request of the society. +It contained this passage, very illuminating in its light upon the +generosity, the real humility of the speaker, but scarcely tactful, +considering the religious susceptibility of the hour: "If they (the +Christians) believe as they profess, that Omnipotence condescended to +take on himself the form of sinful man, and as such die an ignominious +death, surely they will not refuse submission to the infinitely lesser +condescension for the temporal and perhaps eternal salvation of a large, +erring and unfortunate class of their fellow creatures! Nor is the +condescension very great. In my judgment such of us as have never fallen +victims have been spared more from the absence of appetite than from any +mental or moral superiority over those who have. Indeed, I believe, if +we take habitual drunkards as a class, their heads and their hearts will +bear an advantageous comparison with those of any other class."(12) How +like that remark attributed to another great genius, one whom Lincoln +in some respects resembled, the founder of Methodism, when he said of a +passing drunkard: "There goes John Wesley, except for the Grace of God." +But the frontier zealots of the 'forties were not of the Wesley type. +The stories of Lincoln's skeptical interests, the insinuations which +were promptly read into this temperance address, the fact that he was +not a church-member, all these were seized upon by a good but very +narrow man, a devoted, illiterate evangelist, Peter Cartwright. + +In 1846, this religious issue became a political issue. The Whigs +nominated Lincoln for Congress. It was another instance of personal +politics. The local Whig leaders had made some sort of private +agreement, the details of which appear to be lost, but according to +which Lincoln now became the inevitable candidate.(13) He was nominated +without opposition. The Democrats nominated Cartwright. + +Two charges were brought against Lincoln: that he was an infidel, +and that he was--of all things in the world!--an aristocrat. On these +charges the campaign was fought. The small matter of what he would do at +Washington, or would not do, was brushed aside. Personal politics with +a vengeance! The second charge Lincoln humorously and abundantly +disproved; the first, he met with silence. + +Remembering Lincoln's unfailing truthfulness, remembering also his +restless ambition, only one conclusion can be drawn from this silence. +He could not categorically deny Cartwright's accusation and at the same +time satisfy his own unsparing conception of honesty. That there was +no real truth in the charge of irreligion, the allusions in the Speed +letters abundantly prove. The tone is too sincere to be doubted; +nevertheless, they give no clue to his theology. And for men like +Cartwright, religion was tied up hand and foot in theology. Here was +where Lincoln had parted company from his mother's world, and from its +derivatives. Though he held tenaciously to all that was mystical in +her bequest to him, he rejected early its formulations. The evidence of +later years reaffirms this double fact. The sense of a spiritual world +behind, beyond the world of phenomena, grew on him with the years; the +power to explain, to formulate that world was denied him. He had no +bent for dogma. Ethically, mystically, he was always a Christian; +dogmatically he knew not what he was. Therefore, to the challenge to +prove himself a Christian on purely dogmatic grounds, he had no reply. +To attempt to explain what separated him from his accusers, to show how +from his point of view they were all Christian--although, remembering +their point of view, he hesitated to say so--to draw the line between +mysticism and emotionalism, would have resulted only in a worse +confusion. Lincoln, the tentative mystic, the child of the starlit +forest, was as inexplicable to Cartwright with his perfectly downright +religion, his creed of heaven or hell--take your choice and be quick +about it!--as was Lincoln the spiritual sufferer to New Salem, or +Lincoln the political scientist to his friends in the Legislature. + +But he was not injured by his silence. The faith in him held by too many +people was too well established. Then, as always thereafter, whatever +he said or left unsaid, most thoughtful persons who came close to him +sensed him as a religious man. That was enough for healthy, generous +young Springfield. He and Cartwright might fight out their religious +issues when they pleased, Abe should have his term in Congress. He was +elected by a good majority.(14) + + + + +VI. UNSATISFYING RECOGNITION + +Lincoln's career as a Congressman, 1847-1849, was just what might have +been expected--his career in the Illinois Legislature on a larger scale. +It was a pleasant, companionable, unfruitful episode, with no political +significance. The leaders of the party did not take him seriously as a +possible initiate to their ranks. His course was that of a loyal member +of the Whig mass. In the party strategy, during the debates over the +Mexican War and the Wilmot Proviso, he did his full party duty, voting +just as the others did. Only once did he attempt anything original--a +bill to emancipate the slaves of the District, which was little more +than a restatement of his protest of ten years before--and on this point +Congress was as indifferent as the Legislature had been. The bill was +denied a hearing and never came to a vote before the House.(1) + +And yet Lincoln did not fail entirely to make an impression at +Washington. And again it was the Springfield experience repeated. His +companionableness was recognized, his modesty, his good nature; above +all, his story-telling. Men liked him. Plainly it was his humor, his +droll ways, that won them; together with instant recognition of his +sterling integrity. + +"During the Christmas holidays," says Ben Perley Poore, "Mr. Lincoln +found his way into the small room used as the Post Office of the House, +where a few genial reconteurs used to meet almost every morning after +the mail had been distributed into the members' boxes, to exchange such +new stories as any of them might have acquired since they had last met. +After modestly standing at the door for several days, Mr. Lincoln was +reminded of a story, and by New Year's he was recognized as the champion +story-teller of the Capital. His favorite seat was at the left of the +open fireplace, tilted back in his chair with his long legs reaching +over to the chimney jamb."(2) + +In the words of another contemporary, "Congressman Lincoln was very fond +of howling and would frequently. . . meet other members in a match game +at the alley of James Casparus. . . . He was an awkward bowler, but +played the game with great zest and spirit solely for exercise and +amusement, and greatly to the enjoyment and entertainment of the other +players, and by reason of his criticisms and funny illustrations. . . . +When it was known that he was in the alley, there would assemble numbers +of people to witness the fun which was anticipated by those who knew +of his fund of anecdotes and jokes. When in the alley, surrounded by a +crowd of eager listeners, he indulged with great freedom in the sport of +narrative, some of which were very broad."(3) + +Once, at least, he entertained Congress with an exhibition of his humor, +and this, oddly enough, is almost the only display of it that has come +down to us, first hand. Lincoln's humor has become a tradition. Like +everything else in his outward life, it changed gradually with his slow +devious evolution from the story-teller of Pigeon Creek to the author +of the Gettysburg Oration. It is known chiefly through translation. The +"Lincoln Stories" are stories someone else has told who may or may not +have heard them told by Lincoln. They are like all translations, they +express the translator not the original--final evidence that Lincoln's +appeal as a humorist was in his manner, his method, not in his +substance. "His laugh was striking. Such awkward gestures belonged to no +other man. They attracted universal attention from the old sedate down +to the schoolboy."(4) He was a famous mimic. + +Lincoln is himself the authority that he did not invent his stories. +He picked them up wherever he found them, and clothed them with the +peculiar drollery of his telling. He was a wag rather than a wit. All +that lives in the second-hand repetitions of his stories is the +mere core, the original appropriated thing from which the inimitable +decoration has fallen off. That is why the collections of his stories +are such dreary reading,--like Carey's Dante, or Bryant's Homer. And +strange to say, there is no humor in his letters. This man who +was famous as a wag writes to his friends almost always in perfect +seriousness, often sadly. The bit of humor that has been preserved +in his one comic speech in Congress,--a burlesque of the Democratic +candidate of 1848, Lewis Cass,--shorn as it is of his manner, his tricks +of speech and gesture, is hardly worth repeating.(5) + +Lincoln was deeply humiliated by his failure to make a serious +impression at Washington.(6) His eyes opened in a startled realization +that there were worlds he could not conquer. The Washington of the +'forties was far indeed from a great capital; it was as friendly to +conventional types of politician as was Springfield or Vandalia. The man +who could deal in ideas as political counters, the other man who knew +the subtleties of the art of graft, both these were national as well as +local figures. Personal politics were also as vicious at Washington as +anywhere; nevertheless, there was a difference, and in that difference +lay the secret of Lincoln's failure. He was keen enough to grasp the +difference, to perceive the clue to his failure. In a thousand ways, +large and small, the difference came home to him. It may all be +symbolized by a closing detail of his stay. An odd bit of incongruity +was the inclusion of his name in the list of managers of the Inaugural +Ball of 1849. Nothing of the sort had hitherto entered into his +experience. As Mrs. Lincoln was not with him he joined "a small party of +mutual friends" who attended the ball together. As one of them relates, +"he was greatly interested in all that was to be seen and we did not +take our departure until three or four o'clock in the morning."(7) +What an ironic picture--this worthy provincial, the last word for +awkwardness, socially as strange to such a scene as a little child, +spending the whole night gazing intently at everything he could see, +at the barbaric display of wealth, the sumptuous gowns, the brilliant +uniforms, the distinguished foreigners, and the leaders of America, men +like Webster and Clay, with their air of assured power, the men he had +failed to impress. This was his valedictory at Washington. He went home +and told Herndon that he had committed political suicide.(8) He had met +the world and the world was too strong for him. + +And yet, what was wrong? He had been popular at Washington, in the same +way in which he had been popular at Springfield. Why had the same sort +of success inspired him at Springfield and humiliated him at +Washington? The answer was in the difference between the two worlds. +Companionableness, story-telling, at Springfield, led to influence; at +Washington it led only to applause. At Springfield it was a means; at +Washington it was an end. The narrow circle gave the good fellow an +opportunity to reveal at his leisure everything else that was in him; +the larger circle ruthlessly put him in his place as a good fellow and +nothing more. The truth was that in the Washington of the 'forties, +neither the inner nor the outer Lincoln could by itself find lodgment. +Neither the lonely mystical thinker nor the captivating buffoon could do +more than ripple its surface. As superficial as Springfield, it lacked +Springfield's impulsive generosity. To the long record of its obtuseness +it had added another item. The gods had sent it a great man and it had +no eyes to see. It was destined to repeat the performance. + +And so Lincoln came home, disappointed, disillusioned. He had not +succeeded in establishing the slightest claim, either upon the country +or his party. Without such claim he had no ground for attempting +reelection. The frivolity of the Whig machine in the Sangamon region +was evinced by their rotation agreement. Out of such grossly personal +politics Lincoln had gone to Washington; into this essentially corrupt +system he relapsed. He faced, politically, a blank wall. And he had +within him as yet, no consciousness of any power that might cleave the +wall asunder. What was he to do next? + +At this dangerous moment--so plainly the end of a chapter--he was +offered the governorship of the new Territory of Oregon. For the first +time he found himself at a definite parting of the ways, where a sheer +act of will was to decide things; where the pressure of circumstance was +of secondary importance. + +In response to this crisis, an overlooked part of him appeared. The +inheritance from his mother, from the forest, had always been obvious. +But, after all, he was the son not only of Nancy and of the lonely +stars, but also of shifty, drifty Thomas the unstable. If it was not +his paternal inheritance that revived in him at this moment of confessed +failure, it was something of the same sort. Just as Thomas had always +by way of extricating himself from a failure taken to the road, now +Abraham, at a psychological crisis, felt the same wanderlust, and he +threatened to go adrift. Some of his friends urged him to accept. "You +will capture the new community," said they, "and when Oregon becomes a +State, you will go to Washington as its first Senator." What a +glorified application of the true Thomasian line of thought. Lincoln +hesitated--hesitated-- + +And then the forcible little lady who had married him put her foot down. +Go out to that far-away backwoods, just when they were beginning to get +on in the world; when real prosperity at Springfield was surely within +their grasp; when they were at last becoming people of importance, who +should be able to keep their own carriage? Not much! + +Her husband declined the appointment and resumed the practice of law in +Springfield.(9) + + + + +VII. THE SECOND START + +Stung by his failure at Washington, Lincoln for a time put his whole +soul into the study of the law. He explained his failure to himself as +a lack of mental training.(1) There followed a repetition of his early +years with Logan, but with very much more determination, and with more +abiding result. + +In those days in Illinois, as once in England, the judges held court in +a succession of towns which formed a circuit. Judge and lawyers +moved from town to town, "rode the circuit" in company,--sometimes on +horseback, sometimes in their own vehicles, sometimes by stage. Among +the reminiscences of Lincoln on the circuit, are his "poky" old horse +and his "ramshackle" old buggy. Many and many a mile, round and round +the Eighth Judicial Circuit, he traveled in that humble style. What +thoughts he brooded on in his lonely drives, he seldom told. During +this period the cloud over his inner life is especially dense. The outer +life, in a multitude of reminiscences, is well known. One of its salient +details was the large proportion of time he devoted to study. + +"Frequently, I would go out on the circuit with him," writes Herndon. +"We, usually, at the little country inn, occupied the same bed. In most +cases, the beds were too short for him and his feet would hang over the +footboard, thus exposing a limited expanse of shin bone. Placing his +candle at the head of his bed he would read and study for hours. I have +known him to stay in this position until two o'clock in the morning. +Meanwhile, I and others who chanced to occupy the same room would be +safely and soundly asleep. On the circuit, in this way, he studied +Euclid until he could with ease demonstrate all the propositions in +the six books. How he could maintain his equilibrium or concentrate his +thoughts on an abstract mathematical problem, while Davis, Logan, Swett, +Edwards and I, so industriously and volubly filled the air with our +interminable snoring, was a problem none of, us--could ever solve."(2) + +A well-worn copy of Shakespeare was also his constant companion. + +He rose rapidly in the profession; and this in spite of his incorrigible +lack of system. The mechanical side of the lawyer's task, now, as in the +days with Logan, annoyed him; he left the preparation of papers to his +junior partner, as formerly he left it to his senior partner. But the +situation had changed in a very important way. In Herndon, Lincoln had +for a partner a talented young man who looked up to him, almost adored +him, who was quite willing to be his man Friday. Fortunately, for all +his adoration, Herndon had no desire to idealize his hero. He was not +disturbed by his grotesque or absurd sides. + +"He was proverbially careless as to his habits," Herndon writes. "In a +letter to a fellow lawyer in another town, apologizing for his failure +to answer sooner, he explains: 'First, I have been very busy in the +United States Court; second, when I received the letter, I put it in my +old hat, and buying a new one the next day, the old one was set aside, +so the letter was lost sight of for the time.' This hat of Lincoln's--a +silk plug--was an extraordinary receptacle. It was his desk and his +memorandum book. In it he carried his bank-book and the bulk of his +letters. Whenever in his reading or researches, he wished to preserve +an idea, he jotted it down on an envelope or stray piece of paper and +placed it inside the lining; afterwards, when the memorandum was needed, +there was only one place to look for it." Herndon makes no bones about +confessing that their office was very dirty. So neglected was it that a +young man of neat habits who entered the office as a law student under +Lincoln could not refrain from cleaning it up, and the next visitor +exclaimed in astonishment, "What's happened here!"(3) + +"The office," says that same law student, "was on the second floor of a +brick building on the public square opposite the courthouse. You went +up a flight of stairs and then passed along a hallway to the rear office +which was a medium sized room. There was one long table in the center of +the room, and a shorter one running in the opposite direction forming a +T and both were covered with green baize. There were two windows which +looked into the back yard. In one corner was an old-fashioned secretary +with pigeonholes and a drawer; and here Mr. Lincoln and his partner kept +their law papers. There was also a bookcase containing about two hundred +volumes of law and miscellaneous books." The same authority adds, "There +was no order in the office at all." Lincoln left all the money matters +to Herndon. "He never entered an item on the account book. If a fee was +paid to him and Herndon was not there, he would divide the money, +wrap up one part in paper and place it in his partner's desk with the +inscription, 'Case of Roe versus Doe, Herndon's half.' He had an odd +habit of reading aloud much to his partner's annoyance. He talked +incessantly; a whole forenoon would sometimes go by while Lincoln +occupied the whole time telling stories."(4) + +On the circuit, his story-telling was an institution. Two other men, +long since forgotten, vied with him as rival artists in humorous +narrative. These three used to hold veritable tournaments. Herndon has +seen "the little country tavern where these three were wont to meet +after an adjournment of court, crowded almost to suffocation, with +an audience of men who had gathered to witness the contest among the +members of the strange triumvirate. The physicians of the town, all the +lawyers, and not infrequently a preacher, could be found in the crowd +that filled the doors and windows. The yarns they spun and the stories +they told would not bear repetition here, but many of them had morals +which, while exposing the weakness of mankind, stung like a whiplash. +Some were, no doubt, a thousand years old, with just enough of verbal +varnish and alterations of names and date to make them new and crisp. By +virtue of the last named application, Lincoln was enabled to draw from +Balzac a 'droll story' and locating it 'in Egypt' (Southern Illinois) +or in Indiana, pass it off for a purely original conception. . . I have +seen Judge Treat, who was the very impersonation of gravity itself, sit +up till the last and laugh until, as he often expressed it, 'he almost +shook his ribs loose.' The next day he would ascend the bench and listen +to Lincoln in a murder trial with all the seeming severity of an English +judge in wig and gown."(5) + +Lincoln enjoyed the life on the circuit. It was not that he was always +in a gale of spirits; a great deal of the time he brooded. His Homeric +nonsense alternated with fits of gloom. In spite of his late hours, +whether of study or of story-telling, he was an early riser. "He would +sit by the fire having uncovered the coals, and muse and ponder and +soliloquize."(6) Besides his favorite Shakespeare, he had a fondness for +poetry of a very different sort--Byron, for example. And he never tired +of a set of stanzas in the minor key beginning: "Oh, why should the +spirit of mortal be proud?"(7) + +The hilarity of the circuit was not by any means the whole of its charm +for him. Part of that charm must have been the contrast with his recent +failure at Washington. This world he could master. Here his humor +increased his influence; and his influence grew rapidly. He was a +favorite of judges, jury and the bar. Then, too, it was a man's world. +Though Lincoln had a profound respect for women, he seems generally to +have been ill at ease in their company. In what his friends would have +called "general society" he did not shine. He was too awkward, too +downright, too lacking in the niceties. At home, though he now owned +a house and was making what seemed to him plenty of money, he was +undoubtedly a trial to Mrs. Lincoln's sense of propriety. He could not +rise with his wife, socially. He was still what he had become so long +before, the favorite of all the men--good old Abe Lincoln that you could +tie to though it rained cats and dogs. But as to the ladies! Fashionable +people calling on Mrs. Lincoln, had been received by her husband in his +shirt-sleeves, and he totally unabashed, as oblivious of discrepancy +as if he were a nobleman and not a nobody.(8) The dreadful tradition +persists that he had been known at table to put his own knife into the +butter. + +How safe to assume that many things were said commiserating poor Mrs. +Lincoln who had a bear for a husband. And some people noticed that +Lincoln did not come home at week-ends during term-time as often as he +might. Perhaps it meant something; perhaps it did not. But there could +be no doubt that the jovial itinerant life of the circuit was the life +for him--at least in the early 'fifties. That it was, and also that +he was becoming known as a lawyer, is evinced by his refusal of a +flattering invitation to enter a prosperous firm in Chicago. + +Out of all this came a deepening of his power to reach and impress +men through words. The tournament of the story-tellers was a lawyers' +tournament. The central figure was reading, studying, thinking, as never +in his life before. Though his fables remained as broad as ever, the +merely boisterous character ceased to predominate. The ethical bent of +his mind came to the surface. His friends were agreed that what they +remembered chiefly of his stories was not the broad part of them, but +the moral that was in them.(9) And they had no squeamishness as critics +of the art of fable-making. + +His ethical sense of things, his companionableness, the utterly +non-censorious cast of his mind, his power to evolve yarns into +parables--all these made him irresistible with a jury. It was a saying +of his: "If I can divest this case of technicalities and swing it to the +jury, I'll win it."(10) + +But there was not a trace in him of that unscrupulousness usually +attributed to the "jury lawyer." Few things show more plainly the +central unmovableness of his character than his immunity to the lures of +jury speaking. To use his power over an audience for his own enjoyment, +for an interested purpose, for any purpose except to afford pleasure, +or to see justice done, was for him constitutionally impossible. Such +a performance was beyond the reach of his will. In a way, his nature, +mysterious as it was, was also the last word for simplicity, a terrible +simplicity. The exercise of his singular powers was irrevocably +conditioned on his own faith in the moral justification of what he was +doing. He had no patience with any conception of the lawyer's function +that did not make him the devoted instrument of justice. For the law as +a game, for legal strategy, he felt contempt. Never under any conditions +would he attempt to get for a client more than he was convinced the +client in justice ought to have. The first step in securing his services +was always to persuade him that one's cause was just He sometimes threw +up a case in open court because the course of it had revealed deception +on the part of the client. At times he expressed his disdain of the +law's mere commercialism in a stinging irony. + +"In a closely contested civil suit," writes his associate, Ward Hill +Lamon, "Lincoln proved an account for his client, who was, though he did +not know it at the time, a very slippery fellow. The opposing attorney +then proved a receipt clearly covering the entire cause of action. By +the time he was through Lincoln was missing. The court sent for him to +the hotel. 'Tell the Judge,' said he, 'that I can't come; my hands are +dirty and I came over to clean them.'"(11) + +"Discourage litigation," he wrote. "Persuade your neighbors to +compromise whenever you can. Point out to them how the nominal winner +is often a real loser, in fees, expenses, and waste of time. As a +peacemaker, the lawyer has a Superior Opportunity of being a good man. +There will still be business enough."(12) + +He held his moral and professional views with the same inflexibility +with which he held his political views. Once he had settled upon a +conviction or an opinion, nothing could move him. He was singularly +stubborn, and yet, in all the minor matters of life, in all his merely +personal concerns, in everything except his basal ideas, he was pliable +to a degree. He could be talked into almost any concession of interest. +He once told Herndon he thanked God that he had not been born a woman +because he found it so hard to refuse any request made of him. His +outer easiness, his lack of self-assertion,--as most people understand +self-assertion,--persist in an amusing group of anecdotes of the +circuit. Though he was a favorite with the company at every tavern, +those little demagogues, the tavern-keepers, quickly found out that +he could be safely put upon. In the minute but important favoritism +of tavern life, in the choice of rooms, in the assignment of seats at +table, in the distribution of delicacies, easy-going Lincoln was ever +the first one to be ignored. "He never complained of the food, bed, or +lodgings," says a judge of the circuit, David Davis. "If every other +fellow grumbled at the bill of fare which greeted us at many of the +dingy taverns, Lincoln said nothing."(13) + +But his complacency was of the surface only. His ideas were his own. +He held to them with dogged tenacity. Herndon was merely the first +of several who discerned on close familiarity Lincoln's inward +inflexibility. "I was never conscious," he writes, "of having made much +of an impression on Mr. Lincoln, nor do I believe I ever changed his +views. I will go further and say that from the profound nature of his +conclusions and the labored method by which he arrived at them, no man +is entitled to the credit of having either changed or greatly modified +them."(14) + +In these years of the early 'fifties, Herndon had much occasion to test +his partner's indifference to other men's views, his tenacious adherence +to his own. Herndon had become an Abolitionist. He labored to convert +Lincoln; but it was a lost labor. The Sphinx in a glimmer of sunshine +was as unassailable as the cheery, fable-loving, inflexible Lincoln. The +younger man would work himself up, and, flushed with ardor, warn Lincoln +against his apparent conservatism when the needs of the hour were so +great; but his only answer would be, "Billy, you are too rampant and +spontaneous."(15) + +Nothing could move him from his fixed conviction that the temper of +Abolitionism made it pernicious. He persisted in classifying it with +slavery,--both of equal danger to free institutions. He took occasion +to reassert this belief in the one important utterance of a political +nature that commemorates this period. An oration on the death of Henry +Clay, contains the sentence: "Cast into life when slavery was already +widely spread and deeply sealed, he did not perceive, as I think no wise +man has perceived, how it could be at once eradicated without producing +a greater evil even to the cause of human liberty itself."(16) + +It will be remembered that the Abolitionists were never strongly +national in sentiment. In certain respects they remind one of the +extreme "internationals" of to-day. Their allegiance was not first of +all to Society, nor to governments, but to abstract ideas. For all such +attitudes in political science, Lincoln had an instinctive aversion. He +was permeated always, by his sense of the community, of the +obligation to work in terms of the community. Even the prejudices, the +shortsightedness of the community were things to be considered, to be +dealt with tenderly. Hence his unwillingness to force reforms upon a +community not ripe to receive them. In one of his greatest speeches +occurs the dictum: "A universal feeling whether well or ill-founded, can +not be safely disregarded."(17) Anticipating such ideas, he made in his +Clay oration, a startling denunciation of both the extreme factions of + +"Those (Abolitionists) who would shiver into fragments the union of +these States, tear to tatters its now 'venerated Constitution, and even +burn the last copy of the Bible rather than slavery should continue a +single hour; together with all their more halting sympathizers, have +received and are receiving their just execration; and the name and +opinion and influence of Mr. Clay are fully and, as I trust, effectually +and enduringly arrayed against them. But I would also if I could, array +his name, opinion and influence against the opposite extreme, against +a few, but increasing number of men who, for the sake of perpetuating +slavery, are beginning to assail and ridicule the white man's charter of +freedom, the declaration that 'all men are created free and equal.'"(18) + +In another passage he stated what he conceived to be the central +inspiration of Clay. Had he been thinking of himself, he could not +have foreshadowed more exactly the basal drift of all his future as a +statesman: + +"He loved his country partly because it was his own country, and +mostly because it was a free country; and he burned with a zeal for +its advancement, prosperity, and glory, because he saw in such the +advancement, prosperity and glory of human liberty, human right and +human nature."(19) + + + + +VIII. A RETURN TO POLITICS + +Meanwhile, great things were coming forward at Washington. They centered +about a remarkable man with whom Lincoln had hitherto formed a curious +parallel, by whom hitherto he had been completely overshadowed. Stephen +Arnold Douglas was prosecuting attorney at Springfield when Lincoln +began the practice of law. They were in the Legislature together. Both +courted Mary Todd. Soon afterward, Douglas had distanced his rival. When +Lincoln went to the House of Representatives as a Whig, Douglas went +to the Senate as a Democrat. While Lincoln was failing at Washington, +Douglas was building a national reputation. In the hubbub that followed +the Compromise of 1850, while Lincoln, abandoning politics, immersed +himself in the law, Douglas rendered a service to the country by +defeating a movement in Illinois to reject the Compromise. When the +Democratic National Convention assembled in 1852, he was sufficiently +prominent to obtain a considerable vote for the presidential nomination. + +The dramatic contrast of these two began with their physical appearance. +Douglas was so small that he had been known to sit on a friend's knee +while arguing politics. But his energy of mind, his indomitable force +of character, made up for his tiny proportions. "The Little Giant" was a +term of endearment applied to him by his followers. The mental contrast +was equally marked. Scarcely a quality in Lincoln that was not reversed +in Douglas--deliberation, gradualness, introspection, tenacity, were the +characteristics of Lincoln's mind. The mind of Douglas was first of all +facile. He was extraordinarily quick. In political Strategy he +could sense a new situation, wheel to meet it, throw overboard +well-established plans, devise new ones, all in the twinkle of an eye. +People who could not understand such rapidity of judgment pronounced him +insincere, or at least, an opportunist. That he did not have the deep +inflexibility of Lincoln may be assumed; that his convictions, such +as they were, did not have an ethical cast may be safely asserted. +Nevertheless, he was a great force, an immense human power, that did not +change its course without good reason of its own sort. Far more than +a mere opportunist. Politically, he summed up a change that was coming +over the Democratic party. Janus-like, he had two faces, one for his +constituents, one for his colleagues. To the voter he was still a +Jeffersonian, with whom the old phraseology of the party, liberty, +equality, and fraternity, were still the catch-words. To his associates +in the Senate he was essentially an aristocrat, laboring to advance +interests that were careless of the rights of man. A later age has +accused the Senate of the United States of being the citadel of Big +Business. Waiving the latter view, the historian may assert that +something suggestive of Big Business appeared in our politics in the +'fifties, and was promptly made at home in the Senate. Perhaps its +first definite manifestation was a new activity on the part of the great +slave-holders. To invoke again the classifications of later points +of view, certain of our historians to-day think they can see in +the 'fifties a virtual slavery trust, a combine of slave interests +controlled by the magnates of the institution, and having as real, +though informal, an existence as has the Steel Trust or the Beef +Trust in our own time. This powerful interest allied itself with the +capitalists of the Northeast. In modern phraseology, they aimed to +"finance" the slave interest from New York. And for a time the alliance +succeeded in doing this. The South went entirely upon credit. It bought +and borrowed heavily in the East New York furnished the money. + +Had there been nothing further to consider, the invasion of the Senate +by Big Business in the 'fifties might not have taken place. But there +was something else. Slavery's system of agriculture was excessively +wasteful. To be highly profitable it required virgin soil, and the +financial alliance demanded high profits. Early in the 'fifties, the +problem of Big Business was the acquisition of fresh soil for slavery. +The problem entered politics with the question how could this be brought +about without appearing to contradict democracy? The West also had its +incipient Big Business. It hinged upon railways. Now that California +had been acquired, with a steady stream of migration westward, with +all America dazzled more or less by gold-mines and Pacific trade, a +transcontinental railway was a Western dream. But what course should it +take, what favored regions were to become its immediate beneficiaries? +Here was a chance for great jockeying among business interests in +Congress, for slave-holders, money-lenders, railway promoters to +manipulate deals to their hearts' content. They had been doing so amid +a high complication of squabbling, while Douglas was traveling in +Europe during 1853. When he returned late in the year, the unity of the +Democratic machine in Congress was endangered by these disputes. Douglas +at once attacked the problem of party harmony. He threw himself into +the task with all his characteristic quickness, all his energy and +resourcefulness. + +By this time the problem contained five distinct factors: The upper +Northeast wanted a railroad starting at Chicago. The Central West wanted +a road from St. Louis. The Southwest wanted a road from New Orleans, +or at least, the frustration of the two Northern schemes. Big Business +wanted new soil for slavery. The Compromise of 1850 stood in the way of +the extension of slave territory. + +If Douglas had had any serious convictions opposed to slavery the last +of the five factors would have brought him to a standstill. Fortunately +for him as a party strategist, he was indifferent. Then, too, he firmly +believed that slavery could never thrive in the West because of +climatic conditions. "Man might propose, but physical geography would +dispose."(1) On both counts it seemed to him immaterial what concessions +be made to slavery extension northwestward. Therefore, he dismissed +this consideration and applied himself to the harmonization of the four +business factors involved. The result was a famous compromise inside a +party. His Kansas-Nebraska Bill created two new territories, one lying +westward from Chicago; one lying westward from St. Louis. It also +repealed the Missouri Compromise and gave the inhabitants of each +territory the right to decide for themselves whether or not slavery +should be permitted in their midst. That is to say, both to the railway +promoter and the slavery financier, it extended equal governmental +protection, but it promised favors to none, and left each faction to +rise or fall in the free competition of private enterprise. Why--was not +this, remembering Douglas's assumptions, a master-stroke? + +He had expected, of course, denunciation by the Abolitionists. He +considered it immaterial. But he was not in the least prepared for what +happened. A storm burst. It was fiercest in his own State. "Traitor," +"Arnold," "Judas," were the pleasant epithets fired at him in a +bewildering fusillade. He could not understand it. Something other than +mere Abolitionism had been aroused by his great stroke. But what was it? +Why did men who were not Abolitionists raise a hue and cry? Especially, +why did many Democrats do so? Amazed, puzzled, but as always furiously +valiant, Douglas hurried home to join battle with his assailants. He +entered on a campaign of speech-making. On October 3, 1854, he spoke +at Springfield. His enemies, looking about for the strongest popular +speaker they could find, chose Lincoln. The next day he replied to +Douglas. + +The Kansas-Nebraska Bill had not affected any change in Lincoln's +thinking. His steady, consistent development as a political thinker +had gone on chiefly in silence ever since his Protest seventeen years +before. He was still intolerant of Abolitionism, still resolved to leave +slavery to die a natural death in the States where it was established. +He defended the measure which most offended the Abolitionists, the +Fugitive Slave Law. He had appeared as counsel for a man who claimed +a runaway slave as his property.(2) None the less, the Kansas-Nebraska +Bill had brought him to his feet, wheeled him back from law into +politics, begun a new chapter. The springs of action in is case were the +factor which Douglas had overlooked, which in all his calculations he +had failed to take into account, which was destined to destroy him. + +Lincoln, no less than Douglas, had sensed the fact that money was +becoming a power in American politics. He saw that money and slavery +tended to become allies with the inevitable result of a shift of gravity +in the American social system. "Humanity" had once been the American +shibboleth; it was giving place to a new shibboleth-"prosperity." And +the people who were to control and administer prosperity were the rich. +The rights of man were being superseded by the rights of wealth. +Because of its place in this new coalition of non-democratic influences, +slavery, to Lincoln's mind, was assuming a new role, "beginning," as he +had said, in the Clay oration, "to assail and ridicule the white man's +charter of freedom, the declaration that 'all men are created free and +equal.'" + +That phrase, "the white man's charter of freedom," had become Lincoln's +shibboleth. Various utterances and written fragments of the summer of +1854, reveal the intensity of his preoccupation. + +"Equality in society beats inequality, whether the latter be of the +British aristocratic sort or of the domestic slavery sort"(3) + +"If A can prove, however conclusively, that he may of right enslave B, +why may not B snatch the same argument and prove equally that he may +enslave A? You say A is white and B is black. It is color then; the +lighter having the right to enslave the darker? Take care. By this rule +you are to be slave to the first man you meet with a fairer skin +than your own. You do not mean color exactly? You mean the whites are +intellectually the superiors of the blacks, and therefore have the right +to enslave them? Take care again. By this rule you are to be slave to +the first man you meet with an intellect superior to your own. But, you +say, it is a question of interest, and if you make it your interest, you +have the right to enslave another. Very well. And if he can make it his +interest, he has the right to enslave you."(4) + +Speaking of slavery to a fellow lawyer, he said: "It is the most +glittering, ostentatious, and displaying property in the world; and now, +if a young man goes courting, the only inquiry is how many negroes he +or his lady love owns. The love of slave property is swallowing up +every other mercenary possession. Its ownership betokened not only the +possession of wealth, but indicated the gentleman of leisure who was +above and scorned labor."(5) + +It was because of these views, because he saw slavery allying itself +with the spread of plutocratic ideals, that Lincoln entered the battle +to prevent its extension. He did so in his usual cool, determined way. + +Though his first reply to Douglas was not recorded, his second, made +at Peoria twelve days later, still exists.(6) It is a landmark in his +career. It sums up all his long, slow development in political science, +lays the abiding foundation of everything he thought thereafter. In +this great speech, the end of his novitiate, he rings the changes on the +white man's charter of freedom. He argues that the extension of slavery +tends to discredit republican institutions, and to disappoint "the +Liberal party throughout the world." The heart of his argument is: + +"Whether slavery shall go into Nebraska or other new Territories is not +a matter of exclusive concern to the people who may go there. The +whole nation is interested that the best use shall be made of these +Territories. We want them for homes for free white people. This they can +not be to any considerable extent, if slavery shall be planted within +them. Slave States are places for poor white people to remove from, not +remove to. New Free States are the places for poor people to go to +and better their condition. For this use the nation needs these +Territories." + +The speech was a masterpiece of simplicity, of lucidity. It showed +the great jury; lawyer at his best. Its temper was as admirable as its +logic; not a touch of anger nor of vituperation. + +"I have no prejudice against the Southern people," said he. "They are +just what we would be in their situation. If slavery did not exist among +them, they would not introduce it. If it did now exist among us, we +should not instantly give it up. This I believe of the masses North and +South. + +"When Southern people tell us that they are no more responsible for the +origin of slavery than we are, I acknowledge the fact. When it is said +that the institution exists and that it is very difficult to get rid of +in any satisfactory way, I can understand and appreciate the saying. I +surely will not blame them for not doing what I should not know how to +do myself. If all earthly power were given me, I should not know what to +do as to the existing institution." + +His instinctive aversion to fanaticism found expression in a plea for +the golden mean in politics. + +"Some men, mostly Whigs, who condemn the repeal of the Missouri +Compromise, nevertheless hesitate to go for its restoration lest they be +thrown in company with the Abolitionists. Will they allow me as an old +Whig, to tell them good-humoredly that I think this is very silly. Stand +with anybody that stands right. Stand with him while he is right +and part with him when he goes wrong. Stand with the Abolitionist +in restoring the Missouri Compromise, and stand against him when he +attempts to repeal the Fugitive Slave Law. In the latter case you stand +with the Southern dis-unionist. What of that? You are still right. +In both cases you are right. In both cases you expose the dangerous +extremes. In both you stand on middle ground and hold the ship level and +steady. In both you are national, and nothing less than national. +This is the good old Whig ground. To desert such ground because of +any company is to be less than a Whig-less than a man-less than an +American." + +These two speeches against Douglas made an immense impression +Byron-like, Lincoln waked up and found himself famous. Thereupon, his +ambition revived. A Senator was to be chosen that autumn. Why might not +this be the opportunity to retrieve his failure in Congress? Shortly +after the Peoria speech, he was sending out notes like this to prominent +politicians: + +"Dear Sir: You used to express a good deal of partiality for me, and if +you are still so, now is the time. Some friends here are really for me +for the United States Senate, and I should be very grateful if you could +make a mark for me among your members (of the Legislature)."(7) + +When the Legislature assembled, it was found to comprise four groups: +the out-and-out Democrats who would stand by Douglas through thick and +thin, and vote only for his nominee; the bolting Democrats who would not +vote for a Douglas man, but whose party rancor was so great that they +would throw their votes away rather than give them to a Whig; such +enemies of Douglas as were willing to vote for a Whig; the remainder. + +The Democrats supported Governor Matteson; the candidate of the second +group was Lyman Trumbull; the Whigs supported Lincoln. After nine +exciting ballots, Matteson had forty-seven votes, Trumbull thirty-five, +Lincoln fifteen. As the bolting Democrats were beyond compromise, +Lincoln determined to sacrifice himself in order to defeat Matteson. +Though the fifteen protested against deserting him, he required them to +do so. On the tenth ballot, they transferred their votes to Trumbull and +he was elected.(8) + +Douglas had met his first important defeat. His policy had been +repudiated in his own State. And it was Lincoln who had formulated the +argument against him, who had held the balance of power, and had turned +the scale. + + + + +IX. THE LITERARY STATESMAN + +Lincoln had found at last a mode and an opportunity for concentrating +all his powers in a way that could have results. He had discovered +himself as a man of letters. The great speeches of 1854 were not +different in a way from the previous speeches that were without results. +And yet they were wholly different. Just as Lincoln's version of an old +tale made of that tale a new thing, so Lincoln's version of an argument +made of it a different thing from other men's versions. The oratory of +1854 was not state-craft in any ordinary sense. It was art Lincoln the +artist, who had slowly developed a great literary faculty, had chanced +after so many rebuffs on good fortune. His cause stood in urgent need +of just what he could give. It was one of those moments when a new +political force, having not as yet any opening for action, finds +salvation in the phrase-maker, in the literary artist who can embody it +in words. + +During the next five years and more, Lincoln was the recognized offset +to Douglas. His fame spread from Illinois in both directions. He was +called to Iowa and to Ohio as the advocate of all advocates who could +undo the effect of Douglas. His fame traveled eastward. The culmination +of the period of literary leadership was his famous speech at Cooper +Union in February, 1860. + +It was inevitable that he should go along with the antislavery coalition +which adopted the name of the Republican party. But his natural +deliberation kept him from being one of its founders. An attempt of +its founders to appropriate him after the triumph at Springfield, in +October, 1854, met with a rebuff.(1) Nearly a year and a half went by +before he affiliated himself with the new party. But once having made +up his mind, he went forward wholeheartedly. At the State Convention of +Illinois Republicans in 1856 he made a speech that has not been +recorded but which is a tradition for moving oratory. That same year a +considerable number of votes were cast for Lincoln for Vice-President in +the Republican National Convention. + +But all these were mere details. The great event of the years between +1854 and 1860 was his contest with Douglas. It was a battle of wits, +a great literary duel. Fortunately for Lincoln, his part was played +altogether on his own soil, under conditions in which he was entirely at +his ease, where nothing conspired with his enemy to embarrass him. + +Douglas had a far more difficult task. Unforeseen complications rapidly +forced him to change his policy, to meet desertion and betrayal in his +own ranks. These were terrible years when fierce events followed +one another in quick succession--the rush of both slave-holders and +abolitionists into Kansas; the cruel war along the Wakarusa River; the +sack of Lawrence by the pro-slavery party; the massacre by John Brown +at Pottawatomie; the diatribes of Sumner in the Senate; the assault on +Sumner by Brooks. In the midst of this carnival of ferocity came the +Dred Scott decision, cutting under the Kansas-Nebraska Bill, denying to +the people of a Territory the right to legislate on slavery, and giving +to all slave-holders the right to settle with their slaves anywhere they +pleased outside a Free State. This famous decision repudiated Douglas's +policy of leaving all such questions to local autonomy and to private +enterprise. For a time Douglas made no move to save his policy. But when +President Buchanan decided to throw the influence of the Administration +on the side of the pro-slavery party in Kansas, Douglas was up in +arms. When it was proposed to admit Kansas with a constitution favoring +slavery, but which had not received the votes of a majority of the +inhabitants, Douglas voted with the Republicans to defeat admission. +Whereupon the Democratic party machine and the Administration turned +upon him without mercy. He stood alone in a circle of enemies. At no +other time did he show so many of the qualities of a great leader. +Battling with Lincoln in the popular forum on the one hand, he was +meeting daily on the other assaults by a crowd of brilliant opponents in +Congress. At the same time he was playing a consummate game of political +strategy, struggling against immense odds to recover his hold on +Illinois. The crisis would come in 1858 when he would have to go before +the Legislature for reelection. He knew well enough who his opponent +would be. At every turn there fell across his path the shadow of a cool +sinister figure, his relentless enemy. It was Lincoln. On the struggle +with Lincoln his whole battle turned. + +Abandoned by his former allies, his one hope was the retention of his +constituency. To discredit Lincoln, to twist and discredit all his +arguments, was for Douglas a matter of life and death. He struck +frequently with great force, but sometimes with more fury than wisdom. +Many a time the unruffled coolness of Lincoln brought to nothing what +was meant for a deadly thrust. Douglas took counsel of despair and tried +to show that Lincoln was preaching the amalgamation of the white and +black races. "I protest," Lincoln replied, "against the counterfeit +logic which says that because I do not want a black woman for a slave, I +must necessarily want her for a wife. I need not have her for either. +I can just leave her alone. In some respects she certainly is not my +equal; but in her natural right to eat the bread she earns with her +own hands without asking leave of any one else, she is my equal and +the equal of all others."(2) Any false move made by Douglas, any +rash assertion, was sure to be seized upon by that watchful enemy in +Illinois. In attempting to defend himself on two fronts at once, defying +both the Republicans and the Democratic machine, Douglas made his +reckless declaration that all he wanted was a fair vote by the people +of Kansas; that for himself he did not care how they settled the matter, +whether slavery was voted up or voted down. With relentless skill, +Lincoln developed the implications of this admission, drawing forth +from its confessed indifference to the existence of slavery, a chain +of conclusions that extended link by link to a belief in reopening +the African slave trade. This was done in his speech accepting the +Republican nomination for the Senate. In the same speech he restated his +general position in half a dozen sentences that became at once a classic +statement for the whole Republican party: "A house divided against +itself can not stand. I believe this government can not endure +permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be +dissolved. I do not expect the house to fall, but I do expect it will +cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other. +Either the opponents of slavery will arrest the further spread of it and +place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is in +the course of ultimate extinction; or its advocates will push it forward +till it shall become alike lawful in all the States, old as well as new, +North as well as South."(3) + +The great duel was rapidly approaching its climax. What was in reality +no more than the last round has appropriated a label that ought to have +a wider meaning and is known as the Lincoln-Douglas Debates. The two +candidates made a joint tour of the State, debating their policies in +public at various places during the summer and autumn of 1858. + +Properly considered, these famous speeches closed Lincoln's life as +an orator. The Cooper Union speech was an isolated aftermath in alien +conditions, a set performance not quite in his true vein. His brief +addresses of the later years were incidental; they had no combative +element. Never again was he to attempt to sway an audience for an +immediate stake through the use of the spoken word. "A brief description +of Mr. Lincoln's appearance on the stump and of his manner when +speaking," as Herndon aptly remarks, "may not be without interest. When +standing erect, he was six feet four inches high. He was lean in flesh +and ungainly in figure. Aside from his sad, pained look, due to habitual +melancholy, his face had no characteristic or fixed expression. He was +thin through the chest and hence slightly stoop-shouldered. . . . At +first he was very awkward and it seemed a real labor to adjust himself +to his surroundings. He struggled for a time under a feeling of apparent +diffidence and sensitiveness, and these only added to his awkwardness.... +When he began speaking his voice was shrill, piping and unpleasant. +His manner, his attitude, his dark yellow face, wrinkled and dry, his +oddity of pose, his diffident movements; everything seemed to be +against him, but only for a short time. . . . As he proceeded, he became +somewhat more animated. . . . He did not gesticulate as much with his +hands as with his head. He used the latter frequently, throwing it with +him, this way and that. . . . He never sawed the air nor rent space into +tatters and rags, as some orators do. He never acted for stage effect. +He was cool, considerate, reflective--in time, self-possessed and +self-reliant. . . . As he moved along in his speech he became freer and +less uneasy in his movements; to that extent he was graceful. He had a +perfect naturalness, a strong individuality, and to that extent he was +dignified. . . . He spoke with effectiveness--and to move the judgment +as well as the emotion of men. There was a world of meaning and emphasis +in the long, bony finger of the right hand as he dotted the ideas on the +minds of his hearers. . . . He always stood squarely on his feet. . . . +He neither touched nor leaned on anything for support. He never ranted, +never walked backward and forward on the platform. . . . As he proceeded +with his speech, the exercise of his vocal organs altered somewhat the +pitch of his voice. It lost in a measure its former acute and shrilling +pitch and mellowed into a more harmonious and pleasant sound. His form +expanded, and notwithstanding the sunken breast, he rose up a splendid +and imposing figure. . . . His little gray eyes flashed in a face aglow +with the fire of his profound thoughts; and his uneasy movements +and diffident manner sunk themselves beneath the wave of righteous +indignation that came sweeping over him."(4) + +A wonderful dramatic contrast were these two men, each in his way so +masterful, as they appeared in the famous debates. By good fortune we +have a portrait of Douglas the orator, from the pen of Mrs. Stowe, +who had observed him with reluctant admiration from the gallery of +the Senate. "This Douglas is the very ideal of vitality. Short, broad, +thick-set, every inch of him has its own alertness and motion. He has +a good head, thick black hair, heavy black brows, and a keen face. His +figure would be an unfortunate one were it not for the animation that +constantly pervades it. As it is it rather gives poignancy to his +peculiar appearance; he has a small handsome hand, moreover, and +a graceful as well as forcible mode of using it. . . . He has two +requisites of a debater, a melodious voice and clear, sharply defined +enunciation. His forte in debating is his power of mystifying the +point. With the most offhand assured airs in the world, and a certain +appearance of honest superiority, like one who has a regard for you and +wishes to set you right on one or two little matters, he proceeds to +set up some point which is not that in question, but only a family +connection of it, and this point he attacks with the very best of logic +and language; he charges upon it, horse and foot, runs it down, tramples +it in the dust, and then turns upon you with 'See, there is your +argument. Did I not tell you so? You see it is all stuff.' And if you +have allowed yourself to be so dazzled by his quickness as to forget +that the routed point is not, after all, the one in question, you +suppose all is over with it. Moreover, he contrives to mingle up so many +stinging allusions, so many piquant personalities, that by the time +he has done his mystification, a dozen others are ready and burning to +spring on their feet to repel some direct or indirect attack all equally +wide of the point." + +The mode of travel of the two contestants heightened the contrast. +George B. McClellan, a young engineer officer who had recently resigned +from the army and was now general superintendent of the Illinois Central +Railroad, gave Douglas his private car and a special train. Lincoln +traveled any way he could-in ordinary passenger trains, or even in the +caboose of a freight train. A curious symbolization of Lincoln's belief +that the real conflict was between the plain people and organized money! + +The debates did not develop new ideas. It was a literary duel, each +leader aiming to restate himself in the most telling, popular way. For +once that superficial definition of art applied: "What oft was thought +but ne'er so well expressed." Nevertheless the debates contained an +incident that helped to make history. Though Douglas was at war with the +Administration, it was not certain that the quarrel might not be made +up. There was no other leader who would be so formidable at the head of +a reunited Democratic party. Lincoln pondered the question, how could +the rift between Douglas and the Democratic machine be made irrevocable? +And now a new phase of Lincoln appeared. It was the political strategist +He saw that if he would disregard his own chance of election-as he had +done from a simpler motive four years before--he could drive Douglas +into a dilemma from which there was no real escape. He confided his +purpose to his friends; they urged him not to do it. But he had made up +his mind as he generally did, without consultation, in the silence of +his own thoughts, and once having made it up, he was inflexible. + +At Freeport, Lincoln made the move which probably lost him the +Senatorship. He asked a question which if Douglas answered it one way +would enable him to recover the favor of Illinois but would lose him +forever the favor of the slave-holders; but which, if he answered it +another way might enable him to make his peace at Washington but would +certainly lose him Illinois. The question was: "Can the people of a +United States Territory in any lawful way, against the wish of any +citizen of the United States, exclude slavery from its limits prior to +the formation of a State Constitution?"(5) In other words, is the Dred +Scott decision good law? Is it true that a slave-holder can take his +slaves into Kansas if the people of Kansas want to keep him out? + +Douglas saw the trap. With his instantaneous facility he tried to cloud +the issue and extricate himself through evasion in the very manner Mrs. +Stowe has described. While dodging a denial of the court's authority, +he insisted that his doctrine of local autonomy was still secure because +through police regulation the local legislature could foster or strangle +slavery, just as they pleased, no matter "what way the Supreme Court may +hereafter decide as to the abstract question whether slavery may or may +not go into a Territory under the Constitution." + +As Lincoln's friends had foreseen, this matchless performance of +carrying water on both shoulders caught the popular fancy; Douglas was +reelected to the Senate. As Lincoln had foreseen, it killed him as a +Democratic leader; it prevented the reunion of the Democratic party. The +result appeared in 1860 when the Republicans, though still a minority +party, carried the day because of the bitter divisions among the +Democrats. That was what Lincoln foresaw when he said to his fearful +friends while they argued in vain to prevent his asking the question at +Free-port. "I am killing larger game; the great battle of 1860 is worth +a thousand of this senatorial race."(6) + + + + +X. THE DARK HORSE + +One of the most curious things in Lincoln is the way his confidence +in himself came and went. He had none of Douglas's unwavering +self-reliance. Before the end, to be sure, he attained a type of +self-reliance, higher and more imperturbable. But this was not the +fruit of a steadfast unfolding. Rather, he was like a tree with its +alternating periods of growth and pause, now richly in leaf, now +dormant. Equally applicable is the other familiar image of the +successive waves. + +The clue seems to have been, in part at least, a matter of vitality. +Just as Douglas emanated vitality--so much so that his aura filled the +whole Senate chamber and forced an unwilling response in the gifted but +hostile woman who watched him from the gallery--Lincoln, conversely, +made no such overpowering impression. His observers, however much they +have to say about his humor, his seasons of Shakespearian mirth, never +forget their impression that at heart he is sad. His fondness for poetry +in the minor key has become a byword, especially the line "Oh, why +should the spirit of mortal be proud." + +It is impossible to discover any law governing the succession of his +lapses in self-reliance. But they may be related very plausibly to his +sense of failure or at least to his sense of futility. He was one of +those intensely sensitive natures to whom the futilities of this world +are its most discouraging feature. Whenever such ideas were brought home +to him his energy flagged; his vitality, never high, sank. He was prone +to turn away from the outward life to lose himself in the inner. All +this is part of the phenomena which Herndon perceived more clearly than +he comprehended it, which led him to call Lincoln a fatalist. + +A humbler but perhaps more accurate explanation is the reminder that he +was son to Thomas the unstable. What happened in Lincoln's mind when +he returned defeated from Washington, that ghost-like rising of the +impulses of old Thomas, recurred more than once thereafter. In fact +there is a period well-defined, a span of thirteen years terminating +suddenly on a day in 1862, during which the ghost of old Thomas is a +thing to be reckoned with in his son's life. It came and went, most of +the time fortunately far on the horizon. But now and then it drew near. +Always it was lurking somewhere, waiting to seize upon him in those +moments when his vitality sank, when his energies were in the ebb, when +his thoughts were possessed by a sense of futility. + +The year 1859 was one of his ebb tides. In the previous year the rising +tide, which had mounted high during his success on the circuit, reached +its crest The memory of his failure at Washington was effaced. At +Freeport he was a more powerful genius, a more dominant personality, +than he had ever been. Gradually, in the months following, the high wave +subsided. During 1859 he gave most of his attention to his practice. +Though political speech-making continued, and though he did not impair +his reputation, he did nothing of a remarkable sort. The one literary +fragment of any value is a letter to a Boston committee that had invited +him to attend a "festival" in Boston on Jefferson's birthday. He +avowed himself a thoroughgoing disciple of Jefferson and pronounced the +principles of Jefferson "the definitions and axioms of free society." +Without conditions he identified his own cause with the cause of +Jefferson, "the man who in the concrete pressure of a struggle for +national independence by a single people, had the coolness, forecast and +capacity to introduce into a merely revolutionary document, an abstract +truth, applicable to all men and all times, and so to embalm it +there that today and in all coming days, it shall be a rebuke and +a stumbling-block to the very harbingers of reappearing tyranny and +oppression."(1) + +While the Boston committee were turning their eyes toward this great new +phrase-maker of the West, several politicians in Illinois had formed a +bold resolve. They would try to make him President. The movement had two +sources--the personal loyalty of his devoted friends of the circuit, the +shrewdness of the political managers who saw that his duel with Douglas +had made him a national figure. As one of them said to him, "Douglas +being so widely known, you are getting a national reputation through +him." Lincoln replied that he did not lack the ambition but lacked +altogether the confidence in the possibility of success.(2) + +This was his attitude during most of 1859. The glow, the enthusiasm, of +the previous year was gone. "I must in candor say that I do not think +myself fit for the Presidency," he wrote to a newspaper editor in April. +He used the same words to another correspondent in July. As late as +November first, he wrote, "For my single self, I have enlisted for the +permanent success of the Republican cause, and for this object I shall +labor faithfully in the ranks, unless, as I think not probable, the +judgment of the party shall assign me a different position."(3) + +Meanwhile, both groups of supporters had labored unceasingly, regardless +of his approval. In his personal following, the companionableness of +twenty years had deepened into an almost romantic loyalty. The leaders +of this enthusiastic attachment, most of them lawyers, had no superiors +for influence in Illinois. The man who had such a following was a power +in politics whether he would or no. This the mere politicians saw. They +also saw that the next Republican nomination would rest on a delicate +calculation of probabilities. There were other Republicans more +conspicuous than Lincoln--Seward in New York, Sumner in Massachusetts, +Chase in Ohio--but all these had inveterate enemies. Despite their +importance would it be safe to nominate them? Would not the party be +compelled to take some relatively minor figure, some essentially new +man? In a word, what we know as a "dark horse." Believing that this +would happen, they built hopefully on their faith in Lincoln. + +Toward the end of the year he was at last persuaded to take his +candidacy seriously. The local campaign for his nomination had gone so +far that a failure to go further would have the look of being discarded +as the local Republican leader. This argument decided him. Before the +year's end he had agreed to become a candidate before the convention. In +his own words, "I am not in a position where it would hurt much for me +to not be nominated on the national ticket; but I am where it would hurt +some for me to not get the Illinois delegates."(4) + +It was shortly after this momentous decision that he went to New York by +invitation and made his most celebrated, though not in any respect his +greatest, oration.(5) A large audience filled Cooper Union, February +27, 1860. William Cullen Bryant presided. David Dudley Field escorted +Lincoln to the platform. Horace Greeley was in the audience. Again, +the performance was purely literary. No formulation of new policies, +no appeal for any new departure. It was a masterly restatement of his +position; of the essence of the debates with Douglas. It cleansed the +Republican platform of all accidental accretions, as if a ship's hull +were being scraped of barnacles preparatory to a voyage; it gave the +underlying issues such inflexible definition that they could not be +juggled with. Again he showed a power of lucid statement not possessed +by any of his rivals. An incident of the speech was his unsparing +condemnation of John Brown whose raid and death were on every tongue. +"You charge that we stir up insurrections among your slaves," said he, +apostrophizing the slave-holders. "We deny it, and what is your proof? +'Harper's Ferry; John Brown!' John Brown was no Republican; and you +have failed to implicate a single Republican in this Harper's Ferry +enterprise. . . + +"John Brown's effort was peculiar. It was not a slave insurrection. It +was an attempt by white men to get up a revolt among slaves, in which +the slaves refused to participate. In fact, it was so absurd that the +slaves with all their ignorance saw plainly enough that it could +not succeed. That affair in its philosophy corresponds with the many +attempts related in history at the assassination of kings and emperors. +An enthusiast broods over the oppression of the people until he fancies +himself commissioned by heaven to liberate them. He ventures the attempt +which ends in little else than his own execution. Orsini's attempt on +Louis Napoleon, and John Brown's attempt at Harper's Ferry were, in +their philosophy, precisely the same. The eagerness to cast blame on +old England in the one case and on New England in the other, does not +disprove the sameness of the two things." + +The Cooper Union speech received extravagant praise from all the +Republican newspapers. Lincoln's ardent partisans assert that it took +New York "by storm." Rather too violent a way of putting it! But there +can be no doubt that the speech made a deep impression. Thereafter, many +of the Eastern managers were willing to consider Lincoln as a candidate, +should factional jealousies prove uncompromising. Any port in a storm, +you know. Obviously, there could be ports far more dangerous than this +"favorite son" of Illinois. + +Many national conventions in the United States have decided upon a +compromise candidate, "a dark horse," through just such reasoning. +The most noted instance is the Republican Convention of 1860. When +it assembled at Chicago in June, the most imposing candidate was the +brilliant leader of the New York Republicans, Seward. But no man in the +country had more bitter enemies. Horace Greeley whose paper The Tribune +was by far the most influential Republican organ, went to Chicago +obsessed by one purpose: because of irreconcilable personal quarrels +he would have revenge upon Seward. Others who did not hate Seward were +afraid of what Greeley symbolized. And all of them knew that whatever +else happened, the West must be secured. + +The Lincoln managers played upon the Eastern jealousies and the Eastern +fears with great skill. There was little sleep among the delegates the +night previous to the balloting. At just the right moment, the Lincoln +managers, though their chief had forbidden them to do so, offered +promises with regard to Cabinet appointments.