LINCOLN'S INGRATITUDE AND IMMODESTY. 247
In a letter to Richard S. Thomas of Virginia, Ill. (Feb. 14, 1843), Lincoln says of his own "voracious. desire of office" (Herndon's Lincoln, ii. 267):
Now if you should hear any one say that Lincoln don't (sic) want to go to Congress, I wish you, as a personal friend of mine, would tell him you have reason to believe he is mistaken.
How Lincoln treated "a friend in need" is thus told by both Lamon and Herndon :
"Bill Butler" was his friend, and he took him in with little reference to board bills and the settlement of accounts. According to Dr. Jayne he "fed and clothed him for years;" and this signal ser vice, rendered at a very critical time, Lincoln forgot wholly when he was in Congress and Butler wanted to be Register of the Land Office, as well as when he was President of the United States. (Lamon's Life of Lincoln, pp. 224, 225.)
Lincoln boarded at Butler's house for several years. He became warmly attached to the family, and it is probable the matter of pay never entered Butler's mind. He was not only able but willing to befriend the young lawyer in this and many other ways. (Herndon's Lincoln, i. 185.)
According to Herndon Lincoln himself applied for the position of Commissioner of the Land Office soon after the expiration of his term in Congress.
Lincoln's immodesty is testified to by John Hay, who says (Herndon's Lincoln, iii, 516, 517):
He read very little. He scarcely ever looked into a newspaper unless I called his attention to an article on some special subject. He frequently said: "I know more about it than any of them." It is absurd to call him a modest man. *** It was his intellectual arrogance and unconscious assumption of superiority that men like Chase and Sumner never could forgive.
A part of Lincoln's Gettysburg funeral oration much resembles a part of Pericles's celebrated funeral oration (the statesman Pericles aided by the historian Thucydides). It is noteworthy, as showing the honesty of Edward Everett, that he made and credited in his Gettysburg oration a quotation from Pericles's oration, viz. : "The whole earth is the sepulcher of illustrious men."
WAS LINCOLN A PLAGIARIST?
FOURSCORE and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We are met to dedicate a portion of it as the final restingplace of those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
IT was for such a country then that these men, nobly resolving not to have it taken from them, fell fighting; and every one of their survivors may well be willing to suffer in its behalf.
With regard to the things for which I have commended the city [Athens], it was the virtues of these men, and such as these, that adorned her with them; and few of the Greeks are there whose fame, like these men's, would appear but the just counterpoise of their deeds.
Such did these men prove themselves, as became the character of their country. For you that remain, you must pray that you may have a more successful resolution, but must determine not to have one less bold against your enemies.
While collectively
But in a larger sense we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow, this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our power to add or detract. The world will little note they gave her their lives, individnor long remember what we say ually they received that renown here, but it can never forget what which never grows old, and the they did here. It is for us, the liv- most distinguished tomb they could ing, rather to be dedicated to the have; not so much that in which unfinished work that they have they are laid, as that in which their thus far so nobly carried on. It is glory is left behind them, to be rather for us to be dedicated to the everlastingly recorded on every ocgreat task remaining before us.-casion for doing so, either by word that from these honored dead we or deed, that may from time to take increased devotion to the cause time present itself. Vying for which they here gave the last full measure of devotion,-that we here highly resolve that the dead shall not have died in vain, that the nation shall, under God, have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not perish from the earth.*
then with these men in your turn, and deeming happiness to consist in freedom, and freedom in valor, do not think lightly of the hazards of war. -History of the Peloponnesian War, Dale's translation, pp. 115, 116, 117. †
* Lincoln, who seems to have merely improved on Pericles, evidently tried to improve on Webster also. Webster expresses the above idea thus (iii, 321): "It is, Sir, the people's Constitution, the people's Government; made for the people, made by the people, and answerable to the people."
