practical relation with the Union, and that the sole object of the
government, civil and military, in regard to those States, is to again
get them into that proper practical relation. I believe that it is not
only possible, but in fact easier, to do this without deciding or even
considering whether these States have ever been out of the Union, than
with it. Finding themselves safely at home, it would be utterly
immaterial whether they had ever been abroad. Let us all join in doing
the acts necessary to restoring the proper practical relations between
these States and the Union, and each for ever after innocently indulge
his own opinion whether in doing the acts he brought the States from
without into the Union, or only gave them proper assistance, they never
having been out of it. The amount of constituency, so to speak, on which
the new Louisiana government rests, would be more satisfactory to all if
it contained forty thousand, or thirty thousand, or even twenty
thousand, instead of only about twelve thousand as it does. It is also
unsatisfactory to some that the elective franchise is not given to the
coloured man. I would myself prefer that it were now conferred on the
very intelligent, and on those who serve our cause as soldiers.
Still, the question is not whether the Louisiana government, as it
stands, is quite all that is desirable. The question is, will it be
wiser to take it as it is and help to improve it, or to reject and
disperse it? Can Louisiana be brought into proper practical relation
with the Union sooner by sustaining or by discarding her new State
government? Some twelve thousand voters in the heretofore slave State of
Louisiana have sworn allegiance to the Union, assumed to be the rightful
political power of the State, held elections, organized a State
government, adopted a free-State constitution, giving the benefit of
public schools equally to black and white, and empowering the
legislature to confer the elective franchise upon the coloured man.
Their legislature has already voted to ratify the constitutional
amendment recently passed by Congress, abolishing slavery throughout
the nation. These twelve thousand persons are thus fully committed to
the Union and to perpetual freedom in the State,--committed to the very
things, and nearly all the things, the nation wants,--and they ask the
nation's recognition and its assistance to make good their committal.
If we reject and spurn them, we do our utmost to disorganize and
disperse them. We, in effect, say to the white man: You are worthless or
worse; we will neither help you, nor be helped by you. To the blacks, we
say: This cup of liberty, which these, your old masters, hold to your
lips, we will dash from you, and leave you to the chances of gathering
the spilled and scattered contents in some vague and undefined when,
where, and how. If this course, discouraging and paralyzing both white
and black, has any tendency to bring Louisiana into proper, practical
relations with the Union, I have so far been unable to perceive it. If,
on the contrary, we recognize and sustain the new government of
Louisiana, the converse of all this is made true. We encourage the
hearts and nerve the arms of twelve thousand to adhere to their work,
and argue for it, and proselyte for it, and fight for it, and feed it,
and grow it, and ripen it to a complete success. The coloured man, too,
in seeing all united for him, is inspired with vigilance, and energy,
and daring to the same end. Grant that he desires the elective
franchise, will he not attain it sooner by saving the already advanced
steps towards it, than by running backward over them?
... I repeat the question, Can Louisiana be brought into proper
practical relation with the Union sooner by sustaining or by discarding
her new State government?
... What has been said of Louisiana will apply generally to other
States. And yet so great peculiarities pertain to each State, and such
important and sudden changes occur in the same State, and withal so new
and unprecedented is the whole case, that no exclusive and inflexible
plan can safely be prescribed as to details and collaterals. Such
exclusive and inflexible plan would surely become a new entanglement.
Important principles may and must be inflexible. In the 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, and shall not
fail to act when satisfied that action will be proper.
Appendix
ANECDOTES
LINCOLN'S ENTRY INTO RICHMOND THE DAY AFTER IT WAS TAKEN
_As Described at that time by a Writer in the "Atlantic Monthly"_
They gathered around the President, ran ahead, hovered about the flanks
of the little company, and hung like a dark cloud upon the rear. Men,
women and children joined the constantly-increasing throng. They came
from all the by-streets, running in breathless haste, shouting and
hallooing, and dancing with delight. The men threw up their hats, the
women waved their bonnets and handkerchiefs, clapped their hands, and
sang, "Glory to God! glory, glory!" rendering all the praise to God, who
had heard their wailings in the past, their moanings for wives,
husbands, children, and friends sold out of their sight; had given them
freedom, and after long years of waiting had permitted them thus
unexpectedly to behold the face of their great benefactor.
"I thank you, dear Jesus, that I behold President Linkum!" was the
exclamation of a woman who stood upon the threshold of her humble home,
and with streaming eyes and clasped hands gave thanks aloud to the
Saviour of men.
Another, more demonstrative in her joy, was jumping and striking her
hands with all her might, crying, "Bless de Lord! Bless de Lord! Bless
de Lord!" as if there could be no end to her thanksgiving.
The air rang with a tumultuous chorus of voices. The street became
almost impassable on account of the increasing multitude, till soldiers
were summoned to clear the way....
The walk was long, and the President halted a moment to rest. "May de
good Lord bless you, President Linkum!" said an old negro, removing his
hat and bowing, with tears of joy rolling down his cheeks. The President
removed his own hat, and bowed in silence; but it was a bow which upset
the forms, laws, customs, and ceremonies of centuries. It was a
death-shock to chivalry and a mortal wound to caste. "Recognize a
nigger! Fough!" A woman in an adjoining house beheld it, and turned from
the scene in unspeakable disgust.
