from his family in rather a formal manner. | asked about Sherman. President Johnson After embracing them coldly and without explained the position. any outward show of feeling, he walked on board the other little steamer, the Pierce, which was to convey him to his prison quarters. Sir Frederick's Question Answered. "What chance is there for Mr. Davis, then?" asked Sir Frederick. "Oh, a small particle still-doubtless his escape across the country," said the President. "Well," replied the Minister, in an inThe set speeches of State dignitaries quiring tone, "I should think that Mr. Dararely possess an attractive interest to the vis and a few members of his cabinet would masses, while their familiar personal inter-probably find it well to start pretty soon." course gives an index to the actual state "If they know what is for their own inof feeling, which all are pleased to trace. terest," responded the President rather The reception given by President Johnson grimly, "they had better lose no time about to the newly appointed British minister, it. The time has come when traitors must Sir Frederick Bruce, in April, 1865, is an be taught that they are criminals. The illustration in point. His after interview country has clearly made up its mind on with President Johnson was as informal and that point, and it can find no more earnest undiplomatic as President Lincoln him- agent of its will than myself." self would have made it. The new minister made his appearance with all his stars and decorations on, presented his credentials, and formally read his speech. Mr. the United States like two neighbors sinJohnson was in the unadorned garb usual cerely desirous of good terms with each to his eminent office, and to Sir Frederick's other, and so the interview ended. set speech simply replied, that he was glad to see him, and to welcome to the capital a representative of Great Britain. He afterwards good-humoredly said: There was then a renewal of the mutual promise to talk over any difficulties that might arise between Great Britain and Admiration of Burns. Mr. Lincoln was an enthusiastic admirer of Robert Burns, always having a copy of "I am not much used to the diplomatic the bard's poems by him, and reading formalities customary on such occasions. them with delight. There was something My idea is simply that two great nations in the humble origin of Burns and in his ought to conduct their relations very much checkered life, no less than in his tenas two neighbors who sincerely desire der, homely songs, that appealed to the peace and goodfellowship between themselves would do, and that the less mere formality about it the better." "I assure you, Mr. President," interrupted the cordially spoken Sir Frederick, pointing to his uniform and decorations, "that I should feel very much more at ease without these things than with them." heart of the plain man who, transferred "The rank is but the guinea's stamp, The remark was so thoroughly English, Familiar Talk with Mr. Lincoln on the and at the same time so consonant to Emancipation Proclamation. American prejudice against fuss and feath- The eminent historian, Mr. Bancroft, ers, that the President and Minister be- remarked in his eulogy delivered in New came friends at once, and sat down for a York, on the Life and Character of Presiregular White House chat. Sir Frederick dent Lincoln, that his place in history would centre chiefly in the memorable General, who was absent at the opening Proclamation of Emancipation. For one of the discussion, but came in subsequently. of the most authentic as well as interesting I said to the Cabinet that I had resolved accounts of the origin and forth-putting of upon this step, and had not called them that great document, the public are in- together to ask their advice, but to lay the debted to the exceedingly graphic pen of subject matter of a proclamation before Mr. F. B. Carpenter, who, through the them; suggestions as to which would be columns of the Independent, communicated in order after they had heard it read. a sketch of the history of the Proclama- Mr. Lovejoy," said he, "was in error when tion, as given to him by Mr. Lincoln him- he informed you that it excited no comself, while Mr. C. was painting the mag- ment, excepting on the part of Secretary nificent picture illustrative of its consider- Seward. Various suggestions were offered. ation by the Cabinet. Secretary Chase wished the language stronger in reference to the arming of the blacks. Mr. Blair, after he came in, de "It had got to be," said Mr. Lincoln, "mid-summer, 1862. Things had gone on from bad to worse, until I felt that we precated the policy, on the ground that it had reached the end of our rope on the plan would cost the administration the fall elecof operations we had been pursuing; that tions. Nothing, however, was offered, that we had about played our last card, and I had not fully anticipated and settled in must change our tactics, or lose the game! my own mind, until Secretary Seward spoke. Said he: 'Mr. President, I approve of the proclamation, but I question the expediency of its issue at this juncture. The depression of the public mind, consequent upon our repeated reverses, is so great, that I fear the effect of so important a step. It may be viewed as the last measure of an exhausted governmenta cry for help; the government stretching forth its hands to Ethiopia, instead of Ethiopia stretching forth her hands to the government.' His idea (said the President) was that it would be considered our last shriek, on the retreat. Now,' continued Mr. Seward, 'while I approve the measure, I suggest, sir, that you postpone its issue, until you can give it to the country supported by military success, instead of issuing it, as would be the case now, upon the greatest disasters of the war!"" Familiar Talk with Mr. Lincoln. I now determined upon the adoption of the emancipation policy; and without consultation with, or the knowledge of the Cabinet, I prepared the original draft of the "The wisdom of the view of the Secproclamation, and, after much anxious retary of State," said Mr. Lincoln, "struck thought, called a Cabinet meeting upon me with very great force. It was an aspect the subject. This was the last of July, of the case that, in all my thought upon or the first part of the month of August, the subject, I had entirely overlooked. 