New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1885-03-22
LINCOLN, THE MAN.
NEW VIEWS OF HIS CHARACTER.
"REMINISCENCES BY DOM PIATT-THE PRESIDENT
COURAGE AND FORESIGHT.

COURAGE AND FORESIGHT.
Copyright, 1855.
History is after ALL the capitalization OF popular
beliefs AS o pleasant fiction ia more acceptaoie
than a naked fact. and as the historian shapes HIS
wares like any other dealer to suit MS custohorS'
one can readily see that our chronicles are oniy
dnller sort of fiction than the popular novels so
eagerly read not that they are true Dut 'ney aeai
in what we long to have the truth. Popular beliefs
In time, come to be superstitons, and create eodS
and devils Thus Washington is dei6ed into an
impossible man. and Aaron Burr has passed into a
like impossble human monster. Through the same
process Abraham Lincoln, one of our truly great.
has almost gone from human knowledge near oi
him read of him in euloges and biographies anu
fail to recognize the encountered 1or 'he nis'
time. LII the canvass that called him from private
,fo IN Inc President of the then disuniting United
States.
General Robert E. Schenck and l had been
selected to canvass Southern Illinois In behalf OF
free soil and Abraham Lincoln. That part OF
Illinois was tnen known as Egypt and IN our MIS-
yionary labors we learned there that the American
eagle sometimes lays rotten eggs Our aoors on the
stump were closed in the wgwam az Sprlngheld
few nights preyious to the election. Mr.. Lincoln
was present and listened with intense interest," 10
General Sehenck's able argument. followed in
amuse the crowd and none more so than our can
d;date for the Presidency We were both invited TO
return TO Springfield, at the Jubilee should success
make snch rejoicing proper. We did return, for this
bomely son of toll was elected anu we iouuu
Springfield drunk with delight. On the day OF our
arrival we were invited to supper at the mousse Oh
the Presidenl-elect. 1t was plain, comfortaole
frame structure, and the supper was an old
fashioned mess of Indigestion. composed MAINLY OF
cake pies and chickens, the last evidently killed III
the morning, to be eaten, as best they might, that
evening
After the supper, sat far into the night talk-
Ing over the situation. Mr. Lincoln was the
bomeliest man ever saw His body seemed to me
n huge skeleton in clothes Tall as he was, his
hands and feet looked out of proportion. so long
and clumsy were they. Every movement was
awkward in the extreme. He sat with one !eg
thrown over the other, and the pendant foot swung
almost to the floor. And all the while two little
bows his sons clambered those legs, patt"d his
cheeks, pulled his nose and poked their fingers IN
his eyes, without causing reprlmand or even notice
He had face that deed artistic skill TO soften OF
idealize The multiplicity of photographs and
engravings makes it familiar to the public. 1t was
capable of few expressions, bnt those were ex-
tremely striking When in repose. his face was
dull, heavy and repellant. 1t frightened like lit
lantern when animated His dull eyes would fairly
sparkle with fun, or express as kindly look as l
ever saw when moved by some matter of human
interest.
soon discovered that this strange and strangely
gifted man. while not at all cynical was sceptc.
His view of human nature was low, but good
pat,,red l could not call it suspicious, but he
believed ONLY what he saw. This low estimate OF
humanity blinded him to the South he could not
understand that men would get up in their wrath
and fight for an idea. He considered the movement
South as sort of political game OF bluff. gotten up
by politicians. and meant solely to frighten the
North He believed that when the leaders saw
their efforts in that direction were unavang. the
tumult would subside. @They won't give up the
offices,n remember he said, and added. "were 1t
believed that vacant places could be had at the
North Pole the road there wonld be lined with dead
yirginians" He unc0nsciously accepted for him
self and party the same low line that he awarded
the South. Expressing no sympathy for the slave
be laughed at the AbolitiOnists as a disturbing
element easily controlled, and without showing any
dislike TO tho shareholders. said only that their
ambition was to be restrained.
gathered more of this from what Mrs. Lincoln
said than from the utterances OF our host. Ihis
good lady injected remarks into the conversation
with more force than logic and was treated by her
husband with about the same good-natured
indifference with which he regarded the trouble
some boys There was amusing assumption or
the coming Admnistr alton in the wife's talk that
struck me as very womanly, but somewhat
ludicrous. For instance, she said, "The country
will find how we regard that Abolition sneak
Seward" Mr.. Lincoln put the remark aside, very
much as he did the hand of one of his boys when
that hand invaded his capacious mouth.
We were not at a loss to get at the fact. and the
sI.a hafopa neAs u1ad
from the poor whites of slave State. through many
generations he inherited the contempt, if not the
hatred, held by that class for the negro. self
made man, with scarcely a winters schooling from
books. his strong nature was built on what he
inherited and he could no feel "a sympathy for
that wretcbed race than he could for tine horse he
worked or the hog he killed In this he exhibited
the marked trait that governed his public life. lie
never rose above the mass he influenced, and was
strong it'll the people from the fact that he accom-
panied the commons without any attempt to lead,
save in the direction they sought to follow. He
knew and saw clearly, that the people OF the free
States had not only sympathy with the abolition
of slavery but held fanatics, as AboiitODsts were
called in utter adherence. While 1t seemed a
cheap philanthropy and therefore popular, to free
another mans slave. the fact was that it was not
another mans slave The unrequited toll of the
slave was more valuable to the North than to the
South With our keen business instincts we OF
the free States utilized the brutal work of the
masters They made, without saving, all that We
accumulated The Abolitionst was hunted and
imprisoned. under the shadow of the Bunke1 Hill
Monument as keenly as he was tracked by blood
hounds at the South. Wendell Phillips, the silver
tongued advocate of human rights. was. while Mr.
Lincoln talked to us. being ostraczed at Boston and
rotten-egged at Cincinnati. A keen knowledge OF
human nature in a jury. more than knowledge o.
law In his case. had put our President-eect at thu
head of his profession. and this same knowledge
made him master of the situation when he came &,
mould into action the stirred impulses of the people