The Life of Abraham Lincoln (Arnold)/Chapter XI

On the 7th of November, 1860, it was known throughout the republic, that Lincoln had been elected. Not until the 4th of March could he be inaugurated. Meanwhile the clouds, black and threatening, were gathering at the South. It was evident that mischief was brewing. South Carolina rejoiced over the election of Lincoln, with bonfires and processions. His election furnished a pretext for rebellion. A conspiracy had existed since the days of nullification, to seize upon the first favorable opportunity to break up the Union.

For the four eventful months between Lincoln's election and inauguration, conspirators against the Union would still have control of the government. Buchanan, a weak, old man, was influenced to a great extent by traitors in his cabinet, and conspirators in Congress. A majority of his Cabinet were open disunionists--secessionists, who retained their places, and used their power to disarm and dismantle the ship of state, that it might be surrendered an easy conquest to those preparing to seize it. Mr. Memminger, of South Carolina, who became the rebel Secretary of the Treasury, boasted that Buchanan being President, the Federal Government would be taken at great disadvantage, and it was necessary to prepare things, so that Lincoln would be for a while powerless.

On the 12th of December, Lewis Cass, Secretary of State, resigned, because the President refused to reinforce the forts in Charleston harbor. Jeremiah S. Black, who, as Attorney General of Buchanan, had given an opinion that the Federal Government had no power to coerce a seceding state, was his successor. Howell Cobb, of Georgia, the Secretary of the Treasury, and afterwards a general in the rebel army, managed to destroy the credit of the government, and when, December 10, he resigned, because his "duty to Georgia required it," he left the treasury empty.

John B. Floyd, soon to hold the rank of general in the rebel army, was Secretary of War. Before he resigned, he partly disarmed the free states, by transferring the arms in the northern arsenals to the slave states, and he sent the few soldiers belonging to the United States regular army so far away as not to be available, until the conspirators should have time to consummate the revolution. Isaac Taney, of Connecticut, Secretary of the Navy, scattered the navy beyond seas, so that the naval force should be beyond the reach of the government. Such were the bold, unscrupulous acts of the conspirators. Some of them intended to prevent the inauguration of Lincoln, and to surrender the Capitol and the public archives to the insurgents, and it is probable that they would have carried out this design, but for the fact that General Winfield Scott was at the head of the army, and that with him was a small but reliable force, so that an overt act of treason might have been dangerous.

But the leaders of the conspiracy went forward in their guilty preparations with impunity. If Buchanan had dismissed the traitors in his Cabinet, arrested the conspirators at the capital, called to his aid strong and loyal men, and declared like General Jackson: "The Union must be preserved," it is possible that the conspiracy might have been crushed in its inception. But he was weak, vacillating, and like clay in the hands of Jefferson Davis, Cobb, Toombs, and their associates. The strange spectacle was presented of a government in the hands of conspirators plotting to overthrow it. From the official desks and portfolios of its officers were sent forth their messages of treason. While in Congress, and in the Cabinet, the conspirators were boldly carrying on their schemes for the overthrow of the government, no attempt was made to interfere with, much less to arrest, open and avowed traitors.

I have said that nothing was done; yet this is not strictly true. The feeble old man in the executive chair did appoint a day of fasting, humiliation, and prayer; declaring that, though secession was wrong, he had no power to prevent it. Meanwhile the conspirators were laboring industriously to make the revolution an accomplished fact before the inauguration of Lincoln, or, if they could not accomplish this, then by plundering the government, securing the forts, ships, and munitions of war, they meant to leave Lincoln with no means at his command wherewith to protect and maintain the government, and put down the rebellion.

Some of the democratic party were indignant at the conduct of the Executive. General Cass, as has been stated, resigned because the President refused to reinforce Fort Moultrie, held by the gallant and faithful Major Anderson. Joseph Holt, of Kentucky, succeeded Floyd as Secretary of War. Edwin M. Stanton, bold, staunch, and true, succeeded Black as Attorney General, and General John A. Dix was appointed Secretary of the Treasury. Stanton, Dix, and Holt were unflinching Union men, and did all in their power to prevent the surrender of the government to the conspirators. They most efficiently aided General Scott in securing the peaceful inauguration of Lincoln.

