t did not hesitate at secret
murder, at waylaying on lonely roads with superior numbers, and it
sometimes went so far as to torture an unhappy victim before the final
death-blow. The language of Mr. Johnson was interpreted by the
merciful in the North as indicating that his own injuries and fierce
conflicts during the war has possibly inspired him with the fell
spirit of revenge, which in his zeal he might mistake for the
rational demands of justice.

A personal and somewhat curious illustration of Mr. Johnson's temper
and purpose at the time is afforded by a conference between himself
and Senator Wade of Ohio. Mr. Wade was widely known as among the
radical and progressive members of the Republican party. His immediate
constituents of the Western Reserve were a just and God-fearing people,
amply endowed with both moral and physical courage; but they were not
men of blood, and they were not in sympathy with the apparent purposes
of the President. It is not improbable that Mr. Wade's views were
somewhat in advance of those held by the majority of the people he
represented, but he was evidently not in accord with the threatenings
and slaughter breathed out by the President.

"Well, Mr. Wade, what would you do were you in my place and charged
with my responsibilities?" inquired the President. "I think," replied
the frank and honest old senator from Ohio, "I should either force into
exile or hang about ten or twelve of the worst of those fellows;
perhaps by way of full measure, I should make it thirteen, just a
baker's dozen."--"But how," rejoined the President, "are you going to
pick out so small a number and show them to be guiltier than the rest?"
--"It won't do to hang a very large number," rejoined Wade, "and I
think if you would give me time, I could name thirteen that stand at
the head in the work of rebellion. I think we would all agree on Jeff
Davis, Toombs, Benjamin Slidell, Mason, and Howell Cobb. If we did no
more than drive those half-dozen out of the country, we should
accomplish a good deal."

The interview was long, and at its close Mr. Johnson expressed surprise
that Wade was willing to let "the traitors," as he always styled them,
"escape so easily." He said that he had expected the heartiest support
from Wade in a policy which, as he outlined it to the senator, seemed
in _thoroughness_ to rival that of Strafford. Mr. Wade left the
Executive Mansion with his mind divided between admiration for t