President Lincoln, well aware of Stanton’s unfriendliness, was surprised
when Secretary of the Treasury Chase told him that Stanton had expressed
the opinion that the arrest of the Confederate Commissioners, Mason and
Slidell, was legal and justified by international law. The President
asked Secretary Chase to invite Stanton to the White House, and Stanton
came. Mr. Lincoln thanked him for the opinion he had expressed, and
asked him to put it in writing.
Stanton complied, the President read it carefully, and, after putting
it away, astounded Stanton by offering him the portfolio of War.
Stanton was a Democrat, had been one of the President’s most persistent
vilifiers, and could not realize, at first, that Lincoln meant what he
said. He managed, however to say:
“I am both surprised and embarrassed, Mr. President, and would ask a
couple of days to consider this most important matter.”
Lincoln fully understood what was going on in Stanton’s mind, and then
said:
“This is a very critical period in the life of the nation, Mr. Stanton,
as you are well aware, and I well know you are as much interested in
sustaining the government as myself or any other man. This is no time to
consider mere party issues. The life of the nation is in danger. I
need the best counsellors around me. I have every confidence in your
judgment, and have concluded to ask you to become one of my counsellors.
The office of the Secretary of War will soon be vacant, and I am anxious
to have you take Mr. Cameron’s place.”
Stanton decided to accept.
“ABE” LIKE HIS FATHER.
“Abe” Lincoln’s father was never at loss for an answer. An old neighbor
of Thomas Lincoln--“Abe’s” father--was passing the Lincoln farm one day,
when he saw “Abe’s” father grubbing up some hazelnut bushes, and said to
him: “Why, Grandpap, I thought you wanted to sell your farm?”
“And so I do,” he replied, “but I ain’t goin’ to let my farm know it.”
“‘Abe’s’ jes’ like his father,” the old ones would say.
“NO MOON AT ALL.”
One of the most notable of Lincoln’s law cases was that in which he
defended William D. Armstrong, charged with murder. The case was one
which was watched during its progress with intense interest, and it had
a most dramatic ending.
The defendant was the son of Jack and Hannah Armstrong. The father was
dead, but Hannah, who had been very motherly and helpful to Lincoln
during his life at New Salem, was still living, and asked Lincoln to
defend him. Young Armstrong had been a wild lad, and was often in bad
company.
The principal witness had sworn that he saw young Armstrong strike the
fatal blow, the moon being very bright at the time.
Lincoln brought forward the almanac, which showed that at the time
the murder was committed there was no moon at all. In his argument,
Lincoln’s speech was so feelingly made that at its close all the men
in the jury-box were in tears. It was just half an hour when the jury
returned a verdict of acquittal.
Lincoln would accept no fee except the thanks of the anxious mother.
“ABE” A SUPERB MIMIC.
Lincoln’s reading in his early days embraced a wide range. He was
particularly fond of all stories containing fun, wit and humor, and
every one of these he came across he learned by heart, thus adding to
his personal store.
He improved as a reciter and retailer of the stories he had read and
heard, and as the reciter of tales of his own invention, and he had
ready and eager auditors.
Judge Herndon, in his “Abraham Lincoln,” relates that as a mimic Lincoln
was unequalled. An old neighbor said: “His laugh was striking. Such
awkward gestures belonged to no other man. They attracted universal
attention, from the old and sedate down to the schoolboy. Then, in a few
moments, he was as calm and thoughtful as a judge on the bench, and as
ready to give advice on the most important matters; fun and gravity grew
on him alike.”