第82章 THE END OF THE ROAD(7)

Secretary.It's mighty pertinent to our situation.The people have been a deal kinder to me than I deserve and I've got more cause for thankfulness than complaint.But sometimes I get just a little out of patience with our critics.I want to say to them as Moses said to Korah, Dathan, and Abiram--'Ye take too much upon you, ye sons of Levi!'"Lincoln's speech had broadened into something like the dialect of his boyhood.Stanton finished the paper on which he had been engaged and stepped aside from his desk.His face was heavily preoccupied and he kept an eye always on the door leading to his private secretary's room.

"At this moment," he said, "Hooker is engaged with Lee." He put a finger on a map which was stretched on a frame behind him."There! On the Rappahannock, where it is joined by the Rapidan....Near the hamlet of Chancellorsville....Battle was joined two days ago, and so far it has been indecisive.Tonight we should know the result.That was the news you came here to-night about, Mr.President?"Lincoln nodded."I am desperately anxious.I needn't conceal that from you, Mr.Stanton.""So am I.I wish to God I had more confidence in General Hooker.I never liked that appointment, Mr.President.I should have preferred Meade or Reynolds.Hooker is a blustering thick-headed fellow, good enough, maybe, for a division or even a corps, but not for an army.""I visited him three weeks back," said Lincoln, "and I'm bound to say he has marvellously pulled round the Army of the Potomac.There's a new spirit in their ranks.You're unjust to Joe Hooker, Mr.Stanton.He's a fine organiser, and he'll fight--he's eager to fight, which McClellan and Burnside never were.""But what on earth is the good of being willing to fight if you're going to lose? He hasn't the brains to command.And he's opposed by Lee and Jackson.

Do you realise the surpassing ability of those two men? We have no generals fit to hold a candle to them.""We've a bigger and a better army.I'm not going to be depressed, Mr.

Stanton.Joe has two men to every one of Lee's, he's safe over the Rappahannock, and I reckon he will make a road to Richmond.I've seen his troops, and they are fairly bursting to get at the enemy.I insist on being hopeful.What's the last news from the Mississippi?""Nothing new.Grant has got to Port Gibson and has his base at Grand Gulf.

He now proposes to cut loose and make for Vicksburg.So far he has done well, but the risk is terrific.Still, I am inclined to think you were right about that man.He has capacity.""Grant stops still and saws wood," said Lincoln "He don't talk a great deal, but he fights.I can't help feeling hopeful to-night, for it seems to me we have the enemy in a fix.You've heard me talk of the shrinking quadrilateral, which is the rebel States, as I see the proposition.""Often," said the other drily.

"I never could get McClellan rightly to understand it.I look on the Confederacy as a quadrilateral of which at present we hold two sides--the east and the south--the salt-water sides.The north side is Virginia, the west side the line of the Mississippi.If Grant and Farragut between them can win the control of the Father of Waters, we've got the west side.Then it's the business of the Armies on the Mississippi to press east and the Army of the Potomac to press south.It may take a time, but if we keep a stiff upper lip we're bound to have the rebels whipped.I reckon they're whipped already in spite of Lee.I've heard of a turtle that an old nigger man decapitated.Next day he was amusing himself poking sticks at it and the turtle was snapping back.His master comes along and says to him, 'Why, Pomp, I thought that turtle was dead.' 'Well, he am dead, massa,' says Pompey, 'but the critter don't know enough ter be sensible ob it.' I reckon the Confederacy's dead, but Jeff Davis don't know enough to be sensible of it."A young man in uniform came hurriedly through the private secretary's door and handed the Secretary for War a telegram.He stood at attention, and the President observed that his face was pale.Stanton read the message, but gave no sign of its contents.He turned to the map behind him and traced a line on it with his forefinger.

"Any more news?" he asked the messenger.

"Nothing official, sir," was the answer."But there is a report that General Jackson has been killed in the moment of victory."The officer withdrew and Stanton turned to the President.Lincoln's face was terrible in its strain, for the words "in the moment of victory" had rung the knell of his hopes.

When Stanton spoke his voice was controlled and level."Unlike your turtle," he said, "the Confederacy is suddenly and terribly alive.Lee has whipped Hooker to blazes.We have lost more than fifteen thousand men.

To-day we are back on the north side of the Rappahannock."Lincoln was on his feet and for a moment the bronze mask of his face was distorted by suffering.

"My God!" he cried."What will the country say? What will the country say?""It matters little what the country says.The point is what will the country suffer.In a fortnight Lee will be in Maryland and Pennsylvania.

Your quadrilateral will not shrink, it will extend.In a month we shall be fighting to hold Washington and Baltimore, aye, and Philadelphia."The bitterness of the words seemed to calm Lincoln.He was walking up and down the floor, with his hands clasped behind his back, and his expression was once again one of patient humility "I take all the blame," he said."You have done nobly, Mr.Stanton, and all the mistakes are mine.I reckon I am about the poorest effigy of a War President that ever cursed an unhappy country."The other did not reply.He was an honest man who did not deal in smooth phrases.

"I'd resign to-morrow," Lincoln went on."No railsplitter ever laid down his axe at the end of a hard day so gladly as I would lay down my office.

But I've got to be sure first that my successor will keep faith with this nation.I've got to find a man who will keep the right course.""Which is?" Stanton asked.