(6) And they succeeded in +packing the galleries of the Convention Hall with a perfectly organized +claque-"rooters," the modern American would say. + +The result on the third ballot was a rush to Lincoln of all the enemies +of Seward, and Lincoln's nomination amid a roaring frenzy of applause. + + + + +XI. SECESSION + +After twenty-three years of successive defeats, Lincoln, almost +fortuitously, was at the center of the political maelstrom. The clue +to what follows is in the way he had developed during that long +discouraging apprenticeship to greatness. Mentally, he had always been +in isolation. Socially, he had lived in a near horizon. The real tragedy +of his failure at Washington was in the closing against him of the +opportunity to know his country as a whole. Had it been Lincoln instead +of Douglas to whom destiny had given a residence at Washington during +the 'fifties, it is conceivable that things might have been different +in the 'sixties. On the other hand, America would have lost its greatest +example of the artist in politics. + +And without that artist, without his extraordinary literary gift, his +party might not have consolidated in 1860. A very curious party it was. +It had sprung to life as a denial, as a device for halting Douglas. +Lincoln's doctrine of the golden mean, became for once a political +power. Men of the most diverse views on other issues accepted in their +need the axiom: "Stand with anybody so long as he stands right." And +standing right, for that moment in the minds of them all, meant keeping +slavery and the money power from devouring the territories. + +The artist of the movement expressed them all in his declaration that +the nation needed the Territories to give home and opportunity to free +white people. Even the Abolitionists, who hitherto had refused to make +common cause with any other faction, entered the negative coalition +of the new party. So did Whigs, and anti-slavery Democrats, as well as +other factions then obscure which we should now label Socialists and +Labormen. + +However, this coalition, which in origin was purely negative, revealed, +the moment it coalesced, two positive features. To the man of the near +horizon in 1860 neither of these features seemed of first importance. To +the man outside that horizon, seeing them in perspective as related +to the sum total of American life, they had a significance he did not +entirely appreciate. + +The first of these was the temper of the Abolitionists. Lincoln ignored +it. He was content with his ringing assertion of the golden mean. But +there spoke the man of letters rather than the statesman. Of temper +in politics as an abstract idea, he had been keenly conscious from the +first; but his lack of familiarity with political organizations kept him +from assigning full value to the temper of any one factor as affecting +the joint temper of the whole group. It was appointed for him to learn +this in a supremely hard way and to apply the lesson with wonderful +audacity. But in 1860 that stern experience still slept in the future. +He had no suspicion as yet that he might find it difficult to carry out +his own promise to stand with the Abolitionists in excluding slavery +from the Territories, and to stand against them in enforcing the +Fugitive Slave Law. He did not yet see why any one should doubt the +validity of this promise; why any one should be afraid to go along +with him, afraid that the temper of one element would infect the whole +coalition. + +But this fear that Lincoln did not allow for, possessed already a great +many minds. Thousands of Southerners, of the sort whom Lincoln credited +with good intentions about slavery, feared the Abolitionists Not because +the Abolitionists wanted to destroy slavery, but because they wanted +to do so fiercely, cruelly. Like Lincoln, these Southerners who were +liberals in thought and moderates in action, did not know what to do +about slavery. Like Lincoln, they had but one fixed idea with regard to +it,--slavery must not be terminated violently. Lincoln, despite his +near horizon, sensed them correctly as not being at one with the great +plutocrats who wished to exploit slavery. But when the Abolitionist +poured out the same fury of vituperation on every sort of slave-holder; +when he promised his soul that it should yet have the joy of exulting in +the ruin of all such, the moderate Southerners became as flint. When the +Abolitionists proclaimed their affiliation with the new party, the +first step was taken toward a general Southern coalition to stop the +Republican advance. + +There was another positive element blended into the negative coalition. +In 1857, the Republicans overruling the traditions of those members who +had once been Democrats, set their faces toward protection. To most +of the Northerners the fatefulness of the step was not obvious. Twenty +years had passed since a serious tariff controversy had shaken the +North. Financial difficulties in the 'fifties were more prevalent in the +North than in the South. Business was in a quandary. Labor was demanding +better opportunities. Protection as a solution, or at least as a +palliative, seemed to the mass of the Republican coalition, even to the +former Democrats for all their free trade traditions, not outrageous. +To the Southerners it was an alarm bell. The Southern world was +agricultural; its staple was cotton; the bulk of its market was in +England. Ever since 1828, the Southern mind had been constantly on guard +with regard to tariff, unceasingly fearful that protection would be +imposed on it by Northern and Western votes. To have to sell its cotton +in England at free trade values, but at the same time to have to buy its +commodities at protected values fixed by Northern manufacturers--what +did that mean but the despotism of one section over another? When +the Republicans took up protection as part of their creed, a general +Southern coalition was rendered almost inevitable. + +This, Lincoln {Missing text}. Again it is to be accounted for in part +by his near horizon. Had he lived at Washington, had he met, frequently, +Southern men; had he passed those crucial years of the 'fifties in +debates with political leaders rather than in story-telling tournaments +on the circuit; perhaps all this would have been otherwise. But one can +not be quite sure. Finance never appealed to him. A wide application may +be given to Herndon's remark that "he had no money sense." All the rest +of the Republican doctrine finds its best statement in Lincoln. On the +one subject of its economic policy he is silent. Apparently it is to be +classified with the routine side of the law. To neither was he ever able +to give more than a perfunctory attention. As an artist in politics he +had the defect of his qualities. + +What his qualities showed him were two things: the alliance of the +plutocratic slave power with the plutocratic money power, and the +essential rightness in impulse of the bulk of the Southern people. Hence +his conclusion which became his party's conclusion: that, in the South, +a political-financial ring was dominating a leaderless people, This +was not the truth. Lincoln's defects in 1860 limited his vision. +Nevertheless, to the solitary distant thinker, shut in by the near +horizon of political Springfield, there was every excuse for the error. +The palpable evidence all confirmed it. What might have contradicted it +was a cloud of witnesses, floating, incidental, casual, tacit. Just +what a nature like Lincoln's, if only he could have met them, would have +perceived and comprehended; what a nature like Douglas's, no matter +how plainly they were presented to him, could neither perceive nor +comprehend. It was the irony of fate that an opportunity to fathom +his time was squandered upon the unseeing Douglas, while to the seeing +Lincoln it was denied. In a word, the Southern reaction against the +Republicans, like the Republican movement itself, had both a positive +and a negative side. It was the positive side that could be seen and +judged at long range. And this was what Lincoln saw, which appeared to +him to have created the dominant issue in 1860. + +The negative side of the Southern movement he did not see. He was too +far away to make out the details of the picture. Though he may have +known from the census of 1850 that only one-third of the Southern whites +were members of slave-holding families, he could scarcely have known +that only a small minority of the Southern families owned as many +as five slaves; that those who had fortunes in slaves were a mere +handful--just as today those who have fortunes in steel or beef are mere +handfuls. But still less did he know how entirely this vast majority +which had so little, if any, interest in slavery, had grown to fear and +distrust the North. They, like him, were suffering from a near horizon. +They, too, were applying the principle "Stand with anybody so long as +he stands right" But for them, standing right meant preventing a violent +revolution in Southern life. Indifferent as they were to slavery, they +were willing to go along with the "slave-barons" in the attempt to +consolidate the South in a movement of denial--a denial of the right of +the North, either through Abolitionism or through tariff, to dominate +the South. + +If only Lincoln with his subtle mind could have come into touch with +the negative side of the Southern agitation! It was the other side, the +positive side, that was vocal. With immense shrewdness the profiteers of +slavery saw and developed their opportunity. They organized the South. +They preached on all occasions, in all connections, the need of all +Southerners to stand together, no matter how great their disagreements, +in order to prevent the impoverishment of the South by hostile +economic legislation. During the late 'fifties their propaganda for an +all-Southern policy, made slow but constant headway. But even in 1859 +these ideas were still far from controlling the South. + +And then came John Brown. The dread of slave insurrection was laid deep +in Southern recollection. Thirty years before, the Nat Turner Rebellion +had filled a portion of Virginia with burned plantation houses amid +whose ruins lay the dead bodies of white women. A little earlier, a +negro conspiracy at Charleston planned the murder of white men and the +parceling out of white women among the conspirators. And John Brown had +come into Virginia at the head of a band of strangers calling upon the +slaves to rise and arm. + +Here was a supreme opportunity. The positive Southern force, the slave +profiteers, seized at once the attitude of champions of the South. It +was easy enough to enlist the negative force in a shocked and outraged +denunciation of everything Northern. And the Northern extremists did all +that was in their power to add fuel to the flame. Emerson called Brown +"this new saint who had made the gallows glorious as the cross." The +Southerners, hearing that, thought of the conspiracy to parcel out the +white women of Charleston. Early in 1860 it seemed as if the whole South +had but one idea-to part company with the North. + +No wonder Lincoln threw all his influence into the scale to discredit +the memory of Brown. No wonder the Republicans in their platform +carefully repudiated him. They could not undo the impression made on the +Southern mind by two facts: the men who lauded Brown as a new saint were +voting the Republican ticket; the Republicans had committed themselves +to the anti-Southern policy of protection. + +And yet, in spite of all the labors of pro-slavery extremists, the +movement for a breach with the North lost ground during 1860. When the +election came, the vote for President revealed a singular and unforeseen +situation. Four candidates were in the field. The Democrats, split into +two by the issue of slavery expansion, formed two parties. The +slave profiteers secured the nomination by one faction of John C. +Breckinridge. The moderate Democrats who would neither fight nor favor +slavery, nominated Douglas. The most peculiar group was the fourth. They +included all those who would not join the Republicans for fear of the +temper of the Abolition-members, but who were not promoters of slavery, +and who distrusted Douglas. They had no program but to restore the +condition of things that existed before the Nebraska Bill. About four +million five hundred thousand votes were cast. Lincoln had less than +two million, and all but about twenty-four thousand of these were in +the Free States. However, the disposition of Lincoln's vote gave him the +electoral college. He was chosen President by the votes of a minority of +the nation. But there was another minority vote which as events turned +out, proved equally significant. Breckinridge, the symbol of the slave +profiteers, and of all those whom they had persuaded to follow them, +had not been able to carry the popular vote of the South. They were +definitely in the minority in their own section. The majority of the +Southerners had so far reacted from the wild alarms of the beginning +of the year that they refused to go along with the candidates of the +extremists. They were for giving the Union another trial. The South +itself had repudiated the slave profiteers. + +This was the immensely significant fact of November, 1860. It made a +great impression on the whole country. For the moment it made the fierce +talk of the Southern extremists inconsequential. Buoyant Northerners, +such as Seward, felt that the crisis was over; that the South had voted +for a reconciliation; that only tact was needed to make everybody happy. +When, a few weeks after the election, Seward said that all would be +merry again inside of ninety days, his illusion had for its foundation +the Southern rejection of the slave profiteers. + +Unfortunately, Seward did not understand the precise significance of +the thought of the moderate South. He did not understand that while the +South had voted to send Breckinridge and his sort about their business, +it was still deeply alarmed, deeply fearful that after all it might at +any minute be forced to call them back, to make common cause with them +against what it regarded as an alien and destructive political power, +the Republicans. This was the Southern reservation, the unspoken +condition of the vote which Seward--and for that matter, Lincoln, +also,--failed to comprehend. Because of these cross-purposes, because +the Southern alarm was based on another thing than the standing or +falling of slavery, the situation called for much more than tact, for +profound psychological statesmanship. + +And now emerges out of the complexities of the Southern situation a +powerful personality whose ideas and point of view Lincoln did not +understand. Robert Barnwell Rhett had once been a man of might in +politics. Twice he had very nearly rent the Union asunder. In 1844, +again in 1851, he had come to the very edge of persuading South Carolina +to secede. In each case he sought to organize the general discontent of +the South,--its dread of a tariff, and of Northern domination. After his +second failure, his haughty nature took offense at fortune. He resigned +his seat in the Senate and withdrew to private life. But he was too +large and too bold a character to attain obscurity. Nor would his +restless genius permit him to rust in ease. During the troubled +'fifties, he watched from a distance, but with ever increasing interest, +that negative Southern force which he, in the midst of it, comprehended, +while it drifted under the wing of the extremists. As he did so, the old +arguments, the old ambitions, the old hopes revived. In 1851 his cry +to the South was to assert itself as a Separate nation--not for any one +reason, but for many reasons--and to lead its own life apart from +the North. It was an age of brilliant though ill-fated revolutionary +movements in Europe. Kossuth and the gallant Hungarian attempt at +independence had captivated the American imagination. Rhett dreamed of +seeing the South do what Hungary had failed to do. He thought of the +problem as a medieval knight would have thought, in terms of individual +prowess, with the modern factors, economics and all their sort, left +on one side. "Smaller nations (than South Carolina)," he said in 1851, +"have striven for freedom against greater odds." + +In 1860 he had concluded that his third chance had come. He would try +once more to bring about secession. To split the Union, he would play +into the hands of the slave-barons. He would aim to combine with their +movement the negative Southern movement and use the resulting coalition +to crown with success his third attempt. Issuing from his seclusion, he +became at once the overshadowing figure in South Carolina. Around him +all the elements of revolution crystallized. He was sixty years old; +seasoned and uncompromising in the pursuit of his one ideal, the +independence of the South. His arguments were the same which he had used +in 1844, in 1851: the North would impoverish the South; it threatens +to impose a crushing tribute in the shape of protection; it seeks to +destroy slavery; it aims to bring about economic collapse; in the wreck +thus produced, everything that is beautiful, charming, distinctive in +Southern life will be lost; let us fight! With such a leader, the forces +of discontent were quickly, effectively, organized. Even before the +election of Lincoln, the revolutionary leaders in South Carolina were +corresponding with men of like mind in other Southern States, especially +Alabama, where was another leader, Yancey, only second in intensity to +Rhett. + +The word from these Alabama revolutionists to South Carolina was to +dare all, to risk seceding alone, confident that the other States of +the South would follow. Rhett and his new associates took this perilous +advice. The election was followed by the call of a convention of +delegates of the people of South Carolina. This convention, on the +twentieth of December, 1860, repealed the laws which united South +Carolina with the other States and proclaimed their own independent. + + + + +XII. THE CRISIS + +Though Seward and other buoyant natures felt that the crisis had passed +with the election, less volatile people held the opposite view. Men who +had never before taken seriously the Southern threats of disunion had +waked suddenly to a terrified consciousness that they were in for it. +In their blindness to realities earlier in the year, they were like that +brilliant host of camp followers which, as Thackeray puts it, led the +army of Wellington dancing and feasting to the very brink of Waterloo. +And now the day of reckoning had come. An emotional reaction carried +them from one extreme to the other; from self-sufficient disregard of +their adversaries to an almost self-abasing regard. + +The very type of these people and of their reaction was Horace Greeley. +He was destined many times to make plain that he lived mainly in his +sensibilities; that, in his kaleidoscopic vision, the pattern of the +world could be red and yellow and green today, and orange and purple +and blue tomorrow. To descend from a pinnacle of self-complacency into +a desolating abyss of panic, was as easy for Greeley as it is--in the +vulgar but pointed American phrase--to roll off a log. A few days after +the election, Greeley had rolled off his log. He was wallowing in panic. +He began to scream editorially. The Southern extremists were terribly +in earnest; if they wanted to go, go they would, and go they should. But +foolish Northerners would be sure to talk war and the retaining of the +South in the Union by force: it must not be; what was the Union compared +with bloodshed? There must be no war--no war. Such was Greeley's +terrified--appeal to the North. A few weeks after the election he +printed his famous editorial denouncing the idea of a Union pinned +together by bayonets. He followed up with another startling concession +to his fears: the South had as good cause for leaving the Union as +the colonies had for leaving the British Empire. A little later, he +formulated his ultimate conclusion,--which like many of his ultimates +proved to be transitory,--and declared that if any group of Southern +States "choose to form an independent nation, they have a clear moral +right to do so," and pledging himself and his followers to do "our best +to forward their views." + +Greeley wielded through The Tribune more influence, perhaps, than was +possessed by any other Republican with the single exception of Lincoln. +His newspaper constituency was enormous, and the relation between +the leader and the led was unusually close. He was both oracle and +barometer. As a symptom of the Republican panic, as a cause increasing +that panic, he was of first importance. + +Meanwhile Congress had met. And at once, the most characteristic +peculiarity of the moment was again made emphatic. The popular +majorities and the political machines did not coincide. Both in the +North and in the South a minority held the situation in the hollow of +its hand. The Breckinridge Democrats, despite their repudiation in the +presidential vote, included so many of the Southern politicians, they +were so well organized, they had scored such a menacing victory with +the aid of Rhett in South Carolina, they had played so skilfully on the +fears of the South at large, their leaders were such skilled managers, +that they were able to continue for the moment the recognized spokesmen +of the South at Washington. They lost no time defining their position. +If the Union were not to be sundered, the Republicans must pledge +themselves to a new and extensive compromise; it must be far different +from those historic compromises that had preceded it. Three features +must characterize any new agreement: The South must be dealt with as +a unit; it must be given a "sphere of influence"--to use our modern +term--which would fully satisfy all its impulses of expansion; and in +that sphere, every question of slavery must be left entirely, forever, +to local action. In a word, they demanded for the South what today would +be described as a "dominion" status. Therefore, they insisted that the +party which had captured the Northern political machine should formulate +its reply to these demands. They gave notice that they would not discuss +individual schemes, but only such as the victorious Republicans might +officially present. Thus the national crisis became a party crisis. What +could the Republicans among themselves agree to propose? + +The central figure of the crisis seemed at first to be the brilliant +Republican Senator from New York. Seward thought he understood the +South, and what was still more important, human nature. Though he echoed +Greeley's cry for peace--translating his passionate hysteria into the +polished cynicism of a diplomat who had been known to deny that he was +ever entirely serious--he scoffed at Greeley's fears. If the South had +not voted lack of confidence in the Breckinridge crowd, what had it +voted? If the Breckinridge leaders weren't maneuvering to save their +faces, what could they be accused of doing? If Seward, the Republican +man of genius, couldn't see through all that, couldn't devise a way +to help them save their faces, what was the use in being a brilliant +politician? + +Jauntily self-complacent, as confident of himself as if Rome were +burning and he the garlanded fiddler, Seward braced himself for the task +of recreating the Union. + +But there was an obstacle in his path. It was Lincoln. Of course, it +was folly to propose a scheme which the incoming President would not +sustain. Lincoln and Seward must come to an understanding. To bring that +about Seward despatched a personal legate to Springfield. Thurlow Weed, +editor, man of the world, political wire-puller beyond compare, Seward's +devoted henchman, was the legate. One of the great events of American +history was the conversation between Weed and Lincoln in December, 1860. +By a rare propriety of dramatic effect, it occurred probably, on the +very day South Carolina brought to an end its campaign of menace and +adopted its Ordinance of Secession, December twentieth.(1) + +Weed had brought to Springfield a definite proposal. The Crittenden +compromise was being hotly discussed in Congress and throughout the +country. All the Northern advocates of conciliation were eager to put it +through. There was some ground to believe that the Southern machine at +Washington would accept it. If Lincoln would agree, Seward would make it +the basis of his policy. + +This Compromise would have restored the old line of the Missouri +Compromise and would have placed it under the protection of a +constitutional amendment. This, together with a guarantee against +congressional interference with slavery in the States where it existed, +a guarantee the Republicans had already offered, seemed to Seward, to +Weed, to Greeley, to the bulk of the party, a satisfactory means of +preserving the Union. What was it but a falling back on the original +policy of the party, the undoing of those measures of 1854 which had +called the party into being? Was it conceivable that Lincoln would +balk the wishes of the party by obstructing such a natural mode of +extrication? But that was what Lincoln did. His views had advanced since +1854. Then, he was merely for restoring the old duality of the country, +the two "dominions," Northern and Southern, each with its own social +order. He had advanced to the belief that this duality could not +permanently continue. Just how far Lincoln realized what he was doing in +refusing to compromise will never be known. Three months afterward, he +took a course which seems to imply that his vision during the interim +had expanded, had opened before him a new revelation of the nature of +his problem. At the earlier date Lincoln and the Southern people--not +the Southern machine--were looking at the one problem from opposite +points of view, and were locating the significance of the problem in +different features. To Lincoln, the heart of the matter was slavery. To +the Southerners, including the men who had voted lack of confidence in +Breckinridge, the heart of the matter was the sphere of influence. What +the Southern majority wanted was not the policy of the slave profiteers +but a secure future for expansion, a guarantee that Southern life, +social, economic, cultural, would not be merged with the life of the +opposite section: in a word, preservation of "dominion" status. In +Lincoln's mind, slavery being the main issue, this "dominion" issue was +incidental--a mere outgrowth of slavery that should begin to pass +away with slavery's restriction. In the Southern mind, a community +consciousness, the determination to be a people by themselves, nation +within the nation, was the issue, and slavery was the incident. To +repeat, it is impossible to say what Lincoln would have done had he +comprehended the Southern attitude. His near horizon which had kept +him all along from grasping the negative side of the Southern movement +prevented his perception of this tragic instance of cross-purposes. + +Lacking this perception, his thoughts had centered themselves on a +recent activity of the slave profiteers. They had clamored for the +annexation of new territory to the south of us. Various attempts had +been made to create an international crisis looking toward the seizure +of Cuba. Then, too, bold adventurers had staked their heads, seeking to +found slave-holding communities in Central America. Why might not such +attempts succeed? Why might not new Slave States be created outside the +Union, eventually to be drawn in? Why not? said the slave profiteer, and +gave money and assistance to the filibusters in Nicaragua. Why not? said +Lincoln, also. What protection against such an extension of boundaries? +Was the limitation of slave area to be on one side only, the Northern +side? And here at last, for Lincoln, was what appeared to be the true +issue of the moment. To dualize the Union, assuming its boundaries to be +fixed, was one thing. To dualize the Union in the face of a movement for +extension of boundaries was another. Hence it was now vital, as Lincoln +reasoned, to give slavery a fixed boundary on all sides. Silently, while +others fulminated, or rhapsodized, or wailed, he had moved inexorably to +a new position which was nothing but a logical development of the old. +The old position was--no extension of slave territory; the new position +was--no more Slave States.(2) Because Crittenden's Compromise left +it possible to have a new Slave State in Cuba, a new Slave State +in Nicaragua, perhaps a dozen such new States, Lincoln refused to +compromise.(3) + +It was a terrible decision, carrying within it the possibility of civil +war. But Lincoln could not be moved. This was the first acquaintance +of the established political leaders with his inflexible side. In the +recesses of his own thoughts the decision had been reached. It was +useless to argue with him. Weed carried back his ultimatum. Seward +abandoned Crittenden's scheme. The only chance for compromise passed +away. The Southern leaders set about their plans for organizing a +Southern Confederacy. + + + + +XIII. ECLIPSE + +Lincoln's ultimatum of December twentieth contained three proposals that +might be made to the Southern leaders: + +That the enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Law which hitherto had been +left to State authorities should be taken over by Congress and supported +by the Republicans. + +That the Republicans to the extent of their power should work for the +repeal of all those "Personal Liberty Laws" which had been established +in certain Northern States to defeat the operation of the Fugitive Slave +Law. + +That the Federal Union must be preserved.(1) + +In presenting these proposals along with a refusal to consider the +Crittenden Compromise, Seward tampered with their clear-cut form. +Fearful of the effect on the extremists of the Republican group, he +withheld Lincoln's unconditional promise to maintain the Fugitive Slave +Law and instead of pledging his party to the repeal of Personal Liberty +Laws he promised only to have Congress request the States to repeal +them. He suppressed altogether the assertion that the Union must be +preserved.(2) About the same time, in a public speech, he said he was +not going to be "humbugged" by the bogy of secession, and gave his +fatuous promise that all the trouble would be ended inside ninety days. +For all his brilliancy of a sort, he was spiritually obtuse. On him, +as on Douglas, Fate had lavished opportunities to see life as it is, to +understand the motives of men; but it could not make him use them. He +was incorrigibly cynical. He could not divest himself of the idea that +all this confusion was hubbub, was but an ordinary political game, that +his only cue was to assist his adversaries in saving their faces. In +spite of his rich experience,--in spite of being an accomplished man of +the world,--at least in his own estimation--he was as blind to the real +motives of that Southern majority which had rejected Breckinridge as was +the inexperienced Lincoln. The coolness with which he modified Lincoln's +proposals was evidence that he considered himself the great Republican +and Lincoln an accident. He was to do the same again--to his own regret. + +When Lincoln issued his ultimatum, he was approaching the summit, if not +at the very summit, of another of his successive waves of vitality, of +self-confidence. That depression which came upon him about the end of +1858, which kept him undecided, in a mood of excessive caution during +most of 1859, had passed away. The presidential campaign with its +thrilling tension, its excitement, had charged him anew with confidence. +Although one more eclipse was in store for him--the darkest eclipse of +all--he was very nearly the definitive Lincoln of history. At least, he +had the courage which that Lincoln was to show. + +He was now the target for a besieging army of politicians clamoring for +"spoils" in the shape of promises of preferment. It was a miserable and +disgraceful assault which profoundly offended him.(3) To his mind this +was not the same thing as the simple-hearted personal politics of +his younger days--friends standing together and helping one another +along--but a gross and monstrous rapacity. It was the first chill shadow +that followed the election day. + +There were difficult intrigues over the Cabinet. Promises made by his +managers at Chicago were presented for redemption. Rival candidates +bidding for his favor, tried to cut each other's throats. For example, +there was the intrigue of the War Department. The Lincoln managers had +promised a Cabinet appointment to Pennsylvania; the followers of Simon +Cameron were a power; it had been necessary to win them over in order +to nominate Lincoln; they insisted that their leader was now entitled +to the Pennsylvania seat in the Cabinet; but there was an anti-Cameron +faction almost as potent in Pennsylvania as the Cameron faction. Both +sent their agents to Springfield to lay siege to Lincoln. In this +duel, the Cameron forces won the first round. Lincoln offered him +the Secretaryship. Subsequently, his enemies made so good a case that +Lincoln was convinced of the unwisdom of his decision and withdrew the +offer. But Cameron had not kept the offer confidential. The withdrawal +would discredit him politically and put a trump card into the hands +of his enemies. A long dispute followed. Not until Lincoln had reached +Washington, immediately before the inauguration, was the dispute ended, +the withdrawal withdrawn, and Cameron appointed.(4) + +It was a dreary winter for the President-elect. It was also a brand-new +experience. For the first time he was a dispenser of favor on a grand +scale. Innumerable men showed their meanest side, either to advance +themselves or to injure others. As the weeks passed and the spectacle +grew in shamelessness, his friends became more and more conscious of his +peculiar melancholy. The elation of the campaign subsided into a deep +unhappiness over the vanity of this world. Other phases of the shadowy +side of his character also asserted themselves. Conspicuous was a +certain trend in his thinking that was part of Herndon's warrant for +calling him a fatalist. Lincoln's mysticism very early had taken a turn +toward predestination, coupled with a belief in dreams.(5) He did not in +any way believe in magic; he never had any faith in divinations, in the +occult, in any secret mode of alluring the unseen powers to take one's +side. Nevertheless, he made no bones about being superstitious. And he +thought that coming events cast their shadows before, that something, at +least, of the future was sometimes revealed through dreams. "Nature," +he would say, "is the workshop of the Almighty, and we form but links in +the chain of intellectual and material life."(6) Byron's Dream was one +of his favorite poems. He pondered those ancient, historical tales which +make free use of portents. There was a fascination for him in the story +of Caracalla--how his murder of Geta was foretold, how he was upbraided +by the ghosts of his father and brother. This dream-faith of his was as +real as was a similar faith held by the authors of the Old Testament. +He had his theory of the interpretation of dreams. Because they were +a universal experience--as he believed, the universal mode of +communication between the unseen and the seen--his beloved "plain +people," the "children of Nature," the most universal types of humanity, +were their best interpreters. He also believed in presentiment. As +faithfully as the simplest of the brood of the forest--those recreated +primitives who regulated their farming by the brightness or the +darkness of the moon, who planted corn or slaughtered hogs as Artemis +directed--he trusted a presentiment if once it really took possession of +him. A presentiment which had been formed before this time, we know not +when, was clothed with authority by a dream, or rather a vision, that +came to him in the days of melancholy disillusion during the last winter +at Springfield. Looking into a mirror, he saw two Lincolns,--one alive, +the other dead. It was this vision which clenched his pre-sentiment that +he was born to a great career and to a tragic end. He interpreted the +vision that his administration would be successful, but that it would +close with his death.(7) + +The record of his inner life during the last winter at Springfield is +very dim. But there can be no doubt that a desolating change attacked +his spirit. As late as the day of his ultimatum he was still in +comparative sunshine, or, at least his clouds were not close about him. +His will was steel, that day. Nevertheless, a friend who visited him +in January, to talk over their days together, found not only that "the +old-time zest" was lacking, but that it was replaced by "gloom and +despondency."(8) The ghosts that hovered so frequently at the back of +his mind, the brooding tendencies which fed upon his melancholy and +made him at times irresolute, were issuing from the shadows, trooping +forward, to encompass him roundabout. + +In the midst of this spiritual reaction, he was further depressed by the +stern news from the South and from Washington. His refusal to compromise +was beginning to bear fruit. The Gulf States seceded. A Southern +Confederacy was formed. There is no evidence that he lost faith in +his course, but abundant evidence that he was terribly unhappy. He was +preyed upon by his sense of helplessness, while Buchanan through his +weakness and vacillation was "giving away the case." "Secession is being +fostered," said he, "rather than repressed, and if the doctrine meets +with general acceptance in the Border States, it will be a great blow to +the government."(9) He did not deceive himself upon the possible effect +of his ultimatum, and sent word to General Scott to be prepared to hold +or to "retake" the forts garrisoned by Federal troops in the Southern +States.(10) + +All the while his premonition of the approach of doom grew more darkly +oppressive. The trail of the artist is discernible across his thoughts. +In his troubled imagination he identified his own situation with that of +the protagonist in tragedies on the theme of fate. He did not withhold +his thoughts from the supreme instance. That same friend who found him +possessed of gloom preserved these words of his: "I have read on my +knees the story of Gethsemane, when the Son of God prayed in vain +that the cup of bitterness might pass from him. I am in the Garden +of Gethsemane now and my cup of bitterness is full and overflowing +now."(11) + + "Like some strong seer in a trance, + Seeing all his own mischance, + With a glassy countenance," + +he faced toward Washington, toward the glorious terror promised him by +his superstitions. + +The last days before the departure were days of mingled gloom, +desperation, and the attempt to recover hope. He visited his old +stepmother and made a pilgrimage to his father's grave. His thoughts +fondly renewed the details of his past life, lingered upon this and +that, as if fearful that it was all slipping away from him forever. And +then he roused himself as if in sudden revolt against the Fates. The day +before he left Springfield forever Lincoln met his partner for the +last time at their law office to wind up the last of their unsettled +business. "After those things were all disposed of," says Herndon, "he +crossed to the opposite side of the room and threw himself down on the +old office sofa. . . . He lay there for some moments his face to +the ceiling without either of us speaking. Presently, he inquired: +'Billy'--he always called me by that name--'how long have we been +together?' 'Over sixteen years,' I answered. 'We've never had a cross +word during all that time, have we?' . . . He gathered a bundle of +papers and books he wished to take with him and started to go, but +before leaving, he made the strange request that the sign board which +swung on its rusty hinges at the foot of the stairway would remain. 'Let +it hang there undisturbed,' he said, with a significant lowering of the +voice. 'Give our clients to understand that the election of a President +makes no change in the firm of Lincoln & Herndon. If I live, I am coming +back some time, and then we'll go right on practising law as if nothing +had happened.' He lingered for a moment as if to take a last look at +the old quarters, and then passed through the door into the narrow +hallway."(12) + +On a dreary day with a cold rain falling, he set forth. The railway +station was packed with friends. He made his way through the crowd +slowly, shaking hands. "Having finally reached the train, he ascended +the rear platform, and, facing about to the throng which had closed +about him, drew himself up to his full height, removed his hat and stood +for several seconds in profound silence. His eyes roved sadly over that +sea of upturned faces. . . There was an unusual quiver on his lips and +a still more unusual tear on his shriveled cheek. His solemn manner, his +long silence, were as full of melancholy eloquence as any words he could +have uttered."(13) At length, he spoke: "My friends, no one not in my +situation can appreciate my feeling of sadness at this parting. To this +place and the kindness of these people, I owe everything. Here I have +lived a quarter of a century, and have passed from a young to an old +man. Here my children have been born and one is buried. I now leave, +not knowing when or whether ever, I may return, with a task before me +greater than that which rested upon Washington. Without the assistance +of that Divine Being who ever attended him, I can not succeed. With +that assistance, I can not fail. Trusting in Him who can go with me and +remain with you, and be everywhere for good, let us confidently hope +that all will yet be well. To His care commending you, as I hope in your +prayers you will commend me, I bid you an affectionate farewell."(14) + + + + +XIV. THE STRANGE NEW MAN + +There is a period of sixteen months--from February, 1861, to a day in +June, 1862,--when Lincoln is the most singular, the most problematic of +statesmen. Out of this period he issues with apparent abruptness, +the final Lincoln, with a place among the few consummate masters of +state-craft. During the sixteen months, his genius comes and goes. His +confidence, whether in himself or in others, is an uncertain quantity. +At times he is bold, even rash; at others, irresolute. The constant +factor in his mood all this while is his amazing humility. He seems to +have forgotten his own existence. As a person with likes and dislikes, +with personal hopes and fears, he has vanished. He is but an afflicted +and perplexed mind, struggling desperately to save his country. A +selfless man, he may be truly called through months of torment which +made him over from a theoretical to a practical statesman. He entered +this period a literary man who had been elevated almost by accident to +the position of a leader in politics. After many blunders, after doubt, +hesitation and pain, he came forth from this stern ordeal a powerful man +of action. + +The impression which he made on the country at the opening of this +period was unfortunate. The very power that had hitherto been the making +of him--the literary power, revealing to men in wonderfully convincing +form the ideas which they felt within them but could not utter--this had +deserted him. Explain the psychology of it any way you will, there is +the fact! The speeches Lincoln made on the way to Washington during the +latter part of February were appallingly unlike himself. His mind had +suddenly fallen dumb. He had nothing to say. The gloom, the desolation +that had penetrated his soul, somehow, for the moment, made him +commonplace. When he talked--as convention required him to do at all his +stopping places--his words were but faint echoes of the great +political exponent he once had been. His utterances were fatuous; mere +exhortations to the country not to worry. "There is no crisis but an +artificial one," he said.(1) And the country stood aghast! Amazement, +bewilderment, indignation, was the course of the reaction in many minds +of his own party. Their verdict was expressed in the angry language of +Samuel Bowles, "Lincoln is a Simple Susan."(2) + +In private talk, Lincoln admitted that he was "more troubled about the +outlook than he thought it discreet to show." This remark was made to a +"Public Man," whose diary has been published but whose identity is still +secret. Though keenly alert for any touch of weakness or absurdity in +the new President, calling him "the most ill-favored son of Adam I ever +saw," the Public Man found him "crafty and sensible." In conversation, +the old Lincoln, the matchless phrase-maker, could still express +himself. At New York he was told of a wild scheme that was on foot to +separate the city from the North, form a city state such as Hamburg then +was, and set up a commercial alliance with the Confederacy. "As to the +free city business," said Lincoln, "well, I reckon it will be some time +before the front door sets up bookkeeping on its own account."(3) The +formal round of entertainment on his way to Washington wearied Lincoln +intensely. Harassed and preoccupied, he was generally ill at ease. And +he was totally unused to sumptuous living. Failures in social usage were +inevitable. New York was convulsed with amusement because at the opera +he wore a pair of huge black kid gloves which attracted the attention of +the whole house, "hanging as they did over the red velvet box front." +At an informal reception, between acts in the director's room, he looked +terribly bored and sat on the sofa at the end of the room with his hat +pushed back on his head. Caricatures filled the opposition papers. +He was spoken of as the "Illinois ape" and the "gorilla." Every rash +remark, every "break" in social form, every gaucherie was seized upon +and ridiculed with-out mercy. + +There is no denying that the oddities of Lincoln's manner though +quickly dismissed from thought by men of genius, seriously troubled even +generous men who lacked the intuitions of genius. And he never overcame +these oddities. During the period of his novitiate as a ruler, +the critical sixteen months, they were carried awkwardly, with +embarrassment. Later when he had found himself as a ruler, when his +self-confidence had reached its ultimate form and he knew what he really +was, he forgot their existence. None the less, they were always a part +of him, his indelible envelope. At the height of his power, he received +visitors with his feet in leather slippers.(4) He discussed great +affairs of state with one of those slippered feet flung up on to a +corner of his desk. A favorite attitude, even when debating vital +matters with the great ones of the nation, is described by his +secretaries as "sitting on his shoulders"--he would slide far down into +his chair and stick up both slippers so high above his head that they +could rest with ease upon his mantelpiece.(5) No wonder that his enemies +made unlimited fun. And they professed to believe that there was an +issue here. When the elegant McClellan was moving heaven and earth, as +he fancied, to get the army out of its shirt-sleeves, the President's +manner was a cause of endless irritation. Still more serious was the +effect of his manner on many men who agreed with him otherwise. Such a +high-minded leader as Governor Andrew of Massachusetts never got over +the feeling that Lincoln was a rowdy. How could a rowdy be the salvation +of the country? In the dark days of 1864, when a rebellion against his +leadership was attempted, this merely accidental side of him was an +element of danger. The barrier it had created between himself and the +more formal types, made it hard for the men who finally saved him to +overcome their prejudice and nail his colors to the mast. Andrew's +biographer shows himself a shrewd observer when he insists on the +unexpressed but inexorable scale by which Andrew and his following +measured Lincoln. They had grown up in the faith that you could tell +a statesman by certain external signs, chiefly by a grandiose and +commanding aspect such as made overpowering the presence of Webster. +And this idea was not confined to any one locality. Everywhere, more or +less, the conservative portion in every party held this view. It was the +view of Washington in 1848 when Washington had failed to see the real +Lincoln through his surface peculiarities. It was again the view of +Washington when Lincoln returned to it. + +Furthermore, his free way of talking, the broad stories he continued +to tell, were made counts in his indictment. One of the bequests of +Puritanism in America is the ideal, at least, of extreme scrupulousness +in talk. To many sincere men Lincoln's choice of fables was often a +deadly offense. Charles Francis Adams never got over the shock of their +first interview. Lincoln clenched a point with a broad story. Many +professional politicians who had no objection to such talk in itself, +glared and sneered when the President used it--because forsooth, it +might estrange a vote. + +Then, too, Lincoln had none of the social finesse that might have +adapted his manner to various classes. He was always incorrigibly the +democrat pure and simple. He would have laughed uproariously over that +undergraduate humor, the joy of a famous American University, supposedly +strong on Democracy: + + "Where God speaks to Jones, in the very same tones, + That he uses to Hadley and Dwight." + +Though Lincoln's queer aplomb, his good-humored familiarity on first +acquaintance, delighted most of his visitors, it offended many. It was +lacking in tact. Often it was a clumsy attempt to be jovial too soon, as +when he addressed Greeley by the name of "Horace" almost on first sight. +His devices for putting men on the familiar footing lacked originality. +The frequency with which he called upon a tall visitor to measure up +against him reveals the poverty of his social invention. He applied this +device with equal thoughtlessness to the stately Sumner, who protested, +and to a nobody who grinned and was delighted. + +It was this mere envelope of the genius that was deplorably evident on +the journey from Springfield to Washington. There was one detail of the +journey that gave his enemies a more definite ground for sneering. By +the irony of fate, the first clear instance of Lincoln's humility, his +reluctance to set up his own judgment against his advisers, was also +his first serious mistake. There is a distinction here that is vital. +Lincoln was entering on a new role, the role of the man of action. +Hitherto all the great decisions of his life had been speculative; they +had developed from within; they dealt with ideas. The inflexible side of +him was intellectual. Now, without any adequate apprenticeship, he was +called upon to make practical decisions, to decide on courses of action, +at one step to pass from the dream of statecraft to its application. +Inevitably, for a considerable time, he was two people; he passed back +and forth from one to the other; only by degrees did he bring the two +together. Meanwhile, he appeared contradictory. Inwardly, as a thinker, +his development was unbroken; he was still cool, inflexible, drawing all +his conclusions out of the depths of himself. Outwardly, in action, +he was learning the new task, hesitatingly, with vacillation, with +excessive regard to the advisers whom he treated as experts in action. +It was no slight matter for an extraordinarily sensitive man to take up +a new role at fifty-two. + +This first official mistake of Lincoln's was in giving way to the fears +of his retinue for his safety. The time had become hysterical. The +wildest sort of stories filled the air. Even before he left Springfield +there were rumors of plots to assassinate him.(6) On his arrival at +Philadelphia information was submitted to his companions which convinced +them that his life was in danger--an attempt would be made to kill him +as he passed through Baltimore. Seward at Washington had heard the same +story and had sent his son to Philadelphia to advise caution. Lincoln's +friends insisted that he leave his special train and proceed to +Washington with only one companion, on an ordinary night train. Railway +officials were called in. Elaborate precautions were arranged. The +telegraph lines were all to be disconnected for a number of hours so +that even if the conspirators--assuming there were any--should discover +his change of plan, they would be unable to communicate with Baltimore. +The one soldier in the party, Colonel Sumner, vehemently protested +that these changes were all "a damned piece of cowardice." But Lincoln +acquiesced in the views of the majority of his advisers. He passed +through Baltimore virtually in disguise; nothing happened; no certain +evidence of a conspiracy was discovered. And all his enemies took up the +cry of cowardice and rang the changes upon it.(7) + +Meanwhile, despite all this semblance of indecision, of feebleness, +there were signs that the real inner Lincoln, however clouded, was still +alive. By way of offset to his fatuous utterances, there might have been +set, had the Country been in a mood to weigh with care, several strong +and clear pronouncements. And these were not merely telling phrases like +that characteristic one about the bookkeeping of the front door. His +mind was struggling out of its shadow. And the mode of its reappearance +was significant. His reasoning upon the true meaning of the struggle he +was about to enter, reached a significant stage in the speech he made at +Harrisburg.(8) + +"I have often inquired of myself," he said, "what great principle or +idea it was that kept this Confederacy (the United States) so long +together. It was not the mere matter of the separation of the +colonies from the motherland, but that sentiment in the Declaration of +Independence which gave liberty not alone to the people of the country +but hope to all the world for all future time. It was that which gave +promise that in due time the weights would be lifted from the shoulders +of all men and that all should have an equal chance. This is the +sentiment embodied in the Declaration of Independence. Now, my friends, +can this country be saved on that basis? If it can, I will consider +myself one of the happiest men in the world, if I can help to save it. +If it can not be saved upon that principle, it will be truly awful. But +if this country can not be saved without giving up that principle, I was +about to say I would rather be assassinated on this spot than surrender +it. Now, in my view of the present aspect of affairs, there is no need +of bloodshed and war. There is no necessity for it I am not in favor of +such a course, and I may say in advance that there will be no bloodshed +unless it is forced upon the government. The government will not use +force unless force is used against it." + +The two ideas underlying this utterance had grown in his thought +steadily, consistently, ever since their first appearance in the Protest +twenty-four years previous. The great issue to which all else--slavery, +"dominion status," everything--was subservient, was the preservation of +democratic institutions; the means to that end was the preservation of +the Federal government. Now, as in 1852, his paramount object was not +to "disappoint the Liberal party throughout the world," to prove that +Democracy, when applied on a great scale, had yet sufficient coherence +to remain intact, no matter how powerful, nor how plausible, were the +forces of disintegration. + +Dominated by this purpose he came to Washington. There he met Seward. It +was the stroke of fate for both men. Seward, indeed, did not know that +it was. He was still firmly based in the delusion that he, not Lincoln, +was the genius of the hour. And he had this excuse, that it was also the +country's delusion. There was pretty general belief both among friends +and foes that Lincoln would be ruled by his Cabinet. In a council that +was certain to include leaders of accepted influence--Seward, Chase, +Cameron--what chance for this untried newcomer, whose prestige had been +reared not on managing men, but on uttering words? In Seward's +thoughts the answer was as inevitable as the table of addition. Equally +mathematical was the conclusion that only one unit gave value to the +combination. And, of course, the leader of the Republicans in the Senate +was the unit. A severe experience had to be lived through before Seward +made his peace with destiny. Lincoln was the quicker to perceive when +they came together that something had happened. Almost from the minute +of their meeting, he began to lean upon Seward; but only in a certain +way. This was not the same thing as that yielding to the practical +advisers which began at Philadelphia, which was subsequently to be the +cause of so much confusion. His response to Seward was intellectual. It +was of the inner man and revealed itself in his style of writing. + +Hitherto, Lincoln's progress in literature had been marked by the +development of two characteristics and by the lack of a third. The two +that he possessed were taste and rhythm. At the start he was free from +the prevalent vice of his time, rhetoricality. His "Address to the +Voters of Sangamon County" which was his first state paper, was as +direct, as free from bombast, as the greatest of his later achievements. +Almost any other youth who had as much of the sense of language as was +there exhibited, would have been led astray by the standards of the +hour, would have mounted the spread-eagle and flapped its wings in +rhetorical clamor. But Lincoln was not precocious. In art, as in +everything else, he progressed slowly; the literary part of him worked +its way into the matter-of-fact part of him with the gradualness of the +daylight through a shadowy wood. It was not constant in its development. +For many years it was little more than an irregular deepening of his +two original characteristics, taste and rhythm. His taste, fed on +Blackstone, Shakespeare, and the Bible, led him more and more exactingly +to say just what he meant, to eschew the wiles of decoration, to be +utterly non-rhetorical. His sense of rhythm, beginning simply, no more +at first than a good ear for the sound of words, deepened into +keen perception of the character of the word-march, of that extra +significance which is added to an idea by the way it conducts itself, +moving grandly or feebly as the case may be, from the unknown into the +known, and thence across a perilous horizon, into memory. On the basis +of these two characteristics he had acquired a style that was a rich +blend of simplicity, directness, candor, joined with a clearness beyond +praise, with a delightful cadence, having always a splendidly ordered +march of ideas. + +But there was the third thing in which the earlier style of Lincoln's +was wanting. Marvelously apt for the purpose of the moment, his writings +previous to 1861 are vanishing from the world's memory. The more notable +writings of his later years have become classics. And the difference +does not turn on subject-matter. All the ideas of his late writings had +been formulated in the earlier. The difference is purely literary. The +earlier writings were keen, powerful, full of character, melodious, +impressive. The later writings have all these qualities, and in +addition, that constant power to awaken the imagination, to carry an +idea beyond its own horizon into a boundless world of imperishable +literary significance, which power in argumentative prose is beauty. And +how did Lincoln attain this? That he had been maturing from within the +power to do this, one is compelled by the analogy of his other mental +experiences to believe. At the same time, there can be no doubt who +taught him the trick, who touched the secret spring and opened the new +door to his mind. It was Seward. Long since it had been agreed between +them that Seward was to be Secretary of State.(9) Lincoln asked him +to criticize his inaugural. Seward did so, and Lincoln, in the main, +accepted his criticism. But Seward went further. He proposed a new +paragraph. He was not a great writer and yet he had something of that +third thing which Lincoln hitherto had not exhibited. However, in +pursuing beauty of statement, he often came dangerously near to mere +rhetoric; his taste was never sure; his sense of rhythm was inferior; +the defects of his qualities were evident. None the less, Lincoln saw at +a glance that if he could infuse into Seward's words his own more robust +qualities, the result--'would be a richer product than had ever issued +from his own qualities as hitherto he had known them. He effected +this transmutation and in doing so raised his style to a new range of +effectiveness. The great Lincoln of literature appeared in the first +inaugural and particularly in that noble passage which was the work +of Lincoln and Seward together. In a way it said only what Lincoln had +already said--especially in the speech at Harrisburg--but with what a +difference! + +"In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow countrymen, and not in mine, is +the momentous issue of civil war. The government will not assail you. +You can have no conflict without being yourselves the aggressors. You +have no oath registered in Heaven to destroy the government, while I +shall have the most solemn one to preserve, protect and defend it. + +"I am loath to close. We are not enemies but friends. Though passion +may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic +chords of memory stretching from every battle-field and patriot grave, +to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet +swell the chorus of the Union when again touched as surely they will be, +by the better angels of our nature."* + + *Lincoln VI, 184; N. & H., III, 343. Seward advised the + omission of part of the original draft of the first of these + two paragraphs. After "defend it," Lincoln had written, "You + can forbear the assault upon it. I can not shrink from the + defense of it. With you and not with me is the solemn + question 'Shall it be peace or a sword?'" Having struck this + out, he accepted Seward's advice to add "some words of + affection--some of calm and cheerful confidence." + +The original version of the concluding paragraph was prepared by Seward +and read as follows: "I close. We are not, we must not he aliens or +enemies, but fellow-countrymen and brethren. Although passion has +strained our bonds of affection too hardly, they must not, I am sure, +they will not, be broken. The mystic chords which, proceeding from +so many battlefields and so many patriot graves, pass through all the +hearts and all hearths in this broad continent of ours, will yet again +harmonize in their ancient music when breathed upon by the guardian +angel of the nation." + +These words, now so famous, were spoken in the east portico of the +Capitol on "one of our disagreeable, clear, windy, Washington spring +days."(10) Most of the participants were agitated; many were alarmed. +Chief Justice Taney who administered the oath could hardly speak, so +near to uncontrollable was his emotion. General Scott anxiously kept +his eye upon the crowd which was commanded by cannon. Cavalry were in +readiness to clear the streets in case of riot. Lincoln's carriage on +the way to the Capitol had been closely guarded. He made his way to +the portico between files of soldiers. So intent--overintent--were his +guardians upon his safety that they had been careless of the smaller +matter of his comfort. There was insufficient room for the large company +that had been invited to attend. The new President stood beside a +rickety little table and saw no place on which to put his hat. Senator +Douglas stepped forward and relieved him of the burden. Lincoln was +"pale and very nervous," and toward the close of his speech, visibly +affected. Observers differ point-blank as to the way the inaugural was +received. The "Public Man" says that there was little enthusiasm. The +opposite version makes the event an oratorical triumph, with the crowd, +at the close, completely under his spell.(11) + +On the whole, the inauguration and the festivities that followed appear +to have formed a dismal event. While Lincoln spoke, the topmost peak of +the Capitol, far above his head, was an idle derrick; the present dome +was in process of construction; work on it had been arrested, and who +could say when, if ever, the work would be resumed? The day closed with +an inaugural ball that was anything but brilliant. "The great tawdry +ballroom . . . not half full--and such an assemblage of strange costumes, +male and female. Very few people of any consideration were there. The +President looked exhausted and uncomfortable, and most ungainly in his +dress; and Mrs. Lincoln all in blue, with a feather in her hair and a +highly flushed face."(12) + + + + +XV. PRESIDENT AND PREMIER + +The brilliant Secretary, who so promptly began to influence the +President had very sure foundations for that influence. He was inured +to the role of great man; he had a rich experience of public life; +while Lincoln, painfully conscious of his inexperience, was perhaps +the humblest-minded ruler that ever took the helm of a ship of state in +perilous times. Furthermore, Seward had some priceless qualities +which, for Lincoln, were still to seek. First of all, he had +audacity--personally, artistically, politically. Seward's instantaneous +gift to Lincoln was by way of throwing wide the door of his gathering +literary audacity. There is every reason to think that Seward's personal +audacity went to Lincoln's heart at once. To be sure, he was not yet +capable of going along with it. The basal contrast of the first month of +his administration lies between the President's caution and the boldness +of the Secretary. Nevertheless, to a sensitive mind, seeking guidance, +surrounded by less original types of politicians, the splendid +fearlessness of Seward, whether wise or foolish, must have rung like +a trumpet peal soaring over the heads of a crowd whose teeth were +chattering. While the rest of the Cabinet pressed their ears to the +ground, Seward thought out a policy, made a forecast of the future, and +offered to stake his head on the correctness of his reasoning. This +may have been rashness; it may have been folly; but, intellectually +at least, it was valor. Among Lincoln's other advisers, valor at that +moment was lacking. Contrast, however, was not the sole, nor the surest +basis of Seward's appeal to Lincoln. Their characters had a common +factor. For all their immeasurable difference in externals, both at +bottom were void of malice. It was this characteristic above all others +that gave them spiritually common ground. In Seward, this quality had +been under fire for a long while. The political furies of "that iron +time" had failed to rouse echoes in his serene and smiling soul. +Therefore, many men who accepted him as leader because, indeed, they +could not do without him--because none other in their camp had +his genius for management, for the glorification of political +intrigue--these same men followed him doubtfully, with bad grace, +willing to shift to some other leader whenever he might arise. The clue +to their distrust was Seward's amusement at the furious. Could a man +who laughed when you preached on the beauty of the hewing of Agag, could +such a man be sincere? And that Seward in some respects was not sincere, +history generally admits. He loved to poke fun at his opponents by +appearing to sneer at himself, by ridiculing the idea that he was ever +serious. His scale of political values was different from that of most +of his followers. Nineteen times out of twenty, he would treat what they +termed "principles" as mere political counters, as legitimate subjects +of bargain. If by any deal he could trade off any or all of these +nineteen in order to secure the twentieth, which for him was the only +vital one, he never scrupled to do so. Against a lurid background of +political ferocity, this amused, ironic figure came to be rated by the +extremists, both in his own and in the enemy camp as Mephistopheles. + +No quality could have endeared him more certainly to Lincoln than the +very one which the bigots misunderstood. From his earliest youth Lincoln +had been governed by this same quality. With his non-censorious mind, +which accepted so much of life as he found it, which was forever +stripping principles of their accretions, what could be more inevitable +than his warming to the one great man at Washington who like him held +that such a point of view was the only rational one. Seward's ironic +peacefulness in the midst of the storm gained in luster because all +about him raged a tempest of ferocity, mitigated, at least so far as the +distracted President could see, only by self-interest or pacifism. + +As Lincoln came into office, he could see and hear many signs of a +rising fierceness of sectional hatred. His secretary records with +disgust a proposal to conquer the Gulf States, expel their white +population, and reduce the region to a gigantic state preserve, where +negroes should grow cotton under national supervision.(1) "We of the +North," said Senator Baker of Oregon, "are a majority of the Union, and +we will govern our Union in our own way."(2) At the other extreme was +the hysterical pacifism of the Abolitionists. Part of Lincoln's abiding +quarrel with the Abolitionists was their lack of national feeling. Their +peculiar form of introspection had injected into politics the idea of +personal sin. Their personal responsibility for slavery--they being +part of a country that tolerated it--was their basal inspiration. +Consequently, the most distinctive Abolitionists welcomed this +opportunity to cast off their responsibility. If war had been proposed +as a crusade to abolish slavery, their attitude might have been +different But in March, 1860, no one but the few ultra-extremists, whom +scarcely anybody heeded, dreamed of such a war. A war to restore the +Union was the only sort that was considered seriously. Such a war, the +Abolitionists bitterly condemned. They seized upon pacifism as their +defense. Said Whittier of the Seceding States: + + They break the links of Union: shall we light + The fires of hell to weld anew the chain, + On that red anvil where each blow is pain? + +The fury and the fear offended Lincoln in equal measure. After long +years opposing the political temper of the extremists, he was not the +man now to change front. To one who believed himself marked out for a +tragic end, the cowardice at the heart of the pacifism of his time was +revolting. It was fortunate for his own peace of mind that he could here +count on the Secretary of State. No argument based on fear of pain would +meet in Seward with anything but derision. "They tell us," he had once +said, and the words expressed his constant attitude, "that we are to +encounter opposition. Why, bless my soul, did anybody ever expect to +reach a fortune, or fame, or happiness on earth or a crown in heaven, +without encountering resistance and opposition? What are we made men for +but to encounter and overcome opposition arrayed against us in the line +of our duty?"(3) + +But if the ferocity and the cowardice were offensive and disheartening, +there was something else that was beneath contempt. Never was +self-interest more shockingly displayed. It was revealed in many +ways, but impinged upon the new President in only one. A horde of +office-seekers besieged him in the White House. The parallel to this +amazing picture can hardly be found in history. It was taken for granted +that the new party would make a clean sweep of the whole civil list, +that every government employee down to the humblest messenger boy too +young to have political ideas was to bear the label of the victorious +party. Every Congressman who had made promises to his constituents, +every politician of every grade who thought he had the party in his +debt, every adventurer who on any pretext could make a showing of party +service rendered, poured into Washington. It was a motley horde. + + "Hark, hark, the dogs do bark, + The beggars are coming to town." + +They converted the White House into a leaguer. They swarmed into the +corridors and even the private passages. So dense was the swarm that +it was difficult to make one's way either in or out. Lincoln described +himself by the image of a man renting rooms at one end of his house +while the other end was on fire.(4) And all this while the existence of +the Republic was at stake! It did not occur to him that it was safe to +defy the horde, to send it about its business. Here again, the figure of +Seward stood out in brilliant light against the somber background. One +of Seward's faculties was his power to form devoted lieutenants. He had +that sure and nimble judgment which enables some men to inspire their +lieutenants rather than categorically to instruct them. All the sordid +side of his political games he managed in this way. He did not appear +himself as the bargainer. In the shameful eagerness of most of the +politicians to find offices for their retainers, Seward was conspicuous +by contrast. Even the Cabinet was not free from this vice of catering to +the thirsty horde.(5) Alone, at this juncture, Seward detached himself +from the petty affairs of the hour and gave his whole attention to +statecraft. + +He had a definite policy. Another point of contact with Lincoln was the +attitude of both toward the Union, supplemented as it was by their +views of the place of slavery in the problem they confronted. Both were +nationalists ready to make any sacrifices for the national idea. Both +regarded slavery as an issue of second importance. Both were prepared +for great concessions if convinced that, ultimately, their concessions +would strengthen the trend of American life toward a general exaltation +of nationality. + +On the other hand, their differences-- + +Seward approached the problem in the same temper, with the same +assumptions, that were his in the previous December. He still believed +that his main purpose was to enable a group of politicians to save their +faces by effecting a strategic retreat. Imputing to the Southern leaders +an attitude of pure self-interest, he believed that if allowed to play +the game as they desired, they would mark time until circumstances +revealed to them whether there was more profit for them in the Union or +out; he also believed that if sufficient time could be given, and if no +armed clash took place, it would be demonstrated first, that they did +not have so strong a hold on the South as they had thought they had; +and second, that on the whole, it was to their interests to patch up the +quarrel and come back into the Union. But he also saw that they had a +serious problem of leadership, which, if rudely handled, might make it +impossible for them to stand still. They had inflamed the sentiment of +state-patriotism. In South Carolina, particularly, the popular demand +was for independence. With this went the demand that Fort Sumter in +Charleston Harbor, garrisoned by Federal troops, should be surrendered, +or if not surrendered, taken forcibly from the United States. A few +cannon shots at Sumter would mean war. An article in Seward's creed of +statecraft asserted that the populace will always go wild over a war. To +prevent a war fever in the North was the first condition of his policy +at home. Therefore, in order to prevent it, the first step in saving his +enemies' faces was to safeguard them against the same danger in their +own calm. He must help them to prevent a war fever in the South. He saw +but one way to do this. The conclusion which became the bed rock of his +policy was inevitable. Sumter must be evacuated. + +Even before the inauguration, he had broached this idea to Lincoln. He +had tried to keep Lincoln from inserting in the inaugural the words, +"The power confided to me will be used to hold, occupy and possess +the property and places belonging to the government." He had proposed +instead, "The power confided in me shall be used indeed with efficacy, +but also with discretion, in every case and exigency, according to +the circumstances actually existing, and with a view and a hope of +a peaceful solution of the national troubles, and the restoration of +fraternal sympathies and affections."(6) With the rejection of Seward's +proffered revision, a difference between them in policy began to +develop. Lincoln, says one of his secretaries, accepted Seward's main +purpose but did not share his "optimism."(7) It would be truer to say +that in this stage of his development, he was lacking in audacity. In +his eager search for advice, he had to strike a balance between the +daring Seward who at this moment built entirely on his own power of +political devination, and the cautious remainder of the Cabinet who +had their ears to the ground trying their best to catch the note of +authority in the rumblings of vox populi. For his own part, Lincoln +began with two resolves: to go very cautiously,--and not give something +for nothing. Far from him, as yet, was that plunging mood which in +Seward pushed audacity to the verge of a gamble. However, just previous +to the inauguration, he took a cautious step in Seward's direction. +Virginia, like all the other States of the upper South, was torn by the +question which side to take. There was a "Union" party in Virginia, and +a "Secession" party. A committee of leading Unionists conferred with +Lincoln. They saw the immediate problem very much as Seward did. They +believed that if time were allowed, the crisis could be tided over and +the Union restored; but the first breath of war would wreck their hopes. +The condition of bringing about an adjustment was the evacuation of +Sumter. Lincoln told them that if Virginia could be kept in the Union +by the evacuation of Sumter, he would not hesitate to recall the +garrison.(8) A few days later, despite what he had said in the +inaugural, he repeated this offer. A convention was then sitting at +Richmond in debate upon the relations of Virginia to the Union. If +it would drop the matter and dissolve--so Lincoln told another +committee--he would evacuate Sumter and trust the recovery of the lower +South to negotiation.(9) No results, so far as is known, came of either +of those offers. + +During the first half of March, the Washington government marked time. +The office-seekers continued to besiege the President. South Carolina +continued to clamor for possession of Sumter. The Confederacy sent +commissioners to Washington whom Lincoln refused to recognize. The +Virginia Convention swayed this way and that. + +Seward went serenely about his business, confident that everything was +certain to come his way soon or late. He went so far as to advise an +intermediary to tell the Confederate Commissioners that all they had +to do to get possession of Sumter was to wait. The rest of the Cabinet +pressed their ears more tightly than ever to the ground. The rumblings +of vox populi were hard to interpret. The North appeared to be in two +minds. This was revealed the day following the inauguration, when a +Republican Club in New York held a high debate upon the condition of the +country. One faction wanted Lincoln to declare for a war-policy; another +wished the Club to content itself with a vote of confidence in the +Administration. Each faction put its views into a resolution and as a +happy device for maintaining harmony, both resolutions were passed.(10) +The fragmentary, miscellaneous evidence of newspapers, political +meetings, the talk of leaders, local elections, formed a confused clamor +which each listener interpreted according to his predisposition. The +members of the Cabinet in their relative isolation at Washington found +it exceedingly difficult to make up their minds what the people were +really saying. Of but one thing they were certain, and that was that +they represented a minority party. Before committing themselves any way, +it was life and death to know what portion of the North would stand by +them.(11) + +At this point began a perplexity that was to torment the President +almost to the verge of distraction. How far could he trust his military +advisers? Old General Scott was at the head of the army. He had once +been a striking, if not a great figure. Should his military advice be +accepted as final? Scott informed Lincoln that Sumter was short of food +and that any attempt to relieve it would call for a much larger force +than the government could muster. Scott urged him to withdraw the +garrison. Lincoln submitted the matter to the Cabinet. He asked for +their opinions in writing.(12) Five advised taking Scott at his word and +giving up all thought of relieving Sumter. There were two dissenters. +The Secretary of the Treasury, Salmon Portland Chase, struck the +key-note of his later political career by an elaborate argument on +expediency. If relieving Sumter would lead to civil war, Chase was not +in favor of relief; but on the whole he did not think that civil +war would result, and therefore, on the whole, he favored a relief +expedition. One member of the Cabinet, Montgomery Blair, the Postmaster +General, an impetuous, fierce man, was vehement for relief at all costs. +Lincoln wanted to agree with Chase and Blair. He reasoned that if the +fort was given up, the necessity under which it was done would not +be fully understood; that by many it would be construed as part of a +voluntary policy, that at home it would discourage the friends of the +Union, embolden its adversaries, and go far to insure to the matter a +recognition abroad. + +Nevertheless, with the Cabinet five to two against him, with his +military adviser against him, Lincoln put aside his own views. The +government went on marking time and considering the credentials of +applicants for country post-offices. + +By this time, Lincoln had thrown off the overpowering gloom which +possessed him in the latter days at Springfield. It is possible he +had reacted to a mood in which there was something of levity. His +oscillation of mood from a gloom that nothing penetrated to a sort of +desperate mirth, has been noted by various observers. And in 1861 he +had not reached his final poise, that firm holding of the middle +way,---which afterward fused his moods and made of him, at least in +action, a sustained personality. + +About the middle of the month he had a famous interview with Colonel W. +T. Sherman who had been President of the University of Louisiana and had +recently resigned. Senator John Sherman called at the White House with +regard to "some minor appointments in Ohio." The Colonel went with him. +When Colonel Sherman spoke of the seriousness of the Secession movement, +Lincoln replied, "Oh, we'll manage to keep house." The Colonel was so +offended by what seemed to him the flippancy of the President that he +abandoned his intention to resume the military life and withdrew from +Washington in disgust.(13) + +Not yet had Lincoln attained a true appreciation of the real difficulty +before him. He had not got rid of the idea that a dispute over slavery +had widened accidentally into a needless sectional quarrel, and that as +soon as the South had time to think things over, it would see that it +did not really want the quarrel. He had a queer idea that meanwhile he +could hold a few points on the margin of the Seceded States, open custom +houses on ships at the mouths of harbors, but leave vacant all Federal +appointments within the Seceded States and ignore the absence of their +representatives from Washington.(14) This marginal policy did not seem +to him a policy of coercion; and though he was beginning to see that the +situation from the Southern point of view turned on the right of a State +to resist coercion, he was yet to learn that idealistic elements of +emotion and of political dogma were the larger part of his difficulty. + +Meanwhile, the upper South had been proclaiming its idealism. Its +attitude was creating a problem for the lower South as well as for the +North. The pro-slavery leaders had been startled out of a dream. The +belief in a Southern economic solidarity so complete that the secession +of any one Slave State would compel the secession of all the others, +that belief had been proved fallacious. It had been made plain that +on the economic issue, even as on the issue of sectional distrust, +the upper South would not follow the lower South into secession. When +delegates from the Georgia Secessionists visited the legislature of +North Carolina, every courtesy was shown to them; the Speaker of the +House assured them of North Carolina's sympathy and of her enduring +friendliness; but he was careful not to suggest an intention to secede, +unless (the condition that was destiny!) an attempt should be made to +violate the sovereignty of the State by marching troops across her soil +to attack the Confederates. Then, on the one issue of State sovereignty, +North Carolina would leave the Union.(15) The Unionists in Virginia +took similar ground. They wished to stay in the Union, and they were +determined not to go out on the issue of slavery. Therefore they laid +their heads together to get that issue out of the way. Their problem +was to devise a compromise that would do three things: lay the Southern +dread of an inundation of sectional Northern influence; silence the +slave profiteers; meet the objections that had induced Lincoln to +wreck the Crittenden Compromise. They felt that the first and second +objectives would be reached easily enough by reviving the line of the +Missouri Compromise. But something more was needed, or again, Lincoln +would refuse to negotiate. They met their crucial difficulty by boldly +appealing to the South to be satisfied with the conservation of its +present life and renounce the dream of unlimited Southern expansion. +Their Compromise proposed a death blow to the filibuster and all he +stood for. It provided that no new territory other than naval stations +should be acquired by the United States on either side the Missouri Line +without consent of a majority of the Senators from the States on the +opposite side of that line.(16) + +As a solution of the sectional quarrel, to the extent that it had been +definitely put into words, what could have been more astute? Lincoln +himself had said in the inaugural, "One section of our country believes +slavery is right and ought to be extended; while the other believes +it is wrong and ought not to be extended. That is the only substantial +dispute." In the same inaugural, he had pledged himself not to +"interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it now +exists;" and also had urged a vigorous enforcement of the Fugitive +Slave Law. He never had approved of any sort of emancipation other than +purchase or the gradual operation of economic conditions. It was well +known that slavery could flourish only on fresh land amid prodigal +agricultural methods suited to the most ignorant labor. The Virginia +Compromise, by giving to slavery a fixed area and abolishing its hopes +of continual extensions into fresh land, was the virtual fulfillment of +Lincoln's demand. + +The failure of the Virginia Compromise is one more proof that a great +deal of vital history never gets into words until after it is over. +During the second half of March, Unionists and Secessionists in the +Virginia Convention debated with deep emotion this searching new +proposal. The Unionists had a fatal weakness in their position. This was +the feature of the situation that had not hitherto been put into words. +Lincoln had not been accurate when he said that the slavery question +was "the only substantial dispute." He had taken for granted that the +Southern opposition to nationalism was not a real thing,--a mere device +of the politicians to work up excitement. All the compromises he was +ready to offer were addressed to that part of the South which was +seeking to make an issue on slavery. They had little meaning for that +other and more numerous part in whose thinking slavery was an incident. +For this other South, the ideas which Lincoln as late as the middle of +March did not bring into play were the whole story. Lincoln, willing to +give all sorts of guarantees for the noninterference with slavery, would +not give a single guarantee supporting the idea of State sovereignty +against the idea of the sovereign power of the national Union. The +Virginians, willing to go great lengths in making concessions with +regard to slavery, would not go one inch in the way of admitting that +their State was not a sovereign power included in the American Union +of its own free will, and not the legitimate subject of any sort of +coercion. + +The Virginia Compromise was really a profound new complication. The very +care with which it divided the issue of nationality from the issue +of slavery was a storm signal. For a thoroughgoing nationalist like +Lincoln, deep perplexities lay hidden in this full disclosure of the +issue that was vital to the moderate South. Lincoln's shifting of his +mental ground, his perception that hitherto he had been oblivious of his +most formidable opponent, the one with whom compromise was impossible, +occurred in the second half of the month. + +As always, Lincoln kept his own counsel upon the maturing of a purpose +in his own mind. He listened to every adviser--opening his office doors +without reserve to all sorts and conditions--and silently, anxiously, +struggled with himself for a decision. He watched Virginia; he watched +the North; he listened--and waited. General Scott continued hopeless, +though minor military men gave encouragement. And whom should the +President trust-the tired old General who disagreed with him, or the +eager young men who held views he would like to hold? Many a time he was +to ask himself that question during the years to come. + +On March twenty-ninth, he again consulted the Cabinet.(17) A great deal +of water had run under the mill since they gave their opinions on March +sixteenth. The voice of the people was still a bewildering roar, but +out of that roar most of the Cabinet seemed to hear definite words. They +were convinced that the North was veering toward a warlike mood. The +phrase "masterly inactivity," which had been applied to the government's +course admiringly a few weeks before, was now being applied +satirically. Republican extremists were demanding action. A subtle +barometer was the Secretary of the Treasury. Now, as on the sixteenth, +he craftily said something without saying it. After juggling the word +"if," he assumed his "if" to be a fact and concluded, "If war is to +be the result, I perceive no reason why it may not best be begun in +consequence of military resistance to the efforts of the Administration +to sustain troops of the Union, stationed under authority of the +government in a fort of the Union, in the ordinary course of service." + +This elaborate equivocation, which had all the force of an assertion, +was Chase all over! Three other ministers agreed with him except that +they did not equivocate. One evaded. Of all those who had stood with +Seward on the sixteenth, only one was still in favor of evacuation. +Seward stood fast. This reversal of the Cabinet's position, jumping as +it did with Lincoln's desires, encouraged him to prepare for action. +But just as he was about to act his diffidence asserted itself. He +authorized the preparation of a relief expedition but withheld sailing +orders until further notice.