A recent volume has undertaken the superfluous vindication of President
Lincoln from being the mere ornamental figurehead of the republic
during the Civil War. In fact, there are many instances of his
incurring the reproach of interfering with the chiefs of departments,
but it is testified to by a leading minister that he paid much less
attention to details than was popularly supposed and invidiously
asserted in the capital. He "brought up with a round turn," to use
river language, both General Fremont and other military commanders who
tried to steal the finishing weapon he kept in store: to wit, the
emancipation of the Southern slaves. Senator Cameron, as war secretary,
advised in a report that the slaves should be armed to enable them
successfully to rise against their masters. The President scratched out
this recommendation, which would have spiked his gun, and perverted a
great statesmanlike act into a fostered insurrection, saying:
"This will never do! _Secretary_ Cameron must take no such
responsibility. This question belongs exclusively to me!"
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"IF GOOD, HE'S GOT IT! IF T'AINT GOOD, HE AIN'T GOT IT!"
A revenue cutter conveyed a presidential party from Washington to
Fortress Monroe, consisting of the chief, his secretaries of war and of
the treasury, and General Egbert L. Viele--who preserved this tale. On
the way Secretary Stanton stated that he had telegraphed to General
Mitchell in Alabama "All right--go ahead!" though he did not know what
emergency was thus to meet. He wished the executive to take the
responsibility in case his ignorance erred.
"I will have to get you to countermand the order." So he hinted.
"Well," exclaimed the good-humored superior, "that is very much like a
certain horse-sale in Kentucky when I was a boy (Lincoln was only eight
when leaving Kentucky for Indiana). A particularly fine horse was to be
sold, and the people gathered together. They had a small boy to ride
the horse up and down while the spectators examined it for points. At
last, one man whispered to the boy as he went by:
"'Look here, boy, ain't that hoss got the splints?'
"The boy replied: 'Master, I don't know what the splints is; but, if it
is good for him, he has got it! If it ain't good for him, he ain't got
it!' Now," finished the adviser, "if this was good for Mitchell, it was
all right; but, if it was not, I have to countermand, eh?"--(Noted by
General Viele.)
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