The absence of any real grievance or excuse for rebellion was strongly expressed by Alexander H. Stephens, afterward Vice-President of the Confederate States, in a speech to the Legislature of Georgia, on the 14th of November, 1860. He said: "Mr. Lincoln can do nothing unless he is backed by the power of Congress. The House of Representatives is largely in majority against him. In the Senate he is powerless. There will be a majority of four against him... Many of us," said he, "have sworn to support the Constitution. Can we, for the mere election of a man to the Presidency, and that, too, in accordance with the forms of the Constitution, make a point of resistance without becoming the breakers of that same instrument?"

Lincoln remained at his home, a deeply anxious yet hopeful spectator. The whole country was eager to learn his views, and ascertain his intentions. He was reticent as to his policy, but expressed strong hopes of being able to quiet the storm and restore tranquillity. To an inquiry as to what kind of a man Lincoln was, an intimate friend replied: "He has the firmness and determination, without the temper, of Jackson." Those long days, from November, 1860, to March, 1861, were perhaps more gloomy than any during the war. Patriots saw conspirators plotting, and traitors plundering the treasury, dispersing the United States soldiers, sending armed ships abroad, stripping arsenals of arms, and with them arming the insurgents. They saw rebels preparing to scuttle the ship of state, and the very conspirators were the chief officers, and the people but passengers, with no power to interfere. The people watched, and earnestly prayed that the "ides of March" would come speedily, and bring Lincoln to the helm.

In the meanwhile, efforts at pacification and conciliation were made. Committees of the Senate and of the House were raised to consider measures of compromise. But all measures of this character were voted down by the conspirators themselves. They wished neither compromise nor guarantees, but separation. A so-called "Peace Convention" met at Washington, to see whether any terms could induce the disaffected to abandon their purposes. There were many who believed that the secession movement was all threat and bluster, made to secure additional guarantees for slavery. But when the most liberal concessions were made in the interests of peace, and were voted down by the most extreme slaveholders and disunionists, it became evident that those who controlled the slave power had deliberately resolved to force an issue, and go out of the Union.

Charles Francis Adams, from the House committee of thirty-three, reported "that no form of adjustment will be satisfactory to the recusant states, which does not incorporate into the Constitution of the United States, an obligation to protect and extend slavery. On this condition, and on this alone, will they consent to withdraw their opposition to the recognition of the constitutional election of the Chief Magistrate. Viewing the matter in this light, it seems unadvisable to attempt to proceed a step further in the way of offering unacceptable propositions." It was clear the conspirators had resolved on revolution.

During these gloomy days, Lincoln was firm and determined. On the question of slavery extension, he was as unyielding as adamant. On the 13th day of December, 1860, he wrote to his friend Washburne, member of Congress from Illinois, as follows:

"Springfield, Ill., Dec. 13, 1860.

"Hon. E. B. Washburne--My Dear Sir: Your long letter received. Prevent as far as possible, any of our friends from demoralizing themselves and our cause, by entertaining propositions for compromise of any sort on the slavery extension. There is no possible compromise upon it, but which puts us under again, and leaves us all our work to do over again. Whether it be a Missouri line, or Eli Thayer's Popular Sovereignty, it is all the same. Let either be done, and immediately filibustering, and extending slavery recommences. On that point hold firm, as with a chain of steel.

"Yours as ever, "A. Lincoln."

And again, on the 21st of December, he wrote as follows:

"Confidential." "Springfield, Ill., Dec 21, 1860.

"Hon.. E.B. Washburne--My Dear Sir: Last night I received your letter, giving an account of your interview with General Scott, and for which I thank you. Please present my respects to the General, and tell him confidentially, I shall be obliged to him to be as well prepared as he can to either hold, or retake, the forts, as the case may require, at and after the inauguration.

"Yours as ever, "A. Lincoln."

