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diff --git a/old/lsplf10.txt b/old/lsplf10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5332a39 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/lsplf10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,14881 @@ +Project Gutenberg Etext of Lincoln's Personal life by Stephenson +by Nathaniel Wright Stephenson + + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the copyright laws for your country before posting these files!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. Do not remove this. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*These Etexts Prepared By Hundreds of Volunteers and Donations* + +Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get Etexts, and +further information is included below. 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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* + + + + + +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 he 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 bad: 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 force& 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 Re publican 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 be 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 pro-gram. 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, l2. + + +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 arid 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 he 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 he 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.1[6] 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 be 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: "potting 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 al 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 An-drew 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 +?o 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.[l6] + +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 Project Gutenberg Etext of Lincoln's Personal life by Stephenson + diff --git a/old/lsplf10.zip b/old/lsplf10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..8603637 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/lsplf10.zip |