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diff --git a/38484.txt b/38484.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2f6f609 --- /dev/null +++ b/38484.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9726 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Abraham Lincoln, Volume 2 (of 2), by +William H. Herndon and Jesse W. Weik + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Abraham Lincoln, Volume 2 (of 2) + The True Story of a Great Life + +Author: William H. Herndon + Jesse W. Weik + +Commentator: Horace White + +Release Date: January 3, 2012 [EBook #38484] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ABRAHAM LINCOLN, VOLUME 2 (OF 2) *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + + +ABRAHAM LINCOLN + +The True Story of a Great Life + +By William H. Herndon and Jesse W. Weik + +With An Introduction By Horace White + +In Two Volumes Vol. II + +1896 + +THE LIFE OF LINCOLN. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +A LAW office is a dull, dry place so far as pleasurable or interesting +incidents are concerned. If one is in search of stories of fraud, +deceit, cruelty, broken promises, blasted homes, there is no better +place to learn them than a law office. But to the majority of persons +these painful recitals are anything but attractive, and it is well +perhaps that it should be so. In the office, as in the court room, +Lincoln, when discussing any point, was never arbitrary or insinuating. +He was deferential, cool, patient, and respectful. When he reached the +office, about nine o'clock in the morning, the first thing he did was +to pick up a newspaper, spread himself out on an old sofa, one leg on a +chair, and read aloud, much to my discomfort. Singularly enough Lincoln +never read any other way but aloud. This habit used to annoy me almost +beyond the point of endurance. I once asked him why he did so. This was +his explanation: "When I read aloud two senses catch the idea: first, +I see what I read; second, I hear it, and therefore I can remember +it better." He never studied law books unless a case was on hand for +consideration--never followed up the decisions of the supreme courts, as +other lawyers did. It seemed as if he depended for his effectiveness in +managing a lawsuit entirely on the stimulus and inspiration of the final +hour. He paid but little attention to the fees and money matters of the +firm--usually leaving all such to me. He never entered an item in the +account book. If any one paid money to him which belonged to the firm, +on arriving at the office he divided it with me. If I was not there, +he would wrap up my share in a piece of paper and place it in my +drawer--marking it with a pencil, "Case of Roe vs. Doe.--Herndon's +half." + +On many topics he was not a good conversationalist, because he felt that +he was not learned enough. Neither was he a good listener. Putting it a +little strongly, he was often not even polite. If present with others, +or participating in a conversation, he was rather abrupt, and in +his anxiety to say something apt or to illustrate the subject under +discussion, would burst in with a story. In our office I have known him +to consume the whole forenoon relating stories. If a man came to see him +for the purpose of finding out something which he did not care to let +him know and at the same time did not want to refuse him, he was very +adroit. In such cases Lincoln would do most of the talking, swinging +around what he suspected was the vital point, but never nearing it, +interlarding his answers with a seemingly endless supply of stories and +jokes. The interview being both interesting and pleasant, the man would +depart in good humor, believing he had accomplished his mission. After +he had walked away a few squares and had cooled off, the question +would come up, "Well, what did I find out?" Blowing away the froth of +Lincoln's humorous narratives he would find nothing substantial left. + +"As he entered the trial," relates one of his colleagues at the bar,* +"where most lawyers would object he would say he 'reckoned' it would be +fair to let this in, or that; and sometimes, when his adversary could +not quite prove what Lincoln knew to be the truth, he 'reckoned' it +would be fair to admit the truth to be so-and-so. When he did object +to the court, and when he heard his objections answered, he would +often say, 'Well, I reckon I must be wrong.' Now, about the time he had +practised this three-fourths through the case, if his adversary didn't +understand him, he would wake up in a few minutes learning that he had +feared the Greeks too late, and find himself beaten. He was wise as a +serpent in the trial of a cause, but I have had too many scares from his +blows to certify that he was harmless as a dove. When the whole thing +was unravelled, the adversary would begin to see that what he was so +blandly giving away was simply what he couldn't get and keep. By giving +away six points and carrying the seventh he carried his case, and the +whole case hanging on the seventh, he traded away everything which would +give him the least aid in carrying that. Any man who took Lincoln for a +simple-minded man would very soon wake up with his back in a ditch." + + * Leonard Swett. + +Lincoln's restless ambition found its gratification only in the field +of politics. He used the law merely as a stepping-stone to what he +considered a more attractive condition in the political world. In the +allurements held out by the latter he seemed to be happy. Nothing in +Lincoln's life has provoked more discussion than the question of his +ability as a lawyer. I feel warranted in saying that he was at the same +time a very great and a very insignificant lawyer. Judge David Davis, in +his eulogy on Lincoln at Indianapolis, delivered at the meeting of the +bar there in May, 1865, said this: "In all the elements that constituted +a lawyer he had few equals. He was great at _nisi prius_ and before an +appellate tribunal. He seized the strong points of a cause and presented +them with clearness and great compactness. His mind was logical and +direct, and he did not indulge in extraneous discussion. Generalities +and platitudes had no charm for him. An unfailing vein of humor never +deserted him, and he was able to claim the attention of court and jury +when the cause was most uninteresting by the appropriateness of his +anecdotes. His power of comparison was large, and he rarely failed in +a legal discussion to use that mode of reasoning. The framework of his +mental and moral being was honesty, and a wrong case was poorly defended +by him. The ability which some eminent lawyers possess of explaining +away the bad points of a cause by ingenious sophistry was denied him. In +order to bring into full activity his great powers it was necessary that +he should be convinced of the right and justice of the matter which he +advocated. When so convinced, whether the cause was great or small he +was usually successful." * + + * He never took advantage of a man's low character to + prejudice the jury. Mr. Lincoln thought his duty to his + client extended to what was honorable and high-minded, just + and noble--nothing further. Hence the meanest man at the bar + always paid great deference and respect to him.--David + Davis, Sept. 10, 1866, MS. + +This statement of Judge Davis in general is correct, but in some +particulars is faulty. It was intended as a eulogy on Lincoln, and as +such would not admit of as many limitations and modifications as +if spoken under other circumstances. In 1866 Judge Davis said in a +statement made to me in his home at Bloomington, which I still have, +"Mr. Lincoln had no managing faculty nor organizing power; hence a child +could conform to the simple and technical rules, the means and the modes +of getting at justice, better than he. The law has its own rules, and +a student could get at them or keep with them better than Lincoln. +Sometimes he was forced to study these if he could not get the rubbish +of a case removed. But all the way through his lack of method and +organizing ability was clearly apparent." The idea that Mr. Lincoln was +a great lawyer in the higher courts and a good _nisi prius_ lawyer, and +yet that a child or student could manage a case in court better than he, +seems strangely inconsistent, but the facts of his life as a lawyer will +reconcile this and other apparent contradictions. + +I was not only associated with Mr. Lincoln in Springfield, but was +frequently on the circuit with him, but of course not so much as Judge +Davis, who held the court, and whom Lincoln followed around on the +circuit for at least six months out of the year. I easily realized that +Lincoln was strikingly deficient in the technical rules of the law. +Although he was constantly reminding young legal aspirants to study and +"work, work," yet I doubt if he ever read a single elementary law book +through in his life. In fact, I may truthfully say, I never knew him to +read through a law book of any kind. Practically, he knew nothing of the +rules of evidence, of pleading, or practice, as laid down in the +text-books, and seemed to care nothing about them. He had a keen sense of +justice, and struggled for it, throwing aside forms, methods, and rules, +until it appeared pure as a ray of light flashing through a fog-bank. He +was not a general reader in any field of knowledge, but when he had +occasion to learn or investigate any subject he was thorough and +indefatigable in his search. He not only went to the root of a question, +but dug up the root, and separated and analyzed every fibre of it. He +was in every respect a case lawyer, never cramming himself on any +question till he had a case in which the question was involved. He +thought slowly and acted slowly; he must needs have time to analyze all +the facts in a case and wind them into a connected story. I have seen +him lose cases of the plainest justice, which the most inexperienced +member of the bar would have gained without effort. Two things were +essential to his success in managing a case. One was time; the other a +feeling of confidence in the justice of the cause he represented. He +used to say, "If I can free this case from technicalities and get it +properly swung to the jury, I'll win it." But if either of these +essentials were lacking, he was the weakest man at the bar. He was +greatest in my opinion as a lawyer in the Supreme Court of Illinois. +There the cases were never hurried. The attorneys generally prepared +their cases in the form of briefs, and the movements of the court and +counsel were so slow that no one need be caught by surprise. I was with +Lincoln once and listened to an oral argument by him in which he +rehearsed an extended history of the law. It was a carefully prepared +and masterly discourse, but, as I thought, entirely useless. After he +was through and we were walking home I asked him why he went so far back +in the history of the law. I presumed the court knew enough history. +"That's where you're mistaken," was his instant rejoinder. "I dared not +trust the case on the presumption that the court knows everything--in +fact I argued it on the presumption that the court didn't know +anything," a statement which, when one reviews the decision of our +appellate courts, is not so extravagant as one would at first suppose. + +I used to grow restless at Lincoln's slow movements and speeches in +court. "Speak with more vim," I would frequently say, "and arouse the +jury--talk faster and keep them awake." In answer to such a suggestion +he one day made use of this illustration: "Give me your little +pen-knife, with its short blade, and hand me that old jack-knife, lying +on the table." Opening the blade of the pen-knife he said: "You see, +this blade at the point travels rapidly, but only through a small +portion of space till it stops; while the long blade of the jack-knife +moves no faster but through a much greater space than the small one. +Just so with the long, labored movements of my mind. I may not emit +ideas as rapidly as others, because I am compelled by nature to speak +slowly, but when I do throw off a thought it seems to me, though it +comes with some effort, it has force enough to cut its own way and +travel a greater distance." This was said to me when we were alone in +our office simply for illustration. It was not said boastingly. + +As a specimen of Lincoln's method of reasoning I insert here the brief +or notes of an argument used by him in a lawsuit as late as 1858. I copy +from the original: + +"Legislation and adjudication must follow and conform to the progress of +society. + +"The progress of society now begins to produce cases of the transfer +for debts of the entire property of railroad corporations; and to enable +transferees to use and enjoy the transferred property legislation and +adjudication begin to be necessary. + +"Shall this class of legislation just now beginning with us be general +or special? + +"Section Ten of our Constitution requires that it should be general, if +possible, (Read the Section.) + +"Special legislation always trenches upon the judicial department; and +in so far violates Section Two of the Constitution. (Read it.) + +"Just reasoning--policy--is in favor of general legislation--else +the legislature will be loaded down with the investigation of smaller +cases--a work which the courts ought to perform, and can perform much +more perfectly. How can the Legislature rightly decide the facts between +P. & B. and S. C. & Co. + +"It is said that under a general law, whenever a R. R. Co. gets tired +of its debts, it may transfer fraudulently to get rid of them. So they +may--so may individuals; and which--the Legislature or the courts--is +best suited to try the question of fraud in either case? + +"It is said, if a purchaser have acquired legal rights, let him not be +robbed of them, but if he needs legislation let him submit to just terms +to obtain it. + +"Let him, say we, have general law in advance (guarded in every possible +way against fraud), so that, when he acquires a legal right, he will +have no occasion to wait for additional legislation; and if he has +practiced fraud let the courts so decide." + +David Davis said this of Lincoln: "When in a lawsuit he believed +his client was oppressed,--as in the Wright case,--he was hurtful +in denunciation. When he attacked meanness, fraud, or vice, he was +powerful, merciless in his castigation." The Wright case referred to was +a suit brought by Lincoln and myself to compel a pension agent to +refund a portion of a fee which he had withheld from the widow of a +revolutionary soldier. The entire pension was $400, of which sum the +agent had retained one-half. The pensioner, an old woman crippled and +bent with age, came hobbling into the office and told her story. It +stirred Lincoln up, and he walked over to the agent's office and made +a demand for a return of the money, but without success. Then suit +was brought. The day before the trial I hunted up for Lincoln, at his +request, a history of the Revolutionary War, of which he read a good +portion. He told me to remain during the trial until I had heard his +address to the jury. "For," said he, "I am going to skin Wright, and get +that money back." The only witness we introduced was the old lady, who +through her tears told her story. In his speech to the jury, Lincoln +recounted the causes leading to the outbreak of the Revolutionary +struggle, and then drew a vivid picture of the hardships of Valley +Forge, describing with minuteness the men, barefooted and with bleeding +feet, creeping over the ice. As he reached that point in his speech +wherein he narrated the hardened action of the defendant in fleecing +the old woman of her pension his eyes flashed, and throwing aside his +handkerchief, which he held in his right hand, he fairly launched +into him. His speech for the next five or ten minutes justified the +declaration of Davis, that he was "hurtful in denunciation and merciless +in castigation." There was no rule of court to restrain him in his +argument, and I never, either on the stump or on other occasions in +court, saw him so wrought up. Before he closed, he drew an ideal picture +of the plaintiff's husband, the deceased soldier, parting with his wife +at the threshold of their home, and kissing their little babe in +the cradle, as he started for the war. "Time rolls by," he said, in +conclusion; "the heroes of '76 have passed away and are encamped on the +other shore. The soldier has gone to rest, and now, crippled, blinded, +and broken, his widow comes to you and to me, gentlemen of the jury, +to right her wrongs. She was not always thus. She was once a beautiful +young woman. Her step was as elastic, her face as fair, and her voice as +sweet as any that rang in the mountains of old Virginia. But now she +is poor and defenceless. Out here on the prairies of Illinois, many +hundreds of miles away from the scenes of her childhood, she appeals +to us, who enjoy the privileges achieved for us by the patriots of the +Revolution, for our sympathetic aid and manly protection. All I ask is, +shall we befriend her?" The speech made the desired impression on the +jury. Half of them were in tears, while the defendant sat in the +court room, drawn up and writhing under the fire of Lincoln's fierce +invective. The jury returned a verdict in our favor for every cent we +demanded. Lincoln was so much interested in the old lady that he became +her surety for costs, paid her way home, and her hotel bill while she +was in Springfield. When the judgment was paid we remitted the proceeds +to her and made no charge for our services. Lincoln's notes for +the argument were unique: "No contract.--Not professional +services.--Unreasonable charge.--Money retained by Deft not +given by Pl'ff.--Revolutionary War.--Describe Valley Forge +privations.--Ice--Soldier's bleeding feet.--Pl'ffs husband.--Soldier +leaving home for army.--Skin Def t.--Close." It must not be inferred +from this that Lincoln was in the habit of slopping over. He never +hunted up acts of injustice, but if they came to him he was easily +enlisted. In 1855 he was attending court at the town of Clinton, +Illinois. Fifteen ladies from a neighboring village in the county had +been indicted for trespass. Their offence consisted in sweeping down on +one Tanner, the keeper of a saloon in the village, and knocking in the +heads of his barrels. Lincoln was not employed in the case, but sat +watching the trial as it proceeded. In defending the ladies their +attorney seemed to evince a little want of tact, and this prompted one +of the former to invite Mr. Lincoln to add a few words to the jury, if +he thought he could aid their cause. He was too gallant to refuse and, +their attorney having consented, he made use of the following argument: +"In this case I would change the order of indictment and have it read +The State vs. Mr. Whiskey, instead of The State vs. The Ladies; and +touching these there are three laws: The law of self-protection; the law +of the land, or statute law; and the moral law, or law of God. First, +the law of self-protection is a law of necessity, as evinced by our +forefathers in casting the tea overboard and asserting their right to +the pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness. In this case it is the only +defense the ladies have, for Tanner neither feared God nor regarded man. +Second, the law of the land, or statute law, and Tanner is recreant to +both. Third, the moral law, or law of God, and this is probably a law +for the violation of which the jury can fix no punishment." Lincoln +gave some of his own observations on the ruinous effects of whiskey in +society, and demanded its early suppression. After he had concluded, the +Court, without awaiting the return of the jury, dismissed the ladies, +saying: "Ladies, go home. I will require no bond of you, and if any fine +is ever wanted of you, we will let you know." + +After Lincoln's death a fellow-lawyer paid this tribute to him:* "He +was wonderfully kind, careful, and just. He had an immense stock +of common-sense, and he had faith enough in it to trust it in every +emergency. Mr. Lincoln's love of justice and fair-play was his +predominating trait. I have often listened to him when I thought he +would certainly state his case out of court. It was not in his nature to +assume or attempt to bolster up a false position.** He would abandon his +case first. + + * Joseph Gillespie, MS., Letter, Oct. 8, 1886. + + ** "Early in 1858 at Danville, Ill., I met Lincoln, Swett, + and others who had returned from court in an adjoining + county, and were discussing the various features of a murder + trial in which Lincoln had made a vigorous fight for the + prosecution and Swett had defended. The plea of the defense + was insanity. On inquiring the name of the defendant I was + surprised to learn that it was my old friend Isaac Wyant, + formerly of Indiana. I told them that I had been Wyant's + counsel frequently and had defended him from almost every + charge in the calendar of crimes; and that he was a weak + brother and could be led into almost everything. At once + Lincoln began to manifest great interest in Wyant's history, + and had to be told all about him. The next day on the way to + the court house he told me he had been greatly troubled over + what I related about Wyant; that his sleep had been + disturbed by the fear that he had been too bitter and + unrelenting in his prosecution of him. "I acted," he said, + "on the theory that he was 'possuming insanity, and now I + fear I have been too severe and that the poor fellow may be + insane after all. If he cannot realize the wrong of his + crime, then I was wrong in aiding to punish him.'"--Hon. + Joseph E. McDonald, August, 1888. Statement to J. W. W. + +He did so in the case of Buckmaster for the use of Dedham vs. Beems and +Arthur, in our Supreme Court, in which I happened to be opposed to him. +Another gentleman, less fastidious, took Mr. Lincoln's place and gained +the case." + +A widow who owned a piece of valuable land employed Lincoln and myself +to examine the title to the property, with the view of ascertaining +whether certain alleged tax liens were just or not. In tracing back the +title we were not satisfied with the description of the ground in one +of the deeds of conveyance. Lincoln, to settle the matter, took his +surveying instruments and surveyed the ground himself. The result proved +that Charles Matheney, a former grantor, had sold the land at so much +per acre, but that in describing it he had made an error and conveyed +more land than he received pay for. This land descended to our client, +and Lincoln after a careful survey and calculation, decided that she +ought to pay to Matheney's heirs the sum which he had shown was due them +by reason of the erroneous conveyance. To this she entered strenuous +objections, but when assured that unless she consented to this act of +plain justice we would drop the case, she finally, though with great +reluctance, consented. She paid the required amount, and this we divided +up into smaller sums proportioned to the number of heirs. Lincoln +himself distributed these to the heirs, obtaining a receipt from each +one.* + + * "Dear Herndon: + + "One morning, not long before Lincoln's nomination--a year + perhaps--I was in your office and heard the following! Mr. + Lincoln, seated at the baize-covered table in the center of + the office, listened attentively to a man who talked + earnestly and in a low tone. After being thus engaged for + some time Lincoln at length broke in, and I shall never + forget his reply. 'Yes,' he said, 'we can doubtless gain + your case for you; we can set a whole neighborhood at + loggerheads; we can distress a widowed mother and her six + fatherless children and thereby get for you six hundred + dollars to which you seem to have a legal claim, but which + rightfully belongs, it appears to me, as much to the woman + and her children as it does to you. You must remember that + somethings legally right are not morally right. We shall not + take your case, but will give you a little advice for which + we will charge you nothing. You seem to be a sprightly, + energetic man; we would advise you to try your hand at + making six hundred dollars in some other way.' + + "Yours, + + "Lord." + + From undated MS., about 1866. + +While Mr. Lincoln was no financier and had no propensity to acquire +property,--no avarice of the get,--yet he had the capacity of retention, +or the avarice of the keep. He never speculated in lands or anything +else. In the days of land offices and "choice lots in a growing town" he +had many opportunities to make safe ventures promising good returns, but +he never availed himself of them. His brother lawyers were making good +investments and lucky turns, some of them, Davis, for example, were +rapidly becoming wealthy; but Lincoln cared nothing for speculation; in +fact there was no ventursome spirit in him. His habits were very simple. +He was not fastidious as to food or dress. His hat was brown, faded, and +the nap usually worn or rubbed off. He wore a short cloak and sometimes +a shawl. His coat and vest hung loosely on his gaunt frame, and his +trousers were invariably too short. On the circuit he carried in one +hand a faded green umbrella, with "A. Lincoln" in large white cotton or +muslin letters sewed on the inside. The knob was gone from the handle, +and when closed a piece of cord was usually tied around it in the middle +to keep it from flying open. In the other hand he carried a literal +carpet-bag, in which were stored the few papers to be used in court, and +underclothing enough to last till his return to Springfield. He slept in +a long, coarse, yellow flannel shirt, which reached half-way between +his knees and ankles. It probably was not made to fit his bony figure as +completely as Beau Brummers shirt, and hence we can somewhat appreciate +the sensation of a young lawyer who, on seeing him thus arrayed for the +first time, observed afterwards that, "He was the ungodliest figure I +ever saw." + +"He never complained of the food, bed, or lodgings. If every other +fellow grumbled at the bill-of-fare which greeted us at many of the +dingy taverns," says David Davis, "Lincoln said nothing." He was once +presiding as judge in the absence of Davis, and the case before him was +an action brought by a merchant against the father of a minor son for +a suit of clothes sold to the son without parental authority. The real +question was whether the clothes were necessary, and suited to the +condition of the son's life. The father was a wealthy farmer; the bill +for the clothing was twenty-eight dollars. I happened in court just +as Lincoln was rendering his decision. He ruled against the plea of +necessity. "I have rarely in my life," said he, "worn a suit of clothes +costing twenty-eight dollars." + + * H. C. Whitney, MS., letter, Nov. 13, 1865. + +"Several of us lawyers," remarked one of his colleagues, "in the eastern +end of the circuit annoyed Lincoln once while he was holding court for +Davis by attempting to defend against a note to which there were many +makers. We had no legal, but a good moral defense, but what we wanted +most of all was to stave it off till the next term of court by one +expedient or another. We bothered "the court" about it till late on +Saturday, the day of adjournment. He adjourned for supper with nothing +left but this case to dispose of. After supper he heard our twaddle for +nearly an hour, and then made this odd entry: 'L. D. Chaddon _vs_. J. +D. Beasley _et al._ April Term, 1856. Champaign County Court. Plea in +abatement by B. Z. Green, a defendant not served, filed Saturday at +11 o'clock A. M., April 24, 1856, stricken from the files by order +of court. Demurrer to declaration, if there ever was one, overruled. +Defendants who are served now, at 8 o'clock, P. M., of the last day of +the term, ask to plead to the merits, which is denied by the court on +the ground that the offer comes too late, and therefore, as by _nil +dicet_, judgment is rendered for Pl'ff. Clerk assess damages. A. +Lincoln, Judge _pro tem_."' The lawyer who reads this singular entry +will appreciate its oddity if no one else does. After making it one of +the lawyers, on recovering his astonishment, ventured to enquire, +"Well, Lincoln, how can we get this case up again?" Lincoln eyed him +quizzically a moment, and then answered, "You have all been so +'mighty smart about this case you can find out how to take it up again +yourselves."* + + * "During my first attendance at court in Menard County," + relates a lawyer who travelled the circuit with Lincoln, + "some thirty young men had been indicted for playing cards, + and Lincoln and I were employed in their defense. The + prosecuting attorney, in framing the indictments, + alternately charged the defendants with playing a certain + game of cards called 'seven-up,' and in the next bill + charged them with playing cards at a certain game called + 'old sledge.' Four defendants were indicted in each bill. + The prosecutor, being entirely unacquainted with games at + cards, did not know the fact that both 'seven-up' and 'old + sledge' were one and the same. Upon the trial on the bills + describing the game as 'seven-up' our witnesses would swear + that the game played was 'old sledge,' and vice versa on the + bills alleging the latter. The result was an acquittal in + every case under the instructions of the Court. The + prosecutor never found out the dodge until the trials were + over, and immense fun and rejoicing were indulged in at the + result." + +The same gentleman who furnishes this last incident, and who was +afterward a trusted friend of Mr. Lincoln, Henry C. Whitney, has +described most happily the delights of a life on the circuit. A bit of +it, referring to Lincoln, I apprehend, cannot be deemed out of place +here. "In October, 1854, Abraham Lincoln," he relates, "drove into +our town (Urbana) to attend court. He had the appearance of a rough, +intelligent farmer, and his rude, homemade buggy and raw-boned horse +enforced this belief. I had met him for the first time in June of the +same year. David Davis and Leonard Swett had just preceded him. The next +morning he started North, on the Illinois Central Railroad, and as he +went in an old omnibus he played on a boy's harp all the way to the +depot. I used to attend the Danville court, and while there, usually +roomed with Lincoln and Davis. We stopped at McCormick's hotel, +an old-fashioned frame country tavern. Jurors, counsel, prisoners, +everybody ate at a long table. The judge, Lincoln, and I had the +ladies' parlor fitted up with two beds. Lincoln, Swett, McWilliams, +of Bloomington, Voorhees, of Covington, Ind., O. L. Davis, Drake, Ward +Lamon, Lawrence, Beckwith, and O. F. Harmon, of Danville, Whiteman, of +Iroquois County, and Chandler, of Williamsport, Ind., constituted the +bar. Lincoln, Davis, Swett, I, and others who came from the western part +of the state would drive from Urbana. The distance was thirty-six miles. +We sang and exchanged stories all the way. We had no hesitation in +stopping at a farm-house and ordering them to kill and cook a chicken +for dinner. By dark we reached Danville. Lamon would have whiskey in his +office for the drinking ones, and those who indulged in petty gambling +would get by themselves and play till late in the night. Lincoln, Davis, +and a few local wits would spend the evening in Davis's room, talking +politics, wisdom, and fun. Lincoln and Swett were the great lawyers, and +Lincoln always wanted Swett in jury cases. We who stopped at the hotel +would all breakfast together and frequently go out into the woods and +hold court. We were of more consequence than a court and bar is now. The +feelings were those of great fraternity in the bar, and if we desired +to restrict our circle it was no trouble for Davis to freeze out any +disagreeable persons. Lincoln was fond of going all by himself to any +little show or concert. I have known him to slip away and spend the +entire evening at a little magic lantern show intended for children. +A travelling concert company, calling themselves the 'Newhall Family,' +were sure of drawing Lincoln. One of their number, Mrs. Hillis, a good +singer, he used to tell us was the only woman who ever seemed to exhibit +any liking for him. I attended a negro-minstrel show in Chicago, where +we heard Dixie sung. It was entirely new, and pleased him greatly. In +court he was irrepressible and apparently inexhaustible in his fund +of stories. Where in the world a man who had travelled so little and +struggled amid the restrictions of such limited surroundings could +gather up such apt and unique yarns we never could guess. Davis +appreciated Lincoln's talent in this direction, and was always ready to +stop business to hear one of his stories. Lincoln was very bashful when +in the presence of ladies. I remember once we were invited to take tea +at a friend's house, and while in the parlor I was called to the front +gate to see a client. When I returned, Lincoln, who had undertaken to +entertain the ladies, was twisting and squirming in his chair, and as +bashful as a schoolboy. Everywhere, though we met a hard crowd at every +court, and though things were free and easy, we were treated with great +respect." Probably the most important lawsuit Lincoln and I conducted +was one in which we defended the Illinois Central Railroad in an action +brought by McLean County, Illinois, in August, 1853, to recover taxes +alleged to be due the county from the road. The Legislature had granted +the road immunity from taxation, and this was a case intended to test +the constitutionality of the law. The road sent a retainer fee of $250. +In the lower court the case was decided in favor of the railroad. An +appeal to the Supreme Court followed, and there it was argued twice, and +finally decided in our favor. This last decision was rendered some time +in 1855. Mr. Lincoln soon went to Chicago and presented our bill for +legal services. We only asked for $2000 more. The official to whom +he was referred,--supposed to have been the superintendent George B. +McClellan who afterwards became the eminent general,--looking at the +bill expressed great surprise. "Why, sir," he exclaimed, "this is as +much as Daniel Webster himself would have charged. We cannot allow such +a claim." Stung by the rebuff, Lincoln withdrew the bill, and started +for home. On the way he stopped at Bloomington. There he met Grant +Goodrich, Archibald Williams, Norman B. Judd, O. H. Browning, and other +attorneys, who, on learning of his modest charge for such valuable +services rendered the railroad, induced him to increase the demand to +$5000, and to bring suit for that sum. This was done at once. On the +trial six lawyers certified that the bill was reasonable, and judgment +for that sum went by default. The judgment was promptly paid. + +Lincoln gave me my half, and much as we deprecated the avarice of great +corporations, we both thanked the Lord for letting the Illinois Central +Railroad fall into our hands. + +In the summer of 1857 Lincoln was employed by Mr. Manny, of Rockford, +Ill., to defend him in an action brought by McCormick,* who was one +of the inventors of the reaping machine, for infringement of patent. +Lincoln had been recommended to Manny by E. B. Washburne, then a member +of Congress from northern Illinois. The case was to be tried before +Judge McLean at Cincinnati, in the Circuit Court of the United States. +The counsel for McCormick was Reverdy Johnson. Edwin M. Stanton and +George Harding, of Philadelphia, were associated on the other side with +Lincoln. The latter came to Cincinnati a few days before the argument +took place, and stopped at the house of a friend. "The case was one of +great importance pecuniarily," relates a lawyer** in Cincinnati, who +was a member of the bar at the time, "and in the law questions involved. +Reverdy Johnson represented the plaintiff. Mr. Lincoln had prepared +himself with the greatest care; his ambition was up to speak in the case +and to measure swords with the renowned lawyer from Baltimore. It was +understood between his client and himself before his coming that Mr. +Harding, of Philadelphia, was to be associated with him in the case, and +was to make the 'mechanical argument.' + + * The case, McCormick vs. Manny, is reported in 6 McLean's + Rep., P. 539. + + ** W. M. Dickson. + +After reaching Cincinnati, Mr. Lincoln was a little surprised and +annoyed to learn that his client had also associated with him Mr. +Edwin M. Stanton, of Pittsburg, and a lawyer of our own bar, the reason +assigned being that the importance of the case required a man of the +experience and power of Mr. Stanton to meet Mr. Johnson. The Cincinnati +lawyer was appointed for his 'local influence.' These reasons did not +remove the slight conveyed in the employment without consultation with +him of this additional counsel. He keenly felt it, but acquiesced. The +trial of the case came on; the counsel for defense met each morning for +consultation. On one of these occasions one of the counsel moved +that only two of them should speak in the case. This matter was also +acquiesced in. It had always been understood that Mr. Harding was to +speak to explain the mechanism of the reapers. So this motion excluded +either Mr. Lincoln or Mr. Stanton,--which? By the custom of the bar, as +between counsel of equal standing, and in the absence of any action of +the client, the original counsel speaks. By this rule Mr. Lincoln had +precedence. Mr. Stanton suggested to Mr. Lincoln to make the speech. Mr. +Lincoln answered, 'No, you speak.' Mr. Stanton replied, 'I will,' and +taking up his hat, said he would go and make preparation. Mr. Lincoln +acquiesced in this, but was greatly grieved and mortified; he took but +little more interest in the case, though remaining until the conclusion +of the trial. He seemed to be greatly depressed, and gave evidence of +that tendency to melancholy which so marked his character. His parting +on leaving the city cannot be forgotten. Cordially' shaking the hand of +his hostess he said: 'You have made my stay here most agreeable, and I +am a thousand times obliged to you; but in reply to your request for +me to come again, I must say to you I never expect to be in Cincinnati +again. I have nothing against the city, but things have so happened +here as to make it undesirable for me ever to return.' Lincoln felt that +Stanton had not only been very discourteous to him, but had purposely +ignored him in the case, and that he had received rather rude, if not +unkind, treatment from all hands. Stanton, in his brusque and abrupt +way, it is said, described him as a 'long, lank creature from Illinois, +wearing a dirty linen duster for a coat, on the back of which the +perspiration had splotched wide stains that resembled a map of the +continent. Mr. Lincoln," adds Mr. Dickson, "remained in Cincinnati about +a week, moving freely around, yet not twenty men knew him personally or +knew he was here; not a hundred would have known who he was had his +name been given to them. He came with the fond hope of making fame in a +forensic contest with Reverdy Johnson. He was pushed aside, humiliated +and mortified. He attached to the innocent city the displeasure that +filled his bosom, and shook its dust from his feet." On his return to +Springfield he was somewhat reticent regarding the trial, and, contrary +to his custom, communicated to his associates at the bar but few of its +incidents. He told me that he had been "roughly handled by that man +Stanton"; that he overheard the latter from an adjoining room, while the +door was slightly ajar, referring to Lincoln, inquire of another, "Where +did that long-armed creature come from, and what can he expect to do in +this case?" During the trial Lincoln formed a poor opinion of Judge +McLean. He characterized him as an "old granny," with considerable vigor +of mind, but no perception at all. "If you were to point your finger at +him," he put it, "and a darning needle at the same time he never would +know which was the sharpest." + +As Lincoln grew into public favor and achieved such marked success in +the profession, half the bar of Springfield began to be envious of his +growing popularity. I believe there is less jealousy and bitter feeling +among lawyers than professional men of any other class; but it should +be borne in mind that in that early day a portion of the bar in +every county seat, if not a majority of the lawyers everywhere, were +politicians. Stuart frequently differed from Lincoln on political +questions, and was full of envy. Likewise those who coincided with +Lincoln in his political views were disturbed in the same way. Even +Logan was not wholly free from the degrading passion. But in this +respect Lincoln suffered no more than other great characters who +preceded him in the world's history. + +That which Lincoln's adversaries in a lawsuit feared most of all was +his apparent disregard of custom or professional propriety in managing a +case before a jury. He brushed aside all rules, and very often resorted +to some strange and strategic performance which invariably broke his +opponent down or exercised some peculiar influence over the jury. Hence +the other side in a case were in constant fear of one of his dramatic +strokes, or trembled lest he should "ring in" some ingeniously planned +interruption not on the programme. In a case where Judge Logan--always +earnest and grave--opposed him, Lincoln created no little merriment +by his reference to Logan's style of dress. He carried the surprise +in store for the latter, till he reached his turn before the jury. +Addressing them, he said: "Gentlemen, you must be careful and not permit +yourselves to be overcome by the eloquence of counsel for the defense. +Judge Logan, I know, is an effective lawyer. I have met him too often to +doubt that; but shrewd and careful though he be, still he is sometimes +wrong. Since this trial has begun I have discovered that, with all his +caution and fastidiousness, he hasn't knowledge enough to put his shirt +on right." Logan turned red as crimson, but sure enough, Lincoln was +correct, for the former had donned a new shirt, and by mistake had drawn +it over his head with the pleated bosom behind. The general laugh which +followed destroyed the effect of Logan's eloquence over the jury--the +very point at which Lincoln aimed. + +The trial of William Armstrong* for the murder of James P. Metzger, +in May, 1858, at Beardstown, Illinois, in which Lincoln secured the +acquittal of the defendant, was one of the gratifying triumphs in his +career as a lawyer. + + * This incident in Lincoln's career has been most happily + utilized by Dr. Edward Eggleston in his story "The + Graysons," recently published in the Century Magazine. + +Lincoln's defense, wherein he floored the principal prosecuting witness, +who had testified positively to seeing the fatal blow struck in the +moonlight, by showing from an almanac that the moon had set, was +not more convincing than his eloquent and irresistible appeal in his +client's favor. The latter's mother, old Hannah Armstrong, the friend +of his youth, had solicited him to defend her son. "He told the jury," +relates the prosecuting attorney, "of his once being a poor, friendless +boy; that Armstrong's parents took him into their house, fed and clothed +him, and gave him a home. There were tears in his eyes as he spoke. The +sight of his tall, quivering frame, and the particulars of the story he +so pathetically told, moved the jury to tears also, and they forgot the +guilt of the defendant in their admiration of his advocate. It was the +most touching scene I ever witnessed."* + + * J. Henry Shaw, letter, Aug. 22, 1866, MS. + +Before passing it may be well to listen to the humble tribute of old +Hannah Armstrong, the defendant's mother: "Lincoln had said to +me, 'Hannah, your son will be cleared before sundown.' I left the +court-room, and they came and told me that my son was cleared and a free +man. I went up to the court-house. The jury shook hands with me; so did +the judge and Lincoln; tears streamed down Lincoln's eyes.... After +the trial I asked him what his fee would be; told him I was poor. 'Why, +Hannah,' he said, 'I sha'n't charge you a cent, and anything else I +can do for you, will do it willingly and without charge.' He afterwards +wrote to me about a piece of land which certain men were trying to get +from me, and said: 'Hannah, they can't get your land. Let them try it in +the Circuit Court, and then you appeal it; bring it to the Supreme Court +and I and Herndon will attend to it for nothing.'" * + +The last suit of any importance in which Lincoln was personally engaged, +was known as the Johnson sand-bar case. It involved the title to certain +lands, the accretion on the shores of Lake Michigan, in or near Chicago. +It was tried in the United States Circuit Court at Chicago in April +and May, 1860. During the trial, the Court--Judge Drummond--and all +the counsel on both sides dined at the residence of Isaac N. Arnold, +afterwards a member of Congress. "Douglas and Lincoln," relates Mr. +Arnold, "were at the time both candidates for the nomination for +President. There were active and ardent political friends of each at the +table, and when the sentiment was proposed, 'May Illinois furnish the +next President,' it was drank with enthusiasm by the friends of both +Lincoln and Douglas."** + + * From statement, Nov. 24, 1865. + + ** Arnold's "Lincoln," p. 90. + +I could fill this volume with reminiscences of Lincoln's career as a +lawyer, but lest the reader should tire of what must savor in many cases +of monotony it is best to move on. I have made this portion of the book +rather full; but as Lincoln's individuality and peculiarities were more +marked in the law office and court-room than anywhere else it will play +its part in making up the picture of the man. Enough has been told to +show how, in the face of adverse fortune and the lack of early training, +and by force of his indomitable will and self-confidence, he gained such +ascendency among the lawyers of Illinois. The reader is enabled thereby +to understand the philosophy of his growth. + +But now another field is preparing to claim him. There will soon be +great need for his clear reason, masterly mind and heroic devotion to +principle. The distant mutterings of an approaching contest are +driving scattered factions into a union of sentiment and action. As +the phalanxes of warriors are preparing for action, amid the rattle +of forensic musketry, Lincoln, their courageous leader, equipped for +battle, springs into view. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +WHILE Lincoln in a certain sense was buried in the law from the time his +career in Congress closed till, to use his own words, "the repeal of the +Missouri Compromise aroused him again," yet he was a careful student of +his times and kept abreast of the many and varied movements in politics. +He was generally on the Whig electoral tickets, and made himself heard +during each successive canvas,* but he seemed to have lost that zealous +interest in politics which characterized his earlier days. He plodded +on unaware of, and seemingly without ambition for, the great distinction +that lay in store for him. + + * In the campaign of 1852, when Pierce was the Democratic + candidate for President, Douglas made speeches for him in + almost every State in the Union. His "key-note" was sounded + at Richmond, Va. Lincoln, whose reputation was limited by + the boundaries of Illinois, was invited by the Scott Club of + Springfield to answer it, but his soul and heart were not in + the undertaking. He had not yet been awakened, and, + considering it entire, the speech was a poor effort. Another + has truthfully said of it, "If it was distinguished by one + quality above another it was by its attempts at humor, and + all those attempts were strained and affected, as well as + very coarse. He displayed a jealous and petulant temper from + the first to the last, wholly beneath the dignity of the + occasion and the importance of the topic. Considered as a + whole it may be said that none of his public performances + was more unworthy of its really noble author than this one. + The closing paragraph will serve as a fair sample of the + entire speech: "Let us stand by our candidate [Gen. Scott] + as faithfully as he has always stood by our country, and I + much doubt if we do not perceive a slight abatement of Judge + Douglas's confidence in Providence as well as the people. I + suspect that confidence is not more firmly fixed with the + Judge than it was with the old woman whose horse ran away + with her in a buggy. She said she trusted in Providence till + the 'britchen' broke, and then she didn't know what on + 'airth' to do. The chance is the Judge will see the + 'britchen' broke, and then he can at his leisure bewail the + fate of Locofocoism as the victim of misplaced confidence." + +John T. Stuart relates* that, as he and Lincoln were returning from the +court in Tazewell county in 1850, and were nearing the little town of +Dillon, they engaged in a discussion of the political situation. + + * Statement, J. T. S., MS., July 21, 1865. + +"As we were coming down the hill," are Stuart's words, "I said, +'Lincoln, the time is coming when we shall have to be all either +Abolitionists or Democrats.' He thought a moment and then answered, +ruefully and emphatically, 'When that time comes my mind is made up, for +I believe the slavery question can never be successfully compromised.' +I responded with equal emphasis, 'My mind is made up too.'" Thus it was +with Lincoln. But he was too slow to suit the impetuous demand of +the few pronounced Abolitionists whom he met in his daily walks. The +sentiment of the majority in Springfield tended in the other direction, +and, thus environed, Lincoln lay down like the sleeping lion. The future +would yet arouse him. At that time I was an ardent Abolitionist in +sentiment. I used to warn Lincoln against his apparent conservatism +when the needs of the hour were so great; but his only answer would be, +'Billy, you're too rampant and spontaneous.' I was in correspondence +with Sumner, Greeley, Phillips, and Garrison, and was thus thoroughly +imbued with all the rancor drawn from such strong anti-slavery sources. +I adhered to Lincoln, relying on the final outcome of his sense of +justice and right. Every time a good speech on the great issue was made +I sent for it. Hence you could find on my table the latest utterances +of Giddings, Phillips, Sumner, Seward, and one whom I considered grander +than all the others--Theodore Parker. Lincoln and I took such papers +as the _Chicago Tribune, New York Tribune, Anti-Slavery Standard, +Emancipator, and National Era_. On the other side of the question we +took the _Charleston Mercury and the Richmond Enquirer_. I also bought +a book called "Sociology," written by one Fitzhugh, which defended and +justified slavery in every conceivable way. In addition I purchased all +the leading histories of the slavery movement, and other works which +treated on that subject. Lincoln himself never bought many books, but he +and I both read those I have named. After reading them we would discuss +the questions they touched upon and the ideas they suggested, from our +different points of view. I was never conscious 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. I remember once, after having read one of Theodore Parker's +sermons on slavery, saying to Mr. Lincoln substantially this: "I have +always noticed that ill-gotten wealth does no man any good. This is as +true of nations as individuals. I believe that all the ill-gotten gain +wrenched by us from the negro through his enslavement will eventually be +taken from us, and we will be set back where we began." Lincoln thought +my prophecy rather direful. He doubted seriously if either of us would +live to see the righting of so great a wrong; but years after, when +writing his second Inaugural address, he endorsed the idea. Clothing it +in the most beautiful language, he says: "Yet if God wills that it [ the +war ] continue till all the wealth piled by the bondsman's two hundred +and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop +of blood drawn by the lash shall be paid by another drawn by the sword, +as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said, 'The +judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.'" The passage +in May, 1854, of the Kansas-Nebraska bill swept out of sight the +Missouri Compromise and the Compromise measures of 1850. This bill, +designed and carried through by Douglas, was regarded by him as the +masterpiece of all his varied achievements in legislation. It served to +prove more clearly than anything he had ever before done his flexibility +and want of political conscience. Although in years gone before he had +invoked the vengeance of Heaven on the ruthless hand that should dare to +disturb the sanctity of the compact of 1821, yet now he was the arrogant +and audacious leader in the very work he had so heartily condemned. When +we consider the bill and the unfortunate results which followed it in +the border States we are irresistibly led to conclude that it was, all +things considered, a great public wrong and a most lamentable piece of +political jugglery. The stump speech which Thomas H. Benton charged that +Douglas had "injected into the belly of the bill" contains all there was +of Popular Sovereignty--"It being the true intent and meaning of this +act not to legislate slavery into any Territory or State nor to exclude +it therefrom, but to leave the people thereof perfectly free to form and +regulate their domestic institutions in their own way, subject only +to the Constitution of the United States," an argument which, using +Lincoln's words, "amounts to this: That if any one man chooses to +enslave another no third man shall be allowed to object." The widespread +feeling the passage of this law aroused everywhere over the Union is +a matter of general history. It stirred up in New England the latent +hostility to the aggression of slavery; it stimulated to extraordinary +endeavors the derided Abolitionists, arming them with new weapons; it +sounded the death-knell of the gallant old Whig party; it drove together +strange, discordant elements in readiness to fight a common enemy; it +brought to the forefront a leader in the person of Lincoln. + +The revolt of Cook, Judd, and Palmer, all young and progressive, +from the Democratic majority in the Legislature was the first sign of +discontent in Illinois. The rude and partly hostile reception of +Douglas, on his arrival in Chicago, did not in any degree tend to +allay the feeling of disapproval so general in its manifestation. The +warriors, young and old, removed their armor from the walls, and began +preparations for the impending conflict. Lincoln had made a few speeches +in aid of Scott during the campaign of 1852, but they were efforts +entirely unworthy of the man. Now, however, a live issue was presented +to him. No one realized this sooner than he. In the office discussions +he grew bolder in his utterances. He insisted that the social and +political difference between slavery and freedom was becoming more +marked; that one must overcome the other; and that postponing the +struggle between them would only make it the more deadly in the end. +"The day of compromise," he still contended, "has passed. These two +great ideas have been kept apart only by the most artful means. They are +like two wild beasts in sight of each other, but chained and held apart. +Some day these deadly antagonists will one or the other break their +bonds, and then the question will be settled." In a conversation with +a fellow-lawyer* he said of slavery: "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 for slave property is swallowing up every +other mercenary possession. Slavery is a great and crying injustice--an +enormous national crime." At another time he made the observation that +it was "singular that the courts would hold that a man never lost +his right to his property that had been stolen from him, but that he +instantly lost his right to himself if he was stolen." It is useless to +add more evidence--for it could be piled mountain high--showing that at +the very outset Mr. Lincoln was sound to the core on the injustice and +crime of human slavery. + + * Joseph Gillespie, MS. letter, June 9,'66. + +After a brief rest at his home in Chicago Mr. Douglas betook himself to +the country, and in October, during the week of the State Fair, we +find him in Springfield. On Tuesday he made a speech in the State House +which, in view of the hostile attitude of some of his own party +friends, was a labored defense of his position. It was full of ingenious +sophistry and skilful argument. An unprecedented concourse of people had +gathered from all parts of the State, and Douglas, fresh from the halls +of Congress, was the lion of the hour. On the following day Mr. Lincoln, +as the champion of the opponents of Popular Sovereignty, was selected +to represent those who disagreed with the new legislation, and to answer +Douglas. His speech encouraged his friends no less than it startled his +enemies. At this time I was zealously interested in the new movement, +and not less so in Lincoln. I frequently wrote the editorials in the +Springfield _Journal_ the editor, Simeon Francis, giving to Lincoln and +to me the utmost liberty in that direction. Occasionally Lincoln would +write out matter for publication, but I believe I availed myself of the +privilege oftener than he. The editorial in the issue containing the +speeches of Lincoln and Douglas on this occasion was my own, and +while in description it may seem rather strongly imbued with youthful +enthusiasm, yet on reading it in maturer years I am still inclined to +believe it reasonably faithful to the facts and the situation. "The +anti-Nebraska speech of Mr. Lincoln," says the article, "was the +profoundest in our opinion that he has made in his whole life. He felt +upon his soul the truths burn which he uttered, and all present felt +that he was true to his own soul. His feelings once or twice swelled +within, and came near stifling utterance. He quivered with emotion. The +whole house was as still as death. He attacked the Nebraska bill with +unusual warmth and energy; and all felt that a man of strength was its +enemy, and that he intended to blast it if he could by strong and manly +efforts. He was most successful, and the house approved the glorious +triumph of truth by loud and continued huzzas. Women waved their white +handkerchiefs in token of woman's silent but heartfelt assent. Douglas +felt the sting; the animal within him was roused because he frequently +interrupted Mr. Lincoln. His friends felt that he was crushed by +Lincoln's powerful argument, manly logic, and illustrations from nature +around us. The Nebraska bill was shivered, and like a tree of the +forest was torn and rent asunder by the hot bolts of truth. Mr. Lincoln +exhibited Douglas in all the attitudes he could be placed, in a friendly +debate. He exhibited the bill in all its aspects to show its humbuggery +and falsehood, and, when thus torn to rags, cut into slips, held up to +the gaze of the vast crowd, a kind of scorn and mockery was visible upon +the face of the crowd and upon the lips of their most eloquent speaker. +At the conclusion of this speech every man and child felt that it was +unanswerable. He took the heart captive and broke like a sun over the +understanding." + +Anent the subject of editorial writing it may not be inappropriate to +relate that Lincoln and I both kept on furnishing political matter of +many varieties for the Springfield _Journal_ until 1860. Many of the +editorials that I wrote were intended directly or indirectly to promote +the interest of Lincoln. I wrote one on the advisability of annexing +Cuba to the United States, taking the rather advanced ground that +slavery would be abolished in Cuba before it would in this country--a +position which aroused no little controversy with other papers. One +little incident occurs to me in this connection which may not be without +interest to newspaper men. A newspaper had been started in Springfield +called the _Conservative_, which, it was believed, was being run in the +interest of the Democratic party. While pretending to support Fillmore +it was kept alive by Buchanan men and other kindred spirits, who were +somewhat pro-slavery in their views. The thing was damaging Lincoln and +the friends of freedom more than an avowed Democratic paper could. The +editor, an easy, good-natured fellow, simply placed in charge to execute +the will of those who gave the paper its financial backing, was a +good friend of mine, and by means of this friendship I was always well +informed of matters in the _Conservative_ editorial room. One day I read +in the Richmond _Enquirer_ an article endorsing slavery, and arguing +that from principle the enslavement of either whites or blacks was +justifiable and right. I showed it to Lincoln, who remarked that it was +"rather rank doctrine for Northern Democrats to endorse. I should like +to see," he said, with emphasis, "some of these Illinois newspapers +champion that." I told him if he would only wait and keep his own +counsel I would have a pro-slavery organ in Springfield publish that +very article. He doubted it, but when I told him how it was to be +done he laughed and said, "Go in." I cut the slip out and succeeded in +getting it in the paper named. Of course it was a trick, but it acted +admirably. Its appearance in the new organ, although without comment, +almost ruined that valuable journal, and my good-natured friend the +editor was nearly overcome by the denunciation of those who were +responsible for the organ's existence. My connection, and Lincoln's +too,--for he endorsed the trick,--with the publication of the condemned +article was eventually discovered, and we were thereafter effectually +prevented from getting another line in the paper. The anti-slavery +people quoted the article as having been endorsed by a Democratic +newspaper in Springfield, and Lincoln himself used it with telling +effect. He joined in the popular denunciation, expressing great +astonishment that such a sentiment could find lodgment in any paper +in Illinois, although he knew full well how the whole thing had been +carried through. + +During the remainder of the State-Fair week, speeches were made by Lyman +Trumbull, Sidney Breese, E. D. Taylor, and John Calhoun, none of which +unfortunately have been preserved. Among those who mingled in the +crowd and listened to them was Owen Lovejoy, a radical, fiery, brave, +fanatical man, it may be, but one full of the virus of Abolitionism. I +had been thoroughly inoculated with the latter myself, and so had +many others, who helped to swell the throng. The Nebraska movement had +kindled anew the old zeal, and inspired us with renewed confidence +to begin the crusade. As many of us as could, assembled together to +organize for the campaign before us. As soon therefore as Lincoln +finished his speech in the hall of the House of Representatives, +Lovejoy, moving forward from the crowd, announced a meeting in the same +place that evening of all the friends of Freedom. That of course meant +the Abolitionists with whom I had been in conference all the day. Their +plan had been to induce Mr. Lincoln to speak for them at their meeting. +Strong as I was in the faith, yet I doubted the propriety of Lincoln's +taking any stand yet. As I viewed it, he was ambitious to climb to the +United States Senate, and on grounds of policy it would not do for him +to occupy at that time such advanced ground as we were taking. On the +other hand, it was equally as dangerous to refuse a speech for the +Abolitionists. I did not know how he felt on the subject, but on +learning that Lovejoy intended to approach him with an invitation, +I hunted up Lincoln and urged him to avoid meeting the enthusiastic +champion of Abolitionism. "Go home at once," I said. "Take Bob with you +and drive somewhere into the country and stay till this thing is over." +Whether my admonition and reasoning moved him or not I do not know, +but it only remains to state that under pretence of having business in +Tazewell county he drove out of town in his buggy, and did not return +till the apostles of Abolitionism had separated and gone to their +homes.* I have always believed this little arrangement--it would dignify +it too much to call it a plan--saved Lincoln. If he had endorsed the +resolutions passed at the meeting, or spoken simply in favor of freedom +that night, he would have been identified with all the rancor and +extremes of Abolitionism. If, on the contrary, he had been invited +to join them, and then had refused to take a position as advanced as +theirs, he would have lost their support. In either event he was in +great danger; and so he who was aspiring to succeed his old rival, James +Shields, in the United States Senate was forced to avoid the issue by +driving hastily in his one horse buggy to the court in Tazewell county. +A singular coincidence suggests itself in the fact that, twelve years +before, James Shields and a friend drove hastily in the same direction, +and destined for the same point, to force Lincoln to take issue in +another and entirely different matter. + + * See Lincoln's Speech, Joint Debate, Ottawa, Ills., Aug. + 20, 1858. + +By request of party friends Lincoln was induced to follow after Douglas +and, at the various places where the latter had appointments to speak, +reply to him. On the 16th of October they met at Peoria, where Douglas +enjoyed the advantages of an "open and close." Lincoln made an effective +speech, which he wrote out and furnished to the Sangamon _Journal_ for +publication, and which can be found among his public utterances. His +party friends in Springfield and elsewhere, who had urged him to push +after Douglas till he cried, "enough," were surprised a few days after +the Peoria debate to find him at home, with the information that by an +agreement with the latter they were both to return home and speak no +more during the campaign. Judge of his astonishment a few days later to +find that his rival, instead of going direct to his home in Chicago, +had stopped at Princeton and violated his express agreement by making +a speech there! Lincoln was much displeased at this action of Douglas, +which tended to convince him that the latter was really a man devoid of +fixed political morals. I remember his explanation in our office made to +me, William Butler, William Jayne, Ben. F. Irwin, and other friends, to +account for his early withdrawal from the stump. After the Peoria debate +Douglas approached him and flattered him by saying that he was giving +him more trouble on the territorial and slavery questions than all the +United States Senate, and he therefore proposed to him that both should +abandon the field and return to their homes. Now Lincoln could never +refuse a polite request--one in which no principle was involved. I have +heard him say, "It's a fortunate thing I wasn't born a woman, for +I cannot refuse anything, it seems." He therefore consented to the +cessation of debate proposed by Douglas, and the next day both went +to the town of Lacon, where they had been billed for speeches. +Their agreement was kept from their friends, and both declined to +speak--Douglas, on the ground of hoarseness, and Lincoln gallantly +refusing to take advantage of "Judge Douglas's indisposition." Here they +separated, Lincoln going directly home, and Douglas, as before related, +stopping at Princeton and colliding in debate with Owen Lovejoy. Upon +being charged afterwards with his breach of agreement Douglas responded +that Lovejoy "bantered and badgered" him so persistently he could not +gracefully resist the encounter. The whole thing thoroughly displeased +Lincoln.