The Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1855-1875, 1864-02-17
THE PRESIDENCY--1864.
CONTINUED.

The PERSONAL CHARACTER Of Mr.. LIN
coin demands some consideration in an
article Of this kind, which however crude
ly and superfcialIy, nevertheless aims
somewhat at = view of the man and his
acts And here our pen is tempted to
unduly linger; but we must, at most,
skim along and obey the exactions Of
space An interesting volume might be
made out OF the frank, natural, open,
honest, social, benevolent, gentle charac-
ter Of ABRAHAM LINCOLN. His para
bles; his quaint but illustrative stories,
are on every body's lips. His modest,
unpretending, accessible manner is mark
ed by all who approach him. His undying
good humor and eqability amount almost
to a miraculous endowment. His common
sense shines ou ton all subjects like sun.
In this way everybody speaks of him
who has no motive to speak a lie. His
jokes are proverbial, and endless; but
they are not like the jokes of the awk-
ward man about whom the celebrated DIR.
johnson wrote-.sit was difficult to tell
whether they laughed at the man or his
stories" No: Mr.. LINcoLN's jokes are
good, unctuous, witty, humorous, human
kind of jokes; they hurt nobody, and
please everybody. If he is ever satiri-
cal, what pains he takes to extract the
stingi Surely no man ever lived who,
more uniformly, was guarded least he
should wound the feelings of his fellow
man. Wise, yet innocent and unsuspi-
cous; wise in the sense of the words
''wise as the serpent, but harmless as the
dove" he reads men well but without
prejudice. OF his firmness and moral
courage, the country has had abundant
proof All the Diplomacy that he knows,
orpractices, is the great art Tin public
man) of speaking and writing the truth,
in a plain rnvarnished style. This is
the reason why the people can under
stand him so well, and why the politi-
clans cannot comprehend him at all. No
one has ever obtained an advantage
over him in any important conversation or
correspondence; and yet he has meas
ured swords with the ablest and most
adroit among those who would defend
lies. His heart has rebelled at the stern
execution of military law; he cannot
bear to condemn a man to death. His
pardon of the sleeping sentinel has been
made immortal by the elocution of Muir
dock; but the inspiration of the young
poet who penned the lines founded on
A. Il a. oil, lot JS~
uttered them in such tender music, the
inspiration was Mr.. LINCOLN. 1t was he
who was both the poet and the orator of
that touching event. We cannot follow
him to the hospital: we cannot see the
eyes which moistened, nor feel the beat
ings of the heart which swelled rs he
went among their wards to solace and
encourage the suffering, brave, uncom-
planning boys: but these things live, and
will live in tradition. One lofty exam
pie of his perfect unselfshness is illus
trated in the fact that, as his cabinet was
first organized, it contained three promi-
nent rivals for the Chicago Presidential
nomination.-Mr. LINCOLN is, so far,
universally conceded to be honest in all
his ends and aims, that, perhaps, it is
safe to say that no man of known weight
of character and influence in all the land,
of whatever party; no man who, by the
record of his own life has proven that he
knows the value of character, will be
found to speak otherwise than in praise
of Mr.. Lincoln's fair fame. Thus to have
come out Of such a war, with all its temp
tations, corruptions and peculations, is
to revive splendid character-sucha as
shone in the noblest periods of history;
names high on the roll Of men from which
the ingenious youth of all ages have
gathered, still gather, and will forever
drink in the gratest inspiration:
Whose honors with increase of ages grow,
As streams roll down enarging they go.''
And this personal character of Mr.
LINCOLN is that which has been attained
by but few men of mark in all the world
The regard of the people for him is affec-
tionate; it savors of the household. they
feel toward him as if they had him by
the hand. or were socially chatting with
him in their homes, without the slightest
reserve; in the most genial and conf
DENTAL manner. They believe exactly
what he says They knor that he never
utters falsehood or deceit to them Their
regard is absolutely filial. Even old
grey-beards will speak of him in tones of
positive endearment rs Uncle Abe" or
..honest Abe" If one tells another that
Mr.. LINcoLN has pepetrated recent
joke, the auditor pricks his ears with ge-
nial attention to hear the joke; and his
mouth smiles in very anticipation. So
when it is announced that Mr.. LINCOLN
has given solemn utterance to some
grave matter, upon which the decision of
the highest interest depend, the re-
liant, contiding. acquiescent heed which
is accorded, promptly and absolutely.