Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1896-03-28


of the Wrold. and double assuring, dou-
BILE confirming the government OF Jeffer-
son Davis.
agree with Lincoln's biOgraphers
that i'm his we'll known reply 10 Seward
not a word was omitted that was neces-
sary. and not a hint or allusion is con-
tanned that could be dispensed with.
1t was conclusive. 1t ended the arsu-
ment Mr. Seward dropped into his
place. Mr. Lincoln never referred to
il. From that time forward the under
standing between them was mutual and
perfect So much so that when, the
2lst o. the following May. Mr..
Seward submitted to the President the
draft of a letter of instruction TO Charles
Francis Adams. then minister to Eng
land. Mr. Lincoln did not hesitate to
change much OF its character and pur-
pose by his alterations of its text. The
original copy of this dispatch, in Sew
ards handwriting. with Mr. Lincoln
interliueatiOns. is now to he seen on file
i'm the Department of State. Ii is safe
to say that if that letter had gone as
Mr.. Seward wrote it, q war with Eng
land would have been inevitable. Mr..
LiucOln's additions, hardly less than
his suppressiOns. present a curious con-
trast between the seer i'm affairs and
the scholar i'm affairs. Even in the sub
stitutiOu of one word for another Mr..
Lincoln shows a comprehension both
of the situation and the language which
seems 10 have been wholly wanting in
Mr. Seward. with AN his experience and
learning It is said that, bordering
over this document. weighing in his
mind iJs meaning and import his head
bent and pencil i'm hand. Mr. Lincoln
was overheard murmuring TO himself:
"One var at a time-one war at
time"
TALKS 1T OVER WITH STANTON.
Whilst I am on the matter of who
was really President when Abraham
Lincoln occupied the office l may as
well dispose of IL. We all remember
that. i'm setting up for a bigger man
than his chief. Mr. Chase Jared no bet
ter than Mr.. Seward. But it is some
times said that Mr.. Stanton was more
successful i'm this line Many amusing
stories are told of how Stanton lorded
fl over Lincoln On a certain occasion
fl is related that the President was in
formed by an irate friend that the Sec
rotary of War had not only refused 10
execute am order of his, but had called
the President a fool in the bargain.
"Did stanton say l was fool? SAID
Lincoln. YES, replied his friend, he
said YOU were q blank. blank fool
Lincoln looked first good-humoredly at
his friend and then ont OF the window
i'm the direction OF the War Depart
ment. and then carelCssly observed: II
stanton said that / was blank fool
IT, must be true. for ne is nearly al~a}
right and generally says what he means
I viii just step over and see Stanton.
LINCOLN AND THE SOUTH.
want to- say just here few words
about Nr. Iincons relation TO the
South and toward the people OF the
South.
He was himself. a Southern man.
He and an his tribe we're Southerners.
Although me left Kentucky when the
merest child. he was an Old child: he
never was very Young; he grew 10 man
hood i'm Kentucky colony; Tor Whd' Is
Illinois. what is Chicago, but a ken
lucky colony. grown somewhat oui Oh
PROPORTION? He was in one sense what
we used 10 call "a poor white. AWN-
ward perhaps: mgainly. perhaps; Mig
gerless certainly. but aspiring; the
srfrit of a hero beneath that rugged eN-
terror: the imagination of q poet be-
Meath those heavy brCws the courage
of a lion beneath those patient kindly
aspect-. and. long before ne was Of legal
1ee q leader His first love was tut-
ledge. his wife was Todd. Le. the ro-
mancis- tell the story of his romance
T dare not. No saddor idyl can be
found i'm an the annals of thepoor
REAL FRIEND OF THE SOUTH
We know he was a poet; for have we
not that immortal prose-pcem recited
at GeuvsburC2 We know that he was
statesman. for has NOT time yindicated
his concusiOnso But the South does
not know. except as a kind of hearsaE
thar he was a friend, the one friend
Who had the power and the viii TO save
IL from itself. The diroa' bic" jhaJ
could have been ndic,cd upon the
South was delivered by the assassin
bullet that struck him down
But / degrees. Throughout the wild
contention that preceded the war amid
the mrid passions that attended the
war itself not one bitter or narrow
word eeerucd the lips of Abraham Lin
coin whilst there was hardly a day
that he was not projecting his big stur-
DIV pprsOualitv between some Southern
man IN. woman and danger.