The National tribune., 1909-12-09
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
CONTINUED from page one.)

President Lincoln took Secretary Stan
toms plan for text, and without agree
| ing to it as a whole, spoke at length as
| to his ideas of what should be done.
| 1t has been claimed that Secretary
WeIles's version of the Presidents
words was colored by the fact that the
time when he published his notes was
seven years after the event and when
he had followed Andrew Johnson into
the camp which he had set up against
the Radicals" The Secretary says as
to the President:
| at was providential, he thought, that
this matter should have arisen at time
when it could be considered, so far as
the Executive was concerned, without
Interference by Congress. If they were
wise and discreet, they should reani-
mate the States and get their govern
ments in successful operation, with or
der prevailing and the Union re-estab-
| liShcd, before Congress came together
| in December The President felt so
kindly towards the South, he was so
sure of the Cabinet under his guidance,
that he was anxious to close the period
of strife without overmuch discussion.
HE was particularly desirous to
avoid the shedding of blood, or any
lvindictiveness of punishment He gave
plain notice that morning that he would
/ have none of it. No one need expect
| he WOulu luke pdil III iioJIo'hS VI
killing these men, even the worst OF
/ them. brighten them out of the coun-
| try, open the gates, let down the bars, |
scare them off, said he, throwing up
his hands as if soaring sheep. Enough
| lives have been sacrificed; we must ex-
! tingush our resentments II we expect
harmony and union He deprecated
the disposition he had seen in some
quarters to hector and dictate to the
people of the South, who were trying
to right themselves. He regretted that
suffrage, under proper arrangement
had not been given the negroes IN Lou
isiana but he held that their conSu- |
tuition was in the main a good one. He |
was ayerse to the exercise of arbitrary |
powers by the Executive or by Congress !
Congress had the undoubted rlght 10 re-
ceive or reject members: the Executive |
had no control in this; but the EHecu-
tive could do very much to restore order
in the States. and their practical rela- |
tions with the Government, before Con-
gress came together
Secretary Stanton's Plan.
Secretary Stanton then read his plan |
for a temporary military government
for the States of Virginia and Nortn
Carolina, which were to be comolneo
in one department. This at once
aroused the opposition of the CABINET |
with Secretary Welles and Postmaster
General Dennison is strongly ADVERSE 10
uniting the two States under one head |
This. they thought, led toward sum- |
ner,s dictum of state Suicide, ana |
the President himself joined in this op-
position, saying that he was opposeo |
to anything that was repugnant 10 tne |
autonomy or the diminishing OF tne
individuality of any State. He relter-
ated his well-known position that the
States were intact and unimpaired'
aitho their machinery had been uniaw-
fully perverted by combinations OF re-
bellious men. He directed Secretary /
Stanton to revise his plan, and report
it with provision for distinct military
governments for each of the States. He
urged the Cabinet to give the Whoie |
matter of rehabilitation of civil author-
ity in the South their closest consld-
Grafton, and be prepared to resume the
discussion of the matter at the next
meeting of the Cabinet on the follow
ing Tuesday. Mr.. Lincoln impressed
upon them all that the great struggle
was now virtually over, and that they
must set themselves to work as earnest
ly in preparing for peace as they had
been engaged in prosecuting the war
a Day at Home.
After the meeting had adjourned,
the President returned to the living
apartments of the White House to
meet his son Robert, who was a Cap
come to Washington with him from
Appomattox. The young Captain had
la world of interesting personal things
to tell his father, and the father was
|so absorbed in listening to them that
he denied himself for hours to all Wis
|itors An exception was made, how
ever. in the case of Schuyler Colfax,
Speaker of the House of Representa-
tives. Colfax was about to start on an
overland trip to California, and came
to inquire if the President contem-
plated calling an extra session. Mr..
Lincoln assured him that he did not,
and gave him some messages to convey
to the miners of Colorado and Cali
fornia, who had been so loyal to the
Government during its greatest stress.
In the afternoon the President went
for a long drive with Mrs. Lincoln,
and to all who met him he seemed
unusually happy and tender. He spoke
much of the peace which had come
after the four years of terrible war,
and said he looked forward to carry
ing on his work of restoring the country
until the end of his term, when he
expected to go back to Illinois and
his law practice.
The Threats and Projects of Assassi-
nation.
Altho from the very day of President
Lincoln's election his friends had been
anxious about his personal safety,
Lincoln himself never seemed at all
so. Despite the fact that his murder
was openly preached in the South as
an act as praiseworthy as that of
either of the Brutuses, and that the
South swarmed with men eager for the
reputation of being killers, Lincoln
took few precautions for his safety and
was rather impatient of his friends ap-
prehension and their insistence upon
his having armed attendants and a
body-guard. Every mail which reach
ed the White House brought letters
loaded with the grossest insults and
threats to kill. There were few COM
in the South and West which
did not have some village bully who
staggered about his desire and inten- :
tion to kill the ''niggerloving Aboli- !
ZIONIST" There had been ADVERTISE
ments in the Southern papers to raise
a fund for anyone who should assasi-
nate Lincoln and members of his Cabi-
net, and in the Confederate archives, ,
after the war. was found a letter from
a Lieut.. Aston, who wrote to Jefferson
Davis offering to "rid the country of
some of her deadliest enemies by strik-
ing at the very hearts blood of those
who seek to enchain her in slavery"
On the back of this letter was ref
erence by Mr.. Davis to his Secretary
of War, who sent it to the Confederate
Adjutant-General indorsed "for atten-
tion." When Mr.. Lincoln was remon-
strated with on account of the fraedon,