* + + * In a letter from Princeton, Ill., March 15, 1866, John H. + Bryant, brother of the poet William Cullen Bryant, writes: + "I have succeeded in finding an old file of our Princeton + papers, from which I learn that Mr. Douglas spoke here on + Wednesday, Oct. 18, 1854. This fixes the date. I recollect + that he staid at Tiskilwa, six miles south of this, the + night before, and a number of our Democrats went down the + next morning and escorted him to this place. Douglas spoke + first one half-hour and was answered by Lovejoy one half- + hour, when Douglas talked till dark, giving no opportunity + for reply. + + "Yours truly, + + "John H. Bryant." + +During this campaign Lincoln was nominated and elected to the +Legislature. This was done in the face of his unwillingness and over his +protest. On the ticket with him was Judge Logan. Both were elected by +a majority of about 600 votes. Lincoln, being ambitious to reach the +United States Senate, and warmly encouraged in his aspirations by his +wife, resigned his seat in the Legislature in order that he might the +more easily be elected to succeed his old rival James Shields, who was +then one of the senators from Illinois. His canvass for that exalted +office was marked by his characteristic activity and vigilance. During +the anxious moments that intervened between the general election and +the assembling of the Legislature he slept, like Napoleon, with one eye +open. While attending court at Clinton on the 11th of November, a few +days after the election, he wrote to a party friend in the town +of Paris: "I have a suspicion that a Whig has been elected to the +Legislature from Edgar. If this is not so, why then, '_nix cum arous_; +but if it is so, then could you not make a mark with him for me for U. +S. Senator? I really have some chance. Please write me at Springfield +giving me the names, post-offices, and political positions of +your Representative and Senator, whoever they may be. Let this be +confidential.'" + +That man who thinks Lincoln calmly sat down and gathered his robes about +him, waiting for the people to call him, has a very erroneous knowledge +of Lincoln. He was always calculating, and always planning ahead. His +ambition was a little engine that knew no rest. The vicissitudes of a +political campaign brought into play all his tact and management and +developed to its fullest extent his latent industry. In common with +other politicians he never overlooked a newspaper man who had it in his +power to say a good or bad thing of him. The press of that day was not +so powerful an institution as now, but ambitious politicians courted the +favor of a newspaper man with as much zeal as the same class of men have +done in later days. I remember a letter Lincoln once wrote to the editor +of an obscure little country newspaper in southern Illinois in which he +warms up to him in the following style.* "Friend Harding: I have been +reading your paper for three or four years and have paid you nothing +for it." He then encloses ten dollars and admonishes the editor with +innocent complacency: "Put it into your pocket, saying nothing further +about it." Very soon thereafter, he prepared an article on political +matters and sent it to the rural journalist, requesting its publication +in the editorial columns of his "valued paper," but the latter, having +followed Lincoln's directions and stowed the ten dollars away in +his pocket, and alive to the importance of his journal's influence, +declined, "because," he said, "I long ago made it a rule to publish +nothing as editorial matter not written by myself." Lincoln read the +editor's answer to me. Although the laugh was on Lincoln he enjoyed the +joke heartily. "That editor," he said, "has a rather lofty but proper +conception of true journalism." + +Meanwhile the Legislature had convened and the Senatorial question came +on for solution. The history of this contest is generally understood, +and the world has repeatedly been told how Lincoln was led to expect the +place and would have won but for the apostasy of the five anti-Nebraska +men of Democratic antecedents who clung to and finally forced the +election of Lyman Trumbull. The student of history in after years will +be taught to revere the name of Lincoln for his exceeding magnanimity +in inducing his friends to abandon him at the critical period and save +Trumbull, while he himself disappeared beneath the waves of defeat.* + + * "After a number of ballots--Judd of Cook, Cook of La + Salle, Palmer of Macoupin, and Allen and Baker of Madison + voting for Trumbull--I asked Mr. Lincoln what he would + advise us to do. He answered, 'Go for Trumbull by all + means.' We understood the case to be that Shields was to be + run by the Democrats at first and then to be dropped, and + Joel A. Matteson put up; and it was calculated that certain + of our men who had been elected on the 'Free Soil' issue + would vote for him after they had acted with us long enough + to satisfy their consciences and constituents. Our object + was to force an election before they got through with their + programme. We were savagely opposed to Matteson, and so was + Mr. Lincoln, who said that if we did not drop in and unite + upon Trumbull the five men above-named would go for Matteson + and elect him, which would be an everlasting disgrace to the + State. We reluctantly complied; went to Trumbull and elected + him. I remember that Judge S. T. Logan gave up Lincoln with + great reluctance. He begged hard to try him on one or two + ballots more, but Mr. Lincoln urged us not to risk it + longer. I never saw the latter more earnest and decided. He + congratulated Trumbull warmly, although of course greatly + disappointed and mortified at his own want of success."-- + Joseph Gillespie, letter, September 19, 1866, MS. + +[Illustration: Lyman Trumbull 066] + +This frustration of Lincoln's ambition had a marked effect on his +political views. It was plain to him now that the "irrepressible +conflict" was not far ahead. With the strengthening of his faith in a +just cause so long held in abeyance he became more defiant each day. But +in the very nature of things he dared not be as bold and outspoken as +I. With him every word and sentence had to be weighed and its effects +calculated, before being uttered: but with me that operation had to be +reversed if done at all. An incident that occurred about this time will +show how his views were broadening. Some time after the election of +Trumbull a young negro, the son of a colored woman in Springfield known +as Polly, went from his home to St. Louis and there hired as a hand on +a lower Mississippi boat,--for what special service, I do not +recollect,--arriving in New Orleans without what were known as free +papers. Though born free he was subjected to the tyranny of the "black +code," all the more stringent because of the recent utterances of the +Abolitionists in the North, and was kept in prison until his boat +had left. Then, as no one was especially interested in him, he was +forgotten. After a certain length of time established by law, he would +inevitably have been sold into slavery to defray prison expenses had not +Lincoln and I interposed our aid. The mother came to us with the story +of the wrong done her son and induced us to interfere in her behalf. +We went first to see the Governor of Illinois, who, after patient and +thorough examination of the law, responded that he had no right or power +to interfere. Recourse was then had to the Governor of Louisiana, who +responded in like manner. We were sorely perplexed. A second interview +with the Governor of Illinois resulting in nothing favorable Lincoln +rose from his chair, hat in hand, and exclaimed with some emphasis: "By +God, Governor, I'll make the ground in this country too hot for the foot +of a slave, whether you have the legal power to secure the release of +this boy or not." Having exhausted all legal means to recover the +negro we dropped our relation as lawyers to the case. Lincoln drew up +a subscription-list, which I circulated, collecting funds enough to +purchase the young man's liberty. The money we sent to Col. A. P. +Fields, a friend of ours in New Orleans, who applied it as directed, and +it restored the prisoner to his overjoyed mother. + +The political history of the country, commencing in 1854 and continuing +till the outbreak of the Rebellion, furnishes the student a constant +succession of stirring and sometimes bloody scenes. No sooner had +Lincoln emerged from the Senatorial contest in February, 1855, and +absorbed himself in the law, than the outrages on the borders of +Missouri and Kansas began to arrest public attention. The stories of +raids, election frauds, murders, and other crimes were moving eastward +with marked rapidity. These outbursts of frontier lawlessness, led and +sanctioned by the avowed pro-slavery element, were not only stirring up +the Abolitionists to fever heat, but touching the hearts of humanity +in general. In Illinois an association was formed to aid the cause +of "Free-Soil" men in Kansas. In the meetings of these bands the +Abolitionists of course took the most prominent part. At Springfield +we were energetic, vigilant, almost revolutionary. We recommended the +employment of any means, however desperate, to promote and defend the +cause of freedom. At one of these meetings Lincoln was called on for +a speech. He responded to the request, counselling moderation and less +bitterness in dealing with the situation before us. We were belligerent +in tone, and clearly out of patience with the Government. Lincoln +opposed the notion of coercive measures with the possibility of +resulting bloodshed, advising us to eschew resort to the bullet. "You +can better succeed," he declared, "with the ballot. You can peaceably +then redeem the Government and preserve the liberties of mankind +through your votes and voice and moral influence.... Let there be peace. +Revolutionize through the ballot box, and restore the Government once +more to the affections and hearts of men by making it express, as it was +intended to do, the highest spirit of justice and liberty. Your attempt, +if there be such, to resist the laws of Kansas by force is criminal and +wicked; and all your feeble attempts will be follies and end in +bringing sorrow on your heads and ruin the cause you would freely die to +preserve!" These judicious words of counsel, while they reduced somewhat +our ardor and our desperation, only placed before us in their real +colors the grave features of the situation. We raised a neat sum of +money, Lincoln showing his sincerity by joining in the subscription, and +forwarded it to our friends in Kansas. + +The Whig party, having accomplished its mission in the political world, +was now on the eve of a great break-up. Lincoln realized this and, +though proverbially slow in his movements, prepared to find a firm +footing when the great rush of waters should come and the maddening +freshet sweep former landmarks out of sight. Of the strongest +significance in this connection is a letter written by him at this +juncture to an old friend in Kentucky, who called to his attention +their differences of views on the wrong of slavery. Speaking of his +observation of the treatment of the slaves, he says: "I confess I hate +to see the poor creatures hunted down and caught and carried back to +their unrequited toils; but I bite my lips and keep quiet. In 1841 you +and I had rather a tedious low-water trip on a steamboat from Louisville +to St. Louis. You may remember, as I well do, that from Louisville +to the mouth of the Ohio, there were on board ten or a dozen slaves +shackled together with irons. That sight was a continued torment to me; +and I see something like it every time I touch the Ohio or any slave +border. It is not fair for you to assume that I have no interest in +a thing which has, and continually exercises, the power of making me +miserable. You ought rather to appreciate how much the great body of +the Northern people do crucify their feelings in order to maintain their +loyalty to the Constitution and the Union. I do oppose the extension of +slavery because my judgment and feeling so prompt me; and I am under no +obligations to the contrary. If for this you and I must differ, differ +we must." + +Finding himself drifting about with the disorganized elements that +floated together after the angry political waters had subsided, it +became apparent to Lincoln that if he expected to figure as a leader he +must take a stand himself. Mere hatred of slavery and opposition to +the injustice of the Kansas-Nebraska legislation were not all that were +required of him. He must be a Democrat, Know-Nothing, Abolitionist, or +Republican, or forever float about in the great political sea without +compass, rudder, or sail. At length he declared himself. Believing the +times were ripe for more advanced movements, in the spring of 1856 I +drew up a paper for the friends of freedom to sign, calling a county +convention in Springfield to select delegates for the forthcoming +Republican State convention in Bloomington. The paper was freely +circulated and generously signed. Lincoln was absent at the time and, +believing I knew what his "feeling and judgment" on the vital questions +of the hour were, I took the liberty to sign his name to the call. The +whole was then published in the Springfield _Journal_. No sooner had +it appeared than John T. Stuart, who, with others, was endeavoring to +retard Lincoln in his advanced movements, rushed into the office and +excitedly asked if "Lincoln had signed that Abolition call in the +Journal?" I answered in the negative, adding that I had signed his +name myself. To the question, "Did Lincoln authorize you to sign it?" I +returned an emphatic "No." "Then," exclaimed the startled and indignant +Stuart, "you have ruined him." But I was by no means alarmed at what +others deemed inconsiderate and hasty action. I thought I understood +Lincoln thoroughly, but in order to vindicate myself if assailed I +immediately sat down, after Stuart had rushed out of the office, and +wrote Lincoln, who was then in Tazewell County attending court, a brief +account of what I had done and how much stir it was creating in the +ranks of his conservative friends. If he approved or disapproved my +course I asked him to write or telegraph me at once. In a brief time +came his answer: "All right; go ahead. Will meet you--radicals and +all." Stuart subsided, and the conservative spirits who hovered around +Springfield no longer held control of the political fortunes of Abraham +Lincoln. + +The Republican party came into existence in Illinois as a party at +Bloomington, May 29, 1856. The State convention of all opponents of +anti-Nebraska legislation, referred to in a foregoing paragraph, had +been set for that day. Judd, Yates, Trumbull, Swett, and Davis were +there; so also was Lovejoy, who, like Otis of colonial fame, was a flame +of fire. The firm of Lincoln and Herndon was represented by both members +in person. The gallant William H. Bissell, who had ridden at the head of +the Second Illinois Regiment at the battle of Buena Vista in the Mexican +war, was nominated as governor. The convention adopted a platform +ringing with strong anti-Nebraska sentiments, and then and there gave +the Republican party its official christening. The business of the +convention being over, Mr. Lincoln, in response to repeated calls, came +forward and delivered a speech of such earnestness and power that no one +who heard it will ever forget the effect it produced. In referring to +this speech some years ago I used the following rather graphic language: +"I have heard or read all of Mr. Lincoln's great speeches, and I give +it as my opinion that the Bloomington speech was the grand effort of his +life. Heretofore he had simply argued the slavery question on grounds +of policy,--the statesman's grounds,--never reaching the question of +the radical and the eternal right. Now he was newly baptized and freshly +born; he had the fervor of a new convert; the smothered flame broke +out; enthusiasm unusual to him blazed up; his eyes were aglow with an +inspiration; he felt justice; his heart was alive to the right; his +sympathies, remarkably deep for him, burst forth, and he stood before +the throne of the eternal Right. His speech was full of fire and energy +and force; it was logic; it was pathos; it was enthusiasm; it was +justice, equity, truth, and right set ablaze by the divine fires of a +soul maddened by the wrong; it was hard, heavy, knotty, gnarly, backed +with wrath. I attempted for about fifteen minutes as was usual with me +then to take notes, but at the end of that time I threw pen and paper +away and lived only in the inspiration of the hour. If Mr. Lincoln was +six feet, four inches high usually, at Bloomington that day he was seven +feet, and inspired at that. From that day to the day of his death he +stood firm in the right. He felt his great cross, had his great idea, +nursed it, kept it, taught it to others, in his fidelity bore witness +of it to his death, and finally sealed it with his precious blood." The +foregoing paragraph, used by me in a lecture in 1866, may to the +average reader seem somewhat vivid in description, besides inclining to +extravagance in imagery, yet although more than twenty years have passed +since it was written I have never seen the need of altering a single +sentence. I still adhere to the substantial truthfulness of the scene +as described. Unfortunately Lincoln's speech was never written out nor +printed, and we are obliged to depend for its reproduction upon personal +recollection. + +The Bloomington convention and the part Lincoln took in it met no such +hearty response in Springfield as we hoped would follow. It fell flat, +and in Lincoln's case drove from him many persons who had heretofore +been his warm political friends. A few days after our return we +announced a meeting at the court-house to ratify the action of the +Bloomington convention. After the usual efforts to draw a crowd, +however, only three persons had temerity enough to attend. They were +Lincoln, the writer, and a courageous man named John Pain. Lincoln, in +answer to the "deafening calls" for a speech, responded that the meeting +was larger than he _knew_ it would be, and that while he knew that he +himself and his partner would attend he was not sure anyone else would, +and yet another man had been found brave enough to come out. "While all +seems dead," he exhorted, "the age itself is not. It liveth as sure as +our Maker liveth. Under all this seeming want of life and motion, the +world does move nevertheless. Be hopeful, and now let us adjourn and +appeal to the people." + +Not only in Springfield but everywhere else the founders of the +Republican party--the apostles of freedom--went out to battle for the +righteousness of their cause. Lincoln, having as usual been named as one +of the Presidential electors, canvassed the State, making in all about +fifty speeches. He was in demand everywhere. I have before me a package +of letters addressed to him, inviting him to speak at almost every +county seat in the State. Yates wanted him to go to one section of the +State, Washburne to another, and Trumbull still another; while every +cross-roads politician and legislative aspirant wanted him "down in our +country, where we need your help." Joshua R. Giddings wrote him words of +encouragement. "You may start," said the valiant old Abolitionist in +a letter from Peoria,* "on the one great issue of restoring Kansas and +Nebraska to freedom, or rather of restoring the Missouri Compromise, and +in this State no power on earth can withstand you on that issue." The +demand for Lincoln was not confined to his own State. Indiana sent for +him, Wisconsin also, while Norman B. Judd and Ebenezer Peck, who were +stumping Iowa, sent for him to come there. + + * J. R. Giddings, MS. letter, Sept. 18, 1855. + +A town committee invited him to come during "our Equestrian Fair on the +9th, 10th, and 11th," evidently anticipating a three days' siege. An +enthusiastic officer in a neighboring town urges him: "Come to our +place, because in you do our people place more confidence than in any +other man. Men who do not read want the story told as you only can tell +it. Others may make fine speeches, but it would not be 'Lincoln said +so in his speech.'" A jubilant friend in Chicago writes: "Push on the +column of freedom. Give the Buck Africans plenty to do in Egypt. The +hour of our redemption draweth nigh. We are coming to Springfield +with 20,000 majority!" A postmaster, acting under the courage of his +convictions, implores him to visit his neighborhood. "The Democrats +here," he insists, "are dyed in the wool. Thunder and lightning would +not change their political complexion. I am postmaster here," he adds, +confidentially, "for which reason I must ask you to keep this private, +for if old Frank [President Pierce] were to hear of my support of +Fremont I would get my walking papers sure enough." A settlement of +Germans in southern Indiana asked to hear him; and the president of +a college, in an invitation to address the students under his charge, +characterizes him as "one providentially raised up for a time like this, +and even should defeat come in the contest, it would be some consolation +to remember we had Hector for a leader." + +And thus it was everywhere. Lincoln's importance in the conduct of the +campaign was apparent to all, and his canvass was characterized by his +usual vigor and effectiveness. He was especially noted for his attempt +to break down the strength of Fillmore, who was nominated as a third +party candidate and was expected to divide the Republican vote. He tried +to wean away Fillmore's adherents by an adroit and ingenious +letter* sent to those suspected of the latter's support, and marked +confidential, in which he strove to show that in clinging to their +candidate they were really aiding the election of Buchanan. But the +effort proved unavailing, for in spite of all his arguments and appeals +a large number of the Fillmore men clung tenaciously to their leader, +resulting in Buchanan's election. The vote in Illinois stood, Buchanan +105,344, Fremont 96,180, and Fillmore 37,451. At the same time Bissell +was elected governor by a majority of 4729 over W. A. Richardson, +Democrat. After the heat and burden of the day Lincoln returned home, +bearing with him more and greater laurels than ever. The signs of the +times indicated, and the result of the canvass demonstrated, that he and +he alone was powerful enough to meet the redoubtable Little Giant in a +greater conflict yet to follow. + + * One of these letters which Lincoln wrote to counteract the + Fillmore movement is still in my possession. As it is more + or less characteristic I copy it entire: + + "Springfield, September 8,1856. + + "Harrison Maltby, Esq. + + "Dear Sir: + + "I understand you are a Fillmore man. Let me prove to you + that every vote withheld from Fremont and given to Fillmore + in this State actually lessens Fillmore's chance of being + President. + + "Suppose Buchanan gets all the slave States and Pennsylvania + and any other one State besides; then he is elected, no + matter who gets all the rest. But suppose Fillmore gets the + two slave States of Maryland and Kentucky, then Buchanan is + not elected; Fillmore goes into the House of Representatives + and may be made President by a compromise. But suppose again + Fillmore's friends throw away a few thousand votes on him in + Indiana and Illinois; it will inevitably give these States + to Buchanan, which will more than compensate him for the + loss of Maryland and Kentucky; it will elect him, and leave + Fillmore no chance in the House of Representatives or out of + it. + + "This is as plain as adding up the weight of three small + hogs. As Mr. Fillmore has no possible chance to carry + Illinois for himself it is plainly to his interest to let + Fremont take it and thus keep it out of the hands of + Buchanan. Be not deceived. Buchanan is the hard horse to + beat in this race. Let him have Illinois, and nothing can + beat him; and he will get Illinois if men persist in + throwing away votes upon Mr. Fillmore. Does some one + persuade you that Mr. Fillmore can carry Illinois? Nonsense! + There are over seventy newspapers in Illinois opposing + Buchanan, only three or four of which support Mr. Fillmore, + all the rest going for Fremont. Are not these newspapers a + fair index of the proportion of the votes? If not, tell me + why. + + "Again, of these three or four Fillmore newspapers, two at + least are supported in part by the Buchanan men, as I + understand. Do not they know where the shoe pinches? They + know the Fillmore movement helps them, and therefore they + help it. + + "Do think these things over and then act according to your + judgment. + + "Yours very truly, + + "A. LINCOLN." [Confidential.] + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +I SHALL be forced to omit much that happened during the interval between +the election of Buchanan and the campaign of 1858, for the reason that +it would not only swell this work to undue proportions, but be a mere +repetition of what has been better told by other writers. It is +proper to note in passing, however, that Mr. Lincoln's reputation as a +political speaker was no longer bounded by the border lines of Illinois. +It had passed beyond the Wabash, the Ohio, and the Mississippi rivers, +and while his pronounced stand on the slavery question had increased the +circle of his admirers in the North it provoked a proportionate amount +of execration in the South. He could not help the feeling that he was +now the leading Republican in his State, and he was therefore more or +less jealous of his prerogative. Formidable in debate, plain in +speech, without pretence of literary acquirements, he was none the less +self-reliant. He already envied the ascendancy and domination Douglas +exercised over his followers, and felt keenly the slight given him by +others of his own faith whom he conceived were disposed to prevent his +attaining the leadership of his party. I remember early in 1858 of his +coming into the office one morning and speaking in very dejected terms +of the treatment he was receiving at the hands of Horace Greeley. "I +think Greeley," he complained, "is not doing me right. His conduct, I +believe, savors a little of injustice. I am a true Republican and have +been tried already in the hottest part of the anti-slavery fight, and +yet I find him taking up Douglas, a veritable dodger,--once a tool of +the South, now its enemy,--and pushing him to the front. He forgets that +when he does that he pulls me down at the same time. I fear Greeley's +attitude will damage me with Sumner, Seward, Wilson, Phillips, and other +friends in the East." This was said with so much of mingled sadness and +earnestness that I was deeply impressed. Lincoln was gloomy and restless +the entire day. Greeley's letters were driving the enthusiasm out of +him.* + + * Greeley's letters were very pointed and sometimes savage. + Here is one; "I have not proposed to instruct the + Republicans of Illinois in their political duties, and I + doubt very much that even so much as is implied in your + letter can be fairly deduced from anything I have written. + Now let me make one prediction. If you run a candidate [for + Congress] against Harris and he is able to canvass he will + beat you badly. He is more of a man at heart and morally + than Douglas, and has gone into this fight with more + earnestness and less calculation. Of the whole Douglas party + he is the truest and best. I never spoke a dozen words with + him in my life, having met him but once, but if I lived in + his district I should vote for him. As I have never spoken + of him in my paper, and suppose I never shall, I take the + liberty to say this much to you. Now paddle your own dug- + out! + + "Yours, + + "Horace Greeley." + +He seemed unwilling to attend to any business, and finally, just before +noon, left the office, going over to the United States Court room to +play a game of chess with Judge Treat, and did not return again that +day. I pondered a good deal over Lincoln's dejection, and that night, +after weighing the matter well in mind, resolved to go to the eastern +States myself and endeavor to sound some of the great men there. The +next day, on apprising Lincoln of my determination, he questioned its +propriety. Our relations, he insisted, were so intimate that a wrong +construction might be put upon the movement. I listened carefully to +him, but as I had never been beyond the Alleghanies I packed my valise +and went, notwithstanding his objections. I had been in correspondence +on my own account with Greeley, Seward, Sumner, Phillips, and others for +several years, had kept them informed of the feelings of our people and +the political campaigns in their various stages, but had never met any +of them save Greeley. I enjoyed heartily the journey and the varied +sights and scenes that attended it. Aside from my mission, the trip was +a great success. The magnificent buildings, the display of wealth in the +large cities and prosperous manufacturing towns, broadened the views of +one whose vision had never extended beyond the limits of the Illinois +prairies. In Washington I saw and dined with Trumbull, who went over the +situation with me. Trumbull had written to Lincoln shortly before* that +he thought it "useless to speculate upon the further course of Douglas +or the effect it is to have in Illinois or other States. He himself does +not know where he is going or where he will come out." + + * Letter, December 25, 1857, MS. + +At my interview with Trumbull, however, he directed me to assure Mr. +Lincoln that Douglas did not mean to join the Republican party, however +great the breach between himself and the administration might be. "We +Republicans here," he said exultingly in another letter to Lincoln, "are +in good spirits, and are standing back to let the fight go on between +Douglas and his former associates. Lincoln will lose nothing by this +if he can keep the attention of our Illinois people from being diverted +from the great and vital question of the day to the minor and temporary +issues which are now being discussed."* + + * Letter, December 27,1857, MS. + +In Washington I saw also Seward, Wilson, and others of equal prominence. +Douglas was confined to his house by illness, but on receiving my +card he directed me to be shown up to his room. We had a pleasant +and interesting interview. Of course the conversation soon turned on +Lincoln. In answer to an inquiry regarding the latter I remarked that +Lincoln was pursuing the even tenor of his way. "He is not in anybody's +way," I contended, "not even in yours, Judge Douglas." He was sitting up +in a chair smoking a cigar. Between puffs he responded that neither was +he in the way of Lincoln or any one else, and did not intend to invite +conflict. He conceived that he had achieved what he had set out to do, +and hence did not feel that his course need put him in opposition to +Mr. Lincoln or his party. "Give Mr. Lincoln my regards," he said, rather +warmly, "when you return, and tell him I have crossed the river and +burned my boat." Leaving Washington, my next point was New York, where +I met the editor of the _Anti-Slavery Standard_, Horace Greeley, +Henry Ward Beecher, and others. I had a long talk with Greeley, who, +I noticed, leaned towards Douglas. I found, however, he was not at all +hostile to Lincoln. + +I presented the latter's case in the best phase I knew how, but while +I drew but little from him, I left feeling that he hadn't been entirely +won over. He introduced me to Beecher, who, as everybody else did, +inquired after Lincoln and through me sent him words of encouragement +and praise.* + + * Lincoln's greatest fear was that Douglas might be taken up + by the Republicans. Senator Seward, when I met him in + Washington, assured me there was no danger of it, insisting + that the Republicans nor any one else could place any + reliance on a man so slippery as Douglas. + +From New York I went to Boston, and from the latter place I wrote +Lincoln a letter which happily I found not long since in a bundle of +Lincoln's letters, and which I insert here, believing it affords a +better reflex of the situation at the time than anything I might see fit +to say now. Here it is: + +"Revere House, + +"Boston, Mass., March 24, 1858. + +"Friend Lincoln. + +"I am in this city of notions, and am well--very well indeed. I wrote +you a hasty letter from Washington some days ago, since which time I +have been in Philadelphia, Baltimore, New York, and now here. I saw +Greeley, and so far as any of our conversation is interesting to you +I will relate. And we talked, say twenty minutes. He evidently wants +Douglas sustained and sent back to the Senate. He did not say so in so +many words, yet his feelings are with Douglas. I know it from the spirit +and drift of his conversation. He talked bitterly--somewhat so--against +the papers in Illinois, and said they were fools. I asked him this +question, 'Greeley, do you want to see a third party organized, or do +you want Douglas to ride to power through the North, which he has so +much abused and betrayed? and to which he replied, 'Let the future +alone; it will all come right. Douglas is a brave man. Forget the past +and sustain the _righteous_' Good God, _righteous_, eh! + +"Since I have landed in Boston I have seen much that was entertaining +and interesting. This morning I was introduced to Governor Banks. He and +I had a conversation about Republicanism and especially about Douglas. +He asked me this question, 'You will sustain Douglas in Illinois, wont +you?' and to which I said 'No, never!' He affected to be much +surprised, and so the matter dropped and turned on Republicanism, or in +general--Lincoln. Greeley's and other sheets that laud Douglas, Harris, +et al., want them sustained, and will try to do it. Several persons have +asked me the same question which Banks asked, and evidently they get +their cue, ideas, or what not from Greeley, Seward, et al. By-the-bye, +Greeley remarked to me this, 'The Republican standard is too high; we +want something practical.' + +"This may not be interesting to you, but, however it may be, it is my +duty to state what is going on, so that you may head it off--counteract +it in some way. I hope it can be done. The Northern men are cold to +me--somewhat repellent. + +"Your friend, + +"W. H. Herndon." + +On my return home I had encouraging news to relate. I told Lincoln of +the favorable mention I had heard of him by Phillips, Sumner, Seward, +Garrison, Beecher, and Greeley. I brought with me additional sermons +and lectures by Theodore Parker, who was warm in his commendation of +Lincoln. One of these was a lecture on "The Effect of Slavery on the +American People," which was delivered in the Music Hall in Boston, and +which I gave to Lincoln, who read and returned it. He liked especially +the following expression, which he marked with a pencil, and which he +in substance afterwards used in his Gettysburg address: "Democracy is +direct self-government, over all the people, for all the people, by all +the people." + +Meanwhile, passing by other events which have become interwoven in the +history of the land, we reach April, 1858, at which time the Democratic +State convention met and, besides nominating candidates for State +offices, endorsed Mr. Douglas' services in the Senate, thereby virtually +renominating him for that exalted office. In the very nature of things +Lincoln was the man already chosen in the hearts of the Republicans +of Illinois for the same office, and therefore with singular +appropriateness they passed, with great unanimity, at their convention +in Springfield on the 16th of June, the characteristic resolution: "That +Hon. Abraham Lincoln is our first and only choice for United States +Senator to fill the vacancy about to be created by the expiration of Mr. +Douglas' term of office." There was of course no surprise in this for +Mr. Lincoln. He had been all along led to expect it, and with that +in view had been earnestly and quietly at work preparing a speech in +acknowledgment of the honor about to be conferred on him. This speech +he wrote on stray envelopes and scraps of paper, as ideas suggested +themselves, putting them into that miscellaneous and convenient +receptacle, his hat. As the convention drew near he copied the whole +on connected sheets, carefully revising every line and sentence, and +fastened them together, for reference during the delivery of the speech, +and for publication. The former precaution, however, was unnecessary, +for he had studied and read over what he had written so long and +carefully that he was able to deliver it without the least hesitation or +difficulty. A few days before the convention, when he was at work on the +speech, I remember that Jesse K. Dubois,* who was Auditor of State, came +into the office and, seeing Lincoln busily writing, inquired what he was +doing or what he was writing. + + * "After the convention Lincoln met me on the street and + said, 'Dubois, I can tell you now what I was doing the other + day when you came into my office. I was writing that speech, + and I knew if I read the passage about the "house divided + against itself" to you, you would ask me to change or modify + it, and that I was determined not to do. I had willed it so, + and was willing if necessary to perish with it."--Statement + of Jesse K. Dubois, MS. + +Lincoln answered gruffly, "It's something you may see or hear some time, +but I'll not let you see it now." I myself knew what he was writing, +but having asked neither my opinion nor that of anyone else, I did not +venture to offer any suggestions. After he had finished the final draft +of the speech, he locked the office door, drew the curtain across the +glass panel in the door, and read it to me. At the end of each paragraph +he would halt and wait for my comments. I remember what I said after +hearing the first paragraph, wherein occurs the celebrated figure of the +house divided against itself: "It is true, but is it wise or politic +to say so?" He responded: "That expression is a truth of all human +experience, 'a house divided against itself cannot stand,' and 'he +that runs may read.' The proposition also is true, and has been for six +thousand years. I want to use some universally known figure expressed in +simple language as universally well-known, that may strike home to the +minds of men in order to raise them up to the peril of the times. I do +not believe I would be right in changing or omitting it. I would rather +be defeated with this expression in the speech, and uphold and discuss +it before the people, than be victorious without it." This was not the +first time Lincoln had endorsed the dogma that our Government could not +long endure part slave and part free. He had incorporated it in a speech +at Bloomington in 1856, but in obedience to the emphatic protest +of Judge T. Lyle Dickey and others, who conceived the idea that +its "delivery would make Abolitionists of all the North and slavery +propagandists of all the South, and thereby precipitate a struggle which +might end in disunion," he consented to suspend its repetition, +but only for that campaign.* Now, however, the situation had changed +somewhat. There had been a shifting of scenes, so to speak. The +Republican party had gained some in strength and more in moral +effectiveness and force. Nothing could keep back in Lincoln any longer, +sentiments of right and truth, and he prepared to give the fullest +expression to both in all future contests. + + * "After the meeting was over Mr. Lincoln and I returned to + the Pike House, where we occupied the same room. Immediately + on reaching the room I said to him, 'What in God's name + could induce you to promulgate such an opinion?' He replied + familiarly, 'Upon my soul, Dickey, I think it is true.' I + reasoned to show it was not a correct opinion. He argued + strenuously that the opinion was a sound one. At length I + said, 'Suppose you are right, that our Government cannot + last part free and part slave, what good is to be + accomplished by inculcating that opinion (or truth, if you + please) in the minds of the people?' After some minutes + reflection he rose and approached me, extending his right + hand to take mine, and said, 'From respect for your + judgment, Dickey, I'll promise you I won't teach the + doctrine again during this campaign.'"--Letter, T. Lyle + Dickey, MS., December 8, 1866. + +[Illustration: Hall of Representatives, State House, Springfield 090] + +Before delivering his speech he invited a dozen or so of his friends +over to the library of the State House, where he read and submitted +it to them. After the reading he asked each man for his opinion. Some +condemned and not one endorsed it. One man, more forcible than elegant, +characterized it as a "d------d fool utterance", another said the doctrine +was "ahead of its time" and still another contended that it would drive +away a good many voters fresh from the Democratic ranks. Each man +attacked it in his criticism. I was the last to respond. Although the +doctrine announced was rather rank, yet it suited my views, and I said, +"Lincoln, deliver that speech as read and it will make you President." +At the time I hardly realized the force of my prophecy. Having patiently +listened to these various criticisms from his friends--all of which +with a single exception were adverse--he rose from his chair, and after +alluding to the careful study and intense thought he had given the +question, he answered all their objections substantially as follows: +"Friends, this thing has been retarded long enough. The time has come +when these sentiments should be uttered; and if it is decreed that I +should go down because of this speech, then let me go down linked to the +truth--let me die in the advocacy of what is just and right." The next +day, the 17th, the speech was delivered just as we had heard it read. +Up to this time Seward had held sway over the North by his "higher-law" +sentiments, but the "house-divided-against-itself" speech by Lincoln in +my opinion drove the nail into Seward's political coffin.* + + * If any student of oratorical history, after reading + Lincoln's speech on this occasion, will refer to Webster's + reply to Hayne in the Senate, he will be struck with the + similarity in figure and thought in the opening lines of + both speeches. In fact, it may not be amiss to note that, in + this instance, Webster's effort was carefully read by + Lincoln and served in part as his model. + +Lincoln had now created in reality a more profound impression than he or +his friends anticipated. Many Republicans deprecated the advanced ground +he had taken, the more so as the Democrats rejoiced that it afforded +them an issue clear and well-defined. Numbers of his friends distant +from Springfield, on reading his speech, wrote him censorious letters; +and one well-informed co-worker* predicted his defeat, charging it to +the first ten lines of the speech. + + * Leonard Swett. + +These complaints, coming apparently from every quarter, Lincoln bore +with great patience. To one complainant who followed him into his office +he said proudly, "If I had to draw a pen across my record, and erase my +whole life from sight, and I had one poor gift or choice left as to what +I should save from the wreck, I should choose that speech and leave it +to the world unerased." Meanwhile Douglas had returned from Washington +to his home in Chicago. Here he rested for a few days until his friends +and co-workers had arranged the details of a public reception on the +9th of July, when he delivered from the balcony of the Tremont House a +speech intended as an answer to the one made by Lincoln in Springfield. +Lincoln was present at this reception, but took no part in it. The +next day, however, he replied. Both speeches were delivered at the +same place. Leaving Chicago, Douglas passed on down to Bloomington and +Springfield, where he spoke on the 16th and 17th of July respectively. +On the evening of the latter day Lincoln responded again in a most +effective and convincing effort. The contest now took on a different +phase. Lincoln's Republican friends urged him to draw Douglas into a +joint debate, and he accordingly sent him a challenge on the 24th +of July. It is not necessary, I suppose, to reproduce here the +correspondence that passed between these great leaders. On the 30th +Douglas finally accepted the proposition to "divide time, and address +the same audiences," naming seven different places, one in each +Congressional district, outside of Chicago and Springfield, for joint +meetings.* + + * Among the items of preparation on Lincoln's part hitherto + withheld is the following letter, which explains itself: + +[Illustration: Letter to Campbell 095] + + "Springfield, June 28, 1858. + + "A. Campbell, Esq. + + "My Dear Sir:--In 1856 you gave me authority to draw on you + for any sum not exceeding five hundred dollars. I see + clearly that such a privilege would be more available now + than it was then. I am aware that times are tighter now than + they were then. Please write me at all events, and whether + you can now do anything or not I shall continue grateful for + the past. + + "Yours very truly, + + "A. Lincoln." + + * The following recent letter from Mr. Campbell is not + without interest: + + La Salle, Ill., Dec. 12th, 1888. + + "Jesse W. Weik, Esq. + + "My Dear Sir:--I gave Mr. Lincoln some money in the office + of Lincoln & Herndon in Springfield in 1856, but I do not + remember the exact amount. It was, however, between two and + three hundred dollars. I never had Mr. Lincoln's obligation + for the payment of any money. I never kept any account of + nor charged my memory with any money I gave him. It was + given to defray his personal expenses and otherwise promote + the interest of a cause which I sincerely believed to be for + the public good, and without the thought or expectation of a + dollar of it ever being returned. From what I knew and + learned of his careful habits in money matters in the + campaign of 1856 I am entirely confident that every dollar + and dime I ever gave was carefully and faithfully applied to + the uses and purposes for which it was given. + + "Sincerely yours, + + "A. Campbell." + +The places and dates were, Ottawa, August 21; Freeport, August 27; +Jonesboro, September 15; Charleston, September 18; Galesburg, October 7; +Quincy, October 13; and Alton, October 15. "I agree to your suggestion," +wrote Douglas, "that we shall alternately open and close the discussion. +I will speak at Ottawa one hour, you can reply, occupying an hour and +a half, and I will then follow for half an hour. At Freeport you shall +open the discussion and speak one hour, I will follow for an hour and a +half, and you can then reply for half an hour. We will alternate in like +manner in each successive place." To this arrangement Lincoln on the +31st gave his consent, "although," he wrote, "by the terms as you +propose you take four openings and closes to my three." + +History furnishes few characters whose lives and careers were so nearly +parallel as those of Lincoln and Douglas. They met for the first time at +the Legislature in Vandalia in 1834, where Lincoln was a member of the +House of Representatives and Douglas was in the lobby. The next year +Douglas was also a member. In 1839 both were admitted to practice in +the Supreme Court of Illinois on the same day.* In 1841 both courted +the same young lady. In 1846 both represented Illinois in Congress at +Washington, the one in the upper and the other in the lower House. +In 1858 they were opposing candidates for United States Senator; and +finally, to complete the remarkable counterpart, both were candidates +for the Presidency in 1860. While it is true that their ambitions ran +in parallel lines, yet they were exceedingly unlike in all other +particulars. + + * December 3d. + +Douglas was short,--something over five feet high,--heavy set, with a +large head, broad shoulders, deep chest, and striking features. He was +polite and affable, but fearless. He had that unique trait, magnetism, +fully developed in his nature, and that attracted a host of friends +and readily made him a popular idol. He had had extensive experience in +debate, and had been trained by contact for years with the great minds +and orators in Congress. He was full of political history, well +informed on general topics, eloquent almost to the point of brilliancy, +self-confident to the point of arrogance, and a dangerous competitor in +every respect. What he lacked in ingenuity he made up in strategy, and +if in debate he could not tear down the structure of his opponent's +argument by a direct and violent attack, he was by no means reluctant +to resort to a strained restatement of the latter's position or to the +extravagance of ridicule. Lincoln knew his man thoroughly and well.* + + * An erroneous impression has grown up in recent years + concerning Douglas's ability and standing as a lawyer. One + of the latest biographies of Lincoln credits him with many + of the artifices of the "shyster." This is not only unfair, + but decidedly untrue. I always found Douglas at the bar to + be a broad, fair, and liberal-minded man. Although not a + thorough student of the law his large fund of good common- + sense kept him in the front rank. He was equally generous + and courteous, and he never stooped to gain a case. I know + that Lincoln entertained the same view of him. It was only + in politics that Douglas demonstrated any want of + inflexibility and rectitude, and then only did Lincoln + manifest a lack of faith in his morals. + +He had often met Douglas on the stump; was familiar with his tactics, +and though fully aware of his "want of fixed political morals," was not +averse to measuring swords with the elastic and flexible "Little Giant." + +Lincoln himself was constructed on an entirely different foundation. His +base was plain common sense, direct statement, and the inflexibility of +logic. In physical make-up he was cold--at least not magnetic--and +made no effort to dazzle people by his bearing. He cared nothing for +a following, and though he had often before struggled for a political +prize, yet in his efforts he never had strained his well-known spirit of +fairness or open love of the truth. He analyzed everything, laid every +statement bare, and by dint of his broad reasoning powers and +manliness of admission inspired his hearers with deep conviction of his +earnestness and honesty. Douglas may have electrified the crowds with +his eloquence or charmed them with his majestic bearing and dexterity in +debate, but as each man, after the meetings were over and the applause +had died away, went to his home, his head rang with Lincoln's logic and +appeal to manhood. + +A brief description of Mr. Lincoln's appearance on the stump and of his +manner when speaking 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 the 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. When he arose to address +courts, juries, or crowds of people, his body inclined forward to a +slight degree. 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. I have often seen and sympathized with Mr. Lincoln +during these moments. 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. After having arisen, he generally placed his hands behind him, the +back of his left hand in the palm of his right, the thumb and fingers +of his right hand clasped around the left arm at the wrist. For a few +moments he played the combination of awkwardness, sensitiveness, and +diffidence. As he proceeded he became somewhat animated, and to keep in +harmony with his growing warmth his hands relaxed their grasp and fell +to his side. Presently he clasped them in front of him, interlocking his +fingers, one thumb meanwhile chasing another. His speech now requiring +more emphatic utterance, his fingers unlocked and his hands fell apart. +His left arm was thrown behind, the back of his hand resting against +his body, his right hand seeking his side. By this time he had gained +sufficient composure, and his real speech began. He did not gesticulate +as much with his hands as with his head. He used the latter frequently, +throwing it with vim this way and that. This movement was a significant +one when he sought to enforce his statement. It sometimes came with +a quick jerk, as if throwing off electric sparks into combustible +material. 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. +His style was clear, terse, and compact. In argument he was logical, +demonstrative, and fair. He was careless of his dress, and his clothes, +instead of fitting neatly as did the garments of Douglas on the latter's +well-rounded form, hung loosely on his giant frame. 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 despised glitter, +show, set forms, and shams. He spoke with effectiveness and to move the +judgment as well as the emotions of men. There was a world of meaning +and emphasis in the long, bony finger of his right hand as he dotted +the ideas on the minds of his hearers. Sometimes, to express joy or +pleasure, he would raise both hands at an angle of about fifty degrees, +the palms upward, as if desirous of embracing the spirit of that which +he loved. If the sentiment was one of detestation--denunciation of +slavery, for example--both arms, thrown upward and fists clenched, swept +through the air, and he expressed an execration that was truly sublime. +This was one of his most effective gestures, and signified most vividly +a fixed determination to drag down the object of his hatred and trample +it in the dust. He always stood squarely on his feet, toe even with toe; +that is, he never put one foot before the other. He neither touched nor +leaned on anything for support. He made but few changes in his positions +and attitudes. He never ranted, never walked backward and forward on +the platform. To ease his arms he frequently caught hold, with his left +hand, of the lapel of his coat, keeping his thumb upright and leaving +his right hand free to gesticulate. The designer of the monument +recently erected in Chicago has happily caught him in just this +attitude. As he proceeded with his speech the exercise of his vocal +organs altered somewhat the tone 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. In his defence of +the Declaration of Independence--his greatest inspiration--he was +tremendous in the directness of his utterances; he rose to impassioned +eloquence, unsurpassed by Patrick Henry, Mirabeau, or Vergniaud, as his +soul was inspired with the thought of human right and Divine justice.* +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. Such was Lincoln the orator. + + * Horace White, who was present and reported the speech for + his paper, the Chicago Tribune. Letter, June 9, 1865, MS. + +We can somewhat appreciate the feeling with which Douglas, aggressive +and fearless though he was, welcomed a contest with such a man as +Lincoln. Four years before, in a joint debate with him, he had asked +for a cessation of forensic hostilities, conceding that his opponent +of rail-splitting fame had given him "more trouble than all the United +States Senate together." Now he was brought face to face with him +again.* + + * "Douglas and I, for the first time this canvass, crossed + swords here yesterday. The fire flew some, and I am glad to + know I am yet alive."--Lincoln to J. O. Cunningham, Ottawa, + Ill., August 22, 1858, MS. + +It is unnecessary and not in keeping with the purpose of this work to +reproduce here the speeches made by either Lincoln or Douglas in their +justly renowned debate. Briefly stated, Lincoln's position was announced +in his opening speech at Springfield: "'A house divided against itself +cannot stand.' I believe this Government cannot 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 the one thing or 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 +becomes alike lawful in all the states, old as well as new, North as +well as South." The position of Douglas on the question of slavery was +one of indifference. He advocated with all his power the doctrine of +"Popular Sovereignty," a proposition, as quaintly put by Lincoln, which +meant that, "if one man chooses to enslave another, no third man has a +right to object." At the last joint discussion in Alton, Lincoln, after +reflecting on the patriotism of any man who was so indifferent to the +wrong of slavery that he cared not whether it was voted up or down, +closed his speech with this stirring summary: "That [slavery] is the +real issue. That is the issue that will continue in this country when +these poor tongues of Judge Douglas and myself shall be silent. It +is the eternal struggle between these two principles--right and +wrong--throughout the world. They are the two principles that have +stood face to face from the beginning of time, and will ever continue +to struggle. The one is the common right of humanity, and the other the +divine right of kings. It is the same principle, in whatever shape it +develops itself. It is the same spirit that says: 'You work and toil +and earn bread, and I eat it.' No matter in what shape it comes, whether +from the mouth of a king who seeks to bestride the people of his own +nation and live by the fruit of their labor, or from one race of men +as an apology for enslaving another race, it is the same tyrannical +principle." + +It is unnecessary, I presume, to insert here the seven questions which +Douglas propounded to Lincoln at their first meeting at Ottawa, nor the +historic four which Lincoln asked at Freeport. It only remains to say +that in answering Lincoln at + +Freeport, Douglas accomplished his own political downfall. He was +swept entirely away from his former foundation, and even the glory of a +subsequent election to the Senate never restored him to it. + +During the canvass Mr. Lincoln, in addition to the seven meetings +with Douglas, filled thirty-one appointments made by the State +Central Committee, besides speaking at many other times and places not +previously advertised. In his trips to and fro over the State, between +meetings, he would stop at Springfield sometimes, to consult with his +friends or to post himself up on questions that occurred during the +canvass. He kept me busy hunting up old speeches and gathering facts and +statistics at the State library. I made liberal clippings bearing in any +way on the questions of the hour from every newspaper I happened to see, +and kept him supplied with them; and on one or two occasions, in answer +to letters and telegrams, I sent books forward to him. He had a little +leather bound book, fastened in front with a clasp, in which he and I +both kept inserting newspaper slips and newspaper comments until the +canvass opened. In arranging for the joint meetings and managing the +crowds Douglas enjoyed one great advantage. He had been United +States Senator for several years, and had influential friends holding +comfortable government offices all over the State. These men were on +hand at every meeting, losing no opportunity to applaud lustily all the +points Douglas made and to lionize him in every conceivable way. The +ingeniously contrived display of their enthusiasm had a marked effect +on certain crowds--a fact of which Lincoln frequently complained to +his friends. One who accompanied him during the canvass* relates this: +"Lincoln and I were at the Centralia agricultural fair the day after the +debate at Jonesboro. Night came on and we were tired, having been on +the fair grounds all day. We were to go north on the Illinois Central +railroad. The train was due at midnight, and the depot was full of +people. I managed to get a chair for Lincoln in the office of the +superintendent of the railroad, but small politicians would intrude so +that he could scarcely get a moment's sleep. The train came and was +filled instantly. I got a seat near the door for Lincoln and myself. +He was worn out, and had to meet Douglas the next day at Charleston. An +empty car, called a saloon car, was hitched on to the rear of the +train and locked up. I asked the conductor, who knew Lincoln and myself +well,--we were both attorneys of the road,--if Lincoln could not ride +in that car; that he was exhausted and needed rest; but the conductor +refused. I afterwards got him in by a stratagem. At the same time George +B. McClellan in person was taking Douglas around in a special car and +special train; and that was the unjust treatment Lincoln got from +the Illinois Central railroad. Every interest of that road and every +employee was against Lincoln and for Douglas." + + * Henry C. Whitney, MS., July 21, 1865. + +The heat and dust and bonfires of the campaign at last came to an end. +The election took place on the second of November, and while Lincoln +received of the popular vote a majority of over four thousand, yet the +returns from the legislative districts foreshadowed his defeat. In fact, +when the Senatorial election took place in the Legislature, Douglas +received fifty-four and Lincoln forty-six votes--one of the results of +the lamentable apportionment law then in operation.