A CRITICISM OF NICOLAY AND HAY.
Nicolay and Hay in their "Life of Lincoln" (see _Century Magazine_
for January, 1890, p. 439), say: "The surviving conspirators, with
the exception of John H. Surratt, were tried by a military commission
sitting in Washington in the months of May and June.
"The charges against them specified that they were 'incited and
encouraged' to treason and murder by Jefferson Davis and the
Confederate emissaries in Canada. This was not proven on the trial;
the evidence bearing on the case showed frequent communication between
Canada and Richmond and the Booth coterie in Washington, and some
transactions in drafts at the Montreal Bank where Jacob Thompson and
Booth kept their accounts. It was shown by the sworn testimony of a
reputable witness that Jefferson Davis at Greensboro', on hearing
of the assassination, expressed his gratification at the news; but
this, so far from proving any direct complicity in the crime, would
rather prove the opposite, as a conscious murderer usually conceals
his malice. Against all the rest, the facts we have briefly stated
were abundantly proved," etc. In a foot-note they add: "When captured
by General Wilson he (Jefferson Davis) affected to think he cleared
himself of suspicion in this regard by saying that Johnson was more
objectionable to him than Lincoln--not noticing that the conspiracy
contemplated the murder of both." From this there would seem to have
been some doubt in the mind of the writer on the question of Davis's
innocence. Again, they say: "Davis, in speaking to General Wilson
about this charge, said that he regarded the charge of treason as
likely to give him more trouble than this." Of course he relied on the
sagacity of his co-conspirators in Canada for the destruction of all
documentary evidence against him, and so he felt that his guilt could
not be proven. The writer has the highest regard for these authors, and
a very high appreciation of the manner in which they have handled their
great subject. The history of several of the last years of the life of
Abraham Lincoln is inseparably linked with the history of his country,
and that the most momentous period of its history. To do justice to the
subject of their memoir required a vast amount of the most painstaking
research, and a general overhauling of the political history of the
country over a period of a dozen or more years.
This was a work of great labor, involving a careful examination
of a multitude of documents and records. They had that familiar,
personal acquaintance with Mr. Lincoln, growing out of their official
relations to him, that enables them to form a correct estimate of his
intellectual and moral character, and of the innermost feelings and
governing motives of his life. They have done their work faithfully
and well, and have presented Mr. Lincoln in his true character, and
made manifest his wonderful astuteness, his wisdom, forbearance,
charity, gentleness, and toleration toward his fellowmen, as well as
his _firmness_ and fidelity to the right, to the gaze of an admiring
world. It is with feelings of regret that faithfulness to my purpose
of giving a true history of the great conspiracy which culminated in
his death requires me to take issue with them in their treatment of
this case. It will be evident to all my readers who have read and
carefully considered the evidence presented by the government to
sustain its charge against Jefferson Davis and his confederates in
Canada, that authors who were familiar with it could never have come to
the conclusion so confidently expressed by these authors when they say,
"This was not proved on the trial." The abstract of the evidence which
they then proceed to give, shows an equal degree of unfamiliarity with
it. It consists merely in a confused jumbling of a few comparatively
unimportant facts, leaving unnoticed and untouched the great mass of
relevant and conclusive testimony that I have presented. The account
which they give of the manner in which Davis received the news of
the assassination does not consist at all with the testimony. They
say: "It was shown by the sworn testimony of a reputable witness
that Jefferson Davis at Greensboro', on hearing of the assassination,
expressed his gratification at the news; but this, so far from proving
any direct complicity in the crime, would rather prove the opposite, as
a conscious murderer usually conceals his malice."
Jefferson Davis received the news of the assassination at Charlotte,
not at Greensboro'. Breckinridge telegraphed the news to him from
Greensboro'. It is the testimony of Lewis F. Bates to which they
refer. But my readers, who have so lately read Mr. Bates' testimony,
I am sure will not recognize it in the account which these authors
give of it; and as they have failed in giving us a true account of the
testimony, we cannot wonder if they draw an erroneous conclusion from
it inferentially. It will be remembered that all the expressions that
escaped from the rebel chief on that occasion were those of deep-felt
dissatisfaction and bitter disappointment. A free rendering of his
language on that occasion would amount to just this: "It might just as
well not have been done at all, since the job was not thoroughly done.
If Andy Johnson, the beast, and Stanton had only been included, the job
would then have been complete. It would have been of some account to
us." His whole speech and demeanor on that occasion show him to have
been a co-conspirator, fully aware of the scope of their plot, and
displeased at the incompleteness of the "job."
