New-York tribune., 1909-02-12


morning prints the following article on Ansahani
Lincoln from the pen OF Henry WattsTscn'
Abraham Lincoln.
That God of whose aetuality the mind OF man IS
net abie to conceive. but whom we pFehgure a. an
all wise-defty who. from the building OF an en-
pire TO the fan of a sparrow concerns Hinself Win
mortal affairs has had the American Union In HIS
holy keeping can be doubted by no one VINO mas
studied its history.
ary War made FOR the ContiDentais and against tne
British all the Incidents and accidents OF the war
of Sections made for the Federals and against tns
Confederates :.
7rbe law of good ard III fortune extended itself
20 the leaders IN each instance. Why George
washington the Virginia colonel ot militia instead
of Charles Lee the accomplished English soidier
with a European career and reputation to eefnfiaehu
him? Why with all his handicaps. old Grant the
greatest of modern fighters forge to the front aead
OF Mcclellan and Sherman and Sheridan, hrlhiait
officers but clearly unequal TO the maj ISSUE siio
why were Albert Sidney Johnston, the rose ana eA
pectancy of the young Confsderacy. ana stoneWah
jackson Napoleon alike of the Sword and the Cross
struck down at the decisive monentg How came
Fricsson's little cheese box to crawl INTO Ramp
ton Roads Just in the nick Of time, to DO the "ofh
and then go to the bottom OF the sea- and how
was It possible except through the direct help OF
some power divine. that Cushing was aeie 10 creep
I'D York River both banks studded with ConIeoet-
ate batteries 10 "nx' the second and last or the
soutberD ironcads? And finally, why Lincoln, the
AiNtAS@NS' ~---~' ~
rustic lawyer the so-caed rail- splitter, instead Oh
Seward the matchless leader. or Chase, me mag
nincent? God, God. and God alone!
By all the rules OF political calculation Lincoln
should have been the Illinois Senator in 1855. II he
had been there is every to conjecture thHt
he would have attained the PRESIDENCY fiao
he defeated Douglas in 1853 it is possible mar the
nomination of 1850 might still have come 10 hii,
,+ q ,,on,s have nut him face 10 face with Seward
at Washington and have brought him into aahse.
ous prominence Seward aside. Mclean 100 oio'
made 1t easy among the lesser entrlss' io' 'i'N
knowing 10 choose Lincoln
The Democratic party had committed hAia-h'I
hetiu,es Through the breach made by Dousies'
his lifelong rival in the wall of Democracy Ian
coin at the head OF the Republicans, marcheo III
triumph How else yet in the light Of after events
his destiny and the destiny of the Republic; Tor
nothing can be than that he was the ofe ana
only man who could have lived through the dark
days succeeding Bull Run and the Trent amair, as
Washington the one and only man who couid
have survived the winter of valley Forge.
Richard Watson Glider quotes John Hay as say
ing in answer a question put to him while IN
collaboration with Nicolay, he was writing the
Life: LAS I 20 on with the work. to me Lincoln
grows greater and greater" It is even So No one
can read the documentary history of Lincoln's ad-
rninstration ana doubt it. BY the side OF him the
others seem mainly pasteboard men.
There remain no more hidden chapters. not even
any more disputed passages, in IdncoIns life. In
dividuaIly he was transparent as the day. HIS
was the genius OF common sense. He had ali the
distinguishing characteristics OF tho politicians OF
the mid-period os the last century; their craft
plausIbity and cesnlnsss their inclination toward
doctrinal discussions. their loyalty to party or
ganization and engagements: their vital love OF
their country and their pride m its institutions.
conscience Wing he was, and a "eonscienes
WhIg" Lincoln remained to the end.
Lincoln e1celled Douglas in his devotion 20
idea its probable consequences and all that Il I'M
piled. Thus. in the famous debate he gained tfe
advantage which ths whole hearted logicisn must
always gain over the hersplitting opportunist lie
was less of an egoist than Douglas. and therefore
less selfish. Douglas would never have yielded TO
Trumbull Lincoln did. He would have got the
Senatorship to lose the Presidency. Yet Douglas
great party leader as ever iived-not in
capable OF sacrhces-inferior Lincoln only on
the moral side when the supreme te5t their
fortunes fell apart Douglass bark rode ebbing
tide. L1ncoln's bark rode flowing tide.
His intellectual dignity wac paramount. II shone
through the uncouth youngster who studied law by
q talow candle and told stories TO the rude
habtues OF the little country store. His first public
address reveals II plainly his last There Is
extant letter, written when ne was not yet i've
and twenty. which is model Of simple manhood
and az the same time of clever argument and ele-
waited style. He was tanner of women no less
than master OF men: all too late the puissant
Jessie Benton Fremont found to her cost: in
spite Of the gaucherles and angularities. the
fined aspiring Mary Todd very early discovered.
The sums In single rule of three he had painfully
| worked out upon a white pine shingle taught him
as much Of patience arithmetic The mysteries
of the sayage-haunted baekvoods and the sub
AIirnity Of the oeeanlke prairie awakened and kept
alive in him the reverence for God and Nature
which goes TO the better making equally of the
seer. the poet and the statesman. His dreams came
TO express themselves I'm deeds.
In short and in fine, Abraham Lincoln learned
his humanities, he had learned his PHILOSOPHERS
and his eficienciee out of the horn book of expert
ence and the lives of men. Hence he ripe and
ready for his part when the prompter's bell rang
for the curtain rise. Having obeyed humbly. he
commanded grandly. To him. politics was not
game of tenpins, government play Of chance,
though Re knew both; as matter Of fact. was
both In the field and in the council an athlete and
an exnert as Seward and Chase and Stanton came.
each in his order and his way, perfectly to under
Etand.
| Nor is II mere panegyric TO say S. In many
| cases and contingencies page ana line may be
cited; the gentle but consummate answer TO Sc
ward when Seward proposed as a favor 20 Lincoln
70 take upon himself the whole management of
affairs: the easy but canny disposition of Chase
before heaping Goals OF fire upon him In the
Chief Justice appointment: the whimsical but not
mistaken compIacency under the suriy. and some
times irving virtues which made Stanton neoes-
sry to his place and fitted him TO the aiternat-
ing duties Of upper servant policeman and watch
dog of the Treasury. No man. indeed. knew bet
ter than Lincoln, IL the everyday trivialities OF
personaI intercourse well the larger concerns
of official conduct, how to draw the line. and
where to it, TO suit the word to the act, the
act to tho word. seeking only, and always seeking.
results.
The duty he had heen commssioned to do to
save the Union. With overwhelming majority
OF the people the institution of African slavery
wes not an issue. In his homeIy. enIishtening way
Lincoln declared that 81 he could preserve the
| Unlon with slavery, he would do IT, OF. without
i