* + + * Horace Greeley was one of the most vigilant men during the + debate. He wrote to Lincoln and me many letters which I + still retain. In a letter to me during the campaign, October + 6, he says with reference to Douglas: "In his present + position I could not of course support him, but he need not + have been in this position had the Republicans of Illinois + been as wise and far-seeing as they are earnest and true.... + but seeing things are as they are, I do not wish to be + quoted as authority for making trouble and division among + our friends." Soon after hearing of the result of November + election he again writes: "I advise you privately that Mr. + Douglas would be the strongest candidate that the Democratic + party could present for President; but they will not present + him. The old leaders wouldn't endorse it. As he is doomed to + be slaughtered at Charleston it is good policy to fatten him + meantime. He will cut up the better at killing time." An + inquiry for his preference as to Presidential timber + elicited this response, December 4th. "As to President, my + present judgment is Edward Bates, with John M. Read for + Vice; but I am willing to go anything that looks strong. I + don't wish to load the team heavier than it will pull + through. As to Douglas, he is like the man's boy who (he + said) 'didn't weigh so much as he expected, and he always + knew he wouldn't.' I never thought him very sound coin; but + I didn't think it best to beat him on the back of his anti- + Lecompton fight, and I am still of that opinion." + +The letters of Lincoln at this period are the best evidence of his +feelings now obtainable, and of how he accepted his defeat. To Henry +Asbury, a friend who had written him a cheerful letter admonishing him +not to give up the battle, he responded; + +"Springfield, November 19, 1858. + +"Mr. Henry Asbury, + +"My Dear Sir:--Yours of the 13th was received some days ago. The fight +must go on. The cause of civil liberty must not be surrendered at the +end of one or even one hundred defeats. Douglas had the ingenuity to be +supported in the late contest both as the best means to break down and +to uphold the slave interest. No ingenuity can keep these antagonistic +elements in harmony long. Another explosion will soon come. + +"Yours truly, + +"A. Lincoln." + +To another friend* on the same day he writes: + + * Dr. Henry. + +"I am glad I made the late race. It gave me a hearing on the great and +durable questions of the age which I could have had in no other way; and +though I now sink out of view and shall be forgotten, I believe I have +made some marks which will tell for the cause of liberty long after I am +gone." Before passing to later events in Mr. Lincoln's life it is proper +to include in this chapter, as a specimen of his oratory at this time, +his eloquent reference to the Declaration of Independence found in a +speech delivered at Beardstown, August 12, and not at Lewiston five days +later, as many biographers have it. Aside from its concise reasoning, +the sublime thought it suggests entitles it to rank beside that great +masterpiece, his Gettysburg address. After alluding to the suppression +by the Fathers of the Republic of the slave trade, he says: "These by +their representatives in old Independence Hall said to the whole race of +men: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created +equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable +rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of +happiness.' This was their majestic interpretation of the economy of the +universe. This was their lofty, and wise, and noble understanding of +the justice of the Creator to his creatures--yes, gentlemen, to all +his creatures, to the whole great family of man. In their enlightened +belief, nothing stamped with the divine image and likeness was sent into +the world to be trodden on and degraded and imbruted by its fellows. +They grasped not only the whole race of man then living, but they +reached forward and seized upon the farthest posterity. They erected a +beacon to guide their children, and their children's children, and +the countless myriads who should inhabit the earth in other ages. Wise +statesmen as they were, they knew the tendency of prosperity to breed +tyrants, and so they established these great self-evident truths, that +when in the distant future some man, some faction, some interest, should +set up the doctrine that none but rich men, none but white men, or +none but Anglo-Saxon white men were entitled to life, liberty, and +the pursuit of happiness, their posterity might look up again to the +Declaration of Independence and take courage to renew the battle which +their fathers began, so that truth and justice and mercy and all the +humane and Christian virtues might not be extinguished from the land; +so that no man would hereafter dare to limit and circumscribe the great +principles on which the temple of liberty was being built. + +"Now, my countrymen, if you have been taught doctrines conflicting with +the great landmarks of the Declaration of Independence; if you have +listened to suggestions which would take away from its grandeur and +mutilate the fair symmetry of its proportions; if you have been inclined +to believe that all men are not created equal in those inalienable +rights enumerated by our chart of liberty: let me entreat you to come +back. Return to the fountain whose waters spring close by the blood of +the Revolution. Think nothing of me; take no thought for the political +fate of any man whomsoever, but come back to the truths that are in the +Declaration of Independence. You may do anything with me you choose, if +you will but heed these sacred principles. You may not only defeat +me for the Senate, but you may take me and put me to death. While +pretending no indifference to earthly honors, I do claim to be actuated +in this contest by something higher than an anxiety for office. I +charge you to drop every paltry and insignificant thought for any man's +success. It is nothing; I am nothing; Judge Douglas is nothing. But +do not destroy that immortal emblem of humanity--the Declaration of +American Independence." + +One of the newspaper men* who heard this majestic oration wrote me as +follows: + + * Horace White, MS., May 17, 1865. + +"The apostrophe to the Declaration of Independence to which you refer +was written by myself from a vivid recollection of Mr. Lincoln's speech +at Beardstown, August 12, 1858. On the day following the delivery of the +speech, as Mr. Lincoln and I were proceeding by steamer from Beardstown +to Havana, I said to him that I had been greatly impressed by his +concluding remarks of the day previous, and that if he would write them +out for me I felt confident their publication would be highly beneficial +to our cause as well as honorable to his own fame. He replied that he +had but a faint recollection of any portion of the speech; that, like +all his campaign speeches, it was necessarily extemporaneous; and that +its good or bad effect depended upon the inspiration of the moment. +He added that I had probably overestimated the value of the remarks +referred to. In reply to my question whether he had any objection to my +writing them out from memory and putting them in the form of a verbatim +report, he said, 'None at all.' I accordingly did so. I felt confident +then and I feel equally assured now that I transcribed the peroration +with absolute fidelity as to ideas and commendable fidelity as to +language. I certainly aimed to reproduce his exact words, and my +recollection of the passage as spoken was very clear. After I had +finished writing I read it to Mr. Lincoln. When I had finished the +reading he said, 'Well, those are my views, and if I said anything on +the subject I must have said substantially that, but not nearly so well +as that is said.' I remember this remark quite distinctly, and if the +old steamer _Editor_ is still in existence I could show the place +where we were sitting. Having secured his assent to the publication I +forwarded it to our paper, but inasmuch as my report of the Beardstown +meeting had been already mailed I incorporated the remarks on the +Declaration of Independence in my letter from Lewiston two or three days +subsequently.... I do not remember ever having related these facts before, +although they have often recurred to me as I have seen the peroration +resuscitated again and again, and published (with good effect, I trust) +in the newspapers of this country and England." + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +The importance of a more accurate and elaborate history of the debate +between Lincoln and Douglas has induced Mr. Weik and me to secure, +for publication in these pages, the account by Horace White, of this +world-renowned forensic contest. Mr. White's means of knowledge, as +fully set forth in the article, are exceptional, and his treatment of +the subject is not less entertaining than truthful. It is certainly a +great contribution to history and we insert it without further comment: + +"It was my good fortune to accompany Mr. Lincoln during his political +campaign against Senator Douglas in 1858, not only at the joint debates +but also at most of the smaller meetings where his competitor was not +present. We traveled together many thousands of miles. I was in the +employ of the _Chicago Tribune_, then called the _Press and Tribune_. +Senator Douglas had entered upon his campaign with two short-hand +reporters, James B. Sheridan and Henry Binmore, whose duty it was to +'write it up' in the columns of the Chicago Times. The necessity of +counteracting or matching that force became apparent very soon, and I +was chosen to write up Mr. Lincoln's campaign. + +"I was not a short-hand reporter. The verbatim reporting for the Chicago +Tribune in the joint debates was done by Mr. Robert R. Hitt, late +Assistant Secretary of State, and the present Representative in Congress +from the 6th District of Illinois. Verbatim reporting was a new feature +in journalism in Chicago, and Mr. Hitt was the pioneer thereof. The +publication of Senator Douglas's opening speech in that campaign, +delivered on the evening of July 9th, by the Tribune the next morning, +was a feat hitherto unexampled in the West, and most mortifying to the +Democratic newspaper, the _Times_, and to Sheridan and Binmore, who, +after taking down the speech as carefully as Mr. Hitt had done, had gone +to bed intending to write it out next day, as was then customary. + +"All of the seven joint debates were reported by Mr. Hitt for the +_Tribune_, the manuscript passing through my hands before going to the +printers, but no changes were made by me except in a few cases where +confusion on the platform; or the blowing of the wind, had caused some +slight hiatus or evident mistake in catching the speaker's words. I +could not resist the temptation to _italicise_ a few passages in Mr. +Lincoln's speeches, where his manner of delivery had been especially +emphatic. + +"The volume containing the debates, published in 1860 by Follett, +Foster & Co., of Columbus, Ohio, presents Mr. Lincoln's speeches as they +appeared in the Chicago _Tribune_, and Mr. Douglas's as they appeared +in the Chicago _Times_. Of course, the speeches of both were published +simultaneously in both papers. The Chicago _Times_' reports of Mr. +Lincoln's speeches were not at all satisfactory to Mr. Lincoln's +friends, and this led to a charge that they were purposely mutilated +in order to give his competitor a more scholarly appearance before the +public--a charge indignantly denied by Sheridan and Binmore. There was +really no foundation for this charge. Of course, Sheridan and Binmore +took more pains with Mr. Douglas's speeches than with those of his +opponent. That was their business. It was what they were paid for, and +what they were expected to do. The debates were all held in the open +air, on rude platforms hastily put together, shaky, and overcrowded +with people. The reporters' tables were liable to be jostled and their +manuscript agitated by the wind. Some gaps were certain to occur in the +reporters' notes and these, when occurring in Mr. Douglas's speeches, +would certainly be straightened out by his own reporters, who would feel +no such responsibility for the rough places in Mr. Lincoln's. Then it +must be added that there were fewer involved sentences in Mr. Douglas's +_extempore_ speeches than in Mr. Lincoln's. Douglas was the more +practiced and more polished speaker of the two, and it was easier for a +reporter to follow him. All his sentences were round and perfect in his +mind before he opened his lips. This was not always the case with Mr. +Lincoln's. + +"My acquaintance with Mr. Lincoln began four years before the campaign +of which I am writing, in October, 1854. I was then in the employ of the +Chicago _Evening Journal_. I had been sent to Springfield to report the +political doings of State Fair week for that newspaper. Thus it came +about that I occupied a front seat in the Representatives' Hall, in the +old State House, when Mr. Lincoln delivered the speech already described +in this volume. The impression made upon me by the orator was quite +overpowering. + +"I had not heard much political speaking up to that time. I have heard +a great deal since. I have never heard anything since, either by Mr. +Lincoln, or by anybody, that I would put on a higher plane of oratory. +All the strings that play upon the human heart and understanding were +touched with masterly skill and force, while beyond and above all skill +was the overwhelming conviction pressed upon the audience that the +speaker himself was charged with an irresistible and inspiring duty to +his fellow men. This conscientious impulse drove his arguments through +the heads of his hearers down into their bosoms, where they made +everlasting lodgment. I had been nurtured in the Abolitionist faith, +and was much more radical than Mr. Lincoln himself on any point where +slavery was concerned, yet it seemed to me, when this speech was +finished, as though I had had a very feeble conception of the wickedness +of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill. I was filled, as never before, with +the sense of my own duty and responsibility as a citizen toward the +aggressions of the slave power. + +"Having, 'since then, heard all the great public speakers of this +country subsequent to the period of Clay and Webster, I award the palm +to Mr. Lincoln as the one who, although not first in all respects, would +bring more men, of doubtful or hostile leanings, around to his way of +thinking by talking to them on a platform, than any other. + +"Although I heard him many times afterward I shall longest remember him +as I then saw the tall, angular form with the long, angular arms, at +times bent nearly double with excitement, like a large flail animating +two smaller ones, the mobile face wet with perspiration which he +discharged in drops as he threw his head this way and that like a +projectile--not a graceful figure, yet not an ungraceful one. After +listening to him a few minutes, when he had got well warmed with his +subject, nobody would mind whether he was graceful or not. All thought +of grace or form would be lost in the exceeding attractiveness of what +he was saying. + +"Returning to the campaign of 1858--I was sent by my employers to +Springfield to attend the Republican State Convention of that year. +Again I sat at a short distance from Mr. Lincoln when he delivered the +'house-divided-against-itself' speech, on the 17th of June. This was +delivered from manuscript, and was the only one I ever heard him deliver +in that way. When it was concluded he put the manuscript in my hands and +asked me to go to the _State Journal_ office and read the proof of it. +I think it had already been set in type. Before I had finished this task +Mr. Lincoln himself came into the composing room of the _State Journal_ +and looked over the revised proofs. He said to me that he had taken a +great deal of pains with this speech, and that he wanted it to go before +the people just as he had prepared it. He added that some of his friends +had scolded him a good deal about the opening paragraph and 'the house +divided against itself,' and wanted him to change it or leave it out +altogether, but that he believed he had studied this subject more deeply +than they had, and that he was going to stick to that text whatever +happened. + +"On the 9th of July, Senator Douglas returned to Chicago from Washington +City. He had stopped a few days at Cleveland, Ohio, to allow his friends +to arrange a grand _entree_ for him. It was arranged that he should +arrive about eight o'clock in the evening by the Michigan Central +Railway, whose station was at the foot of Lake street, in which street +the principal hotel, the Tremont House, was situated, and that he should +be driven in a carriage drawn by six horses to the hotel, where +he should make his first speech of the campaign. To carry out this +arrangement it was necessary that he should leave the Michigan Southern +Railway at Laporte and go to Michigan City, at which place the Chicago +committee of reception took him in charge. It was noted by the Chicago +_Times_ that some malicious person at Michigan City had secretly spiked +the only cannon in the town, so that the Douglas men were obliged to use +an anvil on the occasion. + +"When Mr. Douglas and his train arrived at the Lake street station, the +crowd along the street to the hotel, four or five blocks distant, was +dense, and, for the Chicago of that day, tremendous. It was with great +difficulty that the six-horse team got through it at all. Banners, bands +of music, cannon and fireworks added their various inspiration to the +scene. About nine o'clock Mr. Douglas made his appearance on a balcony +on the Lake street side of the hotel and made his speech. Mr. Lincoln +sat in a chair just inside the house, very near the speaker, and was an +attentive listener. + +"Mr. Douglas's manner on this occasion was courtly and conciliatory. His +argument was plausible but worthless--being, for the most part, a +rehash of his 'popular sovereignty' dogma; nevertheless, he made a good +impression. He could make more out of a bad case, I think, than any +other man this country has ever produced, and I hope the country will +never produce his like again in this particular. If his fate had been +cast in the French Revolution, he would have out-demagogued the whole +lot of them. I consider the use he made of this chip called popular +sovereignty, riding upon it safely through some of the stormiest +years in our history, and having nothing else to ride upon, a feat of +dexterity akin to genius. But mere dexterity would not alone have borne +him along his pathway in life. He had dauntless courage, unwearied +energy, engaging manners, boundless ambition, unsurpassed powers of +debate, and strong personal magnetism. Among the Democrats of the North +his ascendency was unquestioned and his power almost absolute. He was +exactly fitted to hew his way to the Presidency, and he would have done +so infallibly if he had not made the mistake of coquetting with slavery. +This was a mistake due to the absence of moral principle. If he had been +as true to freedom as Lincoln was he would have distanced Lincoln in +the race. It was, in fact, no easy task to prevent the Republicans from +flocking after him in 1858, when he had, for once only, sided with them, +in reference to the Lecompton Constitution. There are some reasons +for believing that Douglas would have separated himself from the +slave-holders entirely after the Lecompton fight, if he had thought that +the Republicans would join in re-electing him to the Senate. Yet the +position taken by the party in Illinois was perfectly sound. Douglas was +too slippery to make a bargain with. He afterward redeemed himself in +the eyes of his opponents by an immense service to the Union, which no +other man could have rendered; but, up to this time, there was nothing +for anti slavery men to do but to beat him if they could. + +"I will add here that I had no personal acquaintance with Mr. Douglas, +although my opportunities for meeting him were frequent. I regarded him +as the most dangerous enemy of liberty, and, therefore, as my enemy. +I did not want to know him. Accordingly, one day when Mr. Sheridan +courteously offered to present me to his chief, I declined without +giving any reason. Of course, this was a mistake; but, at the age of +twenty-four, I took my politics very seriously. I thought that all the +work of saving the country had to be done then and there. I have since +learned to leave something to time and Providence. + +"Mr. Lincoln's individual campaign began at Beardstown, Cass county, +August 12th. Douglas had been there the previous day, and I had heard +him. His speech had consisted mainly of tedious repetitions of 'popular +sovereignty,' but he had taken occasion to notice Lincoln's conspiracy +charge, and had called it 'an infamous lie.' He had also alluded to +Senator Trumbull's charge that he (Douglas) had, two years earlier, been +engaged in a plot to force a bogus constitution on the people of Kansas +without giving them an opportunity to vote upon it. 'The miserable, +craven-hearted wretch,' said Douglas, 'he would rather have both ears +cut off than to use that language in my presence, where I could call him +to account.' Before entering upon this subject, Douglas turned to his +reporters and said 'Take this down.' They did so and it was published a +few days later in the St. Louis Republican. This incident furnished +the text of the Charleston joint debate on the 18th of September. + +"Mr. Douglas's meeting at Beardstown was large and enthusiastic, but was +composed of a lower social stratum than the Republican meeting of the +following day. Mr. Lincoln came up the Illinois River from the town of +Naples in the steamer _Sam Gaty_. Cass county and the surrounding region +was by no means hopeful Republican ground. Yet Mr. Lincoln's friends +mustered forty horsemen and two bands of music, beside a long procession +on foot to meet him at the landing. Schuyler county sent a delegation of +three hundred, and Morgan county was well represented. These were mostly +Old Line Whigs who had followed Lincoln in earlier days. Mr. Lincoln's +speech at Beardstown was one of the best he ever made in my hearing, and +was not a repetition of any other. In fact, he never repeated himself +except when some remark or question from the audience led him back upon +a subject that he had already discussed. Many times did I marvel to see +him get on a platform at some out-of-the-way place and begin an entirely +new speech, equal, in all respects, to any of the joint debates, and +continue for two hours in a high strain of argumentative power and +eloquence, without saying anything that I had heard before. After the +Edwardsville meeting I said to him that it was wonderful to me that he +could find new things to say everywhere, while Douglas was parroting his +popular sovereignty speech at every place. He replied that Douglas was +not lacking in versatility, but that he had a theory that the popular +sovereignty speech was the one to win on, and that the audiences whom he +addressed would hear it only once and would never know whether he made +the same speech elsewhere or not, and would never care. Most likely, if +their attention were called to the subject, they would think that was +the proper thing to do. As for himself, he said that he could not +repeat to-day what he had said yesterday. The subject kept enlarging and +widening in his mind as he went on, and it was much easier to make a new +speech than to repeat an old one. + +"It was at Beardstown that Mr. Lincoln uttered the glowing words +that have come to be known as the apostrophe to the Declaration of +Independence, the circumstances attending which are narrated in another +part of this book. Probably the apostrophe, as printed, is a trifle more +florid than as delivered, and, therefore, less forcible. + +"The following passage, from the Beardstown speech, was taken down by +me on the platform by long-hand notes and written out immediately +afterward: + +THE CONSPIRACY CHARGE. + +"'I made a speech in June last in which I pointed out, briefly and +consecutively, a series of public measures leading directly to the +nationalization of slavery--the spreading of that institution over all +the Territories and all the States, old as well as new, North as well as +South. I enumerated the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, which, every +candid man must acknowledge, conferred upon emigrants to Kansas and +Nebraska the right to carry slaves there and hold them in bondage, +whereas formerly they had no such right; I alluded to the events which +followed that repeal, events in which Judge Douglas's name figures quite +prominently; I referred to the Dred Scott decision and the extraordinary +means taken to prepare the public mind for that decision; the efforts +put forth by President Pierce to make the people believe that, in the +election of James Buchanan, they had endorsed the doctrine that slavery +may exist in the free Territories of the Union--the earnest exhortation +put forth by President Buchanan to the people to stick to that decision +whatever it might be--the close-fitting niche in the Nebraska bill, +wherein the right of the people to govern themselves is made 'subject to +the constitution of the United States'--the extraordinary haste made +by Judge Douglas to give this decision an endorsement at the capitol of +Illinois. I alluded to other concurring circumstances, which I need not +repeat now, and I said that, though I could not open the bosoms of men +and find out their secret motives, yet, when I found the framework of +a barn, or a bridge, or any other structure, built by a number of +carpenters--Stephen and Franklin and Roger and James--and so built that +each tenon had its proper mortice, and the whole forming a symmetrical +piece of workmanship, I should say that those carpenters all worked on +an intelligible plan, and understood each other from the beginning. +This embraced the main argument in my speech before the Republican State +Convention in June. Judge Douglas received a copy of my speech some two +weeks before his return to Illinois. He had ample time to examine and +reply to it if he chose to do so. He did examine and he did reply to it, +but he wholly overlooked the body of my argument, and said nothing +about the 'conspiracy charge,' as he terms it. He made his speech up of +complaints against our tendencies to negro equality and amalgamation. +Well, seeing that Douglas had had the process served on him, that he had +taken notice of the process, that he had come into court and pleaded +to a part of the complaint, but had ignored the main issue, I took +a default on him. I held that he had no plea to make to the general +charge. So when I was called on to reply to him, twenty-four hours +afterward, I renewed the charge as explicitly as I could. My speech was +reported and published on the following morning, and, of course, Judge +Douglas saw it. He went from Chicago to Bloomington and there made +another and longer speech, and yet took no notice of the 'conspiracy +charge.' He then went to Springfield and made another elaborate +argument, but was not prevailed upon to know anything about the +outstanding indictment. I made another speech at Springfield, this +time taking it for granted that Judge Douglas was satisfied to take his +chances in the campaign with the imputation of the conspiracy hanging +over him. It was not until he went into a small town, Clinton, in De +Witt county, where he delivered his fourth or fifth regular speech, that +he found it convenient to notice this matter at all. At that place +(I was standing in the crowd when he made his speech ), he bethought +himself that he was charged with something, and his reply was that his +'self-respect alone prevented him from calling it a falsehood.' Well, +my friends, perhaps he so far lost his self-respect in Beardstown as to +actually call it a falsehood. + +"'But now I have this reply to make: that while the Nebraska bill was +pending, Judge Douglas helped to vote down a clause giving the people of +the Territories the right to exclude slavery if they chose; that neither +while the bill was pending, nor at any other time, would he give his +opinion whether the people had the right to exclude slavery, though +respectfully asked; that he made a report, which I hold in my hand, from +the Committee on Territories, in which he said the rights of the people +of the Territories, in this regard, are 'held in abeyance,' and cannot +be immediately exercised; that the Dred Scott decision expressly denies +any such right, but declares that neither Congress nor the Territorial +Legislature can keep slavery out of Kansas and that Judge Douglas +endorses that decision. All these charges are new; that is, I did not +make them in my original speech. They are additional and cumulative +testimony. I bring them forward now and dare Judge Douglas to deny one +of them. Let him do so and I will prove them by such testimony as shall +confound him forever. I say to you, that it would be more to the purpose +for Judge Douglas to say that he did not repeal the Missouri Compromise; +that he did not make slavery possible where it was impossible before; +that he did not leave a niche in the Nebraska bill for the Dred Scott +decision to rest in; that he did not vote down a clause giving the +people the right to exclude slavery if they wanted to; that he did not +refuse to give his individual opinion whether a Territorial Legislature +could exclude slavery; that he did not make a report to the Senate, in +which he said that the rights of the people, in this regard, were held +in abeyance and could not be immediately exercised; that he did not make +a hasty endorsement of the Dred Scott decision over at Springfield;* +that he does not now endorse that decision; that that decision does not +take away from the Territorial Legislature the right to exclude slavery; +and that he did not, in the original Nebraska bill, so couple the words +State and Territory together that what the Supreme Court has done in +forcing open all the Territories to slavery it may yet do in forcing +open all the States. I say it would be vastly more to the point for +Judge Douglas to say that he did not do some of these things; that he +did not forge some of these links of testimony, than to go vociferating +about the country that possibly he may hint that somebody is a liar.' + + * This refers to Douglas's speech of June 12, 1857. + +"The next morning, August 13th, we boarded the steamer _Editor_ and went +to Havana, Mason county. Mr. Lincoln was in excellent spirits. Several +of his old Whig friends were on board, and the journey was filled up +with politics and story-telling. In the latter branch of human affairs, +Mr. Lincoln was most highly gifted. From the beginning to the end of our +travels the fund of anecdotes never failed, and, wherever we happened to +be, all the people within ear-shot would begin to work their way up +to this inimitable storyteller. His stories were always _apropos_ of +something going on, and oftenest related to things that had happened in +his own neighborhood. He was constantly being reminded of one, and, when +he told it, his facial expression was so irresistibly comic that the +bystanders generally exploded in laughter before he reached what he +called the 'nub' of it. Although the intervals between the meetings +were filled up brimful with mirth in this way, Mr. Lincoln indulged very +sparingly in humor in his speeches. I asked him one day why he did not +oftener turn the laugh on Douglas. He replied that he was too much in +earnest, and that it was doubtful whether turning the laugh on anybody +really gained any votes. + +"We arrived at Havana while Douglas was still speaking. The deputation +that met Mr. Lincoln at the landing suggested that he should go up +to the grove where the Democratic meeting was going on and hear what +Douglas was saying. But he declined to do so, saying: 'The Judge was +so put out by my listening to him at Bloomington and Clinton that I +promised to leave him alone at his own meetings for the rest of the +campaign. I understand that he is calling Trumbull and myself liars, and +if he should see me in the crowd he might be so ashamed of himself as +to omit the most telling part of his argument.' I strolled up to the +Douglas meeting just before its conclusion, and there met a friend who +had heard the whole. He was in a state of high indignation. He said +that Douglas must certainly have been drinking before he came on the +platform, because he had called Lincoln 'a liar, a coward, a wretch and +a sneak.' + +"When Mr. Lincoln replied, on the following day, he took notice of +Douglas's hard words in this way: + +"I am informed that my distinguished friend yesterday became a little +excited, nervous (?) perhaps, and that he said something about fighting, +as though looking to a personal encounter between himself and me. Did +anybody in this audience hear him use such language? (Yes, Yes.) I am +informed, further, that somebody in his audience, rather more excited or +nervous than himself, took off his coat and offered to take the job +off Judge Douglas's hands and fight Lincoln himself. Did anybody here +witness that warlike proceeding? (Laughter and cries of 'yes.') Well, +I merely desire to say that I shall fight neither Judge Douglas nor his +second. I shall not do this for two reasons, which I will explain. In +the first place a fight would prove nothing which is in issue in this +election. It might establish that Judge Douglas is a more muscular man +than myself, or it might show that I am a more muscular man than Judge +Douglas. But this subject is not referred to in the Cincinnati platform, +nor in either of the Springfield platforms. Neither result would prove +him right or me wrong. And so of the gentleman who offered to do his +fighting for him. If my fighting Judge Douglas would not prove +any thing, it would certainly prove nothing for me to fight his +bottle-holder. My second reason for not having a personal encounter with +Judge Douglas is that I don't believe he wants it himself. He and I are +about the best friends in the world, and when we get together he would +no more think of fighting me than of fighting his wife. Therefore, +when the Judge talked about fighting he was not giving vent to any +ill-feeling of his own, but was merely trying to excite--well, let us +say enthusiasm against me on the part of his audience. And, as I find he +was tolerably successful in this, we will call it quits.' + +"At Havana I saw Mrs. Douglas (_nee_ Cutts) standing with a group of +ladies a short distance from the platform on which her husband was +speaking, and I thought I had never seen a more queenly face and figure. +I saw her frequently afterward in this campaign, but never personally +met her till many years later, when she had become the wife of General +Williams of the regular army, and the mother of children who promised +to be as beautiful as herself. There is no doubt in my mind that this +attractive presence was very helpful to Judge Douglas in the campaign. +It is certain that the Republicans considered her a dangerous element. + +"From Havana we went to Lewistown and thence to Peoria, still following +on the heels of the Little Giant, but nothing of special interest +happened at either place. As we came northward Mr. Lincoln's meetings +grew in size, but at Lewistown the Douglas gathering was much the larger +of the two and was the most considerable in point of numbers I had yet +seen. + +"The next stage brought us to Ottawa, the first joint debate, August +21st. Here the crowd was enormous. The weather had been very dry and +the town was shrouded in dust raised by the moving populace. Crowds were +pouring into town from sunrise till noon in all sorts of conveyances, +teams, railroad trains, canal boats, cavalcades, and processions on +foot, with banners and inscriptions, stirring up such clouds of dust +that it was hard to make out what was underneath them. The town was +covered with bunting, and bands of music were tooting around every +corner, drowned now and then by the roar of cannon. Mr. Lincoln came by +railroad and Mr. Douglas by carriage from La Salle. A train of seventeen +passenger cars from Chicago attested the interest felt in that city in +the first meeting of the champions. Two great processions escorted them +to the platform in the public square. But the eagerness to hear the +speaking was so great that the crowd had taken possession of the square +and the platform, and had climbed on the wooden awning overhead, to such +an extent that the speakers and the committees and reporters could not +get to their places. Half an hour was consumed in a rough-and-tumble +skirmish to make way for them, and, when finally this was accomplished, +a section of the awning gave way with its load of men and boys, and +came down on the heads of the Douglas committee of reception. But, +fortunately, nobody was hurt. + +"Here I was joined by Mr. Hitt and also by Mr. Chester P. Dewey of +the New York _Evening Post_, who remained with us until the end of the +campaign. Hither, also, came quite an army of young newspaper men, among +whom was Henry Villard, in behalf of Forney's Philadelphia Press. I have +preserved Mr. Dewey's sketch of the two orators as they appeared on the +Ottawa platform, and I introduce it here as a graphic description by a +new hand: + +"'Two men presenting wider contrasts could hardly be found, as the +representatives of the two great parties. Everybody knows Douglas, a +short, thick-set, burly man, with large, round head, heavy hair, dark +complexion, and fierce, bull-dog look. Strong in his own real power, and +skilled by a thousand conflicts in all the strategy of a hand-to-hand or +a general fight; of towering ambition, restless in his determined +desire for notoriety, proud, defiant, arrogant, audacious, unscrupulous, +'Little Dug' ascended the platform and looked out impudently and +carelessly on the immense throng which surged and struggled before him. +A native of Vermont, reared on a soil where no slave stood, he came +to Illinois a teacher, and from one post to another had risen to his +present eminence. Forgetful of the ancestral hatred of slavery to which +he was the heir, he had come to be a holder of slaves, and to owe much +of his fame to continued subservience to Southern influence. + +"'The other--Lincoln--is a native of Kentucky, of poor white parentage, +and, from his cradle, has felt the blighting influence of the dark and +cruel shadow which rendered labor dishonorable and kept the poor in +poverty, while it advanced the rich in their possessions. Reared in +poverty, and to the humblest aspirations, he left his native State, +crossed the line into Illinois, and began his career of honorable +toil. At first a laborer, splitting rails for a living--deficient in +education, and applying himself even to the rudiments of knowledge--he, +too, felt the expanding power of his American manhood, and began to +achieve the greatness to which he has succeeded. With great difficulty, +struggling through the tedious formularies of legal lore, he was +admitted to the bar, and rapidly made his way to the front ranks of +his profession. Honored by the people with office, he is still the same +honest and reliable man. He volunteers in the Black Hawk war, and does +the State good service in its sorest need. In every relation of life, +socially and to the State, Mr. Lincoln has been always the pure and +honest man. In physique he is the opposite to Douglas. Built on the +Kentucky type, he is very tall, slender and angular, awkward even +in gait and attitude. His face is sharp, large-featured and +unprepossessing. His eyes are deep-set under heavy brows, his forehead +is high and retreating, and his hair is dark and heavy. In repose, I +must confess that 'Long Abe's' appearance is not comely. But stir him +up and the fire of his genius plays on every feature. His eye glows +and sparkles; every lineament, now so ill-formed, grows brilliant and +expressive, and you have before you a man of rare power and of strong +magnetic influence. He _takes_ the people every time, and there is no +getting away from his sturdy good sense, his unaffected sincerity and +the unceasing play of his good humor, which accompanies his close logic +and smoothes the way to conviction. Listening to him on Saturday, +calmly and unprejudiced, I was convinced that he had no superior as +a stump-speaker. He is clear, concise and logical, his language is +eloquent and at perfect command. He is altogether a more fluent speaker +than Douglas, and in all the arts of debate fully his equal. The +Republicans of Illinois have chosen a champion worthy of their heartiest +support, and fully equipped for the conflict with the great Squatter +Sovereign.' + +"One trifling error of fact will be noticed by the readers of these +volumes in Mr. Dewey's sketch. It relates to Douglas, and it is proper +to correct it here. Mr. Douglas was never a slave-holder. As a trustee +or guardian, he held a plantation in Louisiana with the slaves thereon, +which had belonged to Col. Robert Martin, of North Carolina, the +maternal grandfather of his two sons by his first marriage. It is a fact +that Douglas refused to accept this plantation and its belongings as a +gift to himself from Colonel Martin in the life-time of the latter. It +was characteristic of him that he declined to be an owner of slaves, not +because he sympathized with the Abolitionists, but because, as he said +once in a debate with Senator Wade, 'being a Northern man by birth, by +education and residence, and intending always to remain such, it was +impossible for me to know, understand, and provide for the happiness of +those people.' + +"At the conclusion of the Ottawa debate, a circumstance occurred which, +Mr. Lincoln said to me afterwards, was extremely mortifying to him. +Half a dozen Republicans, roused to a high pitch of enthusiasm for their +leader, seized him as he came down from the platform, hoisted him upon +their shoulders and marched off with him, singing the 'Star Spangled +Banner,' or 'Hail Columbia,' until they reached the place where he was +to spend the night. What use Douglas made of this incident, is known to +the readers of the joint debates. He said a few days later, at Joliet, +that Lincoln was so used up in the discussion that his knees trembled, +and he had to be carried from the platform, and he caused this to be +printed in the newspapers of his own party. Mr. Lincoln called him to +account for this fable at Jonesboro. + +"The Ottawa debate gave great satisfaction to our side. Mr. Lincoln, +we thought, had the better of the argument, and we all came away +encouraged. But the Douglas men were encouraged also. In his concluding +half hour, Douglas spoke with great rapidity and animation, and yet with +perfect distinctness, and his supporters cheered him wildly. + +"The next joint debate was to take place at Freeport, six days later. In +the interval, Mr. Lincoln addressed meetings at Henry, Marshall county; +Augusta, Hancock county, and Macomb, McDonough county. During this +interval he prepared the answers to the seven questions put to him by +Douglas at Ottawa, and wrote the four questions which he propounded to +Douglas at Freeport. The second of these, viz.: '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?' was made the subject of a +conference between Mr. Lincoln and a number of his friends from Chicago, +among whom were Norman B. Judd and Dr. C. H. Ray, the latter the chief +editor of the Tribune. This conference took place at the town of Dixon. +I was not present, but Doctor Ray told me that all who were there +counseled Mr. Lincoln not to put that question to Douglas, because +he would answer it in the affirmative and thus probably secure his +re-election. It was their opinion that Lincoln should argue strongly +from the Dred Scott decision, which Douglas endorsed, that the people +of the Territories could not lawfully exclude slavery prior to the +formation of a State Constitution, but that he should not force Douglas +to say yes or no. They believed that the latter would let that subject +alone as much as possible in order not to offend the South, unless he +should be driven into a corner. Mr. Lincoln replied that to draw an +affirmative answer from Douglas on this question was exactly what he +wanted, and that his object was to make it impossible for Douglas to get +the vote of the Southern States in the next Presidential election. He +considered that fight much more important than the present one and he +would be willing to lose this in order to win that.* + + * Mr. Lincoln's words are given in Mr. Arnold's biography + thus: "I am after larger game; the battle of 1860 is worth a + hundred of this." Mr. Arnold's authority is not mentioned, + but these are exactly the words that Doctor Ray repeated to + me. + +"The result justified Mr. Lincoln's prevision. Douglas did answer in the +affirmative. If he had answered in the negative he would have lost the +Senatorial election, and that would have ended his political career. He +took the chance of being able to make satisfactory explanations to the +slaveholders, but they would have nothing to do with him afterward. + +"The crowd that assembled at Freeport on the 27th of August was even +larger than that at Ottawa. Hundreds of people came from Chicago and +many from the neighboring State of Wisconsin. Douglas came from Galena +the night before the debate, and was greeted with a great torch-light +procession. Lincoln came the following morning from Dixon, and was +received at the railway station by a dense crowd, filling up all the +adjacent streets, who shouted themselves hoarse when his tall form was +seen emerging from the train. Here, again, the people had seized upon +the platform, and all the approaches to it, an hour before the speaking +began, and a hand-to-hand fight took place to secure possession. + +"After the debate was finished, we Republicans did not feel very +happy. We held the same opinion that Mr. Judd and Doctor Ray had--that +Douglas's answer had probably saved him from defeat. We did not look +forward, and we did not look South, and even if we had done so, we were +too much enlisted in this campaign to swap it for another one which +was two years distant. Mr. Lincoln's wisdom was soon vindicated by his +antagonist, one of whose earliest acts, after he returned to Washington +City, was to make a speech (February 23, 1859) defending himself against +attacks upon the 'Freeport heresy,'as the Southerners called it. In that +debate Jefferson Davis was particularly aggravating, and Douglas did not +reply to him with his usual spirit. + +"It would draw this chapter out to unreasonable length, if I were to +give details of all the small meetings of this campaign. After the +Freeport joint debate, we went to Carlinville, Macoupin county, where +John M. Palmer divided the time with Mr. Lincoln. From this place we +went to Clinton, De Witt county, via Springfield and Decatur. During +this journey an incident occurred which gave unbounded mirth to Mr. +Lincoln at my expense. + +"We left Springfield about nine o'clock in the evening for Decatur, +where we were to change cars and take the north-bound train on the +Illinois Central Railway. I was very tired and I curled myself up as +best I could on the seat to take a nap, asking Mr. Lincoln to wake me +up at Decatur, which he promised to do. I went to sleep, and when I +did awake I had the sensation of having been asleep a long time. It was +daylight and I knew that we should have reached Decatur before midnight. +Mr. Lincoln's seat was vacant. While I was pulling myself together, the +conductor opened the door of the car and shouted, 'State Line.' This +was the name of a shabby little town on the border of Indiana. There was +nothing to do but to get out and wait for the next train going back to +Decatur. About six o'clock in the evening I found my way to Clinton. The +meeting was over, of course, and the Chicago Tribune had lost its +expected report, and I was out of pocket for railroad fares. I wended my +way to the house of Mr. C. H. Moore, where Mr. Liacoin was staying, and +where I, too, had been an expected guest. When Mr. Lincoln saw me coming +up the garden path, his lungs began to crow like a chanticleer, and I +thought he would laugh, _sans_ intermission, an hour by his dial. He +paused long enough to say that he had fallen asleep, also, and did not +wake up till the train was starting _from_ Decatur. He had very nearly +been carried past the station himself, and, in his haste to get out, had +forgotten all about his promise to waken me. Then he began to laugh +again. The affair was so irresistibly funny, in his view, that he told +the incident several times in Washington City when I chanced to meet +him, after he became President, to any company who might be present, and +with such contagious drollery that all who heard it would shake with +laughter. + +"Our course took us next to Bloomington, McLean county; Monticello, +Piatt county, and Paris, Edgar county. At the last-mentioned place +(September 8th) we were joined by Owen Lovejoy, who had never been in +that part of the State before. The fame of Lovejoy as an Abolitionist +had preceded him, however, and the people gathered around him in a +curious and hesitating way, as though he were a witch who might suddenly +give them lock-jaw or bring murrain on their cattle, if he were much +provoked. Lovejoy saw this and was greatly amused by it, and when +he made a speech in the evening, Mr. Lincoln having made his in the +day-time, he invited the timid ones to come up and feel of his horns and +examine his cloven foot and his forked tail. Lovejoy was one of the most +effective orators of his time. After putting his audience in good humor +in this way, he made one of his impassioned speeches which never failed +to gain votes where human hearts were responsive to the wrongs of +slavery. Edgar county was in the Democratic list, but this year it gave +a Republican majority on the legislative and congressional tickets, and +I think Lovejoy's speech was largely accountable for the result. + +"My notes of the Paris meeting embrace the following passage from Mr. +Lincoln's speech: + +WHAT IS POPULAR SOVEREIGNTY? + +"'Let us inquire what Judge Douglas really invented when he introduced +the Nebraska Bill? He called it Popular Sovereignty. What does that +mean? It means the sovereignty of the people over their own affairs--in +other words, the right of the people to govern themselves. Did Judge +Douglas invent this? Not quite. The idea of Popular Sovereignty was +floating about several ages before the author of the Nebraska Bill was +born--indeed, before Columbus set foot on this continent. In the year +1776 it took form in the noble words which you are all familiar with: +'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created +equal,' etc. Was not this the origin of Popular Sovereignty as applied +to the American people? Here we are told that governments are instituted +among men deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. +If that is not Popular Sovereignty, then I have no conception of the +meaning of words. If Judge Douglas did not invent this kind of Popular +Sovereignty, let us pursue the inquiry and find out what kind he did +invent. Was it the right of emigrants to Kansas and Nebraska to govern +themselves, and a lot of 'niggers,' too, if they wanted them? Clearly +this was no invention of his, because General Cass put forth the same +doctrine in 1848 in his so-called Nicholson letter, six years before +Douglas thought of such a thing. Then what was it that the 'Little +Giant' invented? It never occurred to General Cass to call his discovery +by the odd name of Popular Sovereignty. He had not the face to say that +the right of the people to govern 'niggers' was the right of the people +to govern themselves. His notions of the fitness of things were +not moulded to the brazenness of calling the right to put a hundred +'niggers' through under the lash in Nebraska a 'sacred right of +self-government.' And here, I submit to you, was Judge Douglas's +discovery, and the whole of it. He discovered that the right to breed +and flog negroes in Nebraska was Popular Sovereignty.' + +"The next meetings in their order were Hillsboro, Montgomery county; +Greenville, Bond county, and Edwardsville, Madison county. At +Edwardsville (September 13th) I was greatly impressed with Mr. Lincoln's +speech, so much so, that I took down the following passages, which, as I +read them now, after the lapse of thirty-one years, bring back the whole +scene with vividness before me--the quiet autumn day in the quaint old +town; the serious people clustered around the platform; Joseph Gillespie +officiating as chairman, and the tall, gaunt, earnest man, whose high +destiny and tragic death were veiled from our eyes, appealing to his old +Whig friends, and seeking to lift them up to his own level: + +"'I have been requested,' he said, 'to give a concise statement of +the difference, as I understand it, between the Democratic and the +Republican parties on the leading issues of the campaign. This question +has been put to me by a gentleman whom I do not know. I do not even know +whether he is a friend of mine or a supporter of Judge Douglas in this +contest, nor does that make any difference. His question is a proper +one. Lest I should forget it, I will give you my answer before +proceeding with the line of argument I have marked out for this +discussion. + +"'The difference between the Republican and the Democratic parties on +the leading issues of this contest, as I understand it, is that the +former consider slavery a moral, social and political wrong, while the +latter do not consider it either a moral, a social or a political wrong; +and the action of each, as respects the growth of the country and the +expansion of our population, is squared to meet these views. I will not +affirm that the Democratic party consider slavery morally, socially +and politically right, though their tendency to that view has, in my +opinion, been constant and unmistakable for the past five years. I +prefer to take, as the accepted maxim of the party, the idea put forth +by Judge Douglas, that he 'don't care whether slavery is voted down +or voted up.' I am quite willing to believe that many Democrats would +prefer that slavery should be always voted down, and I know that some +prefer that it be always 'voted up;' but I have a right to insist that +their action, especially if it be their constant action, shall determine +their ideas and preferences on this subject. Every measure of the +Democratic party of late years, bearing directly or indirectly on +the slavery question, has corresponded with this notion of utter +indifference, whether slavery or freedom shall outrun in the race of +empire across to the Pacific--every measure, I say, up to the Dred +Scott decision, where, it seems to me, the idea is boldly suggested that +slavery is better than freedom. The Republican party, on the contrary, +hold that this government was instituted to secure the blessings of +freedom, and that slavery is an unqualified evil to the negro, to the +white man, to the soil, and to the State. Regarding it as an evil, they +will not molest it in the States where it exists, they will not overlook +the constitutional guards which our fathers placed around it; they will +do nothing that can give proper offense to those who hold slaves by +legal sanction; but they will use every constitutional method to prevent +the evil from becoming larger and involving more negroes, more white +men, more soil, and more States in its deplorable consequences. They +will, if possible, place it where the public mind shall rest in the +belief that it is in course of ultimate peaceable extinction in God's +own good time. And to this end they will, if possible, restore the +government to the policy of the fathers--the policy of preserving the +new Territories from the baneful influence of human bondage, as the +northwestern Territories were sought to be preserved by the ordinance +of 1787, and the Compromise Act of 1820. They will oppose, in all its +length and breadth, the modern Democratic idea, that slavery is as good +as freedom, and ought to have room for expansion all over the continent, +if people can be found to carry it. All, or nearly all, of Judge +Douglas's arguments are logical, if you admit that slavery is as good +and as right as freedom, and not one of them is worth a rush if you deny +it. This is the difference, as I understand it, between the Republican +and Democratic parties.... + +"'My friends, I have endeavored to show you the logical consequences +of the Dred Scott decision, which holds that the people of a Territory +cannot prevent the establishment of slavery in their midst. I have +stated what cannot be gainsaid, that the grounds upon which this +decision is made are equally applicable to the free States as to the +free Territories, and that the peculiar reasons put forth by Judge +Douglas for endorsing this decision, commit him, in advance, to the next +decision and to all other decisions coming from the same source. And +when, by all these means, you have succeeded in dehumanizing the negro; +when you have put him down and made it impossible for him to be but as +the beasts of the field; when you have extinguished his soul in this +world and placed him where the ray of hope is blown out as in the +darkness of the damned, are you quite sure that the demon you have +roused will not turn and rend you? What constitutes the bulwark of our +own liberty and independence? It is not our frowning battlements, our +bristling sea coasts, our army and our navy. These are not our reliance +against tyranny. All of those may be turned against us without making +us weaker for the struggle. Our reliance is in the love of liberty which +God has planted in us. Our defense is in the spirit which prizes liberty +as the heritage of all men, in all lands everywhere. Destroy this +spirit and you have planted the seeds of despotism at your own doors. +Familiarize yourselves with the chains of bondage and you prepare your +own limbs to wear them. Accustomed to trample on the rights of others, +you have lost the genius of your own independence and become the fit +subjects of the first cunning tyrant who rises among you. And let me +tell you, that all these things are prepared for you by the teachings +of history, if the elections shall promise that the next Dred Scott +decision and all future decisions will be quietly acquiesced in by the +people.' + +"From Edwardsville we went to the Jonesboro joint debate. The audience +here was small, not more than 1,000 or 1,500, and nearly all Democrats. +This was in the heart of Egypt. The country people came into the little +town with ox teams mostly, and a very stunted breed of oxen, too. Their +wagons were old-fashioned, and looked as though they were ready to fall +in pieces. A train with three or four carloads of Douglas men came up, +with Douglas himself, from Cairo. All who were present listened to the +debate with very close attention, and there was scarcely any cheering on +either side. Of course we did not expect any in that place. The reason +why Douglas did not get much, was that Union county was a stronghold +of the 'Danites,' or Buchanan Democrats. These were a pitiful minority +everywhere except in the two counties of Union and Bureau. The reason +for this peculiarity in the two counties named, must lie in the fact +that Union county was the home of the United States Marshal for the +Southern District, W. L. Dougherty; and Bureau, that of the Marshal for +the Northern District, Charles N. Pine. Evidently both these men worked +their offices for all they were worth, and the result would seem to show +that Marshalships are peculiarly well fitted to the purpose of turning +voters from their natural leanings. In Bureau county the 'Danites' +polled more votes than the Douglas Democrats. In Union, they divided the +party into two nearly equal parts. In no other county did they muster +a corporal's guard; James W. Sheahan, the editor of the Times, told me, +with great glee, after the election, that at one of the voting places in +Chicago, where the two Democratic judges of election were Irish, a few +'Danite' votes were offered, but that the judges refused to receive +them, saying gravely, 'We don't take that kind.' They thought it was +illegal voting. + +"The only thing noteworthy that I recall at Jonesboro was not political +and not even terrestrial. It was the splendid appearance of Donati's +comet in the sky, the evening before the debate. Mr. Lincoln greatly +admired this strange visitor, and he and I sat for an hour or more in +front of the hotel looking at it. + +"From Jonesboro we went to Centralia, where a great State Fair was +sprawling over the prairie, but there was no speaking there. It was not +good form to have political bouts at State Fairs, and I believe that the +managers had prohibited them. After one day at this place, where great +crowds clustered around both Lincoln and Douglas whenever they appeared +on the grounds, we went to Charleston, Coles county, September 18th, +where the fourth joint debate took place. + +"This was a very remarkable gathering, the like of which we had not seen +elsewhere. It consisted of a great outpouring ( or rather inpouring ) of +the rural population, in their own conveyances. There was only one line +of railroad here, and only one special train on it. Yet, to my eye, +the crowd seemed larger than at either Ottawa or Freeport, in fact the +largest of the series, except the one at Galesburg, which came later. +The campaign was now at its height, the previous debates having stirred +the people into a real fever. 'It is astonishing,' said Mr. Dewey, in +his letter from Charleston to the _Evening Post_, 'how deep an interest +in politics this people take. Over long weary miles of hot, dusty +prairie, the processions of eager partisans come on foot, on horseback, +in wagons drawn by horses or mules; men, women and children, old and +young; the half-sick just out of the last 'shake,' children in arms, +infants at the maternal fount; pushing on in clouds of dust under a +blazing sun, settling down at the town where the meeting is, with hardly +a chance for sitting, and even less opportunity for eating, waiting in +anxious groups for hours at the places of speaking; talking, discussing, +litigious, vociferous, while the roar of artillery, the music of bands, +the waving of banners, the huzzas of the crowds, as delegation after +delegation appears; the cry of peddlers vending all sorts of wares, from +an infallible cure for 'agur' to a monster water-melon in slices to suit +purchasers--combine to render the occasion one scene of confusion and +commotion. The hour of one arrives, and a perfect rush is made for the +grounds; a column of dust rising to the heavens, and fairly deluging +those who are hurrying on through it. Then the speakers come, with flags +and banners and music, surrounded by cheering partisans. Their arrival +at the grounds and immediate approach to the stand, is the signal for +shouts that rend the heavens. They are introduced to the audience amid +prolonged and enthusiastic cheers, they are interrupted by frequent +applause and they sit down finally among the same uproarious +demonstrations. The audience sit or stand patiently, throughout, and, as +the last word is spoken, make a break for their homes, first hunting up +lost members of their families, gathering their scattered wagon loads +together, and, as the daylight fades away, entering again upon the broad +prairies and slowly picking their way back to the place of beginning.' + +"Both Lincoln and Douglas left the train at Mattoon, distant some +ten miles from Charleston, to accept the escort of their respective +partisans. Mattoon was then a comparatively new place, a station on +the Illinois Central Railway peopled by Northern men. Nearly the whole +population of this town turned out to escort Mr. Lincoln along the +dusty highway to Charleston. In his procession was a chariot containing +thirty-two young ladies, representing the thirty-two States of the +Union, and carrying banners to designate the same. Following this, was +one young lady on horseback holding aloft a banner inscribed, 'Kansas--I +will be free.' As she was very good looking, we thought that she would +not remain free always. The muses had been wide awake also, for, on the +side of the chariot, was the stirring legend: + + 'Westward the star of empire takes its way; + The girls link-on to Lincoln, as their mothers did to Clay.' + +"The Douglas procession was likewise a formidable one. He, too, had his +chariot of young ladies, and, in addition, a mounted escort. The two +processions stretched an almost interminable distance along the road, +and were marked by a moving cloud of dust. + +"Before the Charleston debate, Mr. Lincoln had received (from Senator +Trumbull, I suppose) certain official documents to prove that Douglas +had attempted, in 1856, to bring Kansas into the Union without allowing +the people to vote upon her constitution, and with these he put the +Little Giant on the defensive, and pressed him so hard that we all +considered that our side had won a substantial victory. + +"The Democrats seemed to be uneasy and dissatisfied, both during the +debate and afterward. Mr. Isaac N. Arnold, in his biography of Lincoln, +page 148, relates an incident in the Charleston debate on the authority +of 'a spectator' ( not named ), to this effect: that near the end of Mr. +Lincoln's closing speech, Douglas became very much excited and walked +rapidly up and down the platform behind Lincoln, holding a watch in his +hand; that the instant the watch showed the half hour, he called out +'Sit down! Lincoln, sit down! Your time is up.' + +"This must be a pure invention. My notes show nothing of the kind. I sat +on the platform within ten feet of Douglas all the time that Lincoln was +speaking. If any such dramatic incident had occurred, I should certainly +have made a note of it, and even without notes I think I should have +remembered it. Douglas was too old a campaigner to betray himself in +this manner, whatever his feelings might have been. + +"After the debate was ended and the country people had mostly dispersed, +the demand for speeches was still far from being satisfied. Two meetings +were started in the evening, with blazing bonfires in the street to +mark the places. Richard J. Oglesby, the Republican nominee for Congress +(afterward General, Governor and Senator ), addressed one of them. +At the Douglas meeting, Richard T. Merrick and U. F. Linder were the +speakers. Merrick was a young lawyer from Maryland, who had lately +settled in Chicago, and a fluent and rather captivating orator. Linder +was an Old Line Whig, of much natural ability, who had sided with +the Democrats on the break-up of his own party. Later in the campaign +Douglas wrote him a letter saying: 'For God's sake, Linder, come up +here and help me.' This letter got into the newspapers, and, as a +consequence, the receiver of it was immediately dubbed, 'For-God's-Sake +Linder,' by which name he was popularly know all the rest of his days. + +"There was nothing of special interest between the Charleston debate and +that which took place at Galesburg, October 7th. Here we had the largest +audience of the whole series and the worst day, the weather being very +cold and raw, notwithstanding which, the people flocked from far and +near. One feature of the Republican procession was a division of one +hundred ladies and an equal number of gentlemen on horseback as a +special escort to the carriage containing Mr. Lincoln. The whole country +seemed to be swarming and the crowd stood three hours in the college +grounds, in a cutting wind, listening to the debate. Mr. Lincoln's +speech at Galesburg was, in my judgment, the best of the series. + +"At Quincy, October 13th, we had a fine day and a very large crowd, +although not so large as at Galesburg. The usual processions and +paraphernalia were on hand. Old Whiggery was largely represented here, +and, in front of the Lincoln procession, was a live raccoon on a pole, +emblematic of a by-gone day and a by-gone party. When this touching +reminder of the past drew near the hotel where we were staying, an old +weather-beaten follower of Henry Clay, who was standing near me, +was moved to tears. After mopping his face he made his way up to Mr. +Lincoln, wrung his hand and burst into tears again. The wicked Democrats +carried at the head of their procession a dead 'coon, suspended by +its tail. This was more in accord with existing facts than the other +specimen, but our prejudices ran in favor of live 'coons in that part +of Illinois. Farther north we did not set much store by them. Here I +saw Carl Schurz for the first time. He was hotly in the fray, and was +an eager listener to the Quincy debate. Another rising star, Frank P. +Blair, Jr., was battling for Lincoln in the southern part of the State. + +"The next day both Lincoln and Douglas, and their retainers, went on +board the steamer _City of Louisiana_, bound for Alton. Here the last of +the joint debates took place, October 15th. The day was pleasant but the +audience was the smallest of the series, except the one at Jonesboro. +The debate passed off quietly and without any incident worthy of note. + +"The campaign was now drawing to a close. Everybody who had borne an +active part in it was pretty well fagged out, except Mr. Lincoln. He +showed no signs of fatigue. Douglas's voice was worn down to extreme +huskiness. He took great pains to save what was left of his throat, but +to listen to him moved one's pity. Nevertheless, he went on doggedly, +bravely, and with a jaunty air of confidence. Mr. Lincoln's voice was +as clear and far-reaching as it was the day he spoke at Beardstown, two +months before--a high-pitched tenor, almost a falsetto, that could +be heard at a greater distance than Douglas's heavy basso. The battle +continued till the election (November 2d), which took place in a cold, +pelting rainstorm, one of the most uncomfortable in the whole year. But +nobody minded the weather. The excitement was intense all day in all +parts of the State. The Republican State ticket was elected by a small +plurality, the vote being as follows: + +FOR STATE TREASURER. + + Miller (Republican),........... 125,430 + + Fondey (Douglas Democrat),..... 121,609 + + Dougherty (Buchanan Democrat),. 