he trustee for the whole property of the nation, of which Sumter
is a piece, and if I give up one stick or stone to a rebellious demand I
am an unfaithful steward. Surely, Mr. Secretary, if you want to make
the issue union or disunion you can't give up Sumter without fatally
prejudicing your case."

"It means war."

Lincoln looked again at the document in his hand. "It appears that you
are thinking of war in any event. You want to pick a quarrel with France
over Mexico and with Spain over St. Domingo, and unite the nation in a
war against foreigners. I tell you honestly I don't like the proposal.
It seems to me downright wicked.

"If the Lord sends us war, we have got to face it like men, but God
forbid we should manufacture war, and use it as an escape from our
domestic difficulties. You can't expect a blessing on that."

The Secretary of State flushed. "Have you considered the alternative,
Mr. President?" he cried. "It is civil war, war between brothers in
blood. So soon as the South fires a shot against Sumter the sword is
unsheathed. You cannot go back then."

"I am fully aware of it. I haven't been sleeping much lately, and I've
been casting up my accounts. It s a pretty weak balance sheet. I would
like to tell you the main items, Mr. Secretary, so that you may see that
I'm not walking this road blindfold."

The other pushed back his chair from the table with a gesture of
despair. But he listened. Lincoln had risen and stood in front of the
fire, his shoulders leaning on the mantelpiece, and his head against the
lower part of the picture of George Washington.

"First," he said, "I'm a minority President, elected by a minority
vote of the people of the United States. I wouldn't have got in if the
Democrats hadn't been split. I haven't a majority in the Senate. Yet
I've got to decide for the nation and make the nation follow me. Have I
the people's confidence? I reckon I haven't--yet. I haven't even got the
confidence of the Republican party."

Seward made no answer. He clearly assented.

"Next, I haven't got much in the way of talents. I reckon Jeff Davis
a far abler man than me. My friends tell me I haven't the presence and
dignity for a President. My shaving-glass tells me I'm a common-looking
fellow." He stopped and smiled. "But perhaps the Lord prefers
common-looking people, and that's why He made so many of them.

"Next," he went on, "I've a heap of critics and a lot of enemies. Some
good men say I'