re moments, especially under strain
of a personal bereavement that fell upon him in February, when his will
seemed scarcely a reality; when, as a directing force he may be said
momentarily to have vanished; when he is hardly more than a ghost among
his advisers. The far-off existence of weak old Thomas cast its parting
shadow across his son's career.

However, even our Dreyfus case drew from Lincoln another display of that
settled conviction of his that part of his function was to be scapegoat.
"I serve," which in a way might be taken as his motto always, was
peculiarly his motto, and likewise his redemption, in this period of his
weakness. The enemies of the Committee in Congress took the matter up
and denounced Stanton. Thereupon, Wade flamed forth, criticizing Lincoln
for his leniency, venting his fury on all those who were tender of their
enemies, storming that "mercy to traitors is cruelty to loyal men."(12)
Lincoln replied neither to Wade nor to his antagonists; but, without
explaining the case, without a word upon the relation to it of the
Secretary and the Committee, he informed the Senate that the President
was alone responsible for the arrest and imprisonment of General
Stone.(13)

XX. IS CONGRESS THE PRESIDENT'S MASTER?

The period of Lincoln's last eclipse is a period of relative silence.
But his mind was not inactive. He did not cease thinking upon the deep
theoretical distinctions that were separating him by a steadily widening
chasm from the most powerful faction in Congress. In fact, his mental
powers were, if anything, more keen than ever before. Probably, it was
the very clearness of the mental vision that enfeebled him when it came
to action. He saw his difficulties with such crushing certainty. During
this trying period there is in him something of Hamlet.

The reaction to his ideas, to what is either expressed or implied, in
the first and second messages, was prompt to appear. The Jacobins did
not confine their activities within the scope of the terrible Committee.
Wade and Chandler worked assiduously undermining his strength in
Congress. Trumbull, though always less extreme than they, was still the
victim of his delusion that Lincoln was a poor creature, that the only
way to save the country was to go along with those grim men of strength
who dominated the Committee. In January, a formidable addition appeared
in the ranks of Lincoln's opponents. Thaddeus Stevens made a speech in
the House