5,079 + +"The Legislature consisted of twenty-five Senators and seventy-five +Representatives. Thirteen Senators held over from the preceding +election. Of these, eight were Democrats and five Republicans. Of the +twelve Senators elected this year, the Democrats elected six and the +Republicans six. So the new Senate was composed of fourteen Democrats +and eleven Republicans. + +"Of the seventy-five members of the House of Representatives, the +Democrats elected forty and the Republicans thirty-five. + +"On joint ballot, therefore, the Democrats had fifty-four and the +Republicans forty-six. And by this vote was Mr. Douglas re-elected +Senator. + +"Mr. Isaac N. Arnold, in his biography, says that Mr. Lincoln lost the +election because a number of the holding-over Senators, representing +districts that actually gave Republican majorities in this election, +were Democrats. This is an error, and an inexcusable one for a person +who is writing history. The apportionment of the State into Legislative +districts had become, by the growth and movement of population, unduly +favorable to the Democrats; that is, it required fewer votes on the +average to elect a member in a Democratic district than in a Republican +district. But ideal perfection is never attained in such matters. By the +rules of the game Douglas had fairly won. The Republicans claimed that +the Lincoln members of the Lower House of the Legislature received more +votes, all told, than the Douglas members. These figures are not, at +this writing, accessible to me, but my recollection is that, even on +this basis, Douglas scored a small majority. There were five thousand +Democratic votes to be accounted for, which had been cast for Dougherty +for State Treasurer, and of these, the Douglas candidates for the +Legislature would naturally get more than the Lincoln candidates. + +"What is more to the purpose, is that the Republicans gained 29,241 +votes, as against a Democratic gain of 21,332 (counting the Douglas and +Buchanan vote together), over the presidential election of 1856. There +were 37,444 votes for Fillmore in that year, and there was also an +increase of the total vote of 13,129. These 50,573 votes, or their +equivalents, were divided between Lincoln and Douglas in the ratio of 29 +to 21. + +"Mr. Lincoln, as he said at the Dixon Conference, had gone after 'larger +game,' and he had bagged it to a greater extent than he, or anybody, +then, imagined. But the immediate prize was taken by his great rival. + +"I say great rival, with a full sense of the meaning of the words. I +heard Mr. Douglas deliver his speech to the members of the Illinois +Legislature, April 25, 1861, in the gathering tumult of arms. It was +like a blast of thunder. I do not think that it is possible for a human +being to produce a more prodigious effect with spoken words, than +he produced on those who were within the sound of his voice. He was +standing in the same place where I had first heard Mr. Lincoln. The +veins of his neck and forehead were swollen with passion, and the +perspiration ran down his face in streams. His voice had recovered +its clearness from the strain of the previous year, and was frequently +broken with emotion. The amazing force that he threw into the words: +'When hostile armies are marching under new and odious banners against +the government of our country, the shortest way to peace is the most +stupendous and unanimous preparation for war,' seemed to shake the whole +building. That speech hushed the breath of treason in every corner of +the State. Two months later he was in his grave. He was only forty-eight +years old. + +"The next time I saw Mr. Lincoln, after the election, I said to him that +I hoped he was not so much disappointed as I had been. This, of course, +'reminded him of a little story.' I have forgotten the story, but it was +about an over-grown boy who had met with some mishap, 'stumped' his toe, +perhaps, and who said that 'it hurt too much to laugh, and he was too +big to cry.' + +"Mention has been made of the 'Danites' in the campaign. They were +the Buchanan office-holders and their underlings, and, generally, a +contemptible lot. The chief dispenser of patronage for Illinois was +John Slidell, Senator from Louisiana. He took so much interest in his +vocation that he came to Chicago as early as the month of July, to see +how the postmasters were doing their work. He hated Douglas intensely, +and slandered him vilely, telling stories about the cruel treatment +and dreadful condition of the negroes on the Douglas plantation in +Louisiana. These stories were told to Dr. Daniel Brainard, the surgeon +of the U. S. Marine Hospital. Brainard was a Buchanan Democrat, like all +the other federal officeholders, but was a very distinguished surgeon; +in fact, at the head of his profession, and a man of wealth and social +standing. He became convinced that Slidell's story about the Douglas +negroes was true, and he communicated it to Doctor Ray, and urged him to +publish it in the _Tribune_. Doctor Ray did so, without, however, giving +any names. It made no little commotion. Presently, the New Orleans +_Picayune_ denied the truth of the statement, concerning the condition +and treatment of the negroes, and called it 'an election canard.' Then +the Chicago Times called for the authority, and the Tribune gave the +names of Brainard and Slidell. The latter at once published a card +in the Washington Union, denying that he had ever made the statements +attributed to him by Brainard. The latter was immediately in distress. +He first denied that he had made the statements imputed to him, but +afterward admitted that he had had conversations with a Republican +editor about the hardships of the Douglas negroes, but denied that he +had given Slidell as authority. Nobody doubted that the authorship of +the story was correctly stated in the first publication. It was much too +circumstantial to have been invented, and Doctor Ray was not the man to +publish lies knowingly. + +"The 'Danites' held a State convention at Springfield, September 8th, +or, rather, they had called one for that date, but the attendance was so +small that they organized it as a convention of the Sixth Congressional +District. John C. Breckinridge and Daniel S. Dickinson had been +announced as speakers for the occasion, but neither of them appeared. +Breckinridge took no notice of this meeting, or of his invitation to +be present. A telegram was read from Dickinson, sending 'a thousand +greetings,' and this, the Douglas men said, was liberal, being about +ten to each delegate. Ex-Gov. John Reynolds was the principal speaker. +Douglas was in Springfield the same day. He met his enemies by chance at +the railway station, and glared defiance at them. + +"Mention should be made of the services of Senator Trumbull in the +campaign. Mr. Trumbull was a political debator, scarcely, if at all, +inferior to either Lincoln or Douglas. He had given Douglas more trouble +in the Senate, during the three years he had been there, than anybody +else in that body. He had known Douglas from his youth, and he knew all +the joints in his armor. He possessed a courage equal to any occasion, +and he wielded a blade of tempered steel. He was not present at any of +the joint debates, or at any of Mr. Lincoln's separate meetings, but +addressed meetings wherever the State Central Committee sent him. Mr. +Lincoln often spoke of him to me, and always in terms of admiration. +That Mr. Lincoln was sorely disappointed at losing the Senatorship in +1855, when Trumbull was elected, is quite true, but he knew, as well as +anybody, that in the then condition of parties, such a result could not +be avoided. Judd, Palmer and Cook had been elected to the Legislature as +Democrats. The Republican party was not yet born. The political elements +were in the boiling stage. These men could not tell what kind of +crystallization would take place. The only safe course for them, looking +to their constituencies, was to vote for a Democrat who was opposed to +the extension of slavery. Such a man they found in Lyman Trumbull, and +they knew that no mistake would be made in choosing him. I say that +Mr. Lincoln knew all this as fully as anybody could. I do not remember +having any talk with him on that subject, for it was then somewhat +stale. But I do remember the hearty good feeling that he cherished +toward Trumbull and the three men here mentioned, who were chiefly +instrumental in securing Trumbull's election. + +"Douglas scented danger when Trumbull took the field, and, with his +usual adroitness, sought to gain sympathy by making it appear that it +was no fair game. At Havana, in the speech already alluded to, he made a +rather moving remonstrance against this 'playing of two upon one,' as +he called it. Mr. Lincoln, in his speech at the same place, thought it +worth while to reply: + +"'I understand,' he said, 'that Judge Douglas, yesterday, referred +to the fact that both Judge Trumbull and myself are making speeches +throughout the State to beat him for the Senate, and that he tried to +create sympathy by the suggestion that this was playing _two upon +one_ against him. It is true that Judge Trumbull has made a speech in +Chicago, and I believe he intends to co-operate with the Republican +Central Committee in their arrangements for the campaign, to the extent +of making other speeches in different parts of the State. Judge Trumbull +is a Republican like myself, and he naturally feels a lively interest in +the success of his party. Is there anything wrong about that? But I will +show you how little Judge Douglas's appeal to your sympathies amounts +to. At the next general election, two years from now, a Legislature will +be elected, which will have to choose a successor to Judge Trumbull. Of +course, there will be an effort to fill his place with a Democrat. This +person, whoever he may be, is probably out making stump-speeches against +me, just as Judge Douglas is. He may be one of the present Democratic +members of the Lower House of Congress--but, whoever he is, I can tell +you that he has got to make some stump-speeches now, or his party will +not nominate him for the seat occupied by Judge Trumbull. Well, are not +Judge Douglas and this man playing two upon one against me, just as +much as Judge Trumbull and I are playing _two upon one_ against Judge +Douglas? And, if it happens that there are two Democratic aspirants for +Judge Trumbull's place, are they not playing three upon one against me, +just as we are playing two upon one against Judge Douglas?' + +"Douglas had as many helpers as Lincoln had. His complaint implied that +there was nobody on the Democratic side who was anywhere near being a +match for Trumbull, and this was the fact. + +"I think that this was the most important intellectual wrestle that has +ever taken place in this country, and that it will bear comparison with +any which history mentions. Its consequences we all know. It gave Mr. +Lincoln such prominence in the public eye that his nomination to the +Presidency became possible and almost inevitable. It put an apple +of discord in the Democratic party which hopelessly divided it at +Charleston, thus making Republican success in 1860 morally certain. This +was one of Mr. Lincoln's designs, as has been already shown. Perhaps the +Charleston schism would have taken place, even if Douglas had not been +driven into a corner at Freeport, and compelled to proclaim the doctrine +of 'unfriendly legislation,' but it is more likely that the break would +have been postponed a few years longer. + +"Everything stated in this chapter is taken from memoranda made at the +time of occurrence. I need not say that I conceived an ardent attachment +to Mr. Lincoln. Nobody could be much in his society without being +strongly drawn to him. + +"Horace White" + +New York, February 27, 1890 + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +BEFORE Mr. Lincoln surrenders himself completely to the public--for it +is apparent he is fast approaching the great crisis of his career--it +may not be entirely inappropriate to take a nearer and more personal +view of him. A knowledge of his personal views and actions, a glimpse +through the doorway of his home, and a more thorough acquaintance with +his marked and strong points as they developed, will aid us greatly in +forming our general estimate of the man. When Mr. Lincoln entered the +domain of investigation he was a severe and persistent thinker, and had +wonderful endurance; hence he was abstracted, and for that reason at +times was somewhat unsocial, reticent, and uncommunicative. After his +marriage it cannot be said that he liked the society of ladies; in fact, +it was just what he did not like, though one of his biographers says +otherwise. Lincoln had none of the tender ways that please a woman, and +he could not, it seemed, by any positive act of his own make her happy. +If his wife was happy, she was naturally happy, or made herself so in +spite of countless drawbacks. He was, however, a good husband in his own +peculiar way, and in his own way only. + +If exhausted from severe and long-continued thought, he had to touch the +earth again to renew his strength. When this weariness set in he would +stop thought, and get down and play with a little dog or kitten to +recover; and when the recovery came he would push it aside to play +with its own tail. He treated men and women in much the same way. For +fashionable society he had a marked dislike, although he appreciated +its value in promoting the welfare of a man ambitious to succeed in +politics. If he was invited out to dine or to mingle in some social +gathering, and came in contact with the ladies, he treated them with +becoming politeness; but the consciousness of his shortcomings as a +society man rendered him unusually diffident, and at the very first +opportunity he would have the men separated from their ladies and +crowded close around him in one corner of the parlor, listening to one +of his characteristic stories. That a lady * as proud and as ambitious +to exercise the rights of supremacy in society as Mary Todd should +repent of her marriage to the man I have just described surely need +occasion no surprise in the mind of anyone. Both she and the man whose +hand she accepted acted along the lines of human conduct, and both +reaped the bitter harvest of conjugal infelicity. + + * Mrs. Lincoln was decidedly pro-slavery in her views. One + day she was invited to take a ride with a neighboring + family, some of whose members still reside in Springfield. + "If ever my husband dies," she ejaculated during the ride, + "his spirit will never find me living outside the limits of + a slave State." + +In dealing with Mr. Lincoln's home life perhaps I am revealing an +element of his character that has heretofore been kept from the world; +but in doing so I feel sure I am treading on no person's toes, for all +the actors in this domestic drama are dead, and the world seems ready to +hear the facts. As his married life, in the opinion of all his friends, +exerted a peculiar influence over Mr. Lincoln's political career there +can be no impropriety, I apprehend, in throwing the light on it now. +Mrs. Lincoln's disposition and nature have been dwelt upon in another +chapter, and enough has been told to show that one of her greatest +misfortunes was her inability to control her temper. Admit that, and +everything can be explained. However cold and abstracted her husband +may have appeared to others, however impressive, when aroused, may have +seemed his indignation in public, he never gave vent to his feelings at +home. He always meekly accepted as final the authority of his wife in +all matters of domestic concern.* + + * One day a man making some improvements in Lincoln's yard + suggested to Mrs. Lincoln the propriety of cutting down one + of the trees, to which she willingly assented. Before doing + so, however, the man came down to our office and consulted + Lincoln himself about it. "What did Mrs. Lincoln say?" + enquired the latter. "She consented to have it taken away." + "Then, in God's name," exclaimed Lincoln, "cut it down to + the roots!" + +This may explain somewhat the statement of Judge Davis that, "as a +general rule, when all the lawyers of a Saturday evening would go home +and see their families and friends, Lincoln would find some excuse +and refuse to go. We said nothing, but it seemed to us all he was not +domestically happy." He exercised no government of any kind over his +household. His children did much as they pleased. Many of their antics +he approved, and he restrained them in nothing. He never reproved them +or gave them a fatherly frown. He was the most indulgent parent I have +ever known. He was in the habit, when at home on Sunday, of bringing +his two boys, Willie and Thomas--or "Tad"--down to the office to remain +while his wife attended church. He seldom accompanied her there. The +boys were absolutely unrestrained in their amusement. If they pulled +down all the books from the shelves, bent the points of all the pens, +overturned inkstands, scattered law-papers over the floor, or threw +the pencils into the spittoon, it never disturbed the serenity of their +father's good-nature. Frequently absorbed in thought, he never observed +their mischievous but destructive pranks--as his unfortunate partner +did, who thought much, but said nothing--and, even if brought to his +attention, he virtually encouraged their repetition by declining to show +any substantial evidence of parental disapproval. After church was over +the boys and their father, climbing down the office stairs, ruefully +turned their steps homeward. They mingled with the throngs of +well-dressed people returning from church, the majority of whom might +well have wondered if the trio they passed were going to a fireside +where love and white-winged peace reigned supreme. A near relative of +Mrs. Lincoln, in explanation of the unhappy condition of things in that +lady's household, offered this suggestion: "Mrs. Lincoln came of the +best stock, and was raised like a lady. Her husband was her opposite, +in origin, in education, in breeding, in everything; and it is therefore +quite natural that she should complain if he answered the door-bell +himself instead of sending the servant to do so; neither is she to be +condemned if, as you say, she raised 'merry war' because he persisted +in using his own knife in the butter, instead of the silver-handled one +intended for that purpose." * Such want of social polish on the part of +her husband of course gave Mrs. Lincoln great offense, and therefore +in commenting on it she cared neither for time nor place. Her frequent +outbursts of temper precipitated many an embarrassment from which +Lincoln with great difficulty' extricated himself. + + * A lady relative who lived for two years with the Lincolns + told me that Mr. Lincoln was in the habit of lying on the + floor with the back of a chair for a pillow when he read. + One evening, when in this position in the hall, a knock was + heard at the front door and although in his shirt-sleeves he + answered the call. Two ladies were at the door whom he + invited into the parlor, notifying them in his open familiar + way, that he would "trot the women folks out." Mrs. Lincoln + from an adjoining room witnessed the ladies' entrance and + overheard her husband's jocose expression. Her indignation + was so instantaneous she made the situation exceedingly + interesting for him, and he was glad to retreat from the + mansion. He did not return till very late at night and then + slipped quietly in at a rear door. + +[Illustration: Lincoln Home in Springfield 162] + +Mrs. Lincoln, on account of her peculiar nature, could not long retain +a servant in her employ. The sea was never so placid but that a breeze +would ruffle its waters. She loved show and attention, and if, when +she glorified her family descent or indulged in one of her strange +outbreaks, the servant could simulate absolute obsequiousness or had +tact enough to encourage her social pretensions, Mrs. Lincoln was for +the time her firmest friend. One servant, who adjusted herself to suit +the lady's capricious ways, lived with the family for several years. She +told me that at the time of the debate between Douglas and Lincoln she +often heard the latter's wife boast that she would yet be mistress of +the White House. The secret of her ability to endure the eccentricities +of her mistress came out in the admission that Mr. Lincoln gave her an +extra dollar each week on condition that she would brave whatever storms +might arise, and suffer whatever might befall her, without complaint. It +was a rather severe condition, but she lived rigidly up to her part of +the contract. The money was paid secretly and without the knowledge of +Mrs. Lincoln. Frequently, after tempestuous scenes between the mistress +and her servant, Lincoln at the first opportunity would place his hand +encouragingly on the latter's shoulder with the admonition, "Mary, keep +up your courage." It may not be without interest to add that the servant +afterwards married a man who enlisted in the army. In the spring of 1865 +his wife managed to reach Washington to secure her husband's release +from the service. After some effort she succeeded in obtaining an +interview with the President. He was glad to see her, gave her a basket +of fruit, and directed her to call the next day and obtain a pass +through the lines and money to buy clothes for herself and children. +That night he was assassinated. + +The following letter to the editor of a newspaper in Springfield will +serve as a specimen of the perplexities which frequently beset Mr. +Lincoln when his wife came in contact with others. What in this instance +she said to the paper carrier we do not know; we can only intelligently +infer. I have no personal recollection of the incident, although I knew +the man to whom it was addressed quite well. The letter only recently +came to light. I insert it without further comment. + +[Private.] + +"Springfield, Ill., February 20, 1857. + +"John E. Rosette, Esq. + +"Dear Sir:--Your note about the little paragraph in the Republican was +received yesterday, since which time I have been too unwell to notice +it. I had not supposed you wrote or approved it. The whole originated +in mistake. You know by the conversation with me that I thought the +establishment of the paper unfortunate, but I always expected to throw +no obstacle in its way, and to patronize it to the extent of taking and +paying for one copy. When the paper was brought to my house, my wife +said to me, 'Now are you going to take another worthless little paper?' +I said to her _evasively_, 'I have not directed the paper to be left.' +From this, in my absence, she sent the message to the carrier. This is +the whole story. + +"Yours truly, + +"A. Lincoln." + +A man once called at the house to learn why Mrs. Lincoln had so +unceremoniously discharged his niece from her employ. Mrs. Lincoln +met him at the door, and being somewhat wrought up, gave vent to her +feelings, resorting to such violent gestures and emphatic language that +the man was glad to beat a hasty retreat. He at once started out to find +Lincoln, determined to exact from him proper satisfaction for his wife's +action. Lincoln was entertaining a crowd in a store at the time. The +man, still laboring under some agitation, called him to the door +and made the demand. Lincoln listened for a moment to his story. "My +friend," he interrupted, "I regret to hear this, but let me ask you in +all candor, can't you endure for a few moments what I have had as my +daily portion for the last fifteen years?" These words were spoken so +mournfully and with such a look of distress that the man was completely +disarmed. It was a case that appealed to his feelings. Grasping the +unfortunate husband's hand, he expressed in no uncertain terms his +sympathy, and even apologized for having approached him. He said no more +about the infuriated wife, and Lincoln afterward had no better friend in +Springfield. + +Mr. Lincoln never had a confidant, and therefore never unbosomed himself +to others. He never spoke of his trials to me or, so far as I knew, to +any of his friends. It was a great burden to carry, but he bore it +sadly enough and without a murmur. I could always realize when he was +in distress, without being told. He was not exactly an early riser, that +is, he never usually appeared at the office till about nine o'clock +in the morning. I usually preceded him an hour. Sometimes, however, he +would come down as early as seven o'clock--in fact, on one occasion I +remember he came down before daylight. If, on arriving at the office, +I found him in, I knew instantly that a breeze had sprung up over the +domestic sea, and that the waters were troubled. He would either be +lying on the lounge looking skyward, or doubled up in a chair with his +feet resting on the sill of a back window. He would not look up on my +entering, and only answered my "Good morning" with a grunt. I at once +busied myself with pen and paper, or ran through the leaves of some +book; but the evidence of his melancholy and distress was so plain, +and his silence so significant, that I would grow restless myself, and +finding some excuse to go to the courthouse or elsewhere, would leave +the room. + +The door of the office opening into a narrow hallway was half glass, +with a curtain on it working on brass rings strung on wire. As I passed +out on these occasions I would draw the curtain across the glass, and +before I reached the bottom of the stairs I could hear the key turn in +the lock, and Lincoln was alone in his gloom. An hour in the clerk's +office at the court-house, an hour longer in a neighboring store having +passed, I would return. By that time either a client had dropped in and +Lincoln was propounding the law, or else the cloud of despondency had +passed away, and he was busy in the recital of an Indiana story to +whistle off the recollections of the morning's gloom. Noon having +arrived I would depart homeward for my dinner. Returning within an hour, +I would find him still in the office,--although his house stood but +a few squares away,--lunching on a slice of cheese and a handful of +crackers which, in my absence, he had brought up from a store below. +Separating for the day at five or six o'clock in the evening, I would +still leave him behind, either sitting on a box at the foot of the +stairway, entertaining a few loungers, or killing time in the same way +on the court-house steps. A light in the office after dark attested his +presence there till late along in the night, when, after all the world +had gone to sleep, the tall form of the man destined to be the nation's +President could have been seen strolling along in the shadows of trees +and buildings, and quietly slipping in through the door of a modest +frame house, which it pleased the world, in a conventional way, to call +his home. + +Some persons may insist that this picture is too highly colored. If so, +I can only answer, they do not know the facts. The majority of those who +have a personal knowledge of them are persistent in their silence. If +their lips could be opened and all could be known, my conclusions +and statements, to say the least of them, would be found to be fair, +reasonable, and true. A few words more as to Lincoln's domestic history, +and I pass to a different phase of his life. One of his warmest and +closest friends, who still survives, maintains the theory that, +after all, Lincoln's political ascendancy and final elevation to the +Presidency were due more to the influence of his wife than to any other +person or cause. "The fact," insists this friend, "that Mary Todd, by +her turbulent nature and unfortunate manner, prevented her husband +from becoming a domestic man, operated largely in his favor; for he +was thereby kept out in the world of business and politics. Instead of +spending his evenings at home, reading the papers and warming his toes +at his own fireside, he was constantly out with the common people, was +mingling with the politicians, discussing public questions with the +farmers who thronged the offices in the court-house and state house, and +exchanging views with the loungers who surrounded the stove of winter +evenings in the village store. The result of this continuous contact +with the world was, that he was more thoroughly known than any other +man in his community. His wife, therefore, was one of the unintentional +means of his promotion. If, on the other hand, he had married some +less ambitious but more domestic woman, some honest farmer's quiet +daughter,--one who would have looked up to and worshipped him because +he uplifted her,--the result might have been different. For, although +it doubtless would have been her pride to see that he had clean clothes +whenever he needed them; that his slippers were always in their place; +that he was warmly clad and had plenty to eat; and, although the +privilege of ministering to his every wish and whim might have been to +her a pleasure rather than a duty; yet I fear he would have been buried +in the pleasures of a loving home, and the country would never have had +Abraham Lincoln for its President." + +In her domestic troubles I have always sympathized with Mrs. Lincoln. +The world does not know what she bore, or how ill-adapted she was to +bear it. Her fearless, witty, and austere nature shrank instinctively +from association with the calm, imperturbable, and simple ways of her +thoughtful and absent-minded husband. Besides, who knows but she may +have acted out in her conduct toward her husband the laws of human +revenge? The picture of that eventful evening in 1841, when she stood at +the Edwards mansion clad in her bridal robes, the feast prepared and +the guests gathered, and when the bridegroom came not, may have been +constantly before her, and prompted her to a course of action which kept +in the background the better elements of her nature. In marrying Lincoln +she did not look so far into the future as Mary Owens, who declined his +proposal because "he was deficient in those little links which make up +the chain of woman's happiness." * + + * Mrs. Lincoln died at the residence of her sister Mrs. + Ninian W. Edwards, in Springfield, July 16, 1882. Her + physician during her last illness says this of her: "In the + late years of her life certain mental peculiarities were + developed which finally culminated in a slight apoplexy, + producing paralysis, of which she died. Among the + peculiarities alluded to, one of the most singular was the + habit she had during the last year or so of her life of + immuring herself in a perfectly dark room and, for light, + using a small candle-light, even when the sun was shining + bright out-of-doors. No urging would induce her to go out + into the fresh air. Another peculiarity was the accumulation + of large quantities of silks and dress goods in trunks and + by the cart-load, which she never used and which accumulated + until it was really feared that the floor of the store-room + would give way. She was bright and sparkling in + conversation, and her memory remained singularly good up to + the very close of her life. Her face was animated and + pleasing; and to me she was always an interesting woman; and + while the whole world was finding fault with her temper and + disposition, it was clear to me that the trouble was really + a cerebral disease."--Dr. Thomas W. Dresser, letter, January + 3, 1889, MS. + +By reason of his practical turn of mind Mr. Lincoln never speculated any +more in the scientific and philosophical than he did in the financial +world. He never undertook to fathom the intricacies of psychology +and metaphysics.* Investigation into first causes, abstruse mental +phenomena, the science of being, he brushed aside as trash--mere +scientific absurdities. He discovered through experience that his +mind, like the minds of other men, had its limitations, and hence he +economized his forces and his time by applying his powers in the field +of the practical. Scientifically regarded he was a realist as opposed to +an idealist, a sensationist as opposed to an intuitionist, a materialist +as opposed to a spiritualist. + + * "He was contemplative rather than speculative. He wanted + something solid to rest upon, and hence his bias for + mathematics and the physical sciences. He bestowed more + attention on them than upon metaphysical speculations. I + have heard him descant upon the problem whether a ball + discharged from a gun in a horizontal position would be + longer in reaching the ground than one dropped at the + instant of discharge from the muzzle. He said it always + appeared to him that they would both reach the ground at the + same time, even before he had read the philosophical + explanation."--Joseph Gillespie, letter, December 8, 1866, + MS. + +There was more or less superstition in his nature, and, although he may +not have believed implicitly in the signs of his many dreams, he was +constantly endeavoring to unravel them. His mind was readily impressed +with some of the most absurd superstitions. His visit to the Voodoo +fortune-teller in New Orleans in 1831; his faith in the virtues of the +mad-stone, when he took his son Robert to Terre Haute, Indiana, to +be cured of the bite of a rabid dog; and the strange double image of +himself which he told his secretary, John Hay, he saw reflected in a +mirror just after his election in 1860, strongly attest his inclination +to superstition. He held most firmly to the doctrine of fatalism all his +life. His wife, after his death, told me what I already knew, that "his +only philosophy was, what is to be will be, and no prayers of ours can +reverse the decree." He always contended that he was doomed to a sad +fate, and he repeatedly said to me when we were alone in our office: +"I am sure I shall meet with some terrible end." In proof of his strong +leaning towards fatalism he once quoted the case of Brutus and Caesar, +arguing that the former was forced by laws and conditions over which he +had no control to kill the latter, and, _vice versa_, that the +latter was specially created to be disposed of by the former. This +superstitious view of life ran through his being like the thin blue vein +through the whitest marble, giving the eye rest from the weariness of +continued unvarying color.* + + * I have heard him frequently quote the couplet, + + "There's a divinity that shapes our ends, + Rough-hew them how we will." + +For many years I subscribed for and kept on our office table the +_Westminster and Edinburgh Review_ and a number of other English +periodicals. Besides them I purchased the works of Spencer, Darwin, and +the utterances of other English scientists, all of which I devoured with +great relish. I endeavored, but had little success in inducing Lincoln +to read them. Occasionally he would snatch one up and peruse it for a +little while, but he soon threw it down with the suggestion that it was +entirely too heavy for an ordinary mind to digest.* + + * In 1856 I purchased in New York a life of Edmund Burke. I + have forgotten now who the author was, but I remember I read + it through in a short time. One morning Lincoln came into + the office and, seeing the book in my hands, enquired what I + was reading. I told him, at the same time observing that it + was an excellent work and handing the book over to him. + Taking it in his hand he threw himself down on the office + sofa and hastily ran over its pages, reading a little here + and there. At last he closed and threw it on the table with + the exclamation, "No, I've read enough of it. It's like all + the others. Biographies as generally written are not only + misleading, but false. The author of this life of Burke + makes a wonderful hero out of his subject. He magnifies his + perfections--if he had any--and suppresses his + imperfections. He is so faithful in his zeal and so lavish + in praise of his every act that one is almost driven to + believe that Burke never made a mistake or a failure in his + life." He lapsed into a brown study, but presently broke out + again, "Billy, I've wondered why book-publishers and + merchants don't have blank biographies on their shelves, + always ready for an emergency; so that, if a man happens to + die, his heirs or his friends, if they wish to perpetuate + his memory, can purchase one already written, but with + blanks. These blanks they can at their pleasure fill up with + rosy sentences full of high-sounding praise. In most + instances they commemorate a lie, and cheat posterity out of + the truth. History," he concluded, "is not history unless it + is the truth." This emphatic avowal of sentiment from Mr. + Lincoln not only fixes his estimate of ordinary biography, + but is my vindication in advance if assailed for telling the + truth. + +A gentleman in Springfield gave him a book called, I believe, "Vestiges +of Creation," which interested him so much that he read it through. +The volume was published in Edinburgh, and undertook to demonstrate +the doctrine of development or evolution. The treatise interested him +greatly, and he was deeply impressed with the notion of the so-called +"universal law"--evolution; he did not extend greatly his researches, +but by continued thinking in a single channel seemed to grow into a +warm advocate of the new doctrine. Beyond what I have stated he made +no further investigation into the realm of philosophy. "There are no +accidents," he said one day, "in my philosophy. Every effect must have +its cause. The past is the cause of the present, and the present will +be the cause of the future. All these are links in the endless chain +stretching from the finite to the infinite." From what has been said +it would follow logically that he did not believe, except in a very +restricted sense, in the freedom of the will. We often argued the +question, I taking the opposite view; he changed the expression, calling +it the freedom of the mind, and insisted that man always acted from +a motive. I once contended that man was free and could act without a +motive. He smiled at my philosophy, and answered that it was "impossible, +because the motive was born before the man." + +The foregoing thoughts are prefatory to the much-mooted question of +Mr. Lincoln's religious belief. For what I have heretofore said on this +subject, both in public lectures and in letters which have frequently +found their way into the newspapers, I have been freely and sometimes +bitterly assailed, but I do not intend now to reopen the discussion or +to answer the many persons who have risen up and asked to measure swords +with me. I merely purpose to state the bare facts, expressing no +opinion of my own, and allowing each and every one to put his or her +construction on them. + +Inasmuch as he was so often a candidate for public office Mr. Lincoln +said as little about his religious opinions as possible, especially if +he failed to coincide with the orthodox world. In illustration of his +religious code I once heard him say that it was like that of an old man +named Glenn, in Indiana, whom he heard speak at a church meeting, and +who said: "When I do good I feel good, when I do bad I feel bad, and +that's my religion." In 1834, while still living in New Salem and before +he became a lawyer, he was surrounded by a class of people exceedingly +liberal in matters of religion. Volney's "Ruins" and Paine's "Age of +Reason" passed from hand to hand, and furnished food for the evening's +discussion in the tavern and village store. Lincoln read both these +books and thus assimilated them into his own being. He prepared an +extended essay--called by many, a book--in which he made an argument +against Christianity, striving to prove that the Bible was not inspired, +and therefore not God's revelation, and that Jesus Christ was not the +son of God. The manuscript containing these audacious and comprehensive +propositions he intended to have published or given a wide circulation +in some other way. He carried it to the store, where it was read and +freely discussed. His friend and employer, Samuel Hill, was among the +listeners, and, seriously questioning the propriety of a promising +young man like Lincoln fathering such unpopular notions, he snatched the +manuscript from his hands and thrust it into the stove. The book went up +in flames, and Lincoln's political future was secure. But his infidelity +and his sceptical views were not diminished. He soon removed to +Springfield, where he attracted considerable notice by his rank +doctrine. Much of what he then said may properly be credited to the +impetuosity and exuberance of youth. One of his closest friends, whose +name is withheld, narrating scenes and reviewing discussions that in +1838 took place in the office of the county clerk, says: "Sometimes +Lincoln bordered on atheism. He went far that way, and shocked me. I was +then a young man, and believed what my good mother told me.... He would +come into the clerk's office where I and some young men were writing and +staying, and would bring the Bible with him; would read a chapter and +argue against it.... Lincoln was enthusiastic in his infidelity. As +he grew older he grew more discreet; didn't talk much before strangers +about his religion; but to friends, close and bosom ones, he was always +open and avowed, fair and honest; to strangers, he held them off from +policy." John T. Stuart, who was Lincoln's first partner, substantially +endorses the above. "He was an avowed and open infidel," declares +Stuart, "and sometimes bordered on atheism;.... went further against +Christian beliefs and doctrines and principles than any man I ever +heard; he shocked me. I don't remember the exact line of his argument; +suppose it was against the inherent defects, so-called, of the Bible, +and on grounds of reason. Lincoln always denied that Jesus was the +Christ of God--denied that Jesus was the son of God as understood and +maintained by the Christian Church." David Davis tells us this: "The +idea that Lincoln talked to a stranger about his religion or religious +views, or made such speeches and remarks about it as are published, +is to me absurd. I knew the man so well; he was the most reticent, +secretive man I ever saw or expect to see. He had no faith, in the +Christian sense of the term--had faith in laws, principles, causes and +effects." Another man * testifies as follows: "Mr. Lincoln told me +that he was a kind of immortalist; that he never could bring himself to +believe in eternal punishment; that man lived but a little while here; +and that if eternal punishment were man's doom, he should spend that +little life in vigilant and ceaseless preparation by never-ending +prayer." Another intimate friend** furnishes this: "In my intercourse +with Mr. Lincoln I learned that he believed in a Creator of all things, +who had neither beginning nor end, possessing all power and wisdom, +established a principle in obedience to which worlds move and are +upheld, and animal and vegetable life come into existence. A reason he +gave for his belief was that in view of the order and harmony of all +nature which we behold, it would have been more miraculous to have come +about by chance than to have been created and arranged by some great +thinking power." + + * William H. Hannah. + + ** I. W. Keys. + +As to the Christian theory that Christ is God or equal to the Creator, +he said that it had better be taken for granted; for by the test +of reason we might become infidels on that subject, for evidence of +Christ's divinity came to us in a somewhat doubtful shape; but that the +system of Christianity was an ingenious one at least, and perhaps was +calculated to do good." Jesse W. Fell, to whom Lincoln first confided +the details of his biography, furnishes a more elaborate account of +the latter's religious views than anyone else. In a statement made +September 22, 1870, Fell says: "If there were any traits of character +that stood out in bold relief in the person of Mr. Lincoln they were +those of truth and candor. He was utterly incapable of insincerity or +professing views on this or any other subject he did not entertain. +Knowing such to be his true character, that insincerity, much more +duplicity, were traits wholly foreign to his nature, many of his +old friends were not a little surprised at finding in some of the +biographies of this great man statements concerning his religious +opinions so utterly at variance with his known sentiments. True, he may +have changed or modified these sentiments* after his removal from among +us, though this is hardly reconcilable with the history of the man, and +his entire devotion to public matters during his four years' residence +at the national capital. + + * "Executive Mansion, Washington, May 27, 1865. + + "Friend Herndon: "Mr. Lincoln did not to my knowledge in any + way change his religious ideas, opinions, or beliefs from + the time he left Springfield to the day of his death. I do + not know just what they were, never having heard him explain + them in detail; but I am very sure he gave no outward + indication of his mind having undergone any change in that + regard while here. \ + + "Yours truly, + + "Jno. G. Nicolay." + +It is possible, however, that this may be the proper solution of this +conflict of opinions; or it may be that, with no intention on the part +of any one to mislead the public mind, those who have represented him +as believing in the popular theological views of the times may have +misapprehended him, as experience shows to be quite common where no +special effort has been made to attain critical accuracy on a subject +of this nature. This is the more probable from the well-known fact, that +Mr. Lincoln seldom communicated to any one his views on this subject; +but be this as it may, I have no hesitation whatever in saying that +whilst he held many opinions in common with the great mass of Christian +believers, he did not believe in what are regarded as the orthodox or +evangelical views of Christianity. + +"On the innate depravity of man, the character and office of the great +Head of the Church, the atonement, the infallibility of the written +revelation, the performance of miracles, the nature and design of +present and future rewards and punishments (as they are popularly +called), and many other subjects he held opinions utterly at variance +with what are usually taught in the Church. I should say that his +expressed views on these and kindred topics were such as, in the +estimation of most believers, would place him outside the Christian +pale. Yet, to my mind, such was not the true position, since his +principles and practices and the spirit of his whole life were of the +very kind we universally agree to call Christian; and I think this +conclusion is in no wise affected by the circumstance that he never +attached himself to any religious society whatever. + +"His religious views were eminently practical, and are summed up, as +I think, in these two propositions: the Fatherhood of God, and the +brotherhood of man. He fully believed in a superintending and overruling +Providence that guides and controls the operations of the world, but +maintained that law and order, and not their violation or suspension, +are the appointed means by which this Providence is exercised.* + + * "A convention of preachers held, I think, at Philadelphia, + passed a resolution asking him to recommend to Congress an + amendment to the Constitution directly recognizing the + existence of God. The first draft of his message prepared + after this resolution was sent him did contain a paragraph + calling the attention of Congress to the subject. When I + assisted him in reading the proof he struck it out, + remarking that he had not made up his mind as to its + propriety."--MS. letter, John D. Defrees, December 4, 1866. + +"I will not attempt any specification of either his belief or disbelief +on various religious topics, as derived from conversations with him at +different times during a considerable period; but as conveying a general +view of his religious or theological opinions, will state the following +facts. Some eight or ten years prior to his death, in conversing with +him upon this subject, the writer took occasion to refer, in terms +of approbation, to the sermons and writings generally of Dr. W. E. +Channing; and, finding he was considerably interested in the statement +I made of the opinions held by that author, I proposed to present him +(Lincoln) a copy of Channing's entire works, which I soon after did. +Subsequently the contents of these volumes, together with the writings +of Theodore Parker, furnished him, as he informed me, by his friend +and law partner, William H. Herndon, became naturally the topics of +conversation with us; and, though far from believing there was an entire +harmony of views on his part with either of those authors, yet they were +generally much admired and approved by him. + +"No religious views with him seemed to find any favor except of the +practical and rationalistic order; and if, from my recollections on +this subject, I was called upon to designate an author whose views +most nearly represented Mr. Lincoln's on this subject, I would say that +author was Theodore Parker." The last witness to testify before this +case is submitted to the reader is no less a person than Mrs. Lincoln +herself. In a statement made at a time and under circumstances detailed +in a subsequent chapter she said this: "Mr. Lincoln had no faith and no +hope in the usual acceptation of those words. He never joined a Church; +but still, as I believe, he was a religious man by nature. He first +seemed to think about the subject when our boy Willie died, and then +more than ever about the time he went to Gettysburg; but it was a kind +of poetry in his nature, and he was never a technical Christian." + +No man had a stronger or firmer faith in Providence--God--than Mr. +Lincoln, but the continued use by him late in life of the word God must +not be interpreted to mean that he believed in a personal God. In 1854 +he asked me to erase the word God from a speech which I had written and +read to him for criticism because my language indicated a personal God, +whereas he insisted no such personality ever existed. + +My own testimony, however, in regard to Mr. Lincoln's religious views +may perhaps invite discussion. The world has always insisted on making +an orthodox Christian of him, and to analyze his sayings or sound his +beliefs is but to break the idol. It only remains to say that, whether +orthodox or not, he believed in God and immortality; and even if he +questioned the existence of future eternal punishment he hoped to find +a rest from trouble and a heaven beyond the grave. If at any time in his +life he was sceptical of the divine origin of the Bible he ought not for +that reason to be condemned; for he accepted the practical precepts of +that great book as binding alike upon his head and his conscience. The +benevolence of his impulses, the seriousness of his convictions, and the +nobility of his character are evidences unimpeachable that his soul +was ever filled with the exalted purity and sublime faith of natural +religion. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +The result of the campaign of 1858 wrought more disaster to Lincoln's +finances than to his political prospects. The loss of over six months +from his business, and the expenses of the canvass, made a severe drain +on his personal income. He was anxious to get back to the law once more +and earn a little ready money. A letter written about this time to his +friend Norman B. Judd, Chairman of the Republican State Committee, will +serve to throw some light on the situation he found himself in. "I have +been on expenses so long, without earning anything," he says, "that I am +absolutely without money now for even household expenses. Still, if you +can put in $250 for me towards discharging the debt of the committee, I +will allow it when you and I settle the private matter between us. This, +with what I have already paid, with an outstanding note of mine, will +exceed my subscription of $500. This, too, is exclusive of my ordinary +expenses during the campaign, all of which, being added to my loss of +time and business, bears prettily heavily upon one no better off than I +am. But as I had the post of honor, it is not for me to be over-nice." +At the time this letter was written his property consisted of the house +and lot on which he lived, a few law books and some household furniture. +He owned a small tract of land in Iowa which yielded him nothing, and +the annual income from his law practice did not exceed $3,000; yet the +party's committee in Chicago were dunning their late standard-bearer, +who, besides the chagrin of his defeat, his own expenses, and the +sacrifice of his time, was asked to aid in meeting the general expenses +of the campaign. At this day one is a little surprised that some of the +generous and wealthy members of the party in Chicago or elsewhere did +not come forward and volunteer their aid. But they did not, and whether +Lincoln felt in his heart the injustice of this treatment or not, he +went straight ahead in his own path and said nothing about it. + +Political business being off his hands, he now conceived the idea of +entering the lecture field. He began preparations in the usual way +by noting down ideas on stray pieces of paper, which found a lodgment +inside his hat, and finally brought forth in connected form a lecture on +"Inventions." He recounted the wonderful improvements in machinery, the +arts, and sciences. Now and then he indulged in a humorous paragraph, +and witticisms were freely sprinkled throughout the lecture. During +the winter he delivered it at several towns in the central part of the +State, but it was so commonplace, and met with such indifferent success, +that he soon dropped it altogether.* The effort met with the disapproval +of his friends, and he himself was filled with disgust. + + * "As we were going to Danville court I read to Lincoln a + lecture by Bancroft on the wonderful progress of man, + delivered in the preceding November. Sometime later he told + us--Swett and me--that he had been thinking much on the + subject and believed he would write a lecture on 'Man and + His Progress.' Afterwards I read in a paper that he had come + to either Bloomington or Clinton to lecture and no one + turned out. The paper added, 'That doesn't look much like + his being President.' I once joked him about it; he said + good-naturedly, 'Don't; that plagues me.'"--Henry C. + Whitney, letter, Aug. 27, 1867, MS. + + "Springfield, March 28, 1859. + + "W. M. Morris, Esq., + + "Dear Sir:--Your kind note inviting me to deliver a lecture + at Galesburg is received. I regret to say I cannot do so + now; I must stick to the courts awhile. I read a sort of + lecture to three different audiences during the last month + and this; but I did so under circumstances which made it a + waste of no time whatever. + + "Yours very truly, + + "A. Lincoln." + +If his address in 1852, over the death of Clay, proved that he was no +eulogist, then this last effort demonstrated that he was no lecturer. +Invitations to deliver the lecture--prompted no doubt by the +advertisement given him in the contest with Douglas--came in very +freely; but beyond the three attempts named, he declined them all. +"Press of business in the courts" afforded him a convenient excuse, and +he retired from the field. + +During the fall of 1859 invitations to take part in the canvass came +from over half-a-dozen States where elections were to be held, Douglas, +fresh from the Senate, had gone to Ohio, and thither in September +Lincoln, in response to the demands of party friends everywhere, +followed.* + + * "He returned to the city two years after with a fame as + wide as the continent, with the laurels of the Douglas + contest on his brow, and the Presidency in his grasp. He + returned, greeted with the thunder of cannon, the strains of + martial music, and the joyous plaudits of thousands of + citizens thronging the streets. He addressed a vast + concourse on Fifth Street Market; was entertained in + princely style at the Burnet House, and there received with + courtesy the foremost citizens come to greet this rising + star. With high hope and happy heart he left Cincinnati + after a three days' sojourn. But a perverse fortune attended + him and Cincinnati in their intercourse. Nine months after + Mr. Lincoln left us, after he had been nominated for the + Presidency, when he was tranquilly waiting in his cottage + home at Springfield the verdict of the people, his last + visit to Cincinnati and the good things he had had at the + Burnet House were rudely brought to his memory by a bill + presented to him from its proprietors. Before leaving the + hotel he had applied to the clerk for his bill; was told + that it was paid, or words to that effect. This the + committee had directed, but afterwards neglected its + payment. The proprietors shrewdly surmised that a letter to + the nominee for the Presidency would bring the money. The + only significance in this incident is in the letter it + brought from Mr. Lincoln, revealing his indignation at the + seeming imputation against his honor, and his greater + indignation at one item of the bill. 'As to wines, liquors, + and cigars, we had none, absolutely none. These last may + have been in Room 15 by order of committee, but I do not + recollect them at all.'--W. M. Dickson, "Harper's Magazine," + June, 1884. + +He delivered telling and impressive speeches at Cincinnati and +Columbus,* following Douglas at both places. He made such a favorable +impression among his Ohio friends that, after a glorious Republican +victory, the State committee asked the privilege of publishing his +speeches, along with those of Douglas, to be used and distributed as a +campaign document. + + * Douglas had written a long and carefully prepared article + on "Popular Sovereignty in the Territories," which appeared + for the first time in the September (1859) number of + "Harper's Magazine." It went back some distance into the + history of the government, recounting the proceedings of the + earliest Congresses, and sought to mark out more clearly + than had heretofore been done "the dividing line between + Federal and Local authority." In a speech at Columbus, O, + Lincoln answered the "copy-right essay" categorically. After + alluding to the difference of position between himself and + Judge Douglas on the doctrine of Popular Sovereignty, he + said: "Judge Douglas has had a good deal of trouble with + Popular Sovereignty. His explanations, explanatory of + explanations explained, are interminable. The most lengthy + and, as I suppose, the most maturely considered of his long + series of explanations is his great essay in "Harper's + Magazine." + +This request he especially appreciated, because after some effort he +had failed to induce any publisher in Springfield to undertake the +enterprise,* thus proving anew that "a prophet is not without honor, +save in his own country." In December he visited Kansas, speaking +at Atchison, Troy, Leavenworth, and other towns near the border. His +speeches there served to extend his reputation still further westward. +Though his arguments were repetitions of the doctrine laid down in the +contest with Douglas, yet they were new to the majority of his Kansas** +hearers and were enthusiastically approved. By the close of the year he +was back again in the dingy law office in Springfield. + + * A gentleman is still living, who at the time of the debate + between Lincoln and Douglas, was a book publisher in + Springfield. Lincoln had collected newspaper slips of all + the speeches made during the debate, and proposed to him + their publication in book form; but the man declined, + fearing there would be no demand for such a book. + Subsequently, when the speeches were gotten out in book form + in Ohio, Mr. Lincoln procured a copy and gave it to his + Springfield friend, writing on the fly-leaf, "Compliments of + A. Lincoln." + + ** How Mr. Lincoln stood on the questions of the hour, after + his defeat by Douglas, is clearly shown in a letter written + on the 14th of May, 1859, to a friend in Kansas, who had + forwarded him an invitation to attend a Republican + convention there. "You will probably adopt resolutions," he + writes, "in the nature of a platform. I think the only + danger will be the temptation to lower the Republican + standard in order to gather recruits. In my judgment such a + step would be a serious mistake, and open a gap through + which more would pass out than pass in. And this would be + the same whether the letting down should be in deference to + Douglasism or to the Southern opposition element; either + would surrender the object of the Republican organization-- + the preventing of the spread and nationalization of slavery. + This object surrendered, the organization would go to + pieces. I do not mean by this that no Southern man must be + placed upon our national ticket for 1860. There are many men + in the slave states for any one of whom I could cheerfully + vote, to be either President or Vice-president, provided he + would enable me to do so with safety to the Republican + cause, without lowering the Republican standard. This is the + indispensable condition of a union with us; it is idle to + talk of any other. Any other would be as fruitless to the + South as distasteful to the North, the whole ending in + common defeat. Let a union be attempted on the basis of + ignoring the slavery question, and magnifying other + questions which the people are just now caring about, and it + will result in gaining no single electoral vote in the + South, and losing every one in the North."--MS. letter to M. + W. Delahay. + +The opening of the year 1860 found Mr. Lincoln's name freely mentioned +in connection with the Republican nomination for the Presidency. To be +classed with Seward, Chase, McLean, and other celebrities was enough to +stimulate any Illinois lawyer's pride; but in Mr. Lincoln's case, if it +had any such effect, he was most artful in concealing it. Now and then +some ardent friend, an editor, for example, would run his name up to the +mast-head, but in all cases he discouraged the attempt. "In regard to +the matter you spoke of," he answered one man who proposed his name, +"I beg that you will not give it a further mention. Seriously, I do not +think I am fit for the Presidency."* + + * Letter, March 5, 1859, to Thomas J. Pickett. + +The first effort in his behalf as a Presidential aspirant was the action +taken by his friends at a meeting held in the State House early in 1860, +in the rooms of O. M. Hatch, then Secretary of State. Besides Hatch +there were present Norman B. Judd, chairman of the Republican State +Committee, Ebenezer Peck, Jackson Grimshaw, and others of equal +prominence in the party. "We all expressed a personal preference for +Mr. Lincoln," relates one who was a participant in the meeting,* "as the +Illinois candidate for the Presidency, and asked him if his name might +be used at once in connection with the nomination and election. With his +characteristic modesty he doubted whether he could get the nomination +even if he wished it, and asked until the next morning to answer us +whether his name might be announced. Late the next day he authorized +us, if we thought proper to do so, to place him in the field." To the +question from Mr. Grimshaw whether, if the nomination for President +could not be obtained, he would accept the post of Vice-president, +he answered that he would not; that his name having been used for the +office of President, he would not permit it to be used for any other +office, however honorable it might be. This meeting was preliminary to +the Decatur convention, and was also the first concerted action in his +behalf on the part of his friends. + + * Jackson Grimshaw. Letter, Quincy, Ill., April 28, 1866, MS. + +In the preceding October he came rushing into the office one morning, +with the letter from New York City, inviting him to deliver a lecture +there, and asked my advice and that of other friends as to the subject +and character of his address. We all recommended a speech on the +political situation. Remembering his poor success as a lecturer himself, +he adopted our suggestions. He accepted the invitation of the New York +committee, at the same time notifying them that his speech would deal +entirely with political questions, and fixing a day late in February +as the most convenient time. Meanwhile he spent the intervening time +in careful preparation. He searched through the dusty volumes of +congressional proceedings in the State library, and dug deeply into +political history. He was painstaking and thorough in the study of +his subject, but when at last he left for New York we had many +misgivings--and he not a few himself--of his success in the great +metropolis. What effect the unpretentious Western lawyer would have +on the wealthy and fashionable society of the great city could only be +conjectured. A description of the meeting at Cooper Institute, a list +of the names of the prominent men and women present, or an account of +Lincoln in the delivery of the address would be needless repetitions of +well-known history.* + + * On his return home Lincoln told me that for once in his + life he was greatly abashed over his personal appearance. + The new suit of clothes which he donned on his arrival in + New York were ill-fitting garments, and showed the creases + made while packed in the valise; and for a long time after + he began his speech and before he became "warmed up" he + imagined that the audience noticed the contrast between his + Western clothes and the neat-fitting suits of Mr. Bryant and + others who sat on the platform. The collar of his coat on + the right side had an unpleasant way of flying up whenever + he raised his arm to gesticulate. He imagined the audience + noticed that also. After the meeting closed, the newspaper + reporters called for slips of his speech. This amused him, + because he had no idea what slips were, and besides, didn't + suppose the newspapers cared to print his speech verbatim. + +It only remains to say that his speech was devoid of all rhetorical +imagery, with a marked sup-pression of the pyrotechnics of stump +oratory. It was constructed with a view to accuracy of statement, +simplicity of language, and unity of thought. In some respects +like a lawyer's brief, it was logical, temperate in tone, +powerful--irresistibly driving conviction home to men's reasons and +their souls. No former effort in the line of speech-making had cost +Lincoln so much time and thought as this one. It is said by one of his +biographers, that those afterwards engaged in getting out the speech +as a campaign document were three weeks in verifying the statements and +finding the historical records referred to and consulted by him. This is +probably a little over-stated as to time, but unquestionably the work of +verification and reference, was in any event a very labored and extended +one.* The day following the Cooper Institute meeting, the leading New +York dailies published the speech in full, and made favorable editorial +mention of it and of the speaker as well. It was plain now that Lincoln +had captured the metropolis. From New York he travelled to New England +to visit his son Robert, who was attending college. + + * Mr. Lincoln obtained most of the facts of his Cooper + Institute speech from Eliott's "Debates on the Federal + Constitution." There were six volumes, which he gave to me + when he went to Washington in 1861. + +In answer to the many calls and invitations which showered on him, he +spoke at various places in Connecticut, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire. +In all these places he not only left deep impressions of his ability, +but he convinced New England of his intense earnestness in the great +cause. The newspapers treated him with no little consideration. One +paper* characterized his speech as one of "great fairness," delivered +with "great apparent candor and wonderful interest. For the first half +hour his opponents would agree with every word he uttered; and from that +point he would lead them off little by little until it seemed as if he +had got them all into his fold. He is far from prepossessing in +personal appearance, and his Voice is disagreeable; and yet he wins your +attention from the start.. He indulges in no flowers of rhetoric, no +eloquent passages.... He displays more shrewdness, more knowledge of the +masses of mankind than any public speaker we have heard since Long Jim +Wilson left for California." + + * Manchester Mirror. + +Lincoln's return to Springfield after his dazzling success in the East +was the signal for earnest congratulations on the part of his friends. +Seward was the great man of the day, but Lincoln had demonstrated to the +satisfaction of his friends that he was tall enough and strong enough +to measure swords with the Auburn statesman. His triumph in New York and +New England had shown that the idea of a house divided against itself +induced as strong cooperation and hearty support in prevention of a +great wrong in the East as the famous "irrepressible conflict" attracted +warriors to Seward's standard in the Mississippi valley. It was apparent +now to Lincoln that the Presidential nomination was within his reach. +He began gradually to lose his interest in the law and to trim his +political sails at the same time. His recent success had stimulated his +self-confidence to unwonted proportions. He wrote to influential party +workers everywhere. I know the idea prevails that Lincoln sat still in +his chair in Springfield, and that one of those unlooked-for tides in +human affairs came along and cast the nomination into his lap; but any +man who has had experience in such things knows that great political +prizes are not obtained in that way. The truth is, Lincoln was as +vigilant as he was ambitious, and there is no denying the fact that he +understood the situation perfectly from the start. In the management +of his own interests he was obliged to rely almost entirely on his own +resources. He had no money with which to maintain a political bureau, +and he lacked any kind of personal organization whatever. Seward had +all these things, and, behind them all, a brilliant record in the United +States Senate with which to dazzle his followers. But with all his +prestige and experience the latter was no more adroit and no more +untiring in pursuit of his ambition than the man who had just delivered +the Cooper Institute speech. A letter written by Lincoln about this time +to a friend in Kansas serves to illustrate his methods, and measures the +extent of his ambition. + +[Illustration: Letter to Kansas delegate 196] + +The letter is dated March 10, and is now in my possession. For obvious +reasons I withhold the friend's name: "As to your kind wishes for +myself," writes Lincoln, "allow me to say I cannot enter the ring on +the money basis--first, because in the main it is wrong; and secondly, I +have not and cannot get the money. I say in the main the use of money is +wrong; but for certain objects in a political contest the use of some +is both right and indispensable. With me, as with yourself, this long +struggle has been one of great pecuniary loss. I now distinctly say +this: If you shall be appointed a delegate to Chicago I will furnish one +hundred dollars to bear the expenses of the trip." There is enough +in this letter to show that Lincoln was not only determined in his +political ambition, but intensely practical as well. His eye was +constantly fastened on Seward, who had already freely exercised the +rights of leadership in the party. All other competitors he dropped +out of the problem. In the middle of April he again writes his Kansas +friend: "Reaching home last night I found yours of the 7th. You know I +was recently in New England. Some of the acquaintances while there +write me since the election that the close vote in Connecticut and +the quasi-defeat in Rhode Island are a drawback upon the prospects of +Governor Seward; and Trumbull writes Dubois to the same effect. Do not +mention this as coming from me. Both these States are safe enough in +the fall." But, while Seward may have lost ground near his home, he +was acquiring strength in the West. He had invaded the very territory +Lincoln was intending to retain by virtue of his course in the contest +with Douglas. Lincoln's friend in Kansas, instead of securing that +delegation for him, had suffered the Seward men to outgeneral him, and +the prospects were by no means flattering. "I see by the dispatches," +writes Lincoln, in a burst of surprise, "that, since you wrote, Kansas +has appointed delegates and instructed for Seward. Don't stir them up +to anger, but come along to the convention and I will do as I said about +expenses." Whether the friend ever accepted Lincoln's generous offer I +do not know,* but it may not be without interest to state that within +ten days after the latter's inauguration he appointed him to a Federal +office with comfortable salary attached, and even asked for his +preferences as to other contemplated appointments in his own State.