Year: 1865

Mr. Bancroft, the eminent historian, than
whom no person is better qualified for the
task, contributes to the June number of the
Atlantic Monthly thoughtful and admirable
paper on "thc place of Abraham Lincoln in
History" Mr. Bancroft argues that we pay
the best tribute to the memory of Mr. Lincoln,
and the most fitting respect to his name, if VIC
ask after the relation in which he stands to
the history of his country and his fellow men.
In order, therefore, to define the exact posi-
ton occupied by Mr.. Lincoln at his first in,
auguration, Mr. Bancroft gives succicnt and
forcible review of the gradual steps taken in
opposition to slavery in this country; begin
ing with the testimony given in the middle Of
the eighteenth century by the statesmen OF
Massachusetts, who were inspired by the
writings of Montesquicu; tracing the carly
iealouses of the Southern States toward the
North touching upon the Missouri Compro.
misc after which slavery became the founda-
ton of political party, under the guise of a
zeal for the rights of the South; alluding to
the notification troubles. the political contro,
versies which produced the compromise of
1850, the bred Scott decision, the Admins
tration of Buchanan, and finally the outbreak
of the rebellion Mr. Bancroft shows that
when Mr.. Lincoln came to assume the respon-
siblities of the Presidency, his position was
apparently one of helpless debility; that
bark canoe in tempest on mid-ocean SEEM
ed hardly less safe; that the men who had
chosen him were a heterogeneous body, who
did not profess to represent either of the his,
torc parties which had been engaged in the
struggles of three-quarters of century that
they did not know their own position, and
were startled by the consequences Of their
success. The most serious difficulties, there
fore, environed the President--of whom Mr.
Bancroft speaks as follows:


"His temper was soft and gentle and yield
ing; reluctant to refuse anything that pre-
sented itself to him as an act of kindness
loving to please and willing to confide; not
trained to confne acts of good will within
the stern limits of duty He was of the tenn
permanent called melancholic, scarcely con-
cealed by an exterior of lightness of humor,
having deep and fixed seriousness, jesting
lips and warmness of heart And this man
was summoned to stand up directly against a
power with which Henry Clay had never
directly grappled, before which Webster at
last had qaailed, which no President had Of
Tended, and yet successfully administered the
Government, to which each great political
party had made concessions, to which in va
rious measures of compromise the country
had repeatedly capitalized, and with which
he must venture a struggle for the life or
death of a nation" sr:..l.,fe San
The state of the country at the time Mr..
Lincoln assumed office, is THUS described


1.-THE credit of the country had not fully re-
covered from the shock it had treachously re-
ceived in the former administration. A part
Of the navy yards were entrusted to incompe-
the city of Washington was against him, and
spies and enemies abounded in the circle OF
fashion. Every executive department swarm
ed with men Of reasonable inclinations SO
that it was uncertain where to rest for sup
port The army officers bad been trained in
unsound political principles. The chief of
staff of the highest of the general officers,
wearing the mask of loyalty was traitor at
heart The country was ungenerous toward
the negro, who in truth was not in the least
to blame--was impatient that such strife
should have grown out of his condition, and
wished that he were far away. On the side
of prompt decision the advantage Was with
the rebels; the President sought how to avoid
war without compromising his duty; and the
rebels, who knew their own purposes, won in
calculable advantages by the start which they
thus gained. The country stood aghast, and
would not believe in the full extent of the
conspiracy to shatter It in pieces; men we're
uncertain if their would be great uprising
among the people. The President and bis
Cabinet were in the midst Of an enemys s
country and in personal danger, and at one
time their connections with the North and
West were cut off; and that very moment
was chosen by the trusted chief Of staff of the
Lieutenant General to 60 over to the enemy.


EVERY one remembers how this state Of
suspense was terminated by the uprising of a