Raftsman's journal. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, 1865-04-26
ABRAHAM LINCOLN,


To show our readers in what estimation
President Lincoln is held by some of the
leading Democratic journals, who, prior to
his assassination, were among his most Bit
ter political opponents, we give place to the
following extracts from leading editorials
The New York World says:
.Of the career brought thus suddenly to
this tragic close, it is yet to early to make
any estimate that will not require revision.
1t is probable that the judgment of history
will differ In respects from that of MIR. Lin
coins cotemporaries and in no respect,
perhaps more than in reversing the current
tenor of the public thinking on what has
been considered the vasclllation of his char
acter. 1t must never be overlooked that
Mr.. Lincoln was elevated to the Presidency
without previous training that he was
novice in the discharge of high executive
functions. Confronted at the very thresh-
old with problems of novelty, magnitude
and difficulty which would have caused the
most experienced statesman to quail, beset
on all sides by the most conflicting advice,
1t would not have been wisdom, but shallow
and foolhardy presumption, indicating un-
seemly levity of character, if he had affect
ed a display of the same kind of confident
decision with which an old sailor manages
cook in fair weather. If, under such
circumstances, he had played the role of a
man of decision, he would have forfeited all
title to be considered man of sense.
When the most experienced and reputable
statesmen of the country came to opposite
conclusions it is creditable to the strength,
solidity, and modesty of Mr.. Lincoln mind,
that he acted with a cautious and hesitating
dellberation proportloned rather to sense
of his great responsibilities than to theat-
rical notion of political stage effect. The
loss Of such man, in such crisis of a
man who possessed so large and growing
share of the public confidence, and whose
administration had recently borrowed new
luster from the crowning achievements Of
our armies: OF a ruler whom victory was
inspiring with the wise and paternal mag
nanlmlty which sought to make the concili-
alton as cordial as the strife has been dead
ly the loss of such President, at such a
conjuncture, is an affiicting dispensation
Which bows disappointed and stricken ma
ton in sorrow more deep, sincere and uni
versal, than ever before supplicated the
compassion of pitying Heaven.
The New York Daily Ne,cs says:
g 1t is as if pail overhung the land, and
| in the shadow of it dweled chilled and
awe-struck people. A brotherhood of sor-
row--sorrow so poignant that it makes
strong men weep and veteran soldiers shud-
| der-has brought all classes and all parties
| to the drear level of companions in misfor-
tune Our city looks like vast burial
| ground, whose monuments are hung with
the symbols of wo, and along whose avenues
a million mourners pace silently in the sol
emn consciousness of bereavement 1t is
not only the flags tapping at half mast in
the drlzzing rain, or the gloomy vistas OF
craped facades, that leave the impression OF
universal mourning, for in the sombre looks
and thoughtful sadness of cur citizens, then
downcast eyes, their subdued tones, we find
the most impressive tokens of the popular
distress. And, indeed, it has rarely happen
ed that people have been visited with such
cause for lamentation. Had it pleased rod
by disease or accident, to take from us ouI
Chief Magistrate, the shock would have
been less But to see him stricken down by
the brutal rage of an assassin, murdered al
the very threshold of the gate of peace he
was about to open, abruptly hurled from his
sphere of usefulness at the crisis of the Re
public's fate, in such misfortune, all that
is horrible, and pitiable, and calamitous
has been concentrated into one fatal mo
ment to oVerwhelm the country with atfllc
ton. For the first time in our history, as
sassination has thrown It's dagger into the
political scale Oh the disgrace of it, the
shame Of it, the peril, if ever that crime
should be identified with the American char
acter Let us not believe, for the honor OF
the American name, that it was prompted
by partisan malevolence. Let it not be as
tsociated with the record of civil strife, fur
ther than as the act of murderer whose
criminality goes not beyond his own individ-
uality.''