(18) Oh, for Seward's audacity; for the +ability to do one thing or another and take the consequences! + +Seward had not foreseen this turn of events. He had little respect for +the rest of the Cabinet, and had still to discover that the President, +for all his semblance of vacillation, was a great man. Seward was +undeniably vain. That the President with such a Secretary of +State should judge the strength of a Cabinet vote by counting +noses--preposterous! But that was just what this curiously simple-minded +President had done. If he went on in his weak, amiable way listening to +the time-servers who were listening to the bigots, what would become of +the country? And of the Secretary of State and his deep policies? The +President must be pulled up short--brought to his senses--taught a +lesson or two. + +Seward saw that new difficulties had arisen in the course of +that fateful March which those colleagues of his in the +Cabinet--well-meaning, inferior men, to be sure--had not the subtlety to +comprehend. Of course the matter of evacuation remained what it always +had been, the plain open road to an ultimate diplomatic triumph. Who +but a president out of the West, or a minor member of the Cabinet, would +fail to see that! But there were two other considerations which, also, +his well-meaning colleagues were failing to allow for. While all this +talk about the Virginia Unionists had been going on, while Washington +and Richmond had been trying to negotiate, neither really had any +control of its own game. They were card players with all the trumps out +of their hands. Montgomery, the Confederate Congress, held the trumps. +At any minute it could terminate all this make-believe of diplomatic +independence, both at Washington and at Richmond. A few cannon shots +aimed at Sumter, the cry for revenge in the North, the inevitable +protest against coercion in Virginia, the convention blown into the air, +and there you are--War! + +And after all that, who knows what next? And yet, Blair and Chase +and the rest would not consent to slip Montgomery's trumps out of her +hands--the easiest thing in the world to do!--by throwing Sumter into +her lap and thus destroying the pretext for the cannon shots. More than +ever before, Seward would insist firmly on the evacuation of Sumter. + +But there was the other consideration, the really new turn of events. +Suppose Sumter is evacuated; suppose Montgomery has lost her chance to +force Virginia into war by precipitating the issue of coercion, what +follows? All along Seward had advocated a national convention to +readjust all the matters "in dispute between the sections." But what +would such a convention discuss? In his inaugural, Lincoln had advised +an amendment to the Constitution "to the effect that the Federal +government shall never interfere with the domestic institutions of +the State, including that of persons held to service." Very good! The +convention might be expected to accept this, and after this, of course, +there would come up the Virginia Compromise. Was it a practical scheme? +Did it form a basis for drawing back into the Union the lower South? + +Seward's whole thought upon this subject has never been disclosed. It +must be inferred from the conclusion which he reached, which he put +into a paper entitled, Thoughts for the President's Consideration, and +submitted to Lincoln, April first. + +The Thoughts outlined a scheme of policy, the most startling feature +of which was an instant, predatory, foreign war. There are two clues to +this astounding proposal. One was a political maxim in which Seward had +unwavering faith. "A fundamental principle of politics," he said, "is +always to be on the side of your country in a war. It kills any party to +oppose a war. When Mr. Buchanan got up his Mormon War, our people, Wade +and Fremont, and The Tribune, led off furiously against it. I supported +it to the immense disgust of enemies and friends. If you want to sicken +your opponents with their own war, go in for it till they give it +up."(19) He was not alone among the politicians of his time, and some +other times, in these cynical views. Lincoln has a story of a politician +who was asked to oppose the Mexican War, and who replied, "I opposed +one war; that was enough for me. I am now perpetually in favor of war, +pestilence and famine." + +The second clue to Seward's new policy of international brigandage was +the need, as he conceived it, to propitiate those Southern expansionists +who in the lower South at least formed so large a part of the political +machine, who must somehow be lured back into the Union; to whom the +Virginia Compromise, as well as every other scheme of readjustment yet +suggested, offered no allurement. Like Lincoln defeating the Crittenden +Compromise, like the Virginians planning the last compromise, Seward +remembered the filibusters and the dreams of the expansionists, +annexation of Cuba, annexation of Nicaragua and all the rest, and he +looked about for a way to reach them along that line. Chance had +played into his hands. Already Napoleon III had begun his ill-fated +interference with the affairs of Mexico. A rebellion had just taken +place in San Domingo and Spain was supposed to have designs on the +island. Here, for any one who believed in predatory war as an infallible +last recourse to rouse the patriotism of a country, were pretexts +enough. Along with these would go a raging assertion of the Monroe +Doctrine and a bellicose attitude toward other European powers on less +substantial grounds. And amid it all, between the lines of it all, could +not any one glimpse a scheme for the expansion of the United States +southward? War with Spain over San Domingo! And who, pray, held the +Island of Cuba! And what might not a defeated Spain be willing to do +with Cuba? And if France were driven out of Mexico by our conquering +arms, did not the shadows of the future veil but dimly a grateful Mexico +where American capital should find great opportunities? And would not +Southern capital in the nature of things, have a large share in all that +was to come? Surely, granting Seward's political creed, remembering the +problem he wished to solve, there is nothing to be wondered at in his +proposal to Lincoln: "I would demand explanations from Spain and France, +categorically, at once." . . . And if satisfactory explanations were not +received from Spain and France, "would convene Congress and declare war +against them." + +His purpose, he said, was to change the question before the public, +from one upon slavery, or about slavery, for a question upon Union or +Disunion. Sumter was to be evacuated "as a safe means for changing +the issue," but at the same time, preparations were to be made for +a blockade of the Southern coast.(20) This extraordinary document +administered mild but firm correction to the President. He was told +that he had no policy, although under the circumstances, this was "not +culpable"; that there must be a single head to the government; that the +President, if not equal to the task, should devolve it upon some member +of the Cabinet. The Thoughts closed with these words, "I neither seek to +evade nor assume responsibility." + +Like Seward's previous move, when he sent Weed to Springfield, this +other brought Lincoln to a point of crisis. For the second time he must +render a decision that would turn the scale, that would have for his +country the force of destiny. In one respect he did not hesitate. The +most essential part of the Thoughts was the predatory spirit. This +clashed with Lincoln's character. Serene unscrupulousness met unwavering +integrity. Here was one of those subjects on which Lincoln was not +asking advice. As to ways and means, he was pliable to a degree in the +hands of richer and wider experience; as to principles, he was a rock. +Seward's whole scheme of aggrandizement, his magnificent piracy, +was calmly waved aside as a thing of no concern. The most striking +characteristic of Lincoln's reply was its dignity. He did not, +indeed, lay bare his purposes. He was content to point out certain +inconsistencies in Seward's argument; to protest that whatever action +might be taken with regard to the single fortress, Sumter, the question +before the public could not be changed by that one event; and to say +that while he expected advice from all his Cabinet, he was none the less +President, and in last resort he would himself direct the policy of the +government.(21) + +Only a strong man could have put up with the patronizing condescension +of the Thoughts and betrayed no irritation. Not a word in Lincoln's +reply gives the least hint that condescension had been displayed. He +is wholly unruffled, distant, objective. There is also a quiet tone of +finality, almost the tone one might use in gently but firmly correcting +a child. The Olympian impertinence of the Thoughts had struck out of +Lincoln the first flash of that approaching masterfulness by means of +which he was to ride out successfully such furious storms. Seward was +too much the man of the world not to see what had happened. He never +touched upon the Thoughts again. Nor did Lincoln. The incident was +secret until Lincoln's secretaries twenty-five years afterward published +it to the world. + +But Lincoln's lofty dignity on the first of April was of a moment only. +When the Secretary of the Navy, Gideon Welles, that same day called on +him in his offices, he was the easy-going, jovial Lincoln who was always +ready half-humorously to take reproof from subordinates--as was evinced +by his greeting to the Secretary. Looking up from his writing, he said +cheerfully, "What have I done wrong?"(22) Gideon Welles was a pugnacious +man, and at that moment an angry man. There can be little doubt that his +lips were tightly shut, that a stern frown darkened his brows. Grimly +conscientious was Gideon Welles, likewise prosaic; a masterpiece of +literalness, the very opposite in almost every respect of the Secretary +of State whom he cordially detested. That he had already found occasion +to protest against the President's careless mode of conducting business +may be guessed--correctly--from the way he was received. Doubtless the +very cordiality, the whimsical admission of loose methods, irritated +the austere Secretary. Welles had in his hand a communication dated +that same day and signed by the President, making radical changes in the +program of the Navy Department. He had come to protest. + +"The President," said Welles, "expressed as much surprise as I felt, +that he had sent me such a document. He said that Mr. Seward with two +or three young men had been there during the day on a subject which he +(Seward) had in hand and which he had been some time maturing; that it +was Seward's specialty, to which he, the President, had yielded, but as +it involved considerable details, he had left Mr. Seward to prepare +the necessary papers. These papers he had signed, many of them without +reading, for he had not time, and if he could not trust the Secretary of +State, he knew not whom he could trust. I asked who were associated with +Mr. Seward. 'No one,' said the President, 'but these young men who were +here as clerks to write down his plans and orders.' Most of the work was +done, he said, in the other room. + +"The President reiterated that they (the changes in the Navy) were not +his instructions, though signed by him; that the paper was an improper +one; that he wished me to give it no more consideration than I thought +proper; to treat it as cancelled, or as if it had never been written. I +could get no satisfactory explanation from the President of the origin +of this strange interference which mystified him and which he censured +and condemned more severely than myself. . . . Although very much +disturbed by the disclosure, he was anxious to avoid difficulty, and to +shield Mr. Seward, took to himself the whole blame." + +Thus Lincoln began a role that he never afterward abandoned. It was the +role of scapegoat Whatever went wrong anywhere could always be loaded +upon the President. He appeared to consider it a part of his duty to +be the scapegoat for the whole Administration. It was his way of +maintaining trust, courage, efficiency, among his subordinates. + +Of those papers which he had signed without reading on April first, +Lincoln was to hear again in still more surprising fashion six days +thereafter. + +He was now at the very edge of his second crucial decision. Though the +naval expedition was in preparation, he still hesitated over issuing +orders to sail. The reply to the Thoughts had not committed him to any +specific line of conduct. What was it that kept him wavering at this +eleventh hour? Again, that impenetrable taciturnity which always +shrouded his progress toward a conclusion, forbids dogmatic assertion. +But two things are obvious: his position as a minority president, of +which he was perhaps unduly conscious, caused him to delay, and to delay +again and again, seeking definite evidence how much support he could +command in the North; the change in his comprehension of the problem +before him-his perception that it was not an "artificial crisis" +involving slavery alone, but an irreconcilable clash of social-political +idealism--this disturbed his spirit, distressed, even appalled him. +Having a truer insight into human nature than Seward had, he saw that +here was an issue immeasurably less susceptible of compromise than was +slavery. Whether, the moment he perceived this, he at once lost hope of +any peaceable solution, we do not know. Just what he thought about the +Virginia Compromise is still to seek. However, the nature of his mind, +the way it went straight to the human element in a problem once his eyes +were opened to the problem's reality, forbid us to conclude that he +took hope from Virginia. He now saw what, had it not been for his near +horizon, he would have seen so long before, that, in vulgar parlance, he +had been "barking up the wrong tree." Now that he had located the right +tree, had the knowledge come too late? + +It is known that Seward, possibly at Lincoln's request, made an attempt +to bring together the Virginia Unionists and the Administration. He sent +a special representative to Richmond urging the despatch of a committee +to confer with the President. + +The strength of the party in the Convention was shown on April fourth +when a proposed Ordinance of Secession was voted down, eighty-nine to +forty-five. On the same day, the Convention by a still larger majority +formally denied the right of the Federal government to coerce a State. +Two days later, John B. Baldwin, representing the Virginia Unionists, +had a confidential talk with Lincoln. Only fragments of their talk, +drawn forth out of memory long afterward--some of the reporting being +at second hand, the recollections of the recollections of the +participants--are known to exist. The one fact clearly discernible is +that Baldwin stated fully the Virginia position: that her Unionists +were not nationalists; that the coercion of any State, by impugning +the sovereignty of all, would automatically drive Virginia out of the +Union.(23) + +Lincoln had now reached his decision. The fear that had dogged him all +along--the fear that in evacuating Sumter he would be giving something +for nothing, that "it would discourage the friends of the Union, +embolden its adversaries"--was in possession of his will. One may hazard +the guess that this fear would have determined Lincoln sooner than +it did, except for the fact that the Secretary of State, despite his +faults, was so incomparably the strongest personality in the Cabinet. +We have Lincoln's own word for the moment and the detail that formed +the very end of his period of vacillation. All along he had intended to +relieve and hold Fort Pickens, off the coast of Florida. To this, Seward +saw no objection. In fact, he urged the relief of Pickens, hoping, as +compensation, to get his way about Sumter. Assuming as he did that the +Southern leaders were opportunists, he believed that they would not +make an issue over Pickens, merely because it had not in the public +eye become a political symbol. Orders had been sent to a squadron in +Southern waters to relieve Pickens. Early in April news was received at +Washington that the attempt had failed due to misunderstandings +among the Federal commanders. Fearful that Pickens was about to fall, +reasoning that whatever happened he dared not lose both forts, Lincoln +became peremptory on the subject of the Sumter expedition. This was on +April sixth. On the night of April sixth, Lincoln's signatures to the +unread despatches of the first of April, came home to roost. And +at last, Welles found out what Seward was doing on the day of All +Fools.(24) + +While the Sumter expedition was being got ready, still without sailing +orders, a supplemental expedition was also preparing for the relief of +Pickens. This was the business that Seward was contriving, that Lincoln +would not explain, on April first. The order interfering with the Navy +Department was designed to checkmate the titular head of the department. +Furthermore, Seward had had the amazing coolness to assume that Lincoln +would certainly accept his Thoughts and that the simple President need +not hereinafter be consulted about details. He aimed to circumvent +Welles and to make sure that the Sumter expedition, whether sailing +orders were issued or not, should be rendered innocuous. The warship +Powhatan, which was being got ready for sea at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, +was intended by Welles for the Sumter expedition. One of those unread +despatches signed by Lincoln, assigned it to the Pickens expedition. +When the sailing orders from Welles were received, the commander of the +Sumter fleet claimed the Powhatan. The Pickens commander refused to +give it up. The latter telegraphed Seward that his expedition was "being +retarded and embarrassed" by "conflicting" orders from Welles. The +result was a stormy conference between Seward and Welles which was +adjourned to the White House and became a conference with Lincoln. And +then the whole story came out. Lincoln played the scapegoat, "took the +whole blame upon himself, said it was carelessness, heedlessness on his +part; he ought to have been more careful and attentive." But he insisted +on immediate correction of his error, on the restoration of the Powhatan +to the Sumter fleet. Seward struggled hard for his plan. Lincoln was +inflexible. As Seward had directed the preparation of the Pickens +expedition, Lincoln required him to telegraph to Brooklyn the change in +orders. Seward, beaten by his enemy Welles, was deeply chagrined. In +his agitation he forgot to be formal, forgot that the previous order +had gone out in the President's name, and wired curtly, "Give up the +Powhatan. Seward." + +This despatch was received just as the Pickens expedition was sailing. +The commander of the Powhatan had now before him, three orders. +Naturally, he held that the one signed by the President took precedence +over the others. He went on his way, with his great warship, to Florida. +The Sumter expedition sailed without any powerful ship of war. In this +strange fashion, chance executed Seward's design. + +Lincoln had previously informed the Governor of South Carolina that due +notice would be given, should he decide to relieve Sumter. Word was now +sent that "an attempt will be made to supply Fort Sumter with provisions +only; and that if such attempt be not resisted, no effort to throw in +men, arms or ammunition will be made without further notice, or in case +of an attack upon the fort."(25) Though the fleet was not intended to +offer battle, it was supposed to be strong enough to force its way into +the harbor, should the relief of Sumter be opposed. But the power to do +so was wholly conditioned on the presence in its midst of the Powhatan. +And the Powhatan was far out to sea on its way to Florida. + +And now it was the turn of the Confederate government to confront a +crisis. It, no less than Washington, had passed through a period of +disillusion. The assumption upon which its chief politicians had built +so confidently had collapsed. The South was not really a unit. It was +not true that the secession of any one State, on any sort of issue, +would compel automatically the secession of all the Southern States. +North Carolina had exploded this illusion. Virginia had exploded it. +The South could not be united on the issue of slavery; it could not be +united on the issue of sectional dread. It could be united on but +one issue-State sovereignty, the denial of the right of the Federal +Government to coerce a State. The time had come to decide whether the +cannon at Charleston should fire. As Seward had foreseen, Montgomery +held the trumps; but had Montgomery the courage to play them? There +was a momentous debate in the Confederate Cabinet. Robert Toombs, the +Secretary of State, whose rapid growth in comprehension since December +formed a parallel to Lincoln's growth, threw his influence on the side +of further delay. He would not invoke that "final argument of kings," +the shotted cannon. "Mr. President," he exclaimed, "at this time, it is +suicide, murder, and will lose us every friend at the North. You will +instantly strike a hornet's nest which extends from mountain to ocean, +and legions now quiet will swarm out and sting us to death. It is +unnecessary; it puts us in the wrong; it is fatal." But Toombs stood +alone in the Cabinet. Orders were sent to Charleston to reduce Fort +Sumter. Before dawn, April twelfth, the first shot was fired. The flag +of the United States was hauled down on the afternoon of the thirteenth. +Meanwhile the relieving fleet had arrived--without the Powhatan. Bereft +of its great ship, it could not pass the harbor batteries and assist the +fort. Its only service was to take off the garrison which by the terms +of surrender was allowed to withdraw. On the fourteenth, Sumter was +evacuated and the inglorious fleet sailed back to the northward. + +Lincoln at once accepted the gage of battle. On the fifteenth +appeared his proclamation calling for an army of seventy-five thousand +volunteers. Automatically, the upper South fulfilled its unhappy +destiny. Challenged at last, on the irreconcilable issue, Virginia, +North Carolina, Tennessee, Arkansas, seceded. The final argument of +kings was the only one remaining. + + + + +XVI "ON TO RICHMOND!" + +It has been truly said that the Americans are an unmilitary but an +intensely warlike nation. Seward's belief that a war fury would sweep +the country at the first cannon shot was amply justified. Both North and +South appeared to rise as one man, crying fiercely to be led to battle. + +The immediate effect on Washington had not been foreseen. That historic +clash at Baltimore between the city's mob and the Sixth Massachusetts en +route to the capital, was followed by an outburst of secession feeling +in Maryland; by an attempt to isolate Washington from the North. Railway +tracks were torn up; telegraph wires were cut. During several days +Lincoln was entirely ignorant of what the North was doing. Was there an +efficient general response to his call for troops? Or was precious time +being squandered in preparation? Was it conceivable that the war fury +was only talk? Looking forth from the White House, he was a prisoner of +the horizon; an impenetrable mystery, it shut the capital in a ring of +silence all but intolerable. Washington assumed the air of a beleaguered +city. General Scott hastily drew in the small forces which the +government had maintained in Maryland and Virginia. Government employees +and loyal Washingtonians were armed and began to drill. The White House +became a barracks. "Jim Lane," writes delightful John Hay in his diary, +which is always cool, rippling, sunny, no matter how acute the crisis, +"Jim Lane marshalled his Kansas warriors today at Williard's; tonight +(they are in) the East Room."(1) Hay's humor brightens the tragic hour. +He felt it his duty to report to Lincoln a "yarn" that had been told to +him by some charming women who had insisted on an interview; they had +heard from "a dashing Virginian" that inside forty-eight hours something +would happen which would ring through the world. The ladies thought this +meant the capture or assassination of the President. "Lincoln quietly +grinned." But Hay who plainly enjoyed the episode, charming women and +all, had got himself into trouble. He had to do "some very dexterous +lying to calm the awakened fears of Mrs. Lincoln in regard to the +assassination suspicion." Militia were quartered in the Capitol, and +Pennsylvania Avenue was a drill ground. At the President's reception, +the distinguished politician C. C. Clay, "wore with a sublimely +unconscious air three pistols and an 'Arkansas toothpick,' and looked +like an admirable vignette to twenty-five cents' worth of yellow covered +romance." + +But Hay's levity was all of the surface. Beneath it was intense anxiety. +General Scott reported that the Virginia militia, concentrating about +Washington, were a formidable menace, though he thought he was strong +enough to hold out until relief should come. As the days passed and +nothing appeared upon that inscrutable horizon while the telegraph +remained silent, Lincoln became moodily distressed. One afternoon, "the +business of the day being over, the executive office deserted, after +walking the floor alone in silent thought for nearly a half-hour, he +stopped and gazed long and wistfully out of the window down the Potomac +in the direction of the expected ships (bringing soldiers from New +York); and unconscious of other presence in the room, at length broke +out with irrepressible anguish in the repeated exclamation, 'Why don't +they come! Why don't they come!'"(2) + +His unhappiness flashed into words while he was visiting those +Massachusetts soldiers who had been wounded on their way to Washington. +"I don't believe there is any North. . . " he exclaimed. "You are the +only Northern realities."(3) But even then relief was at hand. The +Seventh New York, which had marched down Broadway amid such an ovation +as never before was given any regiment in America, had come by sea +to Annapolis. At noon on April twenty-fifth, it reached Washington +bringing, along with the welcome sight of its own bayonets, the news +that the North had risen, that thousands more were on the march. + +Hay who met them at the depot went at once to report to Lincoln. Already +the President had reacted to a "pleasant, hopeful mood." He began +outlining a tentative plan of action: blockade, maintenance of the +safety of Washington, holding Fortress Monroe, and then to "go down to +Charleston and pay her the little debt we are owing there."(4) But this +was an undigested plan. It had little resemblance to any of his later +plans. And immediately the chief difficulties that were to embarrass +all his plans appeared. He was a minority President; and he was the +Executive of a democracy. Many things were to happen; many mistakes +were to be made; many times the piper was to be paid, ere Lincoln felt +sufficiently sure of his support to enforce a policy of his own, defiant +of opposition. Throughout the spring of 1861 his imperative need was to +secure the favor of the Northern mass, to shape his policy with that +end in view. At least, in his own mind, this seemed to be his paramount +obligation. And so it was in the minds of his advisers. Lincoln was +still in the pliable mood which was his when he entered office, which +continued to be in evidence, except for sudden momentary disappearances +when a different Lincoln flashed an instant into view, until another +year and more had gone by. Still he felt himself the apprentice hand +painfully learning the trade of man of action. Still he was deeply +sensitive to advice. + +And what advice did the country give him? There was one roaring shout +dinning into his ears all round the Northern horizon-"On to Richmond!" +Following Virginia's secession, Richmond had become the Confederate +capital. It was expected that a session of the Confederate Congress +would open at Richmond in July. "On to Richmond! Forward to Richmond!" +screamed The Tribune. "The Rebel Congress must not be allowed to meet +there on the 20th of July. By that date the place must be held by the +national army." The Times advised the resignation of the Cabinet; it +warned the President that if he did not give prompt satisfaction he +would be superseded. Though Lincoln laughed at the threat of The +Times to "depose" him, he took very seriously all the swiftly +accumulating evidence that the North was becoming rashly impatient +Newspaper correspondents at Washington talked to his secretaries +"impertinently."(5) Members of Congress, either carried away by the +excitement of the hour or with slavish regard to the hysteria of their +constituents, thronged to Washington clamoring for action. On purely +political grounds, if on no other, they demanded an immediate advance +into Virginia. Military men looked with irritation, if not with +contempt, on all this intemperate popular fury. That grim Sherman, +who had been offended by Lincoln's tone the month previous, put their +feeling into words. Declining the offer of a position in the War +Department, he wrote that he wished "the Administration all success in +its almost impossible task of governing this distracted and anarchial +people."(6) + +In the President's councils, General Scott urged delay, and the +gathering of the volunteers into camps of instruction, their deliberate +transformation into a genuine army. So inadequate were the resources of +the government; so loose and uncertain were the militia organizations +which were attempting to combine into an army; such discrepancies +appeared between the nominal and actual strength of commands, between +the places where men were supposed to be and the places where they +actually were; that Lincoln in his droll way compared the process of +mobilization to shoveling a bushel of fleas across a barn floor.(7) From +the military point of view it was no time to attempt an advance. Against +the military argument, three political arguments loomed dark in the +minds of the Cabinet; there was the clamor of the Northern majority; +there were the threats of the politicians who were to assemble in +Congress, July fourth; there was the term of service of the volunteers +which had been limited by the proclamation to three months. Late in +June, the Cabinet decided upon the political course, overruled the +military advisers, and gave its voice for an immediate advance into +Virginia. Lincoln accepted this rash advice. Scott yielded. General +Irwin McDowell was ordered to strike a Confederate force that had +assembled at Manassas.(8) On the fourth of July, the day Congress met, +the government made use of a coup de theatre. It held a review of what +was then considered a "grand army" of twenty-five thousand men. A few +days later, the sensibilities of the Congressmen were further exploited. +Impressionable members were "deeply moved," when the same host in +marching order passed again through the city and wheeled southward +toward Virginia. Confident of victory, the Congressmen spent these days +in high debate upon anything that took their fancy. When, a fortnight +later, it was known that a battle was imminent, many of them treated the +Occasion as a picnic. They took horses, or hired vehicles, and away +they went southward for a jolly outing on the day the Confederacy was +to collapse. In the mind of the unfortunate General who commanded the +expedition a different mood prevailed. In depression, he said to a +friend, "This is not an army. It will take a long time to make an army. +But his duty as a soldier forbade him to oppose his superiors; the +poor fellow could not proclaim his distrust of his army in public."(9) +Thoughtful observers at Washington felt danger in the air, both military +and political. + +Sunday, July twenty-first, dawned clear. It was the day of the +expected battle. A noted Englishman, setting out for the front as war +correspondent of the London Times, observed "the calmness and silence +of the streets of Washington, this early morning." After crossing the +Potomac, he felt that "the promise of a lovely day given by the early +dawn was likely to be realized to the fullest"; and "the placid beauty +of the scenery as we drove through the woods below Arlington" delighted +him. And then about nine o'clock his thoughts abandoned the scenery. +Through those beautiful Virginia woods came the distant roar of cannon. + +At the White House that day there was little if any alarm. Reports +received at various times were construed by military men as favorable. +These, with the rooted preconception that the army had to be successful, +established confidence in a victory before nightfall. Late in the +afternoon, the President relieved his tension by taking a drive. He had +not returned when, about six o'clock, Seward appeared and asked hoarsely +where he was. The secretaries told him. He begged them to find the +President as quickly as possible. "Tell no one," said he, "but the +battle is lost. The army is in full retreat." + +The news of the rout at Bull Run did not spread through Washington until +close to midnight. It caused an instantaneous panic. In the small hours, +the space before the Treasury was "a moving mass of humanity. Every +man seemed to be asking every man he met for the latest news, while all +sorts of rumors filled the air. A feeling of mingled horror and despair +appeared to possess everybody. . . . Our soldiers came straggling into +the city covered with dust and many of them wounded, while the panic +that led to the disaster spread like a contagion through all classes." +The President did not share the panic. He "received the news quietly +and without any visible sign of perturbation or excitement"'(10) Now +appeared in him the quality which led Herndon to call him a fatalist. +All night long he sat unruffled in his office, while refugees from +the stricken field--especially those overconfident Senators and +Representatives who had gone out to watch the overthrow of the +Confederates--poured into his ears their various and conflicting +accounts of the catastrophe. During that long night Lincoln said almost +nothing. Meanwhile, fragments of the routed army continued to stream +into the city. At dawn the next day Washington was possessed by a swarm +of demoralized soldiers while a dreary rain settled over it. + +The silent man in the White House had forgotten for the moment his +dependence upon his advisers. While the runaway Senators were talking +themselves out, while the rain was sheeting up the city, he had +reached two conclusions. Early in the morning, he formulated both. One +conclusion was a general outline for the conduct of a long war in which +the first move should be a call for volunteers to serve three years.(11) +The other conclusion was the choice of a conducting general. Scott was +too old. McDowell had failed. But there was a young officer, a West +Pointer, who had been put in command of the Ohio militia, who had +entered the Virginia mountains from the West, had engaged a small force +there, and had won several small but rather showy victories. Young as +he was, he had served in the Mexican War and was supposed to be highly +accomplished. On the day following Bull Run, Lincoln ordered McClellan +to Washington to take command.(12) + + + + +XVII. DEFINING THE ISSUE + +While these startling events were taking place in the months between +Sumter and Bull Run, Lincoln passed through a searching intellectual +experience. The reconception of his problem, which took place in March, +necessitated a readjustment of his political attitude. He had prepared +his arsenal for the use of a strategy now obviously beside the mark. The +vital part of the first inaugural was its attempt to cut the ground +from under the slave profiteers. Its assertion that nothing else was +important, the idea that the crisis was "artificial," was sincere. Two +discoveries had revolutionized Lincoln's thought. The discovery +that what the South was in earnest about was not slavery but State +sovereignty; the discovery that the North was far from a unit upon +nationalism. To meet the one, to organize the other, was the double task +precipitated by the fall of Sumter. Not only as a line of attack, but +also as a means of defense, Lincoln had to raise to its highest power +the argument for the sovereign reality of the national government. The +effort to do this formed the silent inner experience behind the surging +external events in the stormy months between April and July. It was +governed by a firmness not paralleled in his outward course. As always, +Lincoln the thinker asked no advice. It was Lincoln the administrator, +painfully learning a new trade, who was timid, wavering, pliable in +council. Behind the apprentice in statecraft, the lonely thinker stood +apart, inflexible as ever, impervious to fear. The thinking which +he formulated in the late spring and early summer of 1861 obeyed his +invariable law of mental gradualness. It arose out of the deep places +of his own past. He built up his new conclusion by drawing together +conclusions he had long held, by charging them with his later +experience, by giving to them a new turn, a new significance. + +Lincoln's was one of those natures in which ideas have to become latent +before they can be precipitated by outward circumstance into definite +form. Always with him the idea that was to become powerful at a crisis +was one that he had long held in solution, that had permeated +him without his formulating it, that had entwined itself with his +heartstrings; never was it merely a conscious act of the logical +faculty. His characteristics as a lawyer--preoccupation with basal +ideas, with ethical significance, with those emotions which form the +ultimates of life--these always determined his thought. His idea of +nationalism was a typical case. He had always believed in the reality of +the national government as a sovereign fact. But he had thought little +about it; rather he had taken it for granted. It was so close to his +desire that he could not without an effort acknowledge the sincerity +of disbelief in it. That was why he was so slow in forming a true +comprehension of the real force opposing him. Disunion had appeared +to him a mere device of party strategy. That it was grounded upon a +genuine, a passionate conception of government, one irreconcilable with +his own, struck him, when at last he grasped it, as a deep offense. The +literary statesman sprang again to life. He threw all the strength of +his mind, the peculiar strength that had made him president, into a +statement of the case for nationalism. + +His vehicle for publishing his case was the first message to +Congress.(1) It forms an amazing contrast with the first inaugural. +The argument over slavery that underlies the whole of the inaugural has +vanished. The message does not mention slavery. From the first word to +the last, it is an argument for the right of the central government to +exercise sovereign power, and for the duty of the American people--to +give their lives for the Union. No hint of compromise; nought of the +cautious and conciliatory tone of the inaugural. It is the blast of a +trumpet--a war trumpet. It is the voice of a stern mind confronting an +adversary that arouses in him no sympathy, no tolerance even, much less +any thought of concession. Needless to insist that this adversary is +an idea. Toward every human adversary, Lincoln was always unbelievably +tender. Though little of a theologian, he appreciated intuitively +some metaphysical ideas; he projected into politics the philosopher's +distinction between sin and the sinner. For all his hatred of the ideas +which he held to be treason, he never had a vindictive impulse directed +toward the men who accepted those ideas. Destruction for the idea, +infinite clemency for the person--such was his attitude. + +It was the idea of disunion, involving as he believed, a misconception +of the American government, and by implication, a misconception of the +true function of all governments everywhere, against which he declared a +war without recourse. + +The basis of his argument reaches back to his oration on Clay, to +his assertion that Clay loved his country, partly because it was his +country, even more because it was a free country. This idea ran +through Lincoln's thinking to the end. There was in him a suggestion +of internationalism. At the full height of his power, in his complete +maturity as a political thinker, he said that the most sacred bond in +life should be the brotherhood of the workers of all nations. No words +of his are more significant than his remarks to passing soldiers in +1863, such as, "There is more involved in this contest than is realized +by every one. There is involved in this struggle the question whether +your children and my children shall enjoy the privileges we have +enjoyed." And again, "I happen temporarily to occupy this White House. I +am a living witness that any one of your children may look to come here +as my father's child has."(2) + +This idea, the idea that the "plain people" are the chief concern of +government was the bed rock of all his political thinking. The mature, +historic Lincoln is first of all a leader of the plain people--of the +mass--as truly as was Cleon, or Robespierre, or Andrew Jackson. His +gentleness does not remove him from that stern category. The latent +fanaticism that is in every man, or almost every man, was grounded in +Lincoln, on his faith--so whimsically expressed--that God must have +loved the plain people because he had made so many of them.(3) The basal +appeal of the first message was in the words: + +"This is essentially a people's contest. On the side of the Union it +is a struggle for maintaining in the world that form and substance of +government whose leading object is to elevate the condition of men; +to lift artificial weights from all shoulders; to clear the paths of +laudable pursuit for all; to afford all an unfettered start and a fair +chance in the race of life."(4) Not a war over slavery, not a war to +preserve a constitutional system, but a war to assert and maintain the +sovereignty of--"We, the People." + +But how was it to be proved that this was, in fact, the true issue of +the moment? Here, between the lines of the first message, Lincoln's +deepest feelings are to be glimpsed. Out of the discovery that Virginia +honestly believed herself a sovereign power, he had developed in himself +a deep, slow-burning fervor that probably did much toward fusing him +into the great Lincoln of history. But why? What was there in that +idea which should strike so deep? Why was it not merely one view in a +permissible disagreement over the interpretation of the Constitution? +Why did the cause of the people inspire its champion to regard the +doctrine of State sovereignty as anti-christ? Lincoln has not revealed +himself on these points in so many words. But he has revealed himself +plainly enough by implication. + +The clue is in that element of internationalism which lay at the back of +his mind. There must be no misunderstanding of this element. It was not +pointing along the way of the modern "international." Lincoln would have +fought Bolshevism to the death. Side by side with his assertion of the +sanctity of the international bond of labor, stands his assertion of +a sacred right in property and that capital is a necessity.(5) His +internationalism was ethical, not opportunistic. It grew, as all +his ideas grew, not out of a theorem, not from a constitutional +interpretation, but from his overpowering commiseration for the mass +of mankind. It was a practical matter. Here were poor people to be +assisted, to be enriched in their estate, to be enlarged in spirit. The +mode of reaching the result was not the thing. Any mode, all sorts of +modes, might be used. What counted was the purpose to work relief, and +the willingness to throw overboard whatever it might be that tended to +defeat the purpose. His internationalism was but a denial of "my country +right or wrong." There can be little doubt that, in last resort, he +would have repudiated his country rather than go along with it in +opposition to what he regarded as the true purpose of government. And +that was, to advance the welfare of the mass of mankind. + +He thought upon this subject in the same manner in which he thought as +a lawyer, sweeping aside everything but what seemed to him the ethical +reality at the heart of the case. For him the "right" of a State to do +this or that was a constitutional question only so long as it did not +cross that other more universal "right," the paramount "charter of +liberty," by which, in his view, all other rights were conditioned. He +would impose on all mankind, as their basic moral obligation, the duty +to sacrifice all personal likes, personal ambitions, when these in their +permanent tendencies ran contrary to the tendency which he rated as +paramount. Such had always been, and was always to continue, his own +attitude toward slavery. No one ever loathed it more. But he never +permitted it to take the first place in his thoughts. If it could +be eradicated without in the process creating dangers for popular +government he would rejoice. But all the schemes of the Abolitionists, +hitherto, he had condemned as dangerous devices because they would +strain too severely the fabric of the popular state, would violate +agreements which alone made it possible. Therefore, being always +relentless toward himself, he required of himself the renunciation of +this personal hope whenever, in whatever way, it threatened to make less +effective the great democratic state which appeared to him the central +fact of the world. + +The enlargement of his reasoning led him inevitably to an unsparing +condemnation of the Virginian theory. One of his rare flashes of +irritation was an exclamation that Virginia loyalty always had an +"if."(6) At this point, to make him entirely plain, there is needed +another basic assumption which he has never quite formulated. However, +it is so obviously latent in his thinking that the main lines are to be +made out clearly enough. Building ever on that paramount obligation +of all mankind to consider first the welfare of God's plain people, he +assumed that whenever by any course of action any congregation of men +were thrown together and led to form any political unit, they were never +thereafter free to disregard in their attitude toward that unit its +value in supporting and advancing the general cause of the welfare of +the plain people. A sweeping, and in some contingencies, a terrible +doctrine! Certainly, as to individuals, classes, communities even, a +doctrine that might easily become destructive. But it formed the basis +of all Lincoln's thought about the "majority" in America. Upon it +would have rested his reply, had he ever made a reply, to the Virginia +contention that while his theory might apply to each individual State, +it could not apply to the group of States. He would have treated such +a reply, whether fairly or unfairly, as a legal technicality. He would +have said in substance: here is a congregation to be benefited, this +great mass of all the inhabitants of all the States of the Union; +accident, or destiny, or what you will, has brought them together, but +here they are; they are moving forward, haltingly, irregularly, but +steadily, toward fuller and fuller democracy; they are part of +the universal democratic movement; their vast experiment has an +international significance; it is the hope of the "Liberal party +throughout the world"; to check that experiment, to break it into +Separate minor experiments; to reduce the imposing promise of its +example by making it seem unsuccessful, would be treason to mankind. +Therefore, both on South and North, both on the Seceders he meant to +fight and on those Northerners of whom he was not entirely sure, he +aimed to impose the supreme immediate duty of proving to the world that +democracy on a great scale could have sufficient vitality to maintain +itself against any sort of attack. Anticipating faintly the Gettysburg +oration, the first message contained these words: "And this issue +embraces more than the fate of these United States. It presents to the +whole family of man the question whether a constitutional republic, or +democracy--a government of the people by the same people--can or can +not maintain its integrity against its own domestic foes. . . . Must a +government of necessity be too strong for the liberties of its people +or too weak to maintain its own existence?"(7) He told Hay that "the +crucial idea pervading this struggle is the necessity that is upon us +to prove that popular government is not an absurdity"; "that the basal +issue was whether or no the people could govern themselves."(8) + +But all this elaborate reasoning, if it went no further, lacked +authority. It was political speculation. To clothe itself with authority +it had to discover a foundation in historic fact. The real difficulty +was not what ought to have been established in America in the past, +but what actually had been. Where was the warrant for those bold +proposition--who "we, the people," really were; in what their sovereign +power really consisted; what was history's voice in the matter? To state +an historic foundation was the final aim of the message. To hit its mark +it had to silence those Northerners who denied the obligation to fight +for the Union; it had to oppose their "free love" ideas of political +unity with the conception of an established historic government, one +which could not be overthrown except through the nihilistic process +of revolution. So much has been written upon the exact location of +sovereignty in the American federal State that it is difficult to escape +the legalistic attitude, and to treat the matter purely as history. So +various, so conflicting, and at times so tenuous, are the theories, +that a flippant person might be forgiven did he turn from the whole +discussion saying impatiently it was blind man's buff. But on one thing, +at least, we must all agree. Once there was a king over this country, +and now there is no king. Once the British Crown was the sovereign, and +now the Crown has receded into the distance beyond the deep blue sea. +When the Crown renounced its sovereignty in America, what became of it? +Did it break into fragments and pass peacemeal to the various revolted +colonies? Was it transferred somehow to the group collectively? These +are the obvious theories; but there are others. And the others give +rise to subtler speculations. Who was it that did the actual revolting +against the Crown--colonies, parties, individuals, the whole American +people, who? + +Troublesome questions these, with which Lincoln and the men of his time +did not deal in the spirit of historical science. Their wishes fathered +their thoughts. Southerners, practically without exception, held +the theory of the disintegration of the Crown's prerogative, its +distribution among the States. The great leaders of Northern thought +repudiated the idea. Webster and Clay would have none of it. But +their own theories were not always consistent; and they differed +among themselves. Lincoln did the natural thing. He fastened upon the +tendencies in Northern thought that supported his own faith. Chief among +these was the idea that sovereignty passed to the general congregation +of the inhabitants of the colonies--"we, the people"--because we, the +people, were the real power that supported the revolt. He had accepted +the idea that the American Revolution was an uprising of the people, +that its victory was in a transfer of sovereign rights from an English +Crown to an American nation; that a new collective state, the Union, was +created by this nation as the first act of the struggle, and that it was +to the Union that the Crown succumbed, to the Union that its prerogative +passed. To put this idea in its boldest and its simplest terms was the +crowning effort of the message. + +"The States have their status in the Union and they have no other legal +status. If they break from this, they can only do so against law and +by revolution. The Union, and not themselves separately, procured their +independence and their liberty. By conquest or purchase, the Union gave +each of them whatever of independence and liberty it has. The Union is +older than any of the States, and in fact, it created them as States. +Originally some dependent colonies made the Union, and in turn, the +Union threw off this old dependence for them and made them States, such +as they are."(9) + +This first message completes the evolution of Lincoln as a political +thinker. It is his third, his last great landmark. The Peoria speech, +which drew to a focus all the implications of his early life, laid the +basis of his political significance; the Cooper Union speech, summing +up his conflict with Douglas, applied his thinking to the new issue +precipitated by John Brown; but in both these he was still predominantly +a negative thinker, still the voice of an opposition. With the first +message, he became creative; he drew together what was latent in his +earlier thought; he discarded the negative; he laid the foundation of +all his subsequent policy. The breadth and depth of his thinking is +revealed by the fulness with which the message develops the implications +of his theory. In so doing, he anticipated the main issues that were to +follow: his determination to keep nationalism from being narrowed into +mere "Northernism"; his effort to create an all-parties government; his +stubborn insistence that he was suppressing an insurrection, not waging +external war; his doctrine that the Executive, having been chosen by the +entire people, was the one expression of the sovereignty of the people, +and therefore, the repository of all these exceptional "war powers" that +are dormant in time of peace. Upon each of those issues he was destined +to wage fierce battles with the politicians who controlled Congress, who +sought to make Congress his master, who thwarted, tormented and almost +defeated him. In the light of subsequent history the first message has +another aspect besides its significance as political science. In its +clear understanding of the implications of his attitude, it attains +political second sight. As Lincoln, immovable, gazes far into the +future, his power of vision makes him, yet again though in a widely +different sense, the "seer in a trance, Seeing all his own mischance." + +His troubles with Congress began at once. The message was received on +July fourth, politely, but with scant response to its ideas. During +two weeks, while Congress in its fatuousness thought that the battle +impending in Virginia would settle things, the majority in Congress +would not give assent to Lincoln's view of what the war was about. And +then came Bull Run. In a flash the situation changed. Fatuousness was +puffed out like a candle in a wind. The rankest extremist saw that +Congress must cease from its debates and show its hand; must say what +the war was about; must inform the nation whether it did or did not +agree with the President. + +On the day following Bull Run, Crittenden introduced this resolution: +"That the present, deplorable civil war has been forced upon the country +by the Disunionists of the Southern States, now in arms against the +constitutional government, and in arms around the capital; that in this +national emergency, Congress, banishing all feelings of mere passion and +resentment, will recollect only its duty to the whole country; that this +war is not waged on their part in any spirit of oppression or for +any purpose of conquest or subjugation, or purpose of overthrowing or +interfering with the rights or established institutions of these States, +but to defend and maintain the supremacy of the Constitution, and to +preserve the Union, with all the dignity, equality, and rights of +the several States unimpaired; and that as soon as these objects are +accomplished, the war ought to cease." This Crittenden Resolution was +passed instantly by both Houses, without debate and almost without +opposition. (10) + +Paradoxically, Bull Run had saved the day for Lincoln, had enabled him +to win his first victory as a statesman. + + + + +XVIII. THE JACOBIN CLUB + +The keen Englishman who had observed the beauty of the Virginian woods +on "Bull Run Sunday," said, after the battle was lost, "I hope Senator +Wilson is satisfied." He was sneering at the whole group of intemperate +Senators none of whom had ever smelled powder, but who knew it all when +it came to war; who had done their great share in driving the President +and the generals into a premature advance. Senator Wilson was one of +those who went out to Manassas to see the Confederacy overthrown, that +fateful Sunday. He was one of the most precipitate among those who fled +back to Washington. On the way, driving furiously, amid a press of men +and vehicles, he passed a carriage containing four Congressmen who were +taking their time. Perhaps irritated by their coolness, he shouted to +them to make haste. "If we were in as big a hurry as you are," replied +Congressman Riddle, scornfully, "we would." + +These four Congressmen played a curiously dramatic part before they got +back to Washington. So did a party of Senators with whom they joined +forces. This other party, at the start, also numbered four. They had +planned a jolly picnic--this day that was to prove them right in +hurrying the government into battle!--and being wise men who knew how +to take time by the forelock, they had taken their luncheon with them. +From what is known of Washington and Senators, then as now, one may risk +a good deal that the luncheon was worth while. Part of the tragedy of +that day was the accidental break-up of this party with the result amid +the confusion of a road crowded by pleasure-seekers, that two Senators +went one way carrying off the luncheon, while the other two, making the +best of the disaster, continued southward through those beautiful early +hours when Russell was admiring the scenery, their luncheon all to seek. +The lucky men with the luncheon were the Senators Benjamin Wade +and Zachary Chandler. Senator Trumbull and Senator Grimes, both on +horseback, were left to their own devices. However, fortune was with +them. Several hours later they had succeeded in getting food by the +wayside and were resting in a grove of trees some distance beyond the +village of Centerville. Suddenly, they suffered an appalling surprise; +happening to look up, they beheld emerging out of the distance, a +stampede of men and horses which came thundering down the country road, +not a hundred yards from where they sat. "We immediately mounted our +horses," as Trumbull wrote to his wife the next day, "and galloped to +the road, by which time it was crowded, hundreds being in advance on +the way to Centerville and two guns of Sherman's battery having already +passed in full retreat. We kept on with the crowd, not knowing what else +to do. We fed our horses at Centerville and left there at six o'clock.... +Came on to Fairfax Court House where we got supper and, leaving there at +ten o'clock reached home at half past two this morning. . . . I am +dreadfully disappointed and mortified."(1) + +Meanwhile, what of those other gay picnickers, Senator Wade and Senator +Chandler? They drove in a carriage. Viewing the obligations of the hour +much as did C. C. Clay at the President's reception, they were armed. +Wade had "his famous rifle" which he had brought with him to Congress, +which at times in the fury of debate he had threatened to use, which +had become a byword. These Senators seem to have ventured nearer to +the front than did Trumbull and Grimes, and were a little later in the +retreat At a "choke-up," still on the far side of Centerville, their +carriage passed the carriage of the four Congressmen--who, by the way, +were also armed, having among them "four of the largest navy revolvers." + +All these men, whatever their faults or absurdities, were intrepid. +The Congressmen, at least, were in no good humor, for they had driven +through a regiment of three months men whose time expired that day and +who despite the cannon in the distance were hurrying home. + +The race of the fugitives continued. At Centerville, the Congressmen +passed Wade. Soon afterward Wade passed them for the second time. About +a mile out of Fairfax Court House, "at the foot of a long down grade, +the pike on the northerly side was fenced and ran along a farm. On the +other side for a considerable distance was a wood, utterly impenetrable +for men or animals, larger than cats or squirrels." Here the Wade +carriage stopped. The congressional carriage drove up beside it. The two +blocked a narrow way where as in the case of Horatius at the bridge, +"a thousand might well be stopped by three." And then "bluff Ben Wade" +showed the mettle that was in him. The "old Senator, his hat well back +on his head," sprang out of his carriage, his rifle in his hand, and +called to the others, "Boys, we'll stop this damned runaway." And they +did it. Only six of them, but they lined up across that narrow road; +presented their weapons and threatened to shoot; seized the bridles +of horses and flung the horses back on their haunches; checked a +panic-stricken army; held it at bay, until just when it seemed they were +about to be overwhelmed, military reserves hurrying out from Fairfax +Court House, took command of the road. Cool, unpretentious Riddle calls +the episode "Wade's exploit," and adds "it was much talked of." The +newspapers dealt with it extravagantly.(2) + +Gallant as the incident was, it was all the military service that "Ben" +Wade and "Zach" Chandler--for thus they are known in history-over saw. +But one may believe that it had a lasting effect upon their point of +view and on that of their friend Lyman Trumbull. Certain it is that none +of the three thereafter had any doubts about putting the military men +in their place. All the error of their own view previous to Bull Run was +forgotten. Wade and Chandler, especially, when military questions were +in dispute, felt that no one possibly could know more of the subject +than did the men who stopped the rout in the narrow road beyond Fairfax. + +Three of those picnickers who missed their guess on Bull Run Sunday, +Wade, Chandler and Trumbull, were destined to important parts in the +stern years that were to come. Before the close of the year 1861 the +three made a second visit to the army; and this time they kept together. +To that second visit momentous happenings may be traced. How it came +about must be fully understood. + +Two of the three, Wade and Chandler, were temperamentally incapable of +understanding Lincoln. Both were men of fierce souls; each had but +a very limited experience. Wade had been a country lawyer in Ohio; +Chandler, a prosperous manufacturer in Michigan. They were party men by +instinct, blind to the faults of their own side, blind to the virtues +of their enemies. They were rabid for the control of the government by +their own organized machine. + +Of Chandler, in Michigan, it was said that he "carried the Republican +organization in his breeches pocket"; partly through control of the +Federal patronage, which Lincoln frankly conceded to him, partly through +a "judicious use of money."(3) Chandler's first clash with Lincoln was +upon the place that the Republican machine was to hold in the conduct of +the war. + +From the beginning Lincoln was resolved that the war should not be +merely a party struggle. Even before he was inaugurated, he said that +he meant to hold the Democrats "close to the Administration on the +naked Union issue."(4) He had added, "We must make it easy for them" to +support the government "because we can't live through the case without +them." This was the foundation of his attempt--so obvious between the +lines of the first message--to create an all-parties government. This, +Chandler violently opposed. Violence was always Chandler's note, so much +so that a scornful opponent once called him "Xantippe in pants." + +Lincoln had given Chandler a cause of offense in McClellan's elevation +to the head of the army.* McClellan was a Democrat. There can be little +doubt that Lincoln took the fact into account in selecting him. Shortly +before, Lincoln had aimed to placate the Republicans by showing high +honor to their popular hero, Fremont. + + * Strictly speaking he did not become head of the army until + the retirement of Scott in November. Practically, he was + supreme almost from the moment of his arrival in Washington. + +When the catastrophe occurred at Bull Run, Fremont was a major-general +commanding the Western Department with headquarters at St. Louis. He +was one of the same violent root-and-branch wing of the Republicans--the +Radicals of a latter day--of which Chandler was a leader. The temper of +that wing had already been revealed by Senator Baker in his startling +pronouncement: "We of the North control the Union, and we are going to +govern our own Union in our own way." Chandler was soon to express it +still more exactly, saying, "A rebel has sacrificed all his rights. He +has no right to life, liberty or the pursuit of happiness."(5) Here +was that purpose to narrowing nationalism into Northernism, even to +radicalism, and to make the war an outlet for a sectional ferocity, +which Lincoln was so firmly determined to prevent. All things +considered, the fact that on the day following Bull Run he did not +summon the Republican hero to Washington, that he did summon a Democrat, +was significant. It opened his long duel with the extremists. + +The vindictive Spirit of the extremists had been rebuffed by Lincoln +in another way. Shortly after Bull Run, Wade and Chandler appealed to +Lincoln to call out negro soldiers. Chandler said that he did not care +whether or no this would produce a servile insurrection in the South. +Lincoln's refusal made another count in the score of the extremists +against him.(6) + +During the late summer of 1861, Chandler, Wade, Trumbull, were all +busily organizing their forces for an attack on the Administration. +Trumbull, indeed, seemed out of place in that terrible company. In time, +he found that he was out of place. At a crucial moment he came over +to Lincoln. But not until he had done yeoman service with Lincoln's +bitterest enemies. The clue to his earlier course was an honest +conviction that Lincoln, though well-intentioned, was weak.(7) Was this +the nemesis of Lincoln's pliability in action during the first stage +of his Presidency? It may be. The firm inner Lincoln, the unyielding +thinker of the first message, was not appreciated even by well-meaning +men like Trumbull. The inner and the outer Lincoln were still +disconnected. And the outer, in his caution, in his willingness to be +instructed, in his opposition to extreme measures, made the inevitable +impression that temperance makes upon fury, caution upon rashness. + +Throughout the late summer, Lincoln was the target of many attacks, +chiefly from the Abolitionists. Somehow, in the previous spring, they +had got it into their heads that at heart he was one of them, that he +waited only for a victory to declare the war a crusade of abolition.(8) +When the crisis passed and a Democrat was put at the head of the army, +while Fremont was left in the relative obscurity of St. Louis, Abolition +bitterness became voluble. The Crittenden Resolution was scoffed at as +an "ill-timed revival of the policy of conciliation." Threats against +the Administration revived, taking the old form of demands for a wholly +new Cabinet The keener-sighted Abolitionists had been alarmed by the +first message, by what seemed to them its ominous silence as to slavery. +Late in July, Emerson said in conversation, "If the Union is incapable +of securing universal freedom, its disruption were as the breaking up of +a frog-pond."(9) An outcry was raised because Federal generals did not +declare free all the slaves who in any way came into their hands. +The Abolitionists found no solace in the First Confiscation Act which +provided that an owner should lose his claim to a slave, had the slave +been used to assist the Confederate government. They were enraged by an +order, early in August, informing generals that it was the President's +desire "that all existing rights in all the States be fully respected +and maintained; in cases of fugitives from the loyal Slave States, the +enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Law by the ordinary forms of judicial +proceedings must be respected by the military authorities; in +the disloyal States the Confiscation Act of Congress must be your +guide."(10) Especially, the Abolitionists were angered because of +Lincoln's care for the forms of law in those Slave States that had not +seceded. They vented their bitterness in a famous sneer--"The President +would like to have God on his side, but he must have Kentucky." + +A new temper was forming throughout the land. It was not merely the old +Abolitionism. It was a blend of all those elements of violent feeling +which war inevitably releases; it was the concentration of all these +elements on the issue of Abolition as upon a terrible weapon; it was the +resurrection of that primitive blood-lust which lies dormant in every +peaceful nation like a sleeping beast. This dreadful power rose out +of its sleep and confronted, menacing, the statesman who of all our +statesmen was most keenly aware of its evil, most determined to put it +under or to perish in the attempt With its appearance, the deepest of +all the issues involved, according to Lincoln's way of thinking, was +brought to a head. Was the Republic to issue from the war a worthy or +an unworthy nation? That was pretty definitely a question of whether +Abraham Lincoln or, say, Zachary Chandler, was to control its policy. + +A vain, weak man precipitated the inevitable struggle between these two. +Fremont had been flattered to the skies. He conceived himself a genius. +He was persuaded that the party of the new temper, the men who may +fairly be called the Vindictives, were lords of the ascendent. He +mistook their volubility for the voice of the nation. He determined to +defy Lincoln. He issued a proclamation freeing the slaves of all who +had "taken an active part" with the enemies of the United States in the +field. He set up a "bureau of abolition." + +Lincoln first heard of Fremont's proclamation through the newspapers. +His instant action was taken in his own extraordinarily gentle way. "I +think there is great danger," he wrote, "that the closing paragraph (of +Fremont's proclamation) in relation to the confiscation of property and +the liberating of slaves of traitorous owners, will alarm our Southern +Union friends and turn them against us; perhaps ruin our rather fair +prospect for Kentucky. Allow me, therefore, to ask that you will, as +of your own motion, modify that paragraph so as to conform" to the +Confiscation Act. He added, "This letter is written in the Spirit of +caution, not of censure."(11) + +Fremont was not the man to understand instruction of this sort. He would +make no compromise with the President. If Lincoln wished to go over +his head and rescind his order let him do so-and take the consequences. +Lincoln quietly did so. His battle with the Vindictives was on. For +a moment it seemed as if he had destroyed his cause. So loud was the +outcry of the voluble people, that any one might have been excused +momentarily for thinking that all the North had risen against him. Great +meetings of protest were held. Eminent men--even such fine natures as +Bryant--condemned his course. In the wake of the incident, when it was +impossible to say how significant the outcry really was, Chandler, +who was staunch for Fremont, began his active interference with the +management of the army. McClellan had insisted on plenty of time +in which to drill the new three-year recruits who were pouring into +Washington. He did not propose to repeat the experience of General +McDowell. On the other hand, Chandler was bent on forcing him into +action. He, Wade and Trumbull combined, attempting to bring things to +pass in a way to suit themselves and their faction. To these men and +their followers, clever young Hay gave the apt name of "The Jacobin +Club." + +They began their campaign by their second visit to the army. Wade was +their chief spokesman. He urged McClellan to advance at once; to risk +an unsuccessful battle rather than continue to stand still; the country +wanted something done; a defeat could easily be repaired by the swarming +recruits.(12) + +This callous attitude got no response from the Commanding General. The +three Senators turned upon Lincoln. "This evening," writes Hay in +his diary on October twenty-sixth, "the Jacobin Club represented by +Trumbull, Chandler and Wade, came out to worry the Administration into +a battle. The agitation of the summer is to be renewed. The President +defended McClellan's deliberateness. The next night we went over +to Seward's and found Chandler and Wade there." They repeated their +reckless talk; a battle must be fought; defeat would be no worse than +delay; "and a great deal more trash." + +But Lincoln was not to be moved. He and Hay called upon McClellan. The +President deprecated this new manifestation of popular impatience, but +said it was a reality and should be taken into account. "At the same +time, General," said he, "you must not fight until you are ready."(13) + +At this moment of extreme tension occurred the famous incident of +the seizure of the Confederate envoys, Mason and Slidell, who were +passengers on the British merchant ship, the Trent. These men had run +the blockade which had now drawn its strangling line along the whole +coast of the Confederacy; they had boarded the Trent at Havana, and +under the law of nations were safe from capture. But Captain Wilkes of +the United States Navy, more zealous than discreet, overhauled the Trent +and took off the two Confederates. Every thoughtless Northerner went +wild with joy. At last the government had done something. Even the +Secretary of the Navy so far forgot himself as to telegraph to Wilkes +"Congratulate you on the great public service you have rendered in the +capture of the rebel emissaries."(14) Chandler promptly applauded the +seizure and when it was suggested that perhaps the envoys should +be released he at once arrayed himself in opposition.(15) With the +truculent Jacobins ready to close battle should the government do its +duty, with the country still echoing to cheers for Fremont and hisses +for the President, with nothing to his credit in the way of military +success, Lincoln faced a crisis. He was carried through the crisis by +two strong men. Sumner, head and front of Abolitionism but also a +great lawyer, came at once to his assistance. And what could a thinking +Abolitionist say after that! Seward skilfully saved the face of the +government by his management of the negotiation. The envoys were +released and sent to England. + +It was the only thing to do, but Chandler and all his sort had opposed +it. The Abolition fury against the government was at fever heat. Wendell +Phillips in a speech at New York denounced the Administration as having +no definite purpose in the war, and was interrupted by frantic cheers +for Fremont. McClellan, patiently drilling his army, was, in the eyes +of the Jacobins, doing nothing. Congress had assembled. There was every +sign that troubled waters lay just ahead. + + + + +XIX. THE JACOBINS BECOME INQUISITORS + +The temper animating Hay's "Jacobins" formed a new and really formidable +danger which menaced Lincoln at the close of 1861. But had he been +anything of an opportunist, it would have offered him an unrivaled +opportunity. For a leader who sought personal power, this raging +savagery, with its triple alliance of an organized political machine, a +devoted fanaticism, and the war fury, was a chance in ten thousand. It +led to his door the steed of militarism, shod and bridled, champing +upon the bit, and invited him to leap into the saddle. Ten words of +acquiescence in the program of the Jacobins, and the dreaded role of the +man on horseback was his to command. + +The fallacy that politics are primarily intellectual decisions upon +stated issues, the going forth of the popular mind to decide between +programs presented to it by circumstances, receives a brilliant +refutation in the course of the powerful minority that was concentrating +around the three great "Jacobins." The subjective side of politics, also +the temperamental side, here found expression. Statecraft is an art; +creative statesmen are like other artists. Just as the painter or the +poet, seizing upon old subjects, uses them as outlets for his particular +temper, his particular emotion, and as the temper, the emotion are what +counts in his work, so with statesmen, with Lincoln on the one hand, +with Chandler at the opposite extreme. + +The Jacobins stood first of all for the sudden reaction of bold fierce +natures from a long political repression. They had fought their way to +leadership as captains of an opposition. They were artists who had been +denied an opportunity of expression. By a sudden turn of fortune, it had +seemed to come within their grasp. Temperamentally they were fighters. +Battle for them was an end in itself. The thought of Conquest sang to +them like the morning stars. Had they been literary men, their favorite +poetry would have been the sacking of Troy town. Furthermore, they were +intensely provincial. Undoubted as was their courage, they had also the +valor of ignorance. They had the provincial's disdain for the other +side of the horizon, his unbounded confidence in his ability to whip all +creation. Chandler, scornfully brushing aside a possible foreign war, +typified their mood. + +And in quiet veto of all their hopes rose against them the apparently +easy-going, the smiling, story-telling, unrevengeful, new man at +the White House. It is not to be wondered that they spent the summer +laboring to build up a party against him, that they turned eagerly to +the new session of Congress, hoping to consolidate a faction opposed to +Lincoln. + +His second message (1), though without a word of obvious defiance, set +him squarely against them on all their vital contentions. The winter of +1861-1862 is the strangest period of Lincoln's career. Although the two +phases of him, the outer and the inner, were, in point of fact, moving +rapidly toward their point of fusion, apparently they were further away +than ever before. Outwardly, his most conspicuous vacillations were in +this winter and in the following spring. Never before or after did he +allow himself to be overshadowed so darkly by his advisers in all the +concerns of action. In amazing contrast, in all the concerns of thought, +he was never more entirely himself. The second message, prepared when +the country rang with what seemed to be a general frenzy against him, +did not give ground one inch. This was all the more notable because his +Secretary of War had tried to force his hand. Cameron had the reputation +of being about the most astute politician in America. Few people +attributed to him the embarrassment of principles. And Cameron, in the +late autumn, after closely observing the drift of things, determined +that Fremont had hit it off correctly, that the crafty thing to do was +to come out for Abolition as a war policy. In a word, he decided to go +over to the Jacobins. He put into his annual report a recommendation of +Chandler's plan for organizing an army of freed slaves and sending it +against the Confederacy. Advanced copies of this report had been sent +to the press before Lincoln knew of it. He peremptorily ordered their +recall, and the exclusion of this suggestion from the text of the +report.(2) + +On the heels of this refusal to concede to Chandler one of his cherished +schemes, the second message was sent to Congress. The watchful and +exasperated Jacobins found abundant offense in its omissions. On the +whole great subject of possible emancipation it was blankly silent. The +nearest it came to this subject was one suggestion which applied only +to those captured slaves who had been forfeited by the disloyal owners +through being employed to assist the Confederate government Lincoln +advised that after receiving their freedom they be sent out of the +country and colonized "at some place, or places, in a climate congenial +to them." Beyond this there was nothing bearing on the slavery question +except the admonition--so unsatisfactory to Chandler and all +his sort--that while "the Union must be preserved, and hence all +indispensable means must be employed," Congress should "not be in haste +to determine that radical and extreme measures, which may reach the +loyal as well as the disloyal, are indispensable." + +Lincoln was entirely clear in his own mind that there was but one way +to head off the passion of destruction that was rioting in the Jacobin +temper. "In considering the policy to be adopted in suppressing the +insurrection, I have been anxious and careful that the inevitable +conflict for this purpose shall not degenerate into a violent and +remorseless revolutionary struggle. I have, therefore, in every case, +thought it proper to keep the integrity of the Union prominent as the +primary object of the contest on our part, leaving all questions which +are not of vital military importance to the more deliberate action of +the Legislature." He persisted in regarding the war as an insurrection +of the "disloyal portion of the American people," not as an external +struggle between the North and the South. + +Finally, the culmination of the message was a long elaborate argument +upon the significance of the war to the working classes. His aim was +to show that the whole trend of the Confederate movement was toward a +conclusion which would "place capital on an equal footing with, if not +above, labor, in the structure of government." Thus, as so often before, +he insisted on his own view of the significance in American politics of +all issues involving slavery--their bearing on the condition of the free +laborer. In a very striking passage, often overlooked, he ranked himself +once more, as first of all, a statesman of "the people," in the limited +class sense of the term. "Labor is prior to and independent of capital. +Capital is only the fruit of labor and could never have existed if labor +had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves +much the higher consideration." But so far is he from any revolutionary +purpose, that he adds immediately, "Capital has its rights which are as +worthy of protection as any other rights." His crowning vision is not +communism. His ideal world is one of universal opportunity, with labor +freed of every hindrance, with all its deserving members acquiring more +and more of the benefits of property. + +Such a message had no consolation for Chandler, Wade, or, as he then +was, for Trumbull. They looked about for a way to retaliate. And now two +things became plain. That "agitation of the summer" to which Hay refers, +had borne fruit, but not enough fruit. Many members of Congress who had +been swept along by the President's policy in July had been won over in +the reaction against him and were ripe for manipulation; but it was not +yet certain that they held the balance of power in Congress. To lock +horns with the Administration, in December, would have been so rash a +move that even such bold men as Chandler and Wade avoided it. Instead, +they devised an astute plan of campaign. Trumbull was Chairman of the +Senate Judiciary Committee, and in that important position would +bide his time to bring pressure to bear on the President through +his influence upon legislation. Wade and Chandler would go in for +propaganda. But they would do so in disguise. What more natural than +that Congress should take an active interest in the army, should wish +to do all in its power to "assist" the President in rendering the +army-efficient. For that purpose it was proposed to establish a joint +committee of the two Houses having no function but to look into military +needs and report to Congress. The proposal was at once accepted and its +crafty backers secured a committee dominated entirely by themselves. +Chandler was a member; Wade became Chairman.