The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1920-09-04

With the winning of the war, Lincoln
turned at once to bind up the wounds
of the Union. The South having sur
rendered to force. he wished to con-
quer it forever by magnanimity. He
would not hold the States together
with bayonets and erect a rebellious
Ireland within the borders of the
republic.
No bitterness ranked in his big, pa
tient heart. His fairness forbade him
to hold any individuals personally re-
sponsible for great Civil War.
Unfortunately, many Republican
| leaders, who had not been SO much in
J the thick Of the fight, were unable to
| calm the passions aroused in them by
! the long struggle. A clamor arose for
wholesale hangings and confiscations
and for ruling the Southern States as
, conquered Provinces.
1t was the same conflict that follows
every war. the conflict between a
peace of reconciliation and a peace of
vengeance. The radicals Of Congress
had no faith in Lincoln's idea of a re-
union of hearts. They demanded the
rebellious States of the South be held
in subsection Indefinitely and that the
ballot be given to the newly freed
slaves whom Lincoln preferred to ad-
NIT to the suffrage gradually.
On the second day after the surren-
der at AppomattoX, in an address from
White House window, the President
spoke of a new announcement to the
people Of the South. But that was to
be his last speech.
At the Cabinet meeting on the clos
ing of his life he rejoiced that Con-
gress was not in session to interfere
with peace-making and reconstruction
and was confidently hoping to reestab-
fish the Union before it met again. AS
to Jefferson Davis and the Confederate
leaders, he declared with much feeling
that no one need expect him to hang
them. Brighten them out of the coun-
try" he cried in excited, high-pitched
tones. open the gates! Let down
the bars! Scare them off! Enough
lives have been sacrificed. We must
extinguish our resentments if we ex-
pect harmony and union"
| With those accents Of a generous
craftsmanship ringing in their ears,
the Secretaries went away from the
O.! last Cabinet meeting. Secretary STAN
ton sent. later in the day. to ask
permission to arrest Jacob Thompson,
a Confederate emissary in Canada. who
had slipped into the United States for
the purpose Of escaping to Europe
from Portland. We'll, l rather guess
not" the President replied. When
you have an elephant by the hind leg
and he wants to run away, better let
him run
An unwonted ease and happiness
seemed to rest upon Lincoln that
tragic day. Although he had dreamed
the night before that he was in a
strange ship. moving toward dark
and indefinite shore, he took it as a
good omen. Had not the same dream
come to him before the victories Of
Antietam, Gettysburg and Vicksburg?
In the evening he sat in a box at
Fords Theatre. enjoying a comedy,
when John Wilkes Booth stole upon
him. The handsome but ungifted young
actor. who was prey to dark moods
and whose mad hostility to the Union
lhad upset a never well-balanced mind,
peeped through hole in the door of
the box and observed the position of
his illustrious victim. Could he have
looked into Lincclns face with its
simple benignity, his better nature