There was a meeting held at the capital on the night of January 5th, at which Jefferson Davis, Senators Toombs, Iverson, Slidell, Benjamin, Wigfall, and other leading conspirators were present. They resolved in secret conclave to precipitate secession and disunion as soon as possible, and at the same time resolved that senators and members of the House should remain in their seats at the Capitol as long as possible, to watch and control the action of the Executive, and thwart and defeat any hostile measures proposed.

In accordance with concerted plans, some of the senators and members, as the states they represented passed ordinances of secession, retired from the Senate and House of Representatives. Some went forth, breathing war and vengeance, others expressing deep feeling and regret. Nearly all were careful to draw their pay, stationery, and documents, and their mileage home from the treasury of the government which they went forth avowedly to overthrow. There were two honorable exceptions among the representatives from the Gulf states--Mr. Bouligny, representative from New Orleans, and Andrew J. Hamilton, from Texas. They remained true to the Union. On the evening of the 3d of March, 1861, when the Thirty-sixth Congress was about to expire, Hamilton, upon bidding farewell to his associates, said: "I am going home to Texas, and I shall stand by the old flag as long as there is a shred of it left as big as my hand."

In accordance with the programme of the conspirators, South Carolina had adopted the ordinance of secession on the 17th of November, 1860; Mississippi, January 9th, 1861; Georgia, January 19th; Florida, January 10th; Alabama, January 11th; Louisiana, January 25th, and Texas, February 1st.

It is obvious that Lincoln had very clear and positive convictions of his duty. The Union and the integrity of the repub1ic must be preserved at all hazards. Whether slavery would survive the impending struggle who could foretell? He feared immediate emancipation; he believed that gradual and compensated emancipation would be better, and how earnestly he urged this we shall by and by learn. But it would seem that slavery was one of those devils that could only be cast out by "fasting and prayer;" by bloodshed and war. Feeling deeply the responsibility, he asked earnestly and humbly the guidance of Providence, resolved "with malice toward none, and charity for all," to do his duty as God should give him to see his duty, and with this resolution to go forward.

While awaiting the course of events at Springfield, the religious--perhaps superstitious--character of Lincoln's mind was strongly manifested. Newton Bateman, a highly respectable and christian gentleman, was Superintendent of Public Instruction in Illinois, and his rooms were adjoining those of Lincoln in the Capitol at Springfield. They were associates and friends, and often conversed together in regard to the threatening condition of affairs. There was a remarkable interview between them shortly before the November election. It is quoted here in part, as detailed by Bateman, not to prove Lincoln's belief or disbelief in any dogma, but as illustrating the tone and character of his mind. He said to Bateman: "I know there is a God, and he hates injustice and slavery. I see the storm coming. I know that his hand is in it. If he has a place and work for me--and I think he has--I believe I am ready. I am nothing, but truth is everything. I know I am right because I know that liberty is right, for Christ teaches it, and Christ is God. I have told them that a house divided against itself cannot stand, and Christ and reason say the same, and they will find it so."

"Douglas don't care whether slavery is voted up or down, but God cares, and humanity cares, and I care; and with God's help I shall not fail. I may not see the end; but it will come, and I shall be vindicated; and these men will find that they have not read their Bible right."

After a pause, he resumed. "Does it not appear strange that men can ignore the moral aspects of this contest? A revelation could not make it plainer to me that slavery or the government must be destroyed. The future would be something awful, as I look at it, but for this rock on which I stand" (alluding to the Testament, which he held in his hand).

The one who recounts this interview, continues thus: "He referred to his conviction that the day of wrath was at hand, and that he was to be an actor in the terrible struggle which would issue in the overthrow of slavery, though he might not live to see the end. He stated his belief in the duty and privilege, and efficacy of prayer."

These passages are quoted, not to show, as before stated, his belief in any controverted question of theology, but to illustrate the religious character of his mind, his presentiment of the part he was to act in the great drama, and that he placed his dependence for success on Divine assistance. Mr. Bateman may have made mistakes in the exact words used by Lincoln, but that the substance of what he said is given, there can be no reasonable doubt, and with these statements, his speeches, state-papers, and conduct, from this time to his death, are perfectly consistent. To his friend, Judge Grant Goodrich, he made a statement in regard to his dependence on God, and his prayer, for assistance, of much the same purport.