(3) This Committee on the +Conduct of the War became at once an inquisition. Though armed with no +weapon but publicity, its close connection with congressional intrigue, +its hostility to the President, the dramatic effect of any revelations +it chose to make or any charges it chose to bring, clothed it indirectly +with immense power. Its inner purpose may be stated in the words of +one of its members, "A more vigorous prosecution of the war and less +tenderness toward slavery."(4) Its mode of procedure was in constant +interrogation of generals, in frequent advice to the President, and on +occasion in threatening to rouse Congress against him.(5) A session of +the Committee was likely to be followed by a call on the President of +either Chandler or Wade. + +The Committee began immediately summoning generals before it to explain +what the army was doing. And every general was made to understand +that what the Committee wanted, what Congress wanted, what the country +wanted, was an advance--"something doing" as soon as possible. + +And now appeared another characteristic of the mood of these +furious men. They had become suspicious, honestly suspicious. This +suspiciousness grew with their power and was rendered frantic by +being crossed. Whoever disagreed with them was instantly an object of +distrust; any plan that contradicted their views was at once an evidence +of treason. + +The earliest display of this eagerness to see traitors in every bush +concerned a skirmish that took place at Ball's Bluff in Virginia. It +was badly managed and the Federal loss, proportionately, was large. The +officer held responsible was General Stone. Unfortunately for him, +he was particularly obnoxious to the Abolitionists; he had returned +fugitive slaves; and when objection was made by such powerful +Abolitionists as Governor Andrew of Massachusetts, Stone gave reign to a +sharp tongue. In the early days of the session, Roscoe Conkling told +the story of Ball's Bluff for the benefit of Congress in a brilliant, +harrowing speech. In a flash the rumor spread that the dead at +Ball's Bluff were killed by design, that Stone was a traitor, +that--perhaps!--who could say?--there were bigger traitors higher up. +Stone was summoned before the Inquisition.(6) + +While Stone was on the rack, metaphorically, while the Committee was +showing him every brutality in its power, refusing to acquaint him with +the evidence against him, intimating that they were able to convict him +of treason, between the fifth and the eleventh of January a crisis arose +in the War Office. Cameron had failed to ingratiate himself with the +rising powers. Old political enemies in Congress were implacable. +Scandals in his Department gave rise to sweeping charges of peculation. + +There is scarcely another moment when Lincoln's power was so precarious. +In one respect, in their impatience, the Committee reflected faithfully +the country at large. And by the irony of fate McClellan at this crucial +hour, had fallen ill. After waiting for his recovery during several +weeks, Lincoln ventured with much hesitation to call a conference of +generals.(7) They were sitting during the Stone investigation, producing +no result except a distraction in councils, devising plans that were +thrown over the moment the Commanding General arose from his bed. A +vote in Congress a few days previous had amounted to a censure of the +Administration. It was taken upon the Crittenden Resolution which had +been introduced a second time. Of those who had voted for it in July, +so many now abandoned the Administration that this resolution, the clear +embodiment of Lincoln's policy, was laid on the table, seventy-one +to sixty-five.(8) Lincoln's hope for an all-parties government was +receiving little encouragement The Democrats were breaking into +factions, while the control of their party organization was falling into +the hands of a group of inferior politicians who were content to "play +politics" in the most unscrupulous fashion. Both the Secretary of War +and the Secretary of State had authorized arbitrary arrests. Men in New +York and New England had been thrown into prison. The privilege of the +writ of habeas corpus had been denied them on the mere belief of the +government that they were conspiring with its enemies. Because of these +arrests, sharp criticism was being aimed at the Administration both +within and without Congress. + +For all these reasons, the government at Washington appeared to be +tottering. Desperate remedies seemed imperative. Lincoln decided to make +every concession he could make without letting go his central purpose. +First, he threw over Cameron; he compelled him to resign though he saved +his face by appointing him minister to Russia. But who was to take his +place? At this critical moment, the choice of a new Secretary of War +was a political problem of exacting difficulty. Just why Lincoln chose +a sullen, dictatorial lawyer whose experience in no way prepared him for +the office, has never been disclosed. Two facts appear to explain it. +Edwin M. Stanton was temperamentally just the man to become a good +brother to Chandler and Wade. Both of them urged him upon Lincoln +as successor to Cameron.(9) Furthermore, Stanton hitherto had been a +Democrat. His services in Buchanan's Cabinet as Attorney-General had +made him a national figure. Who else linked the Democrats and the +Jacobins? + +However, for almost any one but Lincoln, there was an objection that it +would have been hard to overcome. No one has ever charged Stanton with +politeness. A gloomy excitable man, of uncertain health, temperamentally +an over-worker, chronically apprehensive, utterly without the saving +grace of humor, he was capable of insufferable rudeness--one reason, +perhaps, why Chandler liked him. He and Lincoln had met but once. As +associate council in a case at Cincinnati, three years before, Lincoln +had been treated so contemptuously by Stanton that he had returned home +in pained humiliation. Since his inauguration, Stanton had been one of +his most vituperative critics. Was this insolent scold to be invited +into the Cabinet? Had not Lincoln at this juncture been in the full tide +of selflessness, surely some compromise would have been made with the +Committee, a secretary found less offensive personally to the President. +Lincoln disregarded the personal consideration. The candidate of +Chandler and Wade became secretary. It was the beginning of an intimate +alliance between the Committee and the War Office. Lincoln had laid up +for himself much trouble that he did not foresee. + +The day the new Secretary took office, he received from the Committee a +report upon General Stone:(10) Subsequently, in the Senate, Wade denied +that the Committee had advised the arrest of Stone.(11) Doubtless the +statement was technically correct. Nevertheless, there can be no doubt +that the inquisitors were wholly in sympathy with the Secretary when, +shortly afterward, Stone was seized upon Stanton's order, conveyed to a +fortress and imprisoned without trial. + +This was the Dreyfus case of the Civil War. Stone was never tried and +never vindicated. He was eventually released upon parole and after many +tantalizing disappointments permitted to rejoin the army. What gives the +event significance is its evidence of the power, at that moment, of +the Committee, and of the relative weakness of the President. Lincoln's +eagerness to protect condemned soldiers survives in many anecdotes. Hay +confides to his diary that he was sometimes "amused at the eagerness +with which the President caught at any fact which would justify" +clemency. And yet, when Stanton informed him of the arrest of Stone, +he gloomily acquiesced. "I hope you have good reasons for it," he said. +Later he admitted that he knew very little about the case. But he did +not order Stone's release. + +Lincoln had his own form of ruthlessness. The selfless man, by dealing +with others in the same extraordinary way in which he deals with +himself, may easily under the pressure of extreme conditions become +impersonal in his thinking upon duty. The morality of such a state +of mind is a question for the philosopher. The historian must content +himself with pointing out the only condition that redeems it--if +anything redeems it The leader who thinks impersonally about others +and personally about himself-what need among civilized people to +characterize him? Borgia, Louis XIV, Napoleon. If we are ever to pardon +impersonal thinking it is only in the cases of men who begin by effacing +themselves. The Lincoln who accepted Stanton as a Cabinet officer, who +was always more or less overshadowed by the belief that in saving the +government he was himself to perish, is explicable, at least, when +individual men became for him, as at times they did, impersonal factors +in a terrible dream. + +There are other considerations in the attempt to give a moral value to +his failure to interfere in behalf of Stone. The first four months of +1862 are not only his feeblest period as a ruler, the period when he +was barely able to hold his own, but also the period when he was least +definite as a personality, when his courage and his vitality seemed +ebbing tides. Again, his spirit was in eclipse. Singularly enough, this +was the darkness before the dawn. June of 1862 saw the emergence, with a +suddenness difficult to explain, of the historic Lincoln. But in +January of that year he was facing downward into the mystery of his last +eclipse. All the dark places of his heredity must be searched for clues +to this strange experience. There are moments, especially under strain +of a personal bereavement that fell upon him in February, when his will +seemed scarcely a reality; when, as a directing force he may be said +momentarily to have vanished; when he is hardly more than a ghost among +his advisers. The far-off existence of weak old Thomas cast its parting +shadow across his son's career. + +However, even our Dreyfus case drew from Lincoln another display of that +settled conviction of his that part of his function was to be scapegoat. +"I serve," which in a way might be taken as his motto always, was +peculiarly his motto, and likewise his redemption, in this period of his +weakness. The enemies of the Committee in Congress took the matter up +and denounced Stanton. Thereupon, Wade flamed forth, criticizing Lincoln +for his leniency, venting his fury on all those who were tender of their +enemies, storming that "mercy to traitors is cruelty to loyal men."(12) +Lincoln replied neither to Wade nor to his antagonists; but, without +explaining the case, without a word upon the relation to it of the +Secretary and the Committee, he informed the Senate that the President +was alone responsible for the arrest and imprisonment of General +Stone.(13) + + + + +XX. IS CONGRESS THE PRESIDENT'S MASTER? + +The period of Lincoln's last eclipse is a period of relative silence. +But his mind was not inactive. He did not cease thinking upon the deep +theoretical distinctions that were separating him by a steadily widening +chasm from the most powerful faction in Congress. In fact, his mental +powers were, if anything, more keen than ever before. Probably, it was +the very clearness of the mental vision that enfeebled him when it came +to action. He saw his difficulties with such crushing certainty. During +this trying period there is in him something of Hamlet. + +The reaction to his ideas, to what is either expressed or implied, in +the first and second messages, was prompt to appear. The Jacobins did +not confine their activities within the scope of the terrible Committee. +Wade and Chandler worked assiduously undermining his strength in +Congress. Trumbull, though always less extreme than they, was still the +victim of his delusion that Lincoln was a poor creature, that the only +way to save the country was to go along with those grim men of strength +who dominated the Committee. In January, a formidable addition appeared +in the ranks of Lincoln's opponents. Thaddeus Stevens made a speech in +the House that marks a chapter. It brought to a head a cloud of floating +opposition and dearly defined an issue involving the central proposition +in Lincoln's theory of the government. The Constitution of the United +States, in its detailed provisions, is designed chiefly to meet the +exigencies of peace. With regard to the abnormal conditions of war, +it is relatively silent. Certain "war powers" are recognized but not +clearly defined; nor is it made perfectly plain what branch of the +government possesses them. The machinery for their execution is assumed +but not described--as when the Constitution provides that the privileges +of the writ of habeas corpus are to be suspended only in time of war, +but does not specify by whom, or in what way, the suspension is to be +effected. Are those undefined "war powers," which are the most sovereign +functions of our government, vested in Congress or in the President? +Lincoln, from the moment he defined his policy, held tenaciously to the +theory that all these extraordinary powers are vested in the President. +By implication, at least, this idea is in the first message. Throughout +the latter part of 1861, he put the theory into practice. Whatever +seemed to him necessary in a state of war, he did, even to the arresting +of suspected persons, refusing them the privilege-of the habeas corpus, +and retaining them in prison without trial. During 1861, he left the +exercise of this sovereign authority to the discretion of the two +Secretaries of War and of State. + +Naturally, the Abolitionists, the Jacobins, the Democratic machine, +conscientious believers in the congressional theory of the government, +every one who for any reason, wanted to hit the Administration, united +in a chorus of wrath over arbitrary arrests. The greatest orator of +the time, Wendell Phillips, the final voice of Abolition, flayed the +government in public speeches for reducing America to an absolute +despotism. Trumbull introduced into the Senate a resolution calling upon +the President for a statement of the facts as to what he had actually +done.(1) + +But the subject of arrests was but the prelude to the play. The real +issue was the theory of the government. Where in last analysis does the +Constitution place the ultimate powers of sovereignty, the war powers? +In Congress or in the President? Therefore, in concrete terms, is +Congress the President's master, or is it only one branch of the +government with a definite but united activity of its own, without that +sweeping sovereign authority which in course of time has been acquired +by its parent body, the Parliament of Great Britain? + +On this point Lincoln never wavered. From first to last, he was +determined not to admit that Congress had the powers of Parliament. No +sooner had the politicians made out this attitude than their attack +on it began. It did not cease until Lincoln's death. It added a second +constitutional question to the issues of the war. Not only the issue +whether a State had a right to secede, but also the issue of the +President's possession of the war powers of the Constitution. Time and +again the leaders of disaffection in his own party, to say nothing of +the violent Democrats, exhausted their rhetoric denouncing Lincoln's +position. They did not deny themselves the delights of the sneer. +Senator Grimes spoke of a call on the President as an attempt "to +approach the footstool of power enthroned at the other end of the +Avenue."(2) Wade expanded the idea: "We ought to have a committee to +wait on him whenever we send him a bill, to know what his royal pleasure +is with regard to it. . . . We are told that some gentlemen . . . have +been to see the President. Some gentlemen are very fortunate in that +respect. Nobody can see him, it seems, except some privileged gentlemen +who are charged with his constitutional conscience."(3) As Lincoln kept +his doors open to all the world, as no one came and went with greater +freedom than the Chairman of the Committee, the sneer was-what one might +expect of the Committee. Sumner said: "I claim for Congress all that +belongs to any government in the exercise of the rights of war." +Disagreement with him, he treated with unspeakable disdain: "Born in +ignorance and pernicious in consequence, it ought to be received with +hissings of contempt, and just in proportion as it obtains acceptance, +with execration."(4) Henry Wilson declared that, come what might, the +policy of the Administration would be shaped by the two Houses. "I had +rather give a policy to the President of the United States than take a +policy from the President of the United States."(5) Trumbull thundered +against the President's theory as the last word in despotism.(6) + +Such is the mental perspective in which to regard the speech of Stevens +of January 22, 1862. With masterly clearness, he put his finger on the +heart of the matter: the exceptional problems of a time of war, problems +that can not be foreseen and prepared for by anticipatory legislation, +may be solved in but one way, by the temporary creation of the dictator; +this is as true of modern America as of ancient Rome; so far, most +people are agreed; but this extraordinary function must not be vested +in the Executive; on the contrary, it must be, it is, vested in the +Legislature. Stevens did not hesitate to push his theory to its +limit. He was not afraid of making the Legislature in time of war the +irresponsible judge of its own acts. Congress, said he, has all possible +powers of government, even the dictator's power; it could declare itself +a dictator; under certain circumstances he was willing that it should do +so.(7) + +The intellectual boldness of Lincoln was matched by an equal boldness. +Between them, he and Stevens had perfectly defined their issue. Granted +that a dictator was needed, which should it be--the President or +Congress? + +In the hesitancy at the White House during the last eclipse, in the +public distress and the personal grief, Lincoln withheld himself +from this debate. No great utterances break the gloom of this period. +Nevertheless, what may be considered his reply to Stevens is to be +found. Buried in the forgotten portions of the Congressional Globe is a +speech that surely was inspired-or, if not directly inspired, so close +a reflection of the President's thinking that it comes to the same thing +at the end. + +Its author, or apparent author, was one of the few serene figures in +that Thirty-Seventh Congress which was swept so pitilessly by epidemics +of passion. When Douglas, after coming out valiantly for the Union and +holding up Lincoln's hands at the hour of crisis, suddenly died, the +Illinois Legislature named as his successor in the Senate, Orville Henry +Browning. The new Senator was Lincoln's intimate friend. Their points +of view, their temperaments were similar. Browning shared Lincoln's +magnanimity, his hatred of extremes, his eagerness not to allow the +war to degenerate into revolution. In the early part of 1862 he was +Lincoln's spokesman in the Senate. Now that the temper of Wade and +Chandler, the ruthlessness that dominated the Committee, had drawn unto +itself such a cohort of allies; now that all their thinking had been +organized by a fearless mind; there was urgent need for a masterly +reply. Did Lincoln feel unequal, at the moment, to this great task? Very +probably he did. Anyhow, it was Browning who made the reply,(8) a reply +so exactly in his friend's vein, that--there you are! + +His aim was to explain the nature of those war powers of the government +"which lie dormant during time of peace," and therefore he frankly put +the question, "Is Congress the government?" Senator Fessenden, echoing +Stevens had said, "There is no limit on the powers of Congress; +everything must yield to the force of martial law as resolved by +Congress." "There, sir," said Browning, "is as broad and deep a +foundation for absolute despotism as was ever laid." He rang the changes +on the need to "protect minorities from the oppression and tyranny of +excited majorities." + +He went on to lay the basis of all Lincoln's subsequent defense of +the presidential theory as opposed to the congressional theory, by +formulating two propositions which reappear in some of Lincoln's most +famous papers. Congress is not a safe vessel for extraordinary powers, +because in our system we have difficulty in bringing it definitely to an +account under any sort of plebiscite. On the other hand the President, +if he abuses the war powers "when peace returns, is answerable to the +civil power for that abuse." + +But Browning was not content to reason on generalities. Asserting that +Congress could no more command the army than it could adjudicate a case, +he further asserted that the Supreme Court had settled the matter and +had lodged the war powers in the President. He cited a decision called +forth by the legal question, "Can a Circuit Court of the United States +inquire whether a President had acted rightly in calling out the militia +of a State to suppress an insurrection?" "The elevated office of the +President," said the Court, "chosen as he is by the People of the United +States, and the high responsibility he could not fail to feel when +acting in a case of such moment, appear to furnish as strong safeguards +against the wilful abuse of power as human prudence and foresight could +well devise. At all events, it is conferred upon him by the Constitution +and the laws of the United States, and therefore, must be respected and +enforced in its judicial tribunals."(9) + +Whether or not constitutional lawyers would agree with Browning in the +conclusion he drew from this decision, it was plainly the bed rock +of his thought. He believed that the President--whatever your mere +historian might have to say--was in point of fact the exponent of the +people as a whole, and therefore the proper vessel for the ultimate +rights of a sovereign, rights that only the people possess, that +only the people can delegate. And this was Lincoln's theory. Roughly +speaking, he-conceived of the presidential office about as if it were +the office of Tribune of the People. + +There was still another reason why both Lincoln and Browning feared +to yield anything to the theory of congressional supremacy. It was, +in their minds, not only the general question of all Congresses but +immediately of this particular Congress. An assembly in which the temper +of Wade and Chandler, of Stevens and Sumner, was entering the ascendent, +was an assembly to be feared; its supremacy was to be denied, its power +was to be fought. + +Browning did not close without a startling passage flung square in +the teeth of the apostles of fury. He summed up the opposite temper, +Lincoln's temper, in his description of "Our brethren of the South--for +I am willing to call them brethren; my heart yet yearns toward them with +a fervency of love which even their treason has not all extinguished, +which tempts me constantly to say in their behalf, 'Father, forgive +them, for they know not what they do.'" He pleaded with the Senate not +to consider them "as public enemies but as insurgent citizens only," and +advocated an Act of Amnesty restoring all political and property +rights "instantly upon their return to allegiance and submission to the +authority of the government." + +Had this narrowly constitutional issue arisen in quiet times, who can +say how slight might have been its significance? But Fate had decreed +that it should arise in the stormiest moment of our history. Millions +of men and women who cared nothing for constitutional theories, who were +governed by that passion to see immediate results which the thoughtless +ever confuse with achievement, these were becoming hysterical over +delay. Why did not the government do something? Everywhere voices were +raised accusing the President of cowardice. The mania of suspicion +was not confined to the Committee. The thoughts of a multitude were +expressed by Congressman Hickman in his foolish words, "These are days +of irresponsibility and imbecility, and we are required to perform two +offices--the office of legislator and the office of President." The +better part of a year had passed since the day of Sumter, and still the +government had no military success to its credit. An impetuous people +that lacked experience of war, that had been accustomed in unusual +measure to have its wishes speedily gratified, must somehow be +marshalled behind the government, unless the alternative was the +capture of power by the Congressional Cabal that was forming against the +President. + +Entering upon the dark days of the first half of 1862, Lincoln had no +delusions about the task immediately before him. He must win battles; +otherwise, he saw no way of building up that popular support which alone +would enable him to keep the direction of policy in the hands of the +Executive, to keep it out of the hands of Congress. In a word, the +standing or falling of his power appeared to have been committed to the +keeping of the army. What the army would do with it, save his policy or +wreck his policy, was to no small degree a question of the character and +the abilities of the Commanding General. + + + + +XXI. THE STRUGGLE TO CONTROL THE ARMY + +George Brinton McClellan, when at the age of thirty-four he was raised +suddenly to a dizzying height of fame and power, was generally looked +upon as a prodigy. Though he was not that, he had a real claim to +distinction. Had destiny been considerate, permitting him to rise +gradually and to mature as he rose, he might have earned a stable +reputation high among those who are not quite great. He had done well +at West Point, and as a very young officer in the Mexican War; he had +represented his country as a military observer with the allies in the +Crimea; he was a good engineer, and a capable man of business. His +winning personality, until he went wrong in the terrible days of 1862, +inspired "a remarkable affection and regard in every one from the +President to the humblest orderly that waited at his door."(1) He was +at home among books; he could write to his wife that Prince Napoleon +"speaks English very much as the Frenchmen do in the old English +comedies";(2) he was able to converse in "French, Spanish, Italian, +German, in two Indian dialects and he knew a little Russian and +Turkish." Men like Wade and Chandler probably thought of him as a +"highbrow," and doubtless he irritated them by invariably addressing +the President as "Your Excellency." He had the impulses as well as the +traditions of an elder day. But he had three insidious defects. At the +back of his mind there was a vein of theatricality, hitherto unrevealed, +that might, under sufficient stimulus, transform him into a poseur. +Though physically brave, he had in his heart, unsuspected by himself +or others, the dread of responsibility. He was void of humor. These +damaging qualities, brought out and exaggerated by too swift a rise to +apparent greatness, eventually worked his ruin. As an organizer he was +unquestionably efficient. His great achievement which secures him a +creditable place in American history was the conversion in the autumn of +1861 of a defeated rabble and a multitude of raw militia into a splendid +fighting machine. The very excellence of this achievement was part of +his undoing. It was so near to magical that it imposed on himself, gave +him a false estimate of himself, hid from him his own limitation. It +imposed also on his enemies. Crude, fierce men like the Vindictive +leaders of Congress, seeing this miracle take place so astoundingly +soon, leaped at once to the conclusion that he could, if he would, +follow it by another miracle. Having forged the thunderbolt, why could +he not, if he chose, instantly smite and destroy? All these hasty +inexperienced zealots labored that winter under the delusion that one +great battle might end the war. When McClellan, instead of rushing to +the front, entered his second phase--the one which he did not understand +himself, which his enemies never understood--when he entered upon his +long course of procrastination, the Jacobins, startled, dumfounded, +casting about for reasons, could find in their unanalytical vision, but +one. When Jove did not strike, it must be because Jove did not wish to +strike. McClellan was delaying for a purpose. Almost instantaneous +was the whisper, followed quickly by the outcry among the Jacobins, +"Treachery! We are betrayed. He is in league with the enemy." + +Their distrust was not allayed by the manner in which he conducted +himself. His views of life and of the office of commanding general were +not those of frontier America. He believed in pomp, in display, in an +ordered routine. The fine weather of the autumn of 1861 was utilized +at Washington for frequent reviews. The flutter of flags, the glint of +marching bayonets, the perfectly ordered rhythm of marching feet, the +blare of trumpets, the silvery notes of the bugles, the stormily rolling +drums, all these filled with martial splendor the golden autumn air when +the woods were falling brown. And everywhere, it seemed, look where one +might, a sumptuously uniformed Commanding General, and a numerous and +sumptuous staff, were galloping past, mounted on beautiful horses. +Plain, blunt men like the Jacobins, caring nothing for this ritual of +command, sneered. They exchanged stories of the elaborate dinners he +was said to give daily, the several courses, the abundance of wine, the +numerous guests; and after these dinners, he and his gorgeous staff, +"clattering up and down the public streets" merely to show themselves +off. All this sneering was wildly exaggerated. The mania of +exaggeration, the mania of suspicion, saturated the mental air breathed +by every politician at Washington, that desperate winter, except the +great and lonely President and the cynical Secretary of State. + +McClellan made no concessions to the temper of the hour. With Lincoln, +his relations at first were cordial. Always he was punctiliously +respectful to "His Excellency." It is plain that at first Lincoln liked +him and that his liking was worn away slowly. It is equally plain that +Lincoln did not know how to deal with him. The tendency to pose was so +far from anything in Lincoln's make-up that it remained for him, whether +in McClellan or another, unintelligible. That humility which was so +conspicuous in this first period of his rule, led him to assume with his +General a modest, even an appealing tone. The younger man began to ring +false by failing to appreciate it. He even complained of it in a letter +to his wife. The military ritualist would have liked a more Olympian +superior. And there is no denying that his head was getting turned. +Perhaps he had excuse. The newspapers printed nonsensical editorials +praising "the young Napoleon." His mail was filled with letters urging +him to carry things with a high hand; disregard, if necessary, the +pusillanimous civil government, and boldly "save the country." He had +so little humor that he could take this stuff seriously. Among all the +foolish letters which the executors of famous men have permitted to see +the light of publicity, few outdo a letter of McClellan's in which he +confided to his wife that he was willing to become dictator, should that +be the only way out, and then, after saving his country, to perish.(3) + +In this lordly mood of the melodramatic, he gradually--probably without +knowing it--became inattentive to the President. Lincoln used to go +to his house to consult him, generally on foot, clad in very ordinary +clothes. He was known to sit in McClellan's library "rather unnoticed" +awaiting the General's pleasure.(4) + +At last the growing coolness of McClellan went so far that an event +occurred which Hay indignantly set down in his diary: "I wish here +to record what I consider a portent of evil to come. The President, +Governor Seward and I went over to McClellan's house tonight. The +servant at the door said the General was at the wedding of Colonel +Wheaton at General Buell's and would soon return. We went in and after +we had waited about an hour, McClellan came in, and without paying +particular attention to the porter who told him the President was +waiting to see him, went up-stairs, passing the door of the room where +the President and the Secretary of State were seated. They waited about +half an hour, and sent once more a servant to tell the General they were +there; and the answer came that the General had gone to bed. + +"I merely record this unparalleled insolence of epaulettes without +comment It is the first indication I have yet seen of the threatened +supremacy of the military authorities. Coming home, I spoke to the +President about the matter, but he seemed not to have noticed it +specially, saying it were better at this time not to be making points of +etiquette and personal dignity."(5) + +Did ever a subordinate, even a general, administer to a superior a more +astounding snub? To Lincoln in his selfless temper, it was Only a detail +in his problem of getting the army into action. What room for personal +affronts however gross in a mood like his? To be sure he ceased going to +McClellan's house, and thereafter summoned McClellan to come to him, but +no change appeared in the tone of his intercourse with the General. "I +will hold McClellan's horse," said he, "if he will win me victories."(6) + +All this while, the two were debating plans of campaign and McClellan +was revealing-as we now see, though no one saw it at the time-the deep +dread of responsibility that was destined to paralyze him as an active +general. He was never ready. Always, there must be more preparation, +more men, more this, more that. + +In January, 1862, Lincoln, grown desperate because of hope deferred, +made the first move of a sort that was to be lamentably frequent the +next six months. He went over the head of the Commanding General, +and, in order to force a result, evoked a power not recognized in +the military scheme of things. By this time the popular adulation of +McClellan was giving place to a general imitation of the growling of the +Jacobins, now well organized in the terrible Committee and growing each +day more and more hostile to the Administration. Lincoln had besought +McClellan to take into account the seriousness of this rising tide of +opposition.(7) His arguments made no impression. McClellan would not +recognize the political side of war. At last, partly to allay the +popular clamor, partly to force McClellan into a corner, Lincoln +published to the country a military program. He publicly instructed the +Commanding General to put all his forces in movement on all fronts, on +Washington's birthday.(8) + +From this moment the debate between the President and the General +with regard to plans of campaign approached the nature of a dispute. +McClellan repeated his demand for more time in which to prepare. He +objected to the course of advance which the President wished him to +pursue. Lincoln, seeing the situation first of all as a political +problem, grounded his thought upon two ideas neither of which was shared +by McClellan: the idea that the supreme consideration was the safety +of Washington; the resultant idea that McClellan should move directly +south, keeping his whole army constantly between Washington and the +enemy. McClellan wished to treat Washington as but one important detail +in his strategy; he had a grandiose scheme for a wide flanking movement, +for taking the bulk of his army by sea to the coast of Virginia, and +thus to draw the Confederate army homeward for a duel to the death under +the walls of Richmond. Lincoln, neither then nor afterward more than an +amateur in strategy, was deeply alarmed by this bold mode of procedure. +His political instinct told him that if there was any slip and +Washington was taken, even briefly, by the Confederates, the game was +up. He was still further alarmed when he found that some of the eider +generals held views resembling his own.(9) To his modest, still groping +mind, this was a trying situation. In the President lay the ultimate +responsibility for every move the army should make. And whose advice +should he accept as authoritative? The first time he asked himself that +question, such peace of mind as had survived the harassing year 1861 +left him, not to return for many a day. + +At this moment of crises, occurred one of his keenest personal +afflictions. His little son Willie sickened and died. Lincoln's relation +to his children was very close, very tender. Many anecdotes show this +boy frolicking about the White House, a licensed intruder everywhere. +Another flood of anecdotes preserve the stupefying grief of his father +after the child's death. Of these latter, the most extreme which portray +Lincoln toward the close of February so unnerved as to be incapable of +public duty, may be dismissed as apocryphal. But there can be no +doubt that his unhappiness was too great for the vain measurement +of descriptive words; that it intensified the nervous mood which had +already possessed him; that anxiety, deepening at times into terrible +alarm, became his constant companion. + +In his dread and sorrow, his dilemma grew daily more intolerable. +McClellan had opposed so stoutly the Washington birthday order that +Lincoln had permitted him to ignore it. He was still wavering which +advice to take, McClellan's or the elder generals'. To remove McClellan, +to try at this critical moment some other general, did not occur to him +as a rational possibility. But somehow he felt he must justify himself +to himself for yielding to McClellan' s views. In his zeal to secure +some judgment more authoritative than his own, he took a further step +along the dangerous road of going over the Commander's head, of bringing +to bear upon him influences not strictly included in the military +system. He required McClellan to submit his plan to a council of his +general officers. Lincoln attended this council and told the generals +"he was not a military man and therefore would be governed by the +opinion of a majority."(10) The council decided in McClellan's favor by +a vote of eight to four. This was a disappointment to Lincoln. So firm +was his addiction to the overland route that he could not rest content +with the council's decision. Stanton urged him to disregard it, sneering +that the eight who voted against him were McClellan's creatures, his +"pets." But Lincoln would not risk going against the majority of +the council. "We are civilians," said he, "we should justly be held +responsible for any disaster if we set up our opinions against those of +experienced military men in the practical management of a campaign."(11) + +Nevertheless, from this quandary, in which his reason forced him to do +one thing while all his sensibilities protested, he extricated himself +in a curious way. Throughout the late winter he had been the object of +a concerted attack from Stanton and the Committee. The Committee had +tacitly annexed Stanton. He conferred with them confidentially. At each +important turn of events, he and they always got together in a secret +powwow. As early as February twentieth, when Lincoln seemed to be +breaking down with grief and anxiety, one of those secret conferences +of the high conspirators ended in a determination to employ all their +forces, direct and indirect, to bring about McClellan's retirement. They +were all victims of that mania of suspicion which was the order of +the day. "A majority of the Committee," wrote its best member, long +afterward when he had come to see things in a different light, "strongly +suspected that General McClellan was a traitor." Wade vented his spleen +in furious words about "King McClellan." Unrestrained by Lincoln's +anguish, the Committee demanded a conference a few days after his son's +death and threatened an appeal from President to Congress if he did not +quickly force McClellan to advance.(12) + +All this while the Committee was airing another grievance. They clamored +to have the twelve divisions of the army of the Potomac grouped into +corps. They gave as their motive, military efficiency. And perhaps +they thought they meant it. But there was a cat in the bag which +they carefully tried to conceal. The generals of divisions formed two +distinct groups, the elder ones who did not owe their elevation to +McClellan and the younger ones who did. The elder generals, it happened, +sympathized generally with the Committee in politics, or at least +did not sympathize with McClellan. The younger generals reflected the +politics of their patron. And McClellan was a Democrat, a hater of +the Vindictives, unsympathetic with Abolition. Therefore, the mania of +suspicion being in full flood, the Committee would believe no good of +McClellan when he opposed advancing the elder generals to the rank of +corps commanders. His explanation that he "wished to test them in the +field," was poohpoohed. Could not any good Jacobin see through that! Of +course, it was but an excuse to hold back the plums until he could drop +them into the itching palms of those wicked Democrats, his "pets." Why +should not the good men and true, elder and therefore better soldiers, +whose righteousness was so well attested by their political leanings, +why should not they have the places of power to which their rank +entitled them? + +Hitherto, however, Lincoln had held out against the Committee's demand +and bad refused to compel McClellan to reorganize his army against his +will. He now observed that in the council which cast the die against the +overland route, the division between the two groups of generals, what +we may call the Lincoln generals and the McClellan generals, was sharply +evident. The next day he issued a general order which organized the army +of the Potomac into corps, and promoted to the rank of corps commanders, +those elder generals whose point of view was similar to his own.(13) +Thereafter, any reference of crucial matters to a council of general +officers, would mean submitting it, not to a dozen commanders of +divisions with McClellan men in the majority, but to four or five +commanders of corps none of whom was definitely of the McClellan +faction. Thus McClellan was virtually put under surveillance of an +informal war council scrutinizing his course from the President's +point of view. It was this reduced council of the subordinates, as will +presently appear, that made the crucial decision of the campaign. + +On the same day Lincoln issued another general order accepting +McClellan's plan for a flanking movement to the Virginia coast.(14) The +Confederate lines at this time ran through Manassas--the point +Lincoln wished McClellan to strike. It was to be known later that the +Confederate General gave to Lincoln's views the high endorsement +of assuming that they were the inevitable views that the Northern +Commander, if he knew his business, would act upon. Therefore, he had +been quietly preparing to withdraw his army to more defensible positions +farther South. By a curious coincidence, his "strategic retreat" +occurred immediately after McClellan had been given authority to do what +he liked. On the ninth of March it was known at Washington that Manassas +had been evacuated. Whereupon, McClellan's fatal lack of humor permitted +him to make a great blunder. The man who had refused to go to Manassas +while the Confederates were there, marched an army to Manassas the +moment he heard that they were gone--and then marched back again. +This performance was instantly fixed upon for ridicule as McClellan's +"promenade to Manassas." + +To Lincoln the news of the promenade seemed both a vindication of his +own plan and crushing evidence that if he had insisted on his plan, the +Confederate army would have been annihilated, the war in one cataclysm +brought to an end. He was ridden, as most men were, by the delusion +of one terrific battle that was to end all. In a bitterness of +disappointment, his slowly tortured spirit burst into rage. The +Committee was delighted. For once, they approved of him. The next act +of this man, ordinarily so gentle, seems hardly credible. By a stroke +of his pen, he stripped McClellan of the office of Commanding General, +reduced him to the rank of mere head of a local army, the army of +the Potomac; furthermore, he permitted him to hear of his degradation +through the heartless medium of the daily papers.(15) The functions of +Commanding General were added to the duties of the Secretary of +War. Stanton, now utterly merciless toward McClellan, instantly took +possession of his office and seized his papers, for all the world as if +he were pouncing upon the effects of a malefactor. That McClellan was +not yet wholly spoiled was shown by the way he received this blow. It +was the McClellan of the old days, the gallant gentleman of the year +1860, not the poseur of 1861, who wrote at once to Lincoln making no +complaint, saying that his services belonged to his country in whatever +capacity they might be required. + +Again a council of subordinates was invoked to determine the next move. +McClellan called together the newly made corps commanders and obtained +their approval of a variation of his former plan. He now proposed to use +Fortress Monroe as a base, and thence conduct an attack upon Richmond. +Again, though with a touch of sullenness very rare in Lincoln, the +President acquiesced. But he added a condition to McClellan's plan by +issuing positive orders, March thirteenth, that it should not be carried +out unless sufficient force was left at Washington to render the city +impregnable. + +During the next few days the Committee must have been quite satisfied +with the President. For him, he was savage. The normal Lincoln, the man +of immeasurable mercy, had temporarily vanished. McClellan's blunder had +touched the one spring that roused the tiger in Lincoln. By letting slip +a chance to terminate the war--as it seemed to that deluded Washington +of March, 1862--McClellan had converted Lincoln from a brooding +gentleness to an incarnation of the last judgment. He told Hay he +thought that in permitting McClellan to retain any command, he had shown +him "very great kindness."(16) Apparently, he had no consciousness that +he had been harsh in the mode of McClellan's abatement, no thought of +the fine manliness of McClellan's reply. + +During this period of Lincoln's brief vengefulness, Stanton thought that +his time for clearing scores with McClellan had come. He even picked out +the man who was to be rushed over other men's heads to the command of +the army of the Potomac. General Hitchcock, an accomplished soldier +of the regular army, a grandson of Ethan Allen, who had grown old in +honorable service, was summoned to Washington, and was "amazed" +by having plumped at him the question, would he consent to succeed +McClellan? Though General Hitchcock was not without faults--and there +is an episode in his later relations with McClellan which his biographer +discreetly omits--he was a modest man. He refused to consider Stanton's +offer. But he consented to become the confidential adviser of the War +Office. This was done after an interview with Lincoln who impressed on +Hitchcock his sense of a great responsibility and of the fact that he +"had no military knowledge" and that he must have advice.(17) Out of +this congested sense of helplessness in Lincoln, joined with the new +labors of the Secretary of War as executive head of all the armies, grew +quickly another of those ill-omened, extra-constitutional war councils, +one more wheel within the wheels, that were all doing their part to +make the whole machine unworkable; distributing instead of concentrating +power. This new council which came to be known as the Army Board, was +made up of the heads of the Bureaus of the War Department with the +addition of Hitchcock as "Advising General." Of the temper of the Army +Board, composed as it was entirely of the satellites of Stanton, a +confession in Hitchcock's diary speaks volumes. On the evening of +the first day of their new relation, Stanton poured out to him such a +quantity of oral evidence of McClellan's "incompetency" as to make this +new recruit for anti-McClellanism "feel positively sick."(18) + +By permitting this added source of confusion among his advisers, Lincoln +treated himself much as he had already treated McClellan. By going over +McClellan's head to take advice from his subordinates he had put the +General on a leash; now, by setting Hitchcock and the experts in the +seat of judgment, he virtually, for a short while, put himself on a +leash. Thus had come into tacit but real power three military councils +none of which was recognized as such by law--the Council of the +Subordinates behind McClellan; the Council of the Experts behind +Lincoln; the Council of the Jacobins, called The Committee, behind them +all. + +The political pressure on Lincoln now changed its tack. Its unfailing +zeal to discredit McClellan assumed the form of insisting that he had a +secret purpose in waiting to get his army away from Washington, that he +was scheming to leave the city open to the Confederates, to "uncover" +it, as the soldiers said. By way of focussing the matter on a definite +issue, his enemies demanded that he detach from his army and assign +to the defense of Washington, a division which was supposed to be +peculiarly efficient General Blenker had recruited a sort of "foreign +legion," in which were many daring adventurers who had seen service in +European armies. Blenker's was the division demanded. So determined was +the pressure that Lincoln yielded. However, his brief anger had blown +itself out. To continue vengeful any length of time was for Lincoln +impossible. He was again the normal Lincoln, passionless, tender, +fearful of doing an injustice, weighed down by the sense of +responsibility. He broke the news about Blenker in a personal note to +McClellan that was almost apologetic. "I write this to assure you that I +did so with great pain, understanding that you would wish it otherwise. +If you could know the full pressure of the case, I am confident you +would justify it."(19) In conversation, he assured McClellan that no +other portion of his army should be taken from him.(20) + +The change in Lincoln's mood exasperated Stanton. He called on his pals +in the Committee for another of those secret confabulations in which +both he and they delighted. Speaking with scorn of Lincoln's return to +magnanimity, he told them that the President had "gone back to his first +love," the traitor McClellan. Probably all those men who wagged their +chins in that conference really believed that McClellan was aiming to +betray them. One indeed, Julian, long afterward had the largeness of +mind to confess his fault and recant. The rest died in their absurd +delusion, maniacs of suspicion to the very end. At the time all of them +laid their heads together--for what purpose? Was it to catch McClellan +in a trap? + +Meanwhile, in obedience to Lincoln's orders of March thirteenth, +McClellan drew up a plan for the defense of Washington. As Hitchcock was +now in such high feather, McClellan sent his plan to the new favorite of +the War Office, for criticism. Hitchcock refused to criticize, and +when McClellan's chief of staff pressed for "his opinion, as an old and +experienced officer," Hitchcock replied that McClellan had had ample +opportunity to know what was needed, and persisted in his refusal.(21) +McClellan asked no further advice and made his arrangements to suit +himself. On April first he took boat at Alexandria for the front. Part +of his army had preceded him. The remainder-except the force he had +assigned to the defense of Washington-was speedily to follow. + +With McClellan's departure still another devotee of suspicion moves +to the front of the stage. This was General Wadsworth. Early in March, +Stanton had told McClellan that he wanted Wadsworth as commander of the +defenses of Washington. McClellan had protested. Wadsworth was not a +military man. He was a politician turned soldier who had tried to be +senator from New York and failed; tried to be governor and failed; and +was destined to try again to be governor, and again to fail. Why should +such a person be singled out to become responsible for the safety of the +capital? Stanton's only argument was that the appointment of Wadsworth +was desirable for political reasons. He added that it would be made +whether McClellan liked it or not. And made it was.(22) Furthermore, +Wadsworth, who had previously professed friendship for McClellan, +promptly joined the ranks of his enemies. Can any one doubt, Stanton +being Stanton, mad with distrust of McClellan, that Wadsworth was fully +informed of McClellan's opposition to his advancement? + +On the second of April Wadsworth threw a bomb after the vanishing +McClellan, then aboard his steamer somewhere between Washington and +Fortress Monroe. Wadsworth informed Stanton that McClellan had not +carried out the orders of March thirteenth, that the force he had +left at Washington was inadequate to its safety, that the capital was +"uncovered." Here was a chance for Stanton to bring to bear on Lincoln +both those unofficial councils that were meddling so deeply in the +control of the army. He threw this firebrand of a report among his +satellites of the Army Board and into the midst of the Committee.2(3) + +It is needless here to go into the furious disputes that ensued-the +accusations, the recriminations, the innuendoes! McClellan stoutly +insisted that he had obeyed both the spirit and the letter of March +thirteenth; that Washington was amply protected. His enemies shrieked +that his statements were based on juggled figures; that even if +the number of soldiers was adequate, the quality and equipment were +wretched; in a word that he lied. It is a shame-less controversy +inconceivable were there not many men in whom politics and prejudice far +outweighed patriotism. In all this, Hitchcock was Stanton's trump card. +He who had refused to advise McClellan, did not hesitate to denounce +him. In response to a request from Stanton, he made a report sustaining +Wadsworth. The Committee summoned Wadsworth before it; he read them +his report to Stanton; reiterated its charges, and treated them to some +innuendoes after their own hearts, plainly hinting that McClellan could +have crushed the Confederates at Manassas if he had wished to.(24) + +A wave of hysteria swept the Committee and the War Office and beat +fiercely upon Lincoln. The Board charged him to save the day by mulcting +the army of the Potomac of an entire corps, retaining it at Washington. +Lincoln met the Board in a long and troubled conference. His anxious +desire to do all he could for McClellan was palpable.(25) But what, +under the circumstances, could he do? Here was this new device for the +steadying of his judgment, this Council of Experts, singing the same old +tune, assuring him that McClellan was not to be trusted. Although in the +reaction from his momentary vengefulness he had undoubtedly swung far +back toward recovering confidence in McClellan, did he dare--painfully +conscious as he was that he "had no military knowledge"--did he dare go +against the Board, disregard its warning that McClellan's arrangements +made of Washington a dangling plum for Confederate raiders to snatch +whenever they pleased. His bewilderment as to what McClellan was really +driving at came back upon him in full force. He reached at last the +dreary conclusion that there was nothing for it but to let the new wheel +within the wheels take its turn at running the machine. Accepting the +view that McClellan had not kept faith on the basis of the orders of +March thirteenth, Lincoln "after much consideration" set aside his own +promise to McClellan and authorized the Secretary of War to detain a +full corps.(26) + +McClellan never forgave this mutilation of his army and in time fixed +upon it as the prime cause of his eventual failure on the Peninsula. It +is doubtful whether relations between him and Lincoln were ever again +really cordial. + +In their rather full correspondence during the tense days of April, May +and June, the steady deterioration of McClellan's judgment bore him +down into amazing depths of fatuousness. In his own way he was as much +appalled by the growth of his responsibility as ever Lincoln had been. +He moved with incredible caution.* + + *Commenting on one of his moments of hesitation, J.S. + Johnston wrote to Lee: "No one but McClellan could have + hesitated to attack." 14 O. R., 416. + +His despatches were a continual wailing for more men. Whatever went +wrong was at once blamed on Washington. His ill-usage had made him +bitter. And he could not escape the fact that his actual performance did +not come up to expectation; that he was constantly out-generaled. His +prevailing temper during these days is shown in a letter to his wife. +"I have raised an awful row about McDowell's corps. The President very +coolly telegraphed me yesterday that he thought I ought to break the +enemy's lines at once. I was much tempted to reply that he had better +come and do it himself." A despatch to Stanton, in a moment of disaster, +has become notorious: "If I save this army now, I tell you plainly I owe +no thanks to you or to any other persons in Washington. You have done +your best to sacrifice this army."(27) + +Throughout this preposterous correspondence, Lincoln maintained the +even tenor of his usual patient stoicism, "his sad lucidity of soul." +He explained; he reasoned; he promised, over and over, assistance to the +limit of his power; he never scolded; when complaint became too absurd +to be reasoned with, he passed it over in silence. Again, he was +the selfless man, his sensibilities lost in the purpose he sought to +establish. + +Once during this period, he acted suddenly, on the spur of the moment, +in a swift upflaring of his unconquerable fear for the safety of +Washington. Previously, he had consented to push the detained corps, +McDowell's, southward by land to cooperate with McClellan, who adapted +his plans to this arrangement. Scarcely had he done so, than +Lincoln threw his plans into confusion by ordering McDowell back to +Washington.(28) Jackson, who had begun his famous campaign of menace, +was sweeping like a whirlwind down the Shenandoah Valley, and in the +eyes of panic-struck Washington appeared to be a reincarnation of +Southey's Napoleon,-- + + "And the great Few-Faw-Fum, would presently come, + With a hop, skip and jump" + +into Pennsylvania Avenue. As Jackson's object was to bring McDowell back +to Washington and enable Johnston to deal with McClellan unreinforced, +Lincoln had fallen into a trap. But he had much company. Stanton was +well-nigh out of his head. Though Jackson's army was less than fifteen +thousand and the Union forces in front of him upward of sixty thousand, +Stanton telegraphed to Northern governors imploring them to hasten +forward militia because "the enemy in great force are marching on +Washington."(29) + +The moment Jackson had accomplished his purpose, having drawn a great +army northwestward away from McClellan, most of which should have been +marching southeastward to join McClellan, he slipped away, rushed his +own army across the whole width of Virginia, and joined Lee in the +terrible fighting of the Seven Days before Richmond. + +In the midst of this furious confusion, the men surrounding Lincoln may +be excused for not observing a change in him. They have recorded his +appearance of indecision, his solicitude over McClellan, his worn and +haggard look. The changing light in those smoldering fires of his +deeply sunken eyes escaped their notice. Gradually, through profound +unhappiness, and as always in silence, Lincoln was working out of +his last eclipse. No certain record of his inner life during this +transition, the most important of his life, has survived. We can judge +of it only by the results. The outstanding fact with regard to it is a +certain change of attitude, an access of determination, late in June. +What desperate wrestling with the angel had taken place in the months of +agony since his son's death, even his private secretaries have not felt +able to say. Neither, apparently, did they perceive, until it flashed +upon them full-blown, the change that was coming over his resolution. +Nor did the Cabinet have any warning that the President was turning +a corner, developing a new phase of himself, something sterner, more +powerful than anything they had suspected. This was ever his way. His +instinctive reticence stood firm until the moment of the new birth. Not +only the Cabinet but the country was amazed and startled, when, late in +June, the President suddenly left Washington. He made a flying trip to +West Point where Scott was living in virtual retirement.(30) What passed +between the two, those few hours they spent together, that twenty-fourth +of June, 1862, has never been divulged. Did they have any eyes, that +day, for the wonderful prospect from the high terrace of the parade +ground; for the river so far below, flooring the valley with silver; +for the mountains pearl and blue? Did they talk of Stanton, of his +waywardness, his furies? Of the terrible Committee? Of the way Lincoln +had tied his own hands, brought his will to stalemate, through his +recognition of the unofficial councils? Who knows? + +Lincoln was back in Washington the next day. Another day, and by a +sweeping order he created a new army for the protection of Washington, +and placed in command of it, a western general who was credited with +a brilliant stroke on the Mississippi.(31) No one will now defend the +military genius of John Pope. But when Lincoln sent for him, all the +evidence to date appeared to be in his favor. His follies were yet to +appear. And it is more than likely that in the development of Lincoln's +character, his appointment has a deep significance. It appears to mark +the moment when Lincoln broke out of the cocoon of advisement he had +spun unintentionally around his will. In the sorrows of the grim year, +new forces had been generated. New spiritual powers were coming to his +assistance. At last, relatively, he had found peace. Worn and torn as +he was, after his long inward struggle, few bore so calmly as he did +the distracting news from the front in the closing days of June and the +opening days of July, when Lee was driving his whole strength like +a superhuman battering-ram, straight at the heart of the wavering +McClellan. A visitor at the White House, in the midst of the terrible +strain of the Seven Days, found Lincoln "thin and haggard, but cheerful +. . . quite as placid as usual . . . his manner was so kindly and so +free from the ordinary cocksureness of the politician, and the vanity +and self-importance of official position that nothing but good will was +inspired by his presence."(32) + +His serenity was all the more remarkable as his relations with +Congress and the Committee were fast approaching a crisis. If McClellan +failed-and by the showing of his own despatches, there was every reason +to expect him to fail, so besotted was he upon the idea that no one +could prevail with the force allowed him--the Committee who were leaders +of the congressional party against the presidential party might be +expected promptly to measure strength with the Administration. And +McClellan failed. At that moment Chandler, with the consent of the +Committee, was making use of its records preparing a Philippic against +the government. Lincoln, acting on his own initiative, without asking +the Secretary of War to accompany him, went immediately to the front. +He passed two days questioning McClellan and his generals.(33) But there +was no council of war. It was a different Lincoln from that other who, +just four months previous, had called together the general officers and +promised them to abide by their decisions. He returned to Washington +without telling them what he meant to do. + +The next day closed a chapter and opened a chapter in the history of +the Federal army. Stanton's brief and inglorious career as head of the +national forces came to an end. He fell back into his rightful +position, the President's executive officer in military affairs. Lincoln +telegraphed another Western general, Halleck, ordering him to Washington +as General-in-Chief.(34) He then, for a season, turned his whole +attention from the army to politics. Five days after the telegram to +Halleck, Chandler in the Senate, loosed his insatiable temper in what +ostensibly was a denunciation of McClellan, what in point of fact was a +sweeping arraignment of the military efficiency of the government.(35) + + + + +XXII. LINCOLN EMERGES + +While Lincoln was slowly struggling out of his last eclipse, giving +most of his attention to the army, the Congressional Cabal was laboring +assiduously to force the issue upon slavery. The keen politicians who +composed it saw with unerring vision where, for the moment, lay their +opportunity. They could not beat the President on any one issue then +before the country. No one faction was strong enough to be their +stand-by. Only by a combination of issues and a coalition of +factions could they build up an anti-Lincoln party, check-mate the +Administration, and get control of the government. They were greatly +assisted by the fatuousness of the Democrats. That party was in a +peculiar situation. Its most positive characters, naturally, had taken +sides for or against the government. The powerful Southerners who had +been its chief leaders were mainly in the Confederacy. Such Northerners +as Douglas and Stanton, and many more, had gone over to the Republicans. +Suddenly the control of the party organization had fallen into the hands +of second-rate men. As by the stroke of an enchanter's wand, men of +small caliber who, had the old conditions remained, would have lived +and died of little consequence saw opening before them the role of +leadership. It was too much for their mental poise. Again the subjective +element in politics! The Democratic party for the duration of the war +became the organization of Little Men. Had they possessed any great +leaders, could they have refused to play politics and responded to +Lincoln's all-parties policy, history might have been different. But +they were not that sort. Neither did they have the courage to go to the +other extreme and become a resolute opposition party, wholeheartedly and +intelligently against the war. They equivocated, they obstructed, they +professed loyalty and they practised-it would be hard to say what! So +short-sighted was their political game that its effect continually +was to play into the hands of their most relentless enemies, the grim +Jacobins. + +Though, for a brief time while the enthusiasm after Sumter was still at +its height they appeared to go along with the all-parties program, they +soon revealed their true course. In the autumn of 1861, Lincoln still +had sufficient hold upon all factions to make it seem likely that his +all-parties program would be given a chance. The Republicans generally +made overtures to the Democratic managers, offering to combine in a +coalition party with no platform but the support of the war and the +restoration of the Union. Here was the test of the organization of +the Little Men. The insignificant new managers, intoxicated by +the suddenness of their opportunity, rang false. They rejected the +all-parties program and insisted on maintaining their separate party +formation.(1) This was a turning point in Lincoln's career. Though +nearly two years were to pass before he admitted his defeat, the +all-parties program was doomed from that hour. Throughout the winter, +the Democrats in Congress, though steadily ambiguous in their statements +of principle, were as steadily hostile to Lincoln. If they had any +settled policy, it was no more than an attempt to hold the balance of +power among the warring factions of the Republicans. By springtime the +game they were playing was obvious; also its results. They had prevented +the President from building up a strong Administration group wherewith +he might have counterbalanced the Jacobins. Thus they had released the +Jacobins from the one possible restraint that might have kept them from +pursuing their own devices. + +The spring of 1862 saw a general realignment of factions. It was +then that the Congressional Cabal won its first significant triumph. +Hitherto, all the Republican platforms had been programs of denial. +A brilliant new member of the Senate, john Sherman, bluntly told his +colleagues that the Republican party had always stood on the defensive. +That was its weakness. "I do not know any measure on which it has taken +an aggressive position."(2) The clue to the psychology of the moment +was in the raging demand of the masses for a program of assertion, for +aggressive measures. The President was trying to meet this demand with +his all-parties program, with his policy of nationalism, exclusive of +everything else. And recently he had added that other assertion, his +insistence that the executive in certain respects was independent of the +legislative. Of his three assertions, one, the all-parties program, +was already on the way to defeat Another, nationalism, as the President +interpreted it, had alienated the Abolitionists. The third, his argument +for himself as tribune, was just what your crafty politician might +twist, pervert, load with false meanings to his heart's content. Men +less astute than Chandler and Wade could not have failed to see where +fortune pointed. Their opportunity lay in a combination of the two +issues. Abolition and the resistance to executive "usurpation." Their +problem was to create an anti-Lincoln party that should also be a +war party. Their coalition of aggressive forces must accept the +Abolitionists as its backbone, but it must also include all violent +elements of whatever persuasion, and especially all those that could be +wrought into fury on the theme of the President as a despot. Above all, +their coalition must absorb and then express the furious temper so dear +to their own hearts which they fondly believed-mistakenly, they were +destined to discover-was the temper of the country. + +It can not be said that this was the Republican program. The +President's program, fully as positive as that of the Cabal, had as good +a right to appropriate the party label--as events were to show, a better +right. But the power of the Cabal was very great, and the following it +was able to command in the country reached almost the proportions of the +terrible. A factional name is needed. For the Jacobins, their allies in +Congress, their followers in the country, from the time they acquired a +positive program, an accurate label is the Vindictives. + +During the remainder of the session, Congress may be thought of as +having--what Congress seldom has--three definite groups, Right, Left and +Center. The Right was the Vindictives; the Left, the irreconcilable +Democrats; the Center was composed chiefly of liberal Republicans but +included a few Democrats, those who rebelled against the political +chicanery of the Little Men. + +The policy of the Vindictives was to force upon the Administration the +double issue of emancipation and the supremacy of Congress. Therefore, +their aim was to pass a bill freeing the slaves on the sole authority of +a congressional act. Many resolutions, many bills, all having this end +in view, were introduced. Some were buried in committees; some were +remade in committees and subjected to long debate by the Houses; now +and then one was passed upon. But the spring wore through and the +summer came, and still the Vindictives were not certainly in control +of Congress. No bill to free slaves by congressional action secured a +majority vote. At the same time it was plain that the strength of the +Vindictives was slowly, steadily, growing. + +Outside Congress, the Abolitionists took new hope. They had organized a +systematic propaganda. At Washington, weekly meetings were held in +the Smithsonian Institute, where all their most conspicuous leaders, +Phillips, Emerson, Brownson, Garret Smith, made addresses. Every Sunday +a service was held in the chamber of the House of Representatives and +the sermon was almost always a "terrific arrangement of slavery." +Their watch-word was "A Free Union or Disintegration." The treatment of +fugitive slaves by commanders in the field produced a clamor. Lincoln +insisted on strict obedience to the two laws, the Fugitive Slave Act and +the First Confiscation Act. Abolitionists sneered at "all this gabble +about the sacredness of the Constitution."(3) But Lincoln was not to +be moved. When General Hunter, taking a leaf from the book of Fremont, +tried to force his hand, he did not hesitate. Hunter had issued a +proclamation by which the slaves in the region where he commanded were +"declared forever free." + +This was in May when Lincoln's difficulties with McClellan were at their +height; when the Committee was zealously watching to catch him in any +sort of mistake; when the House was within four votes of a majority for +emancipation by act of Congress;(4) when there was no certainty whether +the country was with him or with the Vindictives. Perhaps that new +courage which definitely revealed itself the next month, may be first +glimpsed in the proclamation overruling Hunter: + +"I further make known that whether it be competent for me, as +Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy, to declare the slaves of any +State or States free, and whether at any time, in any case, it shall +have become a necessity indispensable to the maintenance of the +government to exercise such supposed power, are questions which, +under my responsibility, I reserve to myself, and which I can not feel +justified in leaving to the decision of commanders in the field."(5) + +The revocation of Hunter's order infuriated the Abolitionists. It deeply +disappointed the growing number who, careless about slavery, wanted +emancipation as a war measure, as a blow at the South. Few of either of +these groups noticed the implied hint that emancipation might come by +executive action. Here was the matter of the war powers in a surprising +form. However, it was not unknown to Congress. Attempts had been made to +induce Congress to concede the war powers to the President and to ask, +not command, him to use them for the liberation of slaves in the Seceded +States. Long before, in a strangely different connection, such vehement +Abolitionists as Giddings and J. Q. Adams had pictured the freeing of +slaves as a natural incident of military occupation. + +What induced Lincoln to throw out this hint of a possible surrender on +the subject of emancipation? Again, as so often, the silence as to his +motives is unbroken. However, there can be no doubt that his thinking +on the subject passed through several successive stages. But all his +thinking was ruled by one idea. Any policy he might accept, or any +refusal of policy, would be judged in his own mind by the degree to +which it helped, or hindered, the national cause. Nothing was more +absurd than the sneer of the Abolitionists that he was "tender" of +slavery. Browning spoke for him faithfully, "If slavery can survive the +shock of war and secession, be it so. If in the conflict for liberty, +the Constitution and the Union, it must necessarily perish, then let it +perish." Browning refused to predict which alternative would develop. +His point was that slaves must be treated like other property. But, if +need be, he would sacrifice slavery as he would sacrifice anything else, +to save the Union. He had no intention to "protect" slavery.(6) + +In the first stage of Lincoln's thinking on this thorny subject, his +chief anxiety was to avoid scaring off from the national cause those +Southern Unionists who were not prepared to abandon slavery. This was +the motive behind his prompt suppression of Fremont. It was this that +inspired the Abolitionist sneer about his relative attitude toward +God and Kentucky. As a compromise, to cut the ground from under the +Vindictives, he had urged the loyal Slave States to endorse a program +of compensated emancipation. But these States were as unable to see the +handwriting on the wall as were the Little Men. In the same proclamation +that overruled Hunter, while hinting at what the Administration might +feel driven to do, Lincoln appealed again to the loyal Slave States to +accept compensated emancipation. "I do not argue," said he, "I beseech +you to make the argument for yourselves. You can not, if you would, be +blind to the signs of the times. . . . This proposal makes common cause +for a common object, casting no reproaches upon any. It acts not the +Pharisee. The change it contemplates would come gently as the dews of +heaven, not rending or wrecking anything."(7) + +Though Lincoln, at this moment, was anxiously watching the movement +in Congress to force his hand, he was not apparently cast down. He was +emerging from his eclipse. June was approaching and with it the final +dawn. Furthermore, when he issued this proclamation on May nineteenth, +he had not lost faith in McClellan. He was still hoping for news of a +crushing victory; of McClellan's triumphal entry into Richmond. The +next two months embraced both those transformations which together +revolutionized his position. He emerged from his last eclipse; and +McClellan failed him. + +When Lincoln returned to Washington after his two days at the front, he +knew that the fortunes of his Administration were at a low ebb. +Never had he been derided in Congress with more brazen injustice. The +Committee, waiting only for McClellan's failure, would now unmask their +guns-as Chandler did, seven days later. The line of Vindictive criticism +could easily be foreshadowed: the government had failed; it was +responsible for a colossal military catastrophe; but what could you +expect of an Administration that would not strike its enemies through +emancipation; what a shattering demonstration that the Executive was not +a safe repository of the war powers. + +Was there any way to forestall or disarm the Vindictives? His silence +gives us no clue when or how the answer occurred to him--by separating +the two issues; by carrying out the hint in the May proclamation; by +yielding on emancipation while, in the very act, pushing the war powers +of the President to their limit, declaring slaves free by an executive +order. + +The importance of preserving the war power of the President had become +a fixed condition of Lincoln's thought. Already, he was looking forward +not only to victory but to the great task that should come after +victory. He was determined, if it were humanly possible, to keep that +task in the hands of the President, and out of the hands of Congress. +A first step had already been taken. In portions of occupied territory, +military governors had been appointed. Simple as this seemed to the +careless observer, it focussed the whole issue. The powerful, legal mind +of Sumner at once perceived its significance. He denied in the Senate +the right of the President to make such appointments; he besought the +Senate to demand the cancellation of such appointment. He reasserted the +absolute sovereignty of Congress.(8) It would be a far-reaching stroke +if Lincoln, in any way, could extort from Congress acquiescence in his +use of the war powers on a vast scale. Freeing the slaves by executive +order would be such a use. + +Another train of thought also pointed to the same result. Lincoln's +desire to further the cause of "the Liberal party throughout the world," +that desire which dated back to his early life as a politician, had +suffered a disappointment. European Liberals, whose political vision +was less analytical than his, had failed to understand his policy. The +Confederate authorities had been quick to publish in Europe his official +pronouncements that the war had been undertaken not to abolish slavery +but to preserve the Union. As far back as September, 1861, Carl Schurz +wrote from Spain to Seward that the Liberals abroad were disappointed, +that "the impression gained ground that the war as waged by the Federal +government, far from being a war of principle, was merely a war of +policy," and "that from this point of view much might be said for the +South."(9) In fact, these hasty Europeans had found a definite ground +for complaining that the American war was a reactionary influence. The +concentration of American cruisers in the Southern blockade gave the +African slave trade its last lease of life. With no American war-ship +among the West Indies, the American flag became the safeguard of the +slaver. Englishmen complained that "the swift ships crammed with their +human cargoes" had only to "hoist the Stars and Stripes and pass under +the bows of our cruisers."(10) Though Seward scored a point by his +treaty giving British cruisers the right to search any ships carrying +the American flag, the distrust of the foreign Liberals was not removed. +They inclined to stand aside and to allow the commercial classes of +France and England to dictate policy toward the United States. The +blockade, by shutting off the European supply of raw cotton, on both +sides the channel, was the cause of measureless unemployment, of +intolerable misery. There was talk in both countries of intervention. +Napoleon, especially, loomed large on the horizon as a possible ally of +the Confederacy. And yet, all this while, Lincoln had it in his power at +any minute to lay the specter of foreign intervention. A pledge to the +"Liberal party throughout the world" that the war would bring about the +destruction of slavery, and great political powers both in England and +in France would at once cross the paths of their governments should they +move toward intervention. Weighty as were all these reasons for a change +of policy--turning the flank of the Vindictives on the war powers, +committing the Abolitionists to the Administration, winning over the +European Liberals--there was a fourth reason which, very probably, +weighed upon Lincoln most powerfully of them all. Profound gloom had +settled upon the country. There was no enthusiasm for military +service. And Stanton, who lacked entirely the psychologic vision of the +statesman, had recently committed an astounding blunder. After a few +months in power he had concluded that the government had enough soldiers +and had closed the recruiting offices.