The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1861-11-11


quiet and modest manner In which Mrs. Lincoln
travels, and the good sense which prompts her
TO decline those pnblicitics aud attentions which
silly and obtrusive minor officials arc always too
ready to offer to ladies Of hcr position are most
becoming and characteristic. She travels and
sojourns just as any other wcll-brcd lady would,
and as the more sensible Of European dignita-
ries delight to do In England the public and
the press are in ecstacies with the wife of Lord
Palmerston, because she has written plain,
homely, womanly letter to her tenants and signed
herself simply Emily Palmerston." Here,
where the sounding of titles, the homage to rank
and the bowling and scraping of liveried attend
ants is unknown, such modest tact as that of
Mrs. Lincoln would be quite unnoticed, were it
not that it SO signally contrasts with the repre-
sensations lately made by the abolition papers,
that the wife of the President had monomania
for display and parade, and was ambitious of
political power and influence.
1t Is perhaps impossible that lady should oc-
cupy Mrs. Lincoln's position without sharing, in
some degree, the public interest and atten-
ton which is bestowed upon her husband.
Generally, however, this natural and inevitable
publicity has been so tempered with chivalrous
courtesy and respect that it has been most
pleasant and complimentary. During the time
of General Jackson, indeed, few politicians
were brutal enough to utter disparaging re-
marks over the remains of her whose loss the
old hero of New Orleans so deeply and bitterly
regretted; but with this single exception, all
political animosties have been forgotten in The
presence of the lady Of the White House, and
the supporters and opponents of the admns.ra-
ton have We'd with each other in courteous
attentions and kindnesses. Even when lady
sometimes stepped into the melee of Presidcn-
tial canvass, as did sour JESSIE" there was no
hand bold enough to strike at her, no matter
how strongly it might fall upon the cause her
husband represented. During this terrible re-
bellion, which has excited sectional enmity,
jealousy and spite to degree unexamplcd, no
rebel has been SO lost to the instincts of a gen
tlcman as to attempt to connect Mrs. Lincoln
with the cause or the operations of the war.
On the contrary, while the Southern press has
said many silly things of our President, and re-
prosates and despses his very name, there has
nothing been printed at the South in regard to
Mrs. Lincoln which gentleman might not
write and read. 1t remained for the New
England abolitionists, through the Spring
field Republican, to stain, for the first time,
the annals Of this country by personal
attack upon the wife of the President,
because they were displeased with the
political course of the President himself.
We are sorry to add that the Albany Argus,
the New York Saturday Despatch, and the OBJ
scure Philadelphia papers, had the brutality TO
join in these attacks. A
Mrs. Lincolns own conduct and department
is the only defence needed against these aboli-
ton assaults. Those who know her best, at
Washington, declare that too much cannot be
said in praise Of the graceful tact and dignity
which she displays in her most trying position,
and that in every respect she is worthy to be
the wife of our republican President. AS for
those persons whose vulgarity has overstepped
bounds within which even political malice and
sectional jealousy were confined, they reap
their just reward in the contempt Of every lady
and gentleman in the land. 1t is at the cause
look and we find that cause in the demoraliza-
tlon which abolitionism produces in its vota-
ries. To be ON abolitionist ones mind mast be
80 distorted, warped and obscured that it is no
wonder if it often breaks entirely. An abol-
ZIONIST cannot be practical, for abolitionism is
impracticablc. He must confuse right with
wrong, and believe that slavery is wrong even
to the extent of denying the existence of God,
because he reasons that God would not per-
mi. slavery. He must take pride in being &C.
centric; and from being eccentric in opinion he
soon comes to be eccentric in his dress, in his
mode Of wearing his hair and beard and in his
manners and department. He must cherish an
opinion all the more because it is unpopular;
and thus he soon comes to adopt an opinion for
the very reason that it il unpopular, and there
fore, he argues, must be right. lie must be
blind to great evils, and magnify little evils into
tremendous outrages, to be overcome at any
cost. He must have no consideration for o
white mar. except IS subsidiary to
negro. In short, he must be negro
worshipper and devotee, hating every
thing that seems to oppose his idol,
and insanely Offering everything which other
men hold most dear to his ebony Juggernsut.
OF course such fanatic is kicked out of society,
and therefore he attacks society, ignores its
usages and amenities, and revenges himself by
trying to break it up and substitute for it So
ciety of his own.
Thus he comes in closer contact with the abo-
litionist in petticeats, who is if anything worse
than himself. She is either Mrs. Jellaby, ne
glecting home duties to attend public meetings,
lecture on her mission" and manage the cor
respondence Of an anti-slavery society, or she
is something worse, and has ''afinities." Male
and female abolitionists mingle in Unitarian
homes, in phalanxes, in free love bagnios. If
they have any religion it, is spiritualism. Both
sexes insist strongly upon women's rights-that
il to say, the right Of woman to be as wicked
as she may please, without remark. What won
der that with such associates and associations
the male abolitionist loses all courtesy, chiyalry
and YOliteness? The females themselve rant