C. Clay, of Alabama, and Jacob Thompson, of Mississippi.

Lincoln later wrote Mr. Greeley:

"I am disappointed that you have not already reached here with those commissioners. If they would consent to come on being shown my letter to you of the ninth inst., show that and this to them; and, if they will consent to come on the terms stated in the former, bring them. I not only intend a sincere effort for peace, but I intend that you shall be a personal witness that it is made."

Lincoln had no confidence in the commissioners, or their authority, but he resolved to throw the responsibility for it upon Greeley by appointing him as a commissioner to interview and negotiate with the commissioners from the South.

Lincoln sent Major Hay to Niagara with the following letter:

"EXECUTIVE MANSION, "WASHINGTON, July 18, 1864.

"To Whom It May Concern :

"Any proposition which embraces the restoration of peace, the integrity of the whole Union, and the abandonment of slavery, and which comes by and with an authority that can control the armies now at war against the United States, will be received and considered by the Executive government of the United States, and will be met on liberal terms on substantial and collateral points; and the bearer or bearers thereof shall have safe-conduct both ways.

"ABRAHAM LINCOLN."

To a friend afterward Lincoln said his appointment of Greeley arose out of the fact that he had no con

fidence whatsoever either in the authority of the Southern commissioners or in their disposition for peace, and he proposed to appoint Greeley and let him "crack that nut."

Later on Francis P. Blair, Jr., was infected with the same peace germ and sought to enlist Lincoln to another conference with three commissioners from the South-Alexander H. Stephens, R. M. T. Hunter, and John A. Campbell-all members of the Confederate Government. The result of Blair's mediation was that Secretary Seward received from Lincoln authority to meet said commissioners from the Confederate Government, with these specific instructions submitted by President Lincoln:

"1. The restoration of the national authority throughout all the States.

"2. No receding by the executive of the United States on the slavery question from the position assumed thereon in the late annual message to Congress, and in preceding documents.

"3. No cessation of hostilities short of an end of the war and the disbanding of all forces hostile to the government.

Generous as Lincoln could be and generous as he generally was to a foe, he realized that the issue here was inflexible and was not a subject for negotiation between the North and South, except upon the basis that he above outlined. Some things cannot be compromised.

During the latter months of Lincoln's life he had given much attention to the subject of reconstruction in the South. He anticipated the victories of Grant and Sherman that must soon end the war. He foresaw some of the divisions among the Northern states

men as to the policies that would be advocated for reconstruction. One of the great questions footballed through Congress was this, Are the States that are members of the Confederate Government in the Union or out of the Union?

Lincoln handled this question in his own inimitable way in the following pointed and pertinent language:

"We all agree, that the seceded States, so called, are out of their proper practical relation with the Union, and that the sole object of the government, civil and military, in regard to those States is to again get them into the proper practical relation. I believe that it is not only possible, but in fact easier, to do this without deciding or even considering whether these States have ever been out of the Union, than with it. Finding themselves safely at home, it would be utterly immaterial whether they had ever been abroad. Let us all join in doing the acts necessary to restoring the proper practical relations between these States and the Union, and each forever after innocently indulge his own opinion whether in doing the acts he brought the States from without into the Union, or only gave them proper assistance, they never having been out of it."

Lincoln as a lawyer and logician never had any patience with distinguishing between tweedledee and tweedledum. He always cut the "Gordian knot" of technicality and got into the heart and substance of things. He did that as a lawyer, he did it more as a statesman.

At the bottom of the reconstruction policy was the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, that was to forever rivet the rights of freemen to the late slave. It was to put the military emancipation proclamation

into our civil constitution. But Booth's bullet did its deadly work on April 14, 1865.

The soul of the broad-gauged, far-sighted, generous, merciful Lincoln took its flight to another country, and at the very hour the South, no less than the North, needed him most.

The patient, considerate, and troubled administration of Abraham Lincoln, free from all hate, malice, or revenge, was over. Radicalism and rancor were now to design and direct the nation's policies of reconstructing the South. What an awful story of trouble and terror, crime and crimination followed in the wake of Andrew Johnson, his successor !

Surely it could never have occurred with Lincoln's wise and humane personality in command at Washington. He indicated enough of his plans for the South before his martyrdom to assure us of the most benevolent, generous, and considerate policies for the restoration and reconstruction of the South. The reign of terror, the carpetbag government, the Kuklux Klan and all were the natural and almost necessary result of Lincoln's assassination.

CHAPTER XXIII

LINCOLN THE MOST UNSELFISH MAN

TIME Would fail me to detail the many instances recorded in the various biographies of Lincoln exhibiting almost divine unselfishness; from his kindness to the returning soldier in Kentucky, to his companions and neighbors at Gentryville in Indiana, toward the "plain folk" of New Salem, Illinois, his professional conduct at Springfield and his official life at Washington. But some of these incidents are so strikingly significant, so exceptional and surprising that they should be given more than mere mention in surveying the unselfish character and service of his magnanimous life.

Few great historical characters who were possessed of the ambition of Abraham Lincoln were so utterly free from envy and jealousy of their fellows. Though the leader of the Whig party in Illinois as early as 1840, when he was its unanimous candidate for speaker in the general assembly, his defeat for nomination for Congress in 1842 by John J. Hardin did not sour him.

He came back manfully in 1844, when he was again defeated by Edward M. Baker. He loyally and enthusiastically supported Baker and stumped the district for him.

In 1846 he was again a candidate and was this time nominated. During his term in Congress he received a letter from his old-time partner, Herndon, complaining that the young men of Illinois were being rudely and inconsiderately pushed aside by the older men, whom