attached to constitutional limits and time-honored landmarks, Lincoln
certainly was the _safest_ leader a nation could have at a time when the
_habeas corpus_ must be suspended and all the constitutional and minor
rights of citizens be thrown into the hands of their military leader. A
reckless, bold, theorizing, dashing man of genius might have wrecked our
Constitution and ended us in a splendid military despotism."

The fear lest the virulent enemies of the administration should attempt
to assassinate Lincoln was so wide-spread that military measures were
enforced to protect him from secret assault. General Charles P. Stone,
to whom the duty was entrusted of establishing the necessary
precautions, has furnished a brief report on the subject. "From the
first," says General Stone, "I took, under the orders of the
General-in-chief, especial care in guarding the Executive
Mansion--without, however, doing it so ostentatiously as to attract
public attention. It was not considered advisable that it should appear
that the President of the United States was, for his personal safety,
obliged to surround himself by armed guards. Mr. Lincoln was not
consulted in the matter. But Captain Todd, formerly an officer of the
regular army, who was, I believe, the brother-in-law of Mr. Lincoln, was
then residing in the Presidential Mansion, and with him I was daily and
nightly in communication, in order that in case of danger one person in
the President's household should know where to find the main body of the
guard, to the officer commanding which Captain Todd was each night
introduced. Double sentries were placed in the shrubbery all around the
mansion, and the main body of the guard was posted in a vacant
basement-room, from which a staircase led to the upper floors. A person
entering by the main gate and walking up to the front door of the
Executive Mansion during the night could see no sign of a guard; but
from the moment anyone entered the grounds by any entrance, he was under
the view of at least two riflemen standing silent in the shrubbery, and
any suspicious movement on his part would have caused his immediate
arrest; while inside, the call of Captain Todd would have been promptly
answered by armed men. The precautions were taken before Fort Sumter was
fired on, as well as afterward. One night near midnight," continues
General Stone, "I entered the grounds for the purpose of inspecting the
guard, and was surprised to see a brigh