(11) Why Lincoln permitted this +singular proceeding has never been satisfactorily explained.* Now he was +reaping the fruits. A defeated army, a hopeless country, and no +prospect of swift reinforcement! If a shift of ground on the question +of emancipation would arouse new enthusiasm, bring in a new stream of +recruits, Lincoln was prepared to shift. + + *Stanton's motive was probably economy. Congress was + terrified by the expense of the war. The Committee was + deeply alarmed over the political effect of war taxation. + They and Stanton were all convinced that McClellan was amply + strong enough to crush the Confederacy. + +But even in this dire extremity, he would not give way without a last +attempt to save his earlier policy. On July twelfth, he called together +the Senators and Representatives of the Border States. He read to them +a written argument in favor of compensated emancipation, the Federal +government to assist the States in providing funds for the purpose. + +"Let the States that are in rebellion," said he, "see definitely and +certainly that in no event will the States you represent ever join their +proposed Confederacy, and they can not much longer maintain the contest. +But you can not divest them of their hope to ultimately have you with +them so long as you show a determination to perpetuate the institution +within your own States. . . . If the war continues long, as it must if +the object be not sooner attained, the institution in your States will +be extinguished by mere friction and abrasion--by the mere incidents of +war. . . . Our common country is in great peril, demanding the loftiest +views and boldest action to bring it speedy relief. Once relieved +its form of government is saved to the world, its beloved history and +cherished memories are vindicated, and its happy future fully assured +and rendered inconceivably grand."(12) + +He made no impression. They would commit themselves to nothing. Lincoln +abandoned his earlier policy. + +Of what happened next, he said later, "It had got to be. . . . Things +had gone on from bad to worse until I felt that we had reached the end +of our rope on the plan of operations we had been pursuing; that we had +about played our last card and must change our tactics or lose the game. +I now determined upon the adoption of the emancipation policy. . . "(13) + +The next day he confided his decision and his reasons to Seward and +Welles. Though "this was a new departure for the President," both +these Ministers agreed with him that the change of policy had become +inevitable.(14) + +Lincoln was now entirely himself, astute in action as well as bold in +thought. He would not disclose his change of policy while Congress was +in session. Should he do so, there was no telling what attempt the +Cabal would make to pervert his intention, to twist his course into +the semblance of an acceptance of the congressional theory. He laid the +matter aside until Congress should be temporarily out of the way, until +the long recess between July and December should have begun. In this +closing moment of the second session of the Thirty-Seventh Congress, +which is also the opening moment of the great period of Lincoln, the +feeling against him in Congress was extravagantly bitter. It caught at +anything with which to make a point. A disregard of technicalities +of procedure was magnified into a serious breach of constitutional +privilege. Reviving the question of compensated emancipation, Lincoln +had sent a special message to both Houses, submitting the text of a +compensation bill which he urged them to consider. His enemies raised +an uproar. The President had no right to introduce a bill into Congress! +Dictator Lincoln was trying in a new way to put Congress under his +thumb.(15) + +In the last week of the session, Lincoln's new boldness brought the old +relation between himself and Congress to a dramatic close. The Second +Confiscation Bill had long been under discussion. Lincoln believed that +some of its provisions were inconsistent with the spirit at least of +our fundamental law. Though its passage was certain, he prepared a veto +message. He then permitted the congressional leaders to know what he +intended to do when the bill should reach him. Gall and wormwood are +weak terms for the bitterness that may be tasted in the speeches of the +Vindictives. When, in order to save the bill, a resolution was appended +purging it of the interpretation which Lincoln condemned, Trumbull +passionately declared that Congress was being "coerced" by the +President. "No one at a distance," is the deliberate conclusion of +Julian who was present, "could have formed any adequate conception of +the hostility of the Republican members toward Lincoln at the final +adjournment, while it was the belief of many that our last session of +Congress had been held in Washington. Mr. Wade said the country was +going to hell, and that the scenes witnessed in the French Revolution +were nothing in comparison with what we should see here."(16) + +Lincoln endured the rage of Congress in unwavering serenity. On the +last day of the session, Congress surrendered and sent to him both the +Confiscation Act and the explanatory resolution. Thereupon, he indulged +in what must have seemed to those fierce hysterical enemies of his a +wanton stroke of irony. He sent them along with his approval of the bill +the text of the veto message he would have sent had they refused to +do what he wanted.(17) There could be no concealing the fact that the +President had matched his will against the will of Congress, and that +the President had had his way. + +Out of this strange period of intolerable confusion, a gigantic figure +had at last emerged. The outer and the inner Lincoln had fused. He was +now a coherent personality, masterful in spite of his gentleness, with +his own peculiar fashion of self-reliance, having a policy of his own +devising, his colors nailed upon the masthead. + + + + +XXIII. THE MYSTICAL STATESMAN + +Lincoln's final emergence was a deeper thing than merely the +consolidation of a character, the transformation of a dreamer into a man +of action. The fusion of the outer and the inner person was the result +of a profound interior change. Those elements of mysticism which were +in him from the first, which had gleamed darkly through such deep +overshadowing, were at last established in their permanent form. The +political tension had been matched by a spiritual tension with personal +sorrow as the connecting link. In a word, he had found his religion. + +Lincoln's instinctive reticence was especially guarded, as any one might +expect, in the matter of his belief. Consequently, the precise nature of +it has been much discussed. As we have seen, the earliest current +report charged him with deism. The devoted Herndon, himself an agnostic, +eagerly claims his hero as a member of the noble army of doubters. +Elaborate arguments have been devised in rebuttal. The fault on both +sides is in the attempt to base an impression on detached remarks and +in the further error of treating all these fragments as of one time, +or more truly, as of no time, as if his soul were a philosopher of the +absolute, speaking oracularly out of a void. It is like the vicious +reasoning that tortures systems of theology out of disconnected texts. + +Lincoln's religious life reveals the same general divisions that are to +be found in his active life: from the beginning to about the time of his +election; from the close of 1860 to the middle of 1862; the remainder. + +Of his religious experience in the first period, very little is +definitely known. What glimpses we have of it both fulfill and +contradict the forest religion that was about him in his youth. The +superstition, the faith in dreams, the dim sense of another world +surrounding this, the belief in communion between the two, these are +the parts of him that are based unchangeably in the forest shadows. But +those other things, the spiritual passions, the ecstacies, the vague +sensing of the terribleness of the creative powers,--to them always +he made no response. And the crude philosophizing of the forest +theologians, their fiercely simple dualism--God and Satan, thunder and +lightning, the eternal war in the heavens, the eternal lake of fire--it +meant nothing to him. Like all the furious things of life, evil appeared +to him as mere negation, a mysterious foolishness he could not explain. +His aim was to forget it. Goodness and pity were the active elements +that roused him to think of the other world; especially pity. The burden +of men's tears, falling ever in the shadows at the backs of things--this +was the spiritual horizon from which he could not escape. Out of the +circle of that horizon he had to rise by spiritual apprehension in order +to be consoled. And there is no reason to doubt that at times, if not +invariably, in his early days, he did rise; he found consolation. But +it was all without form. It was a sentiment, a mood,--philosophically +bodiless. This indefinite mysticism was the real heart of the forest +world, closer than hands or feet, but elusive, incapable of formulation, +a presence, not an idea. Before the task of expressing it, the forest +mystic stood helpless. Just what it was that he felt impinging upon him +from every side he did not know. He was like a sensitive man, neither +scientist nor poet, in the midst of a night of stars. The reality of his +experience gave him no power either to explain or to state it. + +There is little reason to suppose that Lincoln's religious experience +previous to 1860 was more than a recurrent visitor in his daily life. +He has said as much himself. He told his friend Noah Brooks "he did not +remember any precise time when he passed through any special change of +purpose, or of heart, but he would say that his own election to office +and the crisis immediately following, influentially determined him +in what he called 'a process of crystallization' then going on in his +mind."(1) + +It was the terrible sense of need--the humility, the fear that he might +not be equal to the occasion--that searched his soul, that bred in him +the craving for a spiritual up-holding which should be constant. And at +this crucial moment came the death of his favorite son. "In the lonely +grave of the little one lay buried Mr. Lincoln's fondest hopes, and +strong as he was in the matter of self-control, he gave way to an +overmastering grief which became at length a serious menace to his +health."(2) Though firsthand accounts differ as to just how he struggled +forth out of this darkness, all agree that the ordeal was very severe. +Tradition makes the crisis a visit from the Reverend Francis Vinton, +rector of Trinity Church, New York, and his eloquent assertion of the +faith in immortality, his appeal to Lincoln to remember the sorrow +of Jacob over the loss of Joseph, and to rise by faith out of his own +sorrow even as the patriarch rose.(3) + +Although Lincoln succeeded in putting his grief behind him, he never +forgot it. Long afterward, he called the attention of Colonel Cannon to +the lines in King John: + +"And Father Cardinal, I have heard you say That we shall see and know +our friends in heaven; If that be true, I shall see my boy again." + +"Colonel," said he, "did you ever dream of a lost friend, and feel that +you were holding sweet communion with that friend, and yet have a sad +consciousness that it was not a reality? Just so, I dream of my boy, +Willie." And he bent his head and burst into tears.(4) + +As he rose in the sphere of statecraft with such apparent suddenness out +of the doubt, hesitation, self-distrust of the spring of 1862 and in the +summer found himself politically, so at the same time he found himself +religiously. During his later life though the evidences are slight, they +are convincing. And again, as always, it is not a violent change that +takes place, but merely a better harmonization of the outer and less +significant part of him with the inner and more significant. His +religion continues to resist intellectual formulation. He never accepted +any definite creed. To the problems of theology, he applied the same +sort of reasoning that he applied to the problems of the law. He made a +distinction, satisfactory to himself at least, between the essential +and the incidental, and rejected everything that did not seem to him +altogether essential. + +In another negative way his basal part asserted itself. Just as in all +his official relations he was careless of ritual, so in religion he was +not drawn to its ritualistic forms. Again, the forest temper surviving, +changed, into such different conditions! Real and subtle as is the +ritualistic element, not only in religion but in life generally, one may +doubt whether it counts for much among those who have been formed +mainly by the influences of nature. It implies more distance between +the emotion and its source, more need of stimulus to arouse and organize +emotion, than the children of the forest are apt to be aware of. To +invoke a philosophical distinction, illumination rather than ritualism, +the tense but variable concentration on a result, not the ordered mode +of an approach, is what distinguishes such characters as Lincoln. It was +this that made him careless &f form in all the departments of life. It +was one reason why McClellan, born ritualist of the pomp of war, could +never overcome a certain dislike, or at least a doubt, of him. + +Putting together his habit of thinking only in essentials and his +predisposition to neglect form, it is not strange that he said: "I have +never united myself to any church because I have found difficulty in +giving my assent, without mental reservation, to the long, complicated +statements of Christian doctrine which characterize their Articles of +Belief and Confessions of Faith. When any church will inscribe over its +altar, as its sole qualification for membership, the Savior's condensed +statement of the substance of both Law and Gospel, 'Thou shalt love the +Lord thy God, with all thy heart and with all thy soul, and with all thy +mind, and thy neighbor as thyself,' that church will I join with all my +heart and with all my soul."(5) + +But it must not be supposed that his religion was mere ethics. It had +three cardinal possessions. The sense of God is through all his later +life. It appears incidentally in his state papers, clothed with language +which, in so deeply sincere a man, must be taken literally. He believed +in prayer, in the reality of communion with the Divine. His third +article was immortality. + +At Washington, Lincoln was a regular attendant, though not a +communicant, of the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church. With the +Pastor, the Reverend P. D. Gurley, he formed a close friendship. Many +hours they passed in intimate talk upon religious subjects, especially +upon the question of immortality.(6) To another pious visitor he said +earnestly, "I hope I am a Christian."(7) Could anything but the most +secure faith have written this "Meditation on the Divine Will" which he +set down in the autumn of 1862 for no eye but his own: "The will of God +prevails. In great contests each party claims to act in accordance with +the will of God. Both may be, and one must be, wrong. God can not be for +and against the same thing at the same time. In the present civil war +it is quite possible that God's purpose is something different from the +purpose of either party; and yet the human instrumentalities, working +just as they do, are of the best adaptation to effect His purpose. I +am almost ready to say that this is probably true; that God wills this +contest, and wills that it shall not end yet. By His mere great power +on the minds of the now contestants, He could have either saved or +destroyed the Union without a human contest. Yet the contest began. And, +having begun, He could give the final victory to either side any day. +Yet the contest proceeds."(8) + +His religion flowered in his later temper. It did not, to be sure, +overcome his melancholy. That was too deeply laid. Furthermore, we fail +to discover in the surviving evidences any certainty that it was a glad +phase of religion. Neither the ecstatic joy of the wild women, which +his mother had; nor the placid joy of the ritualist, which he did not +understand; nor those other variants of the joy of faith, were included +in his portion. It was a lofty but grave religion that matured in his +final stage. Was it due to far-away Puritan ancestors? Had austere, +reticent Iron-sides, sure of the Lord, but taking no liberties with +their souls, at last found out their descendant? It may be. Cromwell, +in some ways, was undeniably his spiritual kinsman. In both, the same +aloofness of soul, the same indifference to the judgments of the world, +the same courage, the same fatalism, the same encompassment by the +shadow of the Most High. Cromwell, in his best mood, had he been +gifted with Lincoln's literary power, could have written the Fast Day +Proclamation of 1863 which is Lincoln's most distinctive religious +fragment. + +However, Lincoln's gloom had in it a correcting element which the old +Puritan gloom appears to have lacked. It placed no veto upon mirth. +Rather, it valued mirth as its only redeemer. And Lincoln's growth in +the religious sense was not the cause of any diminution of his +surface hilarity. He saved himself from what otherwise would have +been intolerable melancholy by seizing, regardless of the connection, +anything whatsoever that savored of the comic. + +His religious security did not destroy his superstition. He continued +to believe that he would die violently at the end of his career as +President. But he carried that belief almost with gaiety. He refused to +take precautions for his safety. Long lonely rides in the dead of night; +night walks with a single companion, were constant anxieties to his +intimates. To the President, their fears were childish. Although in the +sensibilities he could suffer all he had ever suffered, and more; in +the mind he had attained that high serenity in which there can be no +flagging of effort because of the conviction that God has decreed one's +work; no failure of confidence because of the twin conviction that +somehow, somewhere, all things work together for good. "I am glad +of this interview," he said in reply to a deputation of visitors, in +September, 1862, "and glad to know that I have your sympathy and your +prayers. . I happened to be placed, being a humble instrument in the +hands of our Heavenly Father, as I am, and as we all are, to work out +His great purpose. . . . I have sought His aid; but if after endeavoring +to do my best in the light He affords me, I find my efforts fail, I must +believe that for some purpose unknown to me He wills it otherwise. If I +had my way, this war would never have commenced. If I had been allowed +my way, this war would have been ended before this; but it still +continues and we must believe that He permits it for some wise purpose +of His own, mysterious and unknown to us; and though with our limited +understandings we may not be able to comprehend it, yet we can not but +believe that He who made the world still governs it."(9) + + + + +XXIV. GAMBLING IN GENERALS + +On July 22, 1862, there was a meeting of the Cabinet. The sessions of +Lincoln's Council were the last word for informality. The President +and the Ministers interspersed their great affairs with mere talk, +story-telling, gossip. With one exception they were all lovers of +their own voices, especially in the telling of tales. Stanton was the +exception. Gloomy, often in ill-health, innocent of humor, he glowered +when the others laughed. When the President, instead of proceeding at +once to business, would pull out of his pocket the latest volume of +Artemus Ward, the irate War Minister felt that the overthrow of +the nation was impending. But in this respect, the President was +incorrigible. He had been known to stop the line of his guests at a +public levee, while he talked for some five minutes in a whisper to an +important personage; and though all the room thought that jupiter was +imparting state secrets, in point of fact, he was making sure of a good +story the great man had told him a few days previous.(1) His Cabinet +meetings were equally careless of social form. The Reverend Robert +Collyer was witness to this fact in a curious way. Strolling through +the White House grounds, "his attention was suddenly arrested by the +apparition of three pairs of feet resting on the ledge of an open window +in one of the apartments of the second story and plainly visible from +below." He asked a gardener for an explanation. The brusk reply was: +"Why, you old fool, that's the Cabinet that is a-settin', and them thar +big feet are ole Abe's."(2) + +When the Ministers assembled on July twenty-second they had no +intimation that this was to be a record session. Imagine the +astonishment when, in his usual casual way, though with none of that +hesitancy to which they had grown accustomed, Lincoln announced his +new policy, adding that he "wished it understood that the question was +settled in his own mind; that he had decreed emancipation in a certain +contingency and the responsibility of the measure was his."(3) President +and Cabinet talked it over in their customary offhand way, and Seward +made a suggestion that instantly riveted Lincoln's attention. Seward +thought the moment was ill-chosen. "If the Proclamation were issued now, +it would be received and considered as a despairing cry--a shriek from +and for the Administration, rather than for freedom."(4) He added +the picturesque phrase, "The government stretching forth its hands +to Ethiopia, instead of Ethiopia stretching forth her hands to the +government." This idea struck Lincoln with very great force. It was an +aspect of the case "which he had entirely overlooked."(5) He accepted +Seward's advice, laid aside the proclamation he had drafted and turned +again with all his energies to the organization of victory. + +The next day Halleck arrived at Washington. He was one of Lincoln's +mistakes. However, in his new mood, Lincoln was resolved to act on his +own opinion of the evidence before him, especially in estimating men. It +is just possible that this epoch of his audacities began in a reaction; +that after too much self-distrust, he went briefly to the other extreme, +indulging in too much self-confidence. Be that as it may, he had formed +exaggerated opinions of both these Western generals, Halleck and +Pope. Somehow, in the brilliant actions along the Mississippi they had +absorbed far more than their fair share of credit. Particularly, Lincoln +went astray with regard to Pope. Doubtless a main reason why he accepted +the plan of campaign suggested by Halleck was the opportunity which it +offered to Pope. Perhaps, too, the fatality in McClellan's character +turned the scale. He begged to be left where he was with his base on +James River, and to be allowed to renew the attack on Richmond.1 But +he did not take the initiative. The government must swiftly hurry +up reinforcements, and then--the old, old story! Obviously, it was a +question at Washington either of superseding McClellan and leaving +the army where it was, or of shifting the army to some other commander +without in so many words disgracing McClellan. Halleck's approval of the +latter course jumped with two of Lincoln's impulses--his trust in Pope, +his reluctance to disgrace McClellan. Orders were issued transferring +the bulk of the army of the Potomac to the new army of Virginia lying +south of Washington under the command of Pope. McClellan was instructed +to withdraw his remaining forces from the Peninsula and retrace his +course up the Potomac.(6) + +Lincoln had committed one of his worst blunders. Herndon has a curious, +rather subtle theory that while Lincoln's judgments of men in the +aggregate were uncannily sure, his judgments of men individually were +unreliable. It suggests the famous remark of Goethe that his views of +women did not derive from experience; that they antedated experience; +and that he corrected experience by them. Of the confessed artist this +may be true. The literary concept which the artist works with is often, +apparently, a more constant, more fundamental, more significant thing, +than is the broken, mixed, inconsequential impression out of which it +has been wrought. Which seems to explain why some of the writers who +understand human nature so well in their books, do not always understand +people similarly well in life. And always it is to be remembered that +Lincoln was made an artist by nature, and made over into a man of action +by circumstance. If Herndon's theory has any value it is in asserting +his occasional danger--by no means a constant danger--of forming in his +mind images of men that were more significant than it was possible for +the men themselves to be. John Pope was perhaps his worst instance. An +incompetent general, he was capable of things still less excusable. Just +after McClellan had so tragically failed in the Seven Days, when Lincoln +was at the front, Pope was busy with the Committee, assuring them +virtually that the war had been won in the West, and that only +McClellan's bungling had saved the Confederacy from speedy death.(7) But +somehow Lincoln trusted him, and continued to trust him even after he +had proved his incompetency in the catastrophe at Manassas. + +During August, Pope marched gaily southward issuing orders that +were shot through with bad rhetoric, mixing up army routine and such +irrelevant matters as "the first blush of dawn." + +Lincoln was confident of victory. And after victory would come the new +policy, the dissipation of the European storm-cloud, the break-up of the +vindictive coalition of Jacobins and Abolitionists, the new enthusiasm +for the war. But of all this, the incensed Abolitionists received no +hint. The country rang with their denunciations of the President. At +length, Greeley printed in The Tribune an open letter called "The Prayer +of Twenty Millions." It was an arraignment of what Greeley chose to +regard as the pro-slavery policy of the Administration. This was on +August twentieth. Lincoln, in high hope that a victory was at hand, +seized the opportunity both to hint to the country that he was about to +change his policy, and to state unconditionally his reason for changing. +He replied to Greeley through the newspapers: + +"As to the policy I 'seem to be pursuing,' as you say, I have meant to +leave no one in doubt. + +"I would save the Union. I would save it the shortest way under the +Constitution. The sooner the national authority can be restored, the +nearer the Union will be 'the Union as it was' If there be those +who would not save the Union unless they could at the same time save +Slavery, I do not agree with them. If there be those who would not save +the Union, unless they could at the same time destroy slavery, I do not +agree with them. My paramount object in this struggle is to save the +Union, and it is not either to save or destroy slavery. If I could save +the Union without freeing any slave, I would do it; and if I could save +it by freeing all the slaves, I would do it; and if I could save it by +freeing some of the slaves and leaving others alone, I would also do +that. What I do about slavery and the colored race, I do because I +believe it will help to save the Union; and what I forbear, I forbear +because I do not believe it would help to save the Union. I shall do +less whenever I shall believe that what I am doing hurts the cause; +and I shall do more whenever I believe that doing more will help the +cause."(8) The effect of this on the Abolitionists was only to increase +their rage. The President was compared to Douglas with his indifference +whether slavery was voted "up or down."(9) Lincoln, now so firmly +hopeful, turned a deaf ear to these railing accusations. He was intent +upon watching the army. It was probably at this time that he reached an +unfortunate conclusion with regard to McClellan. The transfer of forces +from the James River to northern Virginia had proceeded slowly. It gave +rise to a new controversy, a new crop of charges. McClellan was accused +of being dilatory on purpose, of aiming to cause the failure of Pope. +Lincoln accepted, at last, the worst view of him. He told Hay that "it +really seemed that McClellan wanted Pope defeated. . . . The President +seemed to think him a little crazy."(10) + +But still the confidence in Pope, marching so blithely through "the +blush of dawn," stood fast. If ever an Administration was in a fool's +paradise, it was Lincoln's, in the last few days of August, while +Jackson was stealthily carrying out his great flanking movement getting +between Pope and Washington. However, the Suspicious Stanton kept his +eyes on McClellan. He decided that troops were being held back from +Pope; and he appealed to other members of the Cabinet to join with him +in a formal demand upon the President for McClellan's dismissal from +the army. While the plan was being discussed, came the appalling news of +Pope's downfall. + +The meeting of the Cabinet, September second, was another revelation of +the new independence of the President. Three full days had passed since +Pope had telegraphed that the battle was lost and that he no longer +had control of his army. The Ministers, awaiting the arrival of the +President, talked excitedly, speculating what would happen next. "It +was stated," says Welles in his diary, "that Pope was falling back, +intending to retreat within the Washington entrenchments, Blair, who +has known him intimately, says he is a braggart and a liar, with some +courage, perhaps, but not much capacity. The general conviction is that +he is a failure here, and there is a belief . . . that he has not +been seconded and sustained as he should have been by McClellan . . ." +Stanton entered; terribly agitated. He had news that fell upon the +Cabinet like a bombshell. He said "in a suppressed voice, trembling +with excitement, he was informed that McClellan had been ordered to take +command of the forces in Washington." + +Never was there a more tense moment in the Cabinet room than when +Lincoln entered that day. And all could see that he was in deep +distress. But he confirmed Stanton's information. That very morning +he had gone himself to McClellan's house and had asked him to resume +command. Lincoln discussed McClellan with the Cabinet quite simply, +admitting all his bad qualities, but finding two points in his +favor--his power of organization, and his popularity with the men.(11) + +He was still more frank with his Secretaries. "'He has acted badly in +this matter,' Lincoln said to Hay, 'but we must use what tools we have. +There is no man in the army who can man these fortifications and lick +these troops of ours into shape half as well as he.' I spoke of the +general feeling against McClellan as evinced by the President's mail. He +rejoined: 'Unquestionably, he has acted badly toward Pope; he wanted +him to fail. That is unpardonable, but he is too useful now to +sacrifice.'"(12) At another time, he said: "'If he can't fight himself, +he excels in making others ready to fight.'"(13) + +McClellan justified Lincoln's confidence. In this case, Herndon's theory +of Lincoln's powers of judgment does not apply. Though probably unfair +on the one point of McClellan's attitude to Pope, he knew his man +otherwise. Lincoln had also discovered that Halleck, the veriest +martinet of a general, was of little value at a crisis. During the next +two months, McClellan, under the direct oversight of the President, was +the organizer of victory. + +Toward the middle of September, when Lee and McClellan were gradually +converging upon the fated line of Antietam Creek, Lincoln's new firmness +was put to the test. The immediate effect of Manassas was another, a +still more vehement outcry for an anti-slavery policy. A deputation of +Chicago clergymen went to Washington for the purpose of urging him +to make an anti-slavery pronouncement. The journey was a continuous +ovation. If at any time Lincoln was tempted to forget Seward's worldly +wisdom, it was when these influential zealots demanded of him to do the +very thing he intended to do. But it was one of the characteristics of +this final Lincoln that when once he had fully determined on a course of +action, nothing could deflect him. With consummate coolness he gave +them no new light on his purpose. Instead, he seized the opportunity +to "feel" the country. He played the role of advocate arguing the case +against an emancipation policy.(14) They met his argument with great +Spirit and resolution. Taking them as an index, there could be little +question that the country was ripe for the new policy. At the close +of the interview Lincoln allowed himself to jest. One of the clergymen +dramatically charged him to give heed to their message as to a direct +commission from the Almighty. "Is it not odd," said Lincoln, "that the +only channel he could send it was that roundabout route by the awfully +wicked city of Chicago?"* + + * Reminiscences, 335. This retort is given by Schuyler + Colfax. There are various reports of what Lincoln said. In + another version, "I hope it will not be irreverent for me to + say that if it is probable that God would reveal His will to + others on a point so connected with my duty, it might be + supposed He would reveal it directly to me." Tarbell, II, + 12. + +Lincoln's pertinacity, holding fast the program he had accepted, came to +its reward. On the seventeenth occurred that furious carnage along the +Antietam known as the bloodiest single day of the whole war. Military +men have disagreed, calling it sometimes a victory, sometimes a drawn +battle. In Lincoln's political strategy the dispute is immaterial. +Psychologically, it was a Northern victory. The retreat of Lee was +regarded by the North as the turn of the tide. Lincoln's opportunity had +arrived. + +Again, a unique event occurred in a Cabinet meeting. On the +twenty-second of September, with the cannon of Antietam still ringing +in their imagination, the Ministers were asked by the President whether +they had seen the new volume just published by Artemus Ward. As they had +not, he produced it and read aloud with evident relish one of those bits +of nonsense which, in the age of Dickens, seemed funny enough. Most +of the Cabinet joined in the merriment--Stanton, of course, as always, +excepted. Lincoln closed the book, pulled himself together, and became +serious. + +"Gentlemen," said he, according to the diary of Secretary Chase, "I +have, as you are aware, thought a great deal about the relation of this +war to slavery; and you all remember that several weeks ago I read you +an order I had prepared on this subject, which, on account of objections +made by some of you, was not issued. Ever since, my mind has been much +occupied with this subject, and I have thought all along that the time +for acting on it might probably come. I think the time has come now. I +wish it was a better time. I wish that we were in a better condition. +The action of the army against the Rebels has not been quite what I +should have best liked. But they have been driven out of Maryland; and +Pennsylvania is no longer in danger of invasion. When the Rebel army +was at Frederick, I determined, as soon as it should be driven out of +Maryland, to issue a proclamation of emancipation, such as I thought +most likely to be useful. I said nothing to any one, but I made the +promise to myself, and (hesitating a little) to my Maker. The Rebel army +is now driven out and I am going to fulfill that promise. I have got +you together to hear what I have written down. I do not wish your advice +about the main matter, for that I have determined for myself. This, I +say without intending anything but respect for any one of you. But +I already know the views of each on this question. They have been +heretofore expressed, and I have considered them as thoroughly and as +carefully as I can. What I have written is that which my reflections +have determined me to say. . . . I must do the best I can, and bear the +responsibility of taking the course which I feel I ought to take."(15) +The next day the Proclamation was published. + +This famous document (16) is as remarkable for the parts of it that are +now forgotten as for the rest. The remembered portion is a warning that +on the first of January, one hundred days subsequent to the date of the +Proclamation--"all persons held as slaves within any State or designated +part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against +the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free." The +forgotten portions include four other declarations of executive policy. +Lincoln promised that "the Executive will in due time recommend that all +citizens of the United States who have remained loyal thereto shall be +compensated for all losses by acts of the United States, including the +loss of slaves." He announced that he would again urge upon Congress +"the adoption of a practical measure tendering pecuniary aid" to all the +loyal Slave States that would "voluntarily adopt immediate or gradual +abolishment of slavery within their limits." He would continue to advise +the colonization of free Africans abroad. There is still to be mentioned +a detail of the Proclamation which, except for its historical setting +in the general perspective of Lincoln's political strategy, would appear +inexplicable. One might expect in the opening statement, where the +author of the Proclamation boldly assumes dictatorial power, an +immediate linking of that assumption with the matter in hand. But this +does not happen. The Proclamation begins with the following paragraph: + +"I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States of America, and +Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy thereof, do hereby proclaim and +declare that hereafter, as heretofore, the war will be prosecuted for +the object of practically restoring the constitutional relation between +the United States and each of the States and the people thereof in which +States that relation is or may be suspended or disturbed." + + + + +XXV. A WAR BEHIND THE SCENES + +By the autumn of 1862, Lincoln had acquired the same political method +that Seward had displayed in the spring of 1861. What a chasm separates +the two Lincolns! The cautious, contradictory, almost timid statesman of +the Sumter episode; the confident, unified, quietly masterful statesman +of the Emancipation Proclamation. Now, in action, he was capable of +staking his whole future on the soundness of his own thinking, on his +own ability to forecast the inevitable. Without waiting for the results +of the Proclamation to appear, but in full confidence that he had driven +a wedge between the Jacobins proper and the mere Abolitionists, he threw +down the gage of battle on the issue of a constitutional dictatorship. +Two days after issuing the Proclamation he virtually proclaimed himself +dictator. He did so by means of a proclamation which divested the whole +American people of the privileges of the writ of habeas corpus. The +occasion was the effort of State governments to establish conscription +of their militia. The Proclamation delivered any one impeding that +attempt into the hands of the military authorities without trial. + +Here was Lincoln's final answer to Stevens; here, his audacious +challenge to the Jacobins. And now appeared the wisdom of his political +strategy, holding back emancipation until Congress was out of the way. +Had Congress been in session what a hubbub would have ensued! Chandler, +Wade, Trumbull, Sumner, Stevens, all hurrying to join issue on the +dictatorship; to get it before the country ahead of emancipation. +Rather, one can not imagine Lincoln daring to play this second card, so +soon after the first, except with abundant time for the two issues to +disentangle themselves in the public mind ere Congress met. And that was +what happened. When the Houses met in December, the Jacobins found +their position revolutionized. The men who, in July at the head of the +Vindictive coalition, dominated Congress, were now a minority faction +biting their nails at the President amid the ruins of their coalition. + +There were three reasons for this collapse. First of all, the +Abolitionists, for the moment, were a faction by themselves. Six weeks +had sufficed to intoxicate them with their opportunity. The significance +of the Proclamation had had time to arise towering on their spiritual +vision, one of the gates of the New Jerusalem. + +Limited as it was in application who could doubt that, with one +condition, it doomed slavery everywhere. The condition was a successful +prosecution of the war, the restoration of the Union. Consequently, at +that moment, nothing that made issue with the President, that +threatened any limitation of his efficiency, had the slightest chance of +Abolitionist support. The one dread that alarmed the whole Abolitionist +group was a possible change in the President's mood, a possible +recantation on January first. In order to hold him to his word, they +were ready to humor him as one might cajole, or try to cajole, a monster +that one was afraid of. No time, this, to talk to Abolitionists about +strictly constitutional issues, or about questions of party leadership. +Away with all your "gabble" about such small things! The Jacobins saw +the moving hand--at least for this moment--in the crumbling wall of the +palace of their delusion. + +Many men who were not Abolitionists perceived, before Congress met, +that Lincoln had made a great stroke internationally. The "Liberal party +throughout the world" gave a cry of delight, and rose instantly to his +support. John Bright declared that the Emancipation Proclamation "made +it impossible for England to intervene for the South" and derided "the +silly proposition of the French Emperor looking toward intervention."(1) +Bright's closest friend in America was Sumner and Sumner was chairman +of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. He understood the value +of international sentiment, its working importance, as good provincials +like Chandler did not. Furthermore, he was always an Abolitionist first +and a Jacobin second--if at all. From this time forward, the Jacobins +were never able to count on him, not even when they rebuilt the +Vindictive Coalition a year and a half later. In December, 1862, how did +they dare--true blue politicians that they were--how did they dare raise +a constitutional issue involving the right of the President to capture, +in the way he had, international security? + +The crowning irony in the new situation of the Jacobins was the +revelation that they had played unwittingly into the hands of the +Democrats. Their short-sighted astuteness in tying up emancipation with +the war powers was matched by an equal astuteness equally short-sighted. +The organization of the Little Men, when it refused to endorse Lincoln's +all-parties program, had found itself in the absurd position of a party +without an issue. It contained, to be sure, a large proportion of the +Northerners who were opposed to emancipation. But how could it make an +issue upon emancipation, as long as the President, the object of its +antagonism, also refused to support emancipation? The sole argument +in the Cabinet against Lincoln's new policy was that it would give the +Democrats an issue. Shrewd Montgomery Blair prophesied that on this +issue they could carry the autumn elections for Congress. Lincoln had +replied that he would take the risk. He presented them with the issue. +They promptly accepted it But they did not stop there. They aimed +to take over the whole of the position that had been vacated by the +collapse of the Vindictive Coalition. By an adroit bit of political +legerdemain they would steal their enemies' thunder, reunite the +emancipation issue with the issue of the war powers, reverse the +significance of the conjunction, and, armed with this double club, they +would advance from a new and unexpected angle and win the leadership of +the country by overthrowing the dictator. And this, they came very near +doing. On their double issue they rallied enough support to increase +their number in Congress by thirty-three. Had not the moment been so +tragic, nothing could have been more amusing than the helpless wrath of +the Jacobins caught in their own trap, compelled to gnaw their tongues +in silence, while the Democrats, paraphrasing their own arguments, +hurled defiant at Lincoln. + +Men of intellectual courage might have broken their party ranks, +daringly applied Lincoln's own maxim "stand with any one who stands +right," and momentarily joined the Democrats in their battle against +the two proclamations. But in American politics, with a few glorious +exceptions, courage of this sort has never been the order of the day. +The Jacobins kept their party line; bowed their heads to the storm; and +bided their time. In the Senate, an indiscreet resolution commending +the Emancipation Proclamation was ordered to be printed, and laid on the +table.(2) In the House, party exigencies were more exacting. Despite +the Democratic successes, the Republicans still had a majority. When the +Democrats made the repudiation of the President a party issue, arguing +on those very grounds that had aroused the eloquence of Stevens and the +rest--why, what's the Constitution between friends! Or between political +enemies? The Democrats forced all the Republicans into one boat by +introducing a resolution "That the policy of emancipation as indicated +in that Proclamation is an assumption of powers dangerous to the rights +of citizens and to the perpetuity of a free people." The resolution was +rejected. Among those who voted NO was Stevens.(3) Indeed, the star of +the Jacobins was far down on the horizon. + +But the Jacobins were not the men to give up the game until they were +certainly in the last ditch. Though their issues had been slipped out of +their hands; though for the moment at least, it was not good policy +to fight the President on a principle; it might still be possible to +recover their prestige on some other contention. The first of January +was approaching. The final proclamation of emancipation would bring +to an end the temporary alliance of the Administration and the +Abolitionists. Who could say what new pattern of affairs the political +kaleidoscope might not soon reveal? Surely the Jacobin cue was to busy +themselves, straightway, making trouble for the President. Principles +being unavailable, practices might do. And who was satisfied with the +way the war was going? To rouse the party against the Administration +on the ground of inefficient practices, of unsatisfactory military +progress, might be the first step toward regaining their former +dominance. + +There was a feather in the wind that gave them hope. The ominous +first paragraph of the Emancipation Proclamation was evidence that +the President was still stubbornly for his own policy; that he had not +surrendered to the opposite view. But this was not their only strategic +hope. Lincoln's dealings with the army between September and December +might, especially if anything in his course proved to be mistaken, +deliver him into their hands. + +Following Antietam, Lincoln had urged upon McClellan swift pursuit +of Lee. His despatches were strikingly different from those of the +preceding spring. That half apologetic tone had disappeared. Though they +did not command, they gave advice freely. The tone was at least that +of an equal who, while not an authority in this particular matter, is +entitled to express his views and to have them taken seriously. + +"You remember my speaking to you of what I called your overcautiousness? +Are you not over-cautious when you assume that you can not do what the +enemy is constantly doing? Should you not claim to be at least his equal +in prowess and act upon that claim . . . one of the standard maxims of +war, as you know, is to operate upon the enemy's communications as +much as possible without exposing your own. You seem to act as if this +applies against you, but can not apply in your favor. Change positions +with the enemy and think you not he would break your communications with +Richmond within the next twenty-four hours. . . . + +"If he should move northward, I would follow him closely, holding his +communications. If he should prevent your seizing his communications +and move toward Richmond; I would press closely to him, fight him if a +favorable opportunity should present, and at least try to beat him to +Richmond on the inside track. I say 'try'; if we never try we shall +never succeed. . . . We should not operate so as to merely drive him +away. . . . This letter is in no sense an order."(4) + +But once more the destiny that is in character intervened, and +McClellan's tragedy reached its climax. His dread of failure hypnotized +his will. So cautious were his movements that Lee regained Virginia with +his army intact. Lincoln was angry. Military amateur though he was, he +had filled his spare time reading books on strategy, Von Clausewitz +and the rest, and he had grasped the idea that war's aim is not to win +technical victories, nor to take cities, but to destroy armies. He felt +that McClellan had thrown away an opportunity of first magnitude. He +removed him from command.(5) + +This was six weeks after the two proclamations. The country was ringing +with Abolition plaudits. The election had given the Democrats a new +lease of life. The anti-Lincoln Republicans were silent while their +party enemies with their stolen thunder rang the changes on the +presidential abuse of the war powers. It was a moment of crisis in party +politics. Where did the President stand? What was the outlook for those +men who in the words of Senator Wilson "would rather give a policy to +the President of the United States than take a policy from the President +of the United States." + +Lincoln's situation was a close parallel to the situation of July, 1861, +when McDowell failed. Just as in choosing a successor to McDowell, he +revealed a political attitude, now, he would again make a revelation +choosing a successor to McClellan. By passing over Fremont and by +elevating a Democrat, he had spoken to the furious politicians in the +language they understood. Whatever appointment he now made would be +interpreted by those same politicians in the same way. In the atmosphere +of that time, there was but one way for Lincoln to rank himself as +a strict party man, to recant his earlier heresy of presidential +independence, and say to the Jacobins, "I am with you." He must appoint +a Republican to succeed McClellan. Let him do that and the Congressional +Cabal would forgive him. But he did not do it. He swept political +considerations aside and made a purely military appointment Burnside, on +whom he fixed, was the friend and admirer of McClellan and might fairly +be considered next to him in prestige. He was loved by his troops. In +the eyes of the army, his elevation represented "a legitimate succession +rather than the usurpation of a successful rival."(6) He was modest. +He did not want promotion. Nevertheless, Lincoln forced him to take +McClellan's place against his will, in spite of his protest that he had +not the ability to command so large an army.(7) + +When Congress assembled and the Committee resumed its inquisition, +Burnside was moving South on his fated march to Fredericksburg. The +Committee watched him like hungry wolves. Woe to Burnside, woe to +Lincoln, if the General failed! Had the Little Men possessed any sort +of vision they would have seized their opportunity to become the +President's supporters. But they, like the Jacobins, were partisans +first and patriots second. In the division among the Republicans they +saw, not a chance to turn the scale in the President's favor, but +a chance to play politics on their own account. A picturesque Ohio +politician known as "Sunset" Cox opened the ball of their fatuousness +with an elaborate argument in Congress to the effect that the President +was in honor bound to regard the recent elections as strictly analogous +to an appeal to the country in England; that it was his duty to remodel +his policy to suit the Democrats. Between the Democrats and the Jacobins +Lincoln was indeed between the devil and the deep blue sea with no one +certainly on his side except the volatile Abolitionists whom he did not +trust and who did not trust him. A great victory might carry him over. +But a great defeat--what might not be the consequence! + +On the thirteenth of December, through Burnside's stubborn incompetence, +thousands of American soldiers flung away their lives in a holocaust of +useless valor at Fredericksburg. Promptly the Jacobins acted. They set +up a shriek: the incompetent President, the all-parties dreamer, the +man who persists in coquetting with the Democrats, is blundering into +destruction! Burnside received the dreaded summons from the Committee. +So staggering was the shock of horror that even moderate Republicans +were swept away in a new whirlpool of doubt. + +But even thus it was scarcely wise, the Abolitionists being still +fearful over the emancipation policy, to attack the President direct. +Nevertheless, the resourceful Jacobins found a way to begin their new +campaign. Seward, the symbol of moderation, the unforgivable enemy of +the Jacobins, had recently earned anew the hatred of the Abolitionists. +Letters of his to Charles Francis Adams had appeared in print. Some of +their expressions had roused a storm. For example: "extreme advocates of +African slavery and its most vehement exponents are acting in concert +together to precipitate a servile war."(8) To be sure, the date of +this letter was long since, before he and Lincoln had changed ground on +emancipation, but that did not matter. He had spoken evil of the cause; +he should suffer. All along, the large number that were incapable of +appreciating his lack of malice had wished him out of the Cabinet. As +Lincoln put it: "While they seemed to believe in my honesty, they also +appeared to think that when I had in me any good purpose or intention, +Seward contrived to suck it out of me unperceived."(9) + +The Jacobins were skilful politicians. A caucus of Republican +Senators was stampeded by the cry that Seward was the master of the +Administration, the chief explanation of failure. It was Seward who had +brought them to the verge of despair. A committee was named to demand +the reorganization of the Cabinet Thereupon, Seward, informed of this +action, resigned. The Committee of the Senators called upon Lincoln. He +listened; did not commit himself; asked them to call again; and turned +into his own thoughts for a mode of saving the day. + +During twenty months, since their clash in April, 1861, Seward and +Lincoln had become friends; not merely official associates, but genuine +comrades. Seward's earlier condescension had wholly disappeared. Perhaps +his new respect for Lincoln grew out of the President's silence after +Sumter. A few words revealing the strange meddling of the Secretary +of State would have turned upon Seward the full fury of suspicion that +destroyed McClellan. But Lincoln never spoke those words. Whatever blame +there was for the failure of the Sumter expedition, he quietly accepted +as his own. Seward, whatever his faults, was too large a nature, too +genuinely a lover of courage, of the nonvindictive temper, not to +be struck with admiration. Watching with keen eyes the unfolding of +Lincoln, Seward advanced from admiration to regard. After a while he +could write, "The President is the best of us." He warmed to him; +he gave out the best of himself. Lincoln responded. While the other +secretaries were useful, Seward became necessary. Lincoln, in these dark +days, found comfort in his society.(10) Lincoln was not going to allow +Seward to be driven out of the Cabinet. But how could he prevent it? +He could not say. He was in a quandary. For the moment, the Republican +leaders were so nearly of one mind in their antagonism to Seward, that +it demanded the greatest courage to oppose them. But Lincoln does not +appear to have given a thought to surrender. What puzzled him was the +mode of resistance. + +Now that he was wholly himself, having confidence in whatever mode of +procedure his own thought approved, he had begun using methods that the +politicians found disconcerting. The second conference with the Senators +was an instance. Returning in the same mood in which they had left +him, with no suspicion of a surprise in store, the Senators to their +amazement were confronted by the Cabinet--or most of it, Seward being +absent.(11) The Senators were put out. This simple maneuver by the +President was the beginning of their discomfiture. It changed their +role from the ambassadors of an ultimatum to the participants in a +conference. But even thus, they might have succeeded in dominating the +event, though it is hardly conceivable that they could have carried +their point; they might have driven Lincoln into a corner; had it +not been for the make-up of one man. Again, the destiny that is in +character! Lincoln was delivered from a quandary by the course which the +Secretary of the Treasury could not keep himself from pursuing. + +Chase, previous to this hour, may truly be called an imposing figure. +As a leader of the extreme Republicans, he had earned much fame. Lincoln +had given him a free hand in the Treasury and all the financial measures +of the government were his. Hitherto, Vindictives of all sorts had loved +him. He was a critic of the President's mildness, and a severe critic of +Seward. But Chase was not candid. Though on the surface he scrupulously +avoided any hint of cynicism, any point of resemblance to Seward, he was +in fact far more devious, much more capable of self-deception. He had +little of Seward's courage, and none of his aplomb. His condemnation of +Seward had been confided privately to Vindictive brethren. + +When the Cabinet and the Senators met, Chase was placed in a situation +of which he had an instinctive horror. His caution, his secretiveness, +his adroit confidences, his skilful silences, had created in these two +groups of men, two impressions of his character. The Cabinet knew him as +the faithful, plausible Minister who found the money for the President. +The Senators, or some of them, knew him as the discontented Minister who +was their secret ally. For the two groups to compare notes, to check up +their impressions, meant that Chase was going to be found out. And it +was the central characteristic of Chase that he had a horror of being +found out. + +The only definite result of the conference was Chase's realization when +the Senators departed that mischance was his portion. In the presence of +the Cabinet he had not the face to stick to his guns. He feebly defended +Seward. The Senators opened their eyes and stared. The ally they had +counted on had failed them. Chase bit his lips and was miserable. + +The night that followed was one of deep anxiety for Lincoln. He was +still unable to see his way out. But all the while the predestination in +Chase's character was preparing the way of escape. Chase was desperately +trying to discover how to save his face. An element in him that +approached the melodramatic at last pointed the way. He would resign. +What an admirable mode of recapturing the confidence of his disappointed +friends, carrying out their aim to disrupt the Cabinet! But he could +not do a bold thing like this in Seward's way--at a stroke, without +hesitation. When he called on Lincoln the next day with the resignation +in his hand, he wavered. It happened that Welles was in the room. + +"Chase said he had been painfully affected," is Welles' account, "by +the meeting last evening, which was a surprise, and after some not very +explicit remarks as to how he was affected, informed the President he +had prepared his resignation of the office of Secretary of the Treasury. +'Where is it,' said the President, quickly, his eye lighting up in a +moment. 'I brought it with me,' said Chase, taking the paper from his +pocket. 'I wrote it this morning.' 'Let me have it,' said the President, +reaching his long arm and fingers toward Chase, who held on seemingly +reluctant to part with the letter which was sealed and which he +apparently hesitated to surrender. Something further he wished to +say, but the President was eager and did not perceive it, but took and +hastily opened the letter. + +"'This,' said he, looking towards me with a triumphal laugh, 'cuts the +Gordian knot.' An air of satisfaction spread over his countenance such +as I had not seen for some time. 'I can dispose of this subject now +without difficulty,' he added, as he turned in his chair; 'I see my way +clear.'"(12) In Lincoln's distress during this episode, there was much +besides his anxiety for the fate of a trusted minister. He felt he must +not permit himself to be driven into the arms of the Vindictives by +disgracing Seward. Seward had a following which Lincoln needed. But to +proclaim to the world his confidence in Seward without at the same time +offsetting it by some display of confidence, equally significant in the +enemies of Seward, this would have amounted to committing himself to +Seward's following alone. And that would not do. Should either faction +appear to dominate him, Lincoln felt that "the whole government must +cave in. It could not stand, could not hold water; the bottom would be +out."(13) + +The incredible stroke of luck, the sheer good fortune that Chase was +Chase and nobody else,--vain, devious, stagey and hypersensitive,--was +salvation. Lincoln promptly rejected both resignations and called upon +both Ministers to resume their portfolios. They did so. The incident was +closed. Neither faction could say that Lincoln had favored the other. +He had saved himself, or rather, Chase's character had saved him, by the +margin of a hair. + +For the moment, a rebuilding of the Vindictive Coalition was impossible. +Nevertheless, the Jacobins, again balked of their prey, had it in their +power, through the terrible Committee, to do immense mischief. The +history of the war contains no other instance of party malice quite +so fruitless and therefore so inexcusable as their next move. After +severely interrogating Burnside, they published an exoneration of his +motives and revealed the fact that Lincoln had forced him into command +against his will. The implication was plain. + +January came in. The Emancipation Proclamation was confirmed. The +jubilation of the Abolitionists became, almost at once, a propaganda for +another issue upon slavery. New troubles were gathering close about the +President The overwhelming benefit which had been anticipated from +the new policy had not clearly arrived. Even army enlistments were +not satisfactory. Conscription loomed on the horizon as an eventual +necessity. A bank of returning cloud was covering the political horizon, +enshrouding the White House in another depth of gloom. + +However, out of all this gathering darkness, one clear light solaced +Lincoln's gaze. One of his chief purposes had been attained. In contrast +to the doubtful and factional response to his policy at home, the +response abroad was sweeping and unconditional. He had made himself the +hero of the "Liberal party throughout the world." Among the few cheery +words that reached him in January, 1863, were New Year greetings of +trust and sympathy sent by English working men, who, because of the +blockade, were on the verge of starvation. It was in response to one of +these letters from the working men of Manchester that Lincoln wrote: + +"I have understood well that the duty of self-preservation rests solely +with the American people; but I have at the same time been aware that +the favor or disfavor of foreign nations might have a material influence +in enlarging or prolonging the struggle with disloyal men in which +the country is engaged. A fair examination of history has served to +authorize a belief that the past actions and influences of the United +States were generally regarded as having been beneficial toward +mankind. I have therefore reckoned upon the forbearance of nations. +Circumstances--to some of which you kindly allude--induce me especially +to expect that if justice and good faith should be practised by the +United States they would encounter no hostile influence on the part +of Great Britain. It is now a pleasant duty to acknowledge the +demonstration you have given of your desire that a spirit of amity and +peace toward this country may prevail in the councils of your Queen, who +is respected and esteemed in your own country only more than she is, by +the kindred nation which has its home on this side of the Atlantic. + +"I know and deeply deplore the sufferings which the working men at +Manchester, and in all Europe, are called on to endure in this crisis. +It has been often and studiously represented that the attempt to +overthrow this government which was built upon the foundation of human +rights, and to substitute for it one which should rest exclusively on +the basis of human slavery, was likely to obtain the favor of Europe. +Through the action of our disloyal citizens, the working men of Europe +have been subjected to severe trials for the purpose of forcing their +sanction to that attempt. Under the circumstances, I can not but regard +your decisive utterances upon the question as an instance of sublime +Christian heroism which has not been surpassed in any age or in any +country. It is indeed an energetic and reinspiring assurance of the +inherent power of the truth, and of the ultimate and universal triumph +of justice, humanity and freedom. I do not doubt that the sentiments you +have expressed will be sustained by your great nation; and on the +other hand, I have no hesitation in assuring you that they will excite +admiration, esteem, and the most reciprocal feelings of friendship among +the American people. I hail this interchange of sentiment, therefore, as +an augury that whatever else may happen, whatever misfortune may befall +your country or my own, the peace and friendship which now exist +between the two nations, will be, as it shall be my desire to make them, +perpetual."(14) + + + + +XXVI. THE DICTATOR, THE MARPLOT AND THE LITTLE MEN + +While the Jacobins were endeavoring to reorganize the Republican +antagonism to the President, Lincoln was taking thought how he could +offset still more effectually their influence. In taking up the +emancipation policy he had not abandoned his other policy of an +all-parties Administration, or of something similar to that. By this +time it was plain that a complete union of parties was impossible. In +the autumn of 1862, a movement of liberal Democrats in Michigan for the +purpose of a working agreement with the Republicans was frustrated by +the flinty opposition of Chandler.(1) However, it still seemed possible +to combine portions of parties in an Administration group that should +forswear the savagery of the extreme factions and maintain the war in a +merciful temper. The creation of such a group was Lincoln's aim at the +close of the year. + +The Republicans were not in doubt what he was driving at. Smarting over +their losses in the election, there was angry talk that Lincoln and +Seward had "slaughtered the Republican party."(2) Even as sane a man as +John Sherman, writing to his brother on the causes of the apparent turn +of the tide could say "the first is that the Republican organization was +voluntarily abandoned by the President and his leading followers, and +a no-party union was formed to run against an old, well-drilled party +organization."(3) When Julian returned to Washington in December, he +found that the menace to the Republican machine was "generally admitted +and (his) earnest opposition to it fully justified in the opinion of +the Republican members of Congress."(4) How fully they perceived their +danger had been shown in their attempt to drive Lincoln into a corner on +the issue of a new Cabinet. + +Even before that, Lincoln had decided on his next move. As in the +emancipation policy he had driven a wedge between the factions of the +Republicans, so now he would drive a wedge into the organization of +the Democrats. It had two parts which had little to hold them together +except their rooted partisan habit.(5) One branch, soon to receive the +label "Copperhead," accepted the secession principle and sympathized +with the Confederacy. The other, while rejecting secession and +supporting the war, denounced the emancipation policy as usurped +authority, and felt personal hostility to Lincoln. It was the latter +faction that Lincoln still hoped to win over. Its most important member +was Horatio Seymour, who in the autumn of 1862 was elected governor of +New York. Lincoln decided to operate on him by one of those astounding +moves which to the selfless man seemed natural enough, by which the +ordinary politician was always hopelessly mystified. He called in +Thurlow Weed and authorized him to make this proposal: if Seymour would +bring his following into a composite Union party with no platform +but the vigorous prosecution of the war, Lincoln would pledge all his +influence to securing for Seymour the presidential nomination in 1864. +Weed delivered his message. Seymour was noncommittal and Lincoln had to +wait for his answer until the new Governor should show his hand by +his official acts. Meanwhile a new crisis had developed in the army. +Burnside's character appears to have been shattered by his defeat. +Previous to Fredericksburg, he had seemed to be a generous, high-minded +man. From Fredericksburg onward, he became more and more an impossible. +A reflection of McClellan in his earlier stage, he was somehow +transformed eventually into a reflection of vindictivism. His later +character began to appear in his first conference with the Committee +subsequent to his disaster. They visited him on the field and "his +conversation disarmed all criticism." This was because he struck their +own note to perfection. "Our soldiers," he said, "were not sufficiently +fired by resentment, and he exhorted me (Julian) if I could, to breathe +into our people at home the same spirit toward our enemies which +inspired them toward us."(6) What a transformation in McClellan's +disciple! + +But the country was not won over so easily as the Committee. There was +loud and general disapproval and of course, the habitual question, "Who +next?" The publication by the Committee of its insinuation that once +more the stubborn President was the real culprit did not stem the tide. +Burnside himself made his case steadily worse. His judgment, such as +it was, had collapsed. He seemed to be stubbornly bent on a virtual +repetition of his previous folly. Lincoln felt it necessary to command +him to make no forward move without consulting the President.(7) + +Burnside's subordinates freely criticized their commander. General +Hooker was the most outspoken. It was known that a movement was +afoot--an intrigue, if you will-to disgrace Burnside and elevate Hooker. +Chafing under criticism and restraint, Burnside completely lost his +sense of propriety. On the twenty-fourth of January, 1863, when Henry +W. Raymond, the powerful editor of the New York Times, was on a visit to +the camp, Burnside took him into his tent and read him an order removing +Hooker because of his unfitness "to hold a command in a cause where so +much moderation, forbearance, and unselfish patriotism were required." +Raymond, aghast, inquired what he would do if Hooker resisted, if he +raised his troops in mutiny? "He said he would Swing him before sundown +if he attempted such a thing." + +Raymond, though more than half in sympathy with Burnside, felt that the +situation was startling. He hurried off to Washington. "I immediately," +he writes, "called upon Secretary Chase and told him the whole story. +He was greatly surprised to hear such reports of Hooker, and said he +had looked upon him as the man best fitted to command the army of the +Potomac. But no man capable of so much and such unprincipled ambition +was fit for so great a trust, and he gave up all thought of him +henceforth. He wished me to go with him to his house and accompany him +and his daughter to the President's levee. I did so and found a great +crowd surrounding President Lincoln. I managed, however, to tell him +in brief terms that I had been with the army and that many things were +occurring there which he ought to know. I told him of the obstacles +thrown in Burnside's way by his subordinates and especially General +Hooker's habitual conversation. He put his hand on my shoulder and said +in my ear as if desirous of not being overheard, 'That is all true; +Hooker talks badly; but the trouble is, he is stronger with the country +today than any other man.' I ventured to ask how long he would retain +that strength if his real conduct and character should be understood. +'The country,' said he, 'would not believe it; they would say it was all +a lie.'"(8) + +Whether Chase did what he said he would do and ceased to be Hooker's +advocate, may be questioned. Tradition preserves a deal between the +Secretary and the General--the Secretary to urge his advancement, the +General, if he reached his goal, to content himself with military honors +and to assist the Secretary in succeeding to the Presidency. Hooker +was a public favorite. The dashing, handsome figure of "Fighting Joe" +captivated the popular imagination. The terrible Committee were his +friends. Military men thought him full of promise. On the whole, +Lincoln, who saw the wisdom of following up his clash over the Cabinet +by a concession to the Jacobins, was willing to take his chances with +Hooker. + +His intimate advisers were not of the same mind. They knew that there +was much talk on the theme of a possible dictator-not the constitutional +dictator of Lincoln and Stevens, but the old-fashioned dictator of +historical melodrama. Hooker was reported to have encouraged such talk. +All this greatly alarmed one of Lincoln's most devoted henchmen--Lamon, +Marshal of the District of Columbia, who regarded himself as personally +responsible for Lincoln's safety. "In conversation with Mr. Lincoln," +says Lamon, "one night about the time General Burnside was relieved, I +was urging upon him the necessity of looking well to the fact that there +was a scheme on foot to depose him, and to appoint a military dictator +in his stead. He laughed and said, 'I think, for a man of accredited +courage, you are the most panicky person I ever knew; you can see more +dangers to me than all the other friends I have. You are all the time +exercised about somebody taking my life; murdering me; and now you +have discovered a new danger; now you think the people of this great +government are likely to turn me out of office. I do not fear this from +the people any more than I fear assassination from an individual. Now to +show my appreciation of what my French friends would call a coup d'etat, +let me read you a letter I have written to General Hooker whom I have +just appointed to the command of the army of the Potomac."(9) + +Few letters of Lincoln's are better known, few reveal more exactly the +tone of his final period, than the remarkable communication he addressed +to Hooker two days after that whispered talk with Raymond at the White +House levee: + +"General, I have placed you at the head of the army of the Potomac. Of +course I have done this upon what appear to me to be sufficient reasons, +and yet I think it best for you to know that there are some things in +regard to which I am not quite satisfied with you. I believe you to be a +brave and skilful soldier, which of course I like. I also believe you do +not mix politics with your profession, in which you are right. You have +confidence in yourself, which is a valuable, if not an indispensable +quality. You are ambitious, which within reasonable bounds, does good +rather than harm; but I think that during General Burnside's command +of the army you have taken counsel of your ambition and thwarted him as +much as you could, in which you did a great wrong to the country and to +a most meritorious and honorable brother officer. I have heard in such a +way as to believe it, of your recently Saying that both the army and +the government needed a dictator. Of course it was not for this, but in +spite of it, that I have given you the command. Only those generals +who gain successes can set up dictators. What I now ask you is military +success, and I will risk the dictatorship. The government will support +you to the utmost of its ability, which is neither more nor less than +it has done and will do for all commanders. I much fear that the spirit +which you have aided to infuse into the army, of criticizing their +commander and withholding confidence from him, will now turn upon you. +I shall assist you as far as I can to put it down. Neither you nor +Napoleon, if he were alive again, could get any good out of an army +while such a Spirit prevails in it; and now beware of rashness. Beware +of rashness, but with energy and sleepless vigilance go forward and give +us victories."(10) + +The appointment of Hooker had the effect of quieting the Committee for +the time. Lincoln turned again to his political scheme, but not until +he had made another military appointment from which at the moment no +one could have guessed that trouble would ever come. He gave to +Burnside what might be called the sinecure position of Commander of the +Department of the Ohio with headquarters at Cincinnati.(11) + +During the early part of 1863 Lincoln's political scheme received a +serious blow. Seymour ranked himself as an irreconcilable enemy of the +Administration. The anti-Lincoln Republicans struck at the President in +roundabout ways. Heralding a new attack, the best man on the Committee, +Julian, ironically urged his associates in Congress to "rescue" the +President from his false friends--those mere Unionists who were luring +him away from the party that had elected him, enticing him into a vague +new party that should include "Democrats." It was said that there were +only two Lincoln men in the House.(12) Greeley was coquetting +with Rosecrans, trying to induce him to come forward as Republican +presidential "timber." The Committee in April published an elaborate +report which portrayed the army of the Potomac as an army of heroes +tragically afflicted in the past by the incompetence of their +commanders. The Democrats continued their abuse of the dictator. + +It was a moment of strained pause, everybody waiting upon circumstance. +And in Washington, every eye was turned Southward. How soon would they +glimpse the first messenger from that glorious victory which "Fighting +Joe" had promised them. "The enemy is in my power," said he, "and God +Almighty can not deprive me of them."(13) + +Something of the difference between Hooker and Lincoln, between all the +Vindictives and Lincoln, may be felt by turning from these ribald words +to that Fast Day Proclamation which this strange statesman issued to his +people, that anxious spring,--that moment of trance as it were--when all +things seemed to tremble toward the last judgment: + +"And whereas, it is the duty of nations as well as of men to own their +dependence upon the overruling power of God; to confess their sins and +transgressions in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine +repentance will lead to mercy and pardon; and to recognize the sublime +truth announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that +those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord: + +"And insomuch as we know that by His divine law nations, like +individuals, are subjected to punishments and chastisements in this +world, may we not justly fear that the awful calamity of civil war which +now desolates the land may be but a punishment inflicted upon us for our +presumptuous sins, to the needful end of our national reformation as a +whole people. We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties +of Heaven. We have been preserved, these many years, in peace and +prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power as no other +nation has ever grown; but we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the +gracious hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched +and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness +of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior +wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we +have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and +preserving grace, too proud to pray to God that made us: + +"It behooves us then to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to +confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness. + +"All this being done in sincerity and truth, let us then rest humbly in +the hope authorized by the divine teachings, that the united cry of the +nation will be heard on high, and answered with blessings no less than +the pardon of our national sins and the restoration of our now divided +and suffering country to its former happy condition of unity and +peace."(14) + +Alas, for such men as Hooker! What seemed to him in his vainglory beyond +the reach of Omnipotence, was accomplished by Lee and Jackson and +a Confederate army at Chancellorsville. Profound gloom fell upon +Washington. Welles heard the terrible news from Sumner who came into his +room "and raising both hands exclaimed, 'Lost, lost, all is lost!'"(15) + +The aftermath of Manassas was repeated. In the case of Pope, no effort +had been spared to save the friend of the Committee, to find some one +else on whom to load his incompetence. The course was now repeated. +Again, the Jacobins raised the cry, "We are betrayed!" Again, the stir +to injure the President. Very strange are the ironies of history! At +this critical moment, Lincoln's amiable mistake in sending Burnside to +Cincinnati demanded expiation. Along with the definite news of Hooker's +overthrow, came the news that Burnside had seized the Copperhead leader, +Vallandigham, and had cast him into prison; that a hubbub had ensued; +that, as the saying goes, the woods were burning in Ohio. + +Vallandigham's offense was a public speech of which no accurate report +survives. However, the fragments recorded by "plain clothes" men +in Burnside's employ, when set in the perspective of Vallandigham's +thinking as displayed in Congress, make its tenor plain enough. It was +an out-and-out Copperhead harangue. If he was to be treated as +hundreds of others had been, the case against him was plain. But the +Administration's policy toward agitators had gradually changed. There +was not the same fear of them that had existed two years before. Now the +tendency of the Administration was to ignore them. + +The Cabinet regretted what Burnside had done. Nevertheless, the +Ministers felt that it would not do to repudiate him. Lincoln took +that view. He wrote to Burnside deploring his action and sustaining his +authority.