In this connection I quote a paragraph from a paper written by John Hay, one of his private secretaries, and published in Harper's Monthly Magazine, for July, 1865. "It was just after my election, in 1860," said Mr. Lincoln, "when the news had been coming in thick and fast all day, and there had been a great 'hurrah, boys!' so that I was well tired out, and went home to rest, throwing myself upon a lounge in my chamber. Opposite to where I lay, was a bureau with a swinging glass upon it; and looking in that glass, I saw myself reflected nearly at full length; but my face, I noticed, had two separate and distinct images, the tip of the nose of one being about three inches from the tip of the other.  I was a little bothered, perhaps startled, and got up and looked in the glass, but the illusion vanished.  On lying down again, I saw it the second time, plainer, if possible, than before; and then I noticed that one of the faces was a little paler--say five shades--than the other.  I got up, and the thing melted away, and I went off, and in the excitement of the hour, forgot all about it--nearly, but not quite--for the thing would once in a while come up, and give me a pang, as though something uncomfortable had happened. When I went home, I told my wife about it, and a few days after, I tried the experiment again, when, sure enough, the thing came back again; but I never succeeded in bringing the ghost back after that, though I once tried very industriously to show it to my wife, who was worried about it somewhat. She thought it was a sign that I was to be elected to a second term of office, and that the paleness of one of the faces was an omen that I should not see life through the last term."

Mr. Lincoln regarded this as an optical illusion. Mrs. Lincoln's interpretation was a strange coincidence, to say the least, when compared with subsequent events.

Time passed on, and the seceding states appointed delegates to meet in convention at Montgomery, Alabama. They met on the 4th of February, and organized a provisional government, similar in many respects to the Constitution of the United States, under which Jefferson Davis was made President, and Alexander H. Stephens, Vice-President.

The President of the Confederate States was a man of culture and large experience in public affairs. Born in Kentucky, educated at West Point, at the expense of the government he sought to overthrow, he entered public life as the follower of Calhoun. He was of an imperious temper, and of a most intense personal ambition. He favored the repudiation by the state of Mississippi, of the bonds issued by that state, and thus brought deep disgrace upon the American character. He was called to the position of Secretary of War, by President Pierce, and in that position he deliberately conducted the affairs of the war department with a view to strengthen the slave states, preparatory to a separation, and even with a view to war, if it should be necessary to secure separation. As the head of the insurgents at Montgomery, he was guilty of opening the bloody tragedy of civil war, by ordering the fire upon Fort Sumter. The character of the man may be inferred from the language he used in a speech on his way from Mississippi to Montgomery, to assume the Presidency. "We will carry the war," said he, "where it is easy to advance, where food for the sword and torch awaits our armies in the densely populated cities." Such was the war this man inaugurated and carried on until his ignominious capture. How different this from the forbearing, dignified, christian spirit of magnanimity, which ever characterized the language of the Chief Magistrate of the Union during the war.

The Vice President, Alexander H. Stephens, was a very different character. Intellectually an abler, and morally a far better man, he had vigorously opposed secession, and never heartily approved of it. No man made sounder and stronger arguments than Stephens against secession. In the Georgia convention he said:

"Pause, I entreat you, and consider for a moment what reasons you can give that will even satisfy yourselves in calmer moments--what reasons you can give to your fellow-sufferers in the calamity that it will bring upon us. What reasons can you give to the nations of the earth to justify it? They will be calm and deliberate judges in the case; and what cause or one overt act can you name or point to, on which to rest the plea of justification. What right has the North assailed?  What interest of the South has been invaded? What justice has been denied? And what claim, founded in justice and right, has been withheld? Can either of you name one governmental act of wrong, deliberately and purposely done by the government of Washington, of which the South has a right to complain..."

"When we of the South demanded the slave trade, or the importation of Africans for the cultivation of our lands, did they not yield the right for twenty years? When we asked a three-fifth representation in Congress for our slaves, was it not granted? When we asked and demanded the return of any fugitive from justice, or the recovery of those persons owing labor or allegiance, was it not incorporated in the Constitution, and again ratified and strengthened by the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850?"

