President Lincoln wrote to General Hooker on June 5, 1863, warning
Hooker not to run any risk of being entangled on the Rappahannock “like
an ox jumped half over a fence and liable to be torn by dogs, front and
rear, without a fair chance to give one way or kick the other.” On the
10th he warned Hooker not to go south of the Rappahannock upon Lee’s
moving north of it. “I think Lee’s army and not Richmond is your true
objective power. If he comes toward the upper Potomac, follow on his
flank, and on the inside track, shortening your lines while he lengthens
his. Fight him, too, when opportunity offers. If he stay where he is,
fret him, and fret him.”
On the 14th again he says: “So far as we can make out here, the enemy
have Milroy surrounded at Winchester, and Tyler at Martinsburg. If they
could hold out for a few days, could you help them? If the head of Lee’s
army is at Martinsburg, and the tail of it on the flank road between
Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, the animal must be very slim
somewhere; could you not break him?”
“MRS. NORTH AND HER ATTORNEY.”
In the issue of London “Punch” of September 24th, 1864, President
Lincoln is pictured as sitting at a table in his law office, while in a
chair to his right is a client, Mrs. North. The latter is a fine client
for any attorney to have on his list, being wealthy and liberal, but as
the lady is giving her counsel, who has represented her in a legal way
for four years, notice that she proposes to put her legal business in
the hands of another lawyer, the dejected look upon the face of Attorney
Lincoln is easily accounted for. “Punch” puts these words in the lady’s
mouth:
MRS. NORTH: “You see, Mr. Lincoln, we have failed utterly in our course
of action; I want peace, and so, if you cannot effect an amicable
arrangement, I must put the case into other hands.”
In this cartoon, “Punch” merely reflected the idea, or sentiment,
current in England in 1864, that the North was much dissatisfied with
the War policy of President Lincoln; and would surely elect General
McClellan to succeed the Westerner in the White House. At the election
McClellan carried but one Northern State--New Jersey, where he was
born--President Lincoln sweeping the country like a prairie fire.
“Punch” had evidently been deceived by some bold, bad man, who wanted a
little spending money, and sold the prediction to the funny journal with
a certificate of character attached, written by--possibly--a member of
the Horse Marines. “Punch,” was very much disgusted to find that its
credulity and faith in mankind had been so imposed upon, especially when
the election returns showed that “the-War-is-a-failure” candidate ran
so slowly that Lincoln passed him as easily as though the Democratic
nominee was tied to a post.