Pericles was born about 495 B. C., Thucydides about 471 B. C. Thucydides wrote many of the speeches in his History, but he prob ably only touched the above. (Sec Encyc. Britannica, xxiii, 325.)
ADAMS J. on removals, 91; notes,
153, 165; notes of debate in Sen-
ate on power removal, 154–159.
Adams John Quincy, on removals,
92; notes, 160, 174.
Allan Chilton, power removal, 166.
Allison W. B. radical views of, 214.
Ames F. power removal, 124–127;
predictions of, 125, 126, 162.
Andrews C. C. notes, 183, 188.
Appeals, a proposed board of, 114.
Application papers, how marked
(note) 26.
Applicants' certificates (note) 27.
Appointments cannot be dictated,
Aristocracies, cause of and remedy
for, 63-66.
Aristocracy, no use for in this coun-
try, 62; little danger of officehold-
ers', 61, 66; Roman and English,
63, 64; views of latter, in 1855,
of English civil service law, 69.
Aristocrats, real and apparent, 62.
Arthur C. A. on fitness for and sta-
bility in office, 37, 95.
Auditor Treasury, testimony of, 224.
BALDWIN A. power removal, 134.
Bancroft George, note, 24.
Barton D. on purity and freedom
of elections, 42; on 4-years' law,
162; good behavior tenure, 167.
Bayard James A. why he changed
his vote from Burr to Jefferson
in 1801, civil service views of,
vindication of, &c. 97-100.
Bayard T. F. obligation to, 98; de-
nounces so-called 'practical poli-
ticians' and spoils system, 107.
Bell J. on freedom of elections and
patronage evils. 42; quotes Eng-
lish history and a celebrated res-
olution of Parliament. 43, 44.
Benson E. power removal, 129.
Benton T. H. note, 19; on patron-
age and the freedom of elections,
41; on congressional decision as
to power removal, 159; report
on executive patronage, 173.
Bibb G. M. power removal, 168; on
division of governmental powers
(note) 169.
Bill, the first civil service, 7, 202.
Blaine J. G. civil service views of,
Board of Appeals, a proposed, 114.
Boudinot E. note, 113; power re-
moval, 121-124.
Branch J. on Senate's functions and
danger ambitious leaders, 174.
Brenton Samuel, resolution of, 8.
Bribery at elections, danger of, 39;
Buchanan, Harrison, Benton, Jef-
ferson, and Bell on, 40-43; pat-
ronage a great cause of. 40.
British Civil Service Commission,
the, 197; letter from secretary
of 197, 198.
British India, civil service of, 182.
Brokerage, office, 39.
Brooks E. competitive tests, &c. 65.
Browning E. B. on competition, 222.
Bryce James, M. P. on civil service
reform in America, 199, 220.
Buchanan James, on danger of bri-
bery at elections, 40; Mr. Marcy
to, 82; subordinate officers, 93.
Burr A. adroitness of, 71; unrepub-
lican ideas of about elections, 72,
Burt Silas W. difference between
the conduct of public and private
business (note) 19; on competi-
tive examinations, 35, 37.
Butler P. power removal, 155.
CESAR JULIUS, anecdote of, 64.
Calhoun John C. denounces spoils
system, criticises debate on re-
moval, and gives his own views,
106, 107, 163, 164; on compro-
mise and competition, 222.
Canada, civil service of, 178-182.
Carroll C. power removal, 154.
Caucus system, the (note) 105.
Chamber of Commerce, New York,
favors examinations for custom
house officials, 35, 36.
Chambers's Encyclopedia, on com-
petition, 222.
Chandler J. departmental balances,
China, civil service of, 189–193.
Civil service bills, various, 7, 8.
Civil service law of 1871, why it
"collapsed," 208.
Civil service law (the statute) 228.
Civil service law, the, summary
of provisions of, 9-12; why its
scope should be increased, 12-
13; fruits and features of, 17-21;
its chief object, 19; its constitu-
tionality, 20-24; an elaboration
and improvement of two preced-
