Recollections of Abraham Lincoln 1847-1865 Part 24

observed the old man after a careful survey of the statesman before him, "is that it was a ---- bad job."

TEMPERANCE.

On the temperance question Mr. Lincoln has been quoted by the adherents of both sides. He had no taste for spirituous liquors and when he took them it was a punishment to him, not an indulgence. In a temperance lecture delivered in 1842 Mr. Lincoln said:--"In my judgment such of us as have never fallen victims have been spared more from the absence of appet.i.te than from any mental or moral superiority over those who have.

Indeed, I believe if we take habitual drunkards as a cla.s.s their heads and their hearts will bear an advantageous comparison with those of any other cla.s.s."

None of his nearest a.s.sociates ever saw Mr. Lincoln voluntarily call for a drink but many times they saw him take whiskey with a little sugar in it to avoid the appearance of discountenancing it to his friends. If he could have avoided it without giving offence he would gladly have done so. He was a conformist to the conventionalities of the surroundings in which he was placed.

Whether Mr. Lincoln sold liquor by the dram over the counter of the grocery store kept by himself and Berry will forever remain an undetermined question. When Douglas revived the story in one of his debates, Mr. Lincoln replied that even if it were true, there was but little difference between them, for while he figured on one side of the counter Douglas figured on the other.

Mr. Lincoln disliked sumptuary laws and would not prescribe by statute what other men should eat or drink. When the temperance men ran to the Legislature to invoke the power of the state, his voice--the most eloquent among them--was silent. He did not oppose them, but quietly withdrew from the cause and left others to manage it.

In 1854 he was induced to join the order called Sons of Temperance, but never attended a single meeting after the one at which he was initiated.

Judge Douglas once undertook to ridicule Mr. Lincoln on not drinking.

"What, are you a temperance man?" he inquired. "No," replied Lincoln, "I am not a temperance man but I am temperate in this, to wit: I don't drink."

He often used to say that drinking spirits was to him like thinking of spiritualism, he wanted to steer clear of both evils; by frequent indulgence he might acquire a dangerous taste for the spirit and land in a drunkard's grave; by frequent thought of spiritualism he might become a confirmed believer in it and land in a lunatic asylum.

In 1889 Miss Kate Field wrote W. H. Lamon saying:--

Will you kindly settle a dispute about Lincoln? Lately in Pennsylvania I quoted Lincoln to strengthen my argument against Prohibition, and now the W. C. T. U. quote him for the other side.

What is the truth?

... As you are the best of authority on the subject of Abraham Lincoln, can you explain why he is quoted on the Prohibition side?

Did he at any time make speeches that could be construed with total abstinence?

To this Lamon replied:--

You ask my recollection of Mr. Lincoln's views on the question of Temperance and Prohibition. I looked upon him as one of the safest temperance men I ever knew. He seemed on this subject, as he was on most others, unique in profession as well as in practice. He was neither what might be called a drinking man, a total abstainer, nor a Prohibitionist. My acquaintance with him commenced in 1847. He was then and afterwards a politician. He mixed much and well with the people. Believed what the people believed to be right was right.

Society in Illinois at that early day was as crude as the country was uncultivated. People then were tenacious of their natural as well as their acquired rights and this state of things existed until Mr. Lincoln left the State to a.s.sume the duties of President.

The people of Illinois firmly believed it was one of their inalienable rights to manufacture, sell, and drink whiskey as it was the sacred right of the southern man to rear, work, and whip his own n.i.g.g.e.r,--and woe be unto him who attempted to interfere with these rights--(as the sequel afterwards showed when Mr.

Lincoln and his friends tried to prevent the southern man from whipping his own n.i.g.g.e.r in the territories).

I heard Mr. Lincoln deliver several temperance lectures. One evening in Danville, Ill., he happened in at a temperance meeting, the "Old Was.h.i.+ngtonian Society," I think, and was called on to make a speech. He got through it well, after which he and other members of the Bar who were present were invited to an entertainment at the house of Dr. Scott. Wine and cake were handed around. Mrs. Scott, in handing Mr. Lincoln a gla.s.s of homemade wine, said, "I hope you are not a teetotaler, Mr. Lincoln, if you are a temperance lecturer." "By no means, my dear madam," he replied; "for I do a.s.sure you (with a humorous smile) I am very fond of my 'Todd' (a play upon his wife's maiden name). I by no means oppose the use of wine. I only regret that it is not more in universal use. I firmly believe if our people were to habitually drink wine, there would be little drunkenness in the country." In the conversation which afterward became general, Judge David Davis, Hon. Leonard Swett, and others present joining in the discussion, I recollect his making this remark: "I am an apostle of temperance only to the extent of coercing moderate indulgence and prohibiting excesses by all the moral influences I can bring to bear."

LINCOLN'S SHREWDNESS.

Perhaps no act of Mr. Lincoln's administration showed his political shrewdness more clearly than the permission he gave for the rebel legislature of Virginia to meet for the purpose of recalling the state troops from General Lee's Army. This permission was given in a note to General Weitzel. Mr. Lincoln told Governor Francis H. Pierpont that "its composition occupied five hours of intense mental activity." Governor Pierpont says he was the loyal Governor of Virginia at the time, and Mr.