1862. (The exact date he did not remem- The result was that I put the draft of the ber.) This Cabinet meeting took place, I proclamation aside, as you do your sketch think, upon a Saturday. All were pres- for a picture, waiting for a victory. From ent, excepting Mr. Blair, the Postmaster- time to time I added or changed a line, touching it up here and there, waiting the | I could perform, and I was not prepared to progress of events. Well, the next news say that I thought we were exactly able we had was of Pope's disaster at Bull Run. to maintain' this. But Mr. Seward inThings looked darker than ever. Finally, sisted that we ought to take this ground, came the week of the battle of Antietam. and the words finally went in." I. determined to wait no longer. The A few days after the passage of the news came, I think on Wednesday, that Constitutional Amendment (says Mr. Carthe advantage was on our side. I was penter,) I was in Washington, and was rethen staying at the 'Soldiers' Home,' ceived by Mr. Lincoln with the kindness (three miles out of Washington.) Here and familiarity which had characterized I finished writing the second draft of the our previous intercourse. I said to him one preliminary proclamation; c.me up on day that I was very proud to have been the Saturday; called the Cabinet together to artist to have first conceived of the design hear it, and it was published the following of painting a picture commemorative of the Monday. It was a somewhat remarkable act of emancipation-that subsequent ocfact, that there were just one hundred currences had only confirmed my own first days between the dates of the two procla- judgment of that act as the most sublime mations, issued upon the 22d of Septem- moral event in our history. "Yes," said ber and the 1st of January. I had not he, and never do I remember to have nomade the calculation at the time." ticed in him more earnestness of expression or manner, 66 as affairs have turned, it is the central act of my administration, and the great event of the nineteenth cen At the final meeting on Saturday, another interesting incident occurred in connection with Secretary Seward. The President had written the important part tury." of the proclamation I remember to have asked him, on one occasion, if there was not some opposition manifested on the part of several members of the Cabinet to the emancipation policy. He said, in reply, "Nothing more than I have stated to you. Mr. Blair thought we should lose the fall elections, and opposed it on that ground only." Said I, "I have "That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward and forever FREE; and the Executive govern- understood that Secretary Smith was not ment of the United States, including the in favor of your action. Mr. Blair told military and naval authority thereof, will me that, when the meeting closed, and he recognize the freedom of such persons, and and the Secretary of the Interior went away will do no act or acts to repress such per- together, that the latter told him, if the sons, or any of them, in any efforts they President carried out that policy, he might may make for their actual freedom." count on losing Indiana sure!" "When I finished reading this paragraph," never said anything of the kind to me," resumed Mr. Lincoln, "Mr. Seward stopped returned the President. "And how," said me, and said: 'I think, Mr. President, I, "does Mr. Blair feel about it now?" that you should insert after the word 're-"Oh," was the prompt reply," he proved cognize,' in that sentence, the words ' and right in regard to the fall elections, but he maintain.' I replied, that I had already is satisfied that we have since gained more fully considered the import of that expres-than we lost." "I have been told," said sion in this connection, but I had not in- I, "that Judge Bates doubted the constitroduced it, because it was not my way to tutionality of the proclamation." "He promise what I was not entirely sure that never expressed such an opinion in my He ber of the Cabinet ever dissented from the policy, in any conversation with me." hearing," replied Mr. Lincoln; "no mem- sional services gratuitously in defence of her son. Investigation of the matter in its various bearings, convinced the volunMr. Chase told me that, at the Cabinet teer attorney that the young man was the meeting immediately after the battle of victim of a conspiracy, and he determined Antietam, and just prior to the September to postpone the trial until the excitement proclamation, the President entered upon had subsided. The day of trial, howthe business before them by saying that ever, finally arrived, and the accuser tes"the time for the enunciation of the eman- tified positively that he saw the accused cipation policy could no longer be delayed. plunge the knife into the heart of the Public sentiment," he thought, "would sus-murdered man. He declared that he retain it—many of his warmest friends and membered all the circumstances perfectly supporters demanded it; and he had prom--that the murder was committed about ised his God that he would do it!" The half-past nine o'clock in the evening, the last part of this was uttered in a low tone, and appeared to be heard by no one but Secretary Chase, who was sitting near him. He asked the President if he was correctly