"Again, gentlemen, look at another act; when we have asked that more territory should be added, that we might spread the institution of slavery, have they not yielded to our demands in giving us Louisiana, Florida, and Texas, out of which four states have been carved, and ample territory for four more to be added in due time, if you by this unwise and impolitic act do not destroy this hope, and perhaps by it lose all, and have your last slave wrenched from you, by stern military rule, as South America and Mexico were, or by the vindictive decree of a universal emancipation, which may reasonably be expected to follow?"

His prophetic declaration that "a decree of universal emancipation" might be reasonably expected, was most remarkable and sagacious. He was by far the ablest of the Southern leaders.

On the 15th of February, 1861, the Houses of Congress met in joint session to count and declare the electoral vote. Fears were entertained that, by some fraud or violence, the ceremony might be interrupted, or not performed; but the schemes of the conspirators were not yet ripe for violence. In accordance with the forms of the Constitution, both Houses of Congress met at 12 M., in the gorgeous hall of the House of Representatives; the Vice-President, as President of the Senate, and the Speaker of the House, sitting side by side, and the Vice-President presiding.

The crowds of people who thronged to the Capitol, were impressed with the peculiarly solemn character of the proceedings. The deep anxiety of the public mind found expression in the impressive prayer of the chaplain, who invoked the blessing and protection of Almighty God upon the President elect; prayed for his safe arrival at the capital and for his peaceful inauguration, and that threatened war might be averted. Vice-President Breckenridge and Senator Douglas, both unsuccessful candidates for the Presidency, were the most conspicuous personages present.

On the 11th of February, with his family and some personal friends, Lincoln left his home at Springfield for Washington. There is nothing in history more pathetic than the scene when he bade good-bye to his old friends and neighbors. Conscious of the difficulties and dangers before him; difficulties which seemed almost insurmountable, but with a sadness, as though a presentiment that he should return no more was pressing upon him, and with a deep religious trust, which was very characteristic, he paused, as he stepped on the platform of the railroad carriage which was to bear him away, and uttered these beautiful and touching words:

"'My Friends: No one, not in my position, can realize the sadness I feel at this parting. To this people I owe all that I am. Here I have lived more than a quarter of a century. Here my children were born, and here one of them lies buried. I know not how soon I shall see you again. I go to assume a task more difficult than that which has devolved upon any other man since the days of Washington.  He never would have succeeded except for the aid of Divine Providence, upon which he at all times relied. I feel that I cannot succeed without the same Divine blessing which sustained him; and on the same Almighty Being I place my reliance for support. And I hope you, my friends, will all pray that I may receive that Divine assistance, without which I cannot succeed, but with which success is certain. Again, I bid you an affectionate farewell.'"

As he grasped the hard hand of many an old friend and client, and bade farewell to the old home to which he was never to return, the responses came from many old neighbors: "God bless and keep you." "God save you from all traitors," his friends "sorrowing most of all," for the fear "that they should see his face no more."

The profound religious feeling which pervades this farewell speech, characterized him to the close of his life. He was sustained by his trust in God, and he earnestly solicited the prayers of the people. From the time of his departure from Springfield, until his remains were borne back from the capital of the republic he had saved, hallowed forever in the hearts of the people, and deified by the superstitious race he had emancipated--he was the object of constant and earnest prayer, at the family altar, and in the places of public worship. From the time when he started forth upon his great mission, and to fulfill his destiny and meet his martyrdom, the hearts of the people went with him.

On his way to Washington, he passed through the great states of Indiana, Ohio, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, and was everywhere received with demonstrations of loyalty, as the representative of the national government. He addressed the people at the capitals of these states, and at many of their chief towns and cities.