Lincoln deemed it necessary to say something to him about so extraordinary a measure as permitting the rebel legislature to a.s.semble when a loyal legislature with a loyal governor was in existence and was recognized by the federal government. Mr. Lincoln's note to General Weitzel read:--

"It has been intimated to me that the gentlemen who have acted as the legislature of Virginia in support of the rebellion may now desire to a.s.semble at Richmond and take measures to withdraw the Virginia troops and other support from resistance to the general government. If they attempt it, give them permission and protection until, if at all, they attempt some action hostile to the United States, in which case you will notify them, give them reasonable time to leave, and at the end of which time arrest any who remain. Allow Judge Campbell to see this, but do not make it public."

To write this note occupied all Mr. Lincoln's time from 9 P. M. till 2 A. M.--"five hours of uninterrupted stillness."

Mr. Lincoln foresaw that an attempt would be made to construe his permission into a virtual recognition of the authority of the rebel legislature. He steered clear of this recognition by not speaking of them "as a legislature," but as, "the gentlemen who have acted as the legislature of Virginia in support of rebellion," and explained afterward when it was misconstrued, that he "did this on purpose to exclude the a.s.sumption that I was recognizing them as a rightful body. I dealt with them as men having power de facto to do a specific thing."

LETTERS.

FAIRFIELD, CONN., Jan. 9, 1861.

W. H. LAMON, Esq.:

DEAR SIR,--Yours of December 26th duly received. Connecticut is death on secession. I regard it the duty of the Government to uphold its authority in the courts as effectually south as it has done north if it can, and to hold its forts and public grounds at whatever cost and collect the revenue ditto. There is but one feeling here, I believe, though in the city of New York there are those who sustain her actions, that secession is _disgraceful_ as well as ruinous on the part of South Carolina. I glory in Lincoln now for I feel that he is the most suitable man of our party for this terrible ordeal through which he has to pa.s.s. I rely with entire confidence upon his urbanity, gentleness, goodness, and ability to convince his enemies of his perfect uprightness as well as his firmness and courage. I do not expect him to be as warlike as Jackson, but I look for the calm courage befitting a Judge on the bench. With Lincoln as President and Scott as Lieutenant-General, I have no fears but the dignity of the Government will be sustained after the 4th of March. What is being done to protect Lincoln personally at Was.h.i.+ngton before and after Inauguration? Is there not a propriety in some of his friends making it their especial business to escort him without even his knowing it? You know these Southern men better than I do. If there is propriety in such a thing, or need for it, rather, I would meet you at Was.h.i.+ngton when he goes on and stay with you while it is needed.

Yours truly, BRONSON MURRAY.

NEWARK, OHIO, Feby. 14, 1861.

FRIEND LAMON,--I concluded to drop you this note, on learning that you in company with our mutual friend Judge Davis were with the President Elect on his tour to the Seat of Government. I was led to this through fear of the failure of some correspondence to reach your eye, the drift of it was to secure the appointment of postmaster at this city for your humble servant. Now if you have not been bored to death already by friends who are your _humble servants_, say a kind word for me. I have asked for the Post Office here for some good reasons. Poor enough to ask it and capable to fill it ... and have my second papers for being _Black_ Republican.

I might add that the Citizens would not look upon my appointment as an overt _act_ against this City. I was removed from the Post Office Dept. in 1855 for opposition to Judge Douglas for removing the Missouri Compromise.... I would beg to be remembered to Messrs.

Lincoln and Davis. Wis.h.i.+ng you all a pleasant trip, safe arrival and a smooth sea in the future.

Yours very truly, JAS. H. SMITH.

The following letter may be of interest as showing the impression made at a time when opinions of Mr. Lincoln were in the formative state. New York City, as a whole, was unfriendly to Lincoln. Written when Lincoln was in New York on his way to Was.h.i.+ngton.

NEW YORK, Feby. 20, 1861.

DEAR LAMON,--I was glad today to recognize you; and drop you a line instead of a call when you must be so weary.

Just before we met, my father and old Ald^{n} Purdy (both wheel-horses in the Dem^{t} party here) were canva.s.sing matters politic. Purdy said he had seen Lincoln and liked the man; said he was much better looking and a finer man than he expected to see; and that he kept aloof from old politicians here and seemed to have a mind of his own. Old Judge Benson too (who was with us) is a Democrat and was equally pleased with Lincoln. He says Lincoln has an eye that shows power of mind and will, and he thinks he will carry us safely.

I repeat these comments, because they came from behind the scenes of the popular apprehensions whence at present our friend Lincoln is excluded, and I feel sure he will be pleased to know how favorable an impression he makes....

Tell Lincoln to use his _own_ judgment and be bold and firm. The _people_ of all parties here are prepared to sustain _him_. But he may beware of all old politicians of both parties.

Because he is a fresh man and an able one he was taken up. Let his freshness enter his policy also

Your friend, BRONSON MURRAY.

SPRINGFIELD, Feb. 22, 1861.

HILL,--This is d.i.c.k Gilmer of Pike--he is to that neck of _Woods_ what you or d.i.c.k Oglesby are to this region of Country.... Do what you can consistently for him--and oblige

Your friend, O. M. HATCH.