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Show ABE LINCOLN AS A RULER OF MEN. , X Current Literature has an article on a new history that la about being .published of Abraham Lincoln, to show particularly par-ticularly the power of Mr-Lincoln over men.' For a title it copies from Secretary. Stanton, ""The most perfect, ruler of men the world has ever seen." It tells of Mr. -Lincoln's power over such men as Douglas, McClellan, Stanton; Se,-v-ard, Frembnt and Chase. . -. . '. " V- r J " ' Mr., Lincoln did not. have much- power over McClellan. , McCIellan tried for two or three "yeafs"t()xeerclse his power over Mr Lincoln." -"His power over . Douglas was solely. due to, the patriotism of the. little giant When the. Union was assailed there was jiothlng fora an like Douglas to do but to Join whatever power was assailing that attempt . to destroy the Union. Lincoln won his" power over' Secretary Seward by" showing that most accomplished statesman that he had more brains, than Mr.' Seward". had. The story, is that-it originated this way:" ' ' " . ' v ; . ' ". """'At ,the time of . the capture of the Trent, when-the' Government Gov-ernment was tn sore trouble, Mr.' Seward laid a letter "before Mr. Lincoln-directed 'to the Pjemier of Great Britain, Seward's Sew-ard's thought being that, jt' was .only courtesy to show, the letter to the . President before he mailed it Mr Lincoln took a pencil, struck- out sentences here and there, Interlined- here and there; .went .through-the-whole letter.-and when he got throagh he said,- "j "Mr.- Secretary, have It fixed -that way: and Jt will .do." - Seward noticed what had been stricken put and , what had been' added, read it carefully, and then was man enough to say,1 "Mr. President, that la a very great public paper." But really there is one secret to Mr. Lincoln's power over men individually and over his countrymen collectively. He was, as Douglas said, "The honestest man I ever saw." In addition he was one of the most country-loving men that ever breathed. He determined to save his country. To do that required all the courage In his nature. To do that right in his Judgment it had to be honestly done, and putting put-ting all those faculties together, and with the added fact that those very faculties gave him the clearest Judgment of all 'the men who surrounded him, It got to be second nature at last for men to get his opinions and to adopt them. And then in a lesser sense he had not one speck of false pride. He was ready to give any man full credit for anything he did. He was ready to accept any other man's Judgment when that Judgment seemed sounder than his own. With all, his charity was as broad as the land. He bore no malice toward any one. He-intimated very strongly in the last days of his life the hope that Jeff Davis and his associates would never be captured, Und our belief is that had he lived his first recommendation would have been to Congress to give to the States that had tried to secede from the Union the power to reorganize State governments and go to work, limiting them only to the Insistence that there must be no more slavery and no laws which In a roundabout round-about way would be equal to slavery. The real fact is, he was raised up and set aside to do the work which his great office outlined for him,' and when the brunt of that work was over he was appointed to be the final sacrifice of the mighty war. . ' . , . |