| OCR Text |
Show outwitted others and overcame them all. The subtlety of this task would have ruined 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 further 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, 18G0, when his single will turned the scale against compromise; upon his steadfastness In the defeat of his party at the polls In 18C2. The Civil war waa In truth Lincoln's war. Those modern pacifists who claim him as their own are beside the murk. They will never get over the Illusions about Lincoln until they see. ns nil the world Is beginning to see. that his coreer 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 heat usually met with In the statesmen of successful success-ful democracy from Cleon to Robespierre, Robe-spierre, from Andrew Jackson to Lloyd George. Ills gentleness does not re- Greatness of Lincoln Shown in Statecraft ' Writing In the St. Louis I'ost-Dls patch, Nathaniel W. Stephenson, pro-feasor pro-feasor of history at the College of Charleston, S. C, thus review President Presi-dent Lincoln's great achievements: The history of the North hail 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 dllllciilt to separate his per-L per-L 8onal!ty from the ireiul of national " history. Any attempt to understand the I achievements, and the omissions of I the Northern people without underfnk- ! Ing an Intelligent estimate of their lender would be only to duplicate the story of Hamlet with Hamlet left out. According to the opinion of Eng-l Eng-l llsh military experts, "against the great military genius of certain Southern South-ern leaders fate opposed the unl.rok-en unl.rok-en resolution and passionate devotion devo-tion to the Union, which he worshipped, wor-shipped, of the great Northern I'resl dent As long as he lived and ruled the people of the North there could be no turning hack." He wus neither a saint nor a villain. vil-lain. What he actually was Is not. however, so easily stated. I'rodlglous men art never easy to sum up; and Lincoln was a prodigious man. The more one studies him the more Individual In-dividual he appears to he. !iy degrees one conies to understand how It was possible for contemporaries to hold contradictory views of h! in nnd fr 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 rememhered : On the one hand, his tnsk was not as arduous as It might have been, because be-cause the most Intellectual part of the North had definitely commuted Itself either Irretrievably for. or Irreconcilably Irreconcil-ably against, his policy. Lincoln, therefore, did not have to trouble himself with this portion of the population. popu-lation. On the oilier hand, that pnrt which he bad to master Included sucb e tlonal rhetoricians as Horace Cree- ley; such fierce sealots as Henry Winter Win-ter Pavls of .Maryland, who made hint trouble Indeed; and Benjamin Wnde. . Such military egoists ns Sic-Clellnn Sic-Clellnn and Pope; such crafty double-X&. double-X&. dealers as his own secretary of the Y treasury; such astute gntfters ns Cumeron; such miserable creatures as certain powerful capitalist, who eucritlced his army to their own lust for profits aud filched from army con tracts. The wonder of Lincoln's achievement achieve-ment is that he contrived ut last to extend his hold over all these diverse elements; that lie persuaded some. move Lincoln from that stern category. Throughout his life, besides his passion pas-sion for the Union, besides his antipathy an-tipathy for slnvery, there dwelt In his very heart love of and faith In the plain people. We shall never see hint In tme historic perspective until we conceive him as the Instrument of a vast social Idea the determination to make a government based upon the plain people successful In war. i Intence 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 ot 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 the present situation, as the phrase goes. It may be my duty to make some new announcement to the people of the South. 1 am considering con-sidering and shall not fall 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 Presl 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 oft." he said, throwing up his hands, as If scaring sheep. "Enough lives have been sacrificed; we must extinguish our resentments If, we expect harmony har-mony and union." The passage of CO years has proved fully necessary to the placing of Lincoln Lin-coln In historic perspective. No Presl , dent. In bis own time, with the possible pos-sible exception of Washington, was so bitterly hated and so fiercely reviled On the other band, none 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 lie paid a beautiful tribute to Lincoln and said: "Next to the destruction of the Con federacy, the death of Abraham Lin coin was the darkest day the South has ever known." 'M iff" Abova n plcturad tha palatini Mr Abraham Lincoln, which was pratented to tbt Whila Houm by Robert Todd Lincoln, am ot tna Great Emanripator Tha palatini la th. work of KathariM Halm. |
