The Cleveland leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1865-1865, 1865-05-20

ABRkFGH ITErols.
8 SbUyier CoIAx's Person 1 Reeo,Ieo.
Hons OF our Murdered President,

make the following extracts:
Being at City Point after the evacuation
IF Richmond, he determined to 10 thither,
not from idle curiosity, but to see if he |
could not do something to stop the efusion |
Of blood and hasten the peace for which |
he longed. The ever Ratchfnl Secretary |
Of War, hearing Of it. implored him BY |
telegraph not TO GO and warned him that |
some lurking assassin might take his life.
But. srmed with his good intentions-alss,
how feeble 8 shield they proved sgainst |
the death blow after rWards-he went walked |
fearlessly and csrelessly through the streets;
met and conferred with rebel leader who
had remained there, and when he returned
70 City Point, telegraphed to his faithful
friend and constitutional adviser, who till
then had feared, as we all did at that time,
for his ife-"I received your dispatch last
night, went 70 hiehmond this morning,
and have jast returned. ABRAHAM LIN
coLE.n When I told him, on that last
night how uneasy all had been at his GO
ing, he replied pleasantly snd with 8 smile,
II quote his exact words): "WhY, if any
one else had been President and gone to
Richmond, I would have been alarmed
700; but was not scared about myself .
bith If any Of you have ever been at
Washington, you will remember the foot
path lined and .embowered with trees
leading from the back door of the War
Department to the White House.
Onenight, and but recently too, when, in
his anxiety for news from the army, he
hsd been with the Secretary in the tele-
graph Office of the Department, he was
Sbout starting home at . late hour by this
short route. Mr.. Stanton stopped him
and said, You ought not 70 60 that way;
it is dangerous for you even in the day
time. but worse al night" Mr.. Lincoln
replied, don't believe there's any danger
there, day or night" Mr.. Stanton re-
sponded solemnly, Well, Mr.. President,
YOU shall not be killed returning that dark
way from my Department while ! am in
it you must let me take you round By the
avenue in my carriage" And Mr.. Lin
coin, Joking the Secretary on his imperious
military orders and his needless alarm on
his account, as he called it entered his
carriage and was driven by the we'll
lighted avenue TO the White House.
And thus he walked through unseen
| dangers without " the dread of death y his
warm heart SO full Of good will even to
| his enemies, that he could not imagine
| there WAS any one base enough TO slay
| him; and the death-desling bullet was
sped TO its mark in theatre, where, but
| little over an hour before, he had been
/ welcomed as he entered, by q crowded su-
dience rising, and with cheers and waving
of hsndkerchiefs, honoring him with an
ovation of which any one might well be
proud.
Signing that immortal proclamation,
which made him the LiberAtorof America
on the afternoon Of January lst, 1853, after
hours Of New Years hand shaking, he said
to me and other friends that night-"The
signature looks little tremulous, for my
hand was tired, but my resolution was firm.
1 told them in September, if they did not
return to their allegiance and cease murder
ing our soldiers, would strike st this pill
lar of their strength. And now the promise
shall be kept; and not one word of it will
1 ever recall" And the promise was kept
and every word of it has stood. Thank
God, when slavery and treason benumbed
that hand in death they could not destroy
that noble instrument to which the hsnd
had given life that shall never die A
great writer said that when Wilberforce
stood at the bar of God, he held in his hand
the broken shsekles which on earth had
bound hundreds of thousands of his fellow
men. But when bstfisd treason hurried
| Abraham Lincoln into the presence of his
Maker, be bore with him the manacles of
four millions whom he hal made free; fet-
ters that no power on Gods footstool is
strong enough to place again on their en-
frsnchised hmbS .
No msB, in our era, clothed with such
vast power, has ever used it so mercifully.
| No ruler, holding the keys of life and
death, ever psrdoned so many and 30
easily. When friends said to him they
wished he had more of Jsckson's stern
ness, he would say, II am Just as God
made me and cannot change" 1t may
not be generally known that his door
keepers had standing orders from him that
no matter how great might be the throng,
if other Senators and Representatives had
to wait, or to be turned away without an
audience, he must zee before the day
closed every messenger who came 10 him
with q petition for the saving of life. One
night in February left sn other business
to ask him to respite :he son of constitu-
ent, who was sentenced to be shot, at
Davenport, for desertion. He beard the
story with his usual patience, though he
was wesried out with incesssnt calls, and
anxious for rest, and then replied "Some
of our Generals complain that I impair
discipline and subordinAtion in the army,
by my psrdons aud respitef, but It makes
me restt after hard days work, if 1
can find some good excuse for saving q
mans life, and I go to bed happy to think
how joyous the signing of my name will
make him and his family and his friends"
And with happy smile beAming over
that csre-furrowed face, he sigoed that
name that saved that life.
One morning, over two years ago, calling
upon him on business, found him looking
more than usually pale and csreworn, and
inquired the reason. He replied, with the
bad hews he had received at 8 late hour
the previous night, which had not vet BEEN
communicated to the press, adding that ne
had not closed his eyes or breakfasted;
and, with an expression shall never for
get, he exclaimed, "HOW willingly would
exchange places to-day with the soldier
who sleeps on the ground in the Army of
the Potomac"
The Bible was always in his reception
room. ! have doubted the report that he
read an hour in it every day, for he often
came direct from his bed to his reception
room, SO anxious Wss he TO accommodate
members who had important business, and
II would sometimes be two or three hours
before he would playfaly say to some
friend whose turn had come, HWon't you
stay here till l get some breakfast p But
he must have read the Bible considerably.
for he often quoted it. One day that I |
happened to come in he said, III
has just been here attacking one of nv
Cabinet, but I stopped him with this text |
and he read from the Proverbs text 1 had |
never heard quoted before, as follows:
Accuse not servant to his master"
But that one, how dear to all our hearts.
how priceless in its worth, how trsnspa-
rent and spOtless its purity of character.
In the tery trial to which the nation has
been subjected we have given of the bravest
and the best Of the land. The South is
with the graves where sleep the
patriot martyrs of Constitutional liberty
ill the resurrection morn. The vacant
chair at the table of thousands upon thou
Iands tells of those who, inspired by the
ublimest spirit of self-sacrifee, have died
hat the Republic might survive. Golden
Ind living treasures nave been heaped M