ance.

none of the offers of privateers proper for acceptThe case against England was handled with firmness and dignity by the minister to England, the Secretary of State, and the President, and later ended in full indemnity instead of a fatal war. It was in this situation in 1863 that Mr. Adams wrote to Lord Russell his famous and effective words. "This is war." Offers of mediation were also thick from foreign powers and they were declined with courtesy.

Another aspect of these times is suggested in this effusion by the voluble Secretary of the Treasury.

Had there been here an administration in the true sense of the word—a President conferring with his cabinet and taking their united judgments, and with their aid enforcing activity, economy, and energy, in all departments of public service we could have spoken boldly and defied the world. But our condition here has always been very different. I preside over the funnel; everybody else, and especially the Secretaries of War and the Navy, over the spigots and keep them well open, too. Mr. Seward conducts the foreign relations with very little let or help from anybody. There is no unity and no system, except so far as it is departmental. There is progress, but it is slow and unvoluntary - just what is coerced by the irresistible pressure of the

vast force of the people. How under such circumstances can anybody announce a policy which can only be made respectable by union, wisdom, and courage?"

It was true that Chase was allowed to attend alone to the finances. Lincoln knew nothing about them, and it was not his nature to meddle with the unknown, unless, as in the case of military matters, it was pressed upon him by necessity. That Chase was not allowed to meddle with the other departments grieved him sorely. As to his talk about a "policy" it is answered by Lincoln's famous frank confession that he made no pretence of controlling events, but admitted willingly that they had controlled him. That was his way, and it worked. Whether an arbitrary hand could have guided the State as safely must remain a speculation. Lowell speaks of him as "avoiding innumerable obstacles with noble bends of concession," and of his " cautious but sure-footed understanding." It is the general later opinion that even if a less tentative, more aggressive nature had succeeded in rapidly crushing the rebellion, the disease would have been less effectively eradicated than it was by allowing the people to be the motive force. At any rate it is no wonder that the President, in all his trouble, remarked: "It's a good thing for individuals that there's a government to shove their acts upon. No man's

shoulders are broad enough to bear what must be."

A glimpse into one corner of the inner life of the man at this time is caught through the following telegram :

"WASHINGTON, January 9, 1863.

"MRS. LINCOLN, Philadelphia; Pennsylvania.

"Think you had better put Tad's pistol away. I had an ugly dream about him.

"A. LINCOLN."

In

Now, as always, however, no matter what strange and attractive light on the man's nature may be thrown by other aspects of his activity, the military was the most important if not psychologically the most significant part of his career. this winter and spring he gave a full trial to one more general, who also was found wanting. On Lincoln himself a flood of blame for the army reverses continually poured. Harper's Weekly, on January 3, printed a cartoon in which Columbia confronted the President and demanded an accounting for the thousands slain at Fredericksburg. "This," replied Lincoln, "reminds me of a little joke." "Go," replied the angry nation, "tell your joke at Springfield." For a later generation it is not easy to realize that thousands actually believed that the awful slaughter was a matter for coarse Western jests by the

President. It was perhaps when he felt most terribly that he needed his stories most. Stanton sometimes used abruptly to leave the room when Lincoln began a tale, and other members of the cabinet would bite their lips when he started one of his stories in the presence of strangers. They took him with no sense of humor. He took them with the humorous comprehension of a Sancho Panza. A man who had presented to Stanton a certain order from the President returned and repeated the Secretary's comment. "If," said Lincoln, "Stanton said I was a damned fool, then I must be one; for he is nearly always right and generally says what he means. I must step over

and see him."

In February one of the cartoons showed P. T. Barnum presenting Tom Thumb and Commodore Nutt to the President, and under the picture was this dialogue:

The Great Showman: "Mr. President, since your military and naval heroes do not seem to get on, try mine."

Lincoln:-"Well, I will do it to oblige you, friend Phineas, but I think mine are the smallest."

He began the experiment with General Hooker with one of his most characteristic messages:

"General:- I have placed you at the head of the Army - of the Potomac. Of course I have done this upon what appears to me sufficient reasons; and yet I think it best for you to know that there are some things in regard to which I am not quite satisfied with you.

"I believe you to be a brave and skilful soldier, which of course I like. I also believe you do not mix politics with your profession, in which you are right. You have confidence in yourself, which is a valuable, if not indispensable, quality. You are ambitious, which, within reasonable bounds, does good rather than harm. But I think that during General Burnside's command of the army you have taken counsel of your ambition solely, and thwarted him as much as you could; in which you did a great wrong to the country and to a most meritorious and honorable brother officer. I have heard, in such a way as to believe it, of your saying that both the country and the army needed a dictator. Of course it was not for this, but in spite of it, that I have given you the command. Only those generals who gain success can set themselves up as dictators. What I ask of you is military success, and I will risk the dictatorship. The government will support you to the utmost of its ability, which is neither more nor less than it has done and will do for all its commanders.

"I much fear that the spirit which you have aided to infuse into the army, of criticising their commander and