(16) And then, as a sort of grim practical joke, he commuted +Vallandigham's sentence from imprisonment to banishment. The agitator +was sent across the lines into the Confederacy. + +Burnside had effectually played the marplot. Very little chance now of +an understanding between Lincoln and either wing of the Democrats. The +opportunity to make capital out of the war powers was quite too good to +be lost! Vallandigham was nominated for governor by the Ohio Democrats. +In all parts of the country Democratic committees resolved in furious +protest against the dictator. And yet, on the whole, perhaps, the +incident played into Lincoln's hands. At least, it silenced the +Jacobins. With the Democrats ringing the changes on the former doctrine +of the supple politicians, how certain that their only course for the +moment was to lie low. A time came, to be sure, when they thought it +safe to resume their own creed; but that was not yet. + +The hubbub over Vallandigham called forth two letters addressed to +protesting committees, that have their place among Lincoln's most +important statements of political science. His argument is based on the +proposition which Browning developed a year before. The core of it is: + +"You ask in substance whether I really claim that I may override all +guaranteed rights of individuals on the plea of conserving the public +safety, whenever I may choose to say the public safety requires it. +This question, divested of the phraseology calculated to represent me +as struggling for an arbitrary personal prerogative, is either simply a +question who shall decide, or an affirmation that no one shall decide, +what the public safety does require in cases of rebellion or invasion. + +"The Constitution contemplates the question as likely to occur for +decision, but it does not expressly declare who is to decide it. By +necessary implication, when rebellion or invasion comes, the decision +is to be made from time to time; and I think the man whom, for the time, +the people have, under the Constitution, made the Commander-in-chief +of their army and navy, is the man who holds the power and bears the +responsibility of making it. If he uses the power justly, the same +people will probably justify him; if he abuses it, he is in their hands +to be dealt with by all the modes they have reserved to themselves in +the Constitution."(17) + +Browning's argument over again-the President can be brought to book by +a plebiscite, while Congress can not. But Lincoln did not rest, as +Browning did, on mere argument. The old-time jury lawyer revived. He was +doing more than arguing a theorem of political science. He was on trial +before the people, the great mass, which he understood so well. He must +reach their imaginations and touch their hearts. + +"Mr. Vallandigham avows his hostility to the war on the part of the +Union, and his arrest was made because he was laboring with some effect, +to prevent the raising of troops, to encourage desertions from the +army, and to leave the rebellion without an adequate military force to +sup-press it. He was not arrested because he was damaging the political +prospects of the Administration or the personal interests of the +Commanding General, but because he was damaging the army, upon the +existence and vigor of which the life of the nation depends. He was +warring upon the military, and this gave the military constitutional +jurisdiction to lay hands upon him. + +"I understand the meeting whose resolutions I am considering, to be in +favor of suppressing the rebellion by military force-by armies. Long +experience has shown that armies can not be maintained unless desertion +shall be punished by the severe penalty of death. The case requires, and +the Law and the Constitution sanction this punishment. Must I shoot a +simple-minded soldier boy who deserts while I must not touch a hair of a +wily agitator who induces him to desert?"(18) + +Again, the ironical situation of the previous December; the wrathful +Jacobins, the most dangerous because the most sincere enemies of the +presidential dictatorship, silent, trapped, biding their time. But the +situation had for them a distinct consolation. A hundred to one it had +killed the hope of a Lincoln-Democratic alliance. + +However, the President would not give up the Democrats without one last +attempt to get round the Little Men. Again, he could think of no mode +of negotiation except the one he had vainly attempted with Seymour. +As earnest of his own good faith, he would once more renounce his own +prospect of a second term. But since Seymour had failed him, who was +there that could serve his purpose? The popularity of McClellan among +those Democrats who were not Copperheads had grown with his misfortunes. +There had been a wide demand for his restoration after Fredericksburg, +and again after Chancellorsville. Lincoln justified his reputation for +political insight by concluding that McClellan, among the Democrats, was +the coming man. Again Weed was called in. Again he became an ambassador +of renunciation. Apparently he carried a message to the effect that +if McClellan would join forces with the Administration, Lincoln would +support him for president a year later. But McClellan was too inveterate +a partisan. Perhaps he thought that the future was his anyway.(19) + +And so Lincoln's persistent attempt to win over the Democrats came to +an end. The final sealing of their antagonism was effected at a great +Democratic rally in New York on the Fourth of July. The day previous, +a manifesto had been circulated through the city beginning, "Freemen, +awake! In everything, and in most stupendous proportion, is this +Administration abominable!"(20) Seymour reaffirmed his position of +out-and-out partisan hostility to the Administration. Vallandigham's +colleague, Pendleton of Ohio, formulated the Democratic doctrine: that +the Constitution was being violated by the President's assumption of +war powers. His cry was, "The Constitution as it is and the Union as +it was." He thundered that "Congress can not, and no one else shall, +interfere with free speech." The question was not whether we were to +have peace or war, but whether or not we were to have free government; +"if it be necessary to violate the Constitution in order to carry on the +war, the war ought instantly to be stopped."(21) + +Lincoln's political program had ended apparently in a wreck. But Fortune +had not entirely deserted him. Hooker in a fit of irritation had offered +his resignation. Lincoln had accepted it. Under a new commander, the +army of the Potomac had moved against Lee. The orators at the Fourth of +July meeting had read in the papers that same day Lincoln's announcement +of the victory at Gettysburg.(22) Almost coincident with that +announcement was the surrender of Vicksburg. Difficult as was the +political problem ahead of him, the problem of finding some other +plan for unifying his support without participating in a Vindictive +Coalition, Lincoln's mood was cheerful. On the seventh of July he was +serenaded. Serenades for the President were a feature of war-time in +Washington, and Lincoln utilized the occasions to talk informally to +the country. His remarks on the seventh were not distinctive, except +for their tone, quietly, joyfully confident. His serene mood displayed +itself a week later in a note to Grant which is oddly characteristic. +Who else would have had the impulse to make this quaint little +confession? But what, for a general who could read between the lines, +could have been more delightful?(23) + +"My dear General: I do not remember that you and I ever met personally. +I write this now as a grateful acknowledgment for the almost inestimable +service you have done the country. I wish to say a word further. When +you first reached the vicinity of Vicksburg, I thought you should do +what you finally did-march the troops across the neck, run the batteries +with the transports, and thus go below; and I never had any faith +except a general hope that you knew better than I, that the Yazoo Pass +expedition and the like could succeed. When you got below and took Port +Gibson, Grand Gulf and the vicinity, I thought you should go down the +river and join General Banks, and when you turned Northward, east of the +Big Black, I feared it was a mistake. I now wish to make the personal +acknowledgment that you were right and I was wrong. + +"Very truly, + +"A. LINCOLN." + + + + +XXVII. THE TRIBUNE OF THE PEOPLE + +Between March and December, 1863, Congress was not in session. Its +members were busy "taking the sense of the country" as they would have +said: "putting their ears to the ground," as other people would say. +A startling tale the ground told them. It was nothing less than that +Lincoln was the popular hero; that the people believed in him; that the +politicians would do well to shape their ways accordingly. When they +reassembled, they were in a sullen, disappointed frame of mind. They +would have liked to ignore the ground's mandate; but being politicians, +they dared not. + +What an ironical turn of events! Lincoln's well-laid plan for a +coalition of Moderates and Democrats had come to nothing. Logically, +he ought now to be at the mercy of the Republican leaders. But instead, +those leaders were beginning to be afraid of him, were perceiving that +he had power whereof they had not dreamed. Like Saul the son of Kish, +who had set out to find his father's asses, he had found instead a +kingdom. How had he done it? + +On a grand scale, it was the same sort of victory that had made him +a power, so long before, on the little stage at Springfield. It was +personal politics. His character had saved him. A multitude who saw +nothing in the fine drawn constitutional issue of the war powers, +who sensed the war in the most simple and elementary way, had formed, +somehow, a compelling and stimulating idea of the President. They were +satisfied that "Old Abe," or "Father Abraham," was the man for them. +When, after one of his numerous calls for fresh troops, their hearts +went out to him, a new song sprang to life, a ringing, vigorous, and yet +a touching song with the refrain, "We're coming, Father Abraham, three +hundred thousand more." + +But how has he done it, asked the bewildered politicians, one of +another. How had he created this personal confidence? They, Wade, +Chandler, Stevens, Davis, could not do it; why could he? + +Well, for one thing, he was a grand reality. They, relatively, were +shadows. The wind of destiny for him was the convictions arising out of +his own soul; for them it was vox populi. The genuineness of Lincoln, +his spiritual reality, had been perceived early by a class of men +whom your true politician seldom understands. The Intellectuals--"them +literary fellers," in the famous words of an American Senator--were +quick to see that the President was an extraordinary man; they were not +long in concluding that he was a genius. The subtlest intellect of the +time, Hawthorne, all of whose prejudices were enlisted against him, said +in the Atlantic of July, 1863: "He is evidently a man of keen faculties, +and what is still more to the purpose, of powerful character. As to his +integrity, the people have that intuition of it which is never deceived +he has a flexible mind capable of much expansion." And this when +Trumbull chafed in spirit because the President was too "weak" for his +part and Wade railed at him as a despot. As far back as 1860, Lowell, +destined to become one of his ablest defenders, had said that Lincoln +had "proved both his ability and his integrity; he . . . had experience +enough in public affairs to make him a statesman, and not enough to make +him a politician." To be sure, there were some Intellectuals who could +not see straight nor think clear. The world would have more confidence +in the caliber of Bryant had he been able to rank himself in the Lincoln +following. But the greater part of the best intelligence of the North +could have subscribed to Motley's words, "My respect for the character +of the President increases every day."(1) The impression he made on men +of original mind is shadowed in the words of Walt Whitman, who saw him +often in the streets of Washington: "None of the artists or pictures +have caught the subtle and indirect expression of this man's face. +One of the great portrait painters of two or three centuries ago is +needed."(2) + +Lincoln's popular strength lay in a combination of the Intellectuals and +the plain people against the politicians. He reached the masses in three +ways: through his general receptions which any one might attend; through +the open-door policy of his office, to which all the world was permitted +access; through his visits to the army. Many thousand men and women, in +one or another of these ways, met the President face to face, often in +the high susceptibility of intense woe, and carried away an impression +which was immediately circulated among all their acquaintances. + +It would be impossible to exaggerate the grotesque miscellany of the +stream of people flowing ever in and out of the President's open doors. +Patriots eager to serve their country but who could find no place in +the conventional requirements of the War Office; sharpers who wanted to +inveigle him into the traps of profiteers; widows with all their sons in +service, pleading for one to be exempted; other parents struggling with +the red tape that kept them from sons in hospitals; luxurious frauds +prating of their loyalty for the sake of property exemptions; inventors +with every imaginable strange device; politicians seeking to cajole +him; politicians bluntly threatening him; cashiered officers demanding +justice; men with grievances of a myriad sorts; nameless statesmen who +sought to teach him his duty; clergymen in large numbers, generally +with the same purpose; deputations from churches, societies, political +organizations, commissions, trades unions, with every sort of message +from flattery to denunciation; and best of all, simple, confiding people +who wanted only to say, "We trust you--God bless you!" + +There was a method in this madness of accessibility. Its deepest +inspiration, to be sure, was kindness. In reply to a protest that he +would wear himself out listening to thousands of requests most of which +could not be granted, he replied with one of those smiles in which there +was so much sadness, "They don't want much; they get but little, and I +must see them."(3) + +But there was another inspiration. His open doors enabled him to study +the American people, every phase of it, good and bad. "Men moving only +in an official circle," said he, "are apt to become merely official--not +to say arbitrary--in their ideas, and are apter and apter with each +passing day to forget that they only hold power in a representative +capacity. . . . Many of the matters brought to my notice are utterly +frivolous, but others are of more or less importance, and all serve +to renew in me a clearer and more vivid image of that great popular +assemblage out of which I sprung, and to which at the end of two years I +must return. . . . I call these receptions my public opinion baths; for +I have but little time to read the papers, and gather public opinion +that way; and though they may not be pleasant in all their particulars, +the effect as a whole, is renovating and invigorating to my perceptions +of responsibility and duty."(4) + +He did not allow his patience to be abused with evil intent. He read his +suppliants swiftly. The profiteer, the shirk, the fraud of any sort, +was instantly unmasked. "I'll have nothing to do with this business," he +burst out after listening to a gentlemanly profiteer; "nor with any man +who comes to me with such degrading propositions. What! Do you take the +President of the United States to be a commission broker? You have come +to the wrong place, and for you and for every one who comes for the same +purpose, there is the door."(5) + +Lincoln enjoyed this indiscriminate mixing with people. It was his chief +escape from care. He saw no reason why his friends should Commiserate +him because of the endless handshaking. That was a small matter compared +with the interest he took in the ever various stream of human types. +Sometimes, indeed, he would lapse into a brown study in the midst of +a reception. Then he "would shake hands with thousands of people, +seemingly unconscious of what he was doing, murmuring monotonous +salutations as they went by, his eye dim, his thoughts far withdrawn. +. . . Suddenly, he would see some familiar face--his memory for faces was +very good-and his eye would brighten and his whole form grow attentive; +he would greet the visitor with a hearty grasp and a ringing word +and dismiss him with a cheery laugh that filled the Blue Room with +infectious good nature."(6) Carpenter, the portrait painter, who for a +time saw him daily, says that "his laugh stood by itself. The neigh of a +wild horse on his native prairie is not more undisguised and hearty." An +intimate friend called it his "life preserver."(7) + +Lincoln's sense of humor delighted in any detail of an event which +suggested comedy. His genial awkwardness amused himself quite as much +as it amused the world. At his third public reception he wore a pair +of white kid gloves that were too small. An old friend approached. The +President shook hands so heartily that his glove burst with a popping +sound. Holding up his hand, Lincoln gazed at the ruined glove with a +droll air while the arrested procession came to a standstill. "Well, my +old friend," said he, "this is a general bustification; you and I were +never intended to wear these things. If they were stronger they might do +to keep out the cold, but they are a failure to shake hands with between +old friends like us. Stand aside, Captain, and I'll see you shortly."(8) + +His complete freedom from pose, and from the sense of place, was +glimpsed by innumerable visitors. He would never allow a friend to +address him by a title. "Call me Lincoln," he would say; "Mr. President +is entirely too formal for us."(9) + +In a mere politician, all this might have been questioned. But Hawthorne +was right as to the people's intuition of Lincoln's honesty. He hated +the parade of eminence. Jefferson was his patron saint, and "simplicity" +was part of his creed. Nothing could induce him to surround himself with +pomp, or even--as his friends thought--with mere security. Rumors of +plots against his life were heard almost from the beginning. His friends +begged long and hard before he consented to permit a cavalry guard at +the gates of the White House. Very soon he countermanded his consent. +"It would never do," said he, "for a president to have guards with drawn +sabers at his door, as if he fancied he were, or were trying to be, or +were assuming to be, an emperor."(10) + +A military officer, alarmed for his safety, begged him to consider +"the fact that any assassin or maniac seeking his life, could enter +his presence without the interference of a single armed man to hold +him back. The entrance doors, and all doors on the official side of +the building, were open at all hours of the day and very late into the +evening; and I have many times entered the mansion and walked up to the +rooms of the two private secretaries as late as nine or ten o'clock at +night, without Seeing, or being challenged by a single soul." But the +officer pleaded in vain. Lincoln laughingly paraphrased Charles II, "Now +as to political assassination, do you think the Richmond people would +like to have Hannibal Hamlin here any more than myself? . . . As to +the crazy folks, Major, why I must only take my chances-the most +crazy people at present, I fear, being some of my own too zealous +adherents."(11) With Carpenter, to whom he seems to have taken a liking, +he would ramble the streets of Washington, late at night, "without +escort or even the company of a servant."(12) Though Halleck talked him +into accepting an escort when driving to and fro between Washington and +his summer residence at the Soldiers' Home, he would frequently give it +the slip and make the journey on horseback alone. In August of 1862 on +one of these solitary rides, his life was attempted. It was about eleven +at night; he was "jogging along at a slow gait immersed in deep thought" +when some one fired at him with a rifle from near at hand. The ball +missed its aim and the President's horse, as Lincoln confided to his +familiars, "gave proof of decided dissatisfaction at the racket, +and with one reckless bound, he unceremoniously separated me from my +eight-dollar plug hat . . . At break-neck speed we reached a haven of +safety. Meanwhile, I was left in doubt whether death was more desirable +from being thrown from a runaway Federal horse, or as the tragic result +of a rifle ball fired by a disloyal bushwhacker in the middle of the +night"(13) + +While carrying his life in his hands in this oddly reckless way, he +belied himself, as events were to show, by telling his friends that he +fancied himself "a great coward physically," that he felt sure he would +make a poor soldier. But he was sufficiently just to himself to add, +"Moral cowardice is something which I think I never had."(14) + +Lincoln's humor found expression in other ways besides telling stories +and laughing at himself. He seized every opportunity to convert a +petition into a joke, when this could be done without causing pain. One +day, there entered a great man with a long list of favors which he hoped +to have granted. Among these was "the case of Betsy Ann Dougherty, a +good woman," said the great man. "She lived in my county and did my +washing for a long time. Her husband went off and joined the Rebel army +and I wish you would give her a protection paper." The pompous gravity +of the way the case was presented struck Lincoln as very funny. His +visitor had no humor. He failed to see jokes while Lincoln quizzed him +as to who and what was Betsy Ann. At length the President wrote a line +on a card and handed it to the great man. "Tell Betsy Ann to put a +string in this card and hang it round her neck," said he. "When the +officers (who may have doubted her affiliations) see this they will keep +their hands off your Betsy Ann." On the card was written, "Let Betsy Ann +Dougherty alone as long as she behaves herself. A. Lincoln."(15) + +This eagerness for a joke now and then gave offense. On one occasion, +a noted Congressman called on the President shortly after a disaster. +Lincoln began to tell a story. The Congressman jumped up. "Mr. +President, I did not come here this morning to hear stories. It is too +serious a time." Lincoln's face changed. "Ashley," said he, "sit down! I +respect you as an earnest, sincere man. You can not be more anxious than +I have been constantly since the beginning of the war; and I say to you +now, that were it not for this occasional vent, I should die."(16) Again +he said, "When the Peninsula Campaign terminated suddenly at Harrison's +Landing, I was as near inconsolable as I could be and live."(17) + +Lincoln's imaginative power, the ineradicable artist in him, made +of things unseen true realities to his sensibility. Reports of army +suffering bowed his spirit. "This was especially' the case when the +noble victims were of his own acquaintance, or of the narrower circle of +his familiar friends; and then he seemed for the moment possessed of a +sense of personal responsibility for their individual fate which was at +once most unreasonable and most pitiful." On hearing that two sons of an +old friend were desperately wounded and would probably die, he broke out +with: "Here, now, are these dear brave boys killed in this cursed war. +My God! My God! It is too bad! They worked hard to earn money to +educate themselves and this is the end! I loved them as if they were my +own."(18) He was one of the few who have ever written a beautiful letter +of condolence. Several of his letters attempting this all but impossible +task, come as near their mark as such things can. One has become a +classic: + +"I have been shown," he wrote to Mrs. Bixby, "in the files of the War +Department a statement of the Adjutant-General of Massachusetts that +you are the mother of five sons who have died gloriously on the field +of battle. I feel how weak and fruitless must be any words of mine which +should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. +But I can not refrain from tendering to you the consolation that may be +found in the thanks of the Republic they died to save. I pray that our +heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave +you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn +pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the +altar of freedom."(19) + +All these innumerable instances of his sympathy passed from mouth to +mouth; became part of a floating propaganda that was organizing the +people in his support. To these were added many anecdotes of his mercy. +The American people had not learned that war is a rigorous thing. +Discipline in the army was often hard to maintain. Impulsive young men +who tired of army life, or who quarreled with their officers, sometimes +walked away. There were many condemnations either for mutiny or +desertion. In the stream of suppliants pouring daily through the +President's office, many were parents imploring mercy for rash sons. As +every death-warrant had to be signed by the President, his generals +were frequently enraged by his refusal to carry out their decisions. +"General," said he to an angry commander who charged him with destroying +discipline, "there are too many weeping widows in the United States +now.-For God's sake don't ask me to add to the number; for I tell you +plainly I won't do it."(20) + +Here again, kindness was blended with statecraft, mercy with shrewdness. +The generals could not grasp the political side of war. Lincoln tried +to make them see it. When they could not, he quietly in the last resort +counteracted their influence. When some of them talked of European +experience, he shook his head; it would not do; they must work with +the tools they had; first of all with an untrained people, intensely +sensitive to the value of human life, impulsive, quick to forget +offenses, ultra-considerate of youth and its rashness. Whatever else the +President did, he must not allow the country to think of the army as an +ogre devouring its sons because of technicalities. The General saw only +the discipline, the morale, of the soldiers; the President saw the +far more difficult, the more roundabout matter, the discipline and the +morale of the citizens. The one believed that he could compel; the other +with his finger on the nation's pulse, knew that he had to persuade. + +However, this flowing army of the propaganda did not always engage him +on the tragic note. One day a large fleshy man, of a stern but +homely countenance and a solemn and dignified carriage, immaculate +dress--"swallow-tailed coat, ruffled shirt of faultless fabric, white +cravat and orange-colored gloves"--entered with the throng. Looking at +him Lincoln was somewhat appalled. He expected some formidable demand. +To his relief, the imposing stranger delivered a brief harangue on the +President's policy, closing with, "I have watched you narrowly ever +since your inauguration. . . . As one of your constituents, I now say +to you, do in future as you damn please, and I will support you." "Sit +down, my friend," said Lincoln, "sit down. I am delighted to see you. +Lunch with us today. Yes, you must stay and lunch with us, my friend, +for I have not seen enough of you yet."(21) There were many of these +informal ambassadors of the people assuring the President of popular +support. And this florid gentleman was not the only one who lunched with +the President on first acquaintance. + +This casual way of inviting strangers to lunch with him was typical of +his mode of life, which was exceedingly simple. He slept lightly and +rose early. In summer when he used the Soldiers' Home as a residence, he +was at his desk in the White House at eight o'clock in the morning. His +breakfast was an egg and a cup of coffee; luncheon was rarely more +than a glass of milk and a biscuit with a plate of fruit in season; +his dinner at six o'clock, was always a light meal. Though he had not +continued a total abstainer, as in the early days at Springfield, he +very seldom drank wine. He never used tobacco. So careless was he with +regard to food that when Mrs. Lincoln was away from home, there +was little regularity in his meals. He described his habits on such +occasions as "browsing around."(22) + +Even when Mrs. Lincoln was in command at the White House, he was not +invariably dutiful. An amusing instance was observed by some high +officials. The luncheon hour arrived in the midst of an important +conference. Presently, a servant appeared reminding Mr. Lincoln of the +hour, but he took no notice. Another summons, and again no notice. +After a short interval, the door of the office flew open and the titular +"First Lady" flounced into the room, a ruffled, angry little figure, +her eyes flashing. With deliberate quiet, as if in a dream, Lincoln rose +slowly, took her calmly, firmly by the shoulders, lifted her, carried +her through the doorway, set her down, closed the door, and went on with +the conference as if unconscious of an interruption.(23) Mrs. Lincoln +did not return. The remainder of the incident is unknown. + +The burden of many anecdotes that were included in the propaganda was +his kindness to children. It began with his own. His little rascal +"Tad," after Willie's death, was the apple of his eye. The boy romped in +and out of his office. Many a time he was perched on his father's knee +while great affairs of state were under discussion.(24) Lincoln could +persuade any child from the arms of its mother, nurse, or play fellow, +there being a "peculiar fascination in his voice and manner which the +little one could not resist."(25) + +All impressionable, imaginative young people, brought into close +association with him, appear to have felt his spell. His private +secretaries were his sworn henchmen. Hay's diary rings with +admiration--the keen, discriminating, significant admiration of your real +observer. Hay refers to him by pet name-"The Ancient," "The Old Man," +"The Tycoon." Lincoln's entire relation with these gifted youngsters +may be typified by one of Hay's quaintest anecdotes. Lincoln had gone to +bed, as so often he did, with a book. "A little after midnight as I was +writing, the President came into the office laughing, with a volume of +Hood's Works in his hand, to show Nicolay and me the little caricature, +'An Unfortunate Being'; seemingly utterly unconscious that he, with his +short shirt hanging about his long legs, and setting out behind like +the tail feathers of an enormous ostrich, was infinitely funnier than +anything in the book he was laughing at. What a man it is! occupied all +day with matters of vast moment, deeply anxious about the fate of the +greatest army of the world, with his own plans and future hanging on the +events of the passing hour, he yet has such a wealth of simple bonhomie +and good fellowship that he gets out of bed and perambulates the house +in his shirt to find us that we may share with him the fun of poor +Hood's queer little conceits."(26) + +In midsummer, 1863, "The Tycoon is in fine whack. I have rarely seen +him more serene and busy. He is managing this war, the draft, foreign +relations, and planning a reconstruction of the Union, all at once. I +never knew with what a tyrannous authority he rules the Cabinet, until +now. The most important things he decides and there is no cavil. I am +growing more convinced that the good of the country demands that he +should be kept where he is till this thing is over. There is no man in +the country so wise, so gentle, and so firm."(27) + +And again, "You may talk as you please of the Abolition Cabal directing +affairs from Washington; some well-meaning newspapers advise the +President to keep his fingers out of the military pie, and all that sort +of thing. The truth is, if he did, the pie would be a sorry mess. The +old man sits here and wields, like a backwoods Jupiter, the bolts of +war and the machinery of government with a hand especially steady and +equally firm. . I do not know whether the nation is worthy of him for +another term. I know the people want him. There is no mistaking that +fact. But the politicians are strong yet, and he is not their 'kind of a +cat.' I hope God won't see fit to scourge us for our sins by any of the +two or three most prominent candidates on the ground."(28) This was the +conclusion growing everywhere among the bulk of the people. There is one +more cause of it to be reckoned with. Lincoln had not ceased to be the +literary statesman. In fact, he was that more effectively than ever. His +genius for fable-making took a new turn. Many a visitor who came to find +fault, went home to disseminate the apt fable with which the President +had silenced his objections and captured his agreement. His skill in +narration also served him well. Carpenter repeats a story about Andrew +Johnson and his crude but stern religion which in mere print is not +remarkable. "I have elsewhere insinuated," comments Carpenter, "that Mr. +Lincoln was capable of much dramatic power. . . . It was shown in his +keen appreciation of Shakespeare, and unrivaled faculty of Storytelling. +The incident just related, for example, was given with a thrilling +effect which mentally placed Johnson, for the time being, alongside +Luther and Cromwell. Profanity or irreverence was lost sight of in a +fervid utterance of a highly wrought and great-souled determination, +united with a rare exhibition of pathos and self-abnegation."(29) + +In formal literature, he had done great things upon a far higher level +than any of his writings previous to that sudden change in his style +in 1860. For one, there was the Fast Day Proclamation. There was also a +description of his country, of the heritage of the nation, in the third +message. Its aim was to give imaginative reality to the national idea; +just as the second message had aimed to give argumentative reality. + +"There is no line, straight or crooked, suitable for a national boundary +upon which to divide. Trace through from east to west, upon the line +between the free and the slave Country and we shall find a little +more than one-third of its length are rivers, easy to be crossed, and +populated, or soon to be populated, thickly upon both sides; while +nearly all its remaining length are merely surveyors' lines, over +which people may walk back and forth without any consciousness of their +presence. No part of this line can be made any more difficult to pass by +writing it down on paper or parchment as a national boundary. + +"But there is another difficulty. The great interior region, bounded +east by the Alleghanies, north by the British dominions, west by the +Rocky Mountains, and south by the line along which the culture of +corn and cotton meets, and which includes part of Virginia, part +of Tennessee, all of Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, +Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, Minnesota, and the Territories of +Dakota, Nebraska, and part of Colorado, already has above ten millions +of people, and will have fifty millions within fifty years, if not +prevented by any political folly or mistake. It contains more than +one-third of the Country owned by the United States--certainly more than +one million square miles. Once half as populous as Massachusetts already +is, it would have more than seventy-five millions of people. A glance at +the map shows that, territorially speaking, it is the great body of +the republic. The other parts are but marginal borders to it, the +magnificent region sloping west from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific +being the deepest and also the richest in undeveloped resources. In the +production of provisions, grains, grasses, and all which proceed from +them, this great interior region is naturally one of the most important +in the world. Ascertain from the statistics the small proportion of the +region which has, as yet, been brought into cultivation, and also the +large and rapidly increasing amount of its products and we shall be +overwhelmed with the magnitude of the prospect presented; and yet, +this region has no seacoast, touches no ocean anywhere. As part of one +nation, its people now find, and may forever find, their way to Europe +by New York, to South America and Africa by New Orleans, and to Asia +by San Francisco. But separate our common country into two nations as +designed by the present rebellion, and every man of this great interior +region is thereby cut off from some one or more of these outlets-not, +perhaps, by a physical barrier, but by embarrassing and onerous trade +regulations. + +"And this is true wherever a dividing or boundary line may be fixed. +Place it between the now free and slave country, or place it south of +Kentucky or north of Ohio, and still the truth remains that none south +of it can trade to any port or place north of it, and none north of it +can trade to any port or place south of it, except upon terms dictated +by a government foreign to them. These outlets east, west, and south, +are indispensable to the well-being of the people inhabiting and to +inhabit, this vast interior region. Which of the three may be the best +is no proper question. All are better than either; and all of right +belong to that people and to their Successors forever. True to +themselves, they will not ask where a line of separation shall be, but +will vow rather that there shall be no such line. Nor are the marginal +regions less interested in these communications to and through them to +the great outside world. They, too, and each of them, must have access +to this Egypt of the West without paying toll at the crossing of any +national boundary. + +"Our national strife springs not from our permanent part, not from the +land we inhabit, not from our national homestead. There is no possible +severing of this but would multiply, and not mitigate, evils among +us. In all its adaptations and aptitudes it demands union and abhors +separation. In fact, it would ere long, force reunion, however much of +blood and treasure the separation might have cost."(30) + +A third time he made a great literary stroke, gave utterance, in yet +another form, to his faith that the national idea was the one constant +issue for which he had asked his countrymen, and would continue to ask +them, to die. It was at Gettysburg, November 19, 1863, in consecration +of a military burying-ground, that he delivered, perhaps, his greatest +utterance: + +"But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate--we can not consecrate--we +can not hallow--this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who +struggled here, have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or +detract. The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, +but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us, the living, +rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who +fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be +here dedicated to the great task remaining before us--that from these +honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they +gave the last full measure of devotion; that we here highly resolve +that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation under God, +shall have a new birth of freedom; and that government of the people, +for the people, by the people, shall not perish from the earth."(31) + + + + +XXVIII. APPARENT ASCENDENCY + +Toward the end of 1863, Lowell prepared an essay on "The President's +Policy." It might almost be regarded as a manifesto of the +Intellectuals. That there was now a prospect of winning the war +"was mainly due to the good sense, the good humor, the sagacity, the +large-mindedness, and the unselfish honesty of the unknown man whom +a blind fortune, as it seemed, had lifted from the crowd to the most +dangerous and difficult eminence of modern times." When the essay +appeared in print, Lincoln was greatly pleased. He wrote to the editors +of the North American Review, "I am not the most impartial judge; yet +with due allowance for this, I venture to hope that the article entitled +'The President's Policy' will be of value to the country. I fear I +am not quite worthy of all which is therein so kindly said of me +personally."(1) + +This very able defense of his previous course appeared as he was +announcing to the country his final course. He was now satisfied that +winning the war was but a question of time. What would come after +war was now in his mind the overshadowing matter. He knew that +the vindictive temper had lost nothing of its violence. Chandler's +savagery--his belief that the Southerners had forfeited the right to +life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness--was still the Vindictive +creed. 'Vae victi'! When war ended, they meant to set their feet on the +neck of the vanquished foe. Furthermore, Lincoln was not deceived as +to why they were lying low at this particular minute. Ears had been +flattened to the ground and they were heeding what the ground had said. +The President was too popular for them to risk attacking him without an +obvious issue. Their former issue had been securely appropriated by +the Democrats. Where could they find another? With consummate boldness +Lincoln presented them an issue. It was reconstruction. When Congress +met, he communicated the text of a "Proclamation of Amnesty and +Reconstruction."(2) This great document on which all his concluding +policy was based, offered "a full pardon" with "restoration of all +rights of property, except as to slaves, or in property cases, where +rights of third persons shall have intervened" upon subscribing to +an oath of allegiance which required only a full acceptance of the +authority of the United States. This amnesty was to be extended to all +persons except a few groups, such as officers above the rank of colonel +and former officials of the United States. The Proclamation also +provided that whenever, in any Seceded State, the new oath should be +taken by ten per cent. of all those who were qualified to vote under the +laws of 1860, these ten per cent. should be empowered to set up a new +State government. + +From the Vindictive point of view, here was a startling announcement. +Lincoln had declared for a degree of magnanimity that was as a red rag +to a bull. He had also carried to its ultimate his assumption of war +powers. No request was made for congressional cooperation. The message +which the Proclamation accompanied was informative only. + +By this time, the Vindictive Coalition of 1861 was gradually coming +together again. Or, more truly, perhaps, various of its elements were +fusing into a sort of descendant of the old coalition. The leaders +of the new Vindictive group were much the same as the leaders of the +earlier group. There was one conspicuous addition. During the next six +months, Henry Winter Davis held for a time the questionable distinction +of being Lincoln's most inveterate enemy. He was a member of the House. +In the House many young and headstrong politicians rallied about him. +The Democrats at times craftily followed his lead. Despite the older and +more astute Vindictives of the Senate, Chandler, Wade and the rest who +knew that their time had not come, Davis, with his ardent followers, +took up the President's challenge. Davis brought in a bill designed to +complete the reorganization of the old Vindictive Coalition. It appealed +to the enemies of presidential prerogative, to all those who wanted +the road to reconstruction made as hard as possible, and to the +Abolitionists. This bill, in so many words, transferred the whole matter +of reconstruction from the President to Congress; it required a majority +(instead of one-tenth) of all the male citizens of a Seceded State as the +basis of a new government; it exacted of this majority a pledge never +to pay any State debt contracted during the Confederacy, and also the +perpetual prohibition of slavery in their State constitution. + +Davis got his bill through the House, but his allies in the Senate laid +it aside. They understood the country too well not to see that they +must wait for something to happen. If the President made any mistake, +if anything went wrong with the army--they remembered the spring of 1862, +McClellan's failure, and how Chandler followed it up. And at this moment +no man was chafing more angrily because of what the ground was saying, +no man was watching the President more keenly, than Chandler. History +is said to repeat itself, and all things are supposed to come to him who +waits. While Davis's bill was before the House, Lincoln accepted battle +with the Vindictives in a way that was entirely unostentatious, but that +burned his bridges. He pressed forward the organization of a new State +government in Louisiana under Federal auspices. He wrote to Michael +Hahn, the newly chosen governor of this somewhat fictitious State: "I +congratulate you on having fixed your name in history as the first Free +State governor of Louisiana."(3) + +Meanwhile, the hotheads of the House again followed Davis's lead and +flung defiance in Lincoln's face. Napoleon, who had all along coquetted +alarmingly with the Confederates, had also pushed ahead with his +insolent conquest of Mexico. Lincoln and Seward, determined to have +but one war on their hands at a time, had skilfully evaded committing +themselves. The United States had neither protested against the action +of Napoleon, nor in any way admitted its propriety. Other men besides +the Vindictives were biding their time. But here the hotheads thought +they saw an opportunity. Davis brought in a resolution which amounted to +a censure of the Administration for not demanding the retirement of +the French from Mexico. This was one of those times when the +Democrats played politics and followed Davis. The motion was carried +unanimously.(4) It was so much of a sensation that the 'American +Minister at Paris, calling on the Imperial Minister of Foreign Affairs, +was met by the curt question, "Do you bring peace or war?" + +But it was not in the power of the House to draw Lincoln's fire until +he chose to be drawn. He ignored its action. The Imperial Government was +informed that the acts of the House of Representatives were not the +acts of the President, and that in relation to France, if the President +should change his policy, the imperial Government would be duly in +formed.(5) + +It was Lincoln's fate to see his policy once again at the mercy of his +Commanding General. That was his situation in the spring of 1862 when +everything hung on McClellan who failed him; again in the autumn of +the year when McClellan so narrowly saved him. The spring of 1864 +paralleled, in this respect, that other spring two years earlier. To be +sure, Lincoln's position was now much stronger; he had a great personal +following on which he relied. But just how strong it was he did not +know. He was taking a great risk forcing a policy high-handed in +defiance of Congress, where all his bitterest enemies were entrenched, +glowering. If his General failed him now-- + +The man on whom this huge responsibility rested was Grant. Lincoln had +summoned him from the West and placed him at the head of all the +armies of the Republic. As to Halleck who had long since proved himself +perfectly useless, he was allowed to lapse into obscurity. + +Grant has preserved in his Memoirs his first confidential talk with +Lincoln: "He told me he did not want to know what I proposed to do. But +he submitted a plan of campaign of his own that he wanted me to hear and +then do as I pleased about. He brought out a map of Virginia on which +he had evidently marked every position occupied by the Federal and +Confederate armies up to that time. He pointed out on the map two +streams which empty into the Potomac, and suggested that an army might +be moved on boats and landed between the mouths of those streams. We +would then have the Potomac to bring our supplies, and the tributaries +would protect our flanks while we moved out. I listened respectfully, +but did not suggest that the same streams would protect Lee's flanks +while he was shutting us up."(6) + +Grant set out for the front in Virginia. Lincoln's parting words were +this note: "Not expecting to see you again before the spring campaign +opens, I wish to express in this way my entire satisfaction with +what you have done up to this time, so far as I understand it. The +particulars of your plans I neither know nor seek to know. You are +vigilant and self-reliant; and, pleased with this, I wish not to obtrude +any constraints or restraints upon you. While I am very anxious that any +great disaster or capture of our men in great numbers shall be avoided, +I know these points are less likely to escape your attention than they +would be mine. If there is anything wanting which is within my power +to give, do not fail to let me know it. And now, with a brave army and a +just cause, may God sustain you."(7) + + + + +XXIX. CATASTROPHE + +If the politicians needed a definite warning, in addition to what the +ground was saying, it was given by an incident that centered upon Chase. +A few bold men whose sense of the crowd was not so acute as it might +have been, attempted to work up a Chase boom. At the instance of Senator +Pomeroy, a secret paper known to-day as the Pomeroy Circular, was +started on its travels. The Circular aimed to make Chase the Vindictive +candidate. Like all the other anti-Lincoln moves of the early part +of 1864, it was premature. The shrewd old Senators who were silently +marshaling the Vindictive forces, let it alone. + +Chase's ambition was fully understood at the White House. During the +previous year, his irritable self-consciousness had led to quarrels +with the President, generally over patronage, and more than once he had +offered his resignation. On one occasion, Lincoln went to his house and +begged him to reconsider. Alone among the Cabinet, Chase had failed +to take the measure of Lincoln and still considered him a second-rate +person, much his inferior. He rated very high the services to his +country of the Secretary of the Treasury whom he considered the logical +successor to the Presidency. + +Lincoln refused to see what Chase was after. "I have determined," he +told Hay, "to shut my eyes as far as possible to everything of the sort. +Mr. Chase makes a good secretary and I shall keep him where he is."(1) +In lighter vein, he said that Chase's presidential ambition was like a +"chin fly" pestering a horse; it led to his putting all the energy he +had into his work.(2) + +When a copy of the Circular found its way to the White House, Lincoln +refused to read it.(3) Soon afterward it fell into the hands of an +unsympathetic or indiscreet editor and was printed. There was a hubbub. +Chase offered to resign. Lincoln wrote to him in reply: + +"My knowledge of Mr. Pomeroy's letter having been made public came to +me only the day you wrote but I had, in Spite of myself, known of its +existence several days before. I have not yet read it, and I think +I shall not. I was not shocked or surprised by the appearance of the +letter because I had had knowledge of Mr. Pomeroy's committee, and of +secret issues which I supposed came from it, and of secret agents who +I supposed were sent out by it, for several weeks. I have known just as +little of these things as my friends have allowed me to know. They bring +the documents to me, but I do not read them; they tell me what they +think fit to tell me, but I do not inquire for more. I fully concur +with you that neither of us can be justly held responsible for what our +respective friends may do without our instigation or countenance; and I +assure you, as you have assured me, that no assault has been made upon +you by my instigation or with my countenance. Whether you shall remain +at the head of the Treasury Department is a question which I will not +allow myself to consider from any standpoint other than my judgment of +the public service, and in that view, I do not perceive occasion for +a change."(4) But this was not the end of the incident. The country +promptly repudiated Chase. His own state led the way. A caucus of +Union members of the Ohio Legislature resolved that the people and +the soldiers of Ohio demanded the reelection of Lincoln. In a host of +similar resolutions, Legislative caucuses, political conventions, dubs, +societies, prominent individuals not in the political machine, all +ringingly declared for Lincoln, the one proper candidate of the "Union +party"-as the movement was labeled in a last and relatively successful +attempt to break party lines. + +As the date of the "Union Convention" approached, Lincoln put aside +an opportunity to gratify the Vindictives. Following the Emancipation +Proclamation, the recruiting offices had been opened to negroes. +Thereupon the Confederate government threatened to treat black soldiers +as brigands, and to refuse to their white officers the protection of +the laws of war. A cry went up in the North for reprisal. It was not +the first time the cry had been raised. In 1862 Lincoln's spokesman in +Congress, Browning, had withstood a proposal for the trial of General +Buckner by the civil authorities of Kentucky. Browning opposed such a +course on the ground that it would lead to a policy of retaliation, and +make of the war a gratification of revenge.(5) The Confederate +threat gave a new turn to the discussion. Frederick Douglas, the most +influential negro of the time, obtained an audience with Lincoln and +begged for reprisals. Lincoln would not consent. So effective was his +argument that even the ardent negro, convinced that his race was about +to suffer persecution, was satisfied. + +"I shall never forget," Douglas wrote, "the benignant expression of +his face, the tearful look of his eye, the quiver in his voice, when he +deprecated a resort to retaliatory measures. 'Once begun,' said he, 'I +do not know where such a measure would stop.' He said he could not take +men out and kill them in cold blood for what was done by others. If he +could get hold of the persons who were guilty of killing the colored +prisoners in cold blood, the case would be different, but he could not +kill the innocent for the guilty."(6) + +In April, 1864, the North was swept by a wild rumor of deliberate +massacre of prisoners at Fort Pillow. Here was an opportunity for +Lincoln to ingratiate himself with the Vindictives. The President was +to make a speech at a fair held in Baltimore, for the benefit of the +Sanitary Commission. The audience was keen to hear him denounce the +reputed massacre, and eager to applaud a promise of reprisal. Instead, +he deprecated hasty judgment; insisting that the rumor had not been +verified; that nothing should be done on the strength of mere report. + +"It is a mistake to suppose the government is indifferent in this +matter, or is not doing the best it can in regard to it. We do not +to-day know that a colored soldier or white officer commanding colored +soldiers has been massacred by the Rebels when made a prisoner. We fear +it--believe it, I may say-but we do not know it To take the life of one +of their prisoners on the assumption that they murder ours, when it is +short of certainty that they do murder ours, might be too serious, too +cruel a mistake."(7) + +What a tame, spiritless position in the eyes of the Vindictives! A +different opportunity to lay hold of public opinion he made the most of. +And yet, here also, he spoke in that carefully guarded way, making sure +he was not understood to say more than he meant, which most politicians +would have pronounced over-scrupulous. A deputation of working men from +New York were received at the White House. "The honorary membership +in your association," said he, "as generously tendered, is gratefully +accepted. . . . You comprehend, as your address shows, that the existing +rebellion means more, and tends to more, than the perpetuation of +African slavery-that it is, in fact, a war upon the rights of all +working people." + +After reviewing his own argument on this subject in the second message, +he concluded: + +"The views then expressed now remain unchanged, nor have I much to add. +None are so deeply interested to resist the present rebellion as the +working people. Let them beware of prejudices, working division and +hostility among themselves. The most notable feature of a disturbance +in your city last summer was the hanging of some working people by +other working people. It should never be so. The strongest bond of +human sympathy outside of the family relation, should be one uniting all +working people, of all nations, and tongues, and kindreds. Nor should +this lead to a war upon property, or the owners of property. Property +is the fruit of labor; property is desirable; is a positive good in the +world. That some should be rich shows that others may become rich, and +hence is just encouragement to industry and enterprise. Let not him who +is houseless pull down the house of another, but let him work diligently +and build one for himself, thus by example assuming that his own shall +be safe from violence when built."(8) + +Lincoln was never more anxious than in this fateful spring when so many +issues were hanging in the balance. Nevertheless, in all his relations +with the world, his firm serenity was not broken. Though subject to +depression so deep that his associates could not penetrate it, he kept +it sternly to himself.(9) He showed the world a lighter, more graceful +aspect than ever before. 'A precious record of his later mood is the +account of him set down by Frank B. Carpenter, the portrait painter, a +man of note in his day, who was an inmate of the White House during the +first half of 1864. Carpenter was painting a picture of the "Signing of +the Emancipation Proclamation." He saw Lincoln informally at all sorts +of odd times, under all sorts of conditions. "All familiar with him," +says Carpenter, "will remember the weary air which became habitual +during his last years. This was more of the mind than of the body, and +no rest and recreation which he allowed himself could relieve it. As +he sometimes expressed it, 'no remedy seemed ever to reach the tired +spot."(10) + +A great shadow was darkening over him. He was more than ever convinced +that he had not long to live. None the less, his poise became more +conspicuous, his command over himself and others more distinguished, +as the months raced past. In truth he had worked through a slow but +profound transformation. The Lincoln of 1864 was so far removed from the +Lincoln of Pigeon Creek-but logically, naturally removed, through the +absorption of the outer man by the inner--that inevitably one thinks of +Shakespeare's change "into something rich and strange." + +Along with the weakness, the contradictions of his earlier self, there +had also fallen away from him the mere grossness that had belonged to +him as a peasant. Carpenter is unconditional that in six months of close +intimacy, seeing him in company with all sorts of people, he never heard +from Lincoln an offensive story. He quotes Seward and Lincoln's family +physician to the same effect.(11) + +The painter, like many others, was impressed by the tragic cast of his +expression, despite the surface mirth. + +"His complexion, at this time, was inclined to sallowness his eyes were +bluish gray in color--always in deep shadow, however, from the upper +lids which were unusually heavy (reminding me in this respect of +Stuart's portrait of Washington) and the expression was remarkably +pensive and tender, often inexpressibly sad, as if the reservoir of +tears lay very near the surface--a fact proved not only by the response +which accounts of suffering and sorrow invariably drew forth, but +by circumstances which would ordinarily affect few men in his +position."(12) As a result of the great strain to which he was subjected +"his demeanor and disposition changed-so gradually that it would be +impossible to say when the change began. . . . He continued always the +same kindly, genial, and cordial spirit he had been at first; but the +boisterous laughter became less frequent, year by year; the eye grew +veiled by constant meditation on momentous subjects; the air of reserve +and detachment from his surroundings increased. He aged with great +rapidity."(13) + +Every Saturday afternoon the Marine Band gave an open-air concert in +the grounds of the White House. One afternoon Lincoln appeared upon the +portico. There was instant applause and cries for a speech. "Bowing his +thanks and excusing himself, he stepped back into the retirement of the +circular parlor, remarking (to Carpenter) with a disappointed air, as +he reclined on a sofa, 'I wish they would let me sit there quietly +and enjoy the music.' His kindness to others was unfailing. It was +this harassed statesman who came into the studio one day and found +(Carpenter's) little boy of two summers playing on the floor. A member +of the Cabinet was with him; but laying aside all restraint, he took +the little fellow in his arms and they were soon on the best of terms." +While his younger son "Tad" was with his mother on a journey, Lincoln +telegraphed: "Tell Tad, father and the goats are well, especially +the goats."(14) He found time one bright morning in May to review the +Sunday-school children of Washington who filed past "cheering as if +their very lives depended upon it," while Lincoln stood at a window +"enjoying the scene... making pleasant remarks about a face that now and +then struck him."(15) Carpenter told him that no other president except +Washington had placed himself so securely in the hearts of the people. +"Homely, honest, ungainly Lincoln," said Asa Gray, in a letter to +Darwin, "is the representative man of the country." + +However, two groups of men in his own party were sullenly opposed to +him--the relentless Vindictives and certain irresponsible free lances +who named themselves the "Radical Democracy." In the latter group, +Fremont was the hero; Wendell Phillips, the greatest advocate. They +were extremists in all things; many of them Agnostics. Furious against +Lincoln, but unwilling to go along with the waiting policy of the +Vindictives, these visionaries held a convention at Cleveland; voted +down a resolution that recognized God as an ally; and nominated Fremont +for the Presidency. A witty comment on the movement--one that greatly +amused Lincoln--was the citation of a verse in first Samuel: "And every +one that was in distress, and every one that was in debt, and every one +that was discontented, gathered themselves unto him; and he became a +captain over them; and there were with him about four hundred men." + +If anything was needed to keep the dissatisfied Senators in the party +ranks, it was this rash "bolt." Though Fremont had been their man in +the past, he had thrown the fat in the fire by setting up an independent +ticket. Silently, the wise opportunists of the Senate and all their +henchmen, stood aside at the "Union convention"--which they called the +Republican Convention--June seventh, and took their medicine. + +There was no doubt of the tempest of enthusiasm among the majority of +the delegates. It was a Lincoln ovation. + +In responding the next day to a committee of congratulation, Lincoln +said: "I am not insensible at all to the personal compliment there is +in this, and yet I do not allow myself to believe that any but a small +portion of it is to be appropriated as a personal compliment. . . . I do +not allow myself to suppose that either the Convention or the (National +Union) League have concluded to decide that I am the greatest or best +man in America, but rather they have concluded that it is best not to +swap horses while crossing the river, and have further concluded that I +am not so poor a horse that they might not make a botch of it trying to +swap."(16) + +Carpenter records another sort of congratulation a few days later +that brought out the graceful side of this man whom most people still +supposed to be hopelessly awkward. It happened on a Saturday. Carpenter +had invited friends to sit in his painting room and oversee the crowd +while listening to the music. "Towards the close of the concert, the +door suddenly opened, and the President came in, as he was in the habit +of doing, alone. Mr. and Mrs. Cropsey had been presented to him in the +course of the morning; and as he came forward, half hesitatingly, Mrs. +C., who held a bunch of beautiful flowers in her hand, tripped forward +playfully, and said: 'Allow me, Mr. President, to present you with a +bouquet!' The situation was momentarily embarrassing; and I was puzzled +to know how 'His Excellency' would get out of it. With no appearance of +discomposure, he stooped down, took the flowers, and, looking from +them into the sparkling eyes and radiant face of the lady, said, with a +gallantry I was unprepared for 'Really, madam, if you give them to me, +and they are mine, I think I can not possibly make so good use of them +as to present them to you, in return!'"(17) + +In gaining the nomination, Lincoln had not, as yet, attained security +for his plans. Grant was still to be reckoned with. By a curious irony, +the significance of his struggle with Lee during May, his steady advance +by the left flank, had been misapprehended in the North. Looking at the +map, the country saw that he was pushing southward, and again southward, +on Virginia soil. McClellan, Pope, Burnside, Hooker, with them it had +been: + + "He who fights and runs away + May live to fight another day." + +But Grant kept on. He struck Lee in the furious battle of the +Wilderness, and moved to the left, farther south. "Victory!" cried the +Northern newspapers, "Lee isn't able to stop him." The same delusion +was repeated after Spottsylvania where the soldiers, knowing more of war +than did the newspapers, pinned to their coats slips of paper bearing +their names; identification of the bodies might be difficult. The +popular mistake continued throughout that dreadful campaign. The +Convention was still under the delusion of victory. + +Lincoln also appears to have stood firm until the last minute in the +common error. But the report of Grant's losses, more than the whole of +Lee's army, filled him with horror. During these days, Carpenter had +complete freedom of the President's office and "intently studied every +line and shade of expression in that furrowed face. In repose, it was +the saddest face I ever knew. There were days when I could scarcely +look into it without crying. During the first week of the battles of the +Wilderness he scarcely slept at all. Passing through the main hall of +the domestic apartment on one of these days, I met him, clad in a long, +morning wrapper, pacing back and forth a narrow passage leading to one +of the windows, his hands behind him, great black rings under his eyes, +his head bent forward upon his breast-altogether such a picture of the +effects of sorrow, care, and anxiety as would have melted the hearts +of the worst of his adversaries, who so mistakenly applied to him the +epithets of tyrant and usurper."(18) + +Despite these sufferings, Lincoln had not the slightest thought of +giving way. Not in him any likeness to the sentimentalists, Greeley and +all his crew, who were exultant martyrs when things were going right, +and shrieking pacifists the moment anything went wrong. In one of the +darkest moments of the year, he made a brief address at a Sanitary Fair +in Philadelphia. + +"Speaking of the present campaign," said he, "General Grant is reported +to have said, 'I am going to fight it out on this line if it takes all +summer.' This war has taken three years; it was begun or accepted upon +the line of restoring the national authority over the whole national +domain, and for the American people, as far as my knowledge enables +me to speak, I say we are going through on this line if it takes three +years more."(19) He made no attempt to affect Grant's course. He had put +him in supreme command and would leave everything to his judgment. And +then came the colossal blunder at Cold Harbor. Grant stood again where +McClellan had stood two years before. He stood there defeated. He could +think of nothing to do but just what McClellan had wanted to do--abandon +the immediate enterprise, make a great detour to the Southwest, and +start a new campaign on a different plan. Two years with all their +terrible disasters, and this was all that had come of it! Practically no +gain, and a death-roll that staggered the nation. A wail went over the +North. After all, was the war hopeless? Was Lee invincible? Was the best +of the Northern manhood perishing to no result? + +Greeley, perhaps the most hysterical man of genius America has produced, +made his paper the organ of the wail. He wrote frantic appeals to the +government to cease fighting, do what could be done by negotiation, and +if nothing could be done--at least, stop "these rivers of human blood." + +The Vindictives saw their opportunity. They would capitalize the wail. +The President should be dealt with yet. + + + + +XXX. THE PRESIDENT VERSUS THE VINDICTIVES + +Now that the Vindictives had made up their minds to fight, an occasion +was at their hands. Virtually, they declared war on the President +by refusing to recognize a State government which he had set up in +Arkansas. Congress would not admit Senators or Representatives from the +Reconstructed State. But on this issue, Lincoln was as resolute to fight +to a finish as were any of his detractors. He wrote to General Steele, +commanding in Arkansas: + +"I understand that Congress declines to admit to seats the persons sent +as Senators and Representatives from Arkansas. These persons apprehend +that, in consequence, you may not support the new State government there +as you otherwise would. My wish is that you give that government and +the people there the same support and protection that you would if the +members had been admitted, because in no event, nor in any view of the +case, can this do harm, while it will be the best you can do toward +suppressing the rebellion."(1) + +The same day Chase resigned. The reason he assigned was, again, the +squabble over patronage. He had insisted on an appointment of which the +President disapproved. Exactly what moved him may be questioned. Chase +never gave his complete confidence, not even to his diary. Whether +he thought that the Vindictives would now take him up as a rival of +Lincoln, continues doubtful. Many men were staggered by his action. +Crittenden, the Registrar of the Treasury, was thrown into a panic. "Mr. +President," said he, "this is worse than another Bull Run. Pray let me +go to Secretary Chase and see if I can not induce him to withdraw his +resignation. Its acceptance now might cause a financial panic." +But Lincoln was in a fighting mood. "Chase thinks he has become +indispensable to the country," he told Chittenden. "He also thinks he +ought to be President; he has no doubt whatever about that. He is an +able financier, a great statesman, and at the bottom a patriot . . he is +never perfectly happy unless he is thoroughly miserable and able to make +everybody else just as uncomfortable as he is himself. . He is either +determined to annoy me or that I shall pat him on the shoulder and coax +him to stay. I don't think I ought to do it. I will take him at his +word."(2) + +He accepted the resignation in a note that was almost curt: "Of all I +have said in commendation of your ability and fidelity, I have nothing +to unsay; and yet you and I have reached a point of mutual embarrassment +in our official relations which it seems can not be overcome or longer +sustained consistently with the public service."(3) + +The selection of a successor to Chase was no easy matter. The +Vindictives were the leaders of the moment. What if they persuaded the +Senate not to confirm Lincoln's choice of Secretary. "I never saw the +President," says Carpenter, "under so much excitement as on the day +following this event" On the night of July first, Lincoln lay awake +debating with himself the merits of various candidates. At length, he +selected his man and immediately went to sleep. + +"The next morning he went to his office and wrote the nomination. John +Hay, the assistant private secretary, had taken it from the President on +his way to the Capitol, when he encountered Senator Fessenden upon the +threshold of the room. As chairman of the Finance Committee, he also +had passed an anxious night, and called this early to consult with +the President, and offer some suggestions. After a few moments' +conversation, Mr. Lincoln turned to him with a smile and said: 'I am +obliged to you, Fessenden, but the fact is, I have just sent your own +name to the Senate for Secretary of the Treasury. Hay had just received +the nomination from my hand as you entered.' Mr. Fessenden was taken +completely by surprise, and, very much agitated, protested his inability +to accept the position. The state of his health, he said, if no other +consideration, made it impossible. Mr. Lincoln would not accept +the refusal as final. He very justly felt that with Mr. Fessenden's +experience and known ability at the head of the Finance Committee, his +acceptance would go far toward reestablishing a feeling of security. He +said to him, very earnestly, 'Fessenden, the Lord has not deserted me +thus far, and He is not going to now--you must accept!' + +"They separated, the Senator in great anxiety of mind. Throughout +the day, Mr. Lincoln urged almost all who called to go and see Mr. +Fessenden, and press upon him the duty of accepting. Among these, was +a delegation of New York bankers, who, in the name of the banking +community, expressed their satisfaction at the nomination. This was +especially gratifying to the President; and in the strongest manner, +he entreated them to 'see Mr. Fessenden and assure him of their +support.'"(4) + +In justification of his choice, Lincoln said to Hay:--"Thinking over +the matter, two or three points occurred to me: first his thorough +acquaintance with the business; as chairman of the Senate Committee +of Finance, he knows as much of this special subject as Mr. Chase; he +possesses a national reputation and the confidence of the country; he is +a Radical without the petulance and fretfulness of many radicals."(5) +In other words, though he was not at heart one of them, he stood for the +moment so close to the Vindictives that they would not make an issue on +his confirmation. + +Lincoln had scored a point in his game with the Vindictives. But +the point was of little value. The game's real concern was that +Reconstruction Bill which was now before the Senate with Wade as its +particular sponsor. The great twin brethren of the Vindictives were +Wade and Chandler. Both were furious for the passage of the bill. "The +Executive," said Wade angrily, "ought not to be allowed to handle this +great question of his own liking." + +On the last day of the session, Lincoln was in the President's room at +the Capitol Signing bills. The Reconstruction Bill, duly passed by both +Houses, was brought to him. Several Senators, friends of the bill and +deeply anxious, had come into the President's room hoping to see him +affix his signature. To their horror, he merely glanced at the bill and +laid it aside. Chandler, who was watching him, bluntly demanded what he +meant to do. "This bill," said Lincoln, "has been placed before me a few +minutes before Congress adjourns. It is a matter of too much importance +to be swallowed in that way." + +"If it is vetoed," said Chandler, whose anger was mounting, "it will +damage us fearfully in the Northwest. The important point is that one +prohibiting slavery in the Reconstructed States." + +"That is the point," replied the President, "on which I doubt the +authority of Congress to act." + +"It is no more than you have done yourself," retorted Chandler. + +Lincoln turned to him and said quietly but with finality: "I conceive +that I may in an emergency do things on military grounds which can not +constitutionally be done by Congress." + +Chandler angrily left the room. To those who remained, Lincoln added: "I +do not see how any of us now can deny and contradict what we have always +said, that Congress has no constitutional power over slavery in the +States."(6) + +In a way, he was begging the question. The real issue was not how a +State should be constitutionally reconstructed, but which, President +or Congress, had a right to assume dictatorial power. At last the true +Vindictive issue, lured out of their arms by the Democrats, had escaped +like a bird from a snare and was fluttering home. Here was the old issue +of the war powers in a new form that it was safe for them to press. +And the President had squarely defied them. It was civil war inside the +Union party. And for both sides, President and Vindictives, there could +now be nothing but rule or ruin. + +In this crisis of factional politics, Lincoln was unmoved, +self-contained, lofty, deliberate. "If they (the Vindictives) choose to +make a point on this, I do not doubt that they can do harm. They have +never been friendly to me. At all events, I must keep some consciousness +of being somewhere near right. I must keep some standard of principle +fixed within myself." + + + + +XXXI A MENACING PAUSE + +Lincoln had now reached his final stature. In contact with the world his +note was an inscrutable serenity. The jokes which he continued to tell +were but transitory glimmerings. They crossed the surface of his mood +like quick flickers of golden light on a stormy March day,--witnesses +that the sun would yet prevail,--in a forest-among mountain shadows. Or, +they were lightning glimmers in a night sky; they revealed, they did +not dispel, the dark beyond. Over all his close associates his personal +ascendency was complete. Now that Chase was gone, the last callous spot +in the Cabinet had been amputated. Even Stanton, once so domineering, so +difficult to manage, had become as clay in his hands. + +But Lincoln never used power for its own sake, never abused his +ascendency. Always he got his end if he could without evoking the +note of command. He would go to surprising lengths to avoid appearing +peremptory. A typical remark was his smiling reply to a Congressman whom +he had armed with a note to the Secretary, who had returned aghast, +the Secretary having refused to comply with the President's request and +having decorated his refusal with extraordinary language. + +"Did Stanton say I was a damned fool?" asked Lincoln. "Then I dare say +I must be one, for Stanton is generally right and he always says what he +means." + +Nevertheless, the time had come when Lincoln had only to say the +word and Stanton, no matter how fierce his temper might' be, would +acknowledge his master. General Fry, the Provost Marshal, witnessed a +scene between them which is a curious commentary on the transformation +of the Stanton of 1862. Lincoln had issued an order relative to +the disposition of certain recruits. Stanton protested that it was +unwarranted, that he would not put it into effect. The Provost Marshal +was called in and asked to state at length all the facts involved. When +he had finished Stanton broke out excitedly-- + +"'Now, Mr. President, those are the facts and you must see that your +order can not be executed.' + +"Lincoln sat upon a sofa with his legs crossed and did not say a word +until the Secretary's last remark. Then he said in a somewhat positive +tone, 'Mr. Secretary, I reckon you'll have to execute the order.' + +"Stanton replied with asperity, 'Mr. President, I can not do it. The +order is an improper one, and I can not execute it'." + +Lincoln fixed his eye upon Stanton, and in a firm voice with an accent +that clearly showed his determination, he said, "Mr. Secretary, it will +have to be done."(1) + +At this point, General Fry discreetly left the room. A few moments +later, he received instructions from Stanton to execute the President's +order. + +In a public matter in the June of 1864 Lincoln gave a demonstration of +his original way of doing things. It displayed his final serenity in +such unexpected fashion that no routine politician, no dealer in the +catchwords of statecraft, could understand it. Since that grim joke, +the deportation of Vallandigham, the Copperhead leader had not had happy +time. The Confederacy did not want him. He had made his way to Canada. +Thence, in the spring of 1864 he served notice on his country that he +would perform a dramatic Part, play the role of a willing martyr--in a +word, come home and defy the government to do its worst. He came. +But Lincoln did nothing. The American sense of humor did the rest. If +Vallandigham had not advertised a theatrical exploit, ignoring him might +have been dangerous. But Lincoln knew his people. When the show did not +come off, Vallandigham was transformed in an instant from a martyr to an +anticlimax. Though he went busily to work, though he lived to attend the +Democratic National Convention and to write the resolution that was the +heart of its platform, his tale was told. + +Turning from Vallandigham, partly in amusement, partly in contempt, +Lincoln grappled with the problem of reinforcing the army. Since +the Spring of 1863 the wastage of the army had been replaced by +conscription. But the system had not worked well. It contained a fatal +provision. A drafted man might escape service by paying three hundred +dollars. Both the Secretary of War and the Provost Marshal had urged the +abolition of this detail. Lincoln had communicated their arguments to +Congress with his approval and a new law had been drawn up accordingly. +Nevertheless, late in June, the House amended it by restoring the +privilege of commuting service for money.