Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1886-01-17
LINCOLN In RICHMOND.
COMPLIMENTARY TO PORTER.
A Raey Commentary upon Admiral Por,er's
"reminiscences or Lincoln.

"reminiscences OF Lincoln.
Those who read Admiral Porter's
cock-and-bull story about Lincoln in
Richmond, will enjoy the following,
which appears in the Chicago Current
under the signature Of NJ. NJ. Trumbull:
During the war there was an Illinois
colonel in the Army Of the Tennessee
who made himself rather troublesome
to the commanding general. The colo.
mel was q brave soldier, with vigor-
GUS understanding, but unfortunately
he was deficient in mental training, and
was quite illiterate. He was trusty
and obedient officer, but before obey
ing he liked to " argufy the pint" One
day be sent to the general letter
three or four pages long argufying"
an order that had just been
issued. He showed how useless and
foolish the order was. This letter, he
thought, would give him the martyrdom
of an arrest at best, if not court
martial. To his disgust the general
paid no attention to the argument, but
sent the letter back with following en-
dorsement: Respectfully returned for
correction grammar and diction bad"
This endorsement will apply to Adj
miral Porter's tale about +" Lincoln at
Richmond" The diction especially is
very bad.
Having arrested the hand of Mr.. Lin
coin in the very act OF political suicide;
in an act which would have brought
humiliation a" upon the country and
caused what Admiral Porter calls
howl at the North ; an act to which
the President had been persuaded by
the 4" clever dodge" of Mr.. Campbell,
the Admiral now quotes the congratu-
lations offered by Mr.. Lincoln to him.
self on his very narrow escape. He
represents the President as an awkward
boy chuckling because he has avoided
logging from his teacher the school,
master in this case being Mr.. Seward.
lam always putting my foot in it."
said Mr.. Lincoln. Bless my soul,
how Seward would have preached had
he been here when | gave Campbell
permission to let the Legislature meet.
Seward laughs at my horse sense
which ! pride myself upon, and yet |
put my foot into that thing about Camp
bell with my eyes wide OPEN"
BY this time that very serious matter
has dwindled to the dimensions of a
Joke, and the President pays the follow
ing compliment to Admiral Porter at
the expense Of his own tumble self-de-
probation
"If were you, | don't think |
would repeat that joke yet awhile.
People might laugh at you for knowing
so much more than the President. | am
afraid that my learning lies in my heart
more than in my head"
Considering that this burst of humil-
ity was drawn from the President by
pretended event that never happened,
the assertion that Mr.. Lincoln expressed
such twaddling gratitude is literary
effort highly creditable to the inventive
genius of Admiral Porter. Imagine
Mr. Seward, the refined and cultivated
Prime Minister, ironically ilattering the
President of the United States on his
possession of "hOrSe sense y; and the
President accepting the irony as praise.
Think of Mr.. Lincoln, snutiling dis
paragement ofhis own head because there
was no learning in it. Truthfully, no
man had greater faith in his head than
Abraham Lincoln had and with good
reason, too. 1t was a towering head,
stronger than either his heart or his
hands, and they were very strong. Be-
hind that rugged forehead thrObbed
brain of rarest quality, compact, level.
learned, and disciplined in mother ma
lures most scientific and exacting
school. 1t had enabled him to conquer
material and moral obstacles such as no
other man of his nation had ever
overcome; knotty logs Of oak and
hickory; mutinous fatboats and ad-
verse tides; poverty and lack of books
the barriers to Congress and the bar 4;
political riyalries led by the chief of
the Democratic party in one direction
and the chief Of the Republican party
in the other. 1t had mastered Mr..
Douglas in debate and Mr.. Seward in
convention. Out of it had come the
immortal proclamation that oyerthrew
slavery and now, at the very height
of his glory, when he had just entered
on his second presidential term, when
the rebellion had the rattles in its
throat, Admiral Porter asks US to be-
lieye that Mr.. Lincoln had become I'M
grateful to that seryiceable brain, and
accused it of imbecility. 30, the Of
fence is rank "
Mr.. Lincoln was not cOncelted man,
but he had plenty Of self-esteem, and
he carried in his heart lofty and am
bilious pride. In council where Sew
ard and Chase and Stanton had seats,
Lincoln was easily chief. 1t is known
to his intimate friends that when be
was chosen over Mr.. Seward and the
rest at the National Convention, in
1860, although he bore himself with
such outward modesty as may become
a gentleman, yet, in his inmoSt
thought, he believed that the best man
had won. Five years after that, when
he was ten-fold greater man than he
was in 1860, when his enemies both
North and South were at his feet, Adj
miral Porter represents him as bewall-
ing his incompetency and the weakness
of his head.
But unmerciful disaster followed fast
and followed faster. A man appeared
at the landing and demanded audience
of 4" Abraham Lincoln" lie was a
bad man, dressed in homespun, and he
carried big stick in his hand. In the
language of the exact Admiral, " 1t
was, in fact, nothing more than a stick
taken from a woOd-pile. 1t was two
and a half inches in diameter, and was
not even smoothed at the joints" 1t was
the reprehensible practice in Virginia at
that time that the wood merchants did
not plane the knots off the cord-wood
before piling it. The Admiral would
not allow the man to see the President
until he had thrown the stick into the
river. This he did and the Admiral