Cleveland daily leader. [volume] ([Cleveland, Ohio]) 1865-1873, 1866-01-01
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
The characteristics Drills Life as Seen
by His Law partner.

tACcAO u OuA SIC hAhAb1AC0 IColQtIlL, dl
Springfield, Illinois, on December 18th.
After giving a history of Mr.. Lincoln's
life and a description of his personal looks,
Mr.. Herndon thus treated his character
istics:
Mr.. Lincoln's perceptions were slow,
cold, precise and exact. Everything came
to him in its precise shape and color To
some men the world of matter and of man
comes ornamented. with beauty, life and
action, and hence more or less false and
~inexact- No lurking illusion or other err
ror false in itself and clad for the mo-
ment in robes of splendor aver pass
ed undetected or unchallenged over
the threshold of his mind-that point that
divides vision from the realm and home
of thought. He had keen susceptibihtles
to the hints and suggestions of nature
which always put him in mind of some
thing, known or unknown. Hence his
power and Consciousness Of what is called
association ofideas mu have been great.
his memory was tenacious and strong.
His susceptibility to all suggestions and
hints enabled him at wilt to call up readily
the associated and classified fact and idea.
Mr.. Lincoln read less and thought more
than any man in his sphere in America.
No man in this audience can put his finger
on any great book written in the last or
present century that he read. When young
he read the Bible, and when of age he read
Shakespeare. This latter book was scarcely
ever out of his mind. Mr.. Lincoln is
acknowledged to have been a great man,
but the question is what made him great ?
l repeat that he read less and thought
more than any man of his standing in
America, ifgnot in the world. He pos
sessed originality and power of thought in
an eminent degree. He was cautious, cool,
concentrated, with continuity of reflection;
was patient and enduring. These are some
of the grounds of his wonderful success.
Not only was nature, man, fact and
principle suggestive to MI. Lincoln; not
only had he accurate and xactperceptions,
but hewas causative, that is, his mind ran
back behind all facts, things and principles
to their origin, history and first cause, to
that point where forces act at once as effect
and cause. He would stop and stand in
the sire t and analyze a machine. He
would white things TO a point, and then
count the numberless inclined planes and
their pitch, making the point. He would
master and define it or go crazy. He
would then cut that point back, and get a
broad transverse section of his pine stick,
and peel and define that clocks, omni-
buses and language, paddle-wheels and
idioms escaped his observation and
anlysis. Before he could form an idea of
anything, before he would express his
opinion OF any subject, he must know it in
origin and history, in substance and quail
tY, in magnitude and gravity. He must
know his subject inside and outside, upside
and downside.
He was most emphatically a remorseless
~analyzer of facts, things, and principles.
When all these processes had been well
and thoroughly gone through, he could
form an opinion and express it, but no
sooner. All opponents dreaded him in his
originality of idea, condensation, defni-
ton and force of expression; and woe be
to the man who Rugged to his bosom a Sc
cret error if Mr.. Lincoln got on the chase
of It. say Eae4k@-nH@&4ne-couidff ma
the error IN no nook or corner of space in
which he would not detect and expose it.
We may affirm here, in order to convey a
general idea, that Mr.. Lincoln was a self
reliant man.
Mr. Lincoln's mind was slow, angular
and ponderous, rather than quick and fine
ly discriminating; and in time his great
powers of reason on cause and effect, on
creation and relation, on substance and on
truth, would form a proposition, an opin-
ion, wisely and well|thdt no human being
can deny. When his mind could not grasp
premises from which to argue, he was
weaker than a child, because he had none
of the childs intuitions-the souls quick,
bright fash over scattered and u~narranged
facts. l have watched men closely in ref
erence to their approaches to Mr.. Lincoln.
Those who approached him on his iudg-
ment-side treated him tenderly-some-
times respectfully, but always as a weak.
minded man. This class of men take the
judgment as the standard of the mind. l
have seen another class approach him on
his reason side, and they always crouched
low down and truckled, as much as to
say, great "grand,"- "~omnipotent."
Both these classes were correct. One took
judgment as the standard of the man, and
the other took reason. Yet both classes
were wrong in this-they sunk out of
view one side of Mr.. Lincoln. A third
class knew him well, and always treated
him with human respect; not that awe
and reverence with which we regard the
Supreme Being; not that supercilious
haughtiness which greatness shows to
littleness. These three classes of men are
in this room tonight. Each will please
to examine itself, and then Judge OF
what l say. l have approached MIR.
Lincoln on all sides, l I'm now sorry to
say, and treated him according to the
angle approached. =
The great predominating elements of
Mr.. Lincoln's peculiar character were
First, his great capacity and posoer of
reason; secondly, his excellent IN deqStand-
iagi thirdly, an exalted idea of the sense
Of right and equity; and fourthly, his in
tense veneration of what was true and
good. His reason ruled despotically all
other faculties and qualities of his mind. |
His conscience and heart were ruled by it |
His conscience was ruled by one faculty.
His heart was ruled by two
faeulties-reason and conscience. l know
is generally believed that Mr.. .Lincoln's
heart-his love and kindness, his tender
ness and benevolenoe-were his ruling |
qualities but this opinion is erroneous in
every particular. First, as to his reason
He dwelt in the mind, not in the con-
and not in the heart. He lived,
and b~reathed, and acted from his reason.
1t is from this point that Mr.. Lincoln
must be viewed. His views were correct
and original. He was cautious not to be
deceived; he was patient and enduring.
He had concentration and great continuity
Of thought; he had a profound analytic
his visions were clear, and he was
emphatically the master of statement. We
boast not his equal here. His pursuit of
the truth was interchangeable, terrible. He
reasoned. from his welLchosen principles
with such clearness, force, and compact
ness, that the tallest intellects in the land
bowed to him with respect. He was the
strongest man | ever saw, looking at him
from the standpoint of his reason-the
throne of his logic. He came down from
that height with an irresistible and crush
ing force. His printed speeches will prove
this; but his speeches before courts, es-
before the Supreme Courts of the
State and nation, would demonstrate it.
Unfortunately none of them have been
preserved. Here he demanded time to
think and prepare, The Office of reason
IS to determine the truth. Truth is the
power of reason-the child of reason.
He loved and idolized truth for its own
aske.
Mr.. Lincoln had a deep, broad, living
conscience. His conscience ruled his
heart; he was always just before he was
gracious. Mr.. Lincoln was not always
Just; but his great general life was. 1t
e,Ilowe that if Mr. Lincoln had great roo