Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-01-31

aggressive pTOpOS1llOllS OF men WHO Ht4Q
been accepted as leaders of the republi-
can party. and the problem was finally
solved for him by the midsummer mad
ness that made the Confederate secre-
tary of war order the bombardment of
Fort Sumter at a time when the aSsur-
ance of the surrender of Mai Ander-
sons command was given TO be car
ried out within two days. unless rein
forced by his government, which was inn
possible.
The act Of the Confederate government
united the north and sounded the death
knell of the Confederacy. From that
time until the close of the war the duty
of Lincoln was plain and he fulfilled every
demand made upon him. The first i'm
pOrtant battle of the war was Bull Run,
where the Union army was defeated and
routed, and it was then that Lincoln rose
up TO the full majesty of his duty and
opportunity. On the night that the Union
army was driven back from Bull Run into
the Entertainments of Washington he
wrote cut. with great care, the war
policy of the government. which he de-
livered to the War Department on the
following morning. and in that policy he
exhibited the highest qualities of a STRAIT
esst. He declared that the Army Of the
Potomac must be reinforced and made
aggressive. and he stated distinctly that
Kentucky. Tennessee. and the southwest
The policy of Lincoln, as expressed in
that paper, carried out to the letter
and The government saved thereby; and
during the three years of the war before
the appointment of Grant as lieutenant
general. he was not only the military
leader of our entire army, but he directed
and ordered the various armies had
in the field in the various movements.
When Grant was appointed he felt that
he could intrust the military direction
entirely to the commander-in-chief and
in instance did he reverse or interfere
with Gen. Grant. but until Grant became
the commander he was the strategist and
military commander OF the war.
Many leaders of the republican party
who believed when Lincoln was inaugu-
rated that he was utterly untitled for
his position gradually learned that they
had entirely moderated him and he grad
ually became master of all Of them. They
saw that his intelligence was equal to his
prudence; that he coElprehended all of the
grave issues of the war as fully as any
one could. and with great reluctance one
by one the criticisng leaders learned TO
respect the patriotic judgment and in
tegrity of Lincoln. Some of them
harasSed and veXed him greatly; they
pressed emancipation and negro suffrage
upon him. but Lincoln always silently
waited until the fullness of time and then
lie acted.
Lincoln differed fundamentally from
most of the republican leaders about
him. He had absolute faith in the peo-
pie OF the country. He had grown up
among the common people. was ever
In sympathy with them and had faith
in their integrity and their patriotism.
and the guiding star in all his i'm
portant movements was what he believed
to he the considerate Judgment of the
people of the nation
remember being IN the room ore
morning when a western congressman
was asking for something to be done
in his district and alphabetically ex-
claimed that It was not % much Q