Although the letter to Conkling is argumentative in purport, it must always remain a notable and historic composition-the best resumé we now have of the motive and results of the administration during the first half of the civil struggle. As a piece of literary prose, it creates, by sure and agile strokes, an ensemble of all the effective phases of public thought; it rises to a summit of hope and prophecy for the republic-rhythmic-arresting a foreshadowing of the sweet and solemn music he was so soon to create. CHAPTER IX FROM GETTYSBURG TO THE SECOND INAUGURAL It is equally true of the pen as of the pencil, that what is drawn from life and from the heart alone bears the impress of immortality.-Tuckerman. I call therefore a complete and generous education that which fits a man to perform justly, skillfully, and magnanimously all the offices, both public and private, of peace and war.-Milton. Less than three months after the letter to Conkling, Lincoln wrote and delivered the Gettysburg Address. There are those who regard this as the most important literary performance growing out of the Civil War-that of all that was written during that period, it will longest endure. Certain it is that this Address is our most perfect hymn in prose. It has the quiet yet stately roll of cathedral harmony. In thought and emotion it is deeply impressive and spiritual. Miltonic in conception and rhythm, it is a rich and satisfying intellectual possession to those who have stored up its sacred lines in memory. In Lowell's phrase, They mingle with our life's ethereal part, Many events united to inspire this great utterance. Primary among these were the military. After Hooker's loss of the battle of Chancellorsville, Lincoln was again in search of a general. Hooker remained in command of the eastern army until Lee, planning to transfer the devastation of war to the North and seize the vast industrial resources of Pennsylvania, moved steadily northward through Maryland. Hooker wished to make a countermarch against Richmond. Dissuaded by the President, who preferred the destruction of Lee's army, he vigilantly paralleled Lee's direction, merely to cover the important cities of Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington. Suddenly he resigned, and Meade, a "lean, tall, studious" subordinate officer, whom Lincoln trusted, was appointed in his place. Meade, whose first impression of the sealed communication bearing his appointment was of an official order "to relieve or arrest" him, wrote to his wife that "it appears to be God's will for some good purpose at any rate I had nothing to do but to accept and exert my utmost abilities to command success. I am moving at once against Lee. . . . A battle will decide the fate of our country and our cause." The two armies struggled for the victory through three days of carnage, July 1-3, 1863. Both sides lost approximately one-fourth of their numbers, and Lee, feeling the impracticability of his northern venture, retreated to the south side of the Potomac. Simultaneously with Meade's success, Vicksburg fell to Grant. These successes for the North were pivotal. The Union would probably triumph and slavery would be abolished. A vision of the past and future America rose like a new hope in the soul of the war-worn President. Among certain governors of States a movement was set on foot to establish a national cemetery at Gettysburg. The dedicatory exercises were set for November 19, and the venerable Edward Everett, born during Washington's presidency, and wearing many honors, as an ex-president of Harvard, as United States Senator, as Minister to England, as Secretary of State, and who had been a candidate for President against Lincoln, was asked to make the principal address of the occasion. The President was invited to attend, and later it was suggested that he make such "dedicatory remarks" as he deemed appropriate. His Address, partly written at Washington, was finished in the house of his host at Gettysburg.1 I The most authoritative account of the composition of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address is by his secretary, John G. Nicolay, in the Century Magazine, Vol. 47:596 ff. Interesting Everett's "classical" address received well-deserved praise. It was listened to for two hours by an audience in the neighborhood of one hundred thousand people. It is an elaborate and intellectual production. Its patriotic sentiment is lofty and admirable, and its fluent eulogy must have been pleasing to the expectant multitude. But as a composition it suffers from its academic garb and overwrought conceptions. Nor is it supported by emotion or great insight. Its brilliancy is less interpretive than verbal. Its weakness in this particular was probably apparent to Everett himself as he listened to Lincoln's address, which followed. It is reported that, when Lincoln congratulated him on his success, he replied: "Ah, Mr. President, how gladly would I exchange all my hundred pages to have been the author of your twenty lines." There is much unconscious poetry in the more deeply-felt utterances of Abraham Lincoln. No other writer of American prose has quite matched accounts of those who heard the Address are to be found in W. H. Lambert's "The Gettysburg Address;" "Recollections of Lincoln," by General James Grant Wilson; Putnam's Magazine for February, 1909; and "Lincoln at Gettysburg," by Clark E. Carr. A brief and interesting account by an eye-witness is by Junius B. Remensnyder, The Outlook, February 13, 1918, p. 243. An excellent summary of useful and interesting information has been compiled by Mr. Isaac Markens, of New York City, in his "Lincoln's Masterpiece," privately printed. For additional comment on the Address, see Appendix, page 278. |