** + + * This case illustrates quite forcibly Lincoln's weakness in + dealing with individuals. This man I know had written + Lincoln, promising to bring the Kansas delegation to Chicago + for him if he would only pay his expenses. Lincoln was weak + enough to make the promise, and yet such was his faith in + the man that he appointed him to an important judicial + position and gave him great prominence in other ways. What + President or candidate for President would dare do such a + thing now? + + ** The following is in my possession: + + "Executive Mansion, March 13,1861. + + "------, Esq. + + "My Dear Sir: + + "You will start for Kansas before I see you again; and when + I saw you a moment this morning I forgot to ask you about + some of the Kansas appointments, which I intended to do. If + you care much about them you can write, as I think I shall + not make the appointments just yet. + + "Yours in haste, + + "A. Lincoln." + +In the rapid, stirring scenes that crowd upon each other from this time +forward the individuality of Lincoln is easily lost sight of. He was so +thoroughly interwoven in the issues before the people of Illinois that +he had become a part of them. Among his colleagues at the bar he was no +longer looked upon as the Circuit-Court lawyer of earlier days. To them +it seemed as if the nation were about to lay its claim upon him. His +tall form enlarged, until, to use a figurative expression, he could no +longer pass through the door of our dingy office. Reference has already +been made to the envy of his rivals at the bar, and the jealousy of his +political contemporaries. Very few indeed were free from the degrading +passion; but it made no difference in Lincoln's treatment of them. He +was as generous and deferred to them as much as ever. The first public +movement by the Illinois people in his interest was the action of the +State convention, which met at Decatur on the 9th and 10th of May. It +was at this convention that Lincoln's friend and cousin, John Hanks, +brought in the two historic rails which both had made in the Sangamon +bottom in 1830, and which served the double purpose of electrifying the +Illinois people and kindling the fire of enthusiasm that was destined +to sweep over the nation. In the words of an ardent Lincoln delegate, +"These rails were to represent the issue in the coming contest between +labor free and labor slave; between democracy and aristocracy. Little +did I think," continues our jubilant and effusive friend, "of the mighty +consequences of this little incident; little did I think that the tall, +and angular, and bony rail-splitter who stood in girlish diffidence +bowing with awkward grace would fill the chair once filled by +Washington, and that his name would echo in chants of praise along the +corridor of all coming time." A week later the hosts were gathered for +the great convention in Chicago. David Davis had rented rooms in the +Tremont House and opened up "Lincoln's headquarters." I was not a +delegate, but belonged to the contingent which had Lincoln's interests +in charge. Judge Logan was the Springfield delegate, and to him Lincoln +had given a letter authorizing the withdrawal of his name whenever his +friends deemed such action necessary or proper. Davis was the active +man, and had the business management in charge. If any negotiations were +made, he made them. The convention was held in a monster building +called the Wigwam. No one who has ever attempted a description of it +has overdrawn its enthusiasm and exciting scenes. Amid all the din +and confusion, the curbstone contentions, the promiscuous wrangling +of delegates, the deafening roar of the assembled hosts, the contest +narrowed down to a neck-and-neck race between the brilliant statesman +of Auburn and the less pretentious, but manly rail-splitter from the +Sangamon bottoms. With the proceedings of the convention the world is +already well familiar. On the first ballot Seward led, but was closely +followed by Lincoln; on the second Lincoln gained amazingly; on the +third the race was an even one until the dramatic change by Carter, +of Ohio, when Lincoln, swinging loose, swept grandly to the front. The +cannon planted on the roof of the Wigwam belched forth a boom across the +Illinois prairies. The sound was taken up and reverberated from Maine to +California. With the nomination of Hannibal Hamlin, of Maine, the +convention adjourned. The delegates--victorious and vanquished alike-- +turned their steps homeward, and the great campaign of 1860 had begun. +The day before the nomination the editor of the Springfield _Journal_ +arrived in Chicago with a copy of the Missouri _Democrat_, in which +Lincoln had marked three passages referring to Seward's position on the +slavery question. On the margin of the paper he had written in pencil, +"I agree with Seward in his 'Irrepressible Conflict,' but I do not +endorse his 'Higher Law' doctrine." Then he added in words underscored, +"Make no contracts that will bind me." This paper was brought into the +room where Davis, Judd, Logan, and I were gathered, and was read to us. +But Lincoln was down in Springfield, some distance away from Chicago, +and could therefore not appreciate the gravity of the situation; at +least so Davis argued, and, viewing it in that light, the latter went +ahead with his negotiations. What the consequences of these deals were +will appear later on. The new's of his nomination found Lincoln at +Springfield in the office of the _Journal_. Naturally enough he was +nervous, restless, and laboring under more or loss suppressed +excitement. He had been tossing ball--a pastime frequently indulged in +by the lawyers of that day, and had played a few games of billiards to +keep down, as another has expressed it "the unnatural excitement that +threatened to possess him." When the telegram containing the result of +the last ballot came in, although apparently calm and undisturbed, a +close observer could have detected in the compressed lip and serious +countenance evidences of deep and unusual emotion. As the balloting +progressed he had gone to the office of the _Journal_, and was sitting +in a large arm-chair there when the news of his nomination came. What a +line of scenes, stretching from the barren glade in Kentucky to the +jubilant and enthusiastic throng in the Wigwam at Chicago, must have +broken in upon his vision as he hastened from the newspaper office to +"tell a little woman down the street the news!" In the evening his +friends and neighbors called to congratulate him. He thanked them +feelingly and shook them each by the hand. A day later the committee +from the convention, with George Ashmun, of Massachusetts, at its head, +called, and delivered formal notice of his nomination. This meeting took +place at his house. His response was couched in polite and dignified +language, and many of the committee, who now met him for the first time, +departed with an improved impression of the new standard-bearer. A few +days later he wrote his official letter of acceptance, in which he +warmly endorsed the resolutions of the convention. His actions and +utterances so far had begun to dissipate the erroneous notion prevalent +in some of the more remote Eastern States, that he was more of a +backwoods boor than a gentleman; but with the arrival of the campaign in +dead earnest, people paid less attention to the candidates and more to +the great issues at stake. Briefly stated, the Republican platform was a +declaration that "the new dogma, that the Constitution carries slavery +into all the Territories, is a dangerous political heresy, revolutionary +in tendency and subversive of the peace and harmony of the country; that +the normal condition of all the Territories is that of freedom; that +neither Congress, the territorial legislature, nor any individual can +give legal existence to slavery in any territory; that the opening of +the slave trade would be a crime against humanity." Resolutions favoring +a homestead law, river and harbor improvements, and the Pacific railroad +were also included in the platform. With these the Republicans, as a +lawyer would say, went to the country. The campaign which followed was +one with few parallels in American history. There was not only the +customary exultation and enthusiasm over candidates, but there was +patient listening and hard thinking among the masses. The slavery +question, it was felt, must soon be decided. Threats of disunion were +the texts of many a campaign speech in the South: in fact, as has since +been shown, a deep laid conspiracy to overthrow the Union was then +forming, and was only awaiting the election of a Republican President to +show its hideous head. The Democratic party was struggling under the +demoralizing effects of a split, in which even the Buchanan +administration had taken sides. Douglas, the nominee of one wing, in his +desperation had entered into the canvass himself, making speeches with +all the power and eloquence at his command. The Republicans, cheered +over the prospect, had joined hands with the Abolitionists, and both +were marching to victory under the inspiration of Lincoln's sentiment, +that "the further spread of slavery should be arrested, and it should be +placed where the public mind shall rest in the belief of its ultimate +extinction." + +As the canvass advanced and waxed warm I tendered my services and made a +number of speeches in the central part of the State. I remember, in +the midst of a speech at Petersburg, and just as I was approaching an +oratorical climax, a man out of breath came rushing up to me and thrust +a message into my hand. I was somewhat frustrated and greatly alarmed, +fearing it might contain news of some accident in my family; but great +was my relief when I read it, which I did aloud. It was a message from +Lincoln, telling me to be be of good cheer, that Ohio, Pennsylvania, and +Indiana had gone Republican.* + + * The handwriting of the note was a little tremulous, + showing that Lincoln was excited and nervous when he wrote + it. Following is a copy of the original MS.: + + "Springfield, Ill., October 10, 1860. + + "Dear William: I cannot give you details, but it is entirely + certain that Pennsylvania and Indiana have gone Republican + very largely. Pennsylvania 25,000, and Indiana 5000 to + 10,000. Ohio of course is safe. + + "Yours as ever, + + "A. Lincoln." + +These were then October States, and this was the first gun for the great +cause. It created so much demonstration, such a burst of enthusiasm and +confusion, that the crowd forgot they had any speaker; they ran yelling +and hurrahing out of the hall, and I never succeeded in finishing the +speech. + +As soon as officially notified of his nomination* Mr. Lincoln moved his +headquarters from our office to a room in the State House building, +and there, with his secretary, John G. Nicolay, he spent the busy and +exciting days of his campaign. Of course he attended to no law business, +but still he loved to come to our office of evenings, and spend an hour +with a few choice friends in a friendly privacy which was denied him +at his public quarters. These were among the last meetings we had with +Lincoln as our friend and fellow at the bar; and they are also the most +delightful recollections any of us have retained of him.** + + * Following is Lincoln's letter of acceptance: + + "Springfield, III., June 23, 1860. + + "Sir: I accept the nomination tendered me by the convention + over which you presided, of which I am formally apprised in + a letter of yourself and others, acting as a committee of + the convention for that purpose. The declaration of + principles which accompanies your letter meets my approval, + and it shall be my care not to violate it or disregard it in + any part. Imploring the assistance of Divine Providence, and + with due regard to the views and feelings of all who were + represented in the convention, to the rights of all the + states and territories and people of the nation, to the + inviolability of the Constitution, and the perpetual union, + prosperity, and harmony of all, I am most happy to cooperate + for the practical success of the principles declared by the + convention. + + "Your obliged friend and fellow-citizen, + + "Abraham Lincoln." + + "Hon. George Ashmun." + + ** One of what Lincoln regarded as the remarkable features + of his canvass for President was the attitude of some of his + neighbors in Springfield. A poll of the voters had been made + in a little book and given to him. On running over the names + he found that the greater part of the clergy of the city--in + fact all but three--were against him. This depressed him + somewhat, and he called in Dr. Newton Bateman, who as + Superintendent of Public Instruction occupied the room + adjoining his own in the State House, and whom he + 'habitually addressed as "Mr. Schoolmaster." He commented + bitterly on the attitude of the preachers and many of their + followers, who, pretending to be believers in the Bible and + God-fearing Christians, yet by their votes demonstrated that + they cared not whether slavery was voted up or down. "God + cares and humanity cares," he reflected, "and if they do not + they surely have not read their Bible aright." + +At last the turmoil and excitement and fatigue of the campaign were +over: the enthusiastic political workers threw aside their campaign +uniforms, the boys blew out their torches, and the voter approached the +polls with his ballot. On the morning of election day I stepped in to +see Mr. Lincoln, and was surprised to learn that he did not intend to +cast his vote. I knew of course that he did so because of a feeling that +the candidate for a Presidential office ought not to vote for his own +electors; but when I suggested the plan of cutting off the Presidential +electors and voting for the State officers, he was struck with the idea, +and at last consented. His appearance at the polls, accompanied by Ward +Lamon, the lamented young Ellsworth, and myself, was the occasion of no +little surprise because of the general impression which prevailed that +he did not intend to vote. The crowd around the polls opened a gap as +the distinguished voter approached, and some even removed their hats +as he deposited his ticket and announced in a subdued voice his name, +"Abraham Lincoln." + +The election was held on the 6th of November. The result showed a +popular vote of 1,857,610 for Lincoln; 1,291,574 for Douglas; 850,022 +for Breckenridge; and 646,124 for Bell. In the electoral college Lincoln +received 180 votes, Breckenridge 72, Bell 39, and Douglas 12.* Mr. +Lincoln having now been elected, there remained, before taking up the +reins of government, the details of his departure from Springfield, and +the selection of a cabinet. + + * Lincoln electors were chosen in seventeen of the free + States, as follows: Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, + Rhode Island, Connecticut, Vermont, New York, Pennsylvania, + Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, + Iowa, California, Oregon; and in one State,--New Jersey,-- + owing to a fusion between Democrats, Lincoln secured four + and Douglas three of the electors. Alabama, Arkansas, + Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, + Mississippi, North, and South Carolina, and Texas went for + Breckenridge; Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia for Bell; + while Douglas secured only one entire State--Missouri. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +[Illustration: Portrait of Lincoln in 1860 209] + +The election over, Mr. Lincoln scarcely had time enough to take a breath +until another campaign and one equally trying, so far as a test of his +constitution and nerves was concerned, as the one through which he +had just passed, opened up before him. I refer to the siege of the +cabinet-makers and office-seekers. It proved to be a severe and +protracted strain and one from which there seemed to be no relief, as +the President-elect of this renowned democratic Government is by custom +and precedent expected to meet and listen to everybody who calls to +see him. "Individuals, deputations, and delegations," says one of Mr. +Lincoln's biographers, "from all quarters pressed in upon him in a +manner that might have killed a man of less robust constitution. The +hotels of Springfield were filled with gentlemen who came with light +baggage and heavy schemes. The party had never been in office. A clean +sweep of the 'ins' was expected, and all the 'outs' were patriotically +anxious to take the vacant places. It was a party that had never fed; +and it was voraciously hungry. Mr. Lincoln and Artemus Ward saw a great +deal of fun in it; and in all human probability it was the fun alone +that enabled Mr. Lincoln to bear it." + +His own election of course disposed of any claims Illinois might have +had to any further representation in the cabinet, but it afforded Mr. +Lincoln no relief from the argumentative interviews and pressing claims +of the endless list of ambitious statesmen in the thirty-two other +states, who swarmed into Springfield from every point of the compass. He +told each one of them a story, and even if he failed to put their names +on his slate they went away without knowing that fact, and never forgot +the visit.* + + * A newspaper correspondent who had been sent down from + Chicago to "write up" Mr. Lincoln soon after his nomination, + was kind enough several years ago to furnish me with an + account of his visit. As some of his reminiscences are more + or less interesting, I take the liberty of inserting a + portion of his letter. "A what-not in the corner of the + room," he relates, "was laden with various kinds of shells. + Taking one in my hand, I said, 'This, I suppose, is called a + Trocus by the geologist or naturalist.' Mr. Lincoln paused a + moment as if reflecting and then replied, 'I do not know, + for I never studied either geology or natural history.' I + then took to examining the few pictures that hung on the + walls, and was paying more than ordinary attention to one + that hung above, the sofa. He was immediately at my left and + pointing to it said, 'That picture gives a very fair + representation of my homely face.'... The time for my + departure nearing, I made the usual apologies and started to + go. 'You cannot get out of the town before a quarter past + eleven,' remonstrated Mr. Lincoln, 'and you may as well stay + a little longer.' Under pretence of some unfinished matters + down town, however, I very reluctantly withdrew from the + mansion. 'Well,' said Mr. Lincoln, as we passed into the + hall, 'suppose you come over to the State House before you + start for Chicago.' After a moment's deliberation I promised + to do so. Mr. Lincoln, following without his hat, and + continuing the conversation, shook hands across the gate, + saying, 'Now, come over.' I wended my way to my hotel, and + after a brief period was in his office at the State House. + Resuming conversation, he said, 'If the man comes with the + key before you go, I want to give you a book.' I certainly + hoped the man would come with the key. Some conversation had + taken place at the house on which his book treated,--but I + had forgotten this,--and soon Mr. Lincoln absented himself + for perhaps two minutes and returned with a copy of the + debates between himself and Judge Douglas. He placed the + book on his knee, as he sat back on two legs of his chair, + and wrote on the fly-leaf, 'J. S. Bliss, from A. Lincoln.' + Besides this he marked a complete paragraph near the middle + of the book. While sitting in the position described little + Willie, his son, came in and begged his father for twenty- + five cents. 'My son,' said the father, 'what do you want + with twenty-five cents?' 'I want it to buy candy with,' + cried the boy. 'I cannot give you twenty-five cents, my son, + but will give you five cents,' at the same time putting his + thumb and finger into his vest pocket and taking therefrom + five cents in silver, which he placed upon the desk before + the boy. But this did not reach Willie's expectations; he + scorned the pile, and turning away clambered down-stairs and + through the spacious halls of the Capitol, leaving behind + him his five cents and a distinct reverberation of sound. + Mr. Lincoln turned to me and said, 'He will be back after + that in a few minutes.' 'Why do you think so?' said I. + 'Because, as soon as he finds I will give him no more he + will come and get it.' After the matter had been nearly + forgotten and conversation had turned in an entirely + different channel, Willie came cautiously in behind my chair + and that of his father, picked up the specie, and went away + without saying a word."--J. S. Bliss, letter, Jan. 29, 1867, + MS. + +He had a way of pretending to assure his visitor that in the choice of +his advisers he was "free to act as his judgment dictated," although +David Davis, acting as his manager at the Chicago convention, had +negotiated with the Indiana and Pennsylvania delegations, and assigned +places in the cabinet to Simon Cameron and Caleb Smith, besides making +other "arrangements" which Mr. Lincoln was expected to ratify. Of this +he was undoubtedly aware, although in answer to a letter from Joshua R. +Giddings, of Ohio, congratulating him on his nomination, he said,* + + * Letter, May 21st, 1860, MS. + +"It is indeed most grateful to my feelings that the responsible position +assigned me comes without conditions." Out of regard to the dignity +of the exalted station he was about to occupy, he was not as free in +discussing the matter of his probable appointments with some of his +personal friends as they had believed he would be. In one or two +instances, I remember, the latter were offended at his seeming disregard +of the claims of old friendship. My advice was not asked for on such +grave subjects, nor had I any right or reason to believe it would +be; hence I never felt slighted or offended. On some occasions in our +office, when Mr. Lincoln had come across from the State House for a +rest or a chat with me, he would relate now and then some +circumstance--generally an amusing one--connected with the settlement +of the cabinet problem, but it was said in such a way that one would +not have felt free to interrogate him about his plans. Soon after his +election I received from my friend Joseph Medill, of Chicago, a letter +which argued strongly against the appointment of Simon Cameron to a +place in the cabinet, and which the writer desired I should bring to Mr. +Lincoln's attention. I awaited a favorable opportunity, and one evening +when we were alone in our office I gave it to him. It was an eloquent +protest against the appointment of a corrupt and debased man, and coming +from the source it did--the writer being one of Lincoln's best newspaper +supporters--made a deep impression on him. Lincoln read it over several +times, but refrained from expressing any opinion. He did say however +that he felt himself under no promise or obligation to appoint anyone; +that if his friends made any agreements for him they did so over his +expressed direction and without his knowledge. At another time he said +that he wanted to give the South, by way of placation, a place in his +cabinet; that a fair division of the country entitled the Southern +States to a reasonable representation there, and if not interfered +with he would make such a distribution as would satisfy all persons +interested. He named three persons who would be acceptable to him. +They were Botts, of Virginia; Stephens, of Georgia; and Maynard, of +Tennessee. He apprehended no such grave danger to the Union as the mass +of people supposed would result from Southern threats, and said he could +not in his heart believe that the South designed the overthrow of the +Government. This is the extent of my conversation about the cabinet. +Thurlow Weed, the veteran in journalism and politics, came out from +New York and spent several days with Lincoln. He was not only the +representative of Senator Seward, but rendered the President-elect +signal service in the formation of his cabinet. In his autobiography Mr. +Weed relates numerous incidents of this visit. He was one day opposing +the claims of Montgomery Blair, who aspired to a cabinet appointment, +when Mr. Lincoln inquired of Weed whom he would recommend. "Henry Winter +Davis," was the response. "David Davis, I see, has been posting you up +on this question," retorted Lincoln. "He has Davis on the brain. I think +Maryland must be a good State to move from." The President then told a +story of a witness in court in a neighboring county, who on being asked +his age replied, "Sixty." Being satisfied he was much older the question +was repeated, and on receiving the same answer, the court admonished the +witness, saying, "The court knows you to be much older than sixty." +"Oh, I understand now," was the rejoinder; "you're thinking of those ten +years I spent on the eastern shore of Maryland; that was so much time +lost and don't count." Before Mr. Lincoln's departure from Springfield, +people who knew him personally were frequently asked what sort of man he +was. I received many letters, generally from the Eastern States, showing +that much doubt still existed in the minds of the people whether he +would prove equal to the great task that lay in store for him. Among +others who wrote me on the subject was the Hon. Henry Wilson, late +Vice-president of the United States, whom I had met during my visit to +Washington in the spring of 1858. Two years after Mr. Lincoln's death, +Mr. Wilson wrote me as follows: "I have just finished reading your +letter dated December 21, 1860, in answer to a letter of mine asking you +to give me your opinion of the President just elected. In this letter +to me you say of Mr. Lincoln what more than four years of observation +confirmed. After stating that you had been his law partner for over +eighteen years and his most intimate and bosom friend all that time you +say, 'I know him better than he does himself. I know this seems a little +strong, but I risk the assertion. Lincoln is a man of heart--aye, as +gentle as a woman's and as tender--but he has a will strong as iron. He +therefore loves all mankind, hates slavery and every form of despotism. +Put these together--love for the slave, and a determination, a will, +that justice, strong and unyielding, shall be done when he has the right +to act, and you can form your own conclusion. Lincoln will fail here, +namely, if a question of political economy--if any question comes up +which is doubtful, questionable, which no man can demonstrate, then his +friends can rule him; but when on justice, right, liberty, the +Government, the Constitution, and the Union, then you may all stand +aside: he will rule then, and no man can move him--no set of men can do +it. There is no fail here. This is Lincoln, and you mark my prediction. +You and I must keep the people right; God will keep Lincoln right.' +These words of yours made a deep impression upon my mind, and I came to +love and trust him even before I saw him. After an acquaintance of more +than four years I found that your idea of him was in all respects +correct--that he was the loving, tender, firm, and just man you +represented him to be; while upon some questions in which moral elements +did not so clearly enter he was perhaps too easily influenced by others. +Mr. Lincoln was a genuine democrat in feelings, sentiments, and actions. +How patiently and considerately he listened amid the terrible pressure +of public affairs to the people who thronged his ante-room! I remember +calling upon him one day daring the war on pressing business. The ante- +room was crowded with men and women seeking admission. He seemed +oppressed, careworn, and weary, I said to him, 'Mr. President, you are +too exhausted to see this throng waiting to see you; you will wear +yourself out and ought not see these people today.' He replied, with one +of those smiles in which sadness seemed to mingle, 'They don't want +much; they get but little, and I must see them.' During the war his +heart was oppressed and his life burdened with the conflict between the +tenderness of his nature and what seemed to be the imperative demands of +duty. In the darkest hours of the conflict desertions from the army were +frequent, and army officers urgently pressed the execution of the +sentences of the law; but it was with the greatest effort that he would +bring himself to consent to the execution of the judgment of the +military tribunals. I remember calling early one sabbath morning with a +wounded Irish officer, who came to Washington to say that a soldier who +had been sentenced to be shot in a day or two for desertion had fought +gallantly by his side in battle. I told Mr. Lincoln we had come to ask +him to pardon the poor soldier. After a few moments' reflection he said, +'My officers tell me the good of the service demands the enforcement of +the law; but it makes my heart ache to have the poor fellows shot. I +will pardon this soldier, and then you will all join in blaming me for +it. You censure me for granting pardons, and yet you all ask me to do +so.' I say again, no man had a more loving and tender nature than Mr. +Lincoln." + +Before departing for Washington Mr. Lincoln went to Chicago* for a few +days' stay, and there by previous arrangement met his old friend, Joshua +F. Speed. Both were accompanied by their wives, and while the latter +were out shopping the two husbands repaired to Speed's room at the +hotel. "For an hour or more," relates Speed, "we lived over again the +scenes of other days. Finally Lincoln threw himself on the bed, and +fixing his eyes on a spot in the ceiling asked me this question, 'Speed, +what is your pecuniary condition? are you rich or poor?' I answered, +addressing him by his new title, 'Mr. President, I think I can +anticipate what you are going to say. I'll speak candidly to you on the +subject. My pecuniary condition is satisfactory to me now; you would +perhaps call it good. I do not think you have within your gift any +office I could afford to take.' Mr. Lincoln then proposed to make +Guthrie, of Kentucky, Secretary of War, but did not want to write to +him--asked me to feel of him. I did as requested, but the Kentucky +statesman declined on the ground of his advanced age, and consequent +physical inability to fill the position. He gave substantial assurance +of his loyal sentiments, however, and insisted that the Union should be +preserved at all hazards." + + * A lady called one day at the hotel where the Lincolns were + stopping in Chicago to take Mrs. Lincoln out for a promenade + or a drive. She was met in the parlor by Mr. Lincoln, who, + after a hurried trip upstairs to ascertain the cause of the + delay in his wife's appearance, returned with the report + that "She will be down as soon as she has all her trotting + harness on." + +Late in January Mr. Lincoln informed me that he was ready to begin the +preparation of his inaugural address. He had, aside from his law books +and the few gilded volumes that ornamented the centre-table in his +parlor at home, comparatively no library. He never seemed to care to own +or collect books. On the other hand I had a very respectable collection, +and was adding to it every day. To my library Lincoln very frequently +had access. When, therefore, he began on his inaugural speech he told me +what works he intended to consult. I looked for a long list, but when +he went over it I was greatly surprised. He asked me to furnish him +with Henry Clay's great speech delivered in 1850; Andrew Jackson's +proclamation against Nullification; and a copy of the Constitution. He +afterwards called for Webster's reply to Hayne, a speech which he read +when he lived at New Salem, and which he always regarded as the grandest +specimen of American oratory. With these few "volumes," and no further +sources of reference, he locked himself up in a room upstairs over a +store across the street from the State House, and there, cut off +from all communication and intrusion, he prepared the address. Though +composed amid the unromantic surroundings of a dingy, dusty, and +neglected back room, the speech has become a memorable document. +Posterity will assign to it a high rank among historical utterances; and +it will ever bear comparison with the efforts of Washington, Jefferson, +Adams, or any that preceded its delivery from the steps of the national +Capitol. + +After Mr. Lincoln's rise to national prominence, and especially since +his death, I have often been asked if I did not write this or that paper +for him; if I did not prepare or help prepare some of his speeches. I +know that other and abler friends of Lincoln have been asked the same +question.* To people who made such enquiries I always responded, "You +don't understand Mr. Lincoln. No man ever asked less aid then he; his +confidence in his own ability to meet the requirements of every hour +was so marked that his friends never thought of tendering their aid, and +therefore no one could share his responsibilities. I never wrote a line +for him; he never asked me to. I was never conscious of having +exerted any influence over him. He often called out my views on +some philosophical question, simply because I was a fond student of +philosophy, and conceding that I had given the subject more attention +than he; he often asked as to the use of a word or the turn of a +sentence, but if I volunteered to recommend or even suggest a change +of language which involved a change of sentiment I found him the most +inflexible man I have ever seen." + + * "I know it was the general impression in Washington that + I knew all about Lincoln's plans and ideas, but the truth + is, I knew nothing. He never confided to me anything of his + purposes."--David Davis, statement, September 20, 1866. + +One more duty--an act of filial devotion--remained to be done before +Abraham Lincoln could announce his readiness to depart for the city of +Washington--a place from which it was unfortunately decreed he should +never return. In the first week of February he slipped quietly away +from Springfield and rode to Farmington in Coles County, where his aged +step-mother was still living. Here, in the little country village, he +met also the surviving members of the Hanks and Johnston families. He +visited the grave of his father, old Thomas Lincoln, which had been +unmarked and neglected for almost a decade, and left directions that a +suitable stone should be placed there to mark the spot. Retracing his +steps in the direction of Springfield he stopped over-night in the town +of Charleston, where he made a brief address, recalling many of his +boyhood exploits, in the public hall. In the audience were many persons +who had known him first as the stalwart young ox-driver when his +father's family drove into Illinois from southern Indiana. One man had +brought with him a horse which the President-elect, in the earlier days +of his law practice, had recovered for him in a replevin suit; another +one was able to recite from personal recollection the thrilling details +of the famous wrestling match between Lincoln the flat-boatman in 1830 +and Daniel Needham; and all had some reminiscence of his early manhood +to relate. The separation from his step-mother was particularly +touching.* + + * Lincoln's love for his second mother was a most filial and + affectionate one. His letters show that he regarded the + relation truly as that of mother and son. November 4, 1851, + he writes her after the death of his father: + + "Dear Mother: + + "Chapman tells me he wants you to go and live with him. If I + were you I would try it awhile. If you get tired of it (as I + think you will not) you can return to your own home. Chapman + feels very kindly to you; and I have no doubt he will make + your situation very pleasant. + + "Sincerely your son, + + "A. Lincoln." + +On the 9th of the same month he writes his step-brother John D. +Johnston: "If the land can be sold so that I can get three hundred +dollars to put to interest for mother I will not object if she does not. +But before I will make a deed the money must be had, or secured beyond +all doubt at ten per cent." + +The parting, when the good old woman, with tears streaming down her +cheeks, gave him a mother's benediction, expressing the fear that his +life might be taken by his enemies, will never be forgotten by those +who witnessed it. Deeply impressed by this farewell scene Mr. Lincoln +reluctantly withdrew from the circle of warm friends who crowded around +him, and, filled with gloomy forebodings of the future, returned to +Springfield. The great questions of state having been pretty well +settled in his own mind, and a few days yet remaining before his final +departure, his neighbors and old friends called to take leave of him and +pay their "best respects." Many of these callers were from New Salem, +where he had made his start in life, and each one had some pleasant +or amusing incident of earlier days to call up when they met. Hannah +Armstrong, who had "foxed" his trowsers with buckskin in the days when +he served as surveyor under John Calhoun, and whose son Lincoln had +afterwards acquitted in the trial for murder at Beardstown, gave +positive evidence of the interest she took in his continued rise in the +world. + +She bade him good-bye, but was filled with a presentiment that she would +never see him alive again. "Hannah," he said, jovially, "if they do kill +me I shall never die again." Isaac Cogsdale, another New Salem pioneer, +came, and to him Lincoln again admitted his love for the unfortunate +Anne Rutledge. Cogsdale afterwards told me of this interview. It +occurred late in the afternoon. Mr. Nicolay, the secretary, had gone +home, and the throng of visitors had ceased for the day. Lincoln asked +about all the early families of New Salem, calling up the peculiarities +of each as he went over the list. Of the Rutledges he said: "I have +loved the name of Rutledge to this day. I have kept my mind on their +movements ever since." Of Anne he spoke with some feeling: "I loved her +dearly. She was a handsome girl, would have made a good, loving wife; +she was natural, and quite intellectual, though not highly educated. I +did honestly and truly love the girl, and think often of her now." + +Early in February the last item of preparation for the journey to +Washington had been made. Mr. Lincoln had disposed of his household +goods and furniture to a neighbor, had rented his house; and as these +constituted all the property he owned in Illinois there was no further +occasion for concern on that score. In the afternoon of his last day in +Springfield he came down to our office to examine some papers and +confer with me about certain legal matters in which he still felt some +interest. On several previous occasions he had told me he was coming +over to the office "to have a long talk with me," as he expressed it. We +ran over the books and arranged for the completion of all unsettled +and unfinished matters. In some cases he had certain requests to +make--certain lines of procedure he wished me to observe. After these +things were all disposed of he crossed to the opposite side of the room +and threw himself down on the old office sofa, which, after many years +of service, had been moved against the wall for support. He lay for some +moments, his face towards 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?" to which I +returned a vehement, "No, indeed we have not." He then recalled some +incidents of his early practice and took great pleasure in delineating +the ludicrous features of many a lawsuit on the circuit. It was at this +last interview in Springfield that he told me of the efforts that had +been made by other lawyers to supplant me in the partnership with him. +He insisted that such men were weak creatures, who, to use his own +language, "hoped to secure a law practice by hanging to his coat-tail." +I never saw him in a more cheerful mood. He gathered a bundle of books +and papers 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 should remain. "Let it hang +there undisturbed,"* he said, with a significant lowering of his voice. +"Give our clients to understand that the election of a President makes +no change in the firm of Lincoln and Herndon. If I live I'm coming back +some time, and then we'll go right on practising law as if nothing had +ever 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. I accompanied him downstairs. On the way he spoke of the +unpleasant features surrounding the Presidential office. "I am sick of +office-holding already," he complained, "and I shudder when I think of +the tasks that are still ahead." He said the sorrow of parting from his +old associations was deeper than most persons would imagine, but it +was more marked in his case because of the feeling which had become +irrepressible that he would never return alive. I argued against the +thought, characterizing it as an illusory notion not in harmony or +keeping with the popular ideal of a President. "But it is in keeping +with my philosophy," was his quick retort. Our conversation was +frequently broken in upon by the interruptions of passers-by, who, each +in succession, seemed desirous of claiming his attention. At length he +broke away from them all. Grasping my hand warmly and with a fervent +"Good-bye," he disappeared down the street, and never came back to the +office again. On the morning following this last interview, the 11th +day of February, the Presidential party repaired to the railway station, +where the train which was to convey them to Washington awaited the +ceremony of departure. + + * In answer to the many inquiries made of me, I will say + here that during this last interview Mr. Lincoln, for the + first time, brought up the subject of an office under his + administration. He asked me if I desired an appointment at + his hands, and, if so, what I wanted. I answered that I had + no desire for a Federal office, that I was then holding the + office of Bank Commissioner of Illinois under appointment of + Governor Bissel, and that if he would request my retention + in office by Yates, the incoming Governor, I should be + satisfied. He made the necessary recommendation, and + Governor Yates complied. I was present at the meeting + between Yates and Lincoln, and I remember that the former, + when Lincoln urged my claims for retention in office, asked + Lincoln to appoint their mutual friend A. Y. Ellis + postmaster at Springfield. I do not remember whether Lincoln + promised to do so or not, but Ellis was never appointed. + +[Illustration: Springfield Railway Station 228] + +The intention was to stop at many of the principal cities along the +route, and plenty of time had been allotted for the purpose. Mr. Lincoln +had told me that a man named Wood had been recommended to him by Mr. +Seward, and he had been placed in charge of the party as a sort of +general manager. The party, besides the President, his wife, and three +sons, Robert, William, and Thomas, consisted of his brother-in-law, Dr. +W. S. Wallace, David Davis, Norman B. Judd, Elmer E. Ellsworth, Ward +H. Lamon, and the President's two secretaries, John G. Nicolay and John +Hay. Colonel E. V. Sumner and other army gentlemen were also in the car, +and some friends of Mr. Lincoln--among them O. H. Browning, Governor +Yates, and ex-Governor Moore--started with the party from Springfield, +but dropped out at points along the way. The day was a stormy one, with +dense clouds hanging heavily overhead. A goodly throng of Springfield +people had gathered to see the distinguished party safely off. After +the latter had entered the car the people closed about it until the +President appeared on the rear platform. He stood for a moment as if +to suppress evidences of his emotion, and removing his hat made the +following brief but dignified and touching address: * "Friends: No one +who has never been placed in a like position can understand my feelings +at this hour, nor the oppressive sadness I feel at this parting. For +more than a quarter of a century I have lived among you, and during all +that time I have received nothing but kindness at your hands. Here I +have lived from my youth until now I am an old man. Here the most sacred +ties of earth were assumed. Here all my children were born; and here one +of them lies buried. To you, dear friends, I owe all that I have, all +that I am. All the strange, checkered past seems to crowd now upon my +mind. To-day I leave you. I go to assume a task more difficult than that +which devolved upon Washington. Unless the great God who assisted him +shall be with and aid me, I must fail; but if the same omniscient mind +and almighty arm that directed and protected him shall guide and support +me I shall not fail--I shall succeed. Let us all pray that the God of +our fathers may not forsake us now. To him I commend you all. Permit me +to ask that with equal sincerity and faith you will invoke his wisdom +and guidance for me. With these words I must leave you, for how long +I know not. Friends, one and all, I must now bid you an affectionate +farewell." + + * I was not present when Mr. Lincoln delivered his farewell + at the depot in Springfield, and never heard what he said. I + have adopted the version of his speech as published in our + papers. There has been some controversy over the exact + language he used on that occasion, and Mr. Nicolay has + recently published the speech from what he says is the + original MS., partly in his own and partly in the + handwriting of Mr. Lincoln. Substantially, however, it is + like the speech as reproduced here from the Springfield + paper. + +At the conclusion of this neat and appropriate farewell the train rolled +slowly out, and Mr. Lincoln, still standing in the doorway of the rear +car, took his last view of Springfield. The journey had been as well +advertised as it had been carefully planned, and therefore, at every +town along the route, and at every stop, great crowds were gathered to +catch a glimpse of the President-elect.* + +* "Before Mr. Lincoln's election in 1860 I, then a child of eleven +years, was presented with his lithograph. Admiring him with my whole +heart, I thought still his appearance would be much improved should +he cultivate his whiskers. Childish thoughts must have utterance. So I +proposed the idea to him, expressing as well as I was able the esteem +in which he was held among honest men. A few days after I received this +kind and friendly letter? + + "* Springfield, III., October 19, 1860. + + "'Miss Grace Bedell. + + "'My Dear Little Miss:--Your very agreeable letter of the + 15th is received. I regret the necessity of saying I have no + daughter. I have three sons--one seventeen, one nine, and + one seven. They with their mother constitute my whole + family. As to the whiskers, as I have never worn any, do you + not think that people would call it a piece of silly + affectation were I to begin wearing them now? + + "'I am your true friend and sincere well-wisher, + + "'A. Lincoln.' + + "It appears I was not forgotten, for after his election to + the Presidency, while on his journey to Washington, the + train stopped at Westfield, Chautauqua County, at which + place I then resided. Mr. Lincoln said, 'I have a + correspondent in this place, a little girl whose name is + Grace Bedell, and I would like to see her.' I was conveyed + to him; he stepped from the cars, extending his hand and + saying, 'You see I have let these whiskers grow for you, + Grace,' kissed me, shook me cordially by the hand, and was + gone. I was frequently afterward assured of his + remembrance.'" Grace G. Bedell, MS. letter, Dec. 14, 1866. + +Mr. Lincoln usually gratified the wishes of the crowds, who called +him out for a speech whether it was down on the regular programme of +movements or not. In all cases his remarks were well-timed and sensibly +uttered. At Indianapolis, where the Legislature was in session, he +halted for a day and delivered a speech the burden of which was +an answer to the Southern charges of coercion and invasion. From +Indianapolis he moved on to Cincinnati and Columbus, at the last-named +place meeting the Legislature of Ohio. The remainder of the journey +convinced Mr. Lincoln of his strength in the affections of the +people. Many, no doubt, were full of curiosity to see the now famous +rail-splitter, but all were outspoken and earnest in their assurances +of support. At Steubenville, Pittsburg, Cleveland, Buffalo, Albany, +New York, and Philadelphia he made manly and patriotic speeches. These +speeches, plain in language and simple in illustration, made every man +who heard them a stronger friend than ever of the Government. He was +skilful enough to warn the people of the danger ahead and to impress +them with his ability to deal properly with the situation, without in +any case outlining his intended policy or revealing the forces he +held in reserve.* At Pittsburg he advised deliberation and begged the +American people to keep their temper on both sides of the line. +At Cleveland he insisted that "the crisis, as it is called, is an +artificial crisis and has no foundation in fact;" and at Philadelphia he +assured his listeners that under his administration there would be "no +bloodshed unless it was forced upon the Government, and then it would be +compelled to act in self-defence." + + * The following are extracts from Mr. Lincoln's letters + written during the campaign in answer to his position with + reference to the anticipated uprisings in the Southern + States. They are here published for the first time: + + [From a letter to L. Montgomery Bond, Esq., Oct. 15, 1860.] + + "I certainly am in no temper and have no purpose to embitter + the feelings of the South, but whether I am inclined to such + a course as would in fact embitter their feelings you can + better judge by my published speeches than by anything I + would say in a short letter if I were inclined now, as I am + not, to define my position anew." + + [From a letter to Samuel Haycraft, dated, Springfield, Ill., + June 4, 1860.] + + "Like yourself I belonged to the old Whig party from its + origin to its close. I never belonged to the American party + organization, nor ever to a party called a Union party; + though I hope I neither am or ever have been less devoted to + the Union than yourself or any other patriotic man." + + [Private and Confidential.] + + Springfield, Ill., Nov. 13, 1860. + + "Hon. Samuel Haycraft. + + "My Dear Sir:--Yours of the 9th is just received. I can only + answer briefly. Rest fully assured that the good people of + the South who will put themselves in the same temper and + mood towards me which you do will find no cause to complain + of me. + + "Yours very truly, + + "A. Lincoln." + +This last utterance was made in front of Independence Hall, where, a few +moments before, he had unfurled to the breeze a magnificent new flag, an +impressive ceremony performed amid the cheers swelling from the vast sea +of upturned faces before him. From Philadelphia his journey took him to +Harrisburg, where he visited both branches of the Legislature then in +session. For an account of the remainder of this now famous trip I beg +to quote from the admirable narrative of Dr. Holland. Describing the +welcome tendered him by the Legislature at Harrisburg, the latter says: +"At the conclusion of the exercises of the day Mr. Lincoln, who was +known to be very weary, was permitted to pass undisturbed to his +apartments in the Jones House. It was popularly understood that he was +to start for Washington the next morning, and the people of Harrisburg +supposed they had only taken a temporary leave of him. He remained in +his rooms until nearly six o'clock, when he passed into the street, +entered a carriage unobserved in company with Colonel Lamon, and was +driven to a special train on the Pennsylvania railroad in waiting for +him. As a matter of precaution the telegraph wires were cut the moment +he left Harrisburg, so that if his departure should be discovered +intelligence of it could not be communicated at a distance. At half-past +ten the train arrived at Philadelphia, and here Mr. Lincoln was met by +a detective, who had a carriage in readiness in which the party were +driven to the depot of the Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore +railroad. At a quarter past eleven they arrived and very fortunately +found the regular train, which should have left at eleven, delayed. +The party took berths in the sleeping, car, and without change of cars +passed directly through Baltimore to Washington, where Mr. Lincoln +arrived at half-past six o'clock in the morning and found Mr. Washburne +anxiously awaiting him. He was taken into a carriage and in a few +minutes he was talking over his adventures with Senator Seward at +Willard's Hotel." The remaining members of the Presidential party from +whom Mr. Lincoln separated at Harrisburg left that place on the special +train intended for him; and as news of his safe arrival in Washington +had been already telegraphed over the country no attempt was made to +interrupt their safe passage through Baltimore. As is now generally well +known many threats had up to that time been made that Mr. Lincoln, on +his way to Washington, should never pass through Baltimore alive. It was +reported and believed that conspiracies had been formed to attack the +train, blow it up with explosives or in some equally effective way +dispose of the President-elect. Mr. Seward and others were so deeply +impressed with the grave features of the reports afloat that Allan +Pinkerton, the noted detective of Chicago, was employed to investigate +the matter and ferret out the conspiracy, if any existed. This shrewd +operator went to Baltimore, opened an office as a stock-broker, and +through his assistants--the most adroit and serviceable of whom was a +woman--was soon in possession of inside information. The change of plans +and trains at Harrisburg was due to his management and advice. Some +years before his death Mr. Pinkerton furnished me with a large volume +of the written reports of his subordinates and an elaborate account by +himself of the conspiracy and the means he employed to ferret it out. +The narrative, thrilling enough in some particulars, is too extended +for insertion here. It is enough for us to know that the tragedy +was successfully averted and that Mr. Lincoln was safely landed in +Washington. + +In January preceding his departure from Springfield Mr. Lincoln, +becoming somewhat annoyed, not to say alarmed, at the threats emanating +from Baltimore and other portions of the country adjacent to Washington, +that he should not reach the latter place alive, and that even if +successful in reaching the Capitol his inauguration should in some way +be prevented, determined to ascertain for himself what protection would +be given him in case an effort should be made by an individual or a mob +to do him violence. He sent a young military officer in the person of +Thomas Mather, then Adjutant-General of Illinois, to Washington with a +letter to General Scott, in which he recounted the threats he had heard +and ventured to inquire as to the probability of any attempt at his life +being made on the occasion of his inauguration. General Mather, on +his arrival in Washington, found General Scott confined to his room by +illness and unable to see visitors. On Mather calling a second time +and sending in his letter he was invited up to the sick man's chamber. +"Entering the room." related Mather in later years, "I found the old +warrior, grizzly and wrinkled, propped up in the bed by an embankment +of pillows behind his back. His hair and beard were considerably +disordered, the flesh seemed to lay in rolls across his warty face and +neck, and his breathing was not without great labor. In his hand he +still held Lincoln's letter. He was weak from long-continued illness, +and trembled very perceptibly. It was evident that the message from +Lincoln had wrought up the old veteran's feelings. 'General Mather,' he +said to me, in great agitation, 'present my compliments to Mr. Lincoln +when you return to Springfield, and tell him I expect him to come on to +Washington as soon as he is ready. Say to him that I'll look after those +Maryland and Virginia rangers myself; I'll plant cannon at both ends +of Pennsylvania avenue, and if any of them show their heads or raise a +finger I'll blow them to hell.' On my return to Springfield," concludes +Mather, "I hastened to assure Mr. Lincoln that, if Scott were alive on +the day of the inauguration, there need be no alarm lest the performance +be interrupted by any one. I felt certain the hero of Lundy's Lane would +give the matter the care and attention it deserved." + +Having at last reached his destination in safety, Mr. Lincoln spent the +few days preceding his inauguration at Willard's Hotel, receiving an +uninterrupted stream of visitors and friends. In the few unoccupied +moments allotted him, he was carefully revising his inaugural address. +On the morning of the 4th of March he rode from his hotel with Mr. +Buchanan in an open barouche to the Capitol. + +There, slightly pale and nervous, he was introduced to the assembled +multitude by his old friend Edward D. Baker, and in a fervid and +impressive manner delivered his address. At its conclusion the customary +oath was administered by the venerable Chief Justice Taney, and he was +now clothed with all the powers and privileges of Chief Magistrate of +the nation. He accompanied Mr. Buchanan to the White House, and here the +historic bachelor of Lancaster bade him farewell, bespeaking for him a +peaceful, prosperous, and successful administration. + +One who witnessed the impressive scene left the following graphic +description of the inauguration and its principal incidents: "Near noon +I found myself a member of the motley crowd gathered about the side +entrance to Willard's Hotel. Soon an open barouche drove up, and the +only occupant stepped out. A large, heavy, awkward-moving man, far +advanced in years, short and thin gray hair, full face, plentifully +seamed and wrinkled, head curiously inclined to the left shoulder, a +low-crowned, broad-brimmed silk hat, an immense white cravat like a +poultice, thrusting the old-fashioned standing collar up to the ears, +dressed in black throughout, with swallow-tail coat not of the newest +style. It was President Buchanan, calling to take his successor to the +Capitol. In a few minutes he reappeared, with Mr. Lincoln on his arm; +the two took seats side-by-side, and the carriage rolled away, followed +by a rather disorderly and certainly not very imposing procession. I had +ample time to walk to the Capitol, and no difficulty in securing a place +where everything could be seen and heard to the best advantage. The +attendance at the inauguration was, they told me, unusually small, +many being kept away by anticipated disturbance, as it had been +rumored--truly, too--that General Scott himself was fearful of an +outbreak, and had made all possible military preparations to meet the +emergency. A square platform had been built out from the steps to the +eastern portico, with benches for distinguished spectators on three +sides. Douglas, the only one I recognized, sat at the extreme end of the +seat on the right of the narrow passage leading from the steps. There +was no delay, and the gaunt form of the President-elect was soon +visible, slowly making his way to the front. To me, at least, he was +completely metamorphosed--partly by his own fault, and partly through +the efforts of injudicious friends and ambitious tailors. He was raising +(to gratify a very young lady, it is said) a crop of whiskers, of the +blacking-brush variety, coarse, stiff, and ungraceful; and in so doing +spoiled, or at least seriously impaired, a face which, though never +handsome, had in its original state a peculiar power and pathos. On the +present occasion the whiskers were reinforced by brand-new clothes from +top to toe; black dress-coat, instead of the usual frock, black cloth or +satin vest, black pantaloons, and a glossy hat evidently just out of the +box. To cap the climax of novelty, he carried a huge ebony cane, with a +gold head the size of an egg. In these, to him, strange habiliments, +he looked so miserably uncomfortable that I could not help pitying +him. Reaching the platform, his discomfort was visibly increased by not +knowing what to do with hat and cane; and so he stood there, the target +for ten thousand eyes, holding cane in one hand and hat in the other, +the very picture of helpless embarrassment. After some hesitation he +pushed the cane into a corner of the railing, but could not find a place +for the hat except on the floor, where I could see he did not like to +risk it. Douglas, who fully took in the situation, came to rescue of his +old friend and rival, and held the precious hat until the owner needed +it again; a service which, if predicted two years before, would probably +have astonished him. The oath of office was administered by Chief +Justice Taney, whose black robes, attenuated figure, and cadaverous +countenance reminded me of a galvanized corpse. Then the President came +forward, and read his inaugural address in a clear and distinct voice. +It was attentively listened to by all, but the closest listener was +Douglas, who leaned forward as if to catch every word, nodding his head +emphatically at those passages which most pleased him. There was some +applause, not very much nor very enthusiastic. I must not forget to +mention the presence of a Mephistopheles in the person of Senator +Wigfall, of Texas, who stood with folded arms leaning against the +doorway of the Capitol, looking down upon the crowd and the ceremony +with a contemptuous air, which sufficiently indicated his opinion of the +whole performance. To him the Southern Confederacy was already an +accomplished fact. He lived to see it the saddest of fictions." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +Lincoln, the President, did not differ greatly from Lincoln the lawyer +and politician. In the latter capacity only had his old friends in +Illinois known him. For a long time after taking his seat they were +curious to know what change, if any, his exalted station had made in +him. He was no longer amid people who had seen him grow from the village +lawyer to the highest rank in the land, and whose hands he could grasp +in the confidence of a time-tried friendship; but now he was surrounded +by wealth, power, fashion, influence, by adroit politicians and artful +schemers of every sort. In the past his Illinois and particularly his +Springfield friends* had shared the anxiety and responsibility of +every step he had made; but now they were no longer to continue in the +partnership. Many of them wanted no office, but all of them felt great +interest as well as pride in his future. A few attempted to keep up a +correspondence with him, but his answers were tardy and irregular. + + * Lincoln, even after his elevation to the Presidency, + always had an eye out for his friends, as the following + letters will abundantly prove: + + "Executive Mansion, Washington, April 20, 1864. + + "Calvin Truesdale, Esq. + + "Postmaster, Rock Island, Ill.: + + "Thomas J. Pickett, late agent of the Quartermaster's + Department for the Island of Rock Island, has been removed + or suspended from that position on a charge of having sold + timber and stone from the island for his private benefit. + Mr. Pickett is an old acquaintance and friend of mine, and I + will thank you, if you will, to set a day or days and place + on and at which to take testimony on the point. Notify Mr. + Pickett and one J. B. Danforth (who as I understand makes + the charge) to be present with their witnesses. Take the + testimony in writing offered by both sides, and report it in + full to me. Please do this for me. + + "Yours truly, + + "A. Lincoln." + + The man Pickett was formerly the editor of a newspaper in + northern Illinois, and had, to use an expression of later + days, inaugurated in the columns of his paper Lincoln's boom + for the Presidency. When he afterwards fell under suspicion, + no one came to his rescue sooner than the President himself. + + The following letter needs no explanation: + + "Executive Mansion, Washington, August 27, 1862. + + "Hon. Wash. Talcott. + + "My Dear Sir:--I have determined to appoint you collector. I + now have a very special request to make of you, which is, + that you will make no war upon Mr. Washburne, who is also my + friend, and of longer standing than yourself. I will even be + obliged if you can do something for him if occasion + presents. + + "Yours truly, + + "A. Lincoln." + + Mr. Talcott, to whom it was addressed, was furnished a + letter of introduction by the President, as follows: + + "The Secretary of the Treasury and the Commissioner of + Internal Revenue will please see Mr. Talcott, one of the + best men there is, and, if any difference, one they would + like better than they do me. + + "A. Lincoln." + + August 18, 1862. + +Because he did not appoint a goodly portion of his early associates +to comfortable offices, and did not interest himself in the welfare of +everyone whom he had known in Illinois, or met while on the circuit, the +erroneous impression grew that his elevation had turned his head. There +was no foundation for such an unwarranted conclusion. Lincoln had not +changed a particle. He was overrun with duties and weighted down with +cares; his surroundings were different and his friends were new, but +he himself was the same calm, just, and devoted friend as of yore. His +letters were few and brief, but they showed no lack of gratitude or +appreciation, as the following one to me will testify: + +"Executive Mansion, February 3, 1862. + +"Dear William: + +"Yours of January 30th is just received. Do just as you say about the +money matters. As you well know, I have not time enough to write a +letter of respectable length. God bless you, says + +"Your friend, + +"A. Lincoln."* + + * On February 19,1863, I received this despatch from Mr. + Lincoln: + + "Would you accept a job of about a month's duration, at St + Louis, $5 a day and mileage. Answer. + + "A. Lincoln." + +His letters to others were of the same warm and generous tenor, but +yet the foolish notion prevailed that he had learned to disregard the +condition and claims of his Springfield friends. One of the latter who +visited Washington returned somewhat displeased because Mr. Lincoln +failed to inquire after the health and welfare of each one of his old +neighbors. The report spread that he cared nothing for his home or the +friends who had made him what he was. Those who entertained this opinion +of the man forgot that he was not exactly the property of Springfield +and Illinois, but the President of all the States in the Union.* + +In this connection it may not be out of order to refer briefly to the +settlement by Mr. Lincoln of the claims his leading Illinois friends had +on him. As before observed his own election to the Presidency cancelled +Illinois as a factor in the cabinet problem, but in no wise disposed of +the friends whom the public expected and whom he himself intended +should be provided for. Of these latter the oldest and most zealous and +effective was David Davis.** It is not extravagance, taking their +long association together in mind, to say that Davis had done more for +Lincoln than any dozen other friends he had. Of course, after Lincoln +was securely installed in office, the people, especially in Illinois, +awaited his recognition of Davis. What was finally done is minutely told +in a letter by Leonard Swett, which it is proper here to insert: + + * The following letter from a disappointed Illinois friend + will serve to illustrate the perplexities that beset Lincoln + in disposing of the claims of personal friendship. It was + written by a man of no inconsiderable reputation in + Illinois, where he at one time filled a State office: + "Lincoln is a singular man, and I must confess I never knew + him. He has for twenty years past used me as a plaything to + accomplish his own ends; but the moment he was elevated to + his proud position he seems all at once to have entirely + changed his whole nature and become altogether a new being. + He knows no one, and the road to his favor is always open to + his enemies, while the door is hermetically sealed to his + old friends." + + ** "I had done Lincoln many, many favors, had electioneered + for him, spent my money for him, worked and toiled for + him."--David Davis, statement, September 20, 1866. + +"Chicago, Ill., August 29,1887. + +"William H. Herndon. + +"My Dear Sir:--Your inquiry in reference to the circumstances of the +appointment of David Davis as one of the Justices of the Supreme Court +reached me last evening. In reply I beg leave to recall the fact, that +in 1860 the politicians of Illinois were divided into three divisions, +which were represented in the Decatur convention by the votes on the +nomination for Governor. The largest vote was for Norman B. Judd, of +Chicago, his strength in the main being the northern part of the State. +I was next in order of strength, and Richard Yates the third, but +the divisions were not materially unequal. The result was Yates was +nominated, his strength being about Springfield and Jacksonville, +extending to Quincy on the west, and mine was at Bloomington and +vicinity and south and southeast. + +"These divisions were kept up awhile after Mr. Lincoln's election, and +were considered in the distribution of Federal patronage. A vacancy in +the United States Senate occurred early in 1861 by the death of Stephen +A. Douglas, and Governor Yates appointed Oliver H. Browning, of Quincy, +to fill the vacancy. There was also a vacancy upon the Supreme Bench of +the United States to be filled from this general vicinity by Mr. +Lincoln in the early part of his administration, and Judge Davis, +of Bloomington, and Mr. Browning, of Quincy, were aspirants for the +position. Mr. Browning had the advantage that Lincoln was new in his +seat, and Senators were august personages; and, being in the Senate and +a most courteous and able gentleman, Mr. Browning succeeded in securing +nearly all the senatorial strength, and Mr. Lincoln was nearly swept off +his feet by the current of influence. Davis' supporters were the circuit +lawyers mainly in the eastern and central part of the State. These +lawyers were at home, and their presence was not a living force felt +constantly by the President at Washington. + +"I was then living at Bloomington, and met Judge Davis every day. As +months elapsed we used to get word from Washington in reference to the +condition of things; finally, one day the word came that Lincoln had +said, 'I do not know what I may do when the time comes, but there +has never been a day when if I had to act I should not have appointed +Browning.' Judge Davis, General Orme, and myself held a consultation +in my law-office at Bloomington. We decided that the remark was too +Lincolnian to be mistaken and no man but he could have put the situation +so quaintly. We decided also that the appointment was gone, and sat +there glum over the situation. I finally broke the silence, saying +in substance, 'The appointment is gone and I am going to pack my +carpet-sack for Washington.' 'No, you are not,' said Davis. 'Yes, I am,' +was my reply. 