The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1879-08-28
*NOTE.-If any one deem that l
sneak too harshlY of Mr.. Lin

*NOTE.-If any one deem that L
speak too harshly Of Mr.: Lin
coin, let him read the biography
of the latter written by Col. Lamon, Il
Lincoln's law-partner. and lifelong friend,
and who accompanied him to Washington
as confidential secretary. In the lndne
of partiality, the author imagines the fame
of his hero as President will excuse his
blemishes as a man /; therefore unhesltat-
lngly details many surprising incidents of
Mr.. Lincoln's life, his quarrels with his
family. his atheistic vagarieS, his fondness
for divers forbidden fruit, his temporary
confinement by his friends, at n time for
mental arrangement, ETC., etc., all OF
which is supported by copious extracts
from his letters, and g%arnished with speci-
mems of vulgar jest. The book is obliged
to leave a very unfavorable impression on
any fair mind.
For myself, I write, I trust, without q
particle of bitterness, or ill feeling, towards
Mr.. Lincoln. He was never half so malici~
GUS in his hatred of the South as were
Seward, Stanton, Chase and others of his
Cabinet, who, as it were, "toek the bit in
their teeth" and perpetrated a thousand
vile acts for which he was blamed, just as
Jefferson Davis is called the "Arch-Rebel"
by the North, though really not a whit
more rebellious than nine-in-ten of his
followers.
Per Contra, Mr.. Lincoln receives credit
for much of the success achieved by Sew
ard and Stanton, and perhaps without his
knowledge until accomplished. Here I
will remark that in one respect Abraham
Lincoln was the most remarkable parsonage
in American History. Extraordinary, not
for qualities of mind, or morals, or
achievements, but for the blind accident of
success, commonly called ~"matural born
luck" Having, like Washington, the good
fortune to figure as the Ostensible leader in
a great political Revolution, stirred and
managed by wiser heads, he lacked even
the mediocre ability of Washington, much
less his hereditary elevation of character,
which is the next best thing to b%roadness Of
views. Among all the host of ''shams."
tossed up by the war, clothed with momen-
tary power aud honor-''the idol of an
hour,"-no better illustration of the de.
sceptive Unrealty of American political
greatness" can be furnished not except
ing even General Grant himself. who NAV.
like Gen. Winfield Scott, live to out-live
his laurells Mr.. Lincoln's luck stands UNI
rlvalled, because it carried him to the
grave while yet the mirage of his fame was
o'er-spreading the sky.
After a second election to the Presidency.
after conquering the Rebels, and becoming
tne nomlnal EMANCIPATION of the slaves
(robblng the South, by a single stroke of
his pen. of many millions of dollars worth
of property after seeing nearly all of his
Old political opponents beggared, and
crushed. some in prison, others in exile,
after all this, and when finally entering
the difficult epoch of 'Reconstruction'
wherein a thousand perplexing questions
were popping up like Hydra.heads from
the DragOn-teeth harvest of the war. and
when it was probable he must clash with
bis own party. mes5 opportunity for him
self and for his reputation, came ut g fatal
bolt, Electrically sped by John Wilkes
Booth, in a public theatre, under circum-
stances calculated to awaken universal
sympathy throughout the world. Thus
did he not only escape the stress of de-
mands which far stronger heads have since
failed to meet, and draw the mantle of
martyrdom over his past faults, but he also
carried with him a measure of gratitude
from the down-trodden victims of his
world-recruited legions because even the
South recalls his later expressions of kind
ness, and his opposition to the blood-suck-
ers by whom he was surrounded, with a
feeling of sincere regret for his untimely
taking off" Perchance, had he lived ten
years longer, he might have descended like
Hannibal Hamlin, Andrew johnson, Gov.
Sprague, and other sectional leaders, to die
amid the obscurity whence he sprung.