(2) Lincoln bestirred himself. +The next day he called together the Republican members of the House. +"With a sad, mysterious light in his melancholy eyes, as if they were +familiar with things hidden from mortals" he urged the Congressmen +to reconsider their action. The time of three hundred eighty thousand +soldiers would expire in October. He must have half a million to take +their places. A Congressman objected that elections were approaching; +that the rigorous law he proposed would be intensely unpopular; that it +might mean the defeat, at the polls, of many Republican Representatives; +it might even mean the President's defeat. He replied that he had +thought of all that. + +"My election is not necessary; I must put down the rebellion; I must +have five hundred thousand more men."(3) + +He raised the timid politicians to his own level, inspired them with new +courage. Two days later a struggle began in the House for carrying +out Lincoln's purpose. On the last day of the session along with the +offensive Reconstruction Bill, he received the new Enrollment Act which +provided that "no payment of money shall be accepted or received by the +Government as commutation to release any enrolled or drafted man from +personal obligation to per-form military service." + +Against this inflexible determination to fight to a finish, this +indifference to the political consequences of his determination, Lincoln +beheld arising like a portentous specter, a fury of pacifism. It found +expression in Greeley. Always the swift victim of his own affrighted +hope, Greeley had persuaded himself that both North and South had lost +heart for the war; that there was needed only a moving appeal, and they +would throw down their arms and the millennium would come. Furthermore, +on the flimsiest sort of evidence, he had fallen into a trap designed +to place the Northern government in the attitude of suing for peace. He +wrote to Lincoln demanding that he send an agent to confer with certain +Confederate officials who were reported to be then in Canada; he also +suggested terms of peace.(4) Greeley's terms were entirely acceptable +to Lincoln; but he had no faith in the Canadian mare's nest. However, +he decided to give Greeley the utmost benefit of the doubt, and also +to teach him a lesson. He commissioned Greeley himself to proceed +to Canada, there to discover "if there is or is not anything in the +affair." He wrote to him, "I not only intend a sincere effort for peace, +but I intend that you shall be a personal witness that it is made."(5) + +Greeley, who did not want to have any responsibility for anything that +might ensue, whose joy was to storm and to find fault, accepted the duty +he could not well refuse, and set out in a bad humor. + +Meanwhile two other men had conceived an undertaking somewhat analogous +but in a temper widely different. These were Colonel Jaquess, a +clergyman turned soldier, a man of high simplicity of character, and J. +R. Gilmore, a writer, known by the pen name of Edmund Kirke. Jaquess +had told Gilmore of information he had received from friends in the +Confederacy; he was convinced that nothing would induce the Confederate +government to consider any terms of peace that embraced reunion, whether +with or without emancipation. "It at once occurred to me," says Gilmore, +"that if this declaration could be got in such a manner that it could +be given to the public, it would, if scattered broadcast over the +North, destroy the peace-party and reelect Mr. Lincoln." Gilmore went +to Washington and obtained an interview with the President. He assured +him--and he was a newspaper correspondent whose experience was worth +considering--that the new pacifism, the incipient "peace party," was +schooling the country in the belief that an offer of liberal terms would +be followed by a Southern surrender. The masses wanted peace on any +terms that would preserve the Union; and the Democrats were going to +tell them in the next election that Lincoln could save the Union by +negotiation, if he would. Unless the popular mind were disabused of +this fictitious hope, the Democrats would prevail and the Union would +collapse. But if an offer to negotiate should be made, and if "Davis +should refuse to negotiate--as he probably would, except on the basis of +Southern independence--that fact alone would reunite the North, reelect +Lincoln, and thus save the Union."(6) + +"Then," said Lincoln, "you would fight the devil with fire. You would +get that declaration from Davis and use it against him." + +Gilmore defended himself by proposing to offer extremely liberal terms. +There was a pause in the conversation. Lincoln who was seated at his +desk "leaned slightly forward looking directly into (Gilmore's) eyes, +but with an absent, far-away gaze as if unconscious of (his) presence." +Suddenly, relapsing into his usual badinage, he said, "God selects His +own instruments and some times they are queer ones: for instance, He +chose me to see the ship of state through a great crisis."(7) He went on +to say that Gilmore and Jaquess might be the very men to serve a great +purpose at this moment. Gilmore knew the world; and anybody could see +at a glance that Jaquess never told anything that wasn't true. If they +would go to Richmond on their own responsibility, make it plain to +President Davis that they were not official agents, even taking the +chance of arrest and imprisonment, they might go. This condition was +accepted. Lincoln went on to say that no advantage should be taken of +Mr. Davis; that nothing should be proposed which if accepted would +not be made good. After considerable further discussion he drew up a +memorandum of the terms upon which he would consent to peace. There were +seven items: + +1. The immediate dissolution of the armies. + +2. The abolition of slavery. + +3. A general amnesty. + +4. The Seceded States to resume their functions as states in the Union +as if no secession had taken place. + +5. Four hundred million dollars to be appropriated by Congress as +compensation for loss of slave property; no slaveholder, however, to +receive more than one-half the former value of his slaves. + +6. A national convention to be called for readjustment of all other +difficulties. + +7. It to be understood that the purpose of negotiation was a full +restoration of the Union as of old.(8) + +Gilmore and Jaquess might say to Davis that they had private but sure +knowledge that the President of the United States would agree to peace +on these terms. Thus provided, they set forth. + +Lincoln's thoughts were speedily claimed by an event which had no +Suggestion of peace. At no time since Jackson threw the government into +a panic in the spring of 1862, had Washington been in danger of capture. +Now, briefly, it appeared to be at the mercy of General Early. In the +last act of a daring raid above the Potomac, he came sweeping down +on Washington from the North. As Grant was now the active +commander-in-chief, responsible for all the Northern armies, Lincoln +with a fatalistic calm made no move to take the capital out of his +hands. When Early was known to be headed toward Washington, Lincoln +drove out as usual to spend the night at the Soldiers' Home beyond the +fortifications. Stanton, in whom there was a reminiscence at least of +the hysterical Secretary of 1862, sent after him post haste and insisted +on his returning. The next day, the eleventh of July, 1864, Washington +was invested by the Confederate forces. There was sharp firing in front +of several forts. Lincoln--and for that matter, Mrs. Lincoln also--made +a tour of the defenses. While Fort Stevens was under fire, he stood on +the parapet, "apparently unconscious of danger, watching with that grave +and passive countenance the progress of the fight, amid the whizzing +bullets of the sharp shooters, until an officer fell mortally wounded +within three feet of him, and General Wright peremptorily represented +to him the needless risk he was running." Hay recorded in his diary +"the President in good feather this evening . . . not concerned about +Washington's safety . . . only thought, can we bag or destroy the force +in our front." He was much disappointed when Early eluded the forces +which Grant hurried to the Capitol. Mrs. Lincoln was outspoken to the +same effect. The doughty little lady had also been under fire, her +temper being every whit as bold as her husband's. When Stanton with +a monumental playfulness proposed to have her portrait painted in a +commanding attitude on the parapet of Fort Stevens, she gave him the +freedom of her tongue, because of the inadequacy of his department.(9) + +This incident had its aftermath. A country-place belonging to the +Postmaster General had been laid waste. Its owner thought that the +responsibility for permitting Early to come so near to Washington fell +chiefly on General Halleck. He made some sharp criticisms which became +public the General flew into a rage and wrote to the Secretary of War: +"The Postmaster General ought to be dismissed by the President from the +Cabinet." Stanton handed his letter to the President, from whom the next +day the General received this note: "Whether the remarks were made I +do not know, nor do I suppose such knowledge is necessary to a correct +response. If they were made, I do not approve them; and yet, under the +circumstances, I would not dismiss a member of the Cabinet therefor. I +do not consider what may have been hastily said in a moment of vexation +at so severe a loss is sufficient ground for so grave a step. Besides +this, truth is generally the best vindication against slander. I propose +continuing to be myself the judge as to when a member of the Cabinet +shall be dismissed." Lincoln spoke of the affair at his next conference +with his Ministers. "I must, myself, be the judge," said he, "how long +to retain in and when to remove any of you from his position. It would +greatly pain me to discover any of you endeavoring to procure another's +removal, or in any way to prejudice him before the public. Such an +endeavor would be a wrong to me, and much worse, a wrong to the country. +My wish is that on this subject no remark be made nor question asked by +any of you, here or elsewhere, now or hereafter."(10) + +Not yet had anything resulted either from the Canadian mission of +Greeley, or from the Richmond adventure of Gilmore and Jaquess. There +was a singular ominous pause in events. Lincoln could not be blind to +the storm signals that had attended the close of Congress. What were the +Vindictives about? As yet they had made no Sign. But it was incredible +that they could pass over his defiance without a return blow. When would +it come? What would it be? + +He spent his nights at the Soldiers' Home. As a rule, his family were +with him. Sometimes, however, Mrs. Lincoln and his sons would be absent +and his only companion was one of the ardent young secretaries. Then +he would indulge in reading Shakespeare aloud, it might be with such +forgetfulness of time that only the nodding of the tired young head +recalled him to himself and brought the reading to an end. A visitor has +left this charming picture of Lincoln at the Soldiers' Home in the sad +sweetness of a summer night: + +"The Soldiers' Home is a few miles out of Washington on the Maryland +side. It is situated on a beautiful wooded hill, which you ascend by a +winding path, shaded on both sides by wide-spread branches, forming a +green arcade above you. When you reach the top you stand between two +mansions, large, handsome and substantial, but with nothing about +them to indicate the character of either. That on the left is the +Presidential country house; that directly before you, is the 'Rest,' for +soldiers who are too old for further service . . . In the graveyard near +at hand there are numberless graves--some without a spear of grass to +hide their newness--that hold the bodies of volunteers. + +"While we stood in the soft evening air, watching the faint trembling of +the long tendrils of waving willow, and feeling the dewy coolness that +was flung out by the old oaks above us, Mr. Lincoln joined us, and stood +silent, too, taking in the scene. + +"'How sleep the brave who sink to rest, By all their country's wishes +blest," he said, softly. . . + +"Around the 'Home' grows every variety of tree, particularly of the +evergreen class. Their branches brushed into the carriage as we passed +along, and left us with that pleasant woody smell belonging to leaves. +One of the ladies, catching a bit of green from one of these intruding +branches, said it was cedar, and another thought it spruce. + +"'Let me discourse on a theme I understand,' said the President. 'I +know all about trees in right of being a backwoodsman. I'll show you +the difference between spruce, pine and cedar, and this shred of green, +which is neither one nor the other, but a kind of illegitimate +cypress. He then proceeded to gather specimens of each, and explain the +distinctive formation of foliage belonging to each."(11) + +Those summer nights of July, 1864, had many secrets which the tired +President musing in the shadows of the giant trees or finding solace +with the greatest of earthly minds would have given much to know. How +were Gilmore and Jaquess faring? What was really afoot in Canada? And +that unnatural silence of the Vindictives, what did that mean? And the +two great armies, Grant's in Virginia, Sherman's in Georgia, was there +never to be stirring news of either of these? The hush of the moment, +the atmosphere of suspense that seemed to envelop him, it was just what +had always for his imagination had such strange charm in the stories of +fated men. He turned again to Macbeth, or to Richard II, or to Hamlet. +Shakespeare, too, understood these mysterious pauses--who better! + +The sense of the impending was strengthened by the alarms of some of his +best friends. They besought him to abandon his avowed purpose to call +for a draft of half a million under the new Enrollment Act. Many voices +joined the one chorus: the country is on the verge of despair; you will +wreck the cause by demanding another colossal sacrifice. But he would +not listen. When, in desperation, they struck precisely the wrong note, +and hinted at the ruin of his political prospects, he had his calm +reply: "it matters not what becomes of me. We must have men. If I go +down, I intend to go like the Cumberland, with my colors flying."(12) + +Thus the days passed until the eighteenth of July. Meanwhile the +irresponsible Greeley had made a sad mess of his Canadian adventure. +Though Lincoln had given him definite instructions, requiring him to +negotiate only with agents who could produce written authority from +Davis, and who would treat on the basis of restoration of the Union +and abandonment of slavery, Greeley ignored both these unconditional +requirements.(13) He had found the Confederate agents at Niagara. They +had no credentials. Nevertheless, he invited them to come to Washington +and open negotiations. Of the President's two conditions, he said not a +word. This was just what the agents wanted. It could easily be twisted +into the semblance of an attempt by Lincoln to sue for peace. They +accepted the invitation. Greeley telegraphed to Lincoln reporting what +he had done. Of course, it was plain that he had misrepresented +Lincoln; that he had far exceeded his authority; and that his perverse +unfaithfulness must be repudiated. On July eighteenth, Hay set out for +Niagara with this paper in Lincoln's handwriting.(14) + +"To whom it may concern: Any proposition which embraces the restoration +of peace, the integrity of the whole Union, and the abandonment of +slavery, and which comes by and with an authority that can control +the armies now at war against the United States, will be received and +considered by the executive government of the United States, and will be +met by liberal terms on other substantial and collateral points and the +bearer or bearers thereof shall have, safe conduct both ways. ABRAHAM +LINCOLN." + +This was the end of the negotiation. The agents could not accept these +terms. Immediately, they published a version of what had happened: they +had been invited to come to Washington; subsequently, conditions had +been imposed which made it impossible for them to accept Was not +the conclusion plain? The Washington government was trying to open +negotiations but it was also in the fear of its own supporters playing +craftily a double game. These astute diplomats saw that there was a +psychological crisis in the North. By adding to the confusion of the +hour they had well served their cause. Greeley's fiasco was susceptible +of a double interpretation. To the pacifists it meant that the +government, whatever may have been intended at the start, had ended by +setting impossible conditions of peace. To the supporters of the war, it +meant that whatever were the last thoughts of the government, it had +for a time contemplated peace without any conditions at all. Lincoln +was severely condemned, Greeley was ridiculed, by both groups of +interpreters. Why did not Greeley come out bravely and tell the truth? +Why did he not confess that he had suppressed Lincoln's first set of +instructions; that it was he, on his own responsibility, who had led the +Confederate agents astray; that he, not Lincoln was solely to blame for +the false impression that was now being used so adroitly to injure the +President? Lincoln proposed to publish their correspondence, but made a +condition that was characteristic. Greeley's letters rang with cries +of despair. He was by far the most influential Northern editor. Lincoln +asked him to strike out these hopeless passages. Greeley refused. +The correspondence must be published entire or not at all. Lincoln +suppressed it. He let the blame of himself go on; and he said nothing in +extenuation.(15) + +He took some consolation in a "card" that appeared in the Boston +Transcript, July 22. It gave a brief account of the adventure of Gilmore +and Jaquess, and stated the answer given to them by the President of the +Confederacy. That answer, as restated by the Confederate Secretary of +State, was: "he had no authority to receive proposals for negotiations +except by virtue of his office as President of an independent +Confederacy and on this basis alone must proposals be made to him."(16) + +There was another circumstance that may well have been Lincoln's +consolation in this tangle of cross-purposes. Only boldness could +extricate him from the mesh of his difficulties. The mesh was destined +to grow more and more of a snare; his boldness was to grow with his +danger. He struck the note that was to rule his conduct thereafter, +when, on the day he sent the final instructions to Greeley, in defiance +of his timid advisers, he issued a proclamation calling for a new draft +of half a million men.(17) + + + + +XXXII. THE AUGUST CONSPIRACY + +Though the Vindictives kept a stealthy silence during July, they were +sharpening their claws and preparing for a tiger spring whenever the +psychological moment should arrive. Those two who had had charge of the +Reconstruction Bill prepared a paper, in some ways the most singular +paper of the war period, which has established itself in our history +as the Wade-Davis Manifesto. This was to be the deadly shot that should +unmask the Vindictive batteries, bring their war upon the President out +of the shadows into the open. + +Greeley's fiasco and Greeley's mortification both played into their +hands. The fiasco contributed to depress still more the despairing +North. By this time, there was general appreciation of the immensity +of Grant's failure, not only at Cold Harbor, but in the subsequent +slaughter of the futile assault upon Petersburg. We have the word of a +member of the Committee that the despair over Grant translated itself +into blame of the Administration.(1) The Draft Proclamation; the swiftly +traveling report that the government had wilfully brought the peace +negotiations to a stand-still; the continued cry that the war was +hopeless; all these produced, about the first of August, an emotional +crisis--just the sort of occasion for which Lincoln's enemies were +waiting. + +Then, too, there was Greeley's mortification. The Administration papers +made him a target for sarcasm. The Times set the pace with scornful +demands for "No more back door diplomacy."(2) Greeley answered in a +rage. He permitted himself to imply that the President originated the +Niagara negotiation and that Greeley "reluctantly" became a party to it. +That "reluctantly" was the truth, in a sense, but how falsely true! Wade +and Davis had him where they wanted him. On the fifth of August, The +Tribune printed their manifesto. It was an appeal to "the supporters of +the Administration . . . to check the encroachment of the Executive on +the authority of Congress, and to require it to confine itself to its +proper sphere." It insinuated the basest motives for the President's +interest in reconstruction, and for rejecting their own bill. "The +President by preventing this bill from becoming a law, holds the +electoral votes of the Rebel States at the dictation of his personal +ambition. . . . If electors for President be allowed to be chosen in +either of those States, a sinister light will be cast on the motives +which induced the President to 'hold for naught' the will of Congress +rather than his government in Louisiana and Arkansas." + +After a long discussion of his whole course with regard to +reconstruction, having heaped abuse upon him with shocking liberality, +the Manifesto concluded: + +"Such are the fruits of this rash and fatal act of the President--a blow +at the friends of the Administration, at the rights of humanity, and +at the principles of Republican government The President has greatly +presumed on the forbearance which the supporters of his Administration +have so long practised in view of the arduous conflict in which we are +engaged, and the reckless ferocity of our political opponents. But he +must understand that our support is of a 'cause' and not of a man; that +the authority of Congress is paramount and must be respected; that the +whole body of the Union men in Congress will not submit to be impeached +by him of rash and unconstitutional legislation; and if he wishes our +support he must confine him-self to his executive duties--to obey and +execute, not make the laws--to suppress by arms, armed rebellion, and +leave political reorganization to Congress. If the supporters of the +government fail to insist on this they become responsible for the +usurpations they fail to rebuke and are justly liable to the indignation +of the people whose rights and security, committed to their keeping, +they sacrifice. Let them consider the remedy of these usurpations, and, +having found it, fearlessly execute it." + +To these incredible charges, Lincoln made no reply. He knew, what some +statesmen never appear to know, the times when one should risk all upon +that French proverb, "who excuses, accuses." However, he made his futile +attempt to bring Greeley to reason, to induce him to tell the truth +about Niagara without confessing to the country the full measure of the +despair that had inspired his course. When Greeley refused to do so, +Lincoln turned to other matters, to preparation for the draft, and +grimly left the politicians to do their worst. They went about it with +zest. Their reliance was chiefly their power to infect the type of party +man who is easily swept from his moorings by the cry that the party is +in danger, that sacrifices must be made to preserve the party unity, +that otherwise the party will go to pieces. By the middle of August, six +weeks after Lincoln's defiance of them on the fourth of July, they +were in high feather, convinced that most things were coming their way. +American politicians have not always shown an ability to read clearly +the American people. Whether the politicians were in error on August +14, 1864, and again on August twenty-third, two dates that were turning +points, is a matter of debate to this day. As to August fourteenth, +they have this, at least, in their defense. The country had no political +observer more keen than the Scotch free lance who edited The New York +Herald. It was Bennett's editorial view that Lincoln would do well +to make a virtue of necessity and withdraw his candidacy because "the +dissatisfaction which had long been felt by the great body of American +citizens has spread even to his own supporters."(3) Confident that +a great reaction against Lincoln was sweeping the country, that the +Manifesto had been launched in the very nick of time, a meeting of +conspirators was held in New York, at the house of David Dudley Field, +August fourteenth. Though Wade was now at his home in Ohio, Davis was +present. So was Greeley. It was decided to ask Lincoln to withdraw. Four +days afterward, a "call" was drawn up and sent out confidentially near +and far to be signed by prominent politicians. The "call" was craftily +worded. It summoned a new Union Convention to meet in Cincinnati, +September twenty-eighth, for the purpose either of rousing the party to +whole-hearted support of Lincoln, or of uniting all factions on some new +candidate. Greeley who could not attend the committee which drew up the +"call" wrote that "Lincoln is already beaten."(4) + +Meanwhile, the infection of dismay had spread fast among the Lincoln +managers. Even before the meeting of the conspirators on the fourteenth, +Weed told the President that he could not be reelected.(5) + +One of his bravest supporters, Washburne, came to the dismal conclusion +that "were an election to be held now in Illinois, we should be beaten." +Cameron, who had returned from Russia and was working hard for Lincoln +in Pennsylvania, was equally discouraging. So was Governor Morton in +Indiana. From all his "stanchest friends," wrote his chief manager to +Lincoln, "there was but one report. The tide is setting strongly against +us."(6) + +Lincoln's managers believed that the great host of free voters who are +the balance of power in American politics, were going in a drove toward +the camp of the Democrats. It was the business of the managers to +determine which one, or which ones, among the voices of discontent, +represented truly this controlling body of voters. They thought they +knew. Two cries, at least, that rang loud out of the Babel of the hour, +should be heeded. One of these harked back to Niagara. In the anxious +ears of the managers it dinned this charge: "the Administration +prevented negotiations for peace by tying together two demands, the +Union must be restored and slavery must be abolished; if Lincoln had +left out slavery, he could have had peace in a restored Union." It was +ridiculous, as every one who had not gone off his head knew. But so many +had gone off their heads. And some of Lincoln's friends were meeting +this cry in a way that was raising up other enemies of a different sort. +Even so faithful a friend as Raymond, editor of The Times and Chairman +of the Republican National Executive Committee, labored hard in print to +prove that because Lincoln said he "would consider terms that embraced +the integrity of the Union and the abandonment of slavery, he did not +say that he would not receive them unless they embraced both these +conditions."(7) What would Sumner and all the Abolitionists say to +that? As party strategy, in the moment when the old Vindictive Coalition +seemed on the highroad to complete revival, was that exactly the tune to +sing? Then too there was the other cry that also made a fearful ringing +in the ears of the much alarmed Executive Committee. There was wild +talk in the air of an armistice. The hysteric Greeley had put it into +a personal letter to Lincoln. "I know that nine-tenths of the whole +American people, North and South, are anxious for peace--peace on any +terms--and are utterly sick of human slaughter and devastation. I know +that, to the general eye, it now seems that the Rebels are anxious to +negotiate and that we repulse their advances. . . . I beg you, I implore +you to inaugurate or invite proposals for peace forthwith. And in case +peace can not now be made, consent to an armistice for one year, each +party to retain all it now holds, but the Rebel ports to be opened. +Meantime, let a national convention be held and there will surely be no +war at all events."(8) + +This armistice movement was industriously advertised in the Democratic +papers. It was helped along by the Washington correspondent of The +Herald who sowed broadcast the most improbable stories with regard to +it. Today, Secretary Fessenden was a convert to the idea; another day, +Senator Wilson had taken it up; again, the President, himself, was for +an armistice.(9) + +A great many things came swiftly to a head within a few days before or +after the twentieth of August. Every day or two, rumor took a new turn; +or some startling new alignment was glimpsed; and every one reacted to +the news after his kind. And always the feverish question, what is the +strength of the faction that approves this? Or, how far will this go +toward creating a new element in the political kaleidoscope? About the +twentieth of August, Jaquess and Gilmore threw a splashing stone into +these troubled waters. They published in The Atlantic a full account of +their interview with Davis, who, in the clearest, most unfaltering way +had told them that the Southerners were fighting for independence and +for nothing else; that no compromise over slavery; nothing but the +recognition of the Confederacy as a separate nation would induce them +to put up their bright swords. As Lincoln subsequently, in his perfect +clarity of speech, represented Davis: "He would accept nothing short of +severance of the Union--precisely what we will not and can not give.... +He does not attempt to deceive us. He affords us no excuse to deceive +ourselves. He can not voluntarily reaccept the Union; we can not +voluntarily yield it"(10) + +Whether without the intrusion of Jaquess and Gilmore, the Executive +Committee would have come to the conclusion they now reached, is a mere +speculation. They thought they were at the point of desperation. They +thought they saw a way out, a way that reminds one of Jaquess and +Gilmore. On the twenty-second, Raymond sent that letter to Lincoln about +"the tide setting strongly against us." He also proposed the Committee's +way of escape: nothing but to offer peace to Davis "on the sole +condition of acknowledging the supremacy of the Constitution--all +other questions to be settled in a convention of the people of all the +States."(11) He assumed the offer would be rejected. Thus the clamor +for negotiation would be met and brought to naught. Having sent off his +letter, Raymond got his committee together and started for Washington +for a council of desperation. + +And this brings us to the twenty-third of August. On that day, pondering +Raymond's letter, Lincoln took thought with himself what he should +say to the Executive Committee. A mere opportunist would have met the +situation with some insincere proposal, by the formulation of terms that +would have certainly been rejected. We have seen how Lincoln reasoned +in such a connection when he drew up the memorandum for Jaquess and +Gilmore. His present problem involved nothing of this sort. What he +was thinking out was how best to induce the committee to accept his own +attitude; to become for the moment believers in destiny; to nail their +colors; turn their backs as he was doing on these devices of diplomacy; +and as to the rest-permit to heaven. + +Whatever his managers might think, the serious matter in Lincoln's mind, +that twenty-third of August, was the draft. And back of the draft, a +tremendous matter which probably none of them at the time appreciated. +Assuming that they were right in their political forecast, assuming that +he was not to be reelected, what did it signify? For him, there was but +one answer: that he had only five months in which to end the war. And +with the tide running strong against him, what could he do? But one +thing: use the war powers while they remained in his hands in every +conceivable way that might force a conclusion on the field of battle. +He recorded his determination. A Cabinet meeting was held on the +twenty-third. Lincoln handed his Ministers a folded paper and asked +them to write their initials on the back. At the time he gave them no +intimation what the paper contained. It was the following memorandum: +"This morning, as for some days past, it seems exceedingly probable that +this Administration will not be reelected. Then it will be my duty to +so cooperate with the President elect as to save the Union between the +election and the inauguration, as he will have secured his election on +such ground that he can not possibly save it afterward."(12) + +He took into his confidence "the stronger half of the Cabinet, Seward, +Stanton and Fessenden," and together they assaulted the Committee.(13) +It was a reception amazingly different from what had been expected. +Instead of terrified party diplomats shaking in their shoes, trying to +face all points at once, morbid over possible political defeats in every +quarter, they found what may have seemed to them a man in a dream; +one who was intensely sad, but who gave no suggestion of panic, no +solicitude about his own fate, no doubt of his ultimate victory. Their +practical astuteness was disarmed by that higher astuteness attained +only by peculiar minds which can discern through some sure interior test +the rare moment when it is the part of wisdom not to be astute at all. + +Backed by those strong Ministers, all entirely under his influence, +Lincoln fully persuaded the Committee that at this moment, any overture +for peace would be the worst of strategic blunders, "would be worse than +losing the presidential contest--it would be ignominiously surrendering +it in advance."(14) + +Lincoln won a complete spiritual victory over the Committee. These +dispirited men, who had come to Washington to beg for a policy of +negotiation, went away in such a different temper that Bennett's +Washington correspondent jeered in print at the "silly report" of their +having assembled to discuss peace.(15) Obviously, they had merely held +a meeting of the Executive Committee. The Tribune correspondent +telegraphed that they were confident of Lincoln's reelection.(16) + +On the day following the conference with Lincoln, The Times announced: +"You may rest assured that all reports attributing to the government any +movements looking toward negotiations for peace at present are utterly +without foundation. . . . The government has not entertained or +discussed the project of proposing an armistice with the Rebels nor has +it any intention of sending commissioners to Richmond . . . its sole +and undivided purpose is to prosecute the war until the rebellion is +quelled. . . ." Of equal significance was the announcement by The Times, +fairly to be considered the Administration organ: "The President stands +firm against every solicitation to postpone the draft."(17) + + + + +XXXIII. THE RALLY TO THE PRESIDENT + +The question insists upon rising again: were the anti-Lincoln +politicians justified in their exultation, the Lincoln politicians +justified in their panic? Nobody will ever know; but it is worth +considering that the shrewd opportunist who expressed himself through +The Herald changed his mind during a fortnight in August. By one +of those odd coincidences of which history is full, it was on the +twenty-third of the month that he warned the Democrats and jeered at the +Republicans in this insolent fashion: + +"Many of our leading Republicans are now furious against Lincoln. . . . +Bryant of The Evening Post is very angry with Lincoln because Henderson, +The Post's publisher, has been arrested for defrauding the government. + +"Raymond is a little shaky and has to make frequent journeys to +Washington for instructions. . . . + +"Now, to what does all this amount? Our experience of politics convinces +us that it amounts to nothing. The sorehead Republicans complain that +Lincoln gives them either too little shoddy or too little nigger. What +candidate can they find who will give them more of either? + +"The Chicago (Democratic) delegates must very emphatically comprehend +that they must beat the whole Re-publican party if they elect their +candidate. It is a strong party even yet and has a heavy army vote to +draw upon. The error of relying too greatly upon the weakness of the +Republicans as developed in the quarrels of the Republican leaders, +may prove fatal . . . the Republican leaders may have their personal +quarrels, or their shoddy quarrels, or their nigger quarrels with Old +Abe; but he has the whip hand of them and they will soon be bobbing back +into the Republican fold, like sheep who have gone astray. The most of +the fuss some of them kick up now, is simply to force Lincoln to give +them their terms. . + +"We have studied all classes of politicians in our day and we warn +the Chicago Convention to put no trust in the Republican soreheads. +Furiously as some of them denounce Lincoln now, and lukewarm as the rest +of them are in his cause, they will all be shouting for him as the only +true Union candidate as soon as the nominations have all been made and +the chances for bargains have passed. + +"Whatever they say now, we venture to predict that Wade and his tail; +and Bryant and his tail; and Wendell Phillips and his tail; and Weed, +Barney, Chase and their tails; and Winter Davis, Raymond, Opdyke and +Forney who have no tails; will all make tracks for Old Abe's plantation, +and will soon be found crowing and blowing, and vowing and writing, and +swearing and stumping the state on his side, declaring that he and he +alone, is the hope of the nation, the bugaboo of Jeff Davis, the first +of Conservatives, the best of Abolitionists, the purest of patriots, +the most gullible of mankind, the easiest President to manage, and the +person especially predestined and foreordained by Providence to carry on +the war, free the niggers, and give all the faithful a fair share of the +spoils. The spectacle will be ridiculous; but it is inevitable."(1) + +The cynic of The Herald had something to go upon besides his general +knowledge of politicians and elections. The Manifesto had not met with +universal acclaim. In the course of this month of surprises, there were +several things that an apprehensive observer might interpret as the +shadow of that hand of fate which was soon to appear upon the wall. +In the Republican Convention of the Nineteenth Ohio District, which +included Ashtabula County, Wade's county, there were fierce words and +then with few dissenting votes, a resolution, "That the recent attack +upon the President by Wade and Davis is, in our opinion, ill-timed, +ill-tempered, and ill-advised . . . and inasmuch as one of the authors +of said protest is a citizen of this Congressional District and indebted +in no small degree to our friendship for the position, we deem it a +duty no less imperative than disagreeable, to pronounce upon +that disorganizing Manifesto our unqualified disapproval and +condemnation."(2) + +To be sure there were plenty of other voices from Ohio and elsewhere +applauding "The War on the President." Nevertheless, there were signs of +a reluctance to join the movement, and some of these in quarters where +they had been least expected. Notably, the Abolitionist leaders were +slow to come forward. Sumner was particularly slow. He was ready, +indeed, to admit that a better candidate than Lincoln could be found, +and there was a whisper that the better candidate was himself. However, +he was unconditional that he would not participate in a fight against +Lincoln. If the President could be persuaded to withdraw, that was one +thing. But otherwise--no Sumner in the conspiracy.(3) + +Was it possible that Chandler, Wade, Davis and the rest had jumped too +soon? To rebuild the Vindictive Coalition, the group in which Sumner had +a place was essential. This group was composed of Abolitionists, chiefly +New Englanders, and for present purpose their central figure was Andrew, +the Governor of Massachusetts. During the latter half of August, the +fate of the Conspiracy hung on the question, Can Andrew and his group be +drawn in? + +Andrew did not like the President. He was one of those who never got +over their first impression of the strange new man of 1861. He insisted +that Lincoln lacked the essential qualities of a leader. "To comprehend +this objection," says his frank biographer, "which to us seems so +astoundingly wide of the mark, we must realize that whenever the New +Englander of that generation uttered the word 'leader' his mind's +eye was filled with the image of Daniel Webster . . . his commanding +presence, his lofty tone about affairs of state, his sonorous profession +of an ideal, his whole ex cathedra attitude. All those characteristics +supplied the aristocratic connotation of the word 'leader' as required +by a community in which a considerable measure of aristocratic sympathy +still lingered. Andrew and his friends were like the men of old who +having known Saul before time, and beholding him prophesying, asked 'Is +Saul also among the prophets?'"(4) + +But Andrew stood well outside the party cabals that were hatched at +Washington. He and his gave the conspirators a hearing from a reason +widely different from any of theirs. They distrusted the Executive +Committee. The argument that had swept the Committee for the moment off +its feet filled the stern New Englanders with scorn. They were prompt to +deny any sympathy with the armistice movement.(5) As Andrew put it, the +chief danger of the hour was the influence of the Executive Committee +on the President, whom he persisted in considering a weak man; the chief +duty of the hour was to "rescue" Lincoln, or in some other way to "check +the peace movement of the Republican managers."(6) if it were fairly +certain that this could be effected only by putting the conspiracy +through, Andrew would come in. But could he be clear in his own mind +that this was the thing to do? While he hesitated, Jaquess and Gilmore +did their last small part in American history and left the stage. They +made a tour of the Northern States explaining to the various governors +the purposes of their mission to Richmond, and reporting in full their +audience with Davis and the impressions they had formed.(7) This was a +point in favor of Lincoln--as Andrew thought. On the other hand, there +were the editorials of The Times. As late as the twenty-fourth of +August, the day before the Washington conference, The Times asserted +that the President would waive all the objects for which the war had +been fought, including Abolition, if any proposition of peace should +come that embraced the integrity of the Union. To be sure, this was not +consistent with the report of Jaquess and Gilmore and their statement +of terms actually set down by Lincoln. And yet--it came from the +Administration organ edited by the chairman of the Executive Committee. +Was "rescue" of the President anything more than a dream? + +It was just here that Lincoln intervened and revolutionized the whole +situation. With what tense interest Andrew must have waited for reports +of that conference held at Washington on the twenty-fifth. And with what +delight he must have received them! The publication on the twenty-sixth +of the sweeping repudiation of the negotiation policy; the reassertion +that the Administration's "sole and undivided purpose was to prosecute +the war." Simultaneous was another announcement, also in the minds of +the New Englanders, of first importance: "So far as there being any +probability of President Lincoln withdrawing from the canvass, as +some have suggested, the gentlemen comprising the Committee express +themselves as confident of his reelection."(8) + +Meanwhile the letters asking for signatures to the pro-posed "call" had +been circulated and the time had come to take stock of the result From +Ohio, Wade had written in a sanguine mood. He was for issuing the +call the moment the Democratic Convention had taken action.(9) On the +twenty-ninth that convention met. On the thirtieth, the conspirators +reassembled--again at the house of David Dudley Field--and Andrew +attended. He had not committed himself either way. + +And now Lincoln's firmness with the Executive Committee had its reward. +The New Englanders had made up their minds. Personally, he was still +obnoxious to them; but in light of his recent pronouncement, they would +take their chances on "rescuing" him from the Committee; and since he +would not withdraw, they would not cooperate in splitting the Union +party. But they could not convince the conspirators. A long debate ended +in an agreement to disagree. The New Englanders withdrew, confessed +partisans of Lincoln.(10) It was the beginning of the end. + +Andrew went back to Boston to organize New England for Lincoln. J. +M. Forbes remained to organize New York.(11) All this, ignoring the +Executive Committee. It was a new Lincoln propaganda, not in opposition +to the Committee but in frank rivalry: "Since, or if, we must have +Lincoln," said Andrew, "men of motive and ideas must get into the lead, +must elect him, get hold of 'the machine' and 'run it' themselves."(12) + +The bottom was out of the conspiracy; but the leaders at New York were +slow to yield. Despite the New England secession, they thought the +Democratic platform, on which McClellan had been invited to stand as +candidate for the Presidency, gave them another chance, especially the +famous resolution: + +"That this Convention does explicitly declare, as the sense of the +American people, after four years of failure to restore the Union by +the experiment of war, during which, under the pretense of a military +necessity, or war power higher than the Constitution, the Constitution +itself has been disregarded in every part, and the public liberty and +the private right alike trodden down and the material prosperity of the +country essentially impaired, justice, humanity, liberty and the +public welfare demand that immediate efforts be made for a cessation +of hostilities, with a view to an ultimate convention of the States, or +other peaceable means to the end that at the earliest practicable moment +peace may be restored on the basis of the Federal Union of the States." + +Some of the outlying conspirators also suffered a revival of hope. The +Cincinnati Gazette came out flat foot for the withdrawal of Lincoln.(13) +So did The Cincinnati Times, pressing hard for the new convention.(14) +On the second of September, three New York editors, Greeley for The +Tribune, Parke Godwin for The Post, and Tilton for The Independent, were +busily concocting a circular letter to Governors of the States with a +view to saving the conspiracy.(15) + +But other men were at work in a different fashion, that same day. +Lincoln's cause had been wrecked so frequently by his generals that +whenever a general advanced, the event seems boldly dramatic. While the +politicians at New York and Chicago thought they were loading the scales +of fate, long lines of men in blue were moving through broken woodland +and over neglected fields against the gray legions defending Atlanta. +Said General Hood, it was "evident that General Sherman was moving with +his main body to destroy the Macon road, and that the fate of Atlanta +depended on our ability to defeat this movement." During the fateful +pow-pow at the house of Dudley Field, Sherman's army like a colossal +scythe was swinging round Atlanta, from the west and south, across Flint +River, through the vital railway, on toward the city. On the second of +September, the news that Atlanta was taken "electrified the people of +the North."(16) + +The first thought of every political faction, when, on the third, +the newspapers were ringing with this great news, was either how to +capitalize it for themselves, or how to forestall its capitalization +by some one else. Forbes "dashed off" a letter to Andrew urging an +immediate demonstration for Lincoln.(17) He was sure the Raymond group +would somehow try to use the victory as a basis for recovering their +leadership. Davis was eager to issue the "call" at once.(18) But his +fellows hesitated. And while they hesitated, Andrew and the people +acted. On the sixth, a huge Lincoln rally was held at Faneul Hall. +Andrew presided. Sumner spoke.(19) That same day, Vermont held State +elections and went Republican by a rousing majority. On the day +following occurred the Convention of the Union party of New York. +Enthusiastic applause was elicited by a telegram from Vermont. "The +first shell that was thrown by Sherman into Atlanta has exploded in the +Copperhead Camp in this State, and the Unionists have poured in a +salute with shotted guns."(20) The mixed metaphors did not reduce the +telegram's effect. The New York Convention formally endorsed Lincoln as +the candidate of the Union party for President. + +So much for the serious side of the swiftly changing political +kaleidoscope. There was also a comic side. Only three days +sufficed--from Davis's eagerness to proceed on the fourth to letters +and articles written or printed on the seventh--only three days, and the +leaders of the conspiracy began turning their coats. A typical letter +of the seventh at Syracuse describes "an interview with Mr. Opdyke this +morning, who told me the result of his efforts to obtain signatures +to our call which was by no means encouraging. I have found the same +sentiment prevailing here. A belief that it is too late to make any +effectual demonstration, and therefore that it is not wise to attempt +any. I presume that the new-born enthusiasm created by the Atlanta news +will so encourage Lincoln that he can not be persuaded to withdraw."(21) +Two days more and the anti-Lincoln newspapers began to draw in their +horns. That Independent, whose editor had been one of the three in the +last ditch but a week before, handsomely recanted, scuttling across to +what now seemed the winning side. "The prospect of victory is brilliant. +If a fortnight ago the prospect of Mr. Lincoln's reelection seemed +doubtful, the case is now changed. The odious character of the Chicago +platform, the sunshiny effect of the late victories, have rekindled the +old enthusiasm in loyal hearts."(22) One day more, and Greeley sullenly +took his medicine. The Tribune began printing "The Union Ticket--for +President, Abraham Lincoln." + +There remains the most diverting instance of the haste with which +coats were turned. On the sixth of September, only three days after +Atlanta!--the very day of the great Lincoln rally, the crown of Andrew's +generalship, at Fanuel Hall--a report was sent out from Washington that +"Senator Wade is to take the stump for Mr. Lincoln."(23) Less than a +week later The Washington Chronicle had learned "with satisfaction, +though not with surprise, that Senator Wade, notwithstanding his +signature to a celebrated Manifesto, had enrolled himself among the +Lincoln forces."(24) Exactly two weeks after Atlanta, Wade made his +first speech for Lincoln as President. It was a "terrific assault upon +the Copperhead policy."(25) + +The ship of the conspiracy was sinking fast, and on every hand was heard +a scurrying patter of escaping politicians. + + + + +XXXIV. "FATHER ABRAHAM" + +The key-notes of Lincoln's course with the Executive Committee, his +refusal to do anything that appeared to him to be futile, his firmness +not to cast about and experiment after a policy, his basing of all +his plans on the vision in his own mind of their sure fruitage--these +continued to be his key-notes throughout the campaign. They ruled his +action in a difficult matter with which he was quickly forced to deal. + +Montgomery Blair, the Postmaster General, was widely and bitterly +disliked. Originally a radical Republican, he had quarreled with that +wing of the party. In 1863 the Union League of Philadelphia, +which elected all the rest of the Cabinet honorary members of its +organization, omitted Blair. A reference to the Cabinet in the Union +platform of 1864 was supposed to be a hint that the Postmaster General +would serve his country, if he resigned. During the dark days of the +summer of 1864, the President's mail was filled with supplications for +the dismissal of Blair.(1) He was described as an incubus that might +cause the defeat of the Administration. + +If the President's secretaries were not prejudiced witnesses, Blair had +worn out his welcome in the Cabinet. He had grown suspicious. He tried +to make Lincoln believe that Seward was plotting with the Copperheads. +Nevertheless, Lincoln turned a deaf ear to the clamor against him. +Merely personal considerations were not compelling. If it was true, as +for a while he believed it was, that his election was already lost, he +did not propose to throw Blair over as a mere experiment. True to his +principles he would not become a juggler with futility. + +The turn of the tide in his favor put the matter in a new light. All the +enemies of Blair renewed their attack on a slightly different line. One +of those powerful New Englanders who had come to Lincoln's aid at such +an opportune moment led off. On the second day following the news of +Atlanta, Henry Wilson wrote to him, "Blair, every one hates. Tens of +thousands of men will be lost to you, or will give you a reluctant vote +because of the Blairs."(2) + +If this was really true, the selfless man would not hesitate to' require +of Blair the same sort of sacrifice he would, in other conditions, +require of himself. Lincoln debated this in his own mind nearly three +weeks. + +Meanwhile, various other politicians joined the hue and cry. An old +friend of Lincoln's, Ebenezer Peck, came east from Illinois to work upon +him against Blair.(3) Chandler, who like Wade was eager to get out of +the wrong ship, appeared at Washington as a friend of the Administration +and an enemy of Blair.(4) But still Lincoln did not respond. After all, +was it certain that one of these votes would change if Blair did not +resign? Would anything be accomplished, should Lincoln require his +resignation, except the humiliation of a friend, the gratification of +a pack of malcontents? And then some one thought of a mode for giving +definite political value to Blair's removal. Who did it? The anonymous +author of the only biography of Chandler claims this doubtful honor for +the great Jacobin. Lincoln's secretaries, including Colonel Stoddard who +had charge of his correspondence, are ignorant on the subject.(5) It may +well have been Chandler who negotiated a bargain with Fremont, if +the story is to be trusted, which concerned Blair. A long-standing, +relentless quarrel separated these two. That Fremont as a candidate was +nobody had long been apparent; and yet it was worth while to get rid +of him. Chandler, or another, extracted a promise from Fremont that if +Blair were removed, he would resign. On the strength of this promise, a +last appeal was made to Lincoln. Such is the legend. The known fact is +that on September twenty-second Fremont withdrew his candidacy. The next +day Lincoln sent this note to Blair: + +"You have generously said to me more than once that whenever your +resignation could be a relief to me, it was at my disposal. The time has +come. You very well know that this proceeds from no dissatisfaction of +mine, with you personally or officially. Your uniform kindness has been +unsurpassed by that of any friend."(6) + +No incident displays more clearly the hold which Lincoln had acquired on +the confidence and the affection of his immediate associates. Blair at +once tendered his resignation: "I can not take leave of you," said +he, "without renewing the expression of my gratitude for the uniform +kindness which has marked your course with regard to myself."(7) That +he was not perfunctory, that his great chief had acquired over him an +ascendency which was superior to any strain, was demonstrated a few days +later in New York. On the twenty-seventh, Cooper Institute was filled +with an enthusiastic Lincoln meeting. Blair was a speaker. He was +received with loud cheers and took occasion to touch upon his relations +with the President. "I retired," said he, "on the recommendation of my +own father. My father has passed that period of life when its honors or +its rewards, or its glories have any charm for him. He looks backward +only, and forward only, to the grandeur of this nation and the happiness +of this great people who have grown up under the prosperous condition of +the Union; and he would not permit a son of his to stand in the way of +the glorious and patriotic President who leads us on to success and to +the final triumph that is in store for us."(8) + +It was characteristic of this ultimate Lincoln that he offered no +explanations, even in terminating the career of a minister; that he +gave no confidences. Gently inexorable, he imposed his will in +apparent unconsciousness that it might be questioned. Along with his +overmastering kindness, he had something of the objectivity of a natural +force. It was the mood attained by a few extraordinary men who have +reached a point where, without becoming egoists, they no longer +distinguish between themselves and circumstance; the mood of those +creative artists who have lost themselves, in the strange way which the +dreamers have, who have also found themselves. + +Even in the new fascination of the probable turn of the tide, Lincoln +did not waver in his fixed purpose to give all his best energies, and +the country's best energies, to the war. In October, there was a new +panic over the draft. Cameron implored him to suspend it in Pennsylvania +until after the presidential election. An Ohio committee went to +Washington with the same request. Why should not the arguments that had +prevailed with him, or were supposed to have prevailed with him, for the +removal of a minister, prevail also in the way of a brief flagging of +military preparation? But Lincoln would not look upon the two cases in +the same spirit. "What is the Presidency worth to me," he asked the Ohio +committee, "if I have no country ?"(9) + +From the active campaign he held himself aloof. He made no political +speeches. He wrote no political letters. The army received his constant +detailed attention. In his letters to Grant, he besought him to be +unwavering in a relentless persistency. + +As Hay records, he was aging rapidly. The immense strain of his labor +was beginning to tell both in his features and his expression. He was +moving in a shadow. But his old habit of merriment had not left him; +though it was now, more often, a surface merriment. On the night of the +October elections, Lincoln sat in the telegraph room of the War +Office while the reports were coming in. "The President in a lull of +despatches, took from his pocket the Naseby Papers and read several +chapters of the Saint and Martyr, Petroleum V. They were immensely +amusing. Stanton and Dana enjoyed them scarcely less than the President, +who read on, con amore, until nine o'clock."(10) + +The presidential election was held on the eighth of November. That +night, Lincoln with his Secretary was again in the War Office. The +early returns showed that the whole North was turning to him in enormous +majorities. He showed no exultation. When the Assistant Secretary of +the Navy spoke sharply of the complete effacement politically of Henry +Winter Davis against whom he had a grudge, Lincoln said, "You have more +of that feeling of personal resentment than I. Perhaps I have too little +of it; but I never thought it paid. A man has no time to spend half his +life in quarrels. If any man ceases to attack me I never remember the +past against him."(11) + +"Towards midnight," says Hay in his diary, "we had supper. The President +went awkwardly and hospitably to work shovelling out the fried oysters. +He was most agreeable and genial all the evening. . . . Captain Thomas +came up with a band about half-past two and made some music. The +President answered from a window with rather unusual dignity and effect, +and we came home."(12) + +"I am thankful to God," Lincoln said, in response to the serenade, "for +this approval of the people; but while grateful for this mark of their +confidence in me, if I know my heart, my gratitude is free from any +taint of personal triumph. I do not impugn the motives of any one +opposed to me. It is no pleasure to me to triumph over any one, but I +give thanks to the Almighty for this evidence of the people's resolution +to stand by free government and the rights of humanity."(13) + +During the next few days a torrent of congratulations came pouring +in. What most impressed the secretaries was his complete freedom from +elation. "He seemed to deprecate his own triumph and sympathize rather +with the beaten than the victorious party." His formal recognition of +the event was a prepared reply to a serenade on the night of November +tenth. A great crowd filled the space in front of the north portico of +the White House. Lincoln appeared at a window. A secretary stood at his +side holding a lighted candle while he read from a manuscript. The brief +address is justly ranked among his ablest occasional utterances. As to +the mode of the deliverance, he said to Hay, "Not very graceful, but +I am growing old enough not to care much for the manner of doing +things."(14) + + + + +XXXV. THE MASTER OF THE MOMENT + +In Lincoln's life there are two great achievements. + +One he brought to pass in time for him to behold his own victory. The +other he saw only with the eyes of faith. The first was the drawing +together of all the elements of nationalism in the American people +and consolidating them into a driving force. The second was laying +the foundation of a political temper that made impossible a permanent +victory for the Vindictives. It was the sad fate of this nation, because +Lincoln's hand was struck from the tiller at the very instant of the +crisis, to suffer the temporary success of that faction he strove so +hard to destroy. The transitoriness of their evil triumph, the eventual +rally of the nation against them, was the final victory of the spirit of +Lincoln. + +The immediate victory he appreciated more fully and measured more +exactly, than did any one else. He put it into words in the fifth +message. While others were crowing with exaltation over a party triumph, +he looked deeper to the psychological triumph. Scarcely another saw that +the most significant detail of the hour was in the Democratic attitude. +Even the bitterest enemies of nationalism, even those who were believed +by all others to desire the breaking of the Union, had not thought +it safe to say so. They had veiled their intent in specious words. +McClellan in accepting the Democratic nomination had repudiated the idea +of disunion. Whether the Democratic politicians had agreed with him or +not, they had not dared to contradict him. This was what Lincoln put the +emphasis on in his message: "The purpose of the people within the +loyal States to maintain the Union was never more firm nor more nearly +unanimous than now. . . . No candidate for any office, high or low, +has ventured to seek votes on the avowal that he was for giving up +the Union. There have been much impugning of motive and much heated +controversy as to the proper means and best mode of advancing the Union +cause; but on the distinct issue of Union or No Union the politicians +have shown their instinctive knowledge that there is no diversity among +the people. In affording the people the fair opportunity of showing one +to another and to the world, this firmness and unanimity of purpose, the +election has been of vast value to the national cause."(1) + +This temper of the final Lincoln, his supreme detachment, the kind +impersonality of his intellectual approach, has no better illustration +in his state papers. He further revealed it in a more intimate way. The +day he sent the message to Congress, he also submitted to the Senate a +nomination to the great office of Chief Justice. When Taney died in the +previous September, there was an eager stir among the friends of Chase. +They had hopes but they felt embarrassed. Could they ask this great +honor, the highest it is in the power of the American President to +be-stow, for a man who had been so lacking in candor as Chase had been? +Chase's course during the summer had made things worse. He had played +the time-server. No one was more severe upon Lincoln in July; in August, +he hesitated, would not quite commit himself to the conspiracy but would +not discourage it; almost gave it his blessing; in September, but not +until it was quite plain that the conspiracy was failing, he came +out for Lincoln. However, his friends in the Senate overcame their +embarrassment--how else could it be with Senators?--and pressed his +case. And when Senator Wilson, alarmed at the President's silence, tried +to apologize for Chase's harsh remarks about the President, Lincoln cut +him short. "Oh, as to that, I care nothing," said he. The embarrassment +of the Chase propaganda amused him. When Chase himself took a hand and +wrote him a letter, Lincoln said to his secretary, "What is it about?" +"Simply a kind and friendly letter," replied the secretary. Lincoln +smiled. "File it with the other recommendations," said he.(2) + +He regarded Chase as a great lawyer, Taney's logical successor. All +the slights the Secretary had put upon the President, the intrigues to +supplant him, the malicious sayings, were as if they had never occurred. +When Congress assembled, it was Chase's name that he sent to the Senate. +It was Chase who, as Chief Justice, administered the oath at Lincoln's +second inauguration. + +Long since, Lincoln had seen that there had ceased to any half-way +house in the matter of emancipation. His thoughts were chiefly upon the +future. And as mere strategy, he saw that slavery had to be got out of +the way. It was no longer a question, who liked this, who did not. To +him, the ultimate issue was the restoration of harmony among the States. +Those States which had been defeated in the dread arbitrament of battle, +would in any event encounter difficulties, even deadly perils, in the +narrow way which must come after defeat and which might or might not +lead to rehabilitation. + +Remembering the Vindictive temper, remembering the force and courage +of the Vindictive leaders, it was imperative to clear the field of the +slavery issue before the reconstruction issue was fairly launched. It +was highly desirable to commit to the support of the governments the +whole range of influences that were in earnest about emancipation. +Furthermore, the South itself was drifting in the same direction. In his +interview with Gilmore and Jaquess, Davis had said: "You have already +emancipated nearly two millions of our slaves; and if you will take care +of them, you may emancipate the rest. I had a few when the war began. I +was of some use to them; they never were of any to me."(3) + +The Southern President had "felt" his constituency on the subject of +enrolling slaves as soldiers with a promise of emancipation as the +reward of military service. + +The fifth message urged Congress to submit to the States an amendment to +the Constitution abolishing slavery. Such action had been considered +in the previous session, but nothing had been done. At Lincoln's +suggestion, it had been recommended in the platform of the Union +party. Now, with the President's powerful influence behind it, with +his prestige at full circle, the amendment was rapidly pushed forward. +Before January ended, it had been approved by both Houses. Lincoln had +used all his personal influence to strengthen its chances in Congress +where, until the last minute, the vote was still in doubt.(4) + +While the amendment was taking its way through Congress, a shrewd old +politician who thought he knew the world better than most men, that +Montgomery Blair, Senior, who was father of the Postmaster General, +had been trying on his own responsibility to open negotiations between +Washington and Richmond. His visionary ideas, which were wholly without +the results he intended, have no place here. And yet this fanciful +episode had a significance of its own. Had it not occurred, the +Confederate government probably would not have appointed commissioners +charged with the hopeless task of approaching the Federal government for +the purpose of negotiating peace between "the two countries." + +Now that Lincoln was entirely in the ascendent at home, and since the +Confederate arms had recently suffered terrible reverses, he was +no longer afraid that negotiation might appear to be the symptom +of weakness. He went so far as to consent to meet the Commissioners +himself. On a steamer in Hampton Roads, Lincoln and Seward had a +long conference with three members of the Confederate government, +particularly the Vice-President, Alexander H. Stephens. + +It has become a tradition that Lincoln wrote at the top of a sheet of +paper the one word "Union"; that he pushed it across the table and said, +"Stephens, write under that anything you want" There appears to be no +foundation for the tale in this form. The amendment had committed the +North too definitely to emancipation. Lincoln could not have proposed +Union without requiring emancipation, also. And yet, with this +limitation, the spirit of the tradition is historic. There can be no +doubt that he presented to the commissioners about the terms which the +year before he had drawn up as a memorandum for Gilmore and Jaquess: +Union, the acceptance of emancipation, but also instantaneous +restoration of political autonomy to the Southern States, and all the +influence of the Administration in behalf of liberal compensation for +the loss of slave property. But the commissioners had no authority to +consider terms that did not recognize the existence of "two countries." +However, this Hampton Roads Conference gave Lincoln a new hope. He +divined, if he did not perceive, that the Confederates were on the verge +of despair. If he had been a Vindictive, this would have borne fruit +in ferocious telegrams to his generals to strike and spare not. What +Lincoln did was to lay before the Cabinet this proposal:--that they +advise Congress to offer the Confederate government the sum of four +hundred million dollars, provided the war end and the States in +secession acknowledge the authority of the Federal government previous +to April 1, 1865. But the Cabinet, complete as was his domination in +some respects, were not ripe for such a move as this. "'You are all +against me,' said Lincoln sadly and in evident surprise at the want of +statesmanlike liberality on the part of the executive council," to +quote his Secretary, "folded and laid away the draft of his message."(5) +Nicolay believes that the idea continued vividly in his mind and that it +may be linked with his last public utterance--"it may be my duty to make +some new announcement to the people of the South. I am considering and +shall not fail to act when satisfied that action is proper." + +It was now obvious to every one outside the Confederacy that the war +would end speedily in a Northern victory. To Lincoln, therefore, the +duty of the moment, overshadowing all else, was the preparation for +what should come after. Reconstruction. More than ever it was of first +importance to decide whether the President or Congress should deal with +this great matter. And now occurred an event which bore witness at once +to the beginning of Lincoln's final struggle with the Vindictives and to +that personal ascendency which was steadily widening. One of those three +original Jacobins agreed to become his spokesman in the Senate. As the +third person of the Jacobin brotherhood, Lyman Trumbull had always been +out of place. He had gone wrong not from perversity of the soul but from +a mental failing, from the lack of inherent light, from intellectual +conventionality. But he was a good man. One might apply to him Mrs. +Browning's line: "Just a good man made a great man." And in his case, as +in so many others, sheer goodness had not been sufficient in the midst +of a revolution to save his soul. To quote one of the greatest of the +observers of human life: "More brains, O Lord, more brains." Though +Trumbull had the making of an Intellectual, politics had very nearly +ruined him. For all his good intentions it took him a long time to +see what Hawthorne saw at first sight-that Lincoln was both a powerful +character and an original mind. Still, because Trumbull was really a +good man, he found a way to recover his soul. What his insight was not +equal to perceiving in 1861, experience slowly made plain to him in +the course of the next three years. Before 1865 he had broken with +the Vindictives; he had come over to Lincoln. Trumbull still held the +powerful office of Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. He now +undertook to be the President's captain in a battle on the floor of the +Senate for the recognition of Louisiana. + +The new government in Louisiana had been in actual operation for nearly +a year. Though Congress had denounced it; though the Manifesto had held +it up to scorn as a monarchial outrage; Lincoln had quietly, steadily, +protected and supported it. It was discharging the function of a regular +State government. A governor had been elected and inaugurated-that +Governor Hahn whom Lincoln had congratulated as Louisiana's first Free +State Governor. He could say this because the new electorate which his +mandate had created had assembled a constitutional convention and had +abolished slavery. And it had also carried out the President's views +with regard to the political status of freedmen. Lincoln was not a +believer in general negro suffrage. He was as far as ever from the +theorizing of the Abolitionists. The most he would approve was the +bestowal of suffrage on a few Superior negroes, leaving the rest to +be gradually educated into citizenship. The Louisiana Convention had +authorized the State Legislature to make, when it felt prepared to do +so, such a limited extension of suffrage.(6) + +In setting up this new government, Lincoln had created a political +vessel in which practically all the old electorate of Louisiana could +find their places the moment they gave up the war and accepted the two +requisites, union and emancipation. That electorate could proceed at +once to rebuild the social-political order of the State without any +interval of "expiation." All the power of the Administration would +be with them in their labors. That this was the wise as well as the +generous way to proceed, the best minds of the North had come to see. +Witness the conversion of Trumbull. But there were four groups of +fanatics who were dangerous: extreme Abolitionists who clamored for +negro equality; men like Wade and Chandler, still mad with the lust of +conquest, raging at the President who had stood so resolutely between +them and their desire; the machine politicians who could never +understand the President's methods, who regarded him as an officious +amateur; and the Little Men who would have tried to make political +capital of the blowing of the last trump. All these, each for a separate +motive, attacked the President because of Louisiana. + +The new government had chosen Senators. Here was a specific issue over +which the Administration and its multiform opposition might engage in a +trial of strength. The Senate had it in its power to refuse to seat the +Louisiana Senators. Could the Vindictive leaders induce it to go to +that length? The question took its natural course of reference to the +Judiciary Committee. On the eighteenth of February, Trumbull opened what +was destined to be a terrible chapter in American history, the struggle +between light and darkness over reconstruction. Trumbull had ranged +behind Lincoln the majority of his committee. With its authority he +moved a joint resolution recognizing the new government of Louisiana. + +And then began a battle royal. Trumbull's old associates were promptly +joined by Sumner. These three rallied against the resolution all the +malignancy, all the time-serving, all the stupidity, which the Senate +possessed. Bitter language was exchanged by men who had formerly been as +thick as thieves. + +"You and I," thundered Wade, "did not differ formerly on this subject +We considered it a mockery, a miserable mockery, to recognize this +Louisiana organization as a State in the Union." He sneered fiercely, +"Whence comes this new-born zeal of the Senator from Illinois? . . . +Sir, it is the most miraculous conversion that has taken place since +Saint Paul's time."(7) + +Wade did not spare the President. Metaphorically speaking, he shook a +fist in his face, the fist of a merciless old giant "When the foundation +of this government is sought to be swept away by executive usurpation, +it will not do to turn around to me and say this comes from a President +I helped to elect. . . . If the President of the United States operating +through his major generals can initiate a State government, and can +bring it here and force us, compel us, to receive on this floor these +mere mockeries, these men of straw who represent nobody, your Republic +is at an end . . . talk not to me of your ten per cent. principle. A +more absurd, monarchial and anti-American principle was never announced +on God's earth."(8) + +Amidst a rain of furious personalities, Lincoln's spokesman kept his +poise. It was sorely tried by two things: by Sumner's frank use of +every device of parliamentary obstruction with a view to wearing out the +patience of the Senate, and by the cynical alliance, in order to balk +Lincoln, of the Vindictives with the Democrats. What they would not risk +in 1862 when their principles had to wait upon party needs, they now +considered safe strategy. And if ever the Little Men deserved +their label it was when they played into the hands of the terrible +Vindictives, thus becoming responsible for the rejection of Lincoln's +plan of reconstruction. Trumbull upbraided Sumner for "associating +himself with those whom he so often denounced, for the purpose of +calling the yeas and nays and making dilatory motions" to postpone +action until the press of other business should compel the Senate to set +the resolution aside. Sumner's answer was that he would employ +against the measure every instrument he could find "in the arsenal of +parliamentary warfare." + +With the aid of the Democrats, the Vindictives carried the day. The +resolution was "dispensed with."(9) + +As events turned out it was a catastrophe. But this was not apparent at +the time. Though Lincoln had been beaten for the moment, the opposition +was made up of so many and such irreconcilable elements that as long as +he could hold together his own following, there was no reason to suppose +he would not in the long run prevail. He was never in a firmer, more +self-contained mood than on the last night of the session.(10) Again, +as on that memorable fourth of July, eight months before, he was in his +room at the Capitol signing the last-minute bills. Stanton was with +him. On receiving a telegram from Grant, the Secretary handed it to +the President Grant reported that Lee had proposed a conference for +the purpose of "a satisfactory adjustment of the present unhappy +difficulties by means of a military convention." Without asking for the +Secretary's opinion, Lincoln wrote out a reply which he directed him to +sign and despatch immediately. "The President directs me to say that he +wishes you to have no conference with General Lee, unless it be for the +capitulation of General Lee's army, or on some minor or purely military +matter. He instructs me to say that you are not to decide, discuss, or +confer upon any political questions, such questions the President holds +in his own hands and will submit them to no military conferences or +conventions. Meanwhile, you are to press to the utmost your military +advantages."(11) + +In the second inaugural (12) delivered the next day, there is not the +faintest shadow of anxiety. It breathes a lofty confidence as if his +soul was gazing meditatively downward upon life, and upon his own work, +from a secure height. The world has shown a sound instinct in fixing +upon one expression, "with malice toward none, with charity for all," as +the key-note of the final Lincoln. These words form the opening line +of that paragraph of unsurpassable prose in which the second inaugural +culminates: + +"With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the +right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the +work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds; to care for him who +shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and his orphan, to do all +which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves, +and with all nations." + + + + +XXXVI. PREPARING A DIFFERENT WAR + +During the five weeks which remained to Lincoln on earth, the army was +his most obvious concern. He watched eagerly the closing of the enormous +trap that had been slowly built up surrounding Lee. Toward the end of +March he went to the front, and for two weeks had his quarters on a +steamer at City Point. It was during Lincoln's visit that Sherman came +up from North Carolina for his flying conference with Grant, in which +the President took part. Lincoln was at City Point when Petersburg fell. +Early on the morning of April third, he joined Grant who gives a strange +glimpse in his Memoirs of their meeting in the deserted city which so +recently had been the last bulwark of the Confederacy.(1) The same day, +Richmond fell. Lincoln had returned to City Point, and on the following +day when confusion reigned in the burning city, he walked through its +streets attended only by a few sailors and by four friends. He visited +Libby Prison; and when a member of his party said that Davis ought to +be hanged, Lincoln replied, "Judge not that ye be not judged."