Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1872-06-10
Lannon's Life of Lincoln.
From the Boston Journal

| FROM tne boston Journal.
No one will be inclined to question
rashly the correctness of any of Mr.
Lannon's statements concerning Lincoln
and his family at risk of being invited
to pursue the three enormous volumes
OF original manuscripts and the mass Of
unarranged letters and papers " whict
constitute the materials of his work.
The question: very fair one, and one
that will occur to any reader of sensi
bllity--is as to the necessity or propriety
OF introducing certain matters, granting
them to be true. Whether, for instance
1t is necessary that the public should
know that Abraham Lincoln's father, in
q personal encounter with neighbor
bit off his adversarys nose, and that il
was this circumstance which hastened
his departure from Kentucky, and not
his adherence of slavery, as some
writer's have stated it. To such objec-
lions 1T will be answered that biography
like history, mast be impartial and mi
mute, and that men who achieve great.
ness, cover up as carefully as they may
whatever unpleasant circumstances are
connected with their antecedents and
early life, may rest assured that an in
quisitive world will search them out
after their death, if not before.
That the memory of Lincoln can en-
dure to serve test without losing any OF
its sacredness is sufficient indication
of the simple grandeur of his honest life
"a life which, under most minute rev.
elation ofits ;nnermost workings, and an
almost merciless uncovering of things
commonly held sacred, still appears
worthy of respect reverence and imita-
| tion.
Abraham Lincoln's origin was hum
BILE enough to please the most ardent
admirer of self-made men," Born of
rough backwoodsman-of a family
looked down upon by the elite of even
such settlement as where they lived;
obtaining a scanty education; passing
his early years in a cabin without floor
ing, or doors or windows; in his young
manhood hatboatman on the Missis-
slppl. 1t is one of the high honors of
our system of government that such a
man.. OF such parentage and education
could be placed in the highest office,
and trusted to guide a great nation
through the most imminent and deadly
perils. 1t would be pleasant to speak
more at length of his education, of his
thirst for learning, and the engrossing
but honorable ambition which came to
him, but the limits OF our space forbid.
Those who read the present work for
the purpose of getting at the particulars
OF that mysterious love life" OF Lincoln
Oh
tions realized They will be told that
two several times he was driven insane
by unrequited or unsuccessful love.
The first narrative of the affair, that
with Ann Rutledge, is a most touching
and pathetic story, and has every evi-
dence of truth. The second, concern
ing Miss Edwards, is improbable, and
has traces of exaggeration, due doubt
less to the vivid Imagination of the
lady family. No man ever yet became
eminent, that half dozen, at. least, of
other mems wives have not, in the con-
fdence Of their families, related that
they might have" etc., etc. Interest
ing speculations, no doubt but not worth
much as history.
As to Lincoln's religious belief, Mr..
Lamon allows him but little, and that
little of most unsatisfactory character.
1t will cause, we think, almost universal
pain to be compelled to accept the state
ment of his belief as Mr.. Lamon gives it.
And yet the evidence, which we would
willingly discredit if we could, comes
from very many sources, and from per-
sons who should have known Mr.. Lincoln
best. At all events, as a boy he was
brought up in a community of free
thinkers, though under the care of an
earnest Christian mother. He attended
religious meetings only to scof and
mimic the speakers. As a young man
he became an iniidel, and wrote a book
intended to make against the authen-
ticity of the Bible, and the Divinity of |
book, a friend, more wise |
than he, threw into the fire. Later in life |
4 warfare went on within him between |
these earlier convictions and later i'm
pressions; with what result wiz probably |
be never fully known, though it was
doubtless the cause Of the profound mel
ancholy which always characterized him,
and to which his assured mirthfulness
was only the foil. A belief in God and
immortality, disbelief in eternal pun
shment and Christ's divinity, is the
most hopeful expression of his faith
which Mr.. Lamon allows.
We have been compelled to omit the
OF his long, varied and sue
cesstul political career, up to the time
of his first election to the Presidency,
where this work leaves him. Only two
or three Of the most salient and least
known points in his character and life
We have suffered ourselves to dwell on.
The rest of the record, which occupies
.hese five hundred octave pages, will be
'ound of exceeding interest. Many Of
he statements have the force Of new
and to most readers viii be
,uch. Some perhaps will rot be easily
credited But for their authenticity not
,nly Mr. Lamon, but Herndon, Lincoln's
aw partner, is in a measure respOnsi-
BE.