the imagination with most poignant
suggestiveness. Had Douglas been a less generous opponent, he might
have reminded the President that matters had come to just that pass
which he had foreseen in 1858. Nothing of the sort passed Douglas's
lips. The meeting of the rivals was most cordial and hearty. They held
converse as men must when hearts are oppressed with a common burden.
The President took up and read aloud the proclamation summoning the
nation to arms. When he had done, Douglas said with deep earnestness,
"Mr. President, I cordially concur in every word of that document,
except that instead of the call for seventy-five thousand men, I would
make it two hundred thousand. You do not know the dishonest purposes
of those men as well as I do."[980] Why has not some artist seized
upon the dramatic moment when they rose and passed to the end of the
room to examine a map which hung there? Douglas, with animated face
and impetuous gesture, pointing out the strategic places in the coming
contest; Lincoln, with the suggestion of brooding melancholy upon his
careworn face, listening in rapt attention to the quick, penetrating
observations of his life-long rival. But what no artist could put upon
canvas was the dramatic absence of resentment and defeated ambition in
the one, and the patient teachableness and self-mastery of the other.
As they parted, a quick hearty grasp of hands symbolized this
remarkable consecration to a common task.

As they left the executive mansion, Ashmun urged his companion to send
an account of this interview to the press, that it might accompany the
President's message on the morrow. Douglas then penned the following
dispatch: "Senator Douglas called upon the President, and had an
interesting conversation on the present condition of the country. The
substance of it was, on the part of Mr. Douglas, that while he was
unalterably opposed to the administration in all its political issues,
he was prepared to fully sustain the President in the exercise of all
his constitutional functions, to preserve the Union, maintain the
government, and defend the Federal capital. A firm policy and prompt
action was necessary. The capital was in danger, and must be defended
at all hazards, and at any expense of men and money. He spoke of the
present and future without any reference to the past."[981] When the
people of the North read the proclamation in the newspapers, on the
following morning, a million men were chee