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Show Greatness of Lincoln Shown in Statecraft Writing In tlie St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Nathaniel VV. Stephenson, professor pro-fessor of history at the College of Charleston, S. C, thus reviews President Presi-dent Lincoln's great achievements. The history of the North had virtually vir-tually become, by April, 1801, the history his-tory of Lincoln himself, and during the remaining years of the President's life it is difficult to separate his personality per-sonality from the trend of national history. Any attempt to understand the Ichievements and the omissions of ' the Northern people without undertaking undertak-ing an intelligent estimate of their leader would be only to duplicate the story of Hamlet with Hamlet left ont. According to the opinion of English Eng-lish military experts, "against the great military genius of certain Southern South-ern leaders fate opposed the unbroken unbrok-en resolution and passionate devotion devo-tion to the Union, which he worshipped, wor-shipped, of the great Northern President Presi-dent As long as he lived and ruled the people of the North there could be no turning back." . . . He was neither a saint nor a villain. vil-lain. What iie actually was is not, however, so ensily stated. Prodigious nien are never easy to sum up ; and Lincoln was a prodigious man. The Iniore one studies him the more Individual In-dividual he appears to be. By degrees one comes to understand how it was possible for contemporaries to hold contradictory views of him and for each to believe that his views were proved by the facts. . . . Lincoln's Friends and Enemies. To measure Lincoln's achievement, two things must be remembered : On the one hand, his task was not as arduous as It might have been, because be-cause the most Intellectual part of the North had definitely committed itself either irretrievably for, or irrecuncil ably against, his policy. Lincoln, therefore, did not have to trouble himself with this portion of the population. popu-lation. On the other hand, that part which he had to master included such 1 emotional rhetoricians as Horace Greeley; Gree-ley; such fierce zealots as Henry Winter Win-ter Davis of Maryland, who made him trouble indeed; and Benjamin Wade. . . Such military egoists as Mc-Clellan Mc-Clellan and Pope; such crafty double-dealers double-dealers as his own secretary of the treasury; such astute grafters as Cameron; such miserable creatures a a certain powerful capitalist, who sacrificed his army to their own lust for profits and filched from army contracts. con-tracts. The wonder of Lincoln's achievement achieve-ment Is that he contrived at last to extend his hold over all these diverse elements; that he persuaded some, outwitted others and overcame them all. The subtlety of this task would have mined any statesman of the driving sort. Great Creative Ability. We are, even today, far from a definitive de-finitive understanding of Lincoln's statecraft, but there is perhaps justification justi-fication for venturing upon one prophecy. proph-ecy. The farther from him we get and the more clearly we see him in perspective, per-spective, the more shall we realize his creative Influence upon his party. In the Lincoln of his ultimate biographer biog-rapher there will be more of iron than of a less enduring metal in the figure of the Lincoln of the present tradition. tradi-tion. Though none of his gentleness will disappear, there will be more emphasis placed upon his - firmness and upon such episodes as that of December, 1SC0, when his single will turned the scale against compromise; upon his steadfastness In the defeat of his party at the polls In 18G2. . The Civil war was In truth Lincoln's war. Those modern pacifists who claim him as their own are beside the mark. They will never get over the illusions about Lincoln until they see, as all the world Is beginning to see, that his career has universal significance signifi-cance because of Its bearing upon the universal problem of democracy. It will not do ever to forget that he was a man of the people, always playing the hand of the people, in the limited social sense of that word, though playing play-ing it with none of the beat usually met with in the statesmen of successful success-ful democracy from Cleon to Robespierre, Robe-spierre, from Andrew Jackson to Lloyd George. His gentleness does not remove re-move Lincoln from that stern category. Throughout his life, besides his passion pas-sion for the Union, besides his antipathy an-tipathy for slavery, there dwelt In his very heart love of and faith In the plain people. We shall never see bim in true historic perspective until we conceive him as the Instrument of a vast social Idea the determination tit ftV f 1 : 1 K x , i -- - - 1 o 1 j I v x J Above is pictured the p.-vnting ol Mrs Abraham Lincoln, which was presented to the While House by Fobert Todd Lincoln, son of the Great Emancipator. The painting U the work of Katherine Helm. 1 to make a government based upon the plain people successful In war. Intense Love for Mankind. He did not scruple to seize power when he thought the cause of the people demanded It, and his enemies were prompt to accuse him of holding to the doctrine that the end justifies the means a hasty conclusion which will have to be reconsidered. What concerns us more closely Is the definite defi-nite conviction that he felt no sacrifice too great If It advanced the happiness of the generality of mankind. Five weeks after the second Inauguration In-auguration Lee surrendered and the war was virtually at an end. What was to come after was Inevitably the overshadowing topic of the hour. Many anecdotes represent Lincoln In these last few days of his life, as possessed by a high though melancholy mood of extreme mercy. Therefore, much has been Inferred from the following follow-ing words In his last public address, made on the night of the eleventh of April: "In thj present situation, as the phrase goes, It may be my duty to make some new announcement to the people of the South. I am considering con-sidering and shall not fail to act when action shall be proper." No Animosity In His Heart. What was to be done for the South, what treatment should be accorded the Southern leaders engrossed the President Presi-dent and his cabinet at the meeting on April 14, which was destined to be their last. Secretary Welles has preserved pre-served the spirit of the meeting in a striking anecdote. Lincoln said no one need expect he would "take any part in hanging or killing those men, even the worst of them. Frighten them out of the country, open the gates, let down the bars, scare them off." he said, throwing up his hands, as If scaring sheep. "Enough lives have-been have-been sacrificed; we must extinguish our resentments if we expect harmony har-mony and union." While Lincoln was thus arming himself him-self with a valiant mercy, a band of conspirators at an obscure boarding house in Washington were planning his assassination. . . . The passage of CO years has proved fully necessary to the placing of Lincoln Lin-coln In historic perspective. No President, Presi-dent, In his own time, with the possible pos-sible exception of Washington, 'was so bitterly hated and so fiercely reviled. On the other hand, nonp has been the object of such Intemperate hero worship. wor-ship. However, the greatest In the land were, in the main, quick to see him in perspective and to recognize his historic significance. It is recorded of Davis that in after days hp paid a beautiful tribute to Lincoln ami s.iid: "Next to ilic destruction of thp Con federncy, the death of Abraham Lincoln Lin-coln was the darkest day the Soiuh bs ever known." |