(2) His +deepest thoughts, however, were not with the army. The time was at hand +when his statesmanship was to be put to its most severe test. He had +not forgotten the anxious lesson of that success of the Vindictives +in balking momentarily the recognition of Louisiana. It was war to the +knife between him and them. Could he reconstruct the Union in a wise and +merciful fashion despite their desperate opposition? + +He had some strong cards in his hand. First of all, he had time. +Congress was not in session. He had eight months in which to press +forward his own plans. If, when Congress assembled the following +December, it should be confronted by a group of reconciled Southern +States, would it venture to refuse them recognition? No one could have +any illusions as to what the Vindictives would try to do. They would +continue the struggle they had begun over Louisiana; and if their power +permitted, they would rouse the nation to join battle with the President +on that old issue of the war powers, of the dictatorship. + +But in Lincoln's hand there were four other cards, all of which Wade +and Chandler would find it hard to match. He had the army. In the last +election the army had voted for him enthusiastically. And the army was +free from the spirit of revenge, the Spirit which Chandler built upon. +They had the plain people, the great mass whom the machine politicians +had failed to judge correctly in the August Conspiracy. Pretty +generally, he had the Intellectuals. Lastly, he had--or with skilful +generalship he could have--the Abolitionists. + +The Thirteenth Amendment was not yet adopted. The question had been +raised, did it require three-fourths of all the States for its adoption, +or only three-fourths of those that were ranked as not in rebellion. +Here was the issue by means of which the Abolitionists might all be +brought into line. It was by no means certain that every Northern State +would vote for the amendment. In the smaller group of States, there was +a chance that the amendment might fail. But if it were submitted to the +larger group; and if every Reconstructed State, before Congress met, +should adopt the amendment; and if it was apparent that with these +Southern adoptions the amendment must prevail, all the great power of +the anti-slavery sentiment would be thrown on the side of the President +in favor of recognizing the new State governments and against the +Vindictives. Lincoln held a hand of trumps. Confidently, but not rashly, +he looked forward to his peaceful war with the Vindictives. + +They were enemies not to be despised. To begin with, they were +experienced machine politicians; they had control of well-organized +political rings. They were past masters of the art of working up popular +animosities. And they were going to use this art in that dangerous +moment of reaction which invariably follows the heroic tension of a +great war. The alignment in the Senate revealed by the Louisiana battle +had also a significance. The fact that Sumner, who was not quite one of +them, became their general on that occasion, was something to remember. +They had made or thought they had made other powerful allies. The Vice +President, Andrew Johnson-the new president of the Senate-appeared at +this time to be cheek by jowl with the fiercest Vindictives of them all. +It would be interesting to know when the thought first occurred to them: +"If anything should happen to Lincoln, his successor would be one of +us!" + +The ninth of April arrived and the news of Lee's surrender. + +"The popular excitement over the victory was such that on Monday, the +tenth, crowds gathered before the Executive Mansion several times during +the day and called out the President for speeches. Twice he responded +by coming to the window and saying a few words which, however, indicated +that his mind was more occupied with work than with exuberant rejoicing. +As briefly as he could he excused himself, but promised that on the +following evening for which a formal demonstration was being arranged, +he would be prepared to say something."(3) + +The paper which he read to the crowd that thronged the grounds of +the White House on the night of April eleventh, was his last public +utterance. It was also one of his most remarkable ones. In a way, it +was his declaration of war against the Vindictives.(4) It is the final +statement of a policy toward helpless opponents--he refused to call them +enemies--which among the conquerors of history is hardly, if at all, to +be paralleled.(5) + +"By these recent successes the reinauguration of the national +authority--reconstruction--which has had a large share of thought from the +first, is pressed more closely upon our attention. It is fraught with +great difficulty. Unlike a case of war between independent nations, +there is no authorized organ for us to treat with-no one man has +authority to give up the rebellion for any other man. We simply must +begin with, and mould from, disorganized and discordant elements. Nor +is it a small additional embarrassment that we, the loyal people, differ +among ourselves as to the mode, manner and measure of reconstruction. +As a general rule, I abstain from reading the reports of attacks upon +myself, wishing not to be provoked by that to which I can not properly +offer an answer. In spite of this precaution, however, it comes to my +knowledge that I am much censured for some supposed agency in setting up +and seeking to sustain the new State government of Louisiana." + +He reviewed in full the history of the Louisiana experiment From that he +passed to the theories put forth by some of his enemies with regard to +the constitutional status of the Seceded States. His own theory that +the States never had been out of the Union because constitutionally +they could not go out, that their governmental functions had merely been +temporarily interrupted; this theory had always been roundly derided by +the Vindictives and even by a few who were not Vindictives. Sumner had +preached the idea that the Southern States by attempting to secede had +committed "State suicide" and should now be treated as Territories. +Stevens and the Vindictives generally, while avoiding Sumner's subtlety, +called them "conquered provinces." And all these wanted to take them +from under the protection of the President and place them helpless at +the feet of Congress. To prevent this is the purpose that shines between +the lines in the latter part of Lincoln's valedictory: + +"We all agree that the Seceded States, so called, are out of their +proper practical relation with the Union, and that the sole object of +the government, civil and military, in regard to those States, is to +again get them into that proper practical relation. I believe that it +is not only possible, but in fact easier, to do this without deciding or +even considering whether these States have ever been out of the Union, +than with it Finding themselves safely at home, it would be utterly +immaterial whether they had ever been abroad. Let us all join in doing +the acts necessary to restoring the proper practical relations between +these States and the Union, and each forever after innocently indulge +his own opinion whether in doing the acts he brought the States from +without into the Union, or only gave them proper assistance, they never +having been out of it. The amount of constituency, so to speak, on which +the new Louisiana government rests would be more satisfactory to all +if it contained 50,000 or 30,000, or even 20,000 instead of only about +12,000, as it does. It is also unsatisfactory to some that the elective +franchise is not given to the colored man. I would myself prefer that it +were now conferred on the very intelligent, and on those who served our +cause as soldiers. + +"Still, the question is not whether the Louisiana government, as it +stands, is quite all that is desirable. The question is, will it be +wiser to take it as it is and help to improve it, or to reject and +disperse it? Can Louisiana be brought into proper practical relation +with the Union sooner by sustaining or by discarding her new State +government? Some twelve thousand voters in the heretofore slave State of +Louisiana have sworn allegiance to the Union, assumed to be the +rightful political power of the State, held elections, organized a State +government, adopted a free State constitution, giving the benefit of +public schools equally to black and white and empowering the Legislature +to confer the elective franchise upon the colored man. Their Legislature +has already voted to ratify the constitutional amendment recently passed +by Congress abolishing slavery throughout the nation. These 12,000 +persons are thus fully committed to the Union and to perpetual freedom +in the State--committed to the very things, and nearly all the things, +the nation wants--and they ask the nation's recognition and its +assistance to make good their committal. + +"Now, if we reject and spurn them, we do our utmost to disorganize and +disperse them. We, in effect, say to the white man: You are worthless or +worse; we will neither help you nor be helped by you. To the blacks we +say: This cup of liberty which these, your old masters, hold to your +lips we will dash from you and leave you to the chances of gathering the +spilled and scattered contents in some vague and undefined when, where +and how. If this course, discouraging and paralyzing both white and +black, has any tendency to bring Louisiana into proper practical +relations with the Union, I have so far been unable to perceive it. +If, on the contrary, we recognize and sustain the new government of +Louisiana, the converse of all this is made true. We encourage the +hearts and nerve the arms of 12,000 to adhere to their work, and argue +for it, and proselyte for it, and fight for it, and feed it, and grow +it, and ripen it to a complete success. The colored man, too, in seeing +all united for him, is inspired with vigilance and energy, and daring, +to the same end. Grant that he desires the elective franchise, will he +not attain it sooner by saving the already advanced steps toward it +than by running backward over them? Concede that the new government of +Louisiana is only to what it should be as the egg is to the fowl, we +shall sooner have the fowl by hatching the egg than by smashing it. + +"Again, if we reject Louisiana, we also reject one vote in favor of +the proposed amendment to the national Constitution. To meet this +proposition it has been argued that no more than three-fourths of those +States which have not attempted secession are necessary to validly +ratify the amendment I do not commit myself against this further than +to say that such a ratification would be questionable, and sure to be +persistently questioned, while a ratification by three-fourths of +all the States would be unquestioned and unquestionable. I repeat the +question: Can Louisiana be brought into proper practical relation +with the Union sooner by sustaining or by discarding her new State +government? What has been said of Louisiana will apply generally to +other States. And yet so great peculiarities pertain to each State, and +such important and sudden changes occur in the same State, and with also +new and unprecedented is the whole case that no exclusive and inflexible +plan can safely be prescribed as to details and collaterals. Such +exclusive and inflexible plan would surely become a new entanglement. +Important principles may and must be inflexible. In the present +situation, as the phrase goes, it may be my duty to make some new +announcement to the people of the South. I am considering and shall not +fail to act when satisfied that action will be proper." + + + + +XXXVII. FATE INTERPOSES + +There was an early spring on the Potomac in 1865. While April was still +young, the Judas trees became spheres of purply, pinkish bloom. The +Washington parks grew softly bright as the lilacs opened. Pendulous +willows veiled with green laces afloat in air the changing brown that +was winter's final shadow; in the Virginia woods the white blossoms +of the dogwood seemed to float and flicker among the windy trees like +enormous flocks of alighting butterflies. And over head such a glitter +of turquoise blue! As lovely in a different way as on that fateful +Sun-day morning when Russell drove through the same woods toward Bull +Run so long, long ago. Such was the background of the last few days of +Lincoln's life. + +Though tranquil, his thoughts dwelt much on death. While at City Point, +he drove one day with Mrs. Lincoln along the banks of the James. They +passed a country graveyard. "It was a retired place," said Mrs. Lincoln +long afterward, "shaded by trees, and early spring flowers were opening +on nearly every grave. It was so quiet and attractive that we stopped +the carriage and walked through it. Mr. Lincoln seemed thoughtful and +impressed. He said: 'Mary, you are younger than I; you will survive me. +When I am gone, lay my remains in some quiet place like this.'"(1) + +His mood underwent a mysterious change. It was serene and yet charged +with a peculiar grave loftiness not quite like any phase of him his +friends had known hitherto. As always, his thoughts turned for their +reflection to Shakespeare. Sumner who was one of the party at City +Point, was deeply impressed by his reading aloud, a few days before his +death, that passage in Macbeth which describes the ultimate security of +Duncan where nothing evil "can touch him farther."(2) + +There was something a little startling, as if it were not quite of this +world, in the tender lightness that seemed to come into his heart. "His +whole appearance, poise and bearing," says one of his observers, "had +marvelously changed. He was, in fact, transfigured. That indescribable +sadness which had previously seemed to be an adamantine element of +his very being, had been suddenly changed for an equally indescribable +expression of serene joy, as if conscious that the great purpose of his +life had been achieved."(3) + +It was as if the seer in the trance had finally passed beyond his +trance; and had faced smiling toward his earthly comrades, imagining he +was to return to them; unaware that somehow his emergence was not in the +ordinary course of nature; that in it was an accent of the inexplicable, +something which the others caught and at which they trembled; though +they knew not why. And he, so beautifully at peace, and yet thrilled as +never before by the vision of the murdered Duncan at the end of life's +fitful fever--what was his real feeling, his real vision of himself? +Was it something of what the great modern poet strove so bravely to +express-- + + "And yet Dauntless the slughorn to my lips I set, + And blew: Childe Roland to the dark tower came." + +Shortly before the end, he had a strange dream. Though he spoke of it +almost with levity, it would not leave his thoughts. He dreamed he +was wandering through the White House at night; all the rooms were +brilliantly lighted; but they were empty. However, through that unreal +solitude floated a sound of weeping. When he came to the East Room, it +was explained; there was a catafalque, the pomp of a military funeral, +crowds of people in tears; and a voice said to him, "The President has +been assassinated." + +He told this dream to Lamon and to Mrs. Lincoln. He added that after +it had occurred, "the first time I opened the Bible, strange as it may +appear, it was at the twenty-eighth chapter of Genesis which relates +the wonderful dream Jacob had. I turned to other passages and seemed to +encounter a dream or a vision wherever I looked. I kept on turning +the leaves of the Old Book, and everywhere my eye fell upon +passages recording matters strangely in keeping with my own +thoughts--supernatural visitations, dreams, visions, etc." + +But when Lamon seized upon this as text for his recurrent sermon on +precautions against assassination, Lincoln turned the matter into a +joke. He did not appear to interpret the dream as foreshadowing his own +death. He called Lamon's alarm "downright foolishness."(4) + +Another dream in the last night of his life was a consolation. He +narrated it to the Cabinet when they met on April fourteenth, which +happened to be Good Friday. There was some anxiety with regard to +Sherman's movements in North Carolina. Lincoln bade the Cabinet set +their minds at rest. His dream of the night before was one that he +had often had. It was a presage of great events. In this dream he saw +himself "in a singular and indescribable vessel, but always the same... +moving with great rapidity toward a dark and indefinite shore." This +dream had preceded all the great events of the war. He believed it was a +good omen.(5) + +At this last Cabinet meeting, he talked freely of the one matter which +in his mind overshadowed all others. He urged his Ministers to put +aside all thoughts of hatred and revenge. "He hoped there would be no +persecution, no bloody work, after the war was over. None need expect +him to take any part in hanging or killing these men, even the worst of +them. 'Frighten them out of the country, let down the bars, scare them +off,' said he, throwing up his hands as if scaring sheep. Enough lives +have been sacrificed. We must extinguish our resentment if we expect +harmony and union. There was too much desire on the part of our very +good friends to be masters, to interfere and dictate to those States, +to treat the people not as fellow citizens; there was too little respect +for their rights. He didn't sympathize in these feelings."(6) + +There was a touch of irony in his phase "our very good friends." Before +the end of the next day, the men he had in mind, the inner group of +the relentless Vindictives, were to meet in council, scarcely able to +conceal their inspiring conviction that Providence had intervened, had +judged between him and them.(7) And that allusion to the "rights" of the +vanquished! How abominable it was in the ears of the grim Chandler, the +inexorable Wade. Desperate these men and their followers were on the +fourteenth of April, but defiant. To the full measure of their power +they would fight the President to the last ditch. And always in their +minds, the tormenting thought-if only positions could be reversed, if +only Johnson, whom they believed to be one of them at heart, were in the +first instead of the second place! + +While these unsparing sons of thunder were growling among themselves, +the lions that were being cheated of their prey, Lincoln was putting his +merciful temper into a playful form. General Creswell applied to him for +pardon for an old friend of his who had joined the Confederate Army. + +"Creswell," said Lincoln, "you make me think of a lot of young folks who +once started out Maying. To reach their destination, they had to cross +a shallow stream and did so by means of an old flat boat when the +time came to return, they found to their dismay that the old scow had +disappeared. They were in sore trouble and thought over all manner of +devices for getting over the water, but without avail. After a time, one +of the boys proposed that each fellow should pick up the girl he liked +best and wade over with her. The masterly proposition was carried out +until all that were left upon the island was a little short chap and a +great, long, gothic-built, elderly lady. Now, Creswell, you are trying +to leave me in the same predicament. You fellows are all getting your +own friends out of this scrape, and you will succeed in carrying off one +after another until nobody but Jeff Davis and myself will be left on the +island, and then I won't know what to do--How should I feel? How should +I look lugging him over? I guess the way to avoid such an embarrassing +situation is to let all out at once."(8) + +The President refused, this day, to open his doors to the throng of +visitors that sought admission. His eldest son, Robert, an officer in +Grant's army, had returned from the front unharmed. Lincoln wished to +reserve the day for his family and intimate friends. In the afternoon, +Mrs. Lincoln asked him if he cared to have company on their usual drive. +"No, Mary," said he, "I prefer that we ride by ourselves to-day."(9) +They took a long drive. His mood, as it had been all day, was singularly +happy and tender.(10) He talked much of the past and the future. It +seemed to Mrs. Lincoln that he never had appeared happier than during +the drive. He referred to past sorrows, to the anxieties of the war, to +Willie's death, and spoke of the necessity to be cheerful and happy in +the days to come. As Mrs. Lincoln remembered his words: "We have had +a hard time since we came to Washington; but the war is over, and with +God's blessings, we may hope for four years of peace and happiness, +and then we will go back to Illinois and pass the rest of our lives in +quiet. We have laid by some money, and during this time, we will save +up more, but shall not have enough to support us. We will go back +to Illinois; I will open a law office at Springfield or Chicago and +practise law, and at least do enough to help give us a livelihood."(11) + +They returned from their drive and prepared for a theatre party which +had been fixed for that night. The management of the Ford's Theatre, +where Laura Keene was to close her season with a benefit performance +of Our American Cousin, had announced in the afternoon paper that "the +President and his lady" would attend. The President's box had been +draped with flags. The rest is a twice told tale--a thousandth told +tale. + +An actor, very handsome, a Byronic sort, both in beauty and temperament, +with a dash perhaps of insanity, John Wilkes Booth, had long meditated +killing the President. A violent secessionist, his morbid imagination +had made of Lincoln another Caesar. The occasion called for a Brutus. +While Lincoln was planning his peaceful war with the Vindictives, +scheming how to keep them from grinding the prostrate South beneath +their heels, devising modes of restoring happiness to the conquered +region, Booth, at an obscure boarding-house in Washington, was gathering +about him a band of adventurers, some of whom at least, like himself, +were unbalanced. They meditated a general assassination of the Cabinet. +The unexpected theatre party on the fourteenth gave Booth a sudden +opportunity. He knew every passage of Ford's Theatre. He knew, +also, that Lincoln seldom surrounded himself with guards. During the +afternoon, he made his way unobserved into the theatre and bored a hole +in the door of the presidential box, so that he might fire through it +should there be any difficulty in getting the door open. + +About ten o'clock that night, the audience was laughing at the absurd +play; the President's party were as much amused as any. Suddenly, there +was a pistol shot. A moment more and a woman's voice rang out in a sharp +cry. An instant sense of disaster brought the audience startled to +their feet. Two men were glimpsed struggling toward the front of the +President's box. One broke away, leaped down on to the stage, flourished +a knife and shouted, "Sic semper tyrannis!" Then he vanished through the +flies. It was Booth, whose plans had been completely successful. He had +made his way without interruption to within a few feet of Lincoln. At +point-blank distance, he had shot him from behind, through the head. In +the confusion which ensued, he escaped from the theatre; fled from the +city; was pursued; and was himself shot and killed a few days later. + +The bullet of the assassin had entered the brain, causing instant +unconsciousness. The dying President was removed to a house on Tenth +Street, No. 453, where he was laid on a bed in a small room at the rear +of the hall on the ground floor.(12) + +Swift panic took possession of the city. "A crowd of people rushed +instinctively to the White House, and bursting through the doors, +shouted the dreadful news to Robert Lincoln and Major Hay who sat +gossiping in an upper room. . . . They ran down-stairs. Finding a +carriage at the door, they entered it and drove to Tenth Street."(13) + +To right and left eddied whirls of excited figures, men and women +questioning, threatening, crying out for vengeance. Overhead amid +driving clouds, the moon, through successive mantlings of darkness, +broke periodically into sudden blazes of light; among the startled +people below, raced a witches' dance of the rapidly changing +shadows.(14) + +Lincoln did not regain consciousness. About dawn his pulse began to +fail. A little later, "a look of unspeakable peace came over his worn +features"(15), and at twenty-two minutes after seven on the morning of +the fifteenth of April, he died. + +THE END + + + + +BIBLIOGRAPHY + +It is said that a complete bibliography of Lincoln would include at +least five thousand titles. Therefore, any limited bibliography must +appear more or less arbitrary. The following is but a minimum list in +which, with a few exceptions such as the inescapable interpretative +works of Mr. Rhodes and of Professor Dunning, practically everything has +to some extent the character of a source. + +Alexander. A Political History of the State of New York. By De Alva +Stanwood Alexander. 3 vols. 1909. + +Arnold. History of Abraham Lincoln and the Overthrow of Slavery. By +Isaac N. Arnold. 1866. + +Baldwin. Interview between President Lincoln and Colonel John B. +Baldwin. 1866. + +Bancroft. Life of William H. Seward. By Frederick Bancroft. 2 vols. +1900. + +Barnes. Memoir of Thurlow Weed. By Thurlow Weed Barnes. 1884. + +Barton. The Soul of Abraham Lincoln. By William Eleazar Barton. 1920. + +Bigelow. Retrospections of an Active Life. By John Bigelow. 2 vols. +1909. + +Blaine. Twenty Years of Congress. By James G. Blaine. 2 vols. 1884. + +Botts. The Great Rebellion. By John Minor Botts. 1866. + +Boutwell. Reminiscences of Sixty Years in Public Affairs. By George S. +Boutwell 2 vols. 1902. + +Bradford. Union Portraits. By Gamaliel Bradford. 1916. + +Brooks. Washington in Lincoln's Time. By Noah Brooks, 1895. + +Carpenter. Six Months at the White House with Abraham Lincoln. By F. B. +Carpenter. 1866. + +Chandler. Life of Zachary Chandler. By the Detroit Post and Tribune. +1880. + +Chapman. Latest Light on Abraham Lincoln. By Ervin Chapman. 1917. The +Charleston Mercury. + +Chase. Diary and Correspondence of Salmon Chase. Report, American +Historical Association, 1902, Vol. II. + +Chittenden. Recollections of President Lincoln and His Administration. +By L. Chittenden. 1891. + +Coleman. Life of John J. Crittenden, with Selections from his +Correspondence and Speeches. By Ann Mary Coleman. 2 vols. 1871. + +Conway. Autobiography, Memories and Experiences of Moncure Daniel +Conway. 2 vols. 1904. + +Correspondence. The Correspondence of Robert Toombs, Alexander H. +Stephens, and Howell Cobb. Edited by U. B. Phillips. Report American +Historical Association, 1913, Vol. II. + +Crawford. The Genesis of the Civil War. By Samuel Wylie Crawford. 1887. + +C. W. Report of the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War. 1863. + +Dabney. Memoir of a Narrative Received from Colonel John B. Baldwin, of +Staunton, touching the Origin of the War. By Reverend R. L. Dabney, D. +D., Southern Historical Society Papers, Vol. 1. 1876. + +Davis. Rise and Fail of the Confederate Government. By Jefferson Davis. +2 vols. 1881. + +Dunning. Essays on the Civil War and Reconstruction and Related Topics. +By William A. Dunning. 1898. + +Field. Life of David Dudley Field. By Henry M. Field. 1898. + +Flower. Edwin McMasters Stanton. By Frank Abial Flower. 1902. + +Fry. Military Miscellanies. By James B. Fry. 1889. + +Galaxy. The History of Emancipation. By Gideon Welles. The Galaxy, XIV, +838-851. + +Gilmore. Personal Recollections of Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War. By +James R. Gilmore. 1899. + +Gilmore, Atlantic. A Suppressed Chapter of History. By James R. Gilmore, +Atlantic Monthly, April, 1887. + +Globe. Congressional Globe, Containing the Debates and Proceedings. +1834-1873. + +Godwin. Biography of William Cullen Bryant. By Parke Godwin. + +1883. Gore. The Boyhood of Abraham Lincoln. By J. Rogers Gore. 1921. + +Gorham. Life and Public Services of Edwin M. Stanton. By George C. +Gorham. 2 vols. 1899. + +Grant. Personal Memoirs. By Ulysses S. Grant. 2 vols. 1886. + +Greeley. The American Conflict. By Horace Greeley. 2 vols. 1864-1867. + +Gurowski. Diary from March 4, 1861, to November 12, 1862. By Adam +Gurowski. 1862. + +Hanks. Nancy Hanks. By Caroline Hanks Hitchcock. 1900. + +Harris. Public Life of Zachary Chandler. By W. C. Harris, Michigan +Historical Commission. 1917. + +Hart. Salmon Portland Chase. By Albert Bushnell Hart. 1899. + +Hay MS. Diary of John Hay. The war period is covered by three volumes +of manuscript. Photostat copies in the library of the Massachusetts +Historical Society, accessible only by special permission. + +Hay, Century. Life in the White House in the Time of Lincoln. By John +Hay, Century Magazine, November, 1890. + +The New York Herald. + +Herndon. Herndon's Lincoln. The True Story of a Great Life: The History +and Personal Recollections of Abraham Lincoln. By W. H. Herndon and J. +W. Weik. 3 vols. (paged continuously). 1890. + +Hill. Lincoln the Lawyer. By Frederick Trevers Hill 1906. + +Hitchcock. Fifty Years in Camp and Field. Diary of Major-General Ethan +Allen Hitchcock, U. S. A. Edited by W. Croffut. 1909. + +Johnson. Stephen A. Douglas. By Allen Johnson. 1908. + +The Journal of the Virginia Convention. 1861. + +Julian. Political Recollections 1840-1872. By George W. Julian. 1884. + +Kelley. Lincoln and Stanton. By W. D. Kelley. 1885. + +Lamon. The Life of Abraham Lincoln. By Ward H. Lamon. 1872. + +Letters. Uncollected Letters of Abraham Lincoln. Now first brought +together by Gilbert A. Tracy. 1917. + +Lieber. Life and Letters of Francis Lieber. Edited by Thomas S. Perry, +1882. + +Lincoln. Complete Works of Abraham Lincoln. Edited by John G. Nicolay +and John Hay. 2 vols. New and enlarged edition. 12 volumes. 1905. (All +references here are to the Colter edition.) + +McCarthy. Lincoln's Plan of Reconstruction. By Charles M. McCarthy, +1901. + +McClure. Abraham Lincoln and Men of War Times. By A. K. McClure. 1892. + +Merriam. Life and Times of Samuel Bowles. By G. S. Merriam. 2 vols. +1885. + +Munford. Virginia's Attitude toward Slavery and Secession. By Beverley +B. Munford. 1910. + +Moore. A Digest of International Law. By John Bassett Moore. 8 vols. +1906. + +Newton. Lincoln and Herndon. By Joseph Fort Newton. 1910. + +Nicolay. A Short Life of Abraham Lincoln. By John G. Nicolay. 1902. + +Nicolay, Cambridge. The Cambridge Modern History: Volume VII. + +The United States. By various authors. 1903. + +Miss Nicolay. Personal Traits of Abraham Lincoln. By Helen Nicolay. +1912. + +N. and H. Abraham Lincoln: A History. By John G. Nicolay and John Hay. +10 vols. 1890. + +N. P. Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies. First +series. 27 vols. 1895-1917. + +O. P. Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. 128 vols. +1880-1901. + +Outbreak. The Outbreak of the Rebellion. By John G. Nicolay. 1881. + +Own Story. McClellan's Own Story. By George B. McClellan. 1887. + +Paternity. The Paternity of Abraham Lincoln. By William Eleazer Barton. +1920. + +Pearson. Life of John A. Andrew. By Henry G. Pearson. 2 vols. 1904. + +Pierce. Memoirs and Letters of Charles Sumner. By Edward Lillie Pierce. +4 vols. 1877-1893. + +Porter. In Memory of General Charles P. Stone. By Fitz John Porter. +1887. + +Public Man. Diary of a Public Man. Anonymous. North American Review. +1879. + +Rankin. Personal Recollections of Abraham Lincoln. By Henry B. Rankin. +1916. + +Raymond. Journal of Henry J. Raymond. Edited by Henry W. Raymond. +Scribner's Magazine. 1879-1880. + +Recollections. Recollections of Abraham Lincoln. By Ward Hill Lamon. +1911. + +Reminiscences. Reminiscences of Abraham Lincoln, by Distinguished + +Men of his Time. Edited by Allen Thorndyke Rice. 1886. + +Report of the Joint Committee on Reconstruction, first session, +Thirty-Ninth Congress. + +Rhodes. History of the United States from the Compromise of 1850. By +James Ford Rhodes. 8 vols. 1893-1920. + +Riddle. Recollections of War Times. By A. G. Riddle. 1895. + +Schrugham. The Peaceful Americans of 1860. By Mary Schrugham. 1922. + +Schure. Speeches, Correspondence and Political Papers of Carl Schure. +Selected and edited by Frederick Bancroft. 1913. + +Scott. Memoirs of Lieutenant General Scott, LL.D. Written by himself. +2 vols. 1864. + +Seward. Works of William H. Seward. 5 vols. 1884. + +Sherman. Memoirs of William T. Sherman. By himself. 2 vols. 1886. +Sherman Letters. + +Letters of John Sherman and W. T. Sherman. Edited by Rachel Sherman +Thorndike. 1894. + +Southern Historical Society Papers. + +Stephens. Constitutional View of the Late War between the States. By +Alexander H. Stephens. 2 vols. 1869-1870. + +Stoddard. Inside the White House in War Times. By William O. Stoddard. +1890. + +Stories. "Abe" Lincoln's Yarns and Stories. With introduction and +anecdotes by Colonel Alexander McClure. 1901. + +The New York Sun. + +Swinton. Campaigns of the Army of the Potomac. By William Swinton. 1866. + +Tarbell. The Life of Abraham Lincoln. By Ida M. Tarbell. New edition. 2 +vols. 1917. + +Thayer. The Life and Letters of John Hay. By William Roscoe Thayer. 2 +vols. 1915. + +The New York Times. + +The New York Tribune. + +Tyler. Letters and Times of the Tylers. By Lyon G. Tyler. 3 vols. +1884-1896. + +Van Santvoord. A Reception by President Lincoln. By C. J. Van Santvoord. +Century Magazine, Feb., 1883. + +Villard. Memoirs of Henry Villard. 2 vols. 1902. + +Wade. Life of Benjamin F. Wade. By A. G. Riddle. 1886. + +Warden. Account of the Private Life and Public Services of Salmon +Portland Chase. By R. B. Warden. 1874. + +Welles. Diary of Gideon Welles. Edited by J. T. Morse, Jr. 3 vols. 1911. + +White. Life of Lyman Trumbull. By Horace White. 1913. + +Woodburn. The Life of Thaddeus Stevens. By James Albert Woodburn. 1913. + + + + +NOTES + +I. THE CHILD OF THE FOREST. + +1. Herndon, 1-7, 11-14; 1, anon, 13; N. and H., 1, 23-27. This is the +version of his origin accepted by Lincoln. He believed that his mother +was the illegitimate daughter of a Virginia planter and traced to that +doubtful source "all the qualities that distinguished him from other +members" of his immediate family. Herndon, 3. His secretaries are silent +upon the subject. Recently the story has been challenged. Mrs. Caroline +Hanks Hitchcock, who identifies the Hanks family of Kentucky with a lost +branch of a New England family, has collected evidence which tends +to show that Nancy was the legitimate daughter of a certain Joseph H. +Hanks, who was father of Joseph the carpenter, and that Nancy was not +the niece but the younger sister of the "uncle" who figures in the +older version, the man with whom Thomas Lincoln worked. Nancy and Thomas +appear to have been cousins through their mothers. Mrs. Hitchcock argues +the case with care and ability in a little book entitled Nancy Hanks. +However, she is not altogether sustained by W. E. Barton, The Paternity +of Abraham Lincoln. + +Scandal has busied itself with the parents of Lincoln in another way. It +has been widely asserted that he was himself illegitimate. A variety of +shameful paternities have been assigned to him, some palpably absurd. +The chief argument of the lovers of this scandal was once the lack of +a known record of the marriage of his parents. Around this fact grew +up the story of a marriage of concealment with Thomas Lincoln as the +easy-going accomplice. The discovery of the marriage record fixing the +date and demonstrating that Abraham must have been the second child gave +this scandal its quietus. N. and H., 1, 23-24; Hanks, 59-67; Herndon, +5-6; Lincoln and Herndon, 321. The last important book on the subject is +Barton, The Paternity of Abraham Lincoln. + +2. N. and H., 1-13. + +3. Lamon, 13; N. and H., 1, 25. + +4. N. and H., 1, 25. + +5. Gore, 221-225. + +6. Herndon, 15. + +7. Gore, 66, 70-74, 79, 83-84, 116, 151-154, 204, 226-230, for all this +group of anecdotes. + +The evidence with regard to all the early part of Lincoln's life is +peculiar in this, that it is reminiscence not written down until the +subject had become famous. Dogmatic certainty with regard to the +details is scarcely possible. The best one can do in weighing any of the +versions of his early days is to inquire closely as to whether all its +parts bang naturally together, whether they really cohere. There is a +body of anecdotes told by an old mountaineer, Austin Gollaher, who knew +Lincoln as a boy, and these have been collected and recently put into +print. Of course, they are not "documented" evidence. Some students are +for brushing them aside. But there is one important argument in their +favor. They are coherent; the boy they describe is a real person and his +personality is sustained. If he is a fiction and not a memory, the old +mountaineer was a literary artist--far more the artist than one finds it +easy to believe. + +8. Gore, 84-95; Lamon, 16; Herndon, 16. + +9. Gore, 181-182, 296, 303-316; Lamon, 19-20; N. and H., I, 28-29. + +II. THE MYSTERIOUS YOUTH. + +1. N. and H., I, 32-34. + +2. Lamon, 33-38, 51-52, 61-63; N. and H., 1, 34-36. + +3. N. and H., 1, 40. + +4. Lamon, 38, 40, 55. + +5. Reminiscences, 54, 428. + +III. A VILLAGE LEADER. + +1. N. and H., 1, 45-46, 70-72; Herndon, 67, 69, 72. + +2. Lamon, 81-82; Herndon, 75-76. + +3. Lincoln, 1, 1-9. + +4. Lamon, 125-126; Herndon, 104. + +5. Herndon, 117-118. + +6. N. and H., 1, 109. + +7. Stories, 94. + +8. Herndon, 118-123. + +9. Lamon, 159-164; Herndon, 128-138; Rankin, 61-95. + +10. Lamon, 164. + +11. Lamon, 164-165; Rankin, 95. + +IV. REVELATIONS. + +1. Riddle, 337. + +2. Herndon, 436. + +3. N. and H., I, 138. + +4. Lincoln, I, 51-52. + +5. McClure, 65. + +6. Herndon, 184.185. + +7. Anon, 172-183; Herndon, 143-150, 161; Lincoln, 1, 87-92. + +8. Gossip has preserved a melodramatic tale with regard to Lincoln's +marriage. It describes the bride to be, waiting, arrayed, in tense +expectation deepening into alarm; the guests assembled, wondering, +while the hour appointed passes by and the ceremony does not begin; the +failure of the prospective bridegroom to appear; the scattering of the +company, amazed, their tongues wagging. The explanation offered is an +attack of insanity. Herndon, 215; I,anon, 239-242. As might be expected +Lincoln's secretaries who see him always in a halo give no hint of such +an event. It has become a controversial scandal. Is it a fact or a myth? +Miss Tarbell made herself the champion of the mythical explanation and +collected a great deal of evidence that makes it hard to accept the +story as a fact Tarbell, I, Chap. XI. Still later a very sane memoirist, +Henry B. Rankin, who knew Lincoln, and is not at all an apologist, takes +the same view. His most effective argument is that such an event could +not have occurred in the little country town of Springfield without +becoming at the time the common property of all the gossips. The +evidence is bewildering. I find myself unable to accept the disappointed +wedding guests as established facts, even though the latest student of +Herndon has no doubts. Lincoln and Herndon, 321-322. But whether the +broken marriage story is true or false there is no doubt that Lincoln +passed through a desolating inward experience about "the fatal first +of January"; that it was related to the breaking of his engagement; and +that for a time his sufferings were intense. The letters to Speed are +the sufficient evidence. Lincoln, I, 175; 182-189; 210-219; 240; 261; +267-269. The prompt explanation of insanity may be cast aside, one +of those foolish delusions of shallow people to whom all abnormal +conditions are of the same nature as all others. Lincoln wrote to a +noted Western physician, Doctor Drake of Cincinnati, with regard to his +"case"--that is, his nervous breakdown--and Doctor Drake replied but +refused to prescribe without an interview. Lamon, 244. + +V. PROSPERITY. + +1. Carpenter, 304-305. + +2. Lamon, 243, 252-269; Herndon, 226-243, 248-251; N. and H., 201, +203-12. + +3. A great many recollections of Lincoln attempt to describe him. Except +in a large and general way most of them show that lack of definite +visualization which characterizes the memories of the careless observer. +His height, his bony figure, his awkwardness, the rudely chiseled +features, the mystery in his eyes, the kindliness of his expression, +these are the elements of the popular portrait. Now and then a closer +observer has added a detail. Witness the masterly comment of Walt +Whitman. Herndon's account of Lincoln speaking has the earmarks of +accuracy. The attempt by the portrait painter, Carpenter, to render +him in words is quoted later in this volume. Carpenter, 217-218. +Unfortunately he was never painted by an artist of great originality, +by one who was equal to his opportunity. My authority for the texture of +his skin is a lady of unusual closeness of observation, the late Mrs. +M. T. W. Curwen of Cincinnati, who saw him in 1861 in the private car of +the president of the Indianapolis and Cincinnati railroad. An exhaustive +study of the portraits of Lincoln is in preparation by Mr. Winfred +Porter Truesdell, who has a valuable paper on the subject in The Print +Connoisseur, for March, 1921. + +4. Herndon, 264. + +5. Ibid. + +6. Ibid., 515. + +7. A vital question to the biographer of Lincoln is the credibility of +Herndon. He has been accused of capitalizing his relation with Lincoln +and producing a sensational image for commercial purposes. Though his +Life did not appear until 1890 when the official work of Nicolay and Hay +was in print, he had been lecturing and corresponding upon Lincoln for +nearly twenty-five years. The "sensational" first edition of his Life +produced a storm of protest. The book was promptly recalled, worked +over, toned down, and reissued "expurgated" in 1892. + +Such biographers as Miss Tarbell appear to regard Herndon as a mere +romancer. The well poised Lincoln and Herndon recently published by +Joseph Fort Newton holds what I feel compelled to regard as a sounder +view; namely, that while Herndon was at times reckless and at times +biased, nevertheless he is in the main to be relied upon. + +Three things are to be borne in mind: Herndon was a literary man by +nature; but he was not by training a developed artist; he was a romantic +of the full flood of American romanticism and there are traceable in him +the methods of romantic portraiture. Had he been an Elizabethan one can +imagine him laboring hard with great pride over an inferior "Tamburlane +the Great"--and perhaps not knowing that it was inferior. Furthermore, +he had not, before the storm broke on him, any realization of +the existence in America of another school of portraiture, the +heroic--conventual, that could not understand the romantic. If Herndon +strengthened as much as possible the contrasts of his subject--such +as the contrast between the sordidness of Lincoln's origin and the +loftiness of his thought--he felt that by so doing he was merely +rendering his subject in its most brilliant aspect, giving to it the +largest degree of significance. A third consideration is Herndon's +enthusiasm for the agnostic deism that was rampant in America in his +day. Perhaps this causes his romanticism to slip a cog, to run at times +on a side-track, to become the servant of his religious partisanship. +In three words the faults of Herndon are exaggeration, literalness and +exploitiveness. + +But all these are faults of degree which the careful student can allow +for. By "checking up" all the parts of Herndon that it is possible to +check up one can arrive at a pretty confident belief that one knows how +to divest the image he creates of its occasional unrealities. When one +does so, the strongest argument for relying cautiously, watchfully, +upon Herndon appears. The Lincoln thus revealed, though only a character +sketch, is coherent. And it stands the test of comparison in detail with +the Lincolns of other, less romantic, observers. That is to say, with +all his faults, Herndon has the inner something that will enable +the diverse impressions of Lincoln, always threatening to become +irreconcilable, to hang together and out of their very incongruity to +invoke a person that is not incongruous. And herein, in this touchstone +so to speak is Herndon's value. + +8. Herndon, 265. + +9. Lamon, 51. + +10. Lincoln, I, 35-SO. + +11. The reader who would know the argument against Herndon (436-446) and +Lamon (486-502) on the subject of Lincoln's early religion is referred +to The Soul of Abraham Lincoln, by William Eleazer Barton. It is to +be observed that the present study is never dogmatic about Lincoln's +religion in its early phases. And when Herndon and Lamon generalize +about his religious life, it must be remembered that they are thinking +of him as they knew him in Illinois. Herndon had no familiarity with +him after he went to Washington. Lamon could not have seen very much of +him--no one but his secretaries and his wife did. And his taciturnity +must be borne in mind. Nicolay has recorded that he did not know what +Lincoln believed. Lamon, 492. That Lincoln was vaguely a deist in the +'forties--so far as he had any theology at all--may be true. But it is a +rash leap to a conclusion to assume that his state of mind even then was +the same thing as the impression it made on so practical, bard-headed, +unpoetical a character as Lamon; or on so combatively imaginative but +wholly unmystical a mind as Herndon's. Neither of them seems to have +any understanding of those agonies of spirit through which Lincoln +subsequently passed which will appear in the account of the year 1862. +See also Miss Nicolay, 384-386. There is a multitude of pronouncements +on Lincoln's religion, most of them superficial. + +12. Lincoln, I, 206. + +13. Nicolay, 73-74; N. and H., 1, 242; Lamon, 275-277. + +14. Lamon, 277-278; Herndon, 272-273; N. and H., 1, 245-249. + +VI. UNSATISFYING RECOGNITION. + +1. N. and H., I, 28, 28& + +2. Tarbell, 1, 211. + +3. Ibid., 210-211. + +4. Herndon, 114. + +5. Lincoln, II, 28-48. + +6. Herndon, 306-308, 319; Newton, 4(141). + +7. Tarbell, I, 209-210. + +8. Herndon, 306. + +9. Lamon, 334; Herndon, 306; N. and H., I, 297. + +VII. THE SECOND START. + +1. Herndon, 307, 319. + +2. Herndon, 319-321. + +3. Herndon, 314-317. + +4. Herndon, 332-333. + +5. Herndon, 311-312. + +6. Herndon, 319. + +7. Lamon, 165. + +8. Herndon, 309. + +9. Herndon, 113-114; Stories, 18~ + +10. Herndon, 338. + +11. Lamon, 324. + +12. Lincoln, 11, 142. + +13. Herndon, 347. + +14. Herndon, 363. + +15. Herndon, 362. + +16. Lincoln, II, 172. + +17. Lincoln, II, 207. + +18. Lincoln, II, 173. + +19. Lincoln, II, 165. + +VIII. A RETURN TO POLITICS. + +1. Johnson, 234. + +2. I have permission to print the following letter from the Honorable +John H. Marshall, Judge Fifth Judicial Circuit, Charleston, Illinois: + +"Your letter of the 24th inst. at hand referring to slave trial in +which Lincoln was interested, referred to by Professor Henry Johnson. +Twenty-five years ago, while I was secretary of the Coles County Bar +Association, a paper was read to the Association by the oldest member +concerning the trial referred to, and his paper was filed with rue. Some +years ago I spoke of the matter to Professor Johnson, and at the time +was unable to find the old manuscript, and decided that the same had +been inadvertently destroyed. However, quite recently I found this paper +crumpled up under some old book records. The author of this article is a +reputable member of the bar of this country of very advanced age, and at +that time quoted as his authority well-known and very substantial men +of the county, who had taken an active interest in the litigation. +His paper referred to incidents occurring in 1847, and there is now +no living person with any knowledge of it. The story in brief is as +follows: + +"In 1845, General Robert Matson, of Kentucky, being hard pressed +financially, in order to keep them from being sold in payment of his +debts, brought Jane Bryant, with her four small children to this county. +Her husband, Anthony Bryant, was a free negro, and a licensed exhorter +in the Methodist Church of Kentucky. But his wife and children were +slaves of Matson. In 1847, Matson, determined to take the Bryants back +to Kentucky as his slaves, caused to be issued by a justice of the peace +of the county a writ directed to Jane Bryant and her children to appear +before him forthwith and answer the claim of Robert Matson that their +service was due to him, etc. This action produced great excitement in +this county. Practically the entire community divided, largely on +the lines of pro-slavery and anti-slavery. Usher F. Linder, the most +eloquent lawyer in this vicinity, appeared for Matson, and Orlando B. +Ficklin, twice a member of Congress, appeared for the negroes. Under the +practice the defendant obtained a hearing from three justices instead +of one, and a trial ensued lasting several days, and attended by great +excitement. Armed men made demonstrations and bloodshed was narrowly +averted. Two of the justices were pro-slavery, and one anti-slavery. The +trial was held in Charleston. The decision of the justice was discreet. +It was held that the court had no jurisdiction to determine the right +of property, but that Jane and her children were of African descent and +found in the state of Illinois without a certificate of freedom, and +that they be committed to the county jail to be advertised and sold to +pay the jail fees. + +"At the next term of the circuit court, Ficklin obtained an order +staying proceedings until the further order of the court. Finally when +the case was heard in the circuit court Linder and Abraham Lincoln +appeared for Matson, who was insisting upon the execution of the +judgment of the three justices of the peace so that he could buy them +at the proposed sale, and Ficklin and Charles Constable, afterward a +circuit judge of this circuit, appeared for the negroes. The judgment +was in favor of the negroes and they were discharged. + +"The above is a much abbreviated account of this occurrence, stripped +of its local coloring, giving however its salient points, and I have no +doubt of its substantial accuracy." + +3. Lincoln, II, 185. + +4. Lincoln, II, 186. + +5. Lamon, 347. + +6. Lincoln, II, 232-233. + +7. Lincoln, II, 190-262. + +8. Lincoln, 274-277. + +IX. THE LITERARY STATESMAN. + +1. Herndon, 371-372. + +2. Lincoln, II, 329-330. + +3. Lincoln, III, 1-2. + +4. Herndon, 405-408. + +5. Lincoln. II, 279. + +6. Lamon, 416. + +X. THE DARK HORSE. + +1. Lincoln, V, 127. + +2. Tarbell, I, 335. + +3. Lincoln, V, 127,138, 257-258. + +4. Lincoln, V, 290-291. He never entirely shook off his erratic use of +negatives. See, also, Lamon, 424; Tarbell, I, 338. + +5. Lincoln, V, 293-32&6. McClure, 23-29; Field, 126,137-138; Tarbell, I, +342-357. + +XII. THE CRISIS + +1. Letters, 172. + +2. Lincoln, VI, 77, 78, 79, 93. + +3. Bancroft, 11,10; Letters, 111. + +XIII. ECLIPSE. + +1. Bancroft, II, 10; Letters, 172. + +2. Bancroft, II, 9-10. + +3. Herndon, 484. + +4. McClure, 140-145; Lincoln, VI, 91, 97. + +5. Recollections, 111. + +6. Recollections, 121. + +7. Recollections, 112-113; Tarbell, I, 404-415. + +8. Tarbell, 1, 406. + +9. Tarbell, I, 406. + +10. Lincoln, VI, 91. + +11. Tarbell, 1, 406. + +12. Herndon, 483-484 + +13. Lamon, 505; see also, Herndon, 485. + +14. Lincoln, VI, 110. + +XIV. THE STRANGE NEW MAN. + +1. Lincoln, VI, 130. + +2. Merriam, I, 318. + +3. Public Man, 140. + +4. Van Santvoord. + +5. N. and H., I, 36; McClure, 179. + +6. Herndon, 492. + +7. Recollections, 39-41. + +8. Lincoln, VI, 162-164. + +9. Bancroft, II, 38-45. + +10. Public Man, 383. + +11. Chittenden, 89-90. + +12. Public Man, 387. + +XV. PRESIDENT AND PREMIER. + +1. Hay MS, I, 64. + +2. Tyler, II, 565-566. + +3. Bradford, 208; Seward, IV, 416. + +4. Nicolay, 213. + +5. Chase offered to procure a commission for Henry Villard, "by way of +compliment to the Cincinnati Commercial" Villard, 1,177. + +6. N. and H., III, 333, note 12. + +7. Outbreak, 52. + +8. Hay MS, I, 91; Tyler, II, 633; Coleman, 1, 338. + +9. Hay MS, I, 91; Riddle, 5; Public Man, 487. + +10. Correspondence, 548-549. + +11. See Miss Schrugham's monograph for much important data with regard +to this moment. Valuable as her contribution is, I can not feel that the +conclusions invalidate the assumption of the text. + +12. Lincoln, VI, 192-220. + +13. Sherman, I, 195-1%. + +14. Lincoln, VI, 175-176. + +15. 127 0. R., 161. + +16. Munford, 274; Journal of the Virginia Convention, 1861. + +17. Lincoln, VI, 227-230. + +18. N. R., first series, IV, 227. + +19. Hay MS, I, 143. + +20. The great authority of Mr. Frederick Bancroft is still on the side +of the older interpretation of Seward's Thoughts, Bancroft, II, Chap. +XXIX. It must be remembered that following the war there was a reaction +against Seward. When Nicolay and Hay published the Thoughts they +appeared to give him the coup de grace. Of late years it has almost been +the fashion to treat him contemptuously. Even Mr. Bancroft has been very +cautious in his defense. This is not the place to discuss his genius +or his political morals. But on one thing I insist, Whatever else he +was-unscrupulous or what you will-he was not a fool. However reckless, +at times, his spread-eagleism there was shrewdness behind it. The idea +that he proposed a ridiculous foreign policy at a moment when all his +other actions reveal coolness and calculation; the idea that he proposed +it merely as a spectacular stroke in party management; this is too much +to believe. A motive must be found better than mere chicanery. + +Furthermore, if there was one fixed purpose in Seward, during March and +early April, it was to avoid a domestic conflict; and the only way he +could see to accomplish that was to side-track Montgomery's expansive +all-Southern policy. Is it not fair, with so astute a politician as +Seward, to demand in explanation of any of his moves 'he uncovering +of some definite political force he was playing up to? The old +interpretation of the Thoughts offers no force to which they form a +response. Especially it is impossible to find in them any scheme to get +around Montgomery. But the old view looked upon the Virginia compromise +with blind eyes. That was no part of the mental prospect. In accounting +for Seward's purposes it did not exist. But the moment one's eyes are +opened to its significance, especially to the menace it had for the +Montgomery program, is not the entire scene transformed? Is not, under +these new conditions, the purpose intimated in the text, the purpose to +open a new field of exploitation to the Southern expansionists in +order to reconcile them to the Virginia scheme, is not this at least +plausible? And it escapes making Seward a fool. + +21. Lincoln, VI, 23~237. + +22. Welles, 1,17. + +23. There is still lacking a complete unriddling of the three-cornered +game of diplomacy played in America in March and April, 1861. Of the +three participants Richmond is the most fully revealed. It was playing +desperately for a compromise, any sort of compromise, that would save +the one principle of state sovereignty. For that, slavery would +be sacrificed, or at least allowed to be put in jeopardy. Munford, +Virginia's Attitude toward Slavery and Secession; Tyler, Letters +and Times of the Tylers; Journal of the Virginia Convention of 1861. +However, practically no Virginian would put himself in the position of +forcing any Southern State to abandon slavery against its will. Hence +the Virginia compromise dealt only with the expansion of slavery, would +go no further than to give the North a veto on that expansion. And +its compensating requirement plainly would be a virtual demand for the +acknowledgment of state sovereignty. + +Precisely what passed between Richmond and Washington is still something +of a mystery. John Hay quotes Lincoln as saying that he twice offered +to evacuate Sumter, once before and once after his inauguration, if +the Virginians "would break up their convention without any row or +nonsense." Hay MS, I, 91; Thayer, I, 118-119. From other sources we have +knowledge of at least two conferences subsequent to the inauguration and +probably three. One of the conferences mentioned by Lincoln seems pretty +well identified. Coleman II, 337-338. It was informal and may be set +aside as having little if any historic significance. When and to whom +Lincoln's second offer was made is not fully established. Riddle in his +Recollections says that he was present at an informal interview "with +loyal delegates of the Virginia State Convention," who were wholly +satisfied with Lincoln's position. Riddle, 25. Possibly, this was the +second conference mentioned by Lincoln. It has scarcely a feature in +common with the conference of April 4, which has become the subject +of acrimonious debate. N. and H., III, 422-428; Boutwell, II, 62-67; +Bancroft, II, 102-104; Munford, 270; Southern Historical Papers, 1, +449; Botts, 195- 201; Crawford, 311; Report of the Joint Committee on +Reconstruction, first session, Thirty-Ninth Congress; Atlantic, April, +1875. The date of this conference is variously given as the fourth, +fifth and sixth of April. Curiously enough Nicolay and Hay seem to +have only an external knowledge of It; their account is made up from +documents and lacks entirely the authoritative note. They do not refer +to the passage in the Hay MS, already quoted. + +There are three versions of the interview between Lincoln and Baldwin. +One was given by Baldwin himself before the Committee on Reconstruction +some five years after; one comprises the recollections of Colonel +Dabney, to whom Baldwin narrated the incident in the latter part of +the war; a third is in the recollections of John Minor Botts of a +conversation with Lincoln April 7, 1862. No two of the versions entirely +agree. Baldwin insists that Lincoln made no offer of any sort; while' +Botts in his testimony before the Committee on Reconstruction says that +Lincoln told him that he had told Baldwin that he was so anxious "for +the preservation of the peace of this country and to save Virginia +and the other Border States from going out that (he would) take the +responsibility of evacuating Fort Sumter, and take the chances of +negotiating with the Cotton States." Baldwin's language before the +committee is a little curious and has been thought disingenuous. +Boutwell, I, 66. However, practically no one in this connection has +considered the passage in the Hay MS or the statement in Riddle. Putting +these together and remembering the general situation of the first week +of April there arises a very plausible argument for accepting the main +fact in Baldwin's version of his conference and concluding that Botts +either misunderstood Lincoln (as Baldwin says he did) or got the matter +twisted in memory. A further bit of plausibility is the guess that +Lincoln talked with Botts not only of the interview with Baldwin but +also of the earlier interview mentioned by Riddle and that the two +became confused in recollection. + +To venture on an assumption harmonizing these confusions. When Lincoln +came to Washington, being still in his delusion that slavery was the +issue and therefore that the crisis was "artificial," he was willing +to make almost any concession, and freely offered to evacuate Sumter if +thereby he could induce Virginia to drop the subject of secession. Even +later, when he was beginning to appreciate the real significance of the +moment, he was still willing to evacuate Sumter if the issue would not +be pushed further in the Border States, that is, if Virginia would not +demand a definite concession of the right of secession. Up to this point +I can not think that he had taken seriously Seward's proposed convention +of the States and the general discussion of permanent Federal relations +that would be bound to ensue. But now he makes his fateful discovery +that the issue is not slavery but sovereignty. He sees that Virginia +is in dead earnest on this issue and that a general convention will +necessarily involve a final discussion of sovereignty in the United +States and that the price of the Virginia Amendment will be the +concession of the right of secession. On this assumption it is hardly +conceivable that he offered to evacuate Sumter as late as the fourth of +April. The significance therefore of the Baldwin interview would consist +in finally convincing Lincoln that he could not effect any compromise +without conceding the principle of state sovereignty. As this was the +one thing he was resolved never to concede there was nothing left +him but to consider what course would most strategically renounce +compromise. Therefore, when it was known at Washington a day or two +later that Port Pickens was in imminent danger of being taken by the +Confederates (see note 24), Lincoln instantly concentrated all his +energies on the relief of Sumter. All along he had believed that one +of the forts must be held for the purpose of "a clear indication of +policy," even if the other should be given up "as a military +necessity." Lincoln, VI, 301. His purpose, therefore, in deciding on the +ostentatious demonstration toward Sumter was to give notice to the whole +country that he made no concessions on the matter of sovereignty. In a +way it was his answer to the Virginia compromise. + +At last the Union party in Virginia sent a delegation to confer with +Lincoln. It did not arrive until Sumter had been fired upon. Lincoln +read to them a prepared statement of policy which announced his +resolution to make war, if necessary, to assert the national +sovereignty. Lincoln, VI, 243-245. + +The part of Montgomery in this tangled episode is least understood of +the three. With Washington Montgomery had no official communication. +Both Lincoln and Seward refused to recognize commissioners of the +Confederate government Whether Seward as an individual went behind the +back of himself as an official and personally deceived the commissioners +is a problem of his personal biography and his private morals that has +no place in this discussion. Between Montgomery and Richmond there was +intimate and cordial communication from the start. At first Montgomery +appears to have taken for granted that the Secessionist party at +Richmond was so powerful that there was little need for the new +government to do anything but wait But a surprise was in store for it +During February and March its agents reported a wide-spread desire +in the South to compromise on pretty nearly any terms that would not +surrender the central Southern idea of state sovereignty. Thus +an illusion of that day--as of this--was exploded, namely the +irresistibility of economic solidarity. Sentimental and constitutional +forces were proving more powerful than economics. Thereupon Montgomery's +problem was transformed. Its purpose was to build a Southern nation and +it had believed hitherto that economic forces had put into its hands +the necessary tools. Now it must throw them aside and get possession of +others. It must evoke those sentimental and constitutional forces that +so many rash statesmen have always considered negligible. Consequently, +for the South no less than for the North, the issue was speedily shifted +from slavery to sovereignty. Just how this was brought about we do +not yet know. Whether altogether through foresight and statesmanlike +deliberation, or in part at least through what might almost be called +accidental influences, is still a little uncertain. The question narrows +itself to this: why was Sumter fired upon precisely when it was? There +are at least three possible answers. + +(1) That the firing was dictated purely by military necessity. A belief +that Lincoln intended to reinforce as well as to supply Sumter, that if +not taken now it could never be taken, may have been the over-mastering +idea in the Confederate Cabinet. The reports of the Commissioners at +Washington were tinged throughout by the belief that Seward and Lincoln +were both double-dealers. Beauregard, in command at Charleston, reported +that pilots had come in from the sea and told him of Federal war-ships +sighted off the Carolina coast. O. R. 297, 300, 301, 304, 305. + +(2) A political motive which to-day is not so generally intelligible as +once it was, had great weight in 1861. This was the sense of honor +in politics. Those historians who brush it aside as a figment lack +historical psychology. It is possible that both Governor Pickens and the +Confederate Cabinet were animated first of all by the belief that the +honor of South Carolina required them to withstand the attempt of what +they held to be an alien power. + +(3) And yet, neither of these explanations, however much either or both +may have counted for in many minds, gives a convincing explanation of +the agitation of Toornbs in the Cabinet council which decided to fire +upon Sumter. Neither of these could well be matters of debate. Everybody +had to be either for or against, and that would be an end. The Toombs +of that day was a different man from the Toombs of three months earlier. +Some radical change had taken place in his thought What could it have +been if it was not the perception that the Virginia program had put the +whole matter in a new light, that the issue had indeed been changed from +slavery to sovereignty, and that to join battle on the latter issue +was a far more serious matter than to join battle on the former. And if +Toombs reasoned in this fearful way, it is easy to believe that the more +buoyant natures in that council may well have reasoned in precisely +the opposite way. Virginia had lifted the Southern cause to its highest +plane. But there was danger that the Virginia compromise might prevail. +If that should happen these enthusiasts for a separate Southern +nationality might find all their work undone at the eleventh hour. +Virginians who shared Montgomery's enthusiasms had seen this before +then. That was why Roger Pryor, for example, had gone to Charleston as +a volunteer missionary. In a speech to a Charleston crowd he besought +them, as a way of precipitating Virginia into the lists, to strike blow. +Charleston Mercury, April 11, 1861. + +The only way to get any clue to these diplomatic tangles is by +discarding the old notion that there were but two political ideals +clashing together in America in 1861. There were three. The Virginians +with their devotion to the idea of a league of nations in this country +were scarcely further away from Lincoln and his conception of a Federal +unit than they were from those Southerners who from one cause or another +were possessed with the desire to create a separate Southern nation. +The Virginia program was as deadly to one as to the other of these two +forces which with the upper South made up the triangle of the day. The +real event of March, 1861, was the perception both by Washington and +Montgomery that the Virginia program spelled ruin for its own. By the +middle of April it would be difficult to say which had the better reason +to desire the defeat of that program, Washington or Montgomery. + +24. Lincoln, VI, 240, 301, 302; N. R., first series, IV, 109, 235, 239; +Welles, I, 16, 22-23, 25; Bancroft, II, 127, 129-130,138,139, 144; N. +and H., III, Chap. XI, IV, Chap. I. Enemies of Lincoln have accused him +of bad faith with regard to the relief of Fort Pickens. The facts appear +to be as follows: In January, 1861, when Fort Pickens was in danger of +being seized by the forces of the State of Florida, Buchanan ordered a +naval expedition to proceed to its relief. Shortly afterward--January +2--Senator Mallory on behalf of Florida persuaded him to order the +relief expedition not to land any troops so long as the Florida forces +refrained from attacking the fort. This understanding between Buchanan +and Mallory is some-times called "the Pickens truce," sometimes "the +Pickens Armistice." N. and H., III, Chap. XI; N. R., first series, 1, +74; Scott, II, 624-625. The new Administration had no definite knowledge +of it. Lincoln, VI, 302. Lincoln despatched a messenger to the relief +expedition, which was still hovering off the Florida coast, and ordered +its troops to be landed. The commander replied that he felt bound by the +previous orders which had been issued in the name of the Secretary of +the Navy while the new orders issued from the Department of War; he +added that relieving Pickens would produce war and wished to be sure +that such was the President's intention; he also informed Lincoln's +messenger of the terms of Buchanan's agreement with Mallory. The +messenger returned to Washington for ampler instructions. N. and H., IV, +Chap. I; N. R., first series, I, 109-110, 110-111. + +Two days before his arrival at Washington alarming news from Charleston +brought Lincoln very nearly, if not quite, to the point of issuing +sailing orders to the Sumter expedition. Lincoln, VI, 240. A day later, +Welles issued such orders. N. IL, first series, I, 235; Bancroft, II, +138-139. On April sixth, the Pickens messenger returned to Washington. +N. and H., IV, 7. Lincoln was now in full possession of all the facts. +In his own words, "To now reinforce Fort Pickens before a crisis would +be reached at Fort Sumter was impossible, rendered so by the exhaustion +of provisions at the latter named fort. . . . The strongest anticipated +case for using it (the Sumter expedition) was now presented, and it +was resolved to send it forward." Lincoln, VI, 302. He also issued +peremptory orders for the Pickens expedition to land its force, which +was done April twelfth. N. R., first series, I, 110-111, 115. How he +reasoned upon the question of a moral obligation devolving, or not +devolving, upon himself as a consequence of the Buchanan-Mallory +agreement, he did not make public. The fact of the agreement was +published in the first message. But when Congress demanded information +on the subject, Lincoln transmitted to it a report from Welles declining +to submit the information on account of the state of the country. 10. +IL, 440-441. + +25. Lincoln, VI, 241. + +XVI. ON TO RICHMOND. + +1. May MS, I, 23. + +2. N. and H., IV, 152. + +3. Hay MS, I, 45. + +4. Hay MS, I, 46. + +5. Hay MS, I, 5~56. + +6. Sherman, I, 199. + +7. Nicolay, 213. + +8. N. and H., IV, 322-323, 360. + +9. Bigelow, I, 360. + +10. Nicolay, 229. + +11. Lincoln, VI, 331-333. + +12. Own Story, 55, 82. + +XVII. DEFINING THE ISSUE. + +1. Lincoln, VI, 297-325. + +2. Lincoln, X, 199. + +3. Lincoln, X, 202-203. + +4. Lincoln, VI, 321. + +5. Lincoln, VII, 56-57. + +6. Bancroft, II, 121; Southern Historical Papers, I, 446. + +7. Lincoln, VI, 304. + +8. Hay MS, I, 65. + +9. Lincoln, VI, 315. + +10. 39 Globe, I, 222; N. and H., IV, 379. + +XVIII. THE JACOBIN CLUB. + +1. White, 171. + +2. Riddle, 40-52. + +3. Harris, 62. + +4. Public Man, 139. + +5. 37 Globe, III, 1334. + +6. Chandler, 253. + +7. White, 171. + +8. Conway, II, 336. + +9. Conway, II, 329. + +10. Rhodes, III, 350. + +11. Lincoln, VI, 351. + +12. Hay MS, I, 93. + +13. Hay MS, 1, 93. + +14. Bigelow, I, 400. + +15. Chandler, 256. + +XIX. THE JACOBINS BECOME INQUISITORS. + +1. Lincoln, VII, 28-60. + +2. Nicolay, 321. + +3. C. W. I 3 66 + +4. Julian, 201. + +5. Chandler, 228. + +6. 37 Globe, II, 189-191; Lincoln, VII, 151-152; O. R., 341-346; 114 +0. R., 786, 797; C. W., I, 5, 74, 79; Battles and Leaders, II, 132-134; +Blaine, I, 383-384, 392-393; Pearson, 1, 312-313; Chandler, 222; Porter. + +7. Swinton, 79-85, quoting General McDowell's memoranda of their +proceedings. + +8 37 Globe, II, 15. + +9 Riddle, 296; Wade, 316; Chandler, 187. + +10. C. W., 1, 74. + +11. 37 Globe, II, 1667. + +12. 37 Globe, II, 1662-1668, 1732-1742. + +13. Lincoln, VII, 151-152. + +XX. IS CONGRESS THE PRESIDENT'S MASTER. + +1. 37 Globe, II, 67. + +2. Rhodes, III, 350. + +3. 37 Globe, II, 3328. + +4. 37 Globe, II, 2764. + +5. 37 Globe, II, 2734. + +6. 37 Globe II, 2972-2973. + +7. 37 Globe, II, 440. + +8. 37 Globe, II, 1136-1139. + +9. Quoting 7 Howard, 43-46. + +XXI. THE STRUGGLE TO CONTROL THE ARMY. + +1. N. and H., IV, 444. + +2. Own Story, 84. + +3. Own Story, 85. + +4. Gurowski, 123. + +5. Hay MS, 1, 99; Thayer, 1,125. + +6. N. and H., IV, 469. + +7. Hay MS, I, 93. + +8. 5 0. R., 41. + +9. Swinton, 79-84; C. W., 1, 270. + +10. C. W., I, 270, 360, 387; Hay MS, II, 101. + +11. Gorham, I, 347-348; Kelly, 34. + +12. Chandler, 228; Julian, 205. + +13. Hay MS, I, 101; 5 0. R., 1~ + +14. 5 0. R., 50. + +15. 5 0. R., 54-55; Julian, 205. + +16. Hay MS, I, 103. + +17. Hitchcock, 439. + +18. Hitchcock, 440. The italics are his. + +19. 5 0. R., 58. + +20. 5 0. R., 59. + +21. 5 0. R, 63. + +22. Own Story, 226; 5 0. R., 18. + +23. C. W., I, 251-252. + +24. C. W., 1, 251-253, 317-318. + +25. 15 0. R., 220; Hitchcock, 439, note. + +26. 14 0. R., 66. + +27. 12 0. R., 61. + +28. 17 0. R., 219. + +29. Rhodes, IV, 19. + +30. Nicolay, 306; McClure, 168. + +31. 17 0. R., 435. + +32. Julian, 218. + +33. N. and H., V, 453. + +34. Lincoln, VII, 266-267. + +35. 37 Globe, II, 3386-3392. + +XXII. LINCOLN EMERGES. + +1. Alexander, III, 15-17. + +2. 37 Globe, II, 1493. + +3. Julian, 215; Conway, I, 344. + +4. 37 Globe II, 2363. + +5. Lincoln, VII, 171-172. + +6. 37 Globe, II, 1138. + +7. Lincoln, VII, 172-173. + +8. Pierce, IV, 78; 37 Globe, II, 25%. + +9. Schurz, I, 187. + +10. London Times, May 9, 1862, quoted in American papers. + +11. 128 0. R., 2-3. + +12. Lincoln, VII, 270-274. + +13. Carpenter, 2021. + +14. Galaxy, XIV, 842-843. + +15. Lincoln, VII, 270-277; 37 Globe, II, 3322-3324, 3333. + +16. Julian, 220; 37 Globe, II, 3286-3287. + +17. Lincoln, VII, 280-286. + +XXIII. THE MYSTICAL STATESMAN. + +1. Carpenter, 189. + +2. Recollections, 161. + +3. Recollections, 161-164; Carpenter, 119. + +4. Carpenter, 116. + +5. Carpenter, 90. + +6. Chapman, 449-450. + +7. Carpenter, 187. + +8. Lincoln, VIII, 52-53. + +9. Lincoln, VIII, 50-51. + +XXIV. GAMBLING IN GENERALS. + +1. Reminiscences, 434. + +2. Recollections, 261. + +3. Galaxy, 842. + +4. Galaxy, 845. + +5 Carpenter, 22. + +6. O. R., 80-81. + +7. C. W., I, 282. + +8. Lincoln, VIII, 15. + +9. Julian, 221. + +10. Thayer, 1, 127. + +11. Welles, 1,104; Nicolay, 313. + +12. Thayer, 1,129. + +13. Thayer, 1, 161. + +14. Reminiscences, 334-335, 528; Tarbell, II, 118-120; Lincoln, VIII, +28-33. + +15. Chase, 87-88. + +16. Lincoln, VII, 40. + +XXV. A WAR BEHIND THE SCENES. + +1. Bigelow, I, 572. + +2. 37 Globe, III, 6. + +3. 37 Globe, III, 76. + +4. Lincoln, VII, 57-60. + +5. Lincoln, VII, 73. + +6. Swinton, 231. + +7. C. W., 1, 650. + +8. Bancroft, II, 365; Welles, 1, ~198. + +9. N. and H., VI, 265. + +10. Welles, I, 205; Alexander, III, 185. + +11. Welles, 1, 196-198. + +12. Welles, 1, 201-202. + +13. Welles, I, 200. + +14. Lincoln, VII, 195-197. + +XXVI. THE DICTATOR, THE MARPLOT, AND THE LITTLE MEN. + +1. Harris, 64. + +2. Gurowski, 312. + +3. Sherman Letters, 167. + +4. Julian, 223. + +5. Recollections, 215; Barnes, 428; Reminiscences, XXXI, XXXI I, XXXVI +II. Nicolay and Hay allude to this story, but apparently doubt its +authenticity. They think that Weed "as is customary with elderly men +exaggerated the definiteness of the proposition." + +6. Jullan, 225. + +7. Lincoln, VIII, 154. + +8. Raymond, 704. + +9. Recollections, 193-194. + +10. Lincoln, VII I, 206207. + +11. 37 Globe, III, 1068. + +12. Riddle, 278. + +13. Welles, I, 336. + +14. Lincoln, VIII, 235-237. + +15. Welles, I, 293. + +16. Lincoln, VIII, 527. + +17. Lincoln, IX, 3A. + +18. Lincoln, VIII, 307-308. + +19. Barnes, 428; Reminiscences, XXX, XXXIII-XXXVIII. + +This story is told on the authority of Weed with much circumstantial +detail including the full text of a letter written by McClellan. The +letter was produced because McClellan had said that no negotiations took +place. Though the letter plainly alludes to negotiations of some sort, +it does not mention the specific offer attributed to Lincoln. Nicolay +and Hay are silent on the subject. See also note five, above. + +20. Tribune, July 7, 1863. + +21. Tribune, July 6, 1863. + +22. Lincoln, IX, 17. + +23. Lincoln, IX, 20-21. + +XXVII. THE TRIBUNE OF THE PEOPLE. + +1. Rhodes, III, 461; Motley's Letters, II, 146. + +2. Reminiscences, 470. + +3. Hay, Century.? + +4. Carpenter, 281-282. + +5. Van Santvoord. + +6. Hay, Century, 35. + +7. Carpenter, 150. + +8. Recollections, 97. + +9. Recollections, 80. + +10. Carpenter, 65. + +11. Carpenter, 65-67. + +12. Carpenter, 64. + +13. Recollections, 267. + +14. Carpenter, 64. + +15. Recollections, 83-84. + +16. Carpenter, 152. + +17. Carpenter, 219. + +18. Recollections, 103-105. + +19. Lincoln, X, 274-275. + +20. Recollections, 103. + +21. Recollections, 95-96. + +22. Hay, Century. + +23. Rankin, 177-179. + +24. Hay, Century, 35. + +25. Carpenter. + +26. Thayer, I, 198-190. + +27. Thayer, I, 196-197. + +28. Thayer, I, 199-200. + +29. Carpenter, 104. + +30. Lincoln, VIII, 112-115. + +31. Lincoln, IX, 210. + +XXVIII. APPARENT ASCENDENCY. + +1. Lincoln, IX, 284. + +2. Lincoln, IX, 219-221. + +3. Lincoln, X, 38-39. + +4. 38 Globe, I, 1408. + +5. Bancroft, II, 429-430; Moore, VI, 497-498 + +6. Grant, II, 123. + +7. Lincoln, X, 90-91. + +XXIX. CATASTROPHE. + +1. Nicolay, 440. + +2. Carpenter, 130; Hay MS. + +3. Nicolay, 440. + +4. Lincoln, X, 25-26. + +5. 37 Globe, II, 2674. + +6. Nicolay, 352. + +7. Lincoln, X, 49. + +8. Lincoln, X, 5~54. + +9. Rankin, 381-387; Hay, Century. + +10. Carpenter, 217. + +11. Carpenter, 81. + +12. Carpenter, 218. + +13. Hay, Century, 37. + +14. Lincoln, X, 89. + +15. Carpenter, 131. + +16. Lincoln, X, 122-123. + +17. Carpenter. 168-169. + +18. Carpenter, 30-31. + +19. Lincoln, X, 129. + +XXX. THE PRESIDENT VERSUS THE VINDICTIVES. + +1. Lincoln, X, 139-140. + +2. Chittenden, 379. + +3. Lincoln, X, 140-141. + +4. Carpenter, 181-183.S. N. and H., X, 95-100. + +5. Hay MS, I, 1617; N. and H., IX, 120121. + +XXXI. A MENACING PAUSE. + +1. Reminiscences, 398. + +2. Globe, I, 3148. + +3. Riddle, 254. + +4. Greeley, II, 664-666. + +5. N. and H., 186190. + +6. Gilmore, 240. + +7. Gilmore, Atlantic. & Gilmore, 243-244. + +9. Hay MS, I, 7677; N. and H., 167-173; Carpenter, 301-302. + +10. N. and H., IX, 338-339. + +11. Carpenter, 223-225. + +12. Carpenter, 282; also, N. and H., IX, 364. + +13. N. and H., IX, 188. + +14. N. and H., IX, 192. + +15. N. and H., IX, 195. + +16. N. and H IX, 212, note. + +17. Lincoln, X, 164-166. + +XXXII. THE AUGUST CONSPIRACY. + +1. Julian, 247. + +2. Times, August 1, 1864. + +3. Herald, August 6, 1864. + +4. Sun, June 30, 1889. + +5. N. and H., IX, 250. + +6. N. and H., IX, 218. + +7. Times, August 18, 1864. & N. and H., IX, 197. + +9. Herald, August 18, 1864. + +10. Lincoln, X, 308. + +11. N. and H., IX, 250. + +12. Lincoln, X, 203-204. + +13. N. and H., IX, 221. + +14. Ibid. + +15. Herald, August 26, 1864. + +16. Tribune, August 27, 1864. + +17. Times, August 26, 1864. + +XXXIII. THE RALLY TO THE PRESIDENT. + +1. Herald, August 24, 1864. + +2. Times, August 26, 1864~ + +3. Pierce, IV, 197-198. + +4. Pearson, 11,150-151. + +5. Herald, August 23, 1864. + +6. Pearson, II, 168. + +7. Ibid. The terms offered Davis were not stated in the Atlantic +article. See Gilmore, 289-290. + +8. Tribune, August 27', 1864. + +9. Sun, June 30, 1889. + +10. Sun, June 30, 1889; Pearson, II, 160-161. + +11. Pearson,, II, 164. + +12. Pearson, II, 166. + +13. Sun, June 30, 1889. + +14. Tribune, August 30, 1864. + +15. Pearson, II, 162. + +16. Tribune, September 3, 1864. + +17. Pearson, 11,165. + +18. Sun, June 30, 1889. + +19. Pearson, II, 167; Tribune, September 7, 1864. + +20. Tribune, September 6, 1864. + +21. Sun, June 30, 1889. + +22. Tribune, September 9, 1864. + +23. Tribune, September 7, 1864. + +24. Tribune, September 12, 1864. + +25. Tribune, September 22, 1864. + +XXXIV. "FATHER ABRAHAM." + +1. N. and H., IX, 339. + +2. Ibid. + +3. Arnold, 390. + +4. Chandler, 274-276. + +5. The familiar version of the retirement of affair is contained in +the Life of Chandler issued by the Detroit Post and Tribune without +an author's name. This book throughout is an apology for Chandler. In +substance its story of this episode is as follows: Chandler beheld with +aching heart the estrangement between Lincoln and Wade; he set to work +to bring them together; at a conference which he had with Wade, in Ohio, +a working understanding was effected; Chandler hurried to Washington; +with infinite pains he accomplished a party deal, the three elements of +which were Lincoln's removal of Blair, Fremont's resignation, and Wade's +appearance in the Administration ranks. Whatever may be said of the +physical facts of this narrative, its mental facts, its tone and +atmosphere, are historical fiction. And I have to protest that the +significance of the episode has been greatly exaggerated. The series +of dates given in the text can not be reconciled with any theory +which makes the turn of the tide toward Lincoln at all dependent on a +Blair-Fremont deal. Speaking of the tradition that Chandler called +upon Lincoln and made a definite agreement with him looking toward the +removal of Blair, Colonel W. O. Stoddard writes me that his "opinion, or +half memory, would be that the tradition is a myth." See also, Welles, +II, 156-158. + +6. Lincoln, X, 228-229. + +7. Times, September 24, 1864. + +8. Times, September 28, 1864. + +9. N. and H., IX, 364. + +10. Thayer, II, 214; Hay MS. + +11. N. and H., IX, 377. + +12. Thayer, II, 216; Hay MS, III, 29. + +13. Lincoln, X, 261. + +14. N. and H., IX, 378-379. + +XXXV. THE MASTER OF THE MOMENT. + +1. Lincoln, X, 283. + +2. N. and H., IX, 392-394. + +3. N. and H., IX, 210-211. + +4. One of the traditions that has grown up around Lincoln makes the +passage of the Thirteenth Amendment a matter of threats. Two votes were +needed. It was discovered according to this simpleminded bit of art that +two members of the opposition had been guilty of illegal practices, the +precise nature of which is conveniently left vague. Lincoln, even in +some highly reputable biographies, sent for these secret criminals, +told them that the power of the President of the United States was +very great, and that he expected them to vote for the amendment. The +authority for the story appears to be a member of Congress, John B. +Aley. Reminiscences, 585-586; Lord Charnwood, Abraham Lincoln, 335-336. +To a great many minds it has always seemed out of key. Fortunately, +there is a rival version. Shrewd, careful Riddle has a vastly different +tale in which Lincoln does not figure at all, in which three necessary +votes were bought for the amendment by Ashley. Riddle is so careful to +make plain just what he can vouch for and just what he has at second +hand that his mere mode of narration creates confidence. Riddle, +324-325. Parts of his version are to be found in various places. + +5. Nicolay, Cambridge, 601. + +6. Lincoln, X, 38-39, and note; XI, 89. + +7. 38 Globe, II, 903. + +8. 38 Globe, II, 1127. + +9. 38 Globe, 11,1129; Pierce, IV, 221-227. + +10. Recollections, 249. + +11. Nicolay, 503-504; Lincoln, XI, 43. + +12. Lincoln, XI, 4446. + +XXXVI. PREPARING A DIFFERENT WAR. + +1. Grant, II, 459. + +2. Tarbell, II, 229. + +3. N. and H., IX, 457. + +4. Pierce, IV, 236. + +5. Lincoln, XI, 84-91. + +XXXVII. FATE INTERPOSES. + +1. Tarbell, II, 231-232. + +2. Pierce, IV, 235. + +3. Tarbell, II, 232. + +4. Recollections, 116. + +5. Nicolay, 531. + +6. N. and H., X, 283-284. + +7. Julian, 255. + +8. Recollections, 249. + +9. Recollections, 119. + +10. Nicolay, 532. + +11. Recollections, 119-120; Carpenter, 293; Nicolay, 532; Tarbell, II, +235. + +12. Nicolay, 539. + +13. Thayer, II, 219; Hay MS, + +14. Riddle, 332. + +15. Nicolay, 530. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Lincoln, by Nathaniel Wright Stephenson + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LINCOLN *** + +***** This file should be named 1713.txt or 1713.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/7/1/1713/ + +Produced by An Anonymous Volunteer and David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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