(The following nine anecdotes were related by Frank B. Carpenter,
the painter, who, while executing his picture of the first reading
in cabinet council of the Emancipation Proclamation, had the
freedom of Mr. Lincoln's private office and saw much of the
President while he posed, and whose relations with him became of an
intimate character.)
"YOU DON'T WEAR HOOPS--AND I WILL ... PARDON YOUR BROTHER"
A distinguished citizen of Ohio had an appointment with the President
one evening at six o'clock. As he entered the vestibule of the White
House, his attention was attracted by a poorly-clad young woman who was
violently sobbing. He asked her the cause of her distress. She said she
had been ordered away by the servants after vainly waiting many hours to
see the President about her only brother, who had been condemned to
death. Her story was this:--She and her brother were foreigners, and
orphans. They had been in this country several years. Her brother
enlisted in the army, but, through bad influences, was induced to
desert. He was captured, tried and sentenced to be shot--the old story.
The poor girl had obtained the signatures of some persons who had
formerly known him, to a petition for a pardon, and alone had come to
Washington to lay the case before the President. Thronged as the
waiting-rooms always were, she had passed the long hours of two days
trying in vain to get an audience, and had at length been ordered away.
The gentleman's feelings were touched. He said to her that he had come
to see the President, but did not know as _he_ should succeed. He told
her, however, to follow him upstairs, and he would see what could be
done for her. Just before reaching the door, Mr. Lincoln came out, and
meeting his friend said good-humouredly, "Are you not ahead of time?"
The gentleman showed him his watch, with the hand upon the hour of six.
"Well," returned Mr. Lincoln, "I have been so busy to-day that I have
not had time to get a lunch. Go in, and sit down; I will be back
directly."
The gentleman made the young woman accompany him into the office, and,
when they were seated, said to her, "Now, my good girl, I want you to
muster all the courage you have in the world. When the President comes
back, he will sit down in that arm-chair. I shall get up to speak to
him, and as I do so you must force yourself between us, and insist upon
the examination of your papers, telling him it is a case of life and
death, and admits of no delay." These instructions were carried out to
the letter. Mr. Lincoln was at first somewhat surprised at the apparent
forwardness of the young woman, but observing her distressed appearance,
he ceased conversation with his friend, and commenced an examination of
the document she had placed in his hands. Glancing from it to the face
of the petitioner, whose tears had broken forth afresh, he studied its
expression for a moment, and then his eye fell upon her scanty but neat
dress. Instantly his face lighted up. "My poor girl," said he, "you have
come here with no governor, or senator, or member of Congress, to plead
your cause. You seem honest and truthful; _and you don't wear
hoops_--and I will be whipped but I will pardon your brother."
HIS JOY IN GIVING A PARDON
One night Schuyler Colfax left all other business to ask him to respite
the son of a constituent, who was sentenced to be shot, at Davenport,
for desertion. He heard the story with his usual patience, though he was
wearied out with incessant calls, and anxious for rest, and then
replied:--"Some of our generals complain that I impair discipline and
subordination in the army by my pardons and respites, but it makes me
rested, after a hard day's work, if I can find some good excuse for
saving a man's life, and I go to bed happy as I think how joyous the
signing of my name will make him and his family and his friends." And
with a happy smile beaming over that care-furrowed face, he signed that
name that saved that life.
HIS SIMPLICITY AND UNOSTENTATIOUSNESS
The simplicity and absence of all ostentation on the part of Mr.
Lincoln, is well illustrated by an incident which occurred on the
occasion of a visit he made to Commodore Porter, at Fortress Monroe.
Noticing that the banks of the river were dotted with flowers, he said:
"Commodore, Tad (the pet name for his youngest son, who had accompanied
him on the excursion) is very fond of flowers; won't you let a couple of
men take a boat and go with him for an hour or two, along the banks of
the river, and gather the flowers?" Look at this picture, and then
endeavour to imagine the head of a European nation making a similar
request, in this humble way, of one of his subordinates!
A PENITENT MAN CAN BE PARDONED
One day I took a couple of friends from New York upstairs, who wished to
be introduced to the President. It was after the hour for business
calls, and we found him alone, and, for _once_, at leisure. Soon after
the introduction, one of my friends took occasion to indorse, very
decidedly, the President's Amnesty Proclamation, which had been severely
censured by many friends of the Administration. Mr. S----'s approval
touched Mr. Lincoln. He said, with a great deal of emphasis, and with an
expression of countenance I shall never forget: "When a man is sincerely
_penitent_ for his misdeeds, and gives satisfactory evidence of the
same, he can safely be pardoned, and there is no exception to the rule!"
