It was the first
time the telegraph had been called upon to spread over the world tidings
of such deep and mournful significance. In the stunning effect of the
unspeakable calamity the country lost sight of the national success of
the past week, and it thus came to pass that there was never any
organized expression of the general exultation or rejoicing in the North
over the downfall of the rebellion. It was unquestionably best that it
should be so; and Lincoln himself would not have had it otherwise. He
hated the arrogance of triumph; and even in his cruel death he would
have been glad to know that his passage to eternity would prevent too
loud an exultation over the vanquished. As it was, the South could take
no umbrage at a grief so genuine and so legitimate; the people of that
section even shared, to a certain degree, in the lamentations over the
bier of one whom in their inmost hearts they knew to have wished them
well.
There was one exception to the general grief too remarkable to be passed
over in silence. Among the extreme radicals in Congress, Mr. Lincoln's
determined clemency and liberality toward the Southern people had made
an impression so unfavorable that, though they were naturally shocked at
his murder, they did not, among themselves, conceal their gratification
that he was no longer in the way.
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