Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1867-11-06
MIR. ANO mis-. LINCOLN.

From the New York World
There are certain newspapers Of the Re
publican persuasiOn-the % moral idea
type-who protest with great vehemence
against popular subscriptions of money
to sid Mrs. Lincoln. Many, indeed most
Of them, start out with the proposition
that Mr.. Lincoln was model OF pecuni-
ary and political virtue, while his wife
was snd is quite the opposite. The argu
ments Of these journals are Of three
classes. One is that Mr.. Lincoln was s
model of pecunisry and political virtue,
while his wife was and is quite the OpPO-
site. One is that Mr.. Lincoln, before his
election TO be President, had next to no
yroperty whatever, and his wife had thus
been accustomed to life of simple small
expenditure, so that it ought not to be a
hardship 10 her to now live with ecOnO-
nv. as it would to a woman reared in
Injury. Another Is that she lived
vicious life at the White House, obtain
ing dinners, parties and personal OFna-
ments by improper practices, for which,
if she now suffers, it is no more than she
deserves. Others say that Mr.. and Mrs.
Lincoln both going to the White House
moor, Mr.. Lincoln on his death left q
| handsome estate, amounting to some
| eighty or ninety thousand dollars, the in
come of which Mrs. Lincoln shares with
her children, and that is enough for her
| Now, it seems to US that none of these
stories are at all creditsble to the public
! career of Mr.. Lincoln in Washington,
and that the Republican journals referred
| to, while striking at the wife, are really
hitting the husband.
In the first place, who was Mrs. Lin
! coin compelled to resort to the out. of-the-
wav contrivances related by Mr.. ThurlOw
Weed, TO pay for dinners given TO distin-
| guished foreigners? Why was she
| driven to procure the dresses and jewelry
from office-hunters and Others? Did Mr..
! Lincoln expend his salary in whole or in
chief part, while in Office? If he did,
where did it go? Nobody ever heard Of
gifts from him to charitable objects.
| WHY was his wife left to "browse
around " for food and clothes, annoying
| Secretary Smith and Secretary Seward
This is upon the theory that be spent his
income literally.
/ II Mr.. Lincoln was poor when he en-
tered, and rich when he lett the White
| House, then, out of mere desire of ac-
cumulation, he must have withheld from
his wife money to enable her to support
! herself as becomes the wife OF the Presi-
dent, and thus driven her to a life OF
shame. More than that, he mast have
given entertainments, such as they were,
for which he did not intend to pay out OF
his own pocket, but the expense Of which
he expected his wife to defray by unlaw-
ful and Indecent contrivances.
These Republican journals charge that
even prior to Mr.. Lincoln's death his
wife sold the White House furniture. II
this be so, Mr.. Lincoln must have known
| of the transaction.
Mr.. Lincoln certainly knew that he
appointed Watt, laborer in the White
House grounds, to be Lieutenant In the
army, and that the latter was then kept
in the Executive Mansion rs steward
drawing army pay all the time.
If M. Lincoln saved as much Of his
salary as these Republicans claim, be
surely knew sll the time thst his house
hold expenses were being paid by some
body else in an illigitimste wayl
In a word, if what these morsl-idea ,
patriots say is true, Mr.. Lincoln mus
been 8 knave or a fOoli
How strange it is that when one sinks
the probe deep into the doings of the Re
publican party in power, something i:
Inevitably struck which emits frightfu
! sfauala