condition could really be reached, and that it could
be reached by the road which he had marked out.
This confidence indicated an opinion of human nature
much higher than human nature has yet appeared entitled
to. It also anticipated on the part of the Southerners
an appreciation of the facts of the case which few
among them were sufficiently clear-minded to furnish.
It is curious to observe that Lincoln saw the present
situation and foresaw the coming situation with perfect
clearness, at the same time that he was entirely unable
to see the uselessness of his panacea; whereas, on
the other hand, those who rejected his impracticable
plan remained entirely blind to those things which
he saw. It seems an odd combination of traits
that he always recognized and accepted a fact, and
yet was capable of being wholly impractical.
In connection with these efforts in behalf of the
slaveholders, which show at least a singular goodness
of heart towards persons who had done everything to
excite even a sense of personal hatred, it may not
be seriously out of place to quote a paragraph which
does not, indeed, bear upon slavery, but which does
illustrate the remarkable temper which Mr. Lincoln
maintained towards the seceding communities. In
December, 1861, in his annual message to this Congress,
whose searching anti-slavery measures have just been
discussed, he said:—
“There are three vacancies on the bench of the
Supreme Court.... I have so far forborne making
nominations to fill these vacancies for reasons which
I will now state. Two of the outgoing judges resided
within the States now overrun by revolt; so that if
successors were appointed in the same localities,
they could not now serve upon their circuits; and
many of the most competent men there probably would
not take the personal hazard of accepting to serve,
even here, upon the Supreme Bench. I have been
unwilling to throw all the appointments northward,
thus disabling myself from doing justice to the South
on the return of peace; although I may remark that
to transfer to the North one which has heretofore
been in the South would not, with reference to territory
and population, be unjust."[3] To comment upon behavior
and motives so extraordinary is, perhaps, as needless
as it is tempting.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Also in the House Thaddeus Stevens and Lovejoy,
and in the Senate Sumner, did not vote.
[2] Lincoln’s intimate personal and political
friend, and afterward his biographer.
