on which all
asked none could answer. Mr. Lincoln had achieved a good reputation as a
politician and a stump speaker. Whatever a few might _think_, this was
all that any one _knew_. The narrow limitations of his actual experience
certainly did not encourage a belief in his probable fitness to
encounter duties more varied, pressing, numerous, novel, and difficult
than had ever come so suddenly to confound any ruler within recorded
time. Later on, when it was seen with what rare capacity he met demands
so exacting, many astonished and excitable observers began to cry out
that he was inspired. This, however, was sheer nonsense. That the very
peculiar requirements of these four years found a president so well
responding to them may be fairly regarded, by those who so please, as a
specific Providential interference,--a striking one among many less
striking. But, in fact, nothing in Mr. Lincoln's life requires, for its
explanation, the notion of divine inspiration. His doings, one and all,
were perfectly intelligible as the outcome of honesty of purpose, strong
common sense, clear reasoning powers, and a singular sagacity in reading
the popular mind. Intellectually speaking, a clear and vigorous thinking
capacity was his chief trait. This sounds commonplace and uninteresting,
but a more serviceable qualification could not have been given him. The
truth is, that it was part of the good fortune of the country that the
President was not a brilliant man. Moreover, he was cool, shrewd,
dispassionate, and self-possessed, and was endowed really in an
extraordinary degree with an intermingling of patience and courage,
whereby he was enabled both to await and to endure results. Above all he
was a masterful man; not all the time and in small matters, and not
often in an opinionated way; but, from beginning to end, whenever he
saw fit to be master, master he was.[143]

This last fact, when it became known, answered another question which
people were asking: In whose hands were the destinies of the North to
be? In those of Mr. Lincoln? or in those of the cabinet? or in those of
influential advisers, something like what have been called "favorites"
in Europe, and "kitchen cabinet" in the more homely phrase of the United
States? The early impression was that Mr. Lincoln did not know a great
deal. How could he? Where and how could he have learned much? It must be
admitted that it was entirely natural that his advisers, and other
influential