The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1891-06-27
A TRUE GENTLEMAN.
what nm Iingllshmnn says About Abraham
Lincoln.

Lincoln.
The English-spealdng world will
never read the story of the Rebellion
without a thrill of pride and exultation.
Heroic and inspiring as was the achieve
ment of the Puritans in throwing off the
| tyranny of the Stuarts, and establishing
in its place, not license or anarchy, but
a wise and liberal polity, the yelling
hand of time diminishes for modern men
> it's dstinctncss and reality. With the
defence of the Union it is different. We
can almost hear the reverberation of the
cannon at Vicksburg, and our hand
may still clasp the hands of those who
overthrow embattled treason at Gettys-
burg and Chattanooga. The glory won
by the English race is so near that it
still stirs the blood like trumpet to
read of the patriotism of the men who
fought at the call of Lincoln. Nothing
is more admirable, as nothing is more
dramatic in recorded history than the
manner in which the North sprang to
arms at the news that the Nations flag
had been fired on at Fort Sumpter. 1t
is all very well to hire soldiers at so
much day and send them to the front
with salutes and reioicings, but the
action of the eastern and western states
meant great deal more than this 1t
meant voluntary sacrifice on the part
of men who had nothing to gain and
everything to lose by throwing over
life of ease or profit to shoulder n
musket or serve gun. A continent
was on fire.
1t is one of the greatest of Lincoln's
Al 10 aI, hot hp
sympathized with the fervor and en-
thusiasm of his countrymen, he was not
carried away by it. He was one of
those rare men who can at once be
Jealous and moderate, who are llindled
by great ideas, and who yet retain com
plete control of the critical faculty.
And more than this, Lincoln was man
who could be reserved without the chill
of reserve. Again, he could make al
lowance for demerits in principle or a
human instrument, without ever falling
into the purblindness of cynicism. He
often acted in his dealings with men
much as professed cynic might have
acted; but his conduct was due, not to
any disbelief in virtue, but to wide
tolerance and a clear knowledge of hui
man nature. He saw things as a dis
iliusionized man sees them, and yet in
the bad sense he never suffered any dis
illusionment. For suffusing and com
bining his other qualities was a serenity
of mind which affected the whole man.
He viewed the world too much as a
whole to be greatly troubled or per
picked over it's accidents. To this
serenity of mind was due an almost total
absence of Indignation in the ordinary
sense. Generals might half-ruin the
cause for the sake of some trumpery
quarrel, or in order to gain some petty
personal advantage; otiice-seekers might
worry at the very crisis of the Ma
tion's fate;but none ofthe pettinesses
the spites, or the follies could rouse
in Lincoln the impatience or the indig-
nation that would have been wakened
in ordinary men. Pity, and nothing
else, was the feeling such exhibitions
S occasioned him. Lincoln seems to have
! felt the excuse that tempers the guilt
of every mortal transgression. His
largeness and tenderness of nature
made him at heart a universal apologist.
,: He was of course too practical and too
great a statesman to let this sensibility
to the excuses that can be made for
human conduct induce him to allow
misdeeds to go unpuni shed or uncorrect-
t ed. He acted as firmly and as severely
as if he had experienced the most burn
l. ing indignation; but the moment we
t come to Lincoln's real feelings we see
= that he is never incen sed, and that, even
= in it's most legitimate form, the desire
t for retribution is absent from his mind.
| n'o or1n
V was the secret of his attitude toward
g hum an affairs. That is not the highest
wisdom, but it errs on the right and al sc
" on the rare side. So much for the intel
l. lectual side of Lincoln's nature. Be,
If hind it was personality of singular
e charm. Tenderness and humor were
S it's main characteristics. AS he rode
|: through forest in spring-time, he
C would keep on dismounting to put back
e the young birds that had fallen from
$ their nests. There was not a situation
/. in life which could not afford him the
e subject for kindly smile. 1t needed a
character so full of gentleness and gooG
n temper to sustain the intolerable weight
is of responsibility which the war threw
II upon the shoulders of the President
$ Most men would have been crushed by
l. the burden. His serenity of temper
n saved Lincoln. Except when the miser
able necessity of having to sign the
5. order for a military execution took
+" away his sleep he carried on his work
d without any visible sign of over-strain
n Not the least of Lincoln's achieve
n ments is to be found in the fact tina
though for four years he welded {
is power and personal authority greater
l. than that exercised by any monarch OF
h earth, he never gave satirists or carl
r caturists the slightest real ground fol
IS declaring that his sudden rise to world
wide fame had turned the head of the
V backwoodsman. Under the circum
If stances, there would have been every
IS excuse for Lincoln, had he assumed tC
Is his subordinates somewhat of the bear
IT ing of the autocpat he was, 1t is n sigr
5. of the absolute sincerity and good sense
e of the President that he was under nc
e sort of temptation to do So Lincoln
S. was before all things gentleman, ant
is the good taste inseparable from that
character made it impossible for him Il
d be spoiled by power and position. This
10 grace and strength ofcharacter is nevei
p, better shown than in the letters to hi
"a generals, victorious or defeated. Wher