understood by him. Mr. Lincoln replied: "I made a solemn vow before God that, if General Lee was driven back from Pennsylvania, I would crown the result by the declaration of freedom to the slaves!" Simple but Effective Point taken by Mr. moon shining brightly, so as to render it easy for him to see the act committed. Mr. Lincoln reviewed all the testimony carefully, and then proved conclusively that the moon, which the accuser had sworn was shining brightly, did not rise until an hour or more after the murder was committed. Other discrepancies were exposed, and in thirty minutes after the jury retired, they returned with a verdict of "Not Guilty." An instance which occurred during Mr. Life of Lincoln written by Himself. Lincoln's early professional career as a The singular modesty of Mr. Lincoln lawyer, is worthy of record, as showing is, perhaps, in no instance more palpably the simplicity of his character in man- illustrated than in the account given by aging a case that involved nothing less Mr. Charles Lanman, the well-known edithan the life of his client. At a camp tor and author. In 1858, Mr. Lanman meeting held in Menard County, a fight commenced his labors on the work known took place which ended in the murder of as the "Dictionary of Congress,” in the one of the participants in the quarrel. A preparation of which he forwarded to young man named Armstrong, a son of every ex-member of Congress whose resthe aged couple for whom, many years idence he could ascertain, a circular asking previously, Abraham Lincoln had worked, each person for information as to the date was charged with the deed, and being ar- and place of his birth, the character of his rested and examined, a true bill was found education, his profession or occupation, and against him, and he was lodged in jail to a list of any public positions he may have await his trial. As soon as Mr. Lincoln filled. In looking over the thousands of received intelligence of the affair, he ad-replies that were sent to him, Mr. Lanman dressed a kind letter to Mrs. Armstrong, remarks upon the fact that men of the stating his anxiety that her son should greatest ability invariably told a direct and have a fair trial, and offering in return for brief story, thereby showing their innate her kindness to him while in adverse cir- modesty, and writing nothing to comprocumstances some years before, his profes-mise their dignity. The reply which he received from Mr. Lincoln was of this char-eral Grant? Even (naming a memacter-singularly brief, and yet compre- ber of Congress from Illinois) came and hensive, as follows: told me that he (Grant) was not worth a Born, February 12, 1809, in Hardin, and that I would have to remove him. county, Kentucky. Education defective. But I remembered that you, and Hatch, and others, had been down there about the first of April, and had not said a word to Have been a captain of volunteers in me on the subject.". the Black Hawk war. Postmaster at a very small office. Four times a member of the Illinois Legislature. And was a member of the lower House of Congress. In Major Penniman's "Tanner Boy," may be found the happy secret, admirably told, of the good President's confidence in his great General. Good Humor towards a Journalist. A gentleman visited President Lincoln in high dudgeon one night. He was a newspaper proprietor, and one of his editors had been arrested. "Mr. Lincoln," he said, "I have been off electioneering for your re-election, and in my absence you have had my editor arrested. I won't stand it, Sir. I have fought better administrations than yours." "Why, John," said the President, "I don't know much about it. I suppose your boys have been too enThe fact is, I don't interfere much, but I suppose I am Solitary and Alone in Favor of Grant. Soon after the capture of Vicksburg by General Grant, Hon. Jesse K. Dubois, of Illinois, went to Washington, to obtain a sick furlough for his son, who had been at the siege and was then in a Memphis hospital. Mr. Lincoln himself went to the terprising. War Office with Mr. Dubois, to obtain the with the press furlough. Returning from the office, and responsible." while Mr. Lincoln, Mr. Dubois, and United States Marshal Phillips were standing at the railing which separates the War Office grounds from those of the White House, the following conversation, in substance, took place : "I want you to order the man's release to-night," said the applicant; "I shan't leave here till I get it. In fact, I am the man who should be arrested. Why don't you send me to Capitol Hill?" This idea pleased the President exceedingly. He laughed the other into good hu"Mr. President," said Mr. Dubois, " "I mor. "In fact," he said, "I am under redo not like General Grant's paroling those prisoners at Vicksburg. We had better feed than fight them.” Mr. Lincoln, straightening himself up to his full height, and his countenance beaming with that peculiar smile which indicated that he was highly pleased, said: straint here, and glad of any pretext to release a journalist." So he wrote the order, and the editor got his liberty. Under Lock and Key. On the capture of Jefferson Davis at Irwinsville, he was at once taken to Macon, and thence to Hilton Head, by the steamer Clyde, and then to Fortress Monroe by "Dubois, General Grant has done so well, and we are all so pleased at the taking of Vicksburg, let us not quarrel with the little steamer Silas C. Pierce. Genhim about that matter." He then added, eral Miles was charged by the Secretary placing his foot upon the base of the rail- of War with the disposal of the captive, ing, and taking a less erect posture, "Du- and, boarding the Clyde, he despatched an bois, do you know that at one time I stood officer of the guard to order the prisoner solitary and alone here in favor of Gen- to report to him. Davis immediately made |