; Visiting American
Professor to Austrian Universities, 1914-15; Decorated, Order
of Prussian Crown by the German Emperor and Order of the
Albrechts by the King of Saxony.

FIRST ARTICLE.

It is often said by historians that no truly great man is every really
understood by the generation, and in the age, for which he labors. Many
instances of the truth of this statement can be easily cited. Two of the
most flagrant have come within the range of my own personal experience.
The first was the character of Abraham Lincoln as depicted by the
British press of 1860-64 and as conceived by the British public opinion
of that era. Mr. Henry Adams, son and private secretary of Mr. Charles
Francis Adams, our Minister Plenipotentiary to Great Britain during that
critical era in our history, writes, in that fascinating book of his
entitled "The Education of Henry Adams,"

that "London was altogether beside itself on one point, in
especial; it created a nightmare of its own, and gave it the
shape of Abraham Lincoln. Behind this it placed another demon,
if possible more devilish, and called it Mr. Seward. In regard
to these two men English society seemed demented. Defense was
useless: explanation was vain. One could only let the passion
exhaust itself. One's best friends were as unreasonable as
enemies, for the belief in poor Mr. Lincoln's brutality and
Seward's ferocity became a dogma of popular faith."

Adams relates further that the last time he saw Thackeray at Christmas
of 1863 they spoke of their mutual friend Mrs. Frank Hampton of South
Carolina, whom Thackeray had portrayed as Ethel Newcome, and who had
recently passed away from life. Thackeray had read in the British papers
that her parents had been prevented by the Federal soldiers from passing
through the lines to see her on her deathbed. Adams writes that

in speaking of it Thackeray's voice trembled and his eyes
filled with tears. The coarse cruelty of Lincoln and his
hirelings was notorious. He never doubted that the Federals
made a business of harrowing the tenderest feelings of
women--particularly of women--in order to punish their
opponents. On quite insufficient evidence he burst into
reproach. Had he (Adams) carried in his pocket the proofs that
the reproach was unjust he would have gained nothing by
showing them. At that moment Thackeray, and all London so