"The fiery trial" through which he had
hitherto walked showed him possessed of the capacity, the courage, and
the will to keep the promise of his oath.
Among the many criticisms passed by writers and thinkers upon the second
inaugural, none will so interest the reader as that of Mr. Lincoln
himself, written about ten days after its delivery, in the following
letter to a friend:
"DEAR MR. WEED: Every one likes a compliment. Thank you for yours
on my little notification speech, and on the recent inaugural
address. I expect the latter to wear as well as, perhaps better
than, anything I have produced; but I believe it is not immediately
popular. Men are not flattered by being shown that there has been a
difference of purpose between the Almighty and them. To deny it,
however, in this case, is to deny that there is a God governing the
world. It is a truth which I thought needed to be told, and, as
whatever of humiliation there is in it falls most directly on
myself, I thought others might afford for me to tell it."
Nothing would have more amazed Mr. Lincoln than to hear himself called a
man of letters; but this age has produced few greater writers. Emerson
ranks him with Aesop; Montalembert commends his style as a model for the
imitation of princes.
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