greater reverence, did not touch so sympathetic a chord in the people's
hearts.

Nor can it be said that this was owing to the tragic character of
Lincoln's end. It is true, the death of this gentlest and most merciful
of rulers by the hand of a mad fanatic was well apt to exalt him beyond
his merits in the estimation of those who loved him, and to make his
renown the object of peculiarly tender solicitude. But it is also true
that the verdict pronounced upon him in those days has been affected
little by time, and that historical inquiry has served rather to increase
than to lessen the appreciation of his virtues, his abilities, his
services. Giving the fullest measure of credit to his great
ministers,--to Seward for his conduct of foreign affairs, to Chase for
the management of the finances under terrible difficulties, to Stanton
for the performance of his tremendous task as war secretary,--and readily
acknowledging that without the skill and fortitude of the great
commanders, and the heroism of the soldiers and sailors under them,
success could not have been achieved, the historian still finds that
Lincoln's judgment and will were by no means governed by those around
him; that the most important steps were owing to his initiative; that his
was the deciding and directing mind; and that it was pre-eminently he
whose sagacity and whose character enlisted for the administration in its
struggles the countenance, the sympathy, and the support of the people.
It is found, even, that his judgment on military matters was
astonishingly acute, and that the advice and instructions he gave to the
generals commanding in the field would not seldom have done honor to the
ablest of them. History, therefore, without overlooking, or palliating,
or excusing any of his shortcomings or mistakes, continues to place him
foremost among the saviours of the Union and the liberators of the slave.
More than that, it awards to him the merit of having accomplished what