traordinary combination of mental and moral
qualities. As a statesman he had the loftiest ideal, and it fell
to his lot to inaugurate measures which changed the fate of millions
of living men, of tens of millions yet to be born. As a manager
of political issues and master of the art of presenting them, he
has had no rival in this country unless one be found in Jefferson.
The complete discomfiture of his most formidable assailants in
1863, especially of those who sought to prejudice him before the
people on account of the arrest of Vallandigham, cannot easily be
paralleled for shrewdness of treatment and for keen appreciation
of the reactionary influences which are certain to control public
opinion. Mr. Van Buren stands without rival in the use of partisan
tactics. He operated altogether on men, and believed in self-
interest as the mainspring of human action. Mr. Lincoln's ability
was of a far higher and broader character. There was never the
slightest lack of candor or fairness in his methods. He sought to
control men through their reason and their conscience. The only
art the employed was that of presenting his views so convincingly
as to force conviction on the minds of his hearers and his readers.

The Executive talent of Mr. Lincoln was remarkable. He was
emphatically the head of his own Administration, ultimate judge at
all points and on all occasions where questions of weight were to
be decided. An unwise eulogist of Mr. Seward attributes to him
the origination and enforcement of the great policies which
distinguished the Administration. So far is this from the truth
that in more than one instance the most momentous steps were taken
against the judgment and contrary to the advice of the Secretary
of State. The position of control and command so firmly held by
Mr. Lincoln was strikingly shown when the Peace Conference was
about to assemble at Fortress Monroe. He dispatched Mr. Seward to
the place of meeting in advance of his own departure from Washington,
giving him the most explicit instructions as to his mode of action,
--prescribing carefully the limitations he should observe, and
concluding with these words: "_You will hear all they may choose
to say, and report it to me. You will not assume to definitely
consummate any thing_." Assuredly this is not the language of
deference. It does not stop short of being the language of command.
It is indeed the expression of one who realized that he was