"Did you hear any names mentioned? Did you, for instance, ever hear anything said about such a name as Pinkerton?"

No; I had heard no such name in connection with the matter no name at all, in fact, except those of General Scott and Colonel Stone.

He thought a moment, and then said:

"I may as well tell you why I ask. There were stories or rumors some time ago, before I left home, about people who were intending to do me a mischief. I never attached much importance to them—never wanted to believe any such thing. So I never would do anything about them in the way of taking precautions and the like. Some of my friends, though, thought differently -Judd and others; and without my knowledge they employed a detective to look into the matter. It seems he has occasionally reported what he found; and only to-day, since we arrived at this house, he brought this story, or something similar to it, about an attempt on my life in the confusion and hurly-burly of the reception at Baltimore."

"Surely, Mr. Lincoln," said I, "that is a strange corroboration of the news I bring you."

He smiled and shook his head.

"That is exactly why I was asking you about the names. If different persons, not knowing of each other's work, have been pursuing separate clues that led to the same result, why, then it shows there may be something in it; but if this is only one story, filtered through two channels, and reaching me in two ways, then that doesn't make it any stronger. Don't you see?”

The logic was unanswerable; but I asserted my strong belief that the two investigations had been conducted

independently of each other, and urged that there was enough of probability to make it prudent to adopt the suggestion, and make the slight change in hour and train which would avoid all risk.

After a little further discussion of the subject Mr. Lincoln rose and said: "Well, we haven't got to decide it to-night anyway, and I see it is getting late." Then, noticing that I looked disappointed at his reluctance to regard the warning, he said, kindly: "You need not think I will not consider it well. I shall think it over carefully, and try to decide it right; and I will let you know in the morning."

At the breakfast table the next day the papers had the report of Mr. Lincoln's remarks on raising the flag at Independence Hall early that morning. One sentence in them had a deeper meaning than his auditors guessed. Adverting to the principle embodied in the Declaration of Independence, he said:

"If this country cannot be saved without giving up that principle, I was about to say, I would rather be assassinated on the spot than surrender it."

Shortly after breakfast Colonel Lamon met me in the hall, and, taking me aside, said that Mr. Lincoln had concluded to do as he had been advised. He would change his plan so as to pass through Baltimore at a different hour from that announced. I hastened to the telegraph office and sent to my father a word, previously agreed upon, on receiving which he would understand that his advice had been taken.

Accordingly he was at the railroad station in Washington on Saturday morning, with E. B. Washburne, of Illinois, when Mr. Lincoln and Colonel Lamon, very

much to the surprise of all the bystanders, got out of

the night train from Philadelphia.

Writing home that day, Seward said:

66

"February 23d.

'I was advised on Thursday morning of a plot in Baltimore to assassinate the President-elect on his expected arrival there to-day. I sent Fred to apprise him of it. After Fred had done this, and induced a change in Mr. Lincoln's program, he went to New York to meet Anna and bring her here this evening.

"The President-elect arrived incog. at six this morning. I met him at the depot; and after breakfast introduced him to the President and Cabinet, and then I proceeded with him to call on General Scott. After that we rode an hour. I met him again at half-past one. He is very cordial and kind toward me- simple, natural and agreeable."

THE CAREER OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

HIS CHARACTER AS A MAN-HIS PLACE IN HISTORY.

BY THE HON. GEORGE S. BOUTWELL,

EX-SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY.

THERE are two aspects in which Mr. Lincoln may be considered his character as a man and his place as a historical personage.

In the thirty years since the death of Mr. Lincoln more has been written and spoken of him and of his doings than was ever written and spoken of any other American in the same period of time.

Of Mr. Lincoln's predecessors, Washington and Franklin occupy the largest space in the historical and biographical literature of the country; but in these thirty years the name, career and fame of Mr. Lincoln have given occasion for a volume of such writings quite equal in magnitude to all that has been written of either Washington or Franklin during the century which is now closing.

This peculiarity in the posthumous fame of Mr. Lincoln is realized most distinctly when we consider that his official life was embraced in the brief period of six years, while the distinguished services of Washington and the public career of Franklin alike covered the larger part of a half century.

The writers of books and essays have not created the popular interest in whatever relates to Mr. Lincoln, although these writings may have extended the interest and intensified its force. First of all, there was in the life and conversation of Mr. Lincoln a line of action and thought which attracted the "plain people," as the masses were characterized by him; and, therefore, whatever relates to Mr. Lincoln appeals to those masses, who, in America, constitute the main body of readers. In his life there was much of pathetic interest, and his tragic death raised him to the rank of a martyr in the cause of liberty.

Thus in his life and in his death, Mr. Lincoln was an attractive personality; but his chief title to enduring fame must rest upon his service, his pre-eminent service, in the causes of liberty and the Union. It is not enough to say that in his office as President the opportunity came to him to save the Union and to emancipate millions from slavery. Another man as President might have done as much; but Mr. Lincoln so conducted affairs during the period of the War that no stain rests upon him, so conducted affairs that the nation is not called upon to make explanations, nor to invent apologies.

In the methods and agencies for the prosecution of the War, in the command of the armies, in the conduct of our foreign relations, in the various projects for negotiations with the rebel authorities, in emancipation, and in the measures leading up to emancipation, he was the subject of harsh criticisms, always by Democrats, and not infrequently, and often in public, by Republicans, and by leading Republicans.

In the year 1864 a hostile manifesto was issued by