His mind quickly saw the point which, first of all, gave the act its gravest and most indefensible aspect. The memory of Abraham Lincoln is and always will be precious to the American people, and the better his character and conduct are understood the brighter will he shine among those names that the world will not willingly let die.

TITIAN J. COFFEY.

MY

XIII.

HENRY WARD BEECHER.

Y acquaintance with Lincoln could hardly be called an acquaintance. I was rather an observer. I followed him as I did every public character during the antislavery conflict. The first thing that really awakened my interest in him was his speeches parallel with Douglas in Illinois, and indeed it was that manifestation of ability that secured his nomination to the Presidency. It was a matter of great importance that the new Presidential election should have another candidate than Fremont, and Lincoln's speech at the Cooper Union, after his controversy with Douglas, settled it.

Seward expected the nomination, but overhopeful nature would, I think, have gone far to damage the whole country if he had been President, and the nomination of Lincoln was, to begin with, the revelation of the hand of God.

He was, in the most significant way, a man that embodied all the best qualities of unspoiled, middleclass men. He had the homely common sense; he had honesty with sagacity; and he had sympathetic

nature that prepared him to accept any stormy times. The colored people were the helpless wards; the Southern people, our fellow-citizens.

The weakness of human nature is such that when a man is born he is helpless; and he can never stand up against the public sentiment of the age in which he lives. Lincoln was able to deal with all classes of men, from his very nature. When he first went to Washington, the general opinion was that he was an honest man but lacked in sagacity; but a friend told me he was the best judge of men in the country. Thus far in a general way.

I was editor of the Independent in 1861-2, and of course my duty compelled me to keep the run of things, and know what was going on behind and outside.

The first visit I ever made to Washington was before the war. The organization of the church was controlled by the South, and I walked the streets and was regarded by the people there as a sort of dangerous animal. They stood and looked at me as they would a bull-dog or bear. I did not go to Washington again until 1862.

In 1862, the great delay, the want of any success, the masterly inactivity of our leading generals, roused my indignation, and I wrote a series of editorials addressed to the President (three or four), and as near as I can recollect they were in the nature of a mow