The city of Washington was surrounded by slave territory, and was really within the lines of the insurgents. Baltimore was not only a slaveholding city, but nowhere was the spirit of rebellion more hot and ferocious than among a large class of its people. The lower classes, the material of which mobs are made, were reckless, and ready for any outrage. From the date of his election to the time of his start for Washington, there had often appeared in the press and elsewhere, vulgar threats and menaces that he should never be inaugurated, nor reach the capital alive. Little attention was paid to these threats, yet some of the President's personal friends, without his knowledge, employed a detective, who sent agents to Baltimore and Washington to investigate. Not only were the personal friends of Lincoln in Illinois uneasy, but the officers of the railroads from Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, became apprehensive of a plot to destroy the roads, ferry-boats, and bridges, by which communication was carried on between Washington and Philadelphia. The detectives ascertained the existence of a plot to assassinate the President elect, as he passed through Baltimore.

The first intelligence of this conspiracy was communicated to Lincoln at Philadelphia., On the facts being laid before him, he was urged to take the train that night (the 21st of February), by which he would reach Washington the next morning, passing through Baltimore earlier than the conspirators expected, and thus avoid the danger. Having already made appointments to meet the citizens of Philadelphia at, and raise the United States flag over, Independence Hall, on Washington's birthday, the 22nd, and also to meet the Legislature of Pennsylvania at Harrisburgh, he declined starting for Washington that night. Finally his friends persuaded him to allow the detectives and the officers of the railways to arrange for him to return from Harrisburgh, and, by special train, to go to Washington the night following the ceremonies at Harrisburgh.

On the 22nd of February, he visited old Independence Hall, where the Congress of the revolution had adopted the Declaration of Independence. This declaration of principles had always been the bible of his political faith. He honestly and thoroughly believed in it. His speech on that occasion was most eloquent and impressive. He said among other things:

"All the political sentiments I entertain have been drawn, so far as I have been able to draw them, from the sentiments which originated in, and were given to the world from, this hall. I never had a feeling, politically, that did not spring from the sentiments embodied in the Declaration of Independence..."

"It was not the mere matter of the separation of the colonies from the mother-land, but that sentiment in the Declaration of Independence, which gave liberty not alone to the people of this country, but I hope to the world, for all future time. It was that which gave promise that, in due time, the weight would be lifted from the shoulders of men. This is the sentiment embodied in the Declaration of Independence. Now, my friends, can this country be saved upon that basis? If it can, I will consider myself one of the happiest men in the world, if I can help to save it. If it cannot be saved upon that principle, it will be truly awful! But if this country cannot be saved without giving up the principle, I was about to say: " 'I would rather be assassinated on the spot, than surrender it...' "

"I have said nothing but what I am willing to live by. and if it be the pleasure of Almighty God, to die by."

The allusion to the assassination was not accidental. The subject had been brought to his attention in such a way that, although he did not feel that there was serious danger, yet he had been assured positively, by a detective, whose veracity his friends vouched for, that a secret conspiracy was organized at a neighboring city, to take his life on his way to the capital.

He went to Harrisburgh according to arrangement, met the Legislature, and retired to his room. In the meanwhile, General Scott and Mr. Seward had learned, through other sources, of the existence of the plot to assassinate him, and had despatched Mr. F. W. Seward, a son of Senator Seward, to apprise him of the danger. Information coming to him from both of these sources, each independent of the other, induced him to yield to the wishes of his friends, and anticipate his journey to Washington. Besides, there had reached him from Baltimore no committee, either of the municipal authorities or of citizens, to tender him the hospitalities, and to extend to him the courtesies of that city, as had been done by every other city through which he had passed. He was persuaded to permit the detective to arrange for his going to Washington that night.

The telegraph wires to Baltimore were cut, Harrisburgh was isolated, and, taking a special train, he reached Philadelphia, and driving to the Baltimore depot, found the Washington train waiting his arrival, stepped on board, and passed on without interruption through Baltimore to the national capital. He found, on his arrival at Washington, Senator Seward, Mr. Washburne, and other friends awaiting him. Stepping into a carriage, he was taken to Willard's Hotel, and Washington was soon startled by the news of his arrival.

He afterwards declared: "I did not then, nor do I now believe I should have been assassinated, had I gone through Baltimore as first contemplated, but I thought it wise to run no risk where no risk was necessary." Such arrangements were made by General Scott and others, as secured his immediate personal safety. His family and personal friends followed and joined him, according to the programme of his journey.