Again, on page 432 of the _Century_ for January, 1890, we find the
following: "He (Booth) was a fanatical secessionist; had assisted at
the capture of John Brown, and had imbibed, at Richmond and other
Southern cities where he had played, a furious spirit of partisanship
against Mr. Lincoln and the Union party.
"After the re-election of Mr. Lincoln, which rung the knell of the
insurrection, Booth, like many of the secessionists North and South,
was stung to the quick by disappointment. He visited Canada, consorted
with the rebel emissaries there, and at last--whether or not at their
instigation cannot certainly be said--conceived a scheme to capture
the President and take him to Richmond. He spent a great part of the
autumn and winter inducing a small number of loose fish of secession
sympathies to join him in this fantastic enterprise. He seemed always
well supplied with money, and talked largely of his speculations in
oil as a source of income; but his agent afterwards testified that
he never realized a dollar from that source--that his investments,
which were inconsiderable, were a total loss. The winter passed away,
and nothing was accomplished. On the 4th of March, Booth was at the
capitol, and created a disturbance by trying to force his way through
the line of policemen who guarded the passage through which the
President passed to the east front of the building. His intentions
at this time are not known. He afterwards said he lost an excellent
chance of killing the President that day. There are indications in the
evidence given on the trial of the conspirators that they suffered some
great disappointment in their schemes in the latter part of March;
and a letter from Arnold to Booth, dated 27th March, showed that some
of them had grown timid of the consequences of their contemplated
enterprise, and were ready to give it up. He advised Booth, before
going farther, to go and see how it would be taken at R----d. But timid
as they might be by nature, the whole group was so completely under
the ascendency of Booth that they did not dare disobey him when in his
presence; and after the surrender of Lee, in an excess of malice and
rage which was akin to madness, he called them together and assigned
each his part in the _new crimes_ [the italics are ours], the purpose
of which had arisen suddenly in his mind out of the ruins of the
abandoned abduction scheme. This plan was as brief and simple as it was
horrible. Powell, _alias_ Payne, the stalwart, brutal, simple-minded
boy from Florida, was to murder Seward; Atzerodt, the comic villain of
the drama, was assigned to remove Andrew Johnson; Booth reserved for
himself the most difficult and most conspicuous role of the tragedy; it
was Herold's duty to attend him as a page, and aid in his escape."
In this rather long extract, in which the situation is pictured with a
facile pen, there are two assumptions that are wholly irreconcilable
with the evidence.
The first is, that the plot was at first to capture the President and
carry him to Richmond, whether with or without the approbation of the
Canada conspirators, our author's assume cannot be known.
The evidence does not show that such a plot was really entertained
either by Booth or his co-conspirators in Canada. Conover testified
that he heard this scheme discussed at a meeting of the latter
in February; but it does not appear that it was ever considered
practicable, or was really entertained by them. The proposition was too
quixotic to receive the serious consideration of rational, intelligent
men. All the testimony in regard to the Canada conspirators shows that
they were all the time from October, 1864, devoting all their thoughts
to securing the assassination, not only of the President, but also of
the others named in the charge and specifications, and that by nothing
but the assassination of all of these men could the political end which
they sought be secured. This assumption of our authors is shown by the
testimony to be wholly untenable. The next assumption to which I take
exceptions is equally untenable in the light which the testimony throws
on the subject. It is, that the assassination was the result of a hasty
impulse of rage and disappointment, akin to madness; that a new crime
was thus conceived, which grew out of the ruins of the abduction plot,
which I have already sufficiently shown was never entertained by any
of the parties. So far from being the result of a hasty impulse, the
testimony clearly proves that it had been long entertained, and that
they had all been planning, preparing, and arranging for its execution
for months.
It is greatly to be regretted that such popular, and usually reliable,
authors, should have allowed themselves on this occasion to write thus
loosely, and express opinions and conclusions so much at variance with
the testimony. It tends to obscure the truth of history, and to the
formation of an erroneous public opinion.
The conclusion at which I have arrived, and expressed without
hesitation, as to the guilt of Davis and his Canada Cabinet in this
matter, stands untouched by that expressed by these authors, because
it is manifest that they not only had never studied, but were quite
unfamiliar with, the evidence on which alone a right judgment can be
based.
All I ask of my readers is, that they will scan carefully what I have
given as having been fairly deduced from the testimony before the
Commission, or to study the testimony itself as given in Pittman's
official report of the trial, and then judge between us.