Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1873-10-10
Character of Abraham Lincoln.
BY GIDEON wELLEs.

Nllllhm III. SeWaru, snOuIu hhNo per
mitted himself to do injustc- to Abra-
ham Lincoln. Any attempt to canonize
Mr.. Seward by detracting from the mer-
its of his chief, weakens the enconiums
bestowed Mr.. Adams has claims to
consideration by reason of his talents,
requirements, social position, and public
service but his estimate of the charac-
ter, capacity, executive ability, and rela-
tive position of the Chief Magistrate and
his Secretary of State betrays want of
Just discrimination and correct knowledge
of each. A greater error could scarcely
be committed than to represent that Mr..
Lincoln "had to deal with superior
intellectual power when he came in
contact with Mr.. Seward. The reverse
was the fact. In mere scholastic acquire
ments Mr. Seward, never learned
man." may have had the advantage,
though in this respect there was less diff
ference than is generally supposed !;
while ." in breadth of philosophical ex-
perience and in the force of moral disci-
pline the almost self-taught and refec-
tive mind of Mr.. Lincoln, which sur
mounted difficulties and disadvantages
that his Secretary never knew, conspicu-
ously excelled In the executive council
and in measures of administration the
Secretary had influence, not always hap
PLY exercised, but the Presidents was
the master mind. 1t is empty panegyric
to speak of the Secretary of State as
chief. or to say his suggestions, save in
his own department, were more regarded
or had even greater influence than those
of others. His restless activity, unceas-
ing labors, snowy manifestations, and
sometimes incautious exercise of ques-
tionable authority which the President
deemed it impolitic to disavow, led to
the impression, which Mr. Adams seems
also to have imbibed, that the subordi-
nate was the principal, and have induced
him, to use his own words, to award to
one honors that clearly belong to anoth-
err"
Far be it from me to derogate in the
| least from the merits and services of Mr..
Seward, for / was a witness to his assidu-
ity, and to some extent a participant and
coadjutor with him in the labors and
trials that the Administration encoun-
tered in those troublous times" But
it was not necessary in stating his mer-
! its, even in eulogy, to undervalue and
misstate the worth, services, and capabil-
tiles of the remarkable man who was at
the helm and guided the Government
through stormy period Unassuming
and unpretentious himself, Mr.. Lincoln
was the last person to wear borrowed
honors. He was not afflicted with the
petty Jealousy of narrow minds, nor had
he any apprehension that others would
deprive him of just fame. He gave to
Mr.. Seward, as to each of his council, his
generous confidence, and patiently lis
tened, if he did not always adopt or as
sent to the suggestions that were made.
To those who knew Abraham Lincoln,
or who were at all intimate with his Ad-
ministration, the representation that he
was subordinate to any member of his
Cabinet, or that he was deficient in ex-
ecutive or administrative ability is ab-
surd. Made on a solemn occasion as
was this address, and published and sent
out to the world in document which
purports to be not only eulogistic but
historic, it is essential that tue errors thus
spread abroad should be corrected. Mr..
Adams had not an intimate acquaintance
with Mr.. Lincoln, and evidently but a
slight general knowledge of his cbarac-
ter. With admitted great disappoint-
ment and disgust he received the intelli-
gence that this lawyer, legislator, and
political student of the prairies, whom
he did not know and with whom he had
not associated, had been preferred by the
Republican representatives at Chicago
over a Senator from the Empire State
with whom he was intimate and familiar,
who had long official experience, which
he seemed to have considered essential,
was acquainted with legislative manage.
ment, and whose political and party
sympathies accorded with his own. His
prejudices as we'll as his partiality were
excited, and from the beginning he mis-
conceived the character and undervalued
and moderated the capabilities and quail
tiles of one of the most sagacious and
remarkable men of the age October
GALAXY.
PHENOMENA OF THE BRAIN.-One of
the most inconceivable things in the ma
ture of the brain is that, although the
organ of sensation, it should itself be in