Mineral Point weekly tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1859-1868, 1864-01-27

, aterials of weakness IN the present, as Mr..
Lincoln Even in that half of the Union
+, which acknowledged him as President, there
was a large, and at that time dangerous, mi
nority that hardly admitted his claim TO the
office, and in the party that elected him there
also large minority that suspected him
of being secretly a communicate with the
church of Laodicea. All that he did was
sure to be yirulently attacked ultra on one
side; all that was left undone, to be stigma
TIED as proof of his lukewarmness and back
sliding by the other Meanwhile. he was 10
carry on 4 truly colossal war by means OF
both; he was to disengage the country from
di plomatic entang of unprecedented
peril, undisturbed by the help or the him
dranee of either, and to win from the crown
ing dangers of his administration, in the con
fidence of the people, the means of his safe
" and their own. He has contrived to do ii,
and perhaps none Of our Presidents since
Washington has stood 50 firm in the conf
dence OF the people rs he does after three
years Of stormy administration.
Mr. Lincoln's policy was a testative one,
and rightly He laid down no programme
which must compel him TO be either inconsis-
tent or unwise no cast-ir0n theOrem to which
circumstances must be fitted as they rose, or
else be useless to his ends He seemed to
have chosen Mazarin's moGto, lie tes1sps et MOI.
The moi, TO be sure, was not very prominent
at first but 1t has grown more and more so,
ill the world Is beginning TO be persuaded
that it stands for a character of marked indi-
viduality and capacity for affairs Time was
his prime minister, and, we began to think at
one period, his general-ln- chief also. At first
he was so SLOW that he tired out all those who
see no eyiden, of progress but in blowing up
the engine: then he was so fast, that he took
the breath away from those who think there
is no getting on safely while there is spark
OF fire under the boilers. God is the only
being who has time enough; but Il prudent
man, who knows how TO seize occasion, can
commonly make shift to find much as he
needs. Mr.. Lincoln, as it seems to Us in re-
viewing his career, though we have some
times in our impatience thought otherwise,
has always waited as a wise man should, til
the right moment brought up all his reserves.
Ss1lUer ltOc,tt dIfere palat5S Is sound axiom,
but the really efficacious man viii also be
sure to know when he is not ready, and be
firm against all persuasion and reproach till
he IS.
One would be apt to think, from some Of
the criticisms made on MIR Lincou's course
hv those who mainly agree with him in prin-
ciple, that the chief object of a statesman
should be rather To proclaim his adhesion to
certain doctrines, than TO achieve their tri-
umph by quietly accomplishing his ends. In
our OllIloit, iilGlt - lIp iiiplt GilSit
rhan conscientiously rigid doctruaire, moth
ing more sure to end in disaster than theor-
etic scheme of policy that admits of no pGa-
bility for contingencies. True, there is Il pop
ular image Of an impossible He, in whose plas-
tic hands the Submissive destines of mankind
become rs wax, and to whose commanding
necessity the toughest facts yield with the
graceful pIiancy Of fiction; but in real life we
commonly find that the men who control cir
cunstauces, as it IS called, those who
have learned to allow forthe influence Of their
eddies, and have the nerve to turn them TO
account at the happy instant. Mr.. Lincoln's
perilous task has been to carry rather shack
ING raft through the rapids, making fast the
unrulier logs a. he could snatch opportunity,
and the country is TO be congratulated that
he did not think it his duty to run straight at
all hazards, but cautiously to assure himself
with bis settiug-poie where the main current
was, and keep steadily to that. He IS still in
wild water, but we have faith that his skill
and sureness Of eye viii bring him out right
9t last