in the North, and the respect he had as
universally won in the South, would have given such commanding power to
his counsel as would have seriously influenced, if not promptly
directed, the mode of reconstruction. Mr. Lincoln's position when he
spoke his closing words was very different from that which he held
when Senator Wade and Henry Winter Davis ventured upon a controversy
with him the preceding summer--boldly assailing his measures and
challenging his judgment. He was at that time a candidate for
re-election, undergoing harsh criticism and held rigidly accountable for
the prolongation of the war. Now he stood triumphant in every public
relation--chosen by an almost unprecedented vote to his second term,
the rebellion conquered, the Union firmly re-established! Never since
Washington's exalted position at the close of the Revolution, or his
still more elevated station when he entered upon the Presidency, has
there been a man in the United States of so great personal power and
influence as Mr. Lincoln then wielded.

It was perhaps not unnatural that from the day of Mr. Lincoln's death,
his views as to the proper mode of reconstruction should become a
subject of warm dispute between the partisans of different theories;
yet no controversy could be less profitable for the single reason that
it was absolutely incapable of settlement. Beyond his experiment with
the "Louisiana plan" Mr. Lincoln had never given the slightest
indication either by word or deed as to the specific course he would
adopt in the rehabilitation of the insurrectionary States. His
characteristic anecdote of the young preacher who was exhorted "not to
cross 'Big Muddy' until he reached it" was a perfect illustration of
the painstaking, watchful habit in which he dealt with all public
questions. He invariably declined to anticipate an issue or settle a
question before it came to him in its natural, logical order.
Louisiana was wholly in the possession of the Union troops in 1862-3,
and presented a question that to his view had ripened for decision.
Hence his prompt and definite procedure in that State. Severely
challenged for what his accusers deemed a blunder, Mr. Lincoln defended
himself with fair and full statements of fact, and was apparently
justified in adopting the policy he had chosen. He had fortified his
own judgment, as he frankly declared, "by submitting the Louisiana plan
in advance to every member of the Cabinet, and every membe