BOOKS.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.*

THE English people of to-day cannot be said to have forgotten Abraham Lincoln. But for all that, the oftener they are reminded of the work he did, and of his character as a man and a statesman, the better. That being so, we welcome the appearance of a diminutive pamphlet, small as befits the paper famine, entitled Abraham Lincoln, by an Oxford MA., which has just been produced at Portsmouth. The Oxford M.A. has done his work exceedingly well. Though his pamphlet is popular, not to say elementary, and though his style is not always worthy of his theme, he has contrived to emphasize very skilfully the essence of that theme. He notes Lincoln's pathetic apology for his want of education, and how it consisted in nothing but reading, writing, and ciphering : " I have not been to school since. The little advance I now have upon this store of education I have picked up from time to time under the pressure of necessity." Lincoln was too modest. The man who learns moat in this world is the man who is always hungering for the food of the spirit. He can then not only eat, but digest what he eats. Lincoln had this hunger of the mind, and therefore whatever good book came in his way he not only devoured but made his own. It was owing to his good appetite and good digestion that Lincoln, when he came across Blackstone's Commentaries, made himself an expert in Constitutional Law. Indeed, the " swap " he made with the settler who had a barrelful of books, with Blackstone at the bottom of them, was one of the great, happy accidents of history. If Lincoln had not been inspired with the spirit of Constitutional and ordered freedom such as he found in Blackstone, he would never have been able to carry the war through, as he did carry it, without the ruin of the American Constitution and the American Union. And he probably would never have got that knowledge if Blackstone had not come to him when he was in the receptive mood of youth and with the ample leisure of the backwoodsman. Happy indeed was the opportunity he thus enjoyed.

The lucidity, dignity, and good breeding of Lincoln's style are patent to all who know anything of English literature. We understand the fact when we hear the list of the first books he possessed given us by the Oxford M.A. " The Bible, The Pilgrim's Progress, Aesop's Fables, a History of the United States, a Life of Washington, and Robinson Crusoe." Shakespeare must no doubt be added to this list, for Lincoln was always a devoted Shakespearean. The late Mr. John Hay, Lincoln's secretary, was full of stories of Lincoln and his devotion to the plays. Even at the crisis of the war he would keep a sleepy and overworked private secretary awake by reading him Romeo and Juliet aloud. In regard to Lincoln's life as a lawyer, the author of the pamphlet quotes some very illuminating passages from a criticism of Lincoln by Judge Parry. Here is a story of the extreme homeliness of law as administered in Illinois in the "thirties" and "forties" of last century :

" Rough and ready as the formalities of justice might be, it was very necessary in the judge's own interest to make II clear that what he was administering was really law. Too much learning was, apt to puzzle a backwoodsman jury. There is a story of a ,foreman who returned to a learned judge to say his jury could not agree on their verdict, and on being asked what the trouble was, replied : Judge, this 'ere is the difficulty. The jury want to know if that thar what you told us was r'el'y the law or on'y jilt your notion.' " It is thus, also, that Judge Parry sums up Lincoln's qualifications as an advocate :

" His powers of homely humorous illustrations often set the courts in a roar. When Lincoln's eye twinkled and he drawled out That reminds me,' a chuckle of approbation ran through the Court-house as when a favourite comedian steps on the stage. It is impossible to reproduce these stories effectively in print, but as good an instance as any is the following yarn by which he illustrated his client's point of view in an assault case. It reminds me,' he said, of the man who was attacked by a furious dog, which he killed with a pitchfork. " What made you kill my dog ? " demanded the farmer. " What made him try to bite sue ? " retorted the offender. " But why didn't you go at him with the other end of your pitchfork ? " persisted the farmer. " Well, why didn't he come at me with his other end ?" ' "

A more serious but almost equally delightful example of his forensio eloquence is as follows :

"Speaking to a jury on the preponderance of evidence, and trying to explain to them what a lawyer means by the phrase weight of evidence,' he laid down the legal principle m these words : If you were going to bet on this case, on which side would you be willing to risk a "fippenny " ? That side on which you would be willing to bet a " fippenny " is the side on which rests the preponderance of evidence in your minds. It is possible that you may.not be right, but that is not the question. The question is as to where the preponderance of evidence lies, and you can judge exactly where it lies in your minds by deciding as to which side you would be willing to bet on.' A man who could talk horse sense after that fashion in a law court would be listened to in attentive sympathy by any twelve English-speaking men gathered together in the right box."