'Lincoln is being swept off his feet by the influence of +these Senators, and I will have the luxury of one more talk with him +before he acts.' + +"I did go home, and two days thereafter, in the morning about seven +o'clock--for I knew Mr. Lincoln's habits well--was at the White House +and spent most of the forenoon with him. I tried to impress upon him +that he had been brought into prominence by the Circuit Court lawyers +of the old eighth Circuit, headed by Judge Davis. 'If,' I said. 'Judge +Davis, with his tact and force, had not lived, and all other things +had been as they were, I believe you would not now be sitting where you +are.' He replied gravely, 'Yes, that is so.' 'Now it is a common law +of mankind,' said I, 'that one raised into prominence is expected to +recognize the force that lifts him, or, if from a pinch, the force that +lets him out. The Czar Nicholas was once attacked by an assassin; a +kindly hand warded off the blow and saved his life. The Czar hunted out +the owner of that hand and strewed his pathway with flowers through +life. The Emperor Napoleon III. has hunted out everybody who even tossed +him a biscuit in his prison at Ham and has made him rich. Here is Judge +Davis, whom you know to be in every respect qualified for this position, +and you ought in justice to yourself and public expectation to give him +this place.' We had an earnest pleasant forenoon, and I thought I had +the best of the argument, and I think he thought so too. + +"I left him and went to Willard's Hotel to think over the interview, and +there a new thought struck me. I therefore wrote a letter to Mr. Lincoln +and returned to the White House. Getting in, I read it to him and left +it with him. It was, in substance, that he might think if he gave Davis +this place the latter when he got to Washington would not give him any +peace until he gave me a place equally as good; that I recognized the +fact that he could not give this place to Davis, which would be charged +to the Bloomington faction in our State politics, and then give +me anything I would have and be just to the party there; that this +appointment, if made, should kill 'two birds with one stone;' that I +would accept it as one-half for me and one-half for the Judge; and that +thereafter, if I or any of my friends ever troubled him, he could draw +that letter as a plea in bar on that subject. As I read it Lincoln said, +'If you mean that among friends as it reads I will take it and make the +appointment.' He at once did as he said. + +"He then made a request of the Judge after his appointment in reference +to a clerk in his circuit, and wrote him a notice of the appointment, +which Davis received the same afternoon I returned to Bloomington. + +"Judge Davis was about fifteen years my senior. I had come to his +circuit at the age of twenty-four, and between him and Lincoln I had +grown up leaning in hours of weakness on their own great arms for +support. I was glad of the opportunity to put in the mite of my claims +upon Lincoln and give it to Davis, and have been glad I did it every day +since. + +"An unknown number of people have almost every week since, speaking +perhaps extravagantly, asked me in a quasi-confidential manner, 'How +was it that you and Lincoln were so intimate and he never gave you +anything?' I have generally said, 'It seems to me that is my question, +and so long as I don't complain I do not see why you should.' I may +be pardoned also for saying that I have not considered every man not +holding an office out of place in life. I got my eyes open on this +subject before I got an office, and as in Washington I saw the +Congressman in decline I prayed that my latter end might not be like +his. + +"Yours truly, + +"Leonard Swett." + +Before his departure for Washington, Mr. Lincoln had on several +occasions referred in my presence to the gravity of the national +questions that stared him in the face; yet from what he said I caught no +definite idea of what his intentions were. He told me he would rely upon +me to keep him informed of the situation about home, what his friends +were saying of him, and whether his course was meeting with their +approval. He suggested that I should write him frequently, and that +arrangements would be made with his private secretary, Mr. Nicolay, that +my letters should pass through the latter's hands unopened. This plan +was adhered to, and I have every reason now to believe that all my +letters to Lincoln, although they contained no great secrets of state, +passed unread into his hands. I was what the newspaper men would call +a "frequent contributor." I wrote oftener than he answered, sometimes +remitting him his share of old fees, sometimes dilating on national +affairs, but generally confining myself to local politics and news in +and around Springfield. I remember of writing him two copious letters, +one on the necessity of keeping up the draft, the other admonishing +him to hasten his Proclamation of Emancipation. In the latter I was +especially fervid, assuring, him if he emancipated the slaves, he could +"go down the other side of life filled with the consciousness of duty +well done, and along a pathway blazing with eternal glory." How my +rhetoric or sentiments struck him I never learned, for in the rush of +executive business he never responded to either of the letters. Late in +the summer of 1861, as elsewhere mentioned in these chapters, I made my +first and only visit to Washington while he was President. My mission +was intended to promote the prospects of a brother-in-law, Charles +W. Chatterton, who desired to lay claim to an office in the Bureau +of Indian Affairs. Mr. Lincoln accompanied me to the office of +the Commissioner of Indian Affairs,--William P. Dole of Paris, +Illinois,--told a good story, and made the request which secured the +coveted office--an Indian agency--in an amazingly short time. This +was one of the few favors I asked of Mr. Lincoln, and he granted it +"speedily--without delay; freely--without purchase; and fully--without +denial." I remained in Washington for several days after this, and, +notwithstanding the pressure of business, he made me spend a good +portion of the time at the White House. One thing he could scarcely +cease from referring to was the persistence of the office-seekers. They +slipped in, he said, through the half-opened doors of the Executive +Mansion; they dogged his steps if he walked; they edged their way +through the crowds and thrust their papers in his hands when he rode;* +and, taking it all in all, they well-nigh worried him to death. + + * He said that one day, as he was passing down Pennsylvania + avenue, a man came running after him, hailed him, and thrust + a bundle of papers in his hands. It angered him not a + little, and he pitched the papers back, saying, "I'm not + going to open shop here." + +He said that, if the Government passed through the Rebellion without +dismemberment, there was the strongest danger of its falling a prey +to the rapacity of the office-seeking class. "This human struggle and +scramble for office," were his words, "for a way to live without work, +will finally test the strength of our institutions." A good part of the +day during my stay I would spend with him in his office or waiting-room. +I saw the endless line of callers, and met the scores of dignitaries +one usually meets at the White House, even now; but nothing took place +worthy of special mention here. One day Horace Maynard and Andrew +Johnson, both senators from Tennessee, came in arm-in-arm. They declined +to sit down, but at once set to work to discuss with the President his +recent action in some case in which they were interested. Maynard seemed +very earnest in what he said. "Beware, Mr. President," he said, "and +do not go too fast. There is danger ahead," "I know that," responded +Lincoln, good-naturedly, "but I shall go just so fast and only so fast +as I think I'm right and the people are ready for the step." Hardly +half-a-dozen words followed, when the pair wheeled around and walked +away. The day following I left Washington for home. I separated from Mr. +Lincoln at the White House. He followed me to the rear portico, where I +entered the carriage to ride to the railroad depot. He grasped me warmly +by the hand and bade me a fervent "Good-bye." It was the last time I +ever saw him alive. + +Mrs. Ninian Edwards, who, it will be remembered, was the sister of Mrs. +Lincoln, some time before her death furnished me an account of her visit +to Washington, some of the incidents of which are so characteristic +that I cannot refrain from giving them room here. This lady, without +endeavoring to suppress mention of her sister's many caprices and +eccentricities while mistress of the White House, remarked that, having +been often solicited by the Lincolns to visit them, she and her husband, +in answer to the cordial invitation, at last made the journey to +Washington, "One day while there," she relates, "in order to calm his +mind, to turn his attention away from business and cheer him up, I took +Mr. Lincoln down through the conservatory belonging to the Executive +Mansion, and showed him the world of flowers represented there. He +followed me patiently through. 'How beautiful these flowers are! how +gorgeous these roses! Here are exotics,' I exclaimed, in admiration, +'gathered from the remotest corners of the earth, and grand beyond +description.' A moody silence followed, broken finally by Mr. Lincoln +with this observation: 'Yes, this whole thing looks like spring; but do +you know I have never been in here before. I don't know why it is so, +but I never cared for flowers; I seem to have no taste, natural or +acquired, for such things.' I induced him one day," continued Mrs. +Edwards, "to walk to the Park north of the White House. He hadn't been +there, he said, for a year. On such occasions, when alone or in the +company of a close friend, and released from the restraint of his +official surroundings, he was wont to throw from his shoulders many a +burden. He was a man I loved and respected. He was a good man, an honest +and true one. Much of his seeming disregard, which has been tortured +into ingratitude, was due to his peculiar construction. His habits, like +himself, were odd and wholly irregular. He would move around in a +vague, abstracted way, as if unconscious of his own or any one +else's existence. He had no expressed fondness for anything, and ate +mechanically. I have seen him sit down at the table absorbed in thought, +and never, unless recalled to his senses, would he think of food. But, +however peculiar and secretive he may have seemed, he was anything but +cold. Beneath what the world saw lurked a nature as tender and poetic +as any I ever knew. The death of his son Willie, which occurred in +Washington, made a deep impression on him. It was the first death in +his family, save an infant who died a few days after its birth in +Springfield. On the evening we strolled through the Park he spoke of it +with deep feeling, and he frequently afterward referred to it. When I +announced my intention of leaving Washington he was much affected at the +news of my departure. We were strolling through the White House grounds, +when he begged me with tears in his eyes to remain longer. 'You have +such strong control and such an influence over Mary,' he contended, +'that when troubles come you can console me.' The picture of the man's +despair never faded from my vision. Long after my return to Springfield, +on reverting to the sad separation, my heart ached because I was unable +in my feeble way to lighten his burden." + +In the summer of 1866 I wrote to Mrs. Lincoln, then in Chicago, asking +for a brief account of her own and her husband's life or mode of living +while at the White House. She responded as follows: * + + * From MSS. in Author's possession. + +"375 West Washington Street, Chicago, Ill., August 28, 1866. + +"Hon. Wm. H. Herndon. + +"My Dear Sir:--Owing to Robert's absence from Chicago your last letter +to him was only shown me last evening. The recollection of my beloved +husband's truly affectionate regard for you, and the knowledge of your +great love and reverence for the best man that ever lived, would of +itself cause you to be cherished with the sincerest regard by my sons +and myself. In my overwhelming bereavement those who loved my idolized +husband aside from disinterested motives are very precious to me and +mine. My grief has been so uncontrollable that, in consequence, I have +been obliged to bury myself in solitude, knowing that many whom I would +see could not fully enter into the state of my feelings. I have been +thinking for some time past I would like to see you and have a long +conversation. I wish to know if you will be in Springfield next +Wednesday week, September 4; if so, at ten o'clock in the morning you +will find me at the St. Nicholas Hotel. Please mention this visit to +Springfield to no one. It is a most sacred one, as you may suppose, to +visit the tomb which contains my all in life--my husband. If it will not +be convenient, or if business at the time specified should require your +absence, should you visit Chicago any day this week I will be pleased to +see you. I remain, + +"Very truly, + +"Mary Lincoln." + +I met Mrs. Lincoln at the hotel in Springfield according to appointment. +Our interview was somewhat extended in range, but none the less +interesting. Her statement made at the time now lies before me. "My +husband intended," she said, "when he was through with his Presidential +term, to take me and our boys with him to Europe. After his return from +Europe he intended to cross the Rocky Mountains and go to California, +where the soldiers were to be digging out gold to pay the national debt. +During his last days he and Senator Sumner became great friends, and +were closely attached to each other. They were down the river after +Richmond was taken--were full of joy and gladness at the thought of the +war being over. Up to 1864 Mr. Lincoln wanted to live in Springfield, and +if he died be buried there also; but after that and only a short time +before his death he changed his mind slightly, but never really settled +on any particular place. The last time I remember of his referring to +the matter he said he thought it would be good for himself and me to +spend a year or more travelling. As to his nature, he was the kindest +man, most tender husband, and loving father in the world. He gave us all +unbounded liberty, saying to me always when I asked for anything, +'You know what you want, go and get it,' and never asking if it were +necessary. He was very indulgent to his children. He never neglected +to praise them for any of their good acts. He often said, 'It is my +pleasure that my children are free and happy, and unrestrained by +parental tyranny. Love is the chain whereby to bind a child to its +parents.' + +"My husband placed great reliance on my knowledge of human nature, often +telling me, when about to make some important appointment, that he had +no knowledge of men and their motives. It was his intention to remove +Seward as soon as peace with the South was declared. He greatly disliked +Andrew Johnson. Once the latter, when we were in company, followed +us around not a little. It displeased Mr. Lincoln so much he turned +abruptly and asked, loud enough to be heard by others, 'Why is this man +forever following me?' At another time, when we were down at City Point, +Johnson, still following us, was drunk. Mr. Lincoln in desperation +exclaimed, 'For God's sake don't ask Johnson to dine with us, Sumner, +who was along, joined in the request. Mr. Lincoln was mild in his +manners, but he was a terribly firm man when he set his foot down. None +of us, no man or woman, could rule him after he had once fully made up +his mind. I could always tell when in deciding anything he had reached +the ultimatum. At first he was very cheerful, then he lapsed into +thoughtfulness, bringing his lips together in a firm compression. When +these symptoms developed I fashioned myself accordingly, and so did all +others have to do sooner or later. When we first went to Washington +many thought Mr. Lincoln was weak, but he rose grandly with the +circumstances. I told him once of the assertion I had heard coming from +the friends of Seward, that the latter was the power behind the +throne; that he could rule him. He replied, 'I may not rule myself, +but certainly Seward shall not. The only ruler I have is my +conscience--following God in it--and these men will have to learn that +yet.' + +"Some of the newspaper attacks on him gave him great pain. I sometimes +read them to him, but he would beg me to desist, saying, 'I have enough +to bear now, but yet I care nothing for them. If I'm right I'll live, +and if wrong I'll die anyhow; so let them fight at me unrestrained.' My +playful response would be, 'The way to learn is to hear both sides.' I +once assured him Chase and certain others who were scheming to supplant +him ought to be restrained in their evil designs. 'Do good to them +who hate you,' was his generous answer, 'and turn their ill-will into +friendship.' + +"I often told Mr. Lincoln that God would not let any harm come of +him. We had passed through four long years--terrible and bloody +years--unscathed, and I believed we would be released from all danger. +He gradually grew into that belief himself, and the old gloomy notion +of his unavoidable taking-off was becoming dimmer as time passed away. +Cheerfulness merged into joyfulness. The skies cleared, the end of +the war rose dimly into view when the great blow came and shut him out +forever." + +For a glimpse of Lincoln's habits while a resident of Washington and +an executive officer, there is no better authority than John Hay, who +served as one of his secretaries. In 1866, Mr. Hay, then a member of the +United States Legation in Paris, wrote me an interesting account, +which so faithfully delineates Lincoln in his public home that I cannot +refrain from quoting it entire. Although the letter was written in +answer to a list of questions I asked, and was prepared without any +attempt at arrangement, still it is none the less interesting. "Lincoln +went to bed ordinarily," it begins, "from ten to eleven o'clock, unless +he happened to be kept up by important news, in which case he would +frequently remain at the War Department till one or two. He rose early. +When he lived in the country at the Soldiers' Home he would be up and +dressed, eat his breakfast (which was extremely frugal, an egg, a piece +of toast, coffee, etc.), and ride into Washington, all before eight +o'clock. In the winter, at the White House, he was not quite so early. +He did not sleep well, but spent a good while in bed. 'Tad' usually +slept with him. He would lie around the office until he fell asleep, +and Lincoln would shoulder him and take him off to bed. He pretended +to begin business at ten o'clock in the morning, but in reality the +ante-rooms and halls were full long before that hour--people anxious to +get the first axe ground. He was extremely unmethodical; it was a four +years' struggle on Nicolay's part and mine to get him to adopt some +systematic rules. He would break through every regulation as fast as +it was made. Anything that kept the people themselves away from him +he disapproved, although they nearly annoyed the life out of him by +unreasonable complaints and requests. He wrote very few letters, and did +not read one in fifty that he received. At first we tried to bring +them to his notice, but at last he gave the whole thing over to me, and +signed, without reading them, the letters I wrote in his name. He wrote +perhaps half-a-dozen a week himself--not more. Nicolay received members +of Congress and other visitors who had business with the Executive +office, communicated to the Senate and House the messages of the +President, and exercised a general supervision over the business. I +opened and read the letters, answered them, looked over the newspapers, +supervised the clerks who kept the records, and in Nicolay's absence +did his work also. When the President had any rather delicate matter to +manage at a distance from Washington he rarely wrote, but sent Nicolay +or me. The House remained full of people nearly all day. At noon the +President took a little lunch--a biscuit, a glass of milk in winter, +some fruit or grapes in summer. He dined between five and six, and +we went off to our dinner also. Before dinner was over, members and +Senators would come back and take up the whole evening. Sometimes, +though rarely, he shut himself up and would see no one. Sometimes he +would run away to a lecture, or concert, or theatre for the sake of a +little rest. He was very abstemious--ate less than any man I know. He +drank nothing but water, not from principle but because he did not +like wine or spirits. Once, in rather dark days early in the war, a +temperance committee came to him and said that the reason we did not win +was because our army drank so much whiskey as to bring the curse of +the Lord upon them. He said it was rather unfair on the part of the +aforesaid curse, as the other side drank more and worse whiskey than +ours did. He read very little. He scarcely ever looked into a newspaper +unless I called his attention to an article on some special subject. He +frequently said, 'I know more about it than any of them.' It is absurd +to call him a modest man. No great man was ever modest. It was his +intellectual arrogance and unconscious assumption of superiority that +men like Chase and Sumner never could forgive. I believe that Lincoln is +well understood by the people; but there is a patent-leather, kid-glove +set who know no more of him than an owl does of a comet blazing into his +blinking eyes.* Their estimates of him are in many causes disgraceful +exhibitions of ignorance and prejudice. Their effeminate natures +shrink instinctively from the contact of a great reality like Lincoln's +character. I consider Lincoln's republicanism incarnate--with all its +faults and all its virtues. As, in spite of some rudeness, republicanism +is the sole hope of a sick world, so Lincoln, with all his foibles, is +the greatest character since Christ." + + * Bancroft's eulogy on Lincoln never pleased the latter's + lifelong friends--those who knew him so thoroughly and well. + February 16, 1866, David Davis, who had heard it, wrote me: + "You will see Mr. Bancroft's oration before this reaches + you. It is able, but Mr. Lincoln is in the background. His + analysis of Mr. Lincoln's character is superficial. It did + not please me. How did it satisfy you?" On the 22d he again + wrote: "Mr. Bancroft totally misconceived Mr. Lincoln's + character in applying 'unsteadiness' and confusion to it. + Mr. Lincoln grew more steady and resolute, and his ideas + were never confused. If there were any changes in him after + he got here they were for the better. I thought him always + master of his subject. He was a much more self-possessed man + than I thought. He thought for himself, which is a rare + quality nowadays. How could Bancroft know anything about + Lincoln except as he judged of him as the public do? He + never saw him, and is himself as cold as an icicle. I should + never have selected an old Democratic politician, and that + one from Massachusetts, to deliver an eulogy on Lincoln." + +In 1863 Mr. Lincoln was informed one morning that among the visitors +in the ante-room of the White House was a man who claimed to be his +relative. He walked out and was surprised to find his boyhood friend +and cousin, Dennis Hanks. The latter had come to see his distinguished +relative on a rather strange mission. A number of persons living in +Coles County, in Illinois, offended at the presence and conduct of a +few soldiers who were at home from the war on furlough at the town of +Charleston, had brought about a riot, in which encounter several of the +latter had been killed. Several of the civilian participants who had +acted as leaders in the strife had been arrested and sent to Fort +McHenry or some other place of confinement equally as far from their +homes. The leading lawyers and politicians of central Illinois were +appealed to, but they and all others who had tried their hands had been +signally unsuccessful in their efforts to secure the release of the +prisoners. Meanwhile some one of a sentimental turn had conceived +the idea of sending garrulous old Dennis Hanks to Washington, fondly +believing that his relationship to the President might in this last +extremity be of some avail. The novelty of the project secured its +adoption by the prisoners' friends, and Dennis, arrayed in a suit of +new clothes, set out for the national capital. I have heard him describe +this visit very minutely. How his appearance in Washington and his +mission struck Mr. Lincoln can only be imagined. The President, after +listening to him and learning the purpose of his visit, retired to +an adjoining room and returned with an extremely large roll of papers +labelled, "The Charleston Riot Case," which he carefully untied and +gravely directed his now diplomatic cousin to read. Subsequently, and as +if to continue the joke, he sent him down to confer with the Secretary +of War. He soon returned from the latter's office with the report that +the head of the War Department could not be found; and it was well +enough that he did not meet that abrupt and oftentimes demonstrative +official. In the course of time, however, the latter happened in at the +Executive Mansion, and there, in the presence of Dennis, the President +sought to reopen the now noted Charleston case. Adopting Mr. Hanks' +version, the Secretary, with his characteristic plainness of speech, +referring to the prisoners, declared that "every d-d one of them should +be hung." Even the humane and kindly enquiry of the President, "If these +men should return home and become good citizens, who would be hurt?" +failed to convince the distinguished Secretary that the public good +could be promoted by so doing. The President not feeling willing to +override the judgment of his War Secretary in this instance, further +consideration of the case ceased, and his cousin returned to his home in +Illinois with his mission unaccomplished.* + + * The subsequent history of these riot cases I believe is + that the prisoners were returned to Illinois to be tried in + the State courts there; and that by successive changes of + venue and continuances the cases were finally worn out. + +Dennis retained a rather unfavorable impression of Mr. Stanton, whom he +described as a "frisky little Yankee with a short coat-tail." "I asked +Abe," he said to me once, "why he didn't kick him out. I told him he was +too fresh altogether." + +Lincoln's answer was, "If I did, Dennis, it would be difficult to find +another man to fill his place." The President's cousin * sat in the +office during the endless interviews that take place between the head of +the nation and the latter's loyal subjects. He saw modesty and obscurity +mingling with the arrogance of pride and distinction. One day an +attractive and handsomely dressed woman called to procure the release +from prison of a relative in whom she professed the deepest interest. +She was a good talker, and her winning ways seemed to be making a deep +impression on the President. After listening to her story he wrote a few +lines on a card, enclosing it in an envelope and directing her to take +it to the Secretary of War. Before sealing it he showed it to Dennis. It +read: "This woman, dear Stanton, is a little smarter than she looks to +be." She had, woman-like, evidently overstated her case. Before night +another woman called, more humble in appearance, more plainly clad. +It was the old story. Father and son both in the army, the former in +prison. Could not the latter be discharged from the army and sent home +to help his mother? A few strokes of the pen, a gentle nod of the head, +and the little woman, her eyes filling with tears and expressing a +grateful acknowledgment her tongue could not utter, passed out. + + * During this visit Mr. Lincoln presented Dennis with a + silver watch, which the latter still retains as a memento + alike of the donor and his trip to Washington. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +BEFORE passing to a brief and condensed view of the great panorama of +the war it will interest the reader and no doubt aid him greatly in +drawing the portrait of Lincoln to call up for the purpose two friends +of his, whose testimony is not only vivid and minute, but for certain +reasons unusually appropriate and essential. The two were devoted and +trusted friends of Lincoln; and while neither held office under him, +both were offered and both declined the same. That of itself ought not +to be considered as affecting or strengthening their statements, and +yet we sometimes think that friends who are strong enough to aid us, +and yet, declining our aid, take care of themselves, are brave enough +to tell us the truth. The two friends of Lincoln here referred to are +Joshua F. Speed and Leonard Swett. In quoting them I adhere strictly to +their written statements now in my possession. The former, under date +of December 6, 1866, says: "Mr. Lincoln was so unlike all the men I had +ever known before or seen or known since that there is no one to whom +I can compare him. In all his habits of eating, sleeping, reading, +conversation, and study he was, if I may so express it, regularly +irregular; that is, he had no stated time for eating, no fixed time for +going to bed, none for getting up. No course of reading was chalked out. +He read law, history, philosophy, or poetry; Burns, Byron, Milton, or +Shakespeare and the newspapers, retaining them all about as well as +an ordinary man would any one of them who made only one at a time his +study. I once remarked to him that his mind was a wonder to me; that +impressions were easily made upon it and never effaced. 'No,' said he, +'you are mistaken; I am slow to learn, and slow to forget that which +I have learned. My mind is like a piece of steel--very hard to scratch +anything on it, and almost impossible after you get it there to rub it +out.' I give this as his own illustration of the character of his mental +faculties; it is as good as any I have seen from anyone. + +"The beauty of his character was its entire simplicity. He had no +affectation in anything. True to nature, true to himself, he was true +to everybody and everything around him. When he was ignorant on any +subject, no matter how simple it might make him appear, he was always +willing to acknowledge it. His whole aim in life was to be true to +himself, and being true to himself he could be false to no one. + +"He had no vices, even as a young man. Intense thought with him was the +rule and not, as with most of us, the exception. He often said that he +could think better after breakfast, and better walking than sitting, +lying, or standing. His world-wide reputation for telling anecdotes and +telling them so well was in my judgment necessary to his very existence. +Most men who have been great students, such as he was, in their hours of +idleness have taken to the bottle, to cards or dice. He had no fondness +for any of these. Hence he sought relaxation in anecdotes. So far as +I now remember of his study for composition, it was to make short +sentences and a compact style. Illustrative of this it might be well +to state that he was a great admirer of the style of John C. Calhoun. +I remember reading to him one of Mr. Calhoun's speeches in reply to Mr. +Clay in the Senate, in which Mr. Clay had quoted precedent. Mr. Calhoun +replied (I quote from memory) that 'to legislate upon precedent is but +to make the error of yesterday the law of today.' Lincoln thought that +was a great truth and grandly uttered. + +"Unlike all other men, there was entire harmony between his public and +private life. He must believe he was right, and that he had truth and +justice with him, or he was a weak man; but no man could be stronger if +he thought he was right. + +"His familiar conversations were like his speeches and letters in this: +that while no set speech of his (save the Gettysburg address) will be +considered as entirely artistic and complete, yet, when the gems of +American literature come to be selected, as many will be culled from +Lincoln's speeches as from any American orator. So of his conversation, +and so of his private correspondence; all abound in gems. + +"My own connection or relation with Mr. Lincoln during the war has so +often been commented on, and its extent so often enlarged upon, I +feel impelled to state that during his whole administration he never +requested me to do anything, except in my own State, and never much in +that except to advise him as to what measures and policy would be most +conducive to the growth of a healthy Union sentiment. + +"My own opinion of the history of the Emancipation Proclamation is that +Mr. Lincoln foresaw the necessity for it long before he issued it. +He was anxious to avoid it, and came to it only when he saw that the +measure would subtract from its labor, and add to our army quite a +number of good fighting men. I have heard of the charge of duplicity +against him by certain Western members of Congress. I never believed +the charge, because he has told me from his own lips that the charge +was false. I, who knew him so well, could never after that credit the +report. At first I was opposed to the Proclamation, and so told him. I +remember well our conversation on the subject. He seemed to treat it as +certain that I would recognize the wisdom of the act when I should +see the harvest of good which we would ere long glean from it. In that +conversation he alluded to an incident in his life, long passed, when he +was so much depressed that he almost contemplated suicide. At the time +of his deep depression he said to me that he had 'done nothing to make +any human being remember that he had lived,' and that to connect his +name with the events transpiring in his day and generation, and so +impress himself upon them as to link his name with something that would +redound to the interest of his fellow man, was what he desired to +live for. He reminded me of that conversation, and said with earnest +emphasis, 'I believe that in this measure [meaning his Proclamation] my +fondest hope will be realized.' Over twenty years had passed between the +two conversations. + +"The last interview but one I had with him was about ten days prior to +his last inauguration. Congress was drawing to a close; it had been an +important session; much attention had to be given to the important bills +he was signing; a great war was upon him and the country; visitors were +coming and going to the President with their varying complaints and +grievances from morning till night with almost as much regularity as the +ebb and flow of the tide; and he was worn down in health and spirits. +On this occasion I was sent for, to come and see him. Instructions were +given that when I came I should be admitted. When I entered his office +it was quite full, and many more--among them not a few Senators and +members of Congress--still waiting. As soon as I was fairly inside, the +President remarked that he desired to see me as soon as he was through +giving audiences, and that if I had nothing to do I could take the +papers and amuse myself in that or any other way I saw fit till he +was ready. In the room, when I entered, I observed sitting near the +fireplace, dressed in humble attire, two ladies modestly waiting their +turn. One after another of the visitors came and went, each bent on his +own particular errand, some satisfied and others evidently displeased +at the result of their mission. The hour had arrived to close the door +against all further callers. No one was left in the room now except the +President, the two ladies, and me. With a rather peevish and fretful air +he turned to them and said, 'Well, ladies, what can I do for you?' They +both commenced to speak at once. From what they said he soon learned +that one was the wife and the other the mother of two men imprisoned for +resisting the draft in western Pennsylvania. 'Stop,' said he, 'don't say +any more. Give me your petition.' The old lady responded, 'Mr. Lincoln, +we've got no petition; we couldn't write one and had no money to pay for +writing one, and I thought best to come and see you.' 'Oh,' said he, +'I understand your cases.' He rang his bell and ordered one of the +messengers to tell General Dana to bring him the names of all the men in +prison for resisting the draft in western Pennsylvania. The General +soon came with the list. He enquired if there was any difference in the +charges or degrees of guilt. The General replied that he knew of none. +'Well, then,' said he, 'these fellows have suffered long enough, and I +have thought so for some time, and now that my mind is on the subject I +believe I will turn out the whole flock. So, draw up the order, General, +and I will sign it.' It was done and the General left the room. Turning +to the women he said, 'Now, ladies, you can go.' The younger of the two +ran forward and was in the act of kneeling in thankfulness. 'Get up,' he +said; 'don't kneel to me, but thank God and go.' The old lady now came +forward with tears in her eyes to express her gratitude. 'Good-bye, Mr. +Lincoln,' said she; 'I shall probably never see you again till we meet +in heaven.' These were her exact words. She had the President's hand in +hers, and he was deeply moved. He instantly took her right hand in both +of his and, following her to the door, said, 'I am afraid with all my +troubles I shall never get to the resting-place you speak of; but if +I do I am sure I shall find you. That you wish me to get there is, I +believe, the best wish you could make for me. Good-bye.' + +"We were now alone. I said to him, 'Lincoln, with my knowledge of your +nervous sensibility, it is a wonder that such scenes as this don't kill +you.' He thought for a moment and then answered in a languid voice, +'Yes, you are to a certain degree right. I ought not to undergo what I +so often do. I am very unwell now; my feet and hands of late seem to be +always cold, and I ought perhaps to be in bed; but things of the sort +you have just seen don't hurt me, for, to tell you the truth, that scene +is the only thing to-day that has made me forget my condition or given +me any pleasure. I have, in that order, made two people happy and +alleviated the distress of many a poor soul whom I never expect to see. +That old lady,' he continued, 'was no counterfeit. The mother spoke out +in all the features of her face. It is more than one can often say that +in doing right one has made two people happy in one day. Speed, die when +I may, I want it said of me by those who know me best, that I always +plucked a thistle and planted a flower when I thought a flower would +grow.' What a fitting sentiment! What a glorious recollection!" + +The recollections of Lincoln by Mr. Swett are in the form of a letter +dated January 17, 1866. There is so much of what I know to be true +in it, and it is so graphically told, that although there maybe some +repetition of what has already been touched upon in the preceding +chapters, still I believe that the portrait of Lincoln will be made all +the more lifelike by inserting the letter without abridgment. + +"Chicago, Ill., Jan. 17, 1866. + +"Wm. H. Herndon, Esq. + +"Springfield, Ill. + +"Dear Sir: I received your letter to day, asking me to write you Friday. +Fearing if I delay, you will not get it in time, I will give you such +hasty thoughts as may occur to me to-night. I have mislaid your second +lecture, so that I have not read it at all, and have not read your first +one since about the time it was published. What I shall say, therefore, +will be based upon my own ideas rather than a review of the lecture. + +"Lincoln's whole life was a calculation of the law of forces and +ultimate results. The whole world to him was a question of cause and +effect. He believed the results to which certain causes tended; he did +not believe that those results could be materially hastened or impeded. +His whole political history, especially since the agitation of the +slavery question, has been based upon this theory. He believed from +the first, I think, that the agitation of slavery would produce its +overthrow, and he acted upon the result as though it was present from +the beginning. His tactics were to get himself in the right place and +remain there still, until events would find him in that place. This +course of action led him to say and do things which could not be +understood when considered in reference to the immediate surroundings in +which they were done or said. You will remember, in his campaign +against Douglas in 1858, the first ten lines of the first speech he made +defeated him. The sentiment of the 'house divided against itself' seemed +wholly inappropriate. It was a speech made at the commencement of a +campaign, and apparently made for the campaign. Viewing it in this light +alone, nothing could have been more unfortunate or inappropriate. It was +saying just the wrong thing; yet he saw it was an abstract truth, and +standing by the speech would ultimately find him in the right place. +I was inclined at the time to believe these words were hastily and +inconsiderately uttered, but subsequent facts have convinced me they +were deliberate and had been matured. Judge T. L. Dickey says, that at +Bloomington, at the first Republican Convention in 1856, he uttered the +same sentences in a speech delivered there, and that after the meeting +was over, he (Dickey) called his attention to these remarks. + +"Lincoln justified himself in making them by stating they were true; but +finally, at Dickey's urgent request, he promised that for his sake, or +upon his advice, he would not repeat them. In the summer of 1859, when +he was dining with a party of his intimate friends at Bloomington, the +subject of his Springfield speech was discussed. We all insisted it +was a great mistake, but he justified himself, and finally said, 'Well, +gentlemen, you may think that speech was a mistake, but I never have +believed it was, and you will see the day when you will consider it was +the wisest thing I ever said.' + +"He never believed in political combinations, and consequently, whether +an individual man or class of men supported or opposed him, never made +any difference in his feelings, or his opinions of his own success. If +he was elected, he seemed to believe that no person or class of persons +could ever have defeated him, and if defeated, he believed nothing could +ever have elected him. Hence, when he was a candidate, he never +wanted anything done for him in the line of political combination or +management. He seemed to want to let the whole subject alone, and for +everybody else to do the same. I remember, after the Chicago Convention, +when a great portion of the East were known to be dissatisfied at +his nomination, when fierce conflicts were going on in New York and +Pennsylvania, and when great exertions seemed requisite to harmonize +and mould in concert the action of our friends, Lincoln always seemed +to oppose all efforts made in the direction of uniting the party. I +arranged with Mr. Thurlow Weed after the Chicago Convention to meet +him at Springfield. I was present at the interview, but Lincoln said +nothing. It was proposed that Judge Davis should go to New York and +Pennsylvania to survey the field and see what was necessary to be +done. Lincoln consented, but it was always my opinion that he consented +reluctantly. + +"He saw that the pressure of a campaign was the external force coercing +the party into unity. If it failed to produce that result, he believed +any individual effort would also fail. If the desired result followed, +he considered it attributable to the great cause, and not aided by the +lesser ones. He sat down in his chair in Springfield and made himself +the Mecca to which all politicians made pilgrimages. He told them all a +story, said nothing, and sent them away. All his efforts to procure a +second nomination were in the same direction. I believe he earnestly +desired that nomination. He was much more eager for it than he was for +the first, and yet from the beginning he discouraged all efforts on the +part of his friends to obtain it. From the middle of his first term all +his adversaries were busily at work for themselves. Chase had three or +four secret societies and an immense patronage extending all over the +country. Fremont was constantly at work, yet Lincoln would never do +anything either to hinder them or to help himself. + +"He was considered too conservative, and his adversaries were trying +to outstrip him in satisfying the radical element. I had a conversation +with him upon this subject in October, 1863, and tried to induce him to +recommend in his annual message a constitutional amendment abolishing +slavery. I told him I was not very radical, but I believed the result of +the war would be the extermination of slavery; that Congress would pass +the amendment making the slave free, and that it was proper at that time +to be done. I told him also, if he took that stand, it was an outside +position, and no one could maintain himself upon any measure more +radical, and if he failed to take the position, his rivals would. +Turning to me suddenly he said, 'Is not the question of emancipation +doing well enough now?' I replied it was. 'Well,'said he, 'I have +never done an official act with a view to promote my own personal +aggrandizement, and I don't like to begin now. I can see that +emancipation is coming; whoever can wait for it will see it; whoever +stands in its way will be run over by it.' + +"His rivals were using money profusely; journals and influences were +being subsidized against him. I accidentally learned that a Washington +newspaper, through a purchase of the establishment, was to be turned +against him, and consulted him about taking steps to prevent it. The +only thing I could get him to say was that he would regret to see the +paper turned against him. Whatever was done had to be done without his +knowledge. Mr. Bennett of the _Herald_, with his paper, you know, is a +power. The old gentleman wanted to be noticed by Lincoln, and he wanted +to support him. A friend of his, who was certainly in his secrets, came +to Washington and intimated if Lincoln would invite Bennett to come over +and chat with him, his paper would be all right. Mr. Bennett wanted +nothing, he simply wanted to be noticed. Lincoln in talking about it +said, 'I understand it; Bennett has made a great deal of money, some say +not very properly, now he wants me to make him respectable. I have never +invited Mr. Bryant or Mr. Greeley here; I shall not, therefore, +especially invite Mr. Bennett.' All Lincoln would say was, that he was +receiving everybody, and he should receive Mr. Bennett if he came. + +"Notwithstanding his entire inaction, he never for a moment doubted his +second nomination. One time in his room discussing with him who his real +friends were, he told me, if I would not show it, he would make a list +of how the Senate stood. When he got through, I pointed out some five or +six, and I told him I knew he was mistaken about them. Said he, 'You +may think so, but you keep that until the convention and tell me then +whether I was right.' He was right to a man. He kept a kind of account +book of how things were progressing, for three or four months, and +whenever I would get nervous and think things were going wrong, he would +get out his estimates and show how everything on the great scale of +action, such as the resolutions of legislatures, the instructions +of delegates, and things of that character, were going exactly as +he expected. These facts, with many others of a kindred nature, have +convinced me that he managed his politics upon a plan entirely different +from any other man the country has ever produced. + +"He managed his campaigns by ignoring men and by ignoring all small +causes, but by closely calculating the tendencies of events and the +great forces which were producing logical results. + +"In his conduct of the war he acted upon the theory that but one +thing was necessary, and that was a united North. He had all shades of +sentiments and opinions to deal with, and the consideration was +always presented to his mind, how can I hold these discordant elements +together? + +"It was here that he located his own greatness as a President. One time, +about the middle of the war, I left his house about eleven o'clock at +night, at the Soldiers' Home. We had been discussing the discords in +the country, and particularly the States of Missouri and Kentucky. As we +separated at the door he said, 'I may not have made as great a President +as some other men, but I believe I have kept these discordant elements +together as well as anyone could.' Hence, in dealing with men he was a +trimmer, and such a trimmer the world has never seen. Halifax, who was +great in his day as a trimmer, would blush by the side of Lincoln; yet +Lincoln never trimmed in principles, it was only in his conduct with +men. He used the patronage of his office to feed the hunger of +these various factions. Weed always declared that he kept a regular +account-book of his appointments in New York, dividing his various +favors so as to give each faction more than it could get from any other +source, yet never enough to satisfy its appetite. + +"They all had access to him, they all received favors from him, and they +all complained of ill treatment; but while unsatisfied, they all had +'large expectations,' and saw in him the chance of obtaining more than +from anyone else whom they could be sure of getting in his place. +He used every force to the best possible advantage. He never wasted +anything, and would always give more to his enemies than he would to his +friends; and the reason was, because he never had anything to spare, and +in the close calculation of attaching the factions to him, he counted +upon the abstract affection of his friends as an element to be offset +against some gift with which he must appease his enemies. Hence, there +was always some truth in the charge of his friends that he failed to +reciprocate their devotion with his favors. The reason was, that he had +only just so much to give away--'He always had more horses than oats.' + +"An adhesion of all forces was indispensable to his success and the +success of the country; hence he husbanded his means with the greatest +nicety of calculation. Adhesion was what he wanted; if he got it +gratuitously he never wasted his substance paying for it. + +"His love of the ludicrous was not the least peculiar of his +characteristics. His love of fun made him overlook everything else but +the point of the joke sought after. If he told a good story that was +refined and had a sharp point, he did not like it any the better because +it was refined. If it was outrageously vulgar, he never seemed to see +that part of it, if it had the sharp ring of wit; nothing ever reached +him but the wit. Almost any man that will tell a very vulgar story, has, +in a degree, a vulgar mind; but it was not so with him; with all his +purity of character and exalted morality and sensibility, which no +man can doubt, when hunting for wit he had no ability to discriminate +between the vulgar and the refined substances from which he extracted +it. It was the wit he was after, the pure jewel, and he would pick it +up out of the mud or dirt just as readily as he would from a parlor +table. + +"He had great kindness of heart. His mind was full of tender +sensibilities, and he was extremely humane, yet while these attributes +were fully developed in his character, and, unless intercepted by his +judgment, controlled him, they never did control him contrary to his +judgment. He would strain a point to be kind, but he never strained +it to breaking. Most men of much kindly feeling are controlled by this +sentiment against their judgment, or rather that sentiment beclouds +their judgment. It was never so with him; he would be just as kind and +generous as his judgment would let him be--no more. If he ever deviated +from this rule, it was to save life. He would sometimes, I think, do +things he knew to be impolitic and wrong to save some poor fellow's +neck. I remember one day being in his room when he was sitting at his +table with a large pile of papers before him, and after a pleasant talk +he turned quite abruptly and said, 'Get out of the way, Swett; to-morrow +is butcher-day, and I must go through these papers and see if I cannot +find some excuse to let these poor fellows off.' The pile of papers he +had were the records of courts martial of men who on the following day +were to be shot. He was not examining the records to see whether the +evidence sustained the findings; he was purposely in search of occasions +to evade the law, in favor of life. + +"Some of Lincoln's friends have insisted that he lacked the strong +attributes of personal affection which he ought to have exhibited; but +I think this is a mistake. Lincoln had too much justice to run a great +government for a few favors; and the complaints against him in this +regard, when properly digested, seem to amount to this and no more, that +he would not abuse the privileges of his situation. + +"He was certainly a very poor hater. He never judged men by his like +or dislike for them. If any given act was to be performed, he could +understand that his enemy could do it just as well as anyone. If a man +had maligned him or been guilty of personal ill-treatment, and was the +fittest man for the place, he would give him that place just as soon as +he would give it to a friend. + +"I do not think he ever removed a man because he was his enemy or +because he disliked him. + +"The great secret of his power as an orator, in my judgment, lay in the +clearness and perspicuity of his statements. When Mr. Lincoln had stated +a case it was always more than half argued and the point more than half +won. It is said that some one of the crowned heads of Europe proposed +to marry when he had a wife living. A gentleman, hearing of this +proposition, replied, how could he? 'Oh,' replied his friend, 'he could +marry and then he could get Mr. Gladstone to make an explanation about +it.' This was said to illustrate the convincing power of Mr. Gladstone's +statement. + +"Mr. Lincoln had this power greater than any man I have ever known. The +first impression he generally conveyed was, that he had stated the case +of his adversary better and more forcibly than his opponent could state +it himself. He then answered that statement of facts fairly and fully, +never passing by or skipping over a bad point. + +"When this was done he presented his own case. There was a feeling, +when he argued a case, in the mind of any man who listened to it, that +nothing had been passed over; yet if he could not answer the objections +he argued, in his own mind, and himself arrive at the conclusion to +which he was leading others, he had very little power of argumentation. +The force of his logic was in conveying to the minds of others the +same clear and thorough analysis he had in his own, and if his own mind +failed to be satisfied, he had little power to satisfy anybody else. He +never made a sophistical argument in his life, and never could make one. +I think he was of less real aid in trying a thoroughly bad case than any +man I was ever associated with. If he could not grasp the whole case and +believe in it, he was never inclined to touch it. + +"From the commencement of his life to its close, I have sometimes +doubted whether he ever asked anybody's advice about anything. He would +listen to everybody; he would hear everybody; but he rarely, if ever, +asked for opinions. I never knew him in trying a case to ask the advice +of any lawyer he was associated with. + +"As a politician and as President, he arrived at all his conclusions +from his own reflections, and when his opinion was once formed, he never +doubted but what it was right. + +"One great public mistake of his character, as generally received and +acquiesced in, is that he is considered by the people of this country as +a frank, guileless, and unsophisticated man. There never was a greater +mistake. Beneath a smooth surface of candor and apparent declaration of +all his thoughts and feelings, he exercised the most exalted tact and +the wisest discrimination. He handled and moved men remotely as we do +pieces upon a chess-board. He retained through life all the friends he +ever had, and he made the wrath of his enemies to praise him. This was +not by cunning or intrigue, in the low acceptation of the term, but by +far-seeing reason and discernment. He always told enough only of his +plans and purposes to induce the belief that he had communicated all, +yet he reserved enough to have communicated nothing. He told all that +was unimportant with a gushing frankness, yet no man ever kept his real +purposes closer, or penetrated the future further with his deep designs. + +"You ask me whether he changed his religious opinions towards the +close of his life. I think not. As he became involved in matters of the +greatest importance, full of great responsibility and great doubt, a +feeling of religious reverence, a belief in God and his justice and +overruling power increased with him. He was always full of natural +religion; he believed in God as much as the most approved Church member, +yet he judged of Him by the same system of generalization as he judged +everything else. He had very little faith in ceremonials or forms. In +fact he cared nothing for the form of anything. But his heart was full +of natural and cultivated religion. He believed in the great laws of +truth, and the rigid discharge of duty, his accountability to God, +the ultimate triumph of the right and the overthrow of wrong. If his +religion were to be judged by the lines and rules of Church creeds +he would fall far short of the standard; but if by the higher rule of +purity of conduct, of honesty of motive, of unyielding fidelity to the +right, and acknowledging God as the supreme ruler, then he filled all +the requirements of true devotion, and his whole life was a life of love +to God, and love of his neighbor as of himself. + +"Yours truly, + +"Leonard Swett." + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +The outlines of Mr. Lincoln's Presidential career are alone sufficient +to fill a volume, and his history after he had been sworn into office by +Chief Justice Taney is so much a history of the entire country, and has +been so admirably and thoroughly told by others, that I apprehend I can +omit many of the details and still not impair the portrait I have been +endeavoring to draw in the mind of the reader. The rapid shifting of +scenes in the drama of secession, the disclosure of rebellious plots +and conspiracies, the threats of Southern orators and newspapers, all +culminating in the attack on Fort Sumter, brought the newly installed +President face to face with the stern and grave realities of a civil +war.* + + * "Lincoln then told me of his last interview with Douglas. + 'One day Douglas came rushing in,' he related, 'and said he + had just got a telegraph despatch from some friends in + Illinois urging him to come out and help set things right in + Egypt, and that he would go, or stay in Washington, just + where I thought he could do the most good. I told him to do + as he chose, but that he could probably do best in Illinois. + Upon that he shook hands with me and hurried away to catch + the next train. I never saw him again.'"--Henry C. Whitney, + MS. letter, November 13, 1866. + +Mr. Lincoln's military knowledge had been acquired in the famous +campaign against the Indian Chief Black Hawk on the frontier in 1832, +the thrilling details of which he had already given the country in a +Congressional stump-speech; and to this store of experience he had made +little if any addition. It was therefore generally conceded that in +grappling with the realities of the problem which now confronted both +himself and the country he would be wholly dependent on those who had +made the profession of arms a life-work. Those who held such hastily +conceived notions of Mr. Lincoln were evidently misled by his well-known +and freely advertised Democratic manners. Anybody had a right, it was +supposed, to advise him of his duty; and he was so conscious of his +shortcomings as a military President that the army officers and Cabinet +would run the Government and conduct the war. That was the popular +idea. Little did the press, or people, or politicians then know that +the country lawyer who occupied the executive chair was the most +self-reliant man who ever sat in it, and that when the crisis came his +rivals in the Cabinet, and the people everywhere, would learn that he +and he alone would be master of the situation. + +It is doubtless true that for a long time after his entry into office he +did not assert himself; that is, not realizing the gigantic scale upon +which the war was destined to be fought, he may have permitted the idea +to go forth that being unused to the command of armies he would place +himself entirely in the hands of those who were.* + + * I was in Washington in the Indian service for a few days + before August, 1861, and I merely said to Lincoln one day, + 'Everything is drifting into the war, and I guess you will + have to put me in the army.' He looked up from his work and + said, good-humoredly, 'I'm making generals now. In a few + days I will be making quartermasters, and then I'll fix + you.'"---H. C. Whitney, MS. letter, June 13, 1866. + +The Secretary of State, whose ten years in the Senate had acquainted +him with our relations to foreign powers, may have been lulled into the +innocent belief that the Executive would have no fixed or definite views +on international questions. So also of the other Cabinet officers; but +alas for their fancied security! It was the old story of the sleeping +lion. Old politicians, eying him with some distrust and want of +confidence, prepared themselves to control his administration, not only +as a matter of right, but believing that he would be compelled to rely +upon them for support. A brief experience taught them he was not the man +they bargained for. + +[Illustration: Portraits 285] + +Next in importance to the attack on Fort Sumter, from a military +standpoint, was the battle of Bull Run. How the President viewed it is +best illustrated by an incident furnished by an old friend * who was +an associate of his in the Legislature of Illinois, and who was in +Washington when the engagement took place. + + * Robert L. Wilson, MS., Feb. 10, 1866. + +"The night after the battle," he relates, "accompanied by two Wisconsin +Congressmen, I called at the White House to get the news from Manassas, +as it was then called, having failed in obtaining any information at +Seward's office and elsewhere. Stragglers were coming with all sorts of +wild rumors, but nothing more definite than that there had been a great +engagement; and the bearer of each report had barely escaped with his +life. Messengers bearing despatches to the President and Secretary of +War were constantly arriving, but outsiders could gather nothing worthy +of belief. Having learned that Mr. Lincoln was at the War Department we +started thither, but found the building surrounded by a great crowd, all +as much in the dark as we. Removing a short distance away we sat down to +rest. Presently Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Nicolay, his private secretary, came +along, headed for the White House. It was proposed by my companions that +as I was acquainted with the President I should join him and ask for the +news. I did so, but he said that he had already told more than under the +rules of the War Department he had any right to, and that, although +he could see no harm in it, the Secretary of War had forbidden his +imparting information to persons not in the military service. 'These war +fellows,' he said, complainingly, 'are very strict with me, and I regret +that I am prevented from telling you anything; but I must obey them, +I suppose, until I get the hang of things.' 'But, Mr. President,' I +insisted, 'if you cannot tell me the news, you can at least indicate +its nature, that is, whether good or bad.' The suggestion struck him +favorably. Grasping my arm he leaned over, and placing his face near my +ear, said, in a shrill but subdued voice, 'It's d------d bad.' It was +the first time I had ever heard him use profane language, if indeed it +was profane in that connection; but later, when the painful details of +the fight came in, I realized that, taking into consideration the +time and the circumstances, no other term would have contained a truer +qualification of the word 'bad.'" + +"About one week after the battle of Bull Run," relates another old +friend--Whitney--from Illinois, "I made a call on Mr. Lincoln, having +no business except to give him some presents which the nuns at the Osage +Mission school in Kansas had sent to him through me. A Cabinet meeting +had just adjourned, and I was directed to go at once to his room. He was +keeping at bay a throng of callers, but, noticing me enter, arose +and greeted me with his old-time cordiality. After the room had been +partially cleared of visitors Secretary Seward came in and called up +a case which related to the territory of New Mexico. 'Oh, I see,' said +Lincoln; 'they have neither Governor nor Government. Well, you see Jim +Lane; the secretary is his man, and he must hunt him up,' Seward then +left, under the impression, as I then thought, that Lincoln wanted to +get rid of him and diplomacy at the same time. Several other persons +were announced, but Lincoln notified them all that he was busy and could +not see them. He was playful and sportive as a child, told me all sorts +of anecdotes, dealing largely in stories about Charles James Fox, and +enquired after several odd characters whom we both knew in Illinois. +While thus engaged General James was announced. This officer had sent +in word that he would leave town that evening, and must confer with +the President before going. 'Well, as he is one of the fellows who make +cannons,' observed Lincoln, 'I suppose I must see him. Tell him when I +get through with Whitney I'll see him.' No more cards came up, and James +left about five o'clock, declaring that the President was closeted with +'an old Hoosier from Illinois, and was telling dirty yarns while the +country was quietly going to hell.' But, however indignant General +James may have felt, and whatever the people may have thought, still the +President was full of the war. He got down his maps of the seat of +war," continues Whitney, "and gave me a full history of the preliminary +discussions and steps leading to the battle of Bull Run. He was opposed +to the battle, and explained to General Scott by those very maps how the +enemy could by the aid of the railroad reinforce their army at Manassas +Gap until they had brought every man there, keeping us meanwhile +successfully at bay. 'I showed to General Scott our paucity of railroad +advantages at that point,' said Lincoln, 'and their plenitude, but Scott +was obdurate and would not listen to the possibility of defeat. Now you +see I was right, and Scott knows it, I reckon. My plan was, and still +is, to make a strong feint against Richmond and distract their forces +before attacking Manassas. That problem General McClellan is now trying +to work out.' Mr. Lincoln then told me of the plan he had recommended +to McClellan, which was to send gunboats up one of the rivers--not the +James--in the direction of Richmond, and divert the enemy there while +the main attack was made at Manassas. I took occasion to say that +McClellan was ambitious to be his successor. 'I am perfectly willing,' +he answered, 'if he will only put an end to this war.'"* + + * This interview with Lincoln was written out during the + war, and contains many of his peculiarities of expression. + +The interview of Mr. Whitney with the President on this occasion is +especially noteworthy because the latter unfolded to him his idea of the +general plan formed in his mind to suppress the rebellion movement and +defeat the Southern army. "The President," continues Mr. Whitney, "now +explained to me his theory of the Rebellion by the aid of the maps +before him. Running his long forefinger down the map he stopped at +Virginia. 