Part 16 (1/2)

That account is sufficiently accurate except as to figures Jeff Davis never could be trusted in such circuures with any approach to accuracy Lossing estimates that the Federal forces were 13,000, and the Confederates about 27,000 This is certainly nearer the truth than the boast of Jeff Davis But a fact not less important than the numbers was that the Confederate reinforcements were fresh, while the Federal forces were nearly exhausted froan

Although the victorious forces were effectively checked at Centerville, those who fled in absolute rout and uncontrollable panic were enough to give the occasion a lasting place in history The citizens who had gone to see the battle had not enjoyed their trip The soldiers who had thought that this as a sort of picnic had learned that the foe was formidable The administration that had expected to crush the insurrection by one decisive blow becauely conscious of the fact that the as here to stay months and years

It is a curious trait of hu to accept a defeat si the particular causes of that specific defeat Aattas, oratorical contests Also in elections; the defeated have a dozen reasons to explain why the favorite candidate was not elected as he should have been This trait came out soe nued on Mr Lincoln, who finally brought the subject to a conclusion by the remark: ”I see We whipped the enemy and then ran away from him!”

The effect of the battle of Bull Run on the South was greatly to encourage them and add to their enthusiasm The effect on the North was to deepen their deter, to open their eyes to the fact that the southern poas strong, and with renewed zeal and deterreat burden fell on Lincoln He was disappointed that the insurrection was not and could not be crushed by one decisive blow There was need of hts and the relative duties were to him, with his peculiar temperament, a severer trial than they could have been to perhaps any otherhis full duty, though it was so hard

It ht before he decided to send bread to Suhts when he did not sleep, and there were , worn, aging as he was, he was always at his post of duty The most casual observer could see the inroads which these iant body It was about a year later than this that an old neighbor and friend, Noah Brooks of Chicago, went to Washi+ngton to live, and he has vividly described the change in the appearance of the President

In _Harper's Monthly_ for July, 1865, he writes: ”Though the intellectual nize the hearty, blithesoenial, and wiry Abraham Lincoln of earlier days in the sixteenth President of the United States, with his stooping figure, dull eyes, careworn face, and languid frah never came back; the even temper was sometimes disturbed; and his natural charity for all was often turned into unwonted suspicion of the motives of men, whose selfishness caused hiain, the same writer said in _Scribner's Monthly_ for February, 1878: ”There was [in 1862] over his face an expression of sadness, and a faraway look in the eyes, which were utterly unlike the Lincoln of other days I confess that I was so pained that I could almost have shed tears By and by, when I knew him better, his face was often full of loohted up very ht be softly illuram and was still reminded of ”a little story,”

when he wished to point a moral or adorn a tale But they were superficial indeed who thought they saw in him only, or chiefly, the jester Once when he was reproved for reading from a humorous book he said with passionate earnestness that the humor was his safety valve

If it were not for the relief he would die It was true But he lived on, not because he wanted to live, for he would rather have died But it was God's will, and his country needed him

CHAPTER XXVII

THE DARKEST HOUR OF THE WAR

There were so many dark hours in that war, and those hours were so dark, that it is difficult to specify one as the darkest hour Perhaps a dozen observers would mention a dozen different times But Lincoln himself spoke of the complication known as the Trent affair as the darkest hour From his standpoint it was surely so It was so because he felt the ground of public confidence slipping out from under him as at no other time The majority of the North ith hioodly number ith him all the time,--except this This time, Charles Sun Relations, was in agreeainst him, North and South, and all Europe as well

Upon hi the very turbulent current of public sentiment into the channel of duty and wisdom

The facts of the affair were simple Two men, Mason and Slidell, both ex-senators of the United States, had started, with their secretaries and faland and France as eovernnized the Confederates as belligerents, and the nition of the Confederate govern the blockade at Charleston and put in at Havana There they were received with e on the Britishto take the packet thence to England

Captain Wilkes, cohborhood and learned of these proceedings and plans He stopped the British vessel on the high seas and by force took the two men and their secretaries They were confined in Fort Warren, Boston Harbor

This capture set the entire North ablaze with enthusiasm Seas in favor of it Stanton, who a feeeks later was appointed Secretary of War, applauded the act Welles, Secretary of the Navy, wrote a congratulatory letter upon the ”great public service” The people of Boston tendered a banquet to the hero of the hour When congress asseave him a vote of thanks This wave of public enthusiasm swept the country froland and France had been so pronounced that this whole country seearded it as a slap in the face to England's pride The fact that the complications threatened ith that nation only added fuel to the fla the soldiers Camp life had becoe and enthusiasland's policy They wanted to fight England

The feeling upon the other side of the question ran equally high in the South, in England, and in France As soon as the matter could receive official attention, the British ton was instructed to demand the instant release of the four y

He was to wait seven days for an answer, and if the demand was not met by that time, he was to break off diplomatic relations with the United States This of course meant war

Sumner seems to have been the only other one who said, ”We shall have to give them up” Lincoln, when he heard of the capture, declared that they would prove to be white elephants on our hands ”We shall have to give them up,” he too said But the difficulty was to lead the excited nation to see the need of this as he saw it He declared that ”we fought Great Britain for doing just what Captain Wilkes has done If Great Britain protests against this act and demands their release, we ive up these prisoners

Besides, one war at a tiain said that it was ”the bitterest pill he ever sed But England's triu After this war is over we shall call her to account for the dae she has done us in our hour of trouble”

The policy of the governard to thisuntil the day after Christmas Public enthusiasm by that time had had six weeks in which to cool down In that tieneral public was ready to see and hear reason The outline of the reply of the United States was directed by Lincoln, but he instructed Seward to choose his ownthe case The reply was set forth in a very able and convincing paper It reaffirmed our adhesion to the doctrine of 1812, said that Captain Wilkes had not done in an orderly way that which he did, promised that the prisoners would be cheerfully set at liberty, but declined to y

At this late date we are able to look somewhat behind the scenes, andthat the Queen and the Prince consort were very deeply concerned over the possibility of a ith us They had only the kindest feelings for us, and just then they felt especially grateful for the many courtesies which had been shown to the Prince of Wales upon his recent visit to this country They were glad to get through with the incident peaceably and pleasantly

Seward's reply was accepted as fully satisfactory The English concurred, the Aer was over There was then soovernland wasbetween the two peoples The South and their syeers into a ain a likelihood that England would form an alliance with the Southern Confederacy

The result was most fortunate for us and unfortunate for the southern eentlemen of eminence,” but not public functionaries They were like other travelers, nothing more They were not received at either court They could only ”linger around the back doors” of the courts where they expected to be received in triulect hich they were treated The affair, so ominous at one time, became most useful in its practical results to our cause

Lord Palot the four prisoners, but Lincoln won the game