Lincoln has been so much elevated of recent years as a sage and moralist that it becomes necessary to remind people not to forget the very human side of Jahn. He was a great athlete with a splendid temper, but above all he was a humorous man of the world, his original world being, of course, that of a ,primitive Western community. Here is Judge Parry's description of this side of Lincoln's character :— " He was a great favourite, not only with the public, but with his fellow lawyers on circuit. Although he never drank intoxicating liquor, and did not smoke or chew tobacco, he was fond of a horserace or a cockfight, and when addressing his fellow-countrymen drew his illustrations from these pursuits, as when he crushed a swaggering opponent who evaded his argument by saying that he reminded him of Bap McNabb's rooster, who was splendidly groomed and trained for the fight, but when he was thrown into the ring, turned tail and fled, and Bap yelled after him : Yes, you little ousa, you're great on dress parade, but not worth a — in a fight " The Oxford M.A. adds some very interesting particulars in regard to Lincoln's personality which are worth quoting :—

" President Lincoln, though a giant in stature, was of spare but muscular build, very strong and a wonderful athlete. His features were striking, his complexion dark, with a broad high forehead, prominent cheekbones, grey deep-set eyes, and bushy black hair turning to grey. He liad the heart of a woman, saying on one occasion : 'I have not willingly planted a thorn in any man's bosom.' His patience was emyhaustible, his temper was moat cheerful and sunny (though at times he had fits of deep depression), he was very sociable and sympathetic, and loved a good story and a hearty laugh. His humour often leaved a situation, and bore him up under his heavy burdens of State."

There is another story which.we must quote once again, because it is a story which comes home to us in times like the present. General Grant had plenty of enemies who did their best to get rid of him, and tried to set the mind of the President against him by stories of his intemperance and so forth. Lincoln's reply was as final as it is characteristic : " I can't spare that man : he fights." There is one of what we may call the innermost secrete of war. Without impugning in the very least the courage or public spirit of General Officers in the bulk, it is a wellarnown fact to the statesmen or Commanders-in-Chief who have to use them that willingness to fight is by no means the commonest, though it is often the most essential, of qualities in a General. Owing to the terrible weight of responsibility upon a General,

and owing also. to the fact that he has already risen to a great height and therefore is naturally anxious not to incur the risk of losing all he has obtained by a disaster, many a General, how ever gallant and courageous personally, greatly dislikes staking all upon a pitched battle. He avoids fighting, preferring Fabian tactics if they can possibly be pursued. Generals in this mood do not of course disobey orders, but they find excellent reasons for not launching out, for not putting in their last ounce of weight, for not being whole-hearted, even when they appear to be attack ing as commanded. Grant could always be depended upon to fight, and fight to the death. Another of the stories told of Lincoln comes home to us now with great poignancy. Lincoln, humanitarian, democrat, hater of all war, intense lover of peace,

as he was, would have no patched-up, uncertain peace—would

not for a moment give up the fruits of victory out of a sense of pity or mercy for the Southerners, though none felt more than he did the greatness of these qualities and the need for exercising them' at the right time :—

" At the close of the Civil War, immediately after the fall of Richmond, which was the citadel of the Southern Confederacy, the leaders and generals of both parties met together in a small farmhouse to discuss the terms of peace. The Confederate leaders spread out their maps on the table, and then proceeded to state what they were willing to surrender—a fortress here, cities there, and a province yonder. The Federal leaders listened in silence, and, when all those offers were concluded, they made one simple, crushing reply : The Government of the North must have all.' " How different is thia• attitude from that of many men here who professed to find an example in Lincoln. They did not want the Allies to have all, but urged us, and indeed are urging us still, to surrender all to our vanquished enemies.

Let this quotation from Lincoln serve as our epilogue :

"Abraham Lincoln never spoke truer words during the whole of his stormy political life than when he said : I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go ; for my own wisdom, and that of all about me, seems insufficient for the day.' "