'We must drive them away from here (Manassas Gap),' he said, +'and clear them out of this part of the State so that they cannot +threaten us here (Washington) and get into Maryland. We must keep up a +good and thorough blockade of their ports. We must march an army into +east Tennessee and liberate the Union sentiment there. Finally we must +rely on the people growing tired and saying to their leaders: 'We have +had enough of this thing, we will bear it no longer.'" + +Such was Mr. Lincoln's plan for heading off the Rebellion in the +summer of 1861. How it enlarged as the war progressed, from a call for +seventy-five thousand volunteers to one for five hundred thousand men +and five hundred millions of dollars, is a matter now of well-known +history. The war once inaugurated, it was plain the North had three +things to do. These were: the opening of the Mississippi River; +the blockade of the Southern ports; and the capture of Richmond. To +accomplish these great and vital ends the deadly machinery of war was +set in motion. The long-expected upheaval had come, and as the torrent +of fire broke forth the people in the agony of despair looking aloft +cried out, "Is our leader equal to the task?" That he was the man for +the hour is now the calm, unbiassed judgment of all mankind. + +The splendid victories early in 1862 in the southwest, which gave the +Union cause great advance toward the entire redemption of Kentucky, +Tennessee, and Missouri from the presence of rebel armies and the +prevalence of rebel influence, were counterbalanced by the dilatory +movements and inactive policy of McClellan, who had been appointed +in November of the preceding year to succeed the venerable Scott. The +forbearance of Lincoln in dealing with McClellan was only in keeping +with his well-known spirit of kindness; but, when the time came and +circumstances warranted it, the soldier-statesman found that the +President not only comprehended the scope of the war, but was determined +to be commander-in-chief of the army and navy himself. When it pleased +him to place McClellan again at the head of affairs, over the protest of +such a wilful and indomitable spirit as Stanton, he displayed elements +of rare leadership and evidence of uncommon capacity. His confidence in +the ability and power of Grant, when the press and many of the people +had turned against the hero of Vicksburg, was but another proof of his +sagacity and sound judgment. + +As the bloody drama of war moves along we come now to the crowning act +in Mr. Lincoln's career--that sublime stroke with which his name will be +forever and indissolubly united--the emancipation of the slaves. In the +minds of many people there had been a crying need for the liberation of +the slaves. Laborious efforts had been made to hasten the issuance by +the President of the Emancipation Proclamation, but he was determined +not to be forced into premature and inoperative measures. Wendell +Phillips abused and held him up to public ridicule from the stump in New +England. Horace Greeley turned the batteries of the New York _Tribune_ +against him; and, in a word, he encountered all the rancor and hostility +of his old friends the Abolitionists. General Fremont having in the fall +of 1861 undertaken by virtue of his authority as a military commander +to emancipate the slaves in his department, the President annulled +the order, which he characterized as unauthorized and premature. This +precipitated an avalanche of fanatical opposition. Individuals and +delegations, many claiming to have been sent by the Lord, visited him +day after day, and urged immediate emancipation. In August, 1862, Horace +Greeley repeated the "prayer of twenty millions of people" protesting +against any further delay. Such was the pressure from the outside. All +his life Mr. Lincoln had been a believer in the doctrine of gradual +emancipation. He advocated it while in Congress in 1848; yet even now, +as a military necessity, he could not believe the time was ripe for the +general liberation of the slaves. All the coercion from without, and all +the blandishments from within, his political household failed to move +him. An heroic figure, indifferent alike to praise and blame, he stood +at the helm and waited. In the shadow of his lofty form the smaller men +could keep up their petty conflicts. Towering thus, he overlooked them +all, and fearlessly abided his time. At last the great moment came. +He called his Cabinet together and read the decree. The deed was done, +unalterably, unhesitatingly, irrevocably, and triumphantly. The people, +at first profoundly impressed, stood aloof, but, seeing the builder +beside the great structure he had so long been rearing, their confidence +was abundantly renewed. It was a glorious work, "sincerely believed +to be an act of justice warranted by the constitution upon military +necessity," and upon it its author "invoked the considerate judgment of +mankind and the gracious favor of Almighty God." I believe Mr. Lincoln +wished to go down in history as the liberator of the black man. He +realized to its fullest extent the responsibility and magnitude of the +act, and declared it was "the central act of his administration and the +great event of the nineteenth century." Always a friend of the negro, +he had from boyhood waged a bitter unrelenting warfare against his +enslavement. He had advocated his cause in the courts, on the stump, in +the Legislature of his State and that of the nation, and, as if to +crown it with a sacrifice, he sealed his devotion to the great cause +of freedom with his blood. As the years roll slowly by, and the +participants in the late war drop gradually out of the ranks of men, +let us pray that we may never forget their deeds of patriotic valor; but +even if the details of that bloody struggle grow dim, as they will with +the lapse of time, let us hope that so long as a friend of free man +and free labor lives the dust of forgetfulness may never settle on the +historic form of Abraham Lincoln. + +As the war progressed, there was of course much criticism of Mr. +Lincoln's policy, and some of his political rivals lost no opportunity +to encourage opposition to his methods. He bore everything meekly and +with sublime patience, but as the discontent appeared to spread he felt +called upon to indicate his course. On more than one occasion he pointed +out the blessings of the Emancipation Proclamation or throttled the +clamorer for immediate peace. In the following letter to James C. +Conkling* of Springfield, Ill., in reply to an invitation to attend a +mass meeting of "Unconditional Union" men to be held at his old home, +he not only disposed of the advocates of compromise, but he evinced the +most admirable skill in dealing with the questions of the day. + + * "Springfield, III., January 11, 1889. + + "Jesse W. Weik, Esq. + + "Dear Sir: + + "I enclose you a copy of the letter dated August 26, 1863, + by Mr. Lincoln to me. It has been carefully compared with + the original and is a correct copy, except that the words + commencing 'I know as fully as one can know' to the words + 'You say you will fight to free negroes' were not included + in the original, but were telegraphed the next day with + instructions to insert. The following short note in Mr. + Lincoln's own handwriting accompanied the letter: + + [Private.] "'War Department, + + "'Washington City, D. C., August 27, 1862. + + "'My Dear Conkling: + + "'I cannot leave here now. Herewith is a letter instead. You + are one of the best public readers. I have but one + suggestion--read it very slowly. And now God bless you, and + all good Union men. + + "'Yours as ever, + + "'A. Lincoln." + +"Mr. Bancroft, the historian, in commenting on this letter, considers it +addressed to me as one who was criticising Mr. Lincoln's policy. On the +contrary, I was directed by a meeting of 'Unconditional Union' men to +invite Mr. Lincoln to attend a mass meeting composed of such men, and he +simply took occasion to address his opponents through the medium of the +letter. + +"Executive Mansion, Washington, August 26, 1863. + +"Hon. James C. Conkling. + +"My Dear Sir: + +"Your letter inviting me to attend a mass meeting of Unconditional Union +men, to be held at the Capitol of Illinois, on the 3d day of September, +has been received. + +"It would be very agreeable to me to thus meet my old friends at my own +home; but I cannot, just now, be absent from here so long as a visit +there would require. + +"The meeting is to be of all those who maintain unconditional devotion +to the Union; and I am sure my old political friends will thank me for +tendering, as I do, the nation's gratitude to those other noble men, +whom no partisan malice, or partisan's hope, can make false to the +nation's life. + +"There are those who are dissatisfied with me. To such I would say: You +desire peace; and you blame me that we do not have it. But how can we +attain it? There are but three conceivable ways. + +"First, to suppress the rebellion by force of arms. This I am trying to +do. Are you for it? If you are, so far we are agreed. If you are not for +it, a second way is, to give up the Union. I am against this. Are +you for it? If you are, you should say so plainly. If you are not for +_force_, nor yet for _dissolution_, there only remains some imaginable +_compromise_. I do not believe any compromise, embracing the maintenance +of the Union, is now possible. All I learn leads to a directly opposite +belief. The strength of the rebellion is its military--its army. That +army dominates all the country and all the people within its range. Any +offer of terms made by any man or men within that range in opposition +to that army is simply nothing for the present, because such man or men +have no power whatever to enforce their side of a compromise, if one +were made with them. To illustrate: suppose refugees from the South, +and peace men of the North, get together in convention and frame and +proclaim a compromise embracing a restoration of the Union; in what +way can that compromise be used to keep Lee's army out of Pennsylvania? +Meade's army can keep Lee's army out of Pennsylvania, and I think can +ultimately drive it out of existence. + +"But no paper compromise, to which the controllers of Lee's army are not +agreed, can at all affect that army. In an effort at such compromise we +should waste time, which the enemy would improve to our disadvantage; +and that would be all. A compromise, to be effective, must be made +either with those who control the rebel army, or with the people first +liberated from the domination of that army by the success of our own +army. Now allow me to assure you that no word or intimation from that +rebel army or from any of the men controlling it, in relation to any +peace compromise, has ever come to my knowledge or belief. + +"All changes and insinuations to the contrary are deceptive and +groundless. And I promise you that, if any such proposition shall +hereafter come, it shall not be rejected and kept a secret from you. I +freely acknowledge myself the servant of the people, according to the +bond of service--the United States Constitution, and that, as such, I am +responsible to them. + +"But to be plain, you are dissatisfied with me about the negro. Quite +likely there is a difference of opinion between you and myself upon that +subject. + +"I certainly wish that all men could be free, while I suppose you do +not. Yet I have neither adopted nor proposed any measure which is +not consistent with even your view, provided you are for the Union. I +suggested compensated emancipation; to which you replied you wished not +to be taxed to buy negroes. But I had not asked you to be taxed to buy +negroes, except in such way as to save you from greater taxation to save +the Union exclusively by other means. + +"You dislike the Emancipation Proclamation, and, perhaps, would have it +retracted. You say it is unconstitutional--I think differently. I think +the constitution invests its Commander-in-chief with the law of war in +time of war. The most that can be said, if so much, is that slaves are +property. Is there--has there ever been--any question that by the law of +war, property, both of enemies and friends, may be taken when needed? + +"And is it not needed wherever taking it helps us or hurts the enemy? +Armies the world over destroy enemies' property when they cannot use +it; and even destroy their own to keep it from the enemy. Civilized +belligerents do all in their power to help themselves or hurt the enemy, +except a few things regarded as barbarous or cruel. + +"Among the exceptions are the massacre of vanquished foes and +non-combatants, male and female. + +"But the proclamation, as law, either is valid or is not valid. + +"If it is not valid, it needs no retraction. If it is valid, it cannot +be retracted any more than the dead can be brought to life. Some of you +profess to think its retraction would operate favorably for the Union. + +"Why _better_ after the retraction than _before_ the issue? + +"There was more than a year and a half of trial to suppress the +rebellion before the proclamation issued, the last one hundred days of +which passed under an explicit notice that it was coming, unless averted +by those in revolt returning to their allegiance. + +"The war has certainly progressed as favorably for us since the issue of +the proclamation as before. + +"I know as fully as one can know the opinion of others that some of +the commanders of our armies in the field who have given us our most +important successes believe the emancipation policy and the use of the +colored troops constituted the heaviest blow yet dealt to the Rebellion, +and that at least one of these important successes could not have +been achieved when it was but for the aid of black soldiers. Among the +commanders holding these views are some who have never had any affinity +with what is called abolitionism or with Republican party policies, but +who held them purely as military opinions. I submit these opinions as +being entitled to some weight against the objections often urged that +emancipation and arming the blacks are unwise as military measures, and +were not adopted as such in good faith. + +"You say you will not fight to free negroes. Some of them seem willing +to fight for you; but no matter. + +"Fight you, then, exclusively to save the Union. I issued the +proclamation on purpose to aid you in saving the Union. Whenever you +shall have conquered all resistance to the Union, if I shall urge you +to continue fighting, it will be an apt time then for you to declare you +will not fight to free negroes. + +"I thought that in your struggle for the Union, to whatever extent the +negroes should cease helping the enemy, to that extent it weakened the +enemy in his resistance to you. Do you think differently? I thought that +whatever negroes can be got to do as soldiers leaves just so much less +for white soldiers to do, in saving the Union. Does it appear otherwise +to you? + +"But negroes, like other people, act upon motives. Why should they do +anything for us, if we will do nothing for them? If they stake their +lives for us, they must be prompted by the strongest motive--even the +promise of freedom. And the promise being made, must be kept. + +"The signs look better. The Father of Waters again goes unvexed to the +sea. Thanks to the great North-west for it. Nor yet wholly to them. +Three hundred miles up they met New England, Empire, Keystone, and +Jersey, hewing their way right and left. The Sunny South too, in more +colors than one, also lent a hand. + +"On the spot, their part of the history was jotted down in black and +white. The job was a great national one; and let none be barred who +bore an honorable part in it. And while those who have cleared the great +river may well be proud, even that is not all. It is hard to say +that anything has been more bravely and well done than at Antietam, +Murfreesboro, Gettysburg, and on many fields of lesser note. Nor must +Uncle Sam's web-feet be forgotten. At all the watery margins they have +been present. Not only on the deep sea, the broad bay, and the rapid +river, but also up the narrow, muddy bayou, and wherever the ground was +a little damp, they have been, and made their tracks, thanks to all. For +the great republic--for the principle it lives by and keeps alive--for +man's vast future--thanks to all. + +"Peace does not appear so distant as it did. I hope it will come soon +and come to stay, and so come as to be worth the keeping in all future +time. It will then have been proved that, among free men, there can be +no successful appeal from the ballot to the bullet; and that they who +take such appeal are sure to lose their case and pay the cost. And then +there will be some black men who can remember that, with silent tongue, +and clenched teeth, and steady eye, and well-poised bayonet, they have +helped mankind on to this great consummation; while I fear there will +be some white ones, unable to forget that, with malignant heart and +deceitful speech, they have strove to hinder it. + +"Still, let us not be over-sanguine of a speedy final triumph. Let us +be quite sober. Let us diligently apply the means, never doubting that a +just God, in his own good time, will give us the rightful result. + +"Yours very truly, + +"A. Lincoln." + + +The summer and fall of 1864 were marked by Lincoln's second Presidential +campaign, he, and Andrew Johnson, of Tennessee, for Vice-President, +having been nominated at Baltimore on the 8th of June. Fremont, who had +been placed in the field by a convention of malcontents at Cleveland, +Ohio, had withdrawn in September, and the contest was left to Lincoln +and General George B. McClellan, the nominee of the Democratic +convention at Chicago. The canvass was a heated and bitter one. +Dissatisfied elements appeared everywhere. The Judge Advocate-General +of the army (Holt) created a sensation by the publication of a report +giving conclusive proof of the existence of an organized secret +association at the North, controlled by prominent men in the +Democratic party, whose objects were the overthrow by revolution of the +administration in the interest of the rebellion.* + + * "Mr. Lincoln was advised, and I also so advised him, that + the various military trials in the Northern and Border + States, where the courts were free and untrammelled, were + unconstitutional and wrong; that they would not and ought + not to be sustained by the Supreme Court; that such + proceedings were dangerous to liberty. He said he was + opposed to hanging; that he did not like to kill his fellow- + man; that if the world had no butchers but himself it would + go bloodless. When Joseph E. McDonald went to Lincoln about + these military trials and asked him not to execute the men + who had been convicted by the military commission in Indiana + he answered that he would not hang them, but added, 'I'll + keep them in prison awhile to keep them from killing the + Government.' I am fully satisfied therefore that Lincoln was + opposed to these military commissions, especially in the + Northern States, where everything was open and free."--David + Davis, statement, September 10, 1866, to W. H. H. + + "I was counsel for Bowles, Milligan, et al.** who had been + convicted of conspiracy by military tribunal in Indiana. + Early in 1865 I went to Washington to confer with the + President, whom I had known, and with whom in earlier days I + had practised law on the circuit in Illinois. My clients had + been sentenced, and unless the President interfered were to + have been executed. Mr. Hendricks, who was then in the + Senate, and who seemed to have little faith in the + probability of executive clemency, accompanied me to the + White House. It was early in the evening, and so many + callers and visitors had preceded us we anticipated a very + brief interview. Much to our surprise we found Mr. Lincoln + in a singularly cheerful and reminiscent mood. He kept us + with him till almost eleven o'clock. He went over the + history of my clients' crime as shown by the papers in the + case, and suggested certain errors and imperfections in the + record. The papers, he explained, would have to be returned + for correction, and that would consume no little time. 'You + may go home, Mr. McDonald,' he said, with a pleased + expression, 'and Ill send for you when the papers get back; + but I apprehend and hope there will be such a jubilee over + yonder,' he added, pointing to the hills of Virginia just + across the river, 'we shall none of us want any more killing + done.' The papers started on their long and circuitous + journey, and sure enough, before they reached Washington + again Mr. Lincoln's prediction of the return of peace had + proved true."--Hon. Joseph E. McDonald, statement, August + 28,1888, to J. W. W. + +Threats were rife of a revolution at the North, especially in New York +City, if Mr. Lincoln were elected. Mr. Lincoln went steadily on in +his own peculiar way. In a preceding chapter Mr. Swett has told us how +indifferent he appeared to be regarding any efforts to be made in his +behalf. He did his duty as President, and rested secure in the belief +that he would be re-elected whatever might be done for or against him. +The importance of retaining Indiana in the column of Republican States +was not to be overlooked. How the President viewed it, and how he +proposed to secure the vote of the State, is shown in the following +letter written to General Sherman: + +"Executive Mansion, + +"Washington, September 19, 1864. + +"Major General Sherman: + +"The State election of Indiana occurs on the 11th of October, and the +loss of it to the friends of the Government would go far towards losing +the whole Union cause. The bad effect upon the November election, and +especially the giving the State government to those who will oppose the +war in every possible way, are too much to risk if it can be avoided. +The draft proceeds, notwithstanding its strong tendency to lose us +the State. Indiana is the only important State voting in October whose +soldiers cannot vote in the field. Anything you can safely do to let her +soldiers or any part of them go home and vote at the State election will +be greatly in point. They need not remain for the Presidential election, +but may return to you at once. This is in no sense an order, but is +merely intended to impress you with the importance to the army itself of +your doing all you safely can, yourself being the judge of what you can +safely do. + +"Yours truly, + +"A. Lincoln." * + + * Unpublished MS. + +The election resulted in an overwhelming victory for Lincoln. He +received a majority of over four hundred thousand in the popular vote--a +larger majority than had ever been received by any other President up to +that time. He carried not only Indiana, but all the New England +States, New York, Pennsylvania, all the Western States, West Virginia, +Tennessee, Louisiana, Arkansas, and the newly admitted State of Nevada. +McClellan carried but three states: New Jersey, Delaware, and +Kentucky. The result, as Grant so aptly expressed it in his telegram of +congratulation, was "a victory worth more to the country than a battle +won." A second time Lincoln stood in front of the great Capitol to take +the oath of office administered by his former rival, Salmon P. Chase, +whom he himself had appointed to succeed the deceased Roger B. Taney. +The problem of the war was now fast working its own solution. The cruel +stain of slavery had been effaced from the national escutcheon, and the +rosy morn of peace began to dawn behind the breaking clouds of the great +storm.* + + * Bearing on the mission of the celebrated Peace Commission + the following bit of inside history is not without interest: + + "I had given notice that at one o'clock on the 31st of + January I would call a vote on the proposed constitutional + amendment abolishing slavery in the United States. The + opposition caught up a report that morning that Peace + Commissioners were on the way to the city or were in the + city. Had this been true I think the proposed amendment + would have failed, as a number who voted for it could easily + have been prevailed upon to vote against it on the ground + that the passage of such a proposition would be offensive to + the commissioners. Accordingly I wrote the President this + note: + + "'House of Representatives, + + "'January 31, 1865. + + "'Dear Sir: + + "'The report is in circulation in the House that Peace + Commissioners are on their way or in the city, and is being + used against us. If it is true, I fear we shall lose the + bill. Please authorize me to contradict it, if it is not + true. + + "'Respectfully, + + "'J. M. Ashley.' + + To the President. + + Almost immediately came the reply, written on the back of my + note: + + "'So far as I know there are no peace Commissioners in the + city or likely to be in it. "'A. Lincoln.' + + January 31, 1865. + + "Mr. Lincoln knew that the commissioners were then on their + way to Fortress Monroe, where he expected to meet them, and + afterwards did meet them. You see how he answered my note + for my purposes, and yet how truly. You know how he + afterwards met the so-called commission, whom he determined + at the time he wrote this note should not come to the city. + One or two gentlemen were present when he wrote the note, to + whom he read it before sending it to me."--J. M. Ashley, M. + C., letter, November 23, 1866, MS. + +Lincoln, firm but kind, in his inaugural address bade his misguided +brethren of the South come back. With a fraternal affection +characteristic of the man, and strictly in keeping with his former +utterances, he asked for the return of peace. "With malice towards none, +with charity for all," he implored his fellow-countrymen, "with firmness +in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us 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 orphans, to do all which may +achieve and cherish a just and a lasting peace among ourselves and with +all nations." With the coming of spring the great armies, awakening from +their long winter's sleep, began preparations for the closing campaign. +Sherman had already made that grandest march of modern times, from the +mountains of Tennessee through Georgia to the sea, while Grant, with +stolid indifference to public criticism and newspaper abuse, was +creeping steadily on through swamp and ravine to Richmond. Thomas +had defeated Hood in Tennessee, sending the latter back with his army +demoralized, cut in pieces, and ruined. The young and daring Sheridan +had driven Early out of the Shenandoah Valley after a series of +brilliant engagements. The "Kearsarge" had sunk the "Alabama" in +foreign waters. Farragut had captured Mobile, and the Union forces held +undisputed possession of the West and the Mississippi Valley from the +lakes to the gulf. Meanwhile Sherman, undaunted by the perils of a +further march through the enemy's country, returning from the sea, +was aiming for Richmond, where Grant, with bull-dog tenacity, held +Lee firmly in his grasp. Erelong, the latter, with his shattered army +reduced to half its original numbers, evacuated Richmond, with Grant in +close pursuit. A few days later the boys in blue overtook those in gray +at Appomattox Court-house, and there, under the warm rays of an April +sun, the life was at last squeezed out of the once proud but now +prostrate Confederacy. "The sun of peace had fairly risen. The incubus +of war that had pressed upon the nation's heart for four long, weary +years was lifted; and the nation sprang to its feet with all possible +demonstrations of joyous exultation." + +Mr. Lincoln himself had gone to the scene of hostilities in Virginia. He +watched the various military manoeuvres and operations, which involved +momentous consequences to the country; he witnessed some of the bloody +engagements participated in by the army of the Potomac. Within a day +after its surrender he followed the victorious Union army into the +city of Richmond. In this unfortunate city--once the proud capital of +Virginia--now smoking and in ruins, he beheld the real horrors of grim +war. Here too he realized in a bountiful measure the earnest gratitude +of the colored people, who everywhere crowded around him and with cries +of intense exultation greeted him as their deliverer. He now returned to +Washington, not like Napoleon fleeing sorrowfully from Waterloo bearing +the tidings of his own defeat, but with joy proclaiming the era of Union +victory and peace among men. "The war was over. The great rebellion +which for four long years had been assailing the nation's life was +quelled. Richmond, the rebel capital, was taken; Lee's army had +surrendered; and the flag of the Union was floating in reassured +supremacy over the whole of the National domain. Friday, the 14th of +April, the anniversary of the surrender of Fort Sumter in 1861 by Major +Anderson to the rebel forces, had been designated by the Government as +the day on which the same officer should again raise the American +flag upon the fort in the presence of an assembled multitude, and with +ceremonies befitting so auspicious an occasion. The whole land rejoiced +at the return of peace and the prospect of renewed prosperity to the +country. President Lincoln shared this common joy, but with a deep +intensity of feeling which no other man in the whole land could ever +know. He saw the full fruition of the great work which had rested so +heavily on his hands and heart for four years past. He saw the great +task--as momentous as had ever fallen to the lot of man--which he had +approached with such unfeigned diffidence, nearly at an end. The agonies +of war had passed away; he had won the imperishable renown which is the +reward of those who save their country; and he could devote himself +now to the welcome task of healing the wounds which war had made, and +consolidating by a wise and magnanimous policy the severed sections of +our common Union. His heart was full of the generous sentiments which +these circumstances were so well calculated to inspire. He was cheerful +and hopeful of the success of his broad plans for the treatment of the +conquered people of the South. With all the warmth of his loving nature, +after the four years of storm through which he had been compelled to +pass, he viewed the peaceful sky on which the opening of his second +term had dawned. His mind was free from forebodings and filled only with +thoughts of kindness and of future peace." But alas for the vanity of +human confidence! The demon of assassination lurked near. In the midst +of the general rejoicing at the return of peace Mr. Lincoln was +stricken down by the assassin, John Wilkes Booth, in Ford's Theatre at +Washington. The story of his death, though oft repeated, is the saddest +and most impressive page in American history. I cannot well forbear +reproducing its painful and tragic details here.* + + * For the details of the assassination and the capture and + subsequent history of the conspirators, I am indebted to + Mrs. Gertrude Garrison, of New York, who has given the + subject no little study and investigation. J. W. W. + +[Illustration: Ford's Theatre 309] + +"Mr. Lincoln for years had a presentiment that he would reach a +high place and then be stricken down in some tragic way. He took no +precautions to keep out of the way of danger. So many threats had been +made against him that his friends were alarmed, and frequently urged +him not to go out unattended. To all their entreaties he had the same +answer: 'If they kill me the next man will be just as bad for them. In +a country like this, where our habits are simple, and must be, +assassination is always possible, and will come if they are determined +upon it.' + +"Whatever premonition of his tragic fate he may have had, there is +nothing to prove that he felt the nearness of the awful hour. Doomed +men rise and go about their daily duties as unoppressed, often, as those +whose paths know no shadow. On that never-to-be-forgotten 14th of April +President Lincoln passed the day in the usual manner. In the morning +his son, Captain Robert Lincoln, breakfasted with him. The young man had +just returned from the capitulation of Lee, and he described in detail +all the circumstances of that momentous episode of the close of the +war, to which the President listened with the closest interest. After +breakfast the President spent an hour with Speaker Colfax, talking +about his future policy, about to be submitted to his Cabinet. At eleven +o'clock he met the Cabinet. General Grant was present. He spent the +afternoon with Governor Oglesby, Senator Yates, and other friends +from Illinois. He was invited by the manager of Ford's theatre, in +Washington, to attend in the evening a performance of the play, 'Our +American Cousin,' with Laura Keene as the leading lady. This play, now +so well known to all play-goers, in which the late Southern afterward +made fortune and fame, was then comparatively unheralded. Lincoln was +fond of the drama. Brought up in a provincial way, in the days when +theatres were unknown outside of the larger cities, the beautiful art of +the actor was fresh and delightful to him. + +"He loved Shakespeare, and never lost an opportunity of seeing his +characters rendered by the masters of dramatic art. But on that evening, +it is said, he was not eager to go. The play was new, consequently not +alluring to him; but he yielded to the wishes of Mrs. Lincoln and went. +They took with them Miss Harris and Major Rathbone, daughter and stepson +of Senator Harris, of New York. + +"The theatre was crowded. At 9: 20 the President and his party entered. +The audience rose and cheered enthusiastically as they passed to the +'state box' reserved for them. Little did anyone present dream that +within the hour enthusiasm would give place to shrieks of horror. It +was ten o'clock when Booth came upon the scene to enact the last +and greatest tragedy of the war. He had planned carefully, but not +correctly. A good horse awaited him at the rear of the theatre, on which +he intended to ride into friendly shelter among the hills of Maryland. +He made his way to the President's box--a double one in the second tier, +at the left of the stage. The separating partition had been removed, and +both boxes thrown into one. + +"Booth entered the theatre nonchalantly, glanced at the stage with +apparent interest, then slowly worked his way around into the outer +passage leading toward the box occupied by the President. At the end +of an inner passage leading to the box door, one of the President's +"messengers" was stationed to prevent unwelcome intrusions. Booth +presented a card to him, stating that Mr. Lincoln had sent for him, and +was permitted to pass. After gaining an entrance and closing the hall +door, he took a piece of board prepared for the occasion, and placed one +end of it in an indentation in the wall, about four feet from the floor, +and the other against the molding of the door panel a few inches higher, +making it impossible for any one to enter from without. The box had two +doors. He bored a gimlet hole in the panel of one, reaming it out with +his knife, so as to leave it a little larger than a buckshot on the +inside, while on the other side it was big enough to give his eye a wide +range. Both doors had spring locks. To secure against their being locked +he had loosened the screws with which the bolts were fastened. + +"So deliberately had he planned that the very seats in the box had been +arranged to suit his purpose by an accomplice, one Spangler, an attache +of the theatre. The President sat in the left-hand corner of the box, +nearest the audience, in an easy arm-chair. Next him, on the right, sat +Mrs. Lincoln. A little distance to the right of both, Miss Harris was +seated, with Major Rathbone at her left, and a little in the rear of +Mrs. Lincoln, who, intent on the play, was leaning forward, with one +hand resting on her husband's knee. The President was leaning upon one +hand, and with the other was toying with a portion of the drapery. His +face was partially turned to the audience, and wore a pleasant smile. + +"The assassin swiftly entered the box through the door at the right, and +the next instant fired. The ball entered just behind the President's +left ear, and, though not producing instantaneous death, completely +obliterated all consciousness. + +"Major Rathbone heard the report, and an instant later saw the murderer, +about six feet from the President, and grappled with him, but his +grasp was shaken off. Booth dropped his pistol and drew a long, thin, +deadly-looking knife, with which he wounded the major. Then, touching +his left hand to the railing of the box, he vaulted over to the stage, +eight or nine feet below. In that descent an unlooked-for and curious +thing happened, which foiled all the plans of the assassin and was the +means of bringing him to bay at last. Lincoln's box was draped with +the American flag, and Booth, in jumping, caught his spur in its folds, +tearing it down and spraining his ankle. He crouched as he fell, falling +upon one knee, but soon straightened himself and stalked theatrically +across the stage, brandishing his knife and shouting the State motto +of Virginia, '_Sic semper tyrannis!_' afterward adding, 'The South is +avenged!' He made his exit on the opposite side of the stage, passing +Miss Keene as he went out. A man named Stewart, a tall lawyer of +Washington, was the only person with presence of mind enough to spring +upon the stage and follow him, and he was too late. + +"It had all been done so quickly and dramatically that many in the +audience were dazed, and could not understand that anything not a part +of the play had happened. When, at last, the awful truth was known +to them there ensued a scene, the like of which was never known in a +theatre before. Women shrieked, sobbed, and fainted. Men cursed and +raved, or were dumb with horror and amazement. Miss Keene stepped to the +front and begged the frightened and dismayed audience to be calm. Then +she entered the President's box with water and stimulants. Medical +aid was summoned and came with flying feet, but came too late. The +murderer's bullet had done its wicked work well. The President +hardly stirred in his chair, and never spoke or showed any signs of +consciousness again. + +[Illustration: The Peterson House 316] + +"They carried him immediately to the house of Mr. Petersen, opposite +the theatre, and there, at 7:22 the next morning, the 15th of April, he +died. + +"The night of Lincoln's assassination was a memorable one in Washington. +Secretary Seward was attacked and wounded while lying in bed with a +broken arm. + +"The murder of the President put the authorities on their guard against +a wide-reaching conspiracy, and threw the public into a state of terror. +The awful event was felt even by those who knew not of it. Horsemen +clattered through the silent streets of Washington, spreading the sad +tidings, and the telegraph wires carried the terrible story everywhere. +The nation awakened from its dream of peace on the 15th of April, 1865, +to learn that its protector, leader, friend, and restorer had been laid +low by a stage-mad 'avenger.' W. O. Stoddard, in his 'Life of Lincoln,' +says: 'It was as if there had been a death in every house throughout +the land. By both North and South alike the awful news was received with +a shudder and a momentary spasm of unbelief. Then followed one of the +most remarkable spectacles in the history of the human race, for there +is nothing else at all like it on record. Bells had tolled before at the +death of a loved ruler, but never did all bells toll so mournfully as +they did that day. Business ceased. Men came together in public meetings +as if by a common impulse, and party lines and sectional hatreds seemed +to be obliterated. + +"The assassination took place on Friday evening, and on the following +Sunday funeral services were held in all the churches in the land, and +every church was draped in mourning." + +The death of Mr. Lincoln was an indescribable shock to his fellow +countrymen. The exultation of victory over the final and successful +triumph of Union arms was suddenly changed to the lamentations of grief. +In every household throughout the length and breadth of the land there +was a dull and bitter agony as the telegraph bore tidings of the awful +deed. The public heart, filled with joy over the news from Appomattox, +now sank low with a sacred terror as the sad tidings from the Capitol +came in. In the great cities of the land all business instantly ceased. +Flags drooped half-mast from every winged messenger of the sea, from +every church spire, and from every public building. Thousands upon +thousands, drawn by a common feeling, crowded around every place of +public resort and listened eagerly to whatever any public speaker +chose to say. Men met in the streets and pressed each other's hands in +silence, and burst into tears. The whole nation, which the previous day +had been jubilant and hopeful, was precipitated into the depths of a +profound and tender woe. It was a memorable spectacle to the world--a +whole nation plunged into heartfelt grief and the deepest sorrow. + +The body of the dead President, having been embalmed, was removed from +the house in which the death occurred to the White House, and there +appropriate funeral services were held. After the transfer of the +remains to the Capitol, where the body was exposed to view in the +Rotunda for a day, preparations were made for the journey to the home +of the deceased in Illinois. On the following day (April 21) the funeral +train left Washington amid the silent grief of the thousands who had +gathered to witness its departure. At all the great cities along the +route stops were made, and an opportunity was given the people to look +on the face of the illustrious dead. The passage of this funeral +train westward through country, village, and city, winding across the +territory of vast States, along a track of more than fifteen hundred +miles, was a pageant without a parallel in the history of the continent +or the world. At every halt in the sombre march vast crowds, such as +never before had collected together, filed past the catafalque for a +glimpse of the dead chieftain's face. Farmers left their farms, workmen +left their shops, societies and soldiers marched in solid columns, and +the great cities poured forth their population in countless masses. From +Washington the funeral train moved to Baltimore, thence to Harrisburg, +Philadelphia, New York, Albany, Buffalo, Cleveland, Columbus, +Indianapolis, Chicago, and at last to Springfield. + +As the funeral cortege passed through New York it was reverently gazed +upon by a mass of humanity impossible to enumerate. No ovation could +be so eloquent as the spectacle of the vast population, hushed and +bareheaded under the bright spring sky, gazing upon his coffin. +Lincoln's own words over the dead at Gettysburg came to many as the +stately car went by: "The world will little note nor long remember what +we say here, but it can never forget what they did here." + +It was remembered, too, that on the 22d of February, 1861, as he raised +the American flag over Independence Hall, in Philadelphia, he spoke of +the sentiment in the Declaration of Independence which gave liberty +not only to this country, but, "I hope," he said, "to the world for all +future time. But if this country cannot be saved without giving up that +principle, I was about to say I would rather be assassinated upon this +spot than surrender it." When he died the veil that hid his greatness +was torn aside, and the country then knew what it had possessed and +lost in him. A New York paper, of April 29, 1865, said: "No one who +personally knew him but will now feel that the deep, furrowed sadness +of his face seemed to forecast his fate. The genial gentleness of his +manner, his homely simplicity, the cheerful humor that never failed, are +now seen to have been but the tender light that played around the rugged +heights of his strong and noble nature. It is small consolation that +he died at the moment of the war when he could best be spared, for no +nation is ever ready for the loss of such a friend. But it is something +to remember that he lived to see the slow day breaking. Like Moses, he +had marched with us through the wilderness. From the height of patriotic +vision he beheld the golden fields of the future waving in peace and +plenty. He beheld, and blessed God, but was not to enter in." + +In a discourse delivered on Lincoln on the 23d of that month, Henry Ward +Beecher said: + +"And now the martyr is moving in triumphal march, mightier than when +alive. The nation rises up at every stage of his coming. Cities and +states are his pall-bearers, and the cannon speaks the hours with solemn +progression. Dead, dead, dead, he yet speaketh. Is Washington dead? Is +Hampden dead? Is any man that was ever fit to live dead? Disenthralled +of flesh, risen to the unobstructed sphere where passion never comes, he +begins his illimitable work. His life is now grafted upon the infinite, +and will be fruitful as no earthly life can be. Pass on, thou that +hast overcome. Ye people, behold the martyr whose blood, as so many +articulate words, pleads for fidelity, for law, for liberty." + +The funeral train reached Springfield on the 3d of May. The casket was +borne to the State House and placed in Representative Hall--the very +chamber in which in 1854 the deceased had pronounced that fearful +invective against the sin of human slavery. The doors were thrown open, +the coffin lid was removed, and we who had known the illustrious dead +in other days, and before the nation lay its claim upon him, moved sadly +through and looked for the last time on the silent, upturned face of our +departed friend. All day long and through the night a stream of people +filed reverently by the catafalque. Some of them were his colleagues +at the bar; some his old friends from New Salem; some crippled soldiers +fresh from the battle-fields of the war; and some were little children +who, scarce realizing the impressiveness of the scene, were destined to +live and tell their children yet to be born the sad story of Lincoln's +death. + +At ten o'clock in the morning of the second day, as a choir of +two-hundred-and-fifty voices sang "Peace, Troubled Soul," the lid of the +casket was shut down forever. The remains were borne outside and placed +in a hearse, which moved at the head of a procession in charge of +General Joseph Hooker to Oak Ridge cemetery. There Bishop Matthew +Simpson delivered an eloquent and impressive funeral oration, and Rev. +Dr. Gurley, of Washington, offered up the closing prayer. While the +choir chanted "Unveil Thy Bosom, Faithful Tomb," the vault door opened +and received to its final rest all that was mortal of Abraham Lincoln. + +"It was soon known that the murder of Lincoln was one result of a +conspiracy which had for its victims Secretary Seward and probably +Vice-President Johnson, Secretary Stanton, General Grant, and perhaps +others. Booth had left a card for Mr. Johnson the day before, possibly +with the intention of killing him. Mr. Seward received wounds, from +which he soon recovered. Grant, who was to have accompanied Lincoln to +the theatre on the night of the assassination, and did not, escaped +unassailed. The general conspiracy was poorly planned and lamely +executed. It involved about twenty-five persons. Mrs. Surratt, David C. +Harold, Lewis Payne, Edward Spangler, Michael O'Loughlin, J. W. +Atzerodt, Samuel Arnold, and Dr. Samuel Mudd, who set Booth's leg, which +was dislocated by the fall from the stage-box, were among the number +captured and tried. + +"After the assassination Booth escaped unmolested from the theatre, +mounted his horse, and rode away, accompanied by Harold, into Maryland. +Cavalrymen scoured the country, and eleven days after the shooting +discovered them in a barn on Garrett's farm, near Port Royal on the +Rappahannock. The soldiers surrounded the barn and demanded a surrender. +After the second demand Harold surrendered, under a shower of curses +from Booth, but Booth refused, declaring that he would never be taken +alive. The captain of the squad then fired the barn. A correspondent +thus describes the scene: + +"'The blaze lit up the recesses of the great barn till every wasp's nest +and cobweb in the roof were luminous, flinging streaks of red and violet +across the tumbled farm gear in the corner. They tinged the beams, the +upright columns, the barricades, where clover and timothy piled high +held toward the hot incendiary their separate straws for the funeral +pile. They bathed the murderer's retreat in a beautiful illumination, +and, while in bold outlines his figure stood revealed, they rose like +an impenetrable wall to guard from sight the hated enemy who lit them. +Behind the blaze, with his eye to a crack, Colonel Conger saw Wilkes +Booth standing upright upon a crutch. At the gleam of fire Booth dropped +his crutch and carbine, and on both hands crept up to the spot to espy +the incendiary and shoot him dead. His eyes were lustrous with fever, +and swelled and rolled in terrible beauty, while his teeth were fixed, +and he wore the expression of one in the calmness before frenzy. In vain +he peered, with vengeance in his look; the blaze that made him visible +concealed his enemy. A second he turned glaring at the fire, as if to +leap upon it and extinguish it, but it had made such headway that he +dismissed the thought. As calmly as upon the battle-field a veteran +stands amidst the hail of ball and shell and plunging iron, Booth turned +and pushed for the door, carbine in poise, and the last resolve of +death, which we name despair, set on his high, bloodless forehead. + +"'Just then Sergeant Boston Corbett fired through a crevice and shot +Booth in the neck. He was carried out of the barn and laid upon the +grass, and there died about four hours afterward. Before his misguided +soul passed into the silence of death he whispered something which +Lieutenant Baker bent down to hear. "Tell mother I die for my country," +he said, faintly. Reviving a moment later he re peated the words, and +added, "I thought I did for the best." + +"His days of hiding and fleeing from his pursuers had left him pale, +haggard, dirty, and unkempt. He had cut off his mustache and cropped his +hair close to his head, and he and Harold both wore the Confederate gray +uniform.' + +"Booth's body was taken to Washington, and a post mortem examination of +it held on board the monitor "Montauk," and on the night of the 27th +of April it was given in charge of two men in a rowboat, who, it is +claimed, disposed of it in secrecy--how, none but themselves know. +Numerous stories have been told of the final resting-place of that hated +dead man. Whoever knows the truth of it tells it not. + +"Sergeant Corbett, who shot Booth, fired without orders. The last +instructions given by Colonel Baker to Colonel Conger and Lieutenant +Baker were: 'Don't shoot Booth, but take him alive.' Corbett was +something of a fanatic, and for a breach of discipline had once been +court-martialled and sentenced to be shot. The order, however, was not +executed, but he had been drummed out of the regiment. He belonged to +Company L of the Sixteenth New York Cavalry. He was English by birth, +but was brought up in this country, and learned the trade of hat +finisher. While living in Boston he Joined the Methodist Episcopal +Church. Never having been baptized, he was at a loss to know what name +to adopt, but after making it a subject of prayer he took the name +of Boston, in honor of the place of his conversion. He was ever +undisciplined and erratic. He is said to be living in Kansas, and draws +a pension from the Government. + +"Five of the conspirators were tried, and four, Payne, Harold, Atzerodt +and Mrs. Surratt, were hanged. Dr. Mudd was sent to the Dry Tortugas for +a period of years, and there did such good work among the yellow-fever +sufferers during an epidemic that he was pardoned and returned to this +country. He died only about two years ago at his home in Maryland, near +Washington. John Surratt fled to Italy, and there entered the Papal +guards. He was discovered by Archbishop Hughes, and by the courtesy of +the Italian government, though the extradition laws did not cover his +case, was delivered over to the United States for trial. At his first +trial the jury hung; at the second, in which Edwards Pierrepont was +the Government counsel, Surratt got off on the plea of limitations. He +undertook to lecture, and began at Rockville, Md. The Evening Star, of +Washington, reported the lecture, which was widely copied, and was of +such a feeble character that it killed him as a lecturer. He went +to Baltimore, where, it is said, he still lives. Spangler, the +scene-shifter, who was an accomplice of Booth, was sent to the Dry +Tortugas, served out his term and died about ten years ago. McLoughlin, +who was arrested because of his acquaintance with the conspirators, was +sent to the Dry Tortugas and there died. + +"Ford's Theatre was never played in after that memorable night. Ten +or twelve days after the assassination Ford attempted to open it, +but Stanton prevented it, and the Government bought the theatre for +$100,000, and converted it into a medical museum. Ford was a Southern +sympathizer. He ran two theatres until four years ago, one in Washington +and one in Baltimore. Alison Naylor, the livery man who let Booth have +his horse, still lives in Washington. Major Rathbone, who was in the box +with Lincoln when he was shot, died within the last four years. Stewart, +the man who jumped on the stage to follow Booth, and announced to the +audience that he had escaped through the alley, died lately. Strange, +but very few persons can now be found who were at the theatre that +night. Laura Keene died a few years ago. + +Booth the assassin was the third son of the eminent English tragedian +Junius Brutus Booth, and the brother of the equally renowned Edwin +Booth. He was only twenty-six years old when he figured as the chief +actor in this horrible drama. He began his dramatic career as John +Wilkes, and as a stock actor gained a fair reputation, but had not +achieved any special success. He had played chiefly in the South +and West, and but a few times in New York. Some time before the +assassination of Lincoln he had abandoned his profession on account of a +bronchial affection. Those who knew him and saw him on that fatal Friday +say that he was restless, like one who, consciously or unconsciously, +was overshadowed by some awful fate. + +He knew that the President and his party intended to be present at +Ford's theatre in the evening, and he asked an acquaintance if he should +attend the performance, remarking that if he did he would see some +unusually fine acting. He was a handsome man. His eyes were large and +dark, his hair dark and inclined to curl, his features finely moulded, +his form tall, and his address pleasing. + +Frederick Stone, counsel for Harold after Booth's death, is authority +for the statement that the occasion for Lincoln's assassination was +the sentiment expressed by the President in a speech delivered from the +steps of the White House on the night of April 11, when he said: "If +universal amnesty is granted to the insurgents I cannot see how I can +avoid exacting in return universal suffrage, or at least suffrage on the +basis of intelligence and military service." Booth was standing +before Mr. Lincoln on the outskirts of the crowd. "That means nigger +citizenship," he said to Harold by his side. "Now, by God! I'll put +him through." But whatever may have been the incentive, Booth seemed to +crave the reprehensible fame that attaches to a bold and dramatically +wicked deed. He may, it is true, have been mentally unhinged, but, +whether sane or senseless, he made for himself an infamous and endless +notoriety when he murdered the patient, forbearing man who had +directed our ship of state through the most tempestuous waters it ever +encountered. + +In the death of Lincoln the South, prostrate and bleeding, lost a +friend; and his unholy taking-off at the very hour of the assured +supremacy of the Union cause ran the iron into the heart of the North. +His sun went down suddenly, and whelmed the country in a darkness which +was felt by every heart; but far up the clouds sprang apart, and soon +the golden light, flooding the heavens with radiance, illuminated every +uncovered brow with the hope of a fair to-morrow. His name will ever be +the watchword of liberty. His work is finished, and sealed forever with +the veneration given to the blood of martyrs. Yesterday a man reviled +and abused, a target for the shafts of malice and hatred: to-day an +apostle. Yesterday a power: to-day a prestige, sacred, irresistible. The +life and the tragic death of Mr. Lincoln mark an epoch in history from +which dates the unqualified annunciation by the American people of the +greatest truth in the bible of republicanism--the very keystone of that +arch of human rights which is destined to overshadow and remodel every +government upon the earth. The glorious brightness of that upper world, +as it welcomed his faint and bleeding spirit, broke through upon the +earth at his exit--it was the dawn of a day growing brighter as the +grand army of freedom follows in the march of time. + +Lincoln's place in history will be fixed--aside from his personal +characteristics--by the events and results of the war. As a great +political leader who quelled a rebellion of eight millions of people, +liberated four millions of slaves, and demonstrated to the world +the ability of the people to maintain a government of themselves, by +themselves, for themselves, he will assuredly occupy no insignificant +place. + +To accomplish the great work of preserving the Union cost the land +a great price. Generations of Americans yet unborn, and humanity +everywhere, for years to come will mourn the horrors and sacrifices of +the first civil war in the United States; but above the blood of its +victims, above the bones of its dead, above the ashes of desolate +hearths, will arise the colossal figure of Abraham Lincoln as the most +acceptable sacrifice offered by the nineteenth century in expiation of +the great crime of the seventeenth. Above all the anguish and tears of +that immense hecatomb will appear the shade of Lincoln as the symbol of +hope and of pardon. + +This is the true lesson of Lincoln's life: real and enduring greatness, +that will survive the corrosion and abrasion of time, of change, and +of progress, must rest upon character. In certain brilliant and what +is understood to be most desirable endowments how many Americans have +surpassed him. Yet how he looms above them all! Not eloquence, nor +logic, nor grasp of thought; not statesmanship, nor power of command, +nor courage; not any nor all of these have made him what he is, but +these, in the degree in which he possessed them, conjoined to those +qualities comprised in the term character, have given him his fame--have +made him for all time to come the great American, the grand, central +figure in American--perhaps the world's--history. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + The substance of this chapter I delivered in the form of a + lecture to a Springfield audience in 1866. W. H. H. + +SOON after the death of Mr. Lincoln Dr. J. G. Holland came out to +Illinois from his home in Massachusetts to gather up materials for a +life of the dead President. The gentleman spent several days with me, +and I gave him all the assistance that lay in my power. I was much +pleased with him, and awaited with not a little interest the appearance +of his book. I felt sure that even after my long and intimate +acquaintance with Mr. Lincoln I never fully knew and understood him, +and I therefore wondered what sort of a description Dr. Holland, after +interviewing Lincoln's old-time friends, would make of his individual +characteristics. When the book appeared he said this: "The writer +has conversed with multitudes of men who claimed to know Mr. Lincoln +intimately: yet there are not two of the whole number who agree in their +estimate of him. The fact was that he rarely showed more than one aspect +of himself to one man. He opened himself to men in different directions. +To illustrate the effect of the peculiarity of Mr. Lincoln's intercourse +with men it may be said that men who knew him through all his +professional and political life offered opinions as diametrically +opposite to these, viz.: that he was a very ambitious man, and that he +was without a particle of ambition; that he was one of the saddest +men that ever lived, and that he was one of the jolliest men that ever +lived; that he was very religious, but that he was not a Christian; that +he was a Christian, but did not know it; that he was so far from being +a religious man or a Christian that 'the less said upon that subject the +better;' that he was the most cunning man in America, and that he had +not a particle of cunning in him; that he had the strongest personal +attachments, and that he had no personal attachments at all--only a +general good feeling towards everybody; that he was a man of indomitable +will, and that he was a man almost without a will; that he was a tyrant, +and that he was the softest-hearted, most brotherly man that ever lived; +that he was remarkable for his pure-mindedness, and that he was the +foulest in his jests and stories of any man in the country; that he was +a witty man, and that he was only a retailer of the wit of others; that +his apparent candor and fairness were only apparent, and that they were +as real as his head and his hands; that he was a boor, and that he was +in all respects a gentleman; that he was a leader of the people, and +that he was always led by the people; that he was cool and impassive, +and that he was susceptible of the strongest passions. It is only by +tracing these separate streams of impression back to their fountain that +we are able to arrive at anything like a competent comprehension of the +man, or to learn why he came to be held in such various estimation. Men +caught only separate aspects of his character--only the fragments that +were called into exhibition by their own qualities." + +Dr. Holland had only found what Lincoln's friends had always experienced +in their relations with him--that he was a man of many moods and many +sides. He never revealed himself entirely to any one man, and therefore +he will always to a certain extent remain enveloped in doubt. Even those +who were with him through long years of hard study and under constantly +varying circumstances can hardly say they knew him through and through. +I always believed I could read him as thoroughly as any man, and yet he +was so different in many respects from any other one I ever met before +or since his time that I cannot say I comprehended him. In this chapter +I give my recollection of his individual characteristics as they occur +to me, and allow the world to form its own opinion. If my recollection +of the man destroys any other person's ideal, I cannot help it. By a +faithful and lifelike description of Lincoln the man, and a study of +his peculiar and personal traits, perhaps some of the apparent +contradictions met with by Dr. Holland will have melted from sight. + +Mr. Lincoln was six feet four inches high, and when he left the city of +his home for Washington was fifty-one years old, having good health +and no gray hairs, or but few, on his head. He was thin, wiry, sinewy, +raw-boned; thin through the breast to the back, and narrow across +the shoulders; standing he leaned forward--was what may be called +stoop-shouldered, inclining to the consumptive by build. His usual +weight was one hundred and eighty pounds. His organization--rather his +structure and functions--worked slowly. + +His blood had to run a long distance from his heart to the extremities +of his frame, and his nerve force had to travel through dry ground +a long distance before his muscles were obedient to his will. His +structure was loose and leathery; his body was shrunk and shrivelled; he +had dark skin, dark hair, and looked woe-struck. The whole man, body and +mind, worked slowly, as if it needed oiling. Physically he was a very +powerful man, lifting with ease four hundred, and in one case six +hundred, pounds. His mind was like his body, and worked slowly but +strongly. Hence there was very little bodily or mental wear and tear in +him. This peculiarity in his construction gave him great advantage +over other men in public life. No man in America--scarcely a man in +the world--could have stood what Lincoln did in Washington and survived +through more than one term of the Presidency. + +When he walked he moved cautiously but firmly; his long arms and giant +hands swung down by his side. He walked with even tread, the inner +sides of his feet being parallel. He put the whole foot flat down on the +ground at once, not landing on the heel; he likewise lifted his foot +all at once, not rising from the toe, and hence he had no spring to his +walk. His walk was undulatory--catching and pocketing tire, weariness, +and pain, all up and down his person, and thus preventing them from +locating. The first impression of a stranger, or a man who did not +observe closely, was that his walk implied shrewdness and cunning--that +he was a tricky man; but, in reality, it was the walk of caution and +firmness. In sitting down on a common chair he was no taller than +ordinary men. His legs and arms were abnormally, unnaturally long, and +in undue proportion to the remainder of his body. It was only when he +stood up that he loomed above other men. + +Mr. Lincoln's head was long, and tall from the base of the brain and +from the eyebrows. His head ran backwards, his forehead rising as it ran +back at a low angle, like Clay's, and unlike Webster's, which was almost +perpendicular. The size of his hat measured at the hatter's block was +seven and one-eighth, his head being, from ear to ear, six and one-half +inches, and from the front to the back of the brain eight inches. Thus +measured it was not below the medium size. His forehead was narrow +but high; his hair was dark, almost black, and lay floating where his +fingers or the winds left it, piled up at random. His cheek-bones were +high, sharp, and prominent; his jaws were long and up-curved; his nose +was large, long, blunt, and a little awry towards the right eye; his +chin was sharp and upcurved; his eyebrows cropped out like a huge rock +on the brow of a hill; his long, sallow face was wrinkled and dry, with +a hair here and there on the surface; his cheeks were leathery; his ears +were large, and ran out almost at right angles from his head, caused +partly by heavy hats and partly by nature; his lower lip was thick, +hanging, and undercurved, while his chin reached for the lip upcurved; +his neck was neat and trim, his head being well balanced on it; there +was the lone mole on the right cheek, and Adam's apple on his throat. + +Thus stood, walked, acted, and looked Abraham Lincoln. He was not a +pretty man by any means, nor was he an ugly one; he was a homely man, +careless of his looks, plain-looking and plain-acting. He had no pomp, +display, or dignity, so-called. He appeared simple in his carriage and +bearing. He was a sad-looking man; his melancholy dripped from him as he +walked. His apparent gloom impressed his friends,* and created sympathy +for him--one means of his great success. + + * Lincoln's melancholy never failed to impress any man who + ever saw or knew him. The perpetual look of sadness was his + most prominent feature. The cause of this peculiar condition + was a matter of frequent discussion among his friends. John + T. Stuart said it was due to his abnormal digestion. His + liver failed to work properly--did not secrete bile--and his + bowels were equally as inactive. "I used to advise him to + take blue-mass pills," related Stuart, "and he did take them + before he went to Washington, and for five months while he + was President, but when I came on to Congress he told me he + had ceased, using them because they made him cross." The + reader can hardly realize the extent of this peculiar + tendency to gloom. One of Lincoln's colleagues in the + Legislature of Illinois is authority for the statement + coming from Lincoln himself that this "mental depression + became so intense at times he never dared carry a pocket + knife." Two things greatly intensified his characteristic + sadness: one was the endless succession of troubles in his + domestic life, which he had to bear in silence; and the + other was unquestionably the knowledge of his own obscure + and lowly origin. The recollection of these things burned a + deep impress on his sensitive soul. + + As to the cause of this morbid condition my idea has always + been that it was occult, and could not be explained by any + course of observation and reasoning. It was ingrained, and, + being ingrained, could not be reduced to rule, or the cause + arrayed. It was necessarily hereditary, but whether it came + down from a long line of ancestors and far back, or was + simply the reproduction of the saddened life of Nancy Hanks, + cannot well be determined. At any rate it was part of his + nature, and could no more be shaken off than he could part + with his brains. + +He was gloomy, abstracted, and joyous--rather humorous--by turns; but I +do not think he knew what real joy was for many years. + +Mr. Lincoln sometimes walked our streets cheerily, he was not always +gloomy, and then it was that on meeting a friend he greeted him with +plain "Howd'y?" clasping his hand in both of his own, and gave him a +hearty soul-welcome. On a winter's morning he might be seen stalking +towards the market-house, basket on arm, his old gray shawl wrapped +around his neck, his little boy Willie or Tad running along at his +heels asking a thousand boyish questions, which his father, in deep +abstraction, neither heeded nor heard.