Evansville daily journal. (Evansville, Ind.) 1863-1866, 1864-11-21
Mr. LlnroIn's ABILITY.

IL has been the fashion with Mr. Lin
coins opposers, North and South, to
depreeate bis capacity, and speak Of
him as an ignorant, incompetent and
boOrish adssn,ursr, whom aecident---uos
merit-had raised 10 a station be was
totally unqualified to Gil.
This idea has been pretty thoroughly
exploded at tho South, where contempt
Of the President has given place to that
species Of hatred which is begolten of
fear; and instead OF amusing themselves
with caricatures Of their dreaded enemy,
the rebel editors exhaust their talents in
describing him as tyrant and mon
ster Of cruelty, and falsely credits him
with having seized upon the liberties Of
the Norihsrp psople, and made himself
an autocrat instead Of constitutional
President However false and mali
cious their plesent comments ON Mr.
Lincoln may be, they At least credit him
with more than ordinary ability, IS
men of mediocre talents are not the
characters who can sabvert the institu-
.ions of great people.
Since the election the Northern and
border Democracy are giving convincing
evidence that they regard Mr.. Lincoln as
e man of extraordinary sagacity and
craftsmanship.
The Louisville Democrat, which has
been ons OF his most inveterate en-
emies, thus speaks OF the President in
its issae of the 10th inst;
1t has been the custom of the rebels,
as well as OF the political opponents of
/ Abraham Lincoln, to depreciate his ca
/ pacity, to treat him as incapable; as the
| tool of other men Of more talent and
4 will 1t is idle to underrate the ability
Of an opponent, much less of one who
has been so long in position where bis
acts have been conspicuous Lincoln
showed great powers Of debate in bis
contest with Douglas, The latter was
unmatched in debate, either on the
stump or in the Senate and ne never
met one so near his equal as Abraham
Lincoln Some have suggested that the
credit Of this debate on the part of Lin
coin is due to others, but the sugges.
ton is inadmissable. His replies, made
without time 10 consult, are as able Is
his speeches at the opening of q discus.
sion. We shall not review his aeti
since be became President, and since he
changed his course, controlled By
events. Il is enough 10 say that his
means, extraordinary and indefsnsibls,
have been adapted to bis ends. He ha,
managed bis own party in spite of dis,
affections, and heaten kis opponents
Aud. after all, the most ingenious and
plausible defense Of his conduct was
written by himself to.ths Albany meet n;
that denounced the practice of arbitrary
arrests His own partisans have dis
cussed the subject deliberately, but the,
have not made so ingenious a defens'
and have added nothing new. The tai
ent and tact with which he parsues tn
wrong only makes the matter worse
. but sill he sees his way better than an,
of his party, and they follow At a respsel
ful distance and applaud, whether q
heart they approve or not. IL any dar
kick in the traces, father Abraham 500
I forces them into line II anything ra
tienal isdone by the dominant perty,
will be due to the sagacity Of AbGsAsn
Linccln. They viii all snseze when b
takes snaff;Ihe will see that they do. e