New-York tribune., 1885-01-19
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
ARNOLD'S LINCOLN.

Insu introduction to this posthumous work, the
Hon. E. b. Washburne states that 1t was lntended
40 be more str city personal biography and less
a political memoir than the History OF Abraham
Lincoln an1 the Overthrow of Slavery which Nr
Arnold published in 1867. Yet its vaine Is CHI ny
in the remarkable clearness with which IL eGh'plos
the historical relation of Mr.. Lincoln to the
momentous events of his Admlnlstratioh-the
emancipation of the slaves and the restoration OF
Ahe Union. The personal traits OF the fresieh'
have been more fully described in other books; the
details Of military and political movements a's"
can bo better followed. elsewhere; but Mr. Arnold
succeeded TO a singular extent in assuming the
broad view and iudicous voice Of pnsfcr'ty ana
exhibiting the great est figure of time in Its true
perspectiye This achievement is the more str'klh2
because Mr. Arnold was closely connected w''h
the politics of the war period that the proportions
and bearing of personal and historical Influences
during that .bewilderng time might easily nave
escaped him. He was a Member of Congress from
Illinois during Mr.. LincOns Administrator ana
was not only Jealous supporter OF tho PRESIDENT
but an intimate and sympathetic friend III IS not
often that the man who lives close to the foot of the
mountain has the best idea of the aspect OF the
mighty peak in the general landscape. Even IN a
fast-moving country like ours twenty years Will
not suffice to bury party prejudices, factiona
himself sometimes shows that. And yet this active
politician seems to have anticipated the comprehei
sve survey and composed judgment of the far
future.
The chief note of the biography is that it repre-
eents Lincoln as o tremendous lndvldual force
pushing the country forward to great purposes. ana
guiding it through difficulties which confused
nearly all its ablest minds In early life he saw
something of the horrors of slavery and conceived
detesatiOn of it which grew stronger and stronger
with time There is evidence also that he felt
presentiment of its speedy destruction and that the
subject of emancipation was often on his mind,
although he was far from dreaming that his own
share in the work would ever be conspicuous Still,
despite the fervor of bis convictions he could not
be- classed with tho AbolitiOnists. 1t was the
function of those apostles of liberty to make the
great uprising possible by logging the siuggard
conscience Of the Nation until it became raw and
sensitive. 1t was the distinction of Abraham Lin
coin that he saw from the first the lines upon which
the contest between right and wrong must be
settled. and brought the people squarcly TO con-
front the crisis. "A house divided against itself
cannot stand. l believe this Government cannot
endure permanently half slave and half free d"
not expect the Union to be dissolved. do n t
expect the house to fall but do expect it will cease
to he divided" This was the clear and impressive
language in which, while older statesmen were
pottering over deusive compromises and futile
guarantees, and before Mr.. Seward had made his
memorable Interpretation of the Irrepressible Con-
Hict, the new leader stated the conditions of the
National disorder 1t is hardly too much to say
that if not one of the first to see. he of the
first to make the peope see, that we had IT achod
pass where compromise and poStpOneinent were no
longer possible. The house must cease to be divided
against itself 1t is disparaeement of the
splendid services of the experienced and patriotic
anti.sIavery leaders of Seward, Sumner Chase.
Wade Hale and the Others who had been all their
lives fighting and exposed to the rivalres and ms
conceptions of political warfare, that the effect OF
the voice from the praries in fastening clear
conception of the crisis upon the public mind, and
making it not merely the formal reason but the
vivfying principle of the Republican movement.
was much greater than theirs. No one had ever
put the case forciby and terscly; and we doubt
whether any one at the North realized SO fully as
Lincoln did between 1855 and 1860 that the last
act of the irrepressible conflict was, not impending,
but actually begun. " A revelation could not makr
1t palmer to me-" he said before his election that
slavery or the Government must be destroyed"
3 His STRAIGHTFORWARD course after the beginning Of
the rebellion exact y in the line he had marked
out for his party years. before. The statement OF
the Republican theory of action was in the same
words with only little change of accent. The house
must cease to be divided and it mnst not fall but
first It must not fall. "Tbat portion of the earths
surface which is owned and inhabited by the people
of the United States is well adapted TO be the hono
OF one National family and it Is not well adapted
for two or more.' He testified in hls fist inaugural
to his sense of. the paramount duty imposed upon
him by the Constitution and his oath of Office to
maintain the union of the States III its integrity
and this sense of duty to tho very end he allowed
nothing to obscure. This was the key to many OF
the measures which his political friends m suDder
stood and resentcd-his tenderness toward the Bor
der States his delay the proclamation of freedom,
his interference with the untmely zeal of Fremont
and Hunter. No American President has ever
exhibited striking combination of the philO-
sophie view and lofty spirit OF the statesman with
the practical sagaclty of the working politician :;
aud one consequently has ever understood 6, well
when to attempt great enterprises and how TO push
them on. If il seemed sometimes that, in his
soloitude to restore the Union and yindicate the
sacredness of tLe law, he neglected the moral cues
tion of emancipation, the fact was far otherwise.
Better Ghan almost any of the rest OF US, he sa ~
things In their true relations. lie saw how the
slavery problem could be made of use in saving the
Union and how. by strange revenge Of Providence.
the preservation of the Union had now scomc to
involve the inevitable and speedy extinction of
slavery. Changing his measures according to the
circumstances of .he day, but never changing his
principles or his policy. he knew that in
contending for unconditional union he was also
taking the surest path to unconditional
freedom. "Slavery or the Government must be
destroyed; - If he saved the Government he accom-
plished everything; If he could not save the
Government everything was lost. But there was no
salvation by compromise. On that truth he stood
as firm as the everlasting hills "Prevcnt as far az
possible he wrote to Z. B.. Washburne, in
December, 1860" prevent as far possible any of
our friends from demoraizing themselves and our
cause by entertaining propositions for compromise
of any sort on the slavery extension. There Ia no