* + + * "I lived next door to the Lincolns for many years, knew + the family well. Mr. Lincoln used to come to our house, his + feet encased in a pair of loose slippers, and with an old, + faded pair of trousers fastened with one suspender. He + frequently came to our house for milk. Our rooms were low, + and he said one day,'Jim, you'll have to lift your loft a + little higher; I can't straighten out under it very well.' + To my wife, who was short of stature, he used to say that + little people had some advantages: they required less 'wood + and wool to make them comfortable.' In his yard Lincoln had + but little shrubbery. He once planted some rose bushes, to + which he called my attention, but soon neglected them + altogether. He never planted any vines or fruit trees, + seemed to have no fondness for such things. At one time, + yielding to my suggestion, he undertook to keep a garden in + the rear part of his yard, but one season's experience + sufficed to cure him of all desire for another. He kept his + own horse, fed and curried it when at home; he also fed and + milked his own cow, and sawed his own wood. Mr. Lincoln and + his wife agreed moderately well. Frequently Mrs. Lincoln's + temper would get the better of her. If she became furious, + as she often did, her husband tried to pay no attention to + her. He would sometimes laugh at her, but generally he would + pick up one of the children and walk off. I have heard her + say that if Mr. Lincoln had remained at home more she could + have loved him better. One day while Mr. Lincoln was absent-- + he had gone to Chicago to try a suit in the United States + Court--his wife and I formed a conspiracy to take off the + roof and raise his house. It was originally a frame + structure one story and a half high. When Lincoln returned + he met a gentleman on the sidewalk and, looking at his own + house and manifesting great surprise, inquired: 'Stranger, + can you tell me where Lincoln lives?' The gentleman gave him + the necessary information, and Lincoln gravely entered his + own premises."--Statement, James Gourly, February 9, 1866. + +If a friend met or passed him, and he awoke from his reverie, something +would remind him of a story he had heard in Indiana, and tell it he +would, and there was no alternative but to listen. + +Thus, I repeat, stood and walked and talked this singular man. He was +odd, but when that gray eye and that face and those features were lit +up by the inward soul in fires of emotion, then it was that all those +apparently ugly features sprang into organs of beauty or disappeared +in the sea of inspiration that often flooded his face. Sometimes it +appeared as if Lincoln's soul was fresh from its Creator. + +I have asked the friends and foes of Mr. Lincoln alike what they thought +of his perceptions. One gentleman of unquestioned ability and free from +all partiality or prejudice said, "Mr. Lincoln's perceptions were slow, +a little perverted, if not somewhat distorted and diseased." If the +meaning of this is that Mr. Lincoln saw things from a peculiar angle of +his being, and from this was susceptible to nature's impulses, and that +he so expressed himself, then I have no objection to what is said. + +Otherwise I dissent. Mr. Lincoln's perceptions were slow, cold, clear, +and exact. Everything came to him in its precise shape and color. To +some men the world of matter and of man comes ornamented with beauty, +life, and action; and hence more or less false and inexact. No lurking +illusion or other error, false in itself and clad for the moment in +robes of splendor, ever passed undetected or unchallenged over the +threshold of his mind--that point which divides vision from the +realm and home of thought. Names to him were nothing, and titles +naught--assumption always standing back abashed at his cold, +intellectual glare. Neither his perceptions nor intellectual vision were +perverted, distorted, or diseased. He saw all things through a perfect +mental lens. There was no diffraction or refraction there. He was not +impulsive, fanciful, or imaginative; but cold, calm, and precise. He +threw his whole mental light around the object, and, after a time, +substance and quality stood apart, form and color took their appropriate +places, and all was clear and exact in his mind. His fault, if any, was +that he saw things less than they really were; less beautiful and more +frigid. He crushed the unreal, the inexact, the hollow, and the sham. He +saw things in rigidity rather than in vital action. He saw what no man +could dispute, but he failed to see what might have been seen. + +To some minds the world is all life, a soul beneath the material; but to +Mr. Lincoln no life was individual that did not manifest itself to him. +His mind was his standard. His mental action was deliberate, and he +was pitiless and persistent in pursuit of the truth. No error went +undetected, no falsehood unexposed, if he once was aroused in search of +the truth. The true peculiarity of Mr. Lincoln has not been seen by his +various biographers; or, if seen, they have failed wofully to give it +that importance which it deserves. Newton beheld the law of the universe +in the fall of an apple from a tree to the ground; Owen saw the +animal in its claw; Spencer saw evolution in the growth of a seed; +and Shakespeare saw human nature in the laugh of a man. Nature was +suggestive to all these men. Mr. Lincoln no less saw philosophy in +a story and an object lesson in a joke. His was a new and original +position, one which was always suggesting something to him. The world +and man, principles and facts, all were full of suggestions to his +susceptible soul. They continually put him in mind of something. His +ideas were odd and original for the reason that he was a peculiar and +original creation himself. + +His power in the association of ideas was as great as his memory was +tenacious and strong. His language indicated oddity and originality +of vision as well as expression. Words and language are but the +counterparts of the idea--the other half of the idea; they are but the +stinging, hot, leaden bullets that drop from the mould; in a rifle, with +powder stuffed behind them and fire applied, they are an embodied force +resistlessly pursuing their object. In the search for words Mr. Lincoln +was often at a loss. He was often perplexed to give proper expression to +his ideas; first, because he was not master of the English language; and +secondly, because there were, in the vast store of words, so few that +contained the exact coloring, power, and shape of his ideas. This will +account for the frequent resort by him to the use of stories, maxims, +and jokes in which to clothe his ideas, that they might be comprehended. +So true was this peculiar mental vision of his that, though mankind has +been gathering, arranging, and classifying facts for thousands of years, +Lincoln's peculiar standpoint could give him no advantage over other +men's labor. Hence he tore down to their deepest foundations all +arrangements of facts, and constructed new ones to govern himself. He +was compelled from his peculiar mental organization to do this. His +labor was great and continuous. + +The truth about Mr. Lincoln is that he read less and thought more than +any man in his sphere in America. No man can put his finger on any great +book written in the last or present century that he read thoroughly. +When young he read the Bible, and when of age he read Shakespeare; but, +though he often quoted from both, he never read either one through. He +is acknowledged now to have been a great man, but the question is what +made him great. I repeat, that he read less and thought more than +any man of his standing in America, if not in the world. He possessed +originality and power of thought in an eminent degree. Besides his well +established reputation for caution, he was concentrated in his thoughts +and had great continuity of reflection. In everything he was patient and +enduring. These are some of the grounds of his wonderful success. + +Not only were nature, man, and principle suggestive to Mr. Lincoln, not +only had he accurate and exact perceptions, but he was causative; his +mind, apparently with an automatic movement, ran back behind facts, +principles, and all things to their origin and first cause--to that +point where forces act at once as effect and cause. He would stop in the +street and analyze a machine. He would whittle a thing to a point, and +then count the numberless inclined planes and their pitch making the +point. Mastering and defining this, he would then cut that point back +and get a broad transverse section of his pine-stick, and peel and +define that. Clocks, omnibuses, language, paddle-wheels, and idioms +never escaped his observation and analysis. Before he could form an idea +of anything, before he would express his opinion on a subject, he must +know its origin and history in substance and quality, in magnitude and +gravity. He must know it inside and outside, upside and downside. He +searched and comprehended his own mind and nature thoroughly, as I have +often heard him say. He must analyze a sensation, an idea, and run back +in its history to its origin, and purpose. He was remorseless in his +analysis of facts and principles. When all these exhaustive processes +had been gone through with he could form an idea and express it; but no +sooner. He had no faith, and no respect for "say so's," come though they +might from tradition or authority. Thus everything had to run through +the crucible, and be tested by the fires of his analytic mind; and when +at last he did speak, his utterances rang out with the clear and +keen ring of gold upon the counters of the understanding. He reasoned +logically through analogy and comparison. All opponents dreaded +his originality of idea, his condensation, definition, and force of +expression; and woe be to the man who hugged to his bosom a secret error +if Lincoln got on the chase of it. I repeat, woe to him! Time could hide +the error in no nook or corner of space in which he would not detect and +expose it. + +Though gifted with accurate and acute perception, though a profound +thinker as well as analyzer, still Lincoln's judgment on many and minor +matters was oftentimes childish. By the word judgment I do not mean +what mental philosophers would call the exercise of reason, +will--understanding; but I use the term in its popular sense. I refer to +that capacity or power which decides on the fitness, the harmony, or, +if you will, the beauty and appropriateness of things. I have always +thought, and sometimes said, Lincoln lacked this quality in his mental +structure. He was on the alert if a principle was involved or a man's +rights at stake in a transaction; but he never could see the harm in +wearing a sack-coat instead of a swallowtail to an evening party, nor +could he realize the offense of telling a vulgar yarn if a preacher +happened to be present.* + + * Sometime in 1857 a lady reader or elocutionist came to + Springfield and gave a public reading in a hall immediately + north of the State House. As lady lecturers were then rare + birds, a very large crowd greeted her. Among other things + she recited "Nothing to Wear," a piece in which is described + the perplexities that beset "Miss Flora McFlimsey" in her + efforts to appear fashionable. In the midst of one stanza, + in which no effort is made to say anything particularly + amusing, and during the reading of which the audience + manifested the most respectful silence and attention, some + one in the rear seats burst out into a loud, coarse laugh--a + sudden and explosive guffaw. It startled the speaker and + audience, and kindled a storm of unsuppressed laughter and + applause. Everyone looked back to ascertain the cause of the + demonstration, and was greatly surprised to find that it was + Mr. Lincoln. He blushed and squirmed with the awkward + diffidence of a schoolboy. What prompted him to laugh no one + was able to explain. He was doubtless wrapped up in a brown + study, and, recalling some amusing episode, indulged in + laughter without realizing his surroundings. The experience + mortified him greatly. + +As already expressed, Mr. Lincoln had no faith. In order to believe, he +must see and feel, and thrust his hand into the place. He must taste, +smell, and handle before he had faith or even belief. Such a mind +manifestly must have its time. His forte and power lay in digging out +for himself and securing for his mind its own food, to be assimilated +unto itself. Thus, in time he would form opinions and conclusions that +no human power could overthrow. They were as irresistible as the rush +of a flood; as convincing as logic embodied in mathematics. And yet the +question arises: "Had Mr. Lincoln great, good common-sense?" A variety +of opinions suggest themselves in answer to this. If the true test +is that a man shall judge the rush and whirl of human actions and +transactions as wisely and accurately as though indefinite time and +proper conditions were at his disposal, then I am compelled to +follow the logic of things and admit that he had no great stock of +common-sense; but if, on the other hand, the time and conditions were +ripe, his common-sense was in every case equal to the emergency. He +knew himself, and never trusted his dollar or his fame in casual +opinions--never acted hastily or prematurely on great matters. + +Mr. Lincoln believed that the great leading law of human nature is +motive. He reasoned all ideas of a disinterested action out of my mind. +I used to hold that an action could be pure, disinterested, and wholly +free from selfishness; but he divested me of that delusion. His idea was +that all human actions were caused by motives, and that at the bottom +of these motives was self. He defied me to act without motive and +unselfishly; and when I did the act and told him of it, he analyzed and +sifted it to the last grain. After he had concluded, I could not avoid +the admission that he had demonstrated the absolute selfishness of the +entire act. Although a profound analyzer of the laws of human nature +he could form no just construction of the motives of the particular +individual. He knew but little of the play of the features as seen in +the "human face divine." He could not distinguish between the paleness +of anger and the crimson tint of modesty. In determining what each play +of the features indicated he was pitiably weak. + +The great predominating elements of Mr. Lincoln's peculiar character +were: first, his great capacity and power of reason; second, his +conscience and his excellent understanding; third, an exalted idea of +the sense of right and equity; fourth, his intense veneration of the +true and the good. His conscience, his heart and all the faculties and +qualities of his mind bowed submissively to the despotism of his reason. +He lived and acted from the standard of reason--that throne of logic, +home of principle--the realm of Deity in man. It is from this point Mr. +Lincoln must be viewed. Not only was he cautious, patient, and enduring; +not only had he concentration and great continuity of thought; but +he had profound analytical power. His vision was clear, and he was +emphatically the master of statement. His pursuit of the truth, as +before mentioned, was indefatigable. He reasoned from well-chosen +principles with such clearness, force, and directness that the tallest +intellects in the land bowed to him. He was the strongest man I ever +saw, looking at him from the elevated standpoint of reason and logic. +He came down from that height with irresistible and crashing force. His +Cooper Institute and other printed speeches will prove this; but his +speeches before the courts--especially the Supreme Court of Illinois--if +they had been preserved, would demonstrate it still more plainly. +Here he demanded time to think and prepare. The office of reason is to +determine the truth. Truth is the power of reason, and Lincoln loved +truth for its own sake. It was to him reason's food. + +Conscience, the second great quality of Mr. Lincoln's character, is +that faculty which induces in us love of the just. Its real office is +justice; right and equity are its correlatives. As a court, it is in +session continuously; it decides all acts at all times. Mr. Lincoln +had a deep, broad, living conscience. His reason, however, was the real +judge; it told him what was true or false, and therefore good or bad, +right or wrong, just or unjust, and his conscience echoed back the +decision. His conscience ruled his heart; he was always just before +he was generous. It cannot be said of any mortal that he was always +absolutely just. Neither was Lincoln always just; but his general +life was. It follows that if Mr. Lincoln had great reason and great +conscience he must have been an honest man; and so he was. He was +rightfully entitled to the appellation "Honest Abe." Honesty was his +polar star. + +Mr. Lincoln also had a good understanding; that is, the faculty that +comprehends the exact state of things and determines their relations, +near or remote. The understanding does not necessarily enquire for the +reason of things. While Lincoln was odd and original, while he lived +out of himself and by himself, and while he could absorb but little from +others, yet a reading of his speeches, messages, and letters satisfies +us that he had good understanding. But the strongest point in his +make-up was the knowledge he had of himself; he comprehended and +understood his own capacity--what he did and why he did it--better +perhaps than any man of his day. He had a wider and deeper comprehension +of his environments, of the political conditions especially, than +men who were more learned or had had the benefits of a more thorough +training. + +He was a very sensitive man,--modest to the point of diffidence,--and +often hid himself in the masses to prevent the discovery of his +identity. He was not indifferent, however, to approbation and public +opinion. He had no disgusting egotism and no pompous pride, no +aristocracy, no haughtiness, no vanity. Merging together the qualities +of his nature he was a meek, quiet, unobtrusive gentleman. + +As many contradictory opinions prevail in reference to Mr. Lincoln's +heart and humanity as on the question of his judgment. As many persons +perhaps contend that he was cold and obdurate as that he was warm and +affectionate. The first thing the world met in contact with him was +his head and conscience; after that he exposed the tender side of his +nature--his heart, subject at all times to his exalted sense of +right and equity, namely his conscience. In proportion as he held his +conscience subject to his head, he held his heart subject to his head +and conscience. His humanity had to defer to his sense of justice and, +the eternal right. His heart was the lowest of these organs, if we may +call them such--the weakest of the three. Some men have reversed this +order and characterized his heart as his ruling organ. This estimate +of Mr. Lincoln endows him with love regardless of truth, justice, and +right. The question still is, was Lincoln cold and heartless, or warm +and affectionate? Can a man be all heart, all head, and all conscience? +Some of these are masters over the others, some will be dominant, ruling +with imperial sway, and thus giving character to the man. What, in the +first place, do we mean by a warm-hearted man? Is it one who goes out +of himself and reaches for others spontaneously, seeking to correct some +abuse to mankind because of a deep love for humanity, apart from equity +and truth, and who does what he does for love's sake? If so, Mr. Lincoln +was a cold man. If a man, woman, or child approached him, and the prayer +of such an one was granted, that itself was not evidence of his love. +The African was enslaved and deprived of his rights; a principle was +violated in doing so. Rights imply obligations as well as duties. Mr. +Lincoln was President; he was in a position that made it his duty, +through his sense of right, his love of principle, the constitutional +obligations imposed upon him by the oath of office, to strike the blow +against slavery. But did he do it for love? He has himself answered +the question "I would not free the slaves if I could preserve the Union +without it." When he freed the slaves there was no heart in the act. +This argument can be used against his too enthusiastic friends. + +In general terms his life was cold--at least characterized by what many +persons would deem great indifference. He had, however, a strong latent +capacity to love: but the object must first come in the guise of a +principle, next it must be right and true--then it was lovely in his +sight. He loved humanity when it was oppressed--an abstract +love--as against the concrete love centered in an individual. He rarely +used terms of endearment, and yet he was proverbially tender and gentle. +He gave the key-note to his own character when he said: "With malice +towards none, with charity for all." In proportion to his want of deep, +intense love he had 110 hate and bore no malice. His charity for an +imperfect man was as broad as his devotion to principle was enduring. + +"But was not Mr. Lincoln a man of great humanity?" asks a friend at my +elbow; to which I reply, "Has not that question been answered already?" +Let us suppose it has not. We must understand each other. What is meant +by his humanity? Is it meant that he had much of human nature in him? If +so, I grant that he was a man of humanity. If, in the event of the +above definition being unsatisfactory or untrue, it is meant that he +was tender and kind, then I again agree. But if the inference is that he +would sacrifice truth or right in the slightest degree for the love of +a friend, then he was neither tender nor kind; nor did he have any +humanity. The law of human nature is such that it cannot be all head, +all conscience, and all heart in one person at the same time. Our Maker +so constituted things that, where God through reason blazed the way, we +might boldly walk therein. The glory of Mr. Lincoln's power lay in the +just and magnificent equipoise of head, conscience, and heart; and here +his fame must rest or not at all. + +Not only were Mr. Lincoln's perceptions good; not only was nature +suggestive to him; not only was he original and strong; not only had he +great reason, good understanding; not only did he love the true and +the good--the eternal right; not only was he tender and sympathetic and +kind;--but, in due proportion and in legitimate subordination, he had +a glorious combination of them all. Through his perceptions--the +suggestiveness of nature, his originality and strength; through his +magnificent reason, his understanding, his conscience, his tenderness, +quick sympathy, his heart; he approximated as nearly as human nature +and the imperfections of man would permit to an embodiment of the great +moral principle, "Do unto others as ye would they should do unto you." + +Of Mr. Lincoln's will-power there are two opinions also: one that +he lacked any will; the other that he was all will. Both these +contradictory views have their vehement and honest champions. For the +great underlying principles of mind in man he had great respect. He +loved the true first, the right second, and the good last. His mind +struggled for truth, and his soul reached out for substances. He cared +not for forms, ways, methods--the non-substantial things of this world. +He could not, by reason of his structure and mental organization, care +anything about them. He did not have an intense care for any particular +or individual man--the dollar, property, rank, orders, manners, or +similar things; neither did he have any avarice or other like vice in +his nature. He detested somewhat all technical rules in law, philosophy, +and other sciences--mere forms everywhere--because they were, as a +general thing, founded on arbitrary thoughts and ideas, and not on +reason, truth, and the right. These things seemed to him lacking in +substance, and he disregarded them because they cramped the originality +of his genius. What suited a little narrow, critical mind did not suit +Mr. Lincoln any more than a child's clothes would fit his father's body. +Generally he took no interest in town affairs or local elections; he +attended no meetings that pertained to local interests. He did not +care--because by reason of his nature he could not--who succeeded to the +presidency of this or that society or railroad company; who made the +most money; who was going to Philadelphia, and what were the costs of +such a trip; who was going to be married; who among his friends got this +office or that--who was elected street commissioner Or health inspector. +No principle of truth, right, or justice being involved in any of these +things he could not be moved by them.* + + * A bitter, malignant fool who always had opposed Lincoln + and his friends, and had lost no opportunity to abuse them, + induced Lincoln to go to the Governor of Illinois and + recommend him for an important office in the State Militia. + There being no principle at stake Lincoln could not refuse + the request. When his friends heard of it they were furious + in their denunciation of his action. It mortified him + greatly to learn that he had displeased them. "And yet," he + said, a few days later, dwelling on the matter to me in the + office, "I couldn't well refuse the little the fellow asked + of me." + +He could not understand why men struggled so desperately for the little +glory or lesser salary the small offices afforded. He made this +remark to me one day in Washington: "If ever this free people--this +Government--is utterly demoralized, it will come from this human +struggle for office--a way to live without work." It puzzled him a good +deal, he said, to get at the root of this dreaded disease, which spread +like contagion during the nation's death struggle. + +Because he could not feel a deep interest in the things referred to, +nor manifest the same interest in those who were engaged in the popular +scramble, he was called indifferent--nay, ungrateful--to his friends. +This estimate of the man was a very unjust as well as unfair one. Mr. +Lincoln loved his friends with commendable loyalty: in many cases he +clung to them tenaciously, like iron to iron welded; and yet, because +he could not be actively aroused, nor enter into the spirit of their +anxiety for office, he was called ungrateful. But he was not so. He may +have seemed passive and lacking in interest; he may not have measured +his friendly duties by the applicant's hot desire; but yet he was never +ungrateful. Neither was he a selfish man. He would never have performed +an act, even to promote himself to the Presidency, if by that act any +human being was wronged. If it is said that he preferred Abraham Lincoln +to anyone else in the pursuit of his ambition, and that because of this +he was a selfish man, then I can see no impropriety in the charge. Under +the same conditions we should all be equally guilty. + +[Illustration: Statue 354] + +Remembering that Mr. Lincoln's mind moved logically, slowly, and +cautiously, the question of his will and its power is easily solved. +Although he cared but little for simple facts, rules, and methods, he +did care for the truth and right of principle. In debate he courteously +granted all the forms and non-essential things to his opponent. +Sometimes he yielded nine points out of ten. The nine he brushed aside +as husks or rubbish; but the tenth, being a question of substance, he +clung to with all his might. On the underlying principles of truth and +justice his will was as firm as steel and as tenacious as iron. It was +as solid, real, and vital as an idea on which the world turns. He +scorned to support or adopt an untrue position, in proportion as his +conscience prevented him from doing an unjust thing. Ask him to +sacrifice in the slightest degree his convictions of truth*--as he was +asked to do when he made his "house-divided-against-itself speech"--and +his soul would have exclaimed with indignant scorn, "The world perish +first!" + +Such was Lincoln's will. Because on one line of questions--the +non-essential--he was pliable, and on the other he was as immovable as +the rocks, have arisen the contradictory notions prevalent regarding +him. + + * "Mr. Lincoln seems to me too true and honest a man to have + his eulogy written, and I have no taste for writing + eulogies. I am sure that, if he were alive, he would feel + that the exact truth regarding himself was far more worthy + of himself and of his biographer than any flattering + picture. I loved the man as he was, with his rugged + features, his coarse, rebellious hair, his sad, dreamy eyes; + and I love to see him, and I hope to describe him, as he + was, and not otherwise."--Robert Dale Owen, January 22, + 1867, MS. + +It only remains to say that he was inflexible and unbending in human +transactions when it was necessary to be so, and not otherwise. At +one moment he was pliable and expansive as gentle air; at the next as +tenacious and unyielding as gravity itself. + +Thus I have traced Mr. Lincoln through his perceptions, his +suggestiveness, his judgment, and his four predominant qualities: powers +of reason, understanding, conscience, and heart. In the grand review of +his peculiar characteristics, nothing creates such an impressive effect +as his love of the truth. It looms up over everything else. His life +is proof of the assertion that he never yielded in his fundamental +conception of truth to any man for any end. + +All the follies and wrong Mr. Lincoln ever fell into or committed sprang +out of these weak points: the want of intuitive judgment; the lack of +quick, sagacious knowledge of the play and meaning of men's features as +written on the face; the want of the sense of propriety of things; his +tenderness and mercy; and lastly, his unsuspecting nature. He was deeply +and sincerely honest himself, and assumed that others were so. He never +suspected men; and hence in dealing with them he was easily imposed +upon. + +All the wise and good things Mr. Lincoln ever did sprang out of his +great reason, his conscience, his understanding, his heart, his love of +the truth, the right, and the good. I am speaking now of his particular +and individual faculties and qualities, not of their combination or +the result of any combinations. Run out these qualities and faculties +abstractly, and see what they produce. For instance, a tender heart, a +strong reason, a broad under standing, an exalted conscience, a love +of the true and the good must, proportioned reasonably and applied +practically, produce a man of great power and great humanity. + +As illustrative of a combination in Mr. Lincoln's organization, it may +be said that his eloquence lay in the strength of his logical faculty, +his supreme power of reasoning, his great understanding, and his love +of principle; in his clear and accurate vision; in his cool and masterly +statement of principles around which the issues gather; and in the +statement of those issues and the grouping of the facts that are to +carry conviction to the minds of men of every grade of intelligence. He +was so clear that he could not be misunderstood or long misrepresented. +He stood square and bolt upright to his convictions, and anyone who +listened to him would be convinced that he formed his thoughts +and utterances by them. His mind was not exactly a wide, broad, +generalizing, and comprehensive mind, nor yet a versatile, quick, and +subtle one, bounding here and there as emergencies demanded; but it was +deep, enduring, strong, like a majestic machine running in deep iron +grooves with heavy flanges on its wheels. + +Mr. Lincoln himself was a very sensitive man, and hence, in dealing +with others, he avoided wounding their hearts or puncturing their +sensibility. He was unusually considerate of the feelings of other +men, regardless of their rank, condition, or station. At first sight he +struck one with his plainness, simplicity of manner, sincerity, candor, +and truthfulness. He had no double interests and no overwhelming dignity +with which to chill the air around his visitor. He was always easy of +approach and thoroughly democratic. He seemed to throw a charm around +every man who ever met him. To be in his presence was a pleasure, and +no man ever left his company with injured feelings unless most richly +deserved. + +The universal testimony, "He is an honest man," gave him a firm hold on +the masses, and they trusted him with a blind religious faith. His sad, +melancholy face excited their sympathy, and when the dark days came it +was their heart-strings that entwined and sustained him. Sympathy, +we are told, is one of the strongest and noblest incentives to human +action. With the sympathy and love of the people to sustain him, Lincoln +had unlimited power over them; he threw an invisible and weightless +harness over them, and drove them through disaster and desperation to +final victory. The trust and worship by the people of Lincoln were +the result of his simple character. He held himself not aloof from the +masses. He became one of them. They feared together, they struggled +together, they hoped together; thus melted and moulded into one, they +became one in thought, one in will, one in action. If Lincoln cautiously +awaited the full development of the last fact in the great drama before +he acted, when longer waiting would be a crime, he knew that the people +were determinedly at his back. Thus, when a blow was struck, it came +with the unerring aim and power of a bolt from heaven. A natural +king--not ruling men, but leading them along the drifts and trends of +their own tendencies, always keeping in mind the consent of the +governed, he developed what the future historian will call the sublimest +order of conservative statesmanship. + +[Illustration: Lincoln Monument, Springfield 361] + +Whatever of life, vigor, force, and power of eloquence his peculiar +qualities gave him; whatever there was in a fair, manly, honest, and +impartial administration of justice under law to all men at all times; +whatever there was in a strong will in the right governed by tenderness +and mercy; whatever there was in toil and sublime patience; whatever +there was in these things or a wise combination of them, Lincoln is +justly entitled to in making up the impartial verdict of history. These +limit and define him as a statesman, as an orator, as an executive of +the nation, and as a man. They developed in all the walks of his life; +they were his law; they were his nature, they were Abraham Lincoln. + +This long, bony, sad man floated down the Sangamon river in a frail +canoe in the spring of 1831. Like a piece of driftwood he lodged at +last, without a history, strange, penniless, and alone. In sight of the +capital of Illinois, in the fatigue of daily toil he struggled for the +necessaries of life. Thirty years later this same peculiar man left the +Sangamon river, backed by friends, by power, by the patriotic prayers of +millions of people, to be the ruler of the greatest nation in the world. + +As the leader of a brave people in their desperate struggle for national +existence, Abraham Lincoln will always be an interesting historical +character. + +His strong, honest, sagacious, and noble life will always possess a +peculiar charm. Had it not been for his conservative statesmanship, +his supreme confidence in the wisdom of the people, his extreme care +in groping his way among facts and before ideas, this nation might +have been two governments to-day. The low and feeble circulation of +his blood; his healthful irritability, which responded so slowly to the +effects of stimuli; the strength of his herculean frame; his peculiar +organism, conserving its force; his sublime patience; his wonderful +endurance; his great hand and heart, saved this country from division, +when division meant its irreparable ruin. + +The central figure of our national history, the sublime type of our +civilization, posterity, with the record of his career and actions +before it, will decree that, whether Providence so ordained it or not, +Abraham Lincoln was the man for the hour. + + + + +APPENDIX. + + + + +UNPUBLISHED FAMILY LETTERS. + +The following letters by Mr. Lincoln to his relatives were at one time +placed in my hands. As they have never before been published entire I +have thought proper to append them here. They are only interesting as +showing Mr. Lincoln's affection for his father and step-mother, and +as specimens of the good, sound sense with which he approached every +undertaking. The list opens with a letter to his father written from +Washington while a member of Congress: + +"Washington, Dec. 24, 1848. + +"My Dear Father: + +"Your letter of the 7th was received night before last. I very +cheerfully send you the twenty dollars, which sum you say is necessary +to save your land from sale. It is singular that you should have +forgotten a judgment against you--and it is more singular that the +plaintiff should have let you forget it so long, particularly as I +suppose you have always had property enough to satisfy a judgment of +that amount. Before you pay it, it would be well to be sure you have not +paid, or at least that you cannot prove you have paid it. + +"Give my love to Mother and all the Connections. + +"Affectionately, your son, + +"A. Lincoln." + +His step-brother, John D. Johnston, for whom Mr. Lincoln always +exhibited the affection of a real brother, was the recipient of many +letters. Some of them were commonplace, but between the lines of each +much good, homely philosophy may be read. Johnston, whom I knew, was +exactly what his distinguished step-brother charged--an idler. In every +emergency he seemed to fall back on Lincoln for assistance. The aid +generally came, but with it always some plain but sensible suggestion. +The series opens as follows: + +"Springfield, Feb. 23,1850. + +"Dear Brother: + +"Your letter about a mail contract was received yesterday. I have made +out a bid for you at $120, guaranteed it myself, got our P. M. here to +certify it, and send it on. Your former letter, concerning some man's +claim for a pension, was also received. I had the claim examined by +those who are practised in such matters, and they decide he cannot get a +pension. + +"As you make no mention of it, I suppose you had not learned that we +lost our little boy. He was sick fifteen days, and died in the morning +of the first day of this month. It was not our first, but our second +child. We miss him very much. + +"Your Brother, in haste, + +"A. Lincoln." + +"To John D. Johnston." + + +Following is another, which, however, bears no date: + +"Dear Johnston: + +"Your request for eighty dollars I do not think it best to comply with +now. At the various times when I have helped you a little you have said +to me, 'We can get along very well now,' but in a very short time I +find you in the same difficulty again. Now this can only happen by some +defect in your conduct. What that defect is, I think I know. You are not +_lazy_, and still you are an _idler_. I doubt whether, since I saw you, +you have done a good whole day's work in any one day. You do not very +much dislike to work, and still you do not work much, merely because +it does not seem to you that you could get much for it. This habit +of uselessly wasting time is the whole difficulty; and it is vastly +important to you, and still more so to your children, that you should +break the habit. It is more important to them because they have longer +to live, and can keep out of an idle habit, before they are in it, +easier than they can get out after they are in. + +"You are in need of some ready money, and what I propose is that you +shall go to work 'tooth and nail' for somebody who will give you money +for it. Let father and your boys take charge of things at home, prepare +for a crop, and make the crop, and you go to work for the best money +wages, or in discharge of any debt you owe, that you can get,--and to +secure you a fair reward for your labor, I now promise you that for +every dollar you will, between this and the first of next May, get for +your own labor, either in money or as your own indebtedness, I will then +give you one other dollar. By this, if you hire yourself at ten dollars +a month, from me you will get ten more, making twenty dollars a month +for your work. In this I do not mean you shall go off to St. Louis, or +the lead mines, or the gold mines in California, but I mean for you to +go at it for the best wages you can get close to home in Coles County. +Now if you will do this, you will be soon out of debt, and, what is +better, you will have a habit that will keep you from getting in debt +again. But if I should now clear you out, next year you would be just as +deep in as ever. You say you would give your place in heaven for $70 or +$80. Then you value your place in heaven very cheap, for I am sure you +can, with the offer I make, get the seventy or eighty dollars for four +or five months' work. + +"You say, if I will furnish you the money, you will deed me the land, +and if you don't pay the money back you will deliver possession. +Nonsense! If you can't now live with the land, how will you then live +without it? You have always been kind to me, and I do not mean to be +unkind to you. On the contrary, if you will but follow my advice, you +will find it worth more than eight times eighty dollars to you. + +"Affectionately, + +"Your brother, + +"A. Lincoln." + +The following, written when the limit of Thomas Lincoln's life seemed +rapidly approaching, shows in what esteem his son held the relation that +existed between them: + +"Springfield, Jan y 12, 1851. + +"Dear Brother: + +"On the day before yesterday I received a letter from Harriett, written +at Greenup. She says she has just returned from your house; and that +Father is very low, and will hardly recover. She also says that you have +written me two letters; and that although you do not expect me to come +now, you wonder that I do not write. I received both your letters, and +although I have not answered them, it is not because I have forgotten +them, or [not] been interested about them, but because it appeared to me +I could write nothing which could do any good. You already know I desire +that neither Father or Mother shall be in want of any comfort either in +health or sickness while they live; and I feel sure you have not failed +to use my name, if necessary, to procure a doctor, or anything else for +Father in his present sickness. My business is such that I could hardly +leave home now, if it were not, as it is, that my own wife is sick +a-bed (it is a case of baby-sickness, and I suppose is not dangerous). I +sincerely hope Father may yet recover his health; but at all events tell +him to remember to call upon and confide in our great, and good, and +merciful Maker, who will not turn away from him in any extremity. He +notes the fall of a sparrow, and numbers the hairs of our heads; and He +will not forget the dying man who puts his trust in Him. Say to him that +if we could meet now it is doubtful whether it would not be more painful +than pleasant; but that if it be his lot to go now he will soon have a +joyous meeting with many loved ones gone before, and where the rest of +us, through the help of God, hope ere long to join them. + +"Write me again when you receive this. + +"Affectionately, + +"A. Lincoln." + +Lincoln's mentor-like interest in his step-mother and his shiftless and +almost unfortunate step-brother was in no wise diminished by the death +of his father. He writes: + +"Springfield, Aug. 31,1851. + +"Dear Brother: + +"Inclosed is the deed for the land. We are all well, and have nothing in +the way of news. We have had no cholera here for about two weeks. + +"Give my love to all, and especially to Mother. + +"Yours as ever, + +"A. Lincoln." + +No more practical or kindly-earnest advice could have been given than +this: + +"Shelbyville, Nov. 4, 1851. + +"Dear Brother: + +"When I came into Charleston day before yesterday I learned that you are +anxious to sell the land where you live, and move to Missouri. I have +been thinking of this ever since, and cannot but think such a notion is +utterly foolish. What can you do in Missouri better than here? Is the +land richer? Can you there, any more than here, raise corn and wheat and +oats without work? Will anybody there, any more than here, do your work +for you? If you intend to go to work, there is no better place than +right where you are; if you do not intend to go to work you cannot get +along anywhere. Squirming and crawling about from place to place can do +no good. You have raised no crop this year, and what you really want +is to sell the land, get the money and spend it. Part with the land you +have, and, my life upon it, you will never after own a spot big enough +to bury you in. Half you will get for the land you spend in moving to +Missouri, and the other half you will eat and drink and wear out, and no +foot of land will be bought. Now I feel it is my duty to have no hand in +such a piece of foolery. I feel that it is so even on your own account, +and particularly on Mother's account. The eastern forty acres I intend +to keep for Mother while she lives; if you will not cultivate it, +it will rent for enough to support her; at least it will rent for +something. Her dower in the other two forties she can let you have, and +no thanks to me. + +"Now do not misunderstand this letter. I do not write it in any +unkindness. I write it in order, if possible, to get you to face the +truth, which truth is, you are destitute because you have idled away all +your time. Your thousand pretences for not getting along better are all +nonsense; they deceive nobody but yourself. Go to work is the only cure +for your case. + +"A word for Mother: Chapman tells me he wants you to go and live with +him. If I were you I would try it awhile. If you get tired of it (as I +think you will not) you can return to your own home. Chapman feels very +kindly to you; and I have no doubt he will make your situation very +pleasant. + +"Sincerely your son, + +"A. Lincoln." + +The list closes with this one written by Lincoln while on the circuit: + +"Shelbyville, Nov. 9, 1851. + +"Dear Brother: + +''When I wrote you before, I had not received your letter. I still +think as I did; but if the land can be sold so that I get three hundred +dollars to put to interest for Mother, I will not object if she does +not. But before I will make a deed, the money must be had, or secured +beyond all doubt at ten per cent. + +"As to Abraham, I do not want him on my own account; but I understand he +wants to live with me so that he can go to school and get a fair start +in the world, which I very much wish him to have. When I reach home, if +I can make it convenient to take, I will take him, provided there is no +mistake between us as to the object and terms of my taking him. + +"In haste, as ever, + +"A. Lincoln." + + + + +AN INCIDENT ON THE CIRCUIT. + +"In the spring term of the Tazewell County Court in 1847, which at that +time was held in the village of Tremont, I was detained as a witness an +entire week. Lincoln was employed in several suits, and among them was +one of Case _vs._ Snow Bros. The Snow Bros., as appeared in evidence +(who were both minors), had purchased from an old Mr. Case what was then +called a "prairie team," consisting of two or three yoke of oxen and +prairie plow, giving therefor their joint note for some two hundred +dollars; but when pay-day came refused to pay, pleading the minor act. +The note was placed in Lincoln's hands for collection. The suit was +called and a jury impanelled. The Snow Bros, did not deny the note, but +pleaded through their counsel that they were minors, and that Mr. Case +knew they were at the time of the contract and conveyance. All this was +admitted by Mr. Lincoln, with his peculiar phrase, 'Yes, gentlemen, I +reckon that's so.' The minor act was read and its validity admitted in +the same manner. The counsel of the defendants were permitted without +question to state all these things to the jury, and to show by the +statute that these minors could not be held responsible for their +contract. By this time you may well suppose that I began to be uneasy. +'What!' thought I, 'this good old man, who confided in these boys, to +be wronged in this way, and even his counsel, Mr. Lincoln, to submit in +silence!' I looked at the court, Judge Treat, but could read nothing in +his calm and dignified demeanor. Just then, Mr. Lincoln slowly got up, +and in his strange, half-erect attitude and clear, quiet accent began: +'_Gentlemen of the Jury_, are you willing to allow these boys to begin +life with this shame and disgrace attached to their character? If you +are, I am not. The best judge of human character that ever wrote has +left these immortal words for all of us to ponder: + + "Good name in man or woman, dear my lord, + Is the immediate jewel of their souls: + Who steals my purse steals trash;'tis something, nothing; + 'Twas mine,'tis his, and has been slave to thousands; + But he that filches from me my good name + Robs me of that which not enriches him + And makes me poor indeed."' + +"Then rising to his full height, and looking upon the defendants with +the compassion of a brother, his long right arm extended toward the +opposing counsel, he continued: 'Gentlemen of the jury, these poor +innocent boys would never have attempted this low villany had it not +been for the advice of these lawyers.' Then for a few minutes he showed +how even the noble science of law may be prostituted. With a scathing +rebuke to those who thus belittle their profession, he concluded: 'And +now, gentlemen, you have it in _your_ power to set these boys right +before the world.' He plead for the young men only; I think he did +not mention his client's name. The jury, without leaving their seats, +decided that the defendants must pay the debt; and the latter, after +hearing Lincoln, were as willing to pay it as the jury were determined +they should. I think the entire argument lasted not above five +minutes."--_George W. Minier_, statement, Apr. 10, 1882. + + + + +LINCOLN'S FELLOW LAWYERS. + +Among Lincoln's colleagues at the Springfield bar, after his re-entry +into politics in 1854, and until his elevation to the Presidency, +were, John T. Stuart, Stephen T. Logan, John A. McClernand, Benjamin S. +Edwards, David Logan, E. B. Herndon, W. I. Ferguson, James H. Matheney, +C. C. Brown, N. M. Broadwell, Charles W. Keyes, John E. Rosette, C. +S. Zane, J. C. Conkling, Shelby M. Cullom, and G. W. Shutt. There were +others, notably John M. Palmer and Richard J. Oglesby, who came in +occasionally from other counties and tried suits with and against us, +but they never became members of our bar, strictly speaking, till after +the war had closed.--W. H. H. + + + + +THE TRUCE WITH DOUGLAS.--TESTIMONY OF IRWIN. + +"The conversation took place in the office of Lincoln & Herndon, in the +presence of P. L. Harrison, William H. Herndon, Pascal Enos, and myself. +It originated in this way: After the debate at Springfield on the 4th +and 5th of October, 1854, William Jayne, John Cassiday, Pascal Enos, +the writer, and others whose names I do not now remember, filled out and +signed a written request to Lincoln to follow Douglas until he 'ran him +into his hole' or made him halloo 'Enough,' and that day Lincoln was +giving in his report. He said that the next morning after the Peoria +debate Douglas came to him and flattered him that he knew more on the +question of Territorial organization in this government than all the +Senate of the United States, and called his mind to the trouble the +latter had given him. He added that Lincoln had already given him more +trouble than all the opposition in the Senate, and then proposed to +Lincoln that if he (Lincoln) would go home and not follow him, he +(Douglas) would go to no more of his appointments, would make no more +speeches, and would go home and remain silent during the rest of +the campaign. Lincoln did not make another speech till after the +election."--B. F, Irwin's statement, Feb. 8, 1866, unpublished MS. + +See ante pp. 368-369. + + + + +THE BLOOMINGTON CONVENTION. + +Following is a copy of the call to select delegates to the Bloomington +Convention held May 29, 1856, when the Republican party in Illinois came +into existence. It will be remembered that I signed Lincoln's name under +instructions from him by telegraph. The original document I gave several +years ago to a friend in Boston, Mass.: + +"We, the undersigned, citizens of Sangamon County, who are opposed to +the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, and the present administration, +and who are in favor of restoring to the general government the policy +of Washington and Jefferson, would suggest the propriety of a County +Convention, to be held in the city of Springfield on Saturday, the 24th +day of May, at 2 o'clock, p. M., to appoint delegates to the Bloomington +Convention. + +"A. Lincoln, + +"W. H. Herndon and others." + +The decided stand Lincoln took in this instance, and his speech in +the Convention, undoubtedly paved the way for his leadership in the +Republican party.--W. H. H. + + + + +AN OFFICE DISCUSSION--LINCOLN'S IDEA OF WAR. + +One morning in 1859, Lincoln and I, impressed with the probability of +war between the two sections of the country, were discussing the +subject in the office. "The position taken by the advocates of State +Sovereignty," remarked Lincoln, "always reminds me of the fellow who +contended that the proper place for the big kettle was inside of the +little one." To me, war seemed inevitable, but when I came to view +the matter squarely, I feared a difficulty the North would have in +controlling the various classes of people and shades of sentiment, so +as to make them an effective force in case of war: I feared the lack +of some great head and heart to lead us onward. Lincoln had great +confidence in the masses, believing that, when they were brought face to +face with the reality of the conflict, all differences would disappear, +and that they would be merged into one. To illustrate his idea he made +use of this figure: "Go to the river bank with a coarse sieve and fill +it with gravel. After a vigorous shaking you will observe that the small +pebbles and sand have sunk from view and fallen to the ground. The next +larger in size, unable to slip between the wires, will still be found +within the sieve. By thorough and repeated shakings you will find that, +of the pebbles still left in the sieve, the largest ones will have risen +to the top. Now," he continued, "if, as you say, war is inevitable and +will shake the country from centre to circumference, you will find that +the little men will fall out of view in the shaking. The masses will +rest on some solid foundation, and the big men will have climbed to +the top. Of these latter, one greater than all the rest will leap forth +armed and equipped--the people's leader in the conflict." Little did I +realize the strength of the masses when united and fighting for a common +purpose; and much less did I dream that the great leader soon to be +tried was at that very moment touching my elbow!--W. H. H. + + + + +LINCOLN AND THE KNOW-NOTHINGS. + +Among other things used against Lincoln in the campaign of 1860 was +the charge that he had been a member of a Know-Nothing lodge. When the +charge was laid at his door he wrote the following letter to one of his +confidential political friends. I copy from the original MS.: + +[Confidential.] + +"Springfield, Ills., July 21, 1860. + +"Hon. A. Jonas. + +"My Dear Sir: + +"Yours of the 20th is received. I suppose as good, or even +better, men than I may have been in American or Know-Nothing lodges; +but, in point of fact, I never was in one, at Quincy or elsewhere. I +was never in Quincy but one day and two nights while Know-Nothing lodges +were in existence, and you were with me that day and both those nights. +I had never been there before in my life; and never afterwards, till the +joint debate with Douglas in 1858. It was in 1854, when I spoke in +some hall there, and after the speaking you, with others, took me to +an oyster saloon, passed an hour there, and you walked with me to, and +parted with me at, the Quincy House quite late at night. I left by stage +for Naples before daylight in the morning, having come in by the same +route after dark the evening previous to the speaking, when I found you +waiting at the Quincy House to meet me. A few days after I was there, +Richardson, as I understood, started the same story about my having +been in a Know-Nothing lodge. When I heard of the charge, as I did +soon after, I taxed my recollection for some incident which could have +suggested it; and I remembered that, on parting with you the last night, +I went to the office of the Hotel to take my stage passage for the +morning, was told that no stage office for that line was kept there, and +that I must see the driver before retiring, to insure his calling for me +in the morning; and a servant was sent with me to find the driver, who, +after taking me a square or two, stopped me, and stepped perhaps a dozen +steps farther, and in my hearing called to some one, who answered him, +apparently from the upper part of a building, and promised to call with +the stage for me at the Quincy House. I returned and went to bed, and +before day the stage called and took me. This is all. + +"That I never was in a Know-Nothing lodge in Quincy I should expect +could be easily proved by respectable men who were always in the lodges, +and never saw me there. An affidavit of one or two such would put the +matter at rest. + +"And now, a word of caution. Our adversaries think they can gain a point +if they could force me to openly deny the charge, by which some degree +of offence would be given to the Americans. For this reason it must not +publicly appear that I am paying any attention to the charge, + +"Yours truly, + +"A. Lincoln." + + + + +LINCOLN'S VIEWS ON THE RIGHTS OF SUFFRAGE. + +At one time, while holding the office of attorney for the city of +Springfield, I had a case in the Supreme Court, which involved the +validity or constitutionality of a law regulating the matter of voting. +Although a city case, it really abridged the right of suffrage. Being +Lincoln's partner I wanted him to assist me in arguing the questions +involved. He declined to do so, saying: "I am opposed to the limitation +or lessening of the right of suffrage; if anything, I am in favor of its +extension or enlargement. I want to lift men up--to broaden rather than +contract their privileges."--W. H. H. + + + + +THE BURIAL OF THE ASSASSIN BOOTH. + +"Upon reaching Washington with the body of Booth--having come up the +Potomac--it was at once removed from the tug-boat to a gun-boat that lay +at the dock at the Navy Yard, where it remained about thirty-six +hours. It was there examined by the Surgeon-General and staff and other +officers, and identified by half a score of persons who had known him +well. Toward evening of the second day Gen. L. C. Baker, then chief +of the 'Detective Bureau of the War Department,' received orders from +Secretary of War Stanton to dispose of the body. Stanton said, 'Put it +where it will not be disturbed until Gabriel blows his last trumpet.' +I was ordered to assist him. The body was placed in a row-boat, and, +taking with us one trusty man to manage the boat, we quietly floated +down the river. Crowds of people all along the shore were watching us. +For a blind we took with us a heavy ball and chain, and it was soon +going from lip to lip that we were about to sink the body in the +Potomac. Darkness soon came on, completely concealing our movements, +and under its cover we pulled slowly back to the old Penitentiary, which +during the war was used as an arsenal. The body was then lifted from the +boat and carried through a door opening on the river front. Under the +stone floor of what had been a prison cell a shallow grave was dug, +and the body, with the United States blanket for a 'winding-sheet,' was +there interred. There also it remained till Booth's accomplices were +hanged. It was then taken up and buried with his companions in crime. I +have since learned that the remains were again disinterred and given +to his friends, and that they now rest in the family burial-place in +Baltimore, Md."--From MS. of L. B. Baker, late Lieut. and A. Q. M. 1st +D. C. Cav. + + + + +A TRIBUTE TO LINCOLN BY A COLLEAGUE AT THE BAR. + +"The weird and melancholy association of eloquence and poetry had a +strong fascination for Mr. Lincoln's mind. Tasteful composition, +either of prose or poetry, which faithfully contrasted the realities of +eternity with the unstable and fickle fortunes of time, made a strong +impression on his mind. In the indulgence of this melancholy taste it +is related of him that the poem, 'Immortality,' he knew by rote and +appreciated very highly. He had a strange liking for the verses, and +they bear a just resemblance to his fortune. Mr. Lincoln, at the time of +his assassination, was encircled by a halo of immortal glory such as had +never before graced the brow of mortal man. He had driven treason from +its capital city, had slept in the palace of its once proud and defiant, +but now vanquished leader, and had saved his country and its accrued +glories of three-quarters of a century from destruction. He rode, not +with the haughty and imperious brow of an ancient conqueror, but with +the placid complacency of a pure patriot, through the streets of the +political Babylon of modern times. He had ridden over battlefields +immortal in history, when, in power at least, he was the leader. Having +assured the misguided citizens of the South that he meant them no harm +beyond a determination to maintain the government, he returned buoyant +with hope to the Executive Mansion where for four long years he had been +held, as it were, a prisoner. + +"Weary with the stories of state, he goes to seek the relaxation of +amusement at the theatre; sees the gay crowd as he passes in; is cheered +and graciously smiled upon by fair women and brave men; beholds the +gorgeous paraphernalia of the stage, the brilliantly lighted scene, the +arched ceiling, with its grotesque and inimitable figuring to heighten +the effect and make the occasion one of unalloyed pleasure. The hearts +of the people beat in unison with his over a redeemed and ransomed land. +A pause in the play--a faint pistol shot is heard. No one knows its +significance save the hellish few who are in the plot. A wild shriek, +such as murder wrings from the heart of woman, follows: the proud +form of Mr. Lincoln has sunk in death. The scene is changed to a wild +confusion such as no poet can describe, no painter delineate. Well might +the murdered have said and oft repeated: + + "Tis the wink of an eye,'tis the draught of a breath, + From the blossom of health to the paleness of death, + From the gilded saloon to the bier and the shroud,-- + Oh, why should the spirit of mortal be proud?" + +[From a speech by Hon. Lawrence Weldon, at a bar-meeting held in the +United States Court at Springfield, Ills., in June, 1865.] + + + + +LINCOLN AT FORT MONROE. + +An interesting recollection of Lincoln comes from the pen of Colonel +LeGrand B. Cannon, of New York. One cannot fail to be impressed with the +strength of the side-light thrown by these reminiscences on a life as +peculiar, in some respects, as it was grand and unique in others: + +"It was my great good fortune," relates Colonel Cannon, "to know +something of Mr. Lincoln distinct from his official life. Intensely in +earnest I entered the service at the opening of the Rebellion as a +staff officer in the regular army and was assigned to the Department of +Virginia, with headquarters at Fort Monroe. Major-General Wool was +in command of the Department, and I was honored by him as his chief +of-staff, and enjoyed his entire confidence. It was the only gate open +for communication with the rebel government, and General Wool was the +agent for such intercourse. + +"In the early stages of the war there was a want of harmony between the +army and navy about us which seriously embarrassed military operations, +resulting in the President and Secretaries Chase and Stanton coming +to Fort Monroe to adjust matters. Domestic comforts were limited at +headquarters, and the President occupied my room. I was (in accordance +with military etiquette) assigned to him as 'Aide-in-Waiting' and +Secretary. Although I had frequently met the President as 'Bearer of +Dispatches,' I was not a little prejudiced, and a good deal irritated, +at the levity which he was charged with indulging in. In grave matters, +jesting and frolicking seemed to me shocking, with such vital matters at +stake, and I confess to thinking of Nero. + +"But all this changed when I came to know him; and I very soon discerned +that he had a sad nature; but that, although a terrible burden, his +sadness did not originate in his great official responsibilities. I had +heard that his home was not pleasant, but did not know that there was +more beyond it. + +"The day after Mr. Lincoln came to us he said to me: 'I suppose you have +neither a Bible nor a copy of Shakespeare here?' I replied that I had a +Bible, and the General had Shakespeare, and that the latter never missed +a night without reading it. 'Won't he lend it to me?' inquired the +President. I answered, 'Yes,' and, of course, obtained it for him. + +"The day following he read by himself in one of my offices, two hours or +more, entirely alone, I being engaged in a connecting room on duty. He +finally interrupted me, inviting me to rest while he would read to me. +He read from _Macbeth, Lear_, and finally. _King John_. In reading the +passage where Constance bewails to the King the loss of her child, I +noticed that his voice trembled and he was deeply moved. Laying the book +on the table he said: + +"'Did you ever dream of a lost friend and feel that you were having a +sweet communion with that friend, and yet a consciousness that it was +not a reality?' + +"'Yes,' I replied, 'I think almost any one may have had such an +experience.' + +"'So do I,' he mused; 'I dream of my dead boy, Willie, again and again.' + +"I shall never forget the sigh nor the look of sorrow that accompanied +this expression. He was utterly overcome; his great frame shook, and, +bowing down on the table, he wept as only such a man in the breaking +down of a great sorrow could weep. It is needless to say that I wept +in sympathy, and quietly left the room that he might recover without +restraint. + +"Lincoln never again referred to his boy, but he made me feel that he +had given me a sacred confidence, and he ever after treated me with a +tenderness and regard that won my love. + +"Again, some days later, I had been absent on a reconnoissance, and +returned late in the afternoon. I was in my room dressing for dinner +(which was a very formal affair, as, besides the Administration, we had, +almost daily, distinguished foreigners to dine) when the President came +in. Seeing me in full uniform he said: + +"'Why, Colonel, you're fixing up mighty fine. Suppose you lend me your +comb and brush, and I'll put on a few touches, too.' + +"I handed the desired articles to him and he toyed with the comb awhile +and then laid it down, exclaiming: + +"'This thing will never get through my hair. Now, if you have such a +thing as they comb a horse's tail with, I believe I can use it.' After +a merry laugh, he continued: 'By the way, I can tell you a good story +about my hair. When I was nominated, at Chicago, an enterprising fellow +thought that a great many people would like to see how Abe Lincoln +looked, and, as I had not long before sat for a photograph, this fellow +having seen it, rushed over and bought the negative. He at once got out +no end of wood-cuts, and, so active was their circulation, they were +selling in all parts of the country. Soon after they reached Springfield +I heard a boy crying them for sale on the streets. 'Here's your likeness +of Abe Lincoln!' he shouted. + +"'Buy one; price only two shillings! Will look a good deal better when he +gets his hair combed!'" + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Abraham Lincoln, Volume 2 (of 2), by +William H. Herndon and Jesse W. 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