, 1864-01-20
Qt)icagq Qribnne.
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 20, 1864.
PRESIDENT LINCOLN,

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 20, 1861
PRESIDENT LINCOLN.
In both France and England, parties are
discussing the character of our President and
trying 10 come to some conclusion as to hit
rank among men Of ability and rcnown. The
conviction seems to be working its way thai
there Is more Of him than te has had cre1i;
for. A very considerable number have al
ready reached the conclusion TINT he is one
ofthe few truly great men Of the earth. 9th
crB think him "quite smart man." consid.
czing Ills advantages, and his early de6cien.
cies OF education; others cannot make much
Of him any way; while the tory party still
charge him with all that is brutal, andwicked,
and disgusting.
We easily understand the sources of al,
these varied opinions. It has been the infer.
eet OF great faction to disparage and abuse
Mr. Lincoln The rebels, rs ono man, took
10 hitting him the moment he Was nominated
aof toe ffeaidency. They did this both from
aealnG and policy. They used their hatred
Of him to plunge their States into secession.
They began by charging him with a1l tbe
traits Of imbccility and villalny for which
they knew any epithcts. They made him a
dIunkard, baboon, and beast. At home
and abroad, theY have never ceased to accuse
him. And as their emmissariea swarmed in
Europe, with the e1press purpose Of manu-
ihctnring md shaping opinion there, their
accusations hnve not failed to produce effect
man 60 bitterly aseailed, 1t was believed.
must be guilty In some degree as charged. So
much smoke betokens fire.
AT home, Mr. Lincoln has had to bear the
dislike which comes Of political opposition.
He was IN old Wing, and the candidate OF
the Republicans. OF course, the Democrats
would not naturally like him. he had been
the especial opponent Of htr. Douglas, in a
very exciting campaign. The friends Of that
chief would naturally be suspicious Of him :;
and though they might fall in to sustain his
war policy, the old political jealousy would
not at once die ont Hence, the whole
country has been in some doubt, with due
exceptions, as in what rank he ought to be
placed.
Nor is the matter entirely settled yet. In
deed, no minis character Ia fully settled until
he is dead, and the possibility utterly gone,
Of Lis doing anything more to overturn the
good name he may have acquired. But some
things are as well settled in MI. Lincoln's
case ns are usually done while one lives; and
arc Us little likely to be reversed, as in the
cnscs Of most men. Is he great man
What constitutes greatness In men he does
not, Of course, I'LL ont every ideal Of charac-
ter. Daniel Webster, the traitor John C.
Calhoun, Henry Clay, aud General Andrew
Jackson, were ell great men, and MI quito
unlike each other. There are men in public
life to-day, who excel Mr. Lincoln in some
departments where special abilities are re-
quircd. Very possibly he has not the inan-
cial ability Of Alr. Chase, the administra-
tive power OF Gen. Butle1, or the military
talent Of Gen Grant. He certainly has not
flat breadth Of philosophy which character
ties Mr.. Seward. But whatever he is, his
ability is sui ycner;*; 1t is his own.
AS to its size, color, and quality, Europe,
having little to do in these days, mny settle
it to their liking. But we who have to do
with him, are tolerably well satisfied with
him in certain particulars. Nevertheless, we
are free to say, that We do not desire to SCI
him up as IN idol, lest We might spoil him;
or lest, as when the nation took TO worship.
ping old General HasTison, Heaven might take
him away from Ms Ms punishment for our
idolatry.
Among Mr. Liucoln's traits then we name
the following. l. Nenta! Sagacitv. Thisis COM
prchensive termi but In his case, it means, a
power to look into the center Of things. His
mind Is Of the penstytise cast, and seems to
US to stand In the front raak Of that class Of
minds. He can unite hard knots. He does
not bushwhaek about question, but goes to
tue center Of 1t At once, and dcals with those
parts of It Which give difficulty to common
men, as good physician, who hears long
windcd story from patient, of aches and
af!s endured, knows how to select at once the
few points which really concern the case; as
o good lawyer, listening to long yarn finn.
1Iatesia1ities from client, seires on the one
pivot where It au turns, but which the eli.
cnf never thinks Of at all. So Mr.. Lincoln's
mind instinctively gets at the true gsse4ion.
You may call this high or low trait of
mind; but 1t is one Of the 1arcst. Accuracy
is tnlcnt, and the talent Of the fewest minds.
2. His mind is also of the practical cast. It
eccks for truths which are to be realized in
acts. he is not theorist Had he been IN ed
ucatcd man In the common acceptation ofthe
term. he might have been spoiled, inasmuch
De lis tendency is to idedx, rather than to ac-
ton; but his carly indigence compelled him
to grapple with realities, and to deal with des-
tiny in actual hand-grips; and SO forced him
to be practical, whether he would OF not
We had 4 fear when he commenced his ad-