"KEEP SILENCE, AND WE'LL GET YOU SAFE ACROSS"
At the White House one day some gentlemen were present from the West,
excited and troubled about the commissions and omissions of the
Administration. The President heard them patiently, and then replied:
"Gentlemen, suppose all the property you were worth was in gold, and you
had put it in the hands of Blondin to carry across the Niagara River on
a rope, would you shake the cable, or keep shouting out to him,
'Blondin, stand up a little straighter--Blondin, stoop a little more--go
a little faster--lean a little more to the north--lean a little more to
the south?' No, you would hold your breath as well as your tongue, and
keep your hands off until he was safe over. The Government are carrying
an immense weight. Untold treasures are in their hands. They are doing
the very best they can. Don't badger them. Keep silence, and we'll get
you safe across."
REBUFF TO A MAN WITH A SMALL CLAIM
During a public "reception," a farmer, from one of the border counties
of Virginia, told the President that the Union soldiers, in passing his
farm, had helped themselves not only to hay, but his horse, and he hoped
the President would urge the proper officer to consider his claim
immediately.
Mr. Lincoln said that this reminded him of an old acquaintance of his,
"Jack Chase," who used to be a lumberman on the Illinois, a steady,
sober man, and the best raftsman on the river. It was quite a trick,
twenty-five years ago, to take the logs over the rapids; but he was
skilful with a raft, and always kept her straight in the channel.
Finally a steamer was put on, and Jack was made captain of her. He
always used to take the wheel going through the rapids. One day when the
boat was plunging and wallowing along the boiling current, and Jack's
utmost vigilance was being exercised to keep her in the narrow channel,
a boy pulled his coat-tail, and hailed him with: "Say, Mister Captain! I
wish you would just stop your boat a minute--I've lost my apple
overboard!"
THE PRESIDENT'S SILENCE OVER CRITICISMS
The President was once speaking about an attack made on him by the
Committee on the Conduct of the War for a certain alleged blunder, or
something worse, in the Southwest--the matter involved being one which
had fallen directly under the observation of the officer to whom he was
talking, who possessed official evidence completely upsetting all the
conclusions of the Committee.
"Might it not be well for me," queried the officer, "to set this matter
right in a letter to some paper, stating the facts as they actually
transpired?"
"Oh, no," replied the President, "at least, not now. If I were to try to
read, much less answer, all the attacks made on me, this shop might as
well be closed for any other business. I do the very best I know
how--the very best I can; and I mean to keep doing so until the end. If
the end brings me out all right, what is said against me won't amount to
anything. If the end brings me out wrong, ten angels swearing I was
right would make no difference."
"GLAD OF IT"
On the occasion when the telegram from Cumberland Gap reached Mr.
Lincoln that "firing was heard in the direction of Knoxville," he
remarked that he was "glad of it." Some person present, who had the
perils of Burnside's position uppermost in his mind, could, not see
_why_ Mr. Lincoln should be _glad_ of it, and so expressed himself.
"Why, you see," responded the President, "it reminds me of Mistress
Sallie Ward, a neighbour of mine, who had a very large family.
Occasionally one of her numerous progeny would be heard crying in some
out-of-the-way place, upon which Mrs. Ward would exclaim, 'There's one
of my children that isn't dead yet!'"
HIS DEMOCRATIC BEARING
The evening before I left Washington an incident occurred, illustrating
very perfectly the character of the man. For two days my large painting
had been on exhibition, upon its completion, in the East Room, which had
been thronged with visitors. Late in the afternoon of the second day,
the "black-horse cavalry" escort drew up as usual in front of the
portico, preparatory to the President's leaving for the "Soldiers'
Home," where he spent the midsummer nights. While the carriage was
waiting, I looked around for him, wishing to say a farewell word,
knowing that I should have no other opportunity. Presently I saw him
standing halfway between the portico and the gateway leading to the War
Department, leaning against the iron fence--one arm thrown over the
railing, and one foot on the stone coping which supports it, evidently
having been intercepted, on his way in from the War Department, by a
plain-looking man, who was giving him, very diffidently, an account of a
difficulty which he had been unable to have rectified. While waiting, I
walked out leisurely to the President's side. He said very little to the
man, but was intently studying the expression of his face while he was
narrating his trouble. When he had finished, Mr. Lincoln said to him,
"Have you a blank card?" The man searched his pockets, but finding none,
a gentleman standing near, who had overheard the question, came forward,
and said, "Here is one, Mr. President." Several persons had, in the
meantime, gathered around. Taking the card and a pencil, Mr. Lincoln
sat down upon the stone coping, which is not more than five or six
inches above the pavement, presenting almost the appearance of sitting
upon the pavement itself, and wrote an order upon the card to the proper
official to "examine this man's case." While writing this, I observed
several persons passing down the promenade, smiling at each other, at
what I presume they thought the undignified appearance of the Head of
the Nation, who, however, seemed utterly unconscious, either of any
impropriety in the action, or of attracting any attention. To me it was
not only a touching picture of the native goodness of the man, but of
innate nobility of character, exemplified not so much by a disregard of
conventionalities, as in unconsciousness that there _could_ be any
breach of etiquette, or dignity, in the manner of an honest attempt to
serve, or secure justice to a citizen of the Republic, however humble he
may be.
[Illustration:
EVERYMAN,
I WILL GO WITH THEE
& BE THY GUIDE
IN THY MOST NEED
TO GO BY THY SIDE.]