Изображения страниц
PDF
EPUB

Brave George, to give him Presidential power,
Then Washington made haughty monarchs cower.
Think not, that God will this fair Land forsake,
Now in its prime; His arm will soon o'ertake
Its enemies, and baffle all their aims,

Raise the poor slave, and shatter all his chains.
The glory of our country's father, cast

A halo o'er the infant child, to last

For ages, if the child withholds to mar

It's brightness, beaming forth from Freedom's star.

CHAPTER VII.

LINCOLN'S INTUITION.

"Labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire called conscience."-George Washington.

Abraham Lincoln knew intuitively the right or wrong of great social problems and acted according to the dictates of his conscience. He drew inspiration from within and decided what to do in emergencies not so much from acquired wisdom as by intuition. Where other men resorted to classic lore and worldly scholastic learning, gained from the college or university, Lincoln communed with himself and ultimately discovered a rule of action and a light to guide him through the perilous labyrinth of human affairs when besieged by conflicting opinions and surrounded by enemies on every side. His quick application of some story to illustrate his position, served to prove this habit of resorting to intuitive promptings to do certain things or refuse to act on the advice of others when such advice did not coincide with his own judgment.

In his debates and speeches, it was not so much the letter of the Federal Constitution and legislative acts or glittering generalities which directed him as the spirit of justice that sprang spontaneously from within.

Douglas said "He did not care whether slavery was voted up or voted down. This Lincoln could not understand, for if slavery was wrong, according to his intuitive promptings, it should emphatically be voted down. This to him was the only course to pursue. It was axiomatic.

His intuition to do what was right and his determination to carry out his conclusions was marvelous and showed the inborn superiority of his magnanimous and exalted character. He was willing to risk his own life to achieve what he had made up his mind was the right course to pursue. It was this that won the hearts of the people everywhere and prompted him to do many merciful and benevolent acts against widespread opposition, and when he was possessed of almost autocratic power. It was this that enabled him finally to bring about the liberation of the slaves and to sign the great charter of emancipation.

By comparing the sayings of Abraham Lincoln with those wordly wise sayings of great diplomats like Talleyrand or Voltaire, or a great judge like Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, it will be easily understood how he differed from them for the better on a question of right or wrong.

Talleyrand said, "Speech was given for man to disguise his thoughts."

"Society is divided into two classes: The shearers and the shorn. We should always be with the former against the latter." Voltaire said, "They only employ words to disguise their thoughts. Clever tyrants are never punished."

Chief Justice Taney said, in the Dred Scott decision, "The Constitution recognizes no difference between such property (meaning slaves), and any other property."

This is not the spirit of the United States Constitution nor did it agree with Abraham Lincoln's opinion, or the course he pursued when chief executive of the Nation.

Lincoln said, "In giving freedom to the slave, we assure freedom to the free-honorable alike in what we give and what we preserve."

"Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith let us to the end dare to do our duty as we understand it."

"I take the official oath today with no mental reservation and with no purpose to construe the constitution by any hypercritical rule."

"I intend no modification of my oft expressed wish that all men everywhere should be free."

"With malice towards none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right."

Lincoln was working quietly and rapidly without unnecessary publicity to meet the threatened attacks of the Confederacy, but he acted at all times with due regard to legal technicalities and did not take the initiative at any time in commencing hostilities. This was the wisest course to pursue.

In the management of the affairs of the army and navy, and meeting the requirements of every day in the struggle to maintain the government intact the President assumed and freely used from time to time, all powers required by any emergency as being conferred upon him by the emergency. If these powers were also conferred upon him by the Constitution and the laws, as previously interpreted so much the better for those instruments, and for their previous interpretation. If not, it would answer equally as well if Congress afterward should pass laws covering the matters involved, and if the Constitution should be duly amended at the defective spot, as discovered. Such is the funda

mental law of all human societies in all revolutionary states and conditions.

"Lincoln absorbed in and united with his own action as Dictator and President, the previous action of the legislative branches of government. Members of Congress were unable to say to each other, the Commander-in-chief has issued a general order embodying and enforcing our legislation. The general order contained and embraced such amplifications as rendered a dictatorial proclamation forever independent of legislative act." (Stoddard History.)

To obtain a clear impression of Abraham Lincoln's character, it is necessary to read and study his letters and speeches. These can be found in a book entitled "Speeches and Letters of Abraham Lincoln, 1832-1865", published by J. W. Dent and Company, London, and E. P. Dutton & Company, New York. This book was given as a souvenir to those who attended the Centennial Anniversary of Lincoln's birthday at Springfield in 1909, which I attended. Speeches on Lincoln were delivered there by the Right Honorable James Bryce, Ambassador Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary from Great Britain; Hon. J. J. Jusserand, Ambassador Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary from the French Republic; Hon. Jonathan B. Dolliver, United States senator from Iowa, and William Jennings Bryan.

Nicolay and Hay, in their "Abraham Lincoln, a History," not only give extracts from many of Lincoln's speeches and papers, but conscientiously and graphically relate the thrilling incidents of those doubtful and anxious days during the Civil War when a great crisis was forced upon a nation entirely unprepared for the sudden assault made by a powerful and treasonable organized force within its territory which threatened its destruction. They both went with him from Springfield and were with him from first to last as private secretaries, and they personally were acquainted with many of those who were prominent in that terrible conflict. All the archives of the government during Lincoln's administration, as well as his private letters, were open to their inspection when compiling their graphic account of the life of Lincoln and the Civil War. They both were young men of high social and intellectual standing, and few historians who would have undertaken to write the life of Lincoln possessed better facilities, or were better qualified than they to do justice to the subject. I am confident that neither of them was influenced by prejudice or partiality in their account of the tragic events that occurred. I often met both these gentlemen when living in Springfield, and knew Mr. Hay intimately before he became Secretary to Lincoln. The last time I met him was in Rome in 1894, at the Hotel Quirinal. I remember we had a

long talk about municipal government, on which subject I was then writing.

Any one who will take time to read Lincoln's speeches, letters, and messages to Congress, and the Proclamation of Emancipation, will find in them remarkable uniformity, cool deliberation, and a progressive movement of thought and purpose. There is no contradiction nor subterfuge, but a firm determination to carry out a well-defined purpose from the first time he gave utterance in Illinois to his views on slavery, the Constitution and the Union, until the final premature and tragic ending of his active and useful career. In order to give an insight into Lincoln's character, and to show his humane as well as farseeing and intelligent methods, a number of his letters, proclamation, and speeches are given herewith.

LINCOLN'S FAREWELL ADDRESS AT SPRINGFIELD, FEBRUARY II, 1861.

"My friends; no one, not in my situation, can appreciate my feelings of sadness at this parting. To this place and the kindness of these people, I owe everything. Here I have lived a quarter of a century, and have passed from a young to an old man. Here my children have been born, and one is buried. I now leave, not knowing when or whether, I may ever return, with a task before me greater than that which rested upon Washington. Without the assistance of that Divine Being who ever attended him I cannot succeed. With that assistance I cannot fail. Trusting in Him, who can go with ine, and remain with you, and be everywhere for good, let us confidently hope that all will be well. To His care commending you, as I hope in your prayers you will commend me, I bid you an affectionate farewell."

[ocr errors]

This address, in view of subsequent events, is pathetic and touching. It even looks as if Mr. Lincoln had a presentiment of his tragic death.

LINCOLN'S FIRST MESSAGE TO CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1861.

Congress assembled July 4th, 1861 and President Lincoln delivered his first message.

He said, "It is thus seen that the assault upon and reduction of Fort Sumter was in no sense a matter of self-defense on the part of the assailants. They well knew that the garrison in the fort could by no possibility commit aggression upon them. They knew they were expressly notified-that the giving of bread to the few brave and hungry men of the garrison was all which

« ПредыдущаяПродолжить »