Show IT WAS A GREAT YEAR LINCOLN TENNYSON AND GLADSTONE BORN IN interesting told by con coa temporaries of tile greit crest swo side aig lits on Lincol ns III ails wit and ling ced Il honesty copyright I 1 by american press assoria Ass ocla bioni L LIVER I 1 V E R W HOLMES reading the dispatch anno inc ing the death ol of tennyson Teu said only gladstone Is left of tile alio great men gaeu born in tho the year ISO lincoln Lic Lit coln gladstone stone and tennyson alio were of 0 tho the same age were g gAi as great as the world lias has ever cen icen i nud and each ol 01 them will be ba as aa longas long ia tho alio english 1 language ingua go is or read it is if a little strange that this same thought should hive have occurred to other as distinguished distinguish eil as dr holmes olmes Il for tho he english newspapers and some home of oc tile the english statesmen in bleaking of ten nylons life saw fit to couple his namo name with that of Linc lincoln olti and of gladstone as those of men who were the choicest gift gif t to the human race of the year ISOO 1809 during daring the past fearsome year some of those who were ivere close to president Lin lincoln coll have died and of all the number of men who were conspicuous with the politics with which lie he was so preeminently MI associated V only willi williim Vil liim i in tk 1 and davidi n F N dudley field are left ar I 1 field hid had gained f tame a me while lincoln was w as it aiu it awkward legislator in the illinois house bouse BIT TENN in ing but slight hint of those powers which made his career what it was evarts had won von such repute as rejoices the lawyers heart while lincoln was an ob ch egure aud and by many deemed almost clownish mom member berof of the rhe national house of representatives I 1 george william curtis N aho vho bo came to have profound admiration for lincoln and who in in the convention that nominated the rail splitter mado made a speech having genuine lorenco eloquence loK enco in it which gave him famo fame throughout hout tho the land having havin died within the past year mr evarts alone is left of those men who were mi mighty aty warriors upon that historic occasion two years ago the writer meeting hannibal hallm on the occasion of his bis last public appearance at the dinner of the lincoln club in new york city risked asked that venerable statesman if in his old age as lie reviewed his association with mr lincoln as vice president ho he had bad changed his estimate of Lincol lincolnia Lin colna ns character at all the 4 A ze old gentleman did not reply on the instant ha seemed to bi weighing the wor ls with which he should make answer but lie he said at last aspea in with great sole solemnity i GLADSTONE of manner yes 1 have changed my opinion lal I 1 always waysL regarded lincoln as a good man and an ible le man but in these days of my ieti rement as I 1 look back upon my acquaintance lua nuance with him I 1 see him as not only a good and an able man but as the purest the most unselfish and all things considered the abl ablest lest man our country has produced since it was established asid and that message was almost the last characterization of lincoln which mr hamlin made for lie died a few months later if one seeks today an impression fr from orn men who knew lincoln or have studied his life the most moa significant comment which is made is this that thai it is more und and more realized that his greatest grei test power perhaps was his mastery over great men and tile tho astonishment which this understanding gives is that an abc are man one who had no advantages ic w hose life was circumscribed by 4 1 r 1 little prairie town who hall had no schooling scarcely any intercourse with tile the great ecat men of liis his day clay before he became lent jent who abo was timid diffident Dt and in some respects painfully modest should nevertheless lie camo came in contact with tile tho greatest men of the ind lind l havo harv subordinated them to lis his purposes and compelled them kheiri to acknowledge his intellectual tel po power and hn his superior judgment it has been possible to obtain bolce anecdotes which if they are not new havo have not cot been widely circulated and which illustrate this pic eminent qualley of abraham lincoln Liu coln lilt ills voli political Mait cry david davis who was one of Lincol ns earliest friends and was irm perhaps the first to predict for him tile tho probability of i great career once said to tho the writer 1 I 1 believe that as time passes and mr Lincol ns life is impartially studied he be will be esteemed as tho the ablest politician that ilia political life in the united states has hai developed yet helas he was not a politician in tho ordinary sense mr air lincoln r never managed a can caucus cus never urged a cau candidate didato for office never pulled a viro nire never created a following or machine and lie had little pa tie fienco or understanding when such things thag s were discini discussed jed in his presence yet he ha had a wider knowledge of the effect of woral moral influences upon ma acs anda and a deeper understanding of the power of moral aud and intellectual impulse so ns ils a political loli l agent than any other oilier mail of ins his time this was shown in two bases cases which is as I 1 look back now convince me that lie he expected to bo be a candidate for iho ho presidency Fresl dency and did wha t ho he did in cheso h 0 s two oases ivr is a par part of his big plan tor for ob obtaining t e I 1 laing the tha nomination anil and election judge davis then went on to say that loncoln I 1 realized what nobody else at that timo time seemed to tinder stand that A seat in tho the senate was an almost insuperable obstacle in tha ilia a path of presidential ambition conkling 12 ag afterward ext pre pres s ed that ide idea a in ft speech in tha tho senate senat C in which ho he said tha senate breeds anale unhealthy althy candidates candid atea for the presidency an A it e exciting eichi Puli political v canvass amr ass took laco I 1 iii I 1 DA DAVID 11 DAW illinois early in id buch analis administration it was understood that if tile tho party of which mr lincoln was a ric member anber carried tile the state lis bis friends would brin bring him bira forward as fi a candid candidate late for th tha senate senata lie trade the canvass with that dundei standing Anele an element mentin in the party perhaps the cultured and wealthier element favored lyman trumbull the election so resulted that it waa pos bibla to ellios 3 as united states set sec ator a member of tile the r republican party anil and to the astonishment of mr air Lincol Lincoln ns 3 friends he withdrew and nd ura urged red tho the selection of mr Trum trumbull buil who ati 1 3 crosien cho sien Linco Lincol liis ns frienda were amazed they wondered why tie ho should thus li lightly turn his face away from one of the most dazzling prizes prize 3 of politics but bat years afterward they had reason to suspect that mr lincoln realized that with lyman Trumbull in the senate his most formidable competitor for the presidential nomination at least in illinois would be beyond the ilia power of doing his hia own ambition injury no elo veter nt ier can ro no president tv 0 3 ears later mr lincoln again did something which seemed to his friends then it 11 grievous mt mistake take but which they rd perceived was ii 1 I stroke of polities aties s such as would be suggested only by preeminent pre eminent genius he was carrying on that debate with stephen A douglas which is now one of the great traditions of politics ile he prepared a series of questions 0 4 which lie he proposed to ask douglas on the at stamp amp ile permitted DOUGLAS some of his friends to cast their eyes over these interrogations and they said to him dont ask him this question mr lincoln because if you do he will answer it in such a way as to make his hia reelection election re to tho the senate certain ali ah replied lincoln Liucc ln with a twinkle in hia eye yes that is true but if lie ho takes that shoot he never can be president nio friends who heard this were amazed that lincoln should bo be willing thus to let douglas defeat him for the senate but they perceived art afterward erward that lincoln was entirely willing to let douglas resume his oratorical nights flights in the senate if thereby he be would be able to lo defeat hia bis presidential aspiration these anecdotes jud judge a davis mentioned to illustrate that higher power as a politician which enabled lincoln to win the greatest triumph of politics it was a great gamo game he played so great that it was vr as not understood bythe by the ordinary politician until results were accomplished shed the Slie cred merchants chauncey depew tells a story of lincoln which illustrates this quality which enabled him to appear at ease and also to demonstrate his hi mastery when iu in the presence of great men inen it was at tile the time that tho the ironclad merrimac was being built the story was that she sha should sail upon the ocean and into tile the harbor of A new york and either 41 bombard ilia city or 0 exact enormous tribute pt A committee of 13 new york merchants I 1 s appointed by tile the chamber of commerce was sent to washington to implore mr lincoln to cx DEPEW do something Eom othil to protect now new york harbor he received them courteously but there was a very grave expression on his face as ho he listened to the spokesman that man said mr lincoln wo nye represent hundreds of millions of property new york is practically defenseless if the merrimac comes into our harbor it can ruin us and wo we implore you at once to take measures to give us defense for a minute or two ur mr lincoln did not reply ile iio knew the government was straining every nerve to prevent depredations by the merrimac SIer it could do nothing more it tor for an instant as though there were a suggestion of anger in his glance but if lio lie had that impulse lie subdued it that quaint smile which anticipated anticipate tl a humorous story came to his face and he said eaid well gentlemen I 1 think if I 1 had as many millions at peril as you say ayou 3 have and I 1 was as skee rod as 3 ou seem to bo be about the coming of tile the merrimac men dimac instead of coming down here and waking malting speeches about it I 1 would go homo home and spend some of those millions in ill making defenses myself and that was all he said to them the new chants were amazed and yet as they went away they confessed that common sense was wai in his humorous advice still and they also confes confessed ed their benbo of the wast mastery tery of this man mi hit simplicity tit at great X scents thurlow weed in ia ilia his old ago was full of anecdotes anecdote i which lie ho was fond foad of telling to illustrate that simplicity of greatness which characterized lincoln perhaps in a bi higher ber degree 1 I rr N than any other man 77 0 that J astute politician We edever met weed was fund fond of telling one which Lug suggested strikingly bingly that quality r of simplicity on oil the iho day that the chi WEED cago convention li nominated M lincoln dewent lie went to tile the office of tho local newspaper in springfield sad s sat a with r it b i liis ii a f friends rie n ds b his is long leys legs t 0 extended x and a n cl supported t u p po r p d b by y a hair chair hii bin manner cooler aoler than that of any man mail in in the while lio lie chatted chat teil and toll told with such each delicious aba abandon on 11 iia q would havo have astl suggested that lie was the least co conceited conce coined ined of any 1 nan man in in the united lates states in the migi might ita events at chiea chicago n A telegraph operator while this chatting was going cing on wrote upon a slip of 0 paper which had just bevy ticked over the wire abeso were the words mr lincoln you yon havo have just been nominated for president k lincoln took 10 the slip unfolded it read it through slowly 1147 L I 1 and then pas passed ailitto it to N M some f hii freais frei is s I 1 they arose to 0 o oi gra tolate him and after a hr he said ture is it a little woman mantlow down at lay house who I 1 would bo be w M bvm Ts glad to hear this news newe and I 1 guess ni III go and tell liar and with that inbur informality and strange simplicity lie carried the message to his wife ird meets nil fits ortch aist cli 01 1 I learned this story a few days later when 1 went to springfield said mr weed while chatting one evean evening after t lincoln was nominated iwas I 1 was so greatly dh disappointed appointed that I 1 firbie thought of malting making a trip to the ilia far west then I 1 hesitated I 1 said 11 1 should like to boa beo tins this man who has been brou brought glit upon up on the prairies of illinois and who has beaten our idol seward I 1 should like to fathom min him and find out oat how bauch the party has got to fear for its success in ilia his candidacy so I 1 decided to go to springfield and spend a few hours hour with the candidate date I 1 had no doubt atall at all that after an hours hones ch chat atwith with him I 1 could read him through like a book I 1 had never met a 1 man before out of whom 1 was not able to pump the mysteries m sterios of his character well vv all I 1 went to springfield and wn received receive dver very ry cordially by mr lincoln I 1 begin began to talk with him and to lihn hin questions I 1 spent two hours with him and when I 1 came anway I 1 said to myself thurlow Thuri ow weed that is tile tho ira t mau man you havo have ever met who was too much for you lie ile pumped every everything thing out of me and I 1 got nothing in return well 1 went away aud and told my frienda that there was one thin thing T they need not have any fears about thi This aaman roan it if he bo V was as bred in a country town know knew enough to keep his own counsels and they might inight bo be sure that he be would say or do nothing dun during ng the campaign that would imperil the canvass 0 I 1 know knew that it if I 1 could not handle him it was W not likely that any other politician in oar party would be able to do so ills self reliance his intellectual quickness and his in i iw if SEWARD sight into other mens menla sotiros were something marvelous marve lons and I 1 v at ay to admit the party h had all inada ade no mist mistake lie in selecting this man mail whom wo we thought a green countryman as its candidate after ills his election I 1 went to see him again to talk with him about his cabinet and bi his 3 measures aas ures he II 11 a then told me that he expected to ask mr seward to become secretary of state and mr chase secretary of the treasury cut but that was all ilia positive information I 1 could get out or him I 1 saw that lio lie understood tho the public men of ilia country just as well oil as I 1 did although most of them he be had bad never seen he hail had in an understanding of mens character as intuitive as a womans comans wo mans lye he played with me and that was a now new experience for I 1 had bad been accustomed to play with others and I 1 realized that this man was the master of the politicians in his party at the ile head ad of tile the table mr wood weed usel to tell the story nf how mr lincoln demonstrated to his cabinet that where he sat was the head bend of the he table when his ca cabinet binet met there was no mau of oe them who had not been more conspicuous than lincoln uy to the time of 0 lis his nomination there was seward the idol of the whigs and the eastern republicans a very great ruin man there was chase of commanding intellect there were cameron and blair and bates all of them justly esteemed great men and there is no doubt that each of them expected to dominate this man who was their president such at was mr weeds opinion seward tried it first said weed and no one else followed his example ile ho bro brought 0 into |