ce.
Secretary Stanton made no secret of his opposition to these gentlemen,
who were spoken of rather slightingly as "that Boston set." The "Boston
set" were uncompromising abolitionists, and nothing would satisfy them
but immediate and aggressive measures for enforcing the policy of
emancipation. As it was the President's instinct to feel his way slowly
in pushing on the great measures necessary to the safe guidance of the
nation in its perilous crisis, they were naturally dissatisfied with his
conservative methods and tendencies. The visitors--including Senator
Wilson, Wendell Phillips, Francis W. Bird, Elizur Wright, J.H.
Stephenson, George L. Stearns, Oakes Ames, and Moncure D. Conway--called
on the President one Sunday evening, at the White House. "The President
met us," says Mr. Conway, "laughing like a boy, saying that in the
morning one of his children had come to inform him that the cat had
kittens, and now another had just announced that the dog had puppies,
and the White House was in a decidedly sensational state. Some of our
party looked a little glum at this hilarity; but it was pathetic to see
the change in the President's face when he presently resumed his burden
of care. We were introduced by Senator Wilson, who began to speak of us
severally, when Mr. Lincoln said he knew perfectly who we were, and
requested us to be seated. Nothing could be more gracious than his
manner, or more simple. The conversation was introduced by Wendell
Phillips, who, with all his courtesy, expressed our gratitude and joy
at the Proclamation of Emancipation, and asked how it seemed to be
working. The President said that he had not expected much from it at
first, and consequently had not been disappointed; he had hoped, and
still hoped, that something would come of it after awhile. Phillips then
alluded to the deadly hostility which the proclamation had naturally
excited in pro-slavery quarters, and gently hinted that the Northern
people, now generally anti-slavery, were not satisfied that it was being
honestly carried out by all of the nation's agents and Generals in the
South. 'My own impression, Mr. Phillips,' said the President, 'is that
the masses of the country generally are dissatisfied chiefly at our lack
of military successes. Defeat and failure in the field make everything
seem wrong.' His face was now clouded, and his next words were somewhat
bitter. 'Most of us here present,' he said, 'have been nearly all our
lives w