We do not to-day know that a colored soldier or white officer commanding colored soldiers has been massacred by the Rebels when made a prisoner.We fear it--believe it,I may say-but we do not know it To take the life of one of their prisoners on the assumption that they murder ours,when it is short of certainty that they do murder ours,might be too serious,too cruel a mistake."[7]
What a tame,spiritless position in the eyes of the Vindictives!A different opportunity to lay hold of public opinion he made the most of.And yet,here also,he spoke in that carefully guarded way,making sure he was not understood to say more than he meant,which most politicians would have pronounced over-scrupulous.A deputation of working men from New York were received at the White House."The honorary membership in your association,"said he,"as generously tendered,is gratefully accepted....You comprehend,as your address shows,that the existing rebellion means more,and tends to more,than the perpetuation of African slavery-that it is,in fact,a war upon the rights of all working people."After reviewing his own argument on this subject in the second message,he concluded:
"The views then expressed now remain unchanged,nor have I much to add.None are so deeply interested to resist the present rebellion as the working people.Let them beware of prejudices,working division and hostility among themselves.
The most notable feature of a disturbance in your city last summer was the hanging of some working people by other working people.It should never be so.The strongest bond of human sympathy outside of the family relation,should be one uniting all working people,of all nations,and tongues,and kindreds.
Nor should this lead to a war upon property,or the owners of property.Property is the fruit of labor;property is desirable;is a positive good in the world.That some should be rich shows that others may become rich,and hence is just encouragement to industry and enterprise.Let not him who is houseless pull down the house of another,but let him work diligently and build one for himself,thus by example assuming that his own shall be safe from violence when built."[8]
Lincoln was never more anxious than in this fateful spring when so many issues were hanging in the balance.Nevertheless,in all his relations with the world,his firm serenity was not broken.Though subject to depression so deep that his associates could not penetrate it,he kept it sternly to himself.[9]He showed the world a lighter,more graceful aspect than ever before.'A precious record of his later mood is the account of him set down by Frank B.Carpenter,the portrait painter,a man of note in his day,who was an inmate of the White House during the first half of 1864.Carpenter was painting a picture of the "Signing of the Emancipation Proclamation."He saw Lincoln informally at all sorts of odd times,under all sorts of conditions."All familiar with him,"says Carpenter,"will remember the weary air which became habitual during his last years.This was more of the mind than of the body,and no rest and recreation which he allowed himself could relieve it.As he sometimes expressed it,'no remedy seemed ever to reach the tired spot."[10]
A great shadow was darkening over him.He was more than ever convinced that he had not long to live.None the less,his poise became more conspicuous,his command over himself and others more distinguished,as the months raced past.In truth he had worked through a slow but profound transformation.The Lincoln of 1864was so far removed from the Lincoln of Pigeon Creek-but logically,naturally removed,through the absorption of the outer man by the inner--that inevitably one thinks of Shakespeare's change "into something rich and strange."Along with the weakness,the contradictions of his earlier self,there had also fallen away from him the mere grossness that had belonged to him as a peasant.Carpenter is unconditional that in six months of close intimacy,seeing him in company with all sorts of people,he never heard from Lincoln an offensive story.He quotes Seward and Lincoln's family physician to the same effect.[11]
The painter,like many others,was impressed by the tragic cast of his expression,despite the surface mirth.
"His complexion,at this time,was inclined to sallowness his eyes were bluish gray in color--always in deep shadow,however,from the upper lids which were unusually heavy (reminding me in this respect of Stuart's portrait of Washington)and the expression was remarkably pensive and tender,often inexpressibly sad,as if the reservoir of tears lay very near the surface--a fact proved not only by the response which accounts of suffering and sorrow invariably drew forth,but by circumstances which would ordinarily affect few men in his position."[12]As a result of the great strain to which he was subjected "his demeanor and disposition changed-so gradually that it would be impossible to say when the change began...
.He continued always the same kindly,genial,and cordial spirit he had been at first;but the boisterous laughter became less frequent,year by year;the eye grew veiled by constant meditation on momentous subjects;the air of reserve and detachment from his surroundings increased.He aged with great rapidity."[13]
