uly representatives the task was
beyond human power.

And yet the tall, lonely figure calmly faced it without a tremor. In the
depths of his cavernous eyes there burned a steady flame but few of the
men about him saw, or understood if they saw--that flame was something
new in the history of the race--a faith in the common man which dared to
give a new valuation to the individual and set new standards for the
Democracy of the world. He believed that the heart of the masses of the
people North, South, East and West was sound at the core and that as
their Chief Magistrate he could ultimately appeal to them over the heads
of all traditions--all factions, and all accepted leaders.

He was the most advised man and the worst advised man in history. It
became necessary to think for himself or cease to think at all.

General Scott, the venerable hero of Lundy Lane, in command of the army,
had suggested as a solution of the turmoil the division of the country
into four separate Confederacies and had roughly drawn their outlines!

Horace Greeley had made the _Tribune_ the most powerful newspaper in the
history of America. The Republicans throughout the country had been
educated by its teachings and held its authority second only to the Word
of God. And yet from the moment of Lincoln's election the chief
occupation of this powerful paper was to criticize and condemn the
measures and policies of the President.

Over and over he repeated the deadly advice to the Nation:

"If the Cotton States shall decide that they can do better out of the
Union than in it, we insist on letting them go in peace."

He serenely insisted:

"If eight Southern States, having five millions of people, choose to
separate from us, they cannot be permanently withheld from doing so by
Federal cannon. The South has as good right to secede from the Union as
the Colonies had to secede from Great Britain. If they choose to form an
independent Nation they have a clear moral right to do so, and we will
do our best to forward their views."

Is it to be wondered at that the Southern people were absolutely clear
in their conception of the right to secede if such doctrines were taught
in the North by the highest authority within the party which had elected
Abraham Lincoln?

If his own party leaders were boldly proclaiming such treason to the
Union how could he hope to stem the tide that had set in for its ruin?

The thousands of conservative men North and Sou