Judge Joseph Gillespie, of Chicago, was a firm friend of Mr. Lincoln,
and went to Springfield to see him shortly before his departure for the
inauguration.
“It was,” said judge Gillespie, “Lincoln’s Gethsemane. He feared he was
not the man for the great position and the great events which confronted
him. Untried in national affairs, unversed in international diplomacy,
unacquainted with the men who were foremost in the politics of the
nation, he groaned when he saw the inevitable War of the Rebellion
coming on. It was in humility of spirit that he told me he believed that
the American people had made a mistake in selecting him.
“In the course of our conversation he told me if he could select his
cabinet from the old bar that had traveled the circuit with him in
the early days, he believed he could avoid war or settle it without a
battle, even after the fact of secession.
“‘But, Mr. Lincoln,’ said I, ‘those old lawyers are all Democrats.’
“‘I know it,’ was his reply. ‘But I would rather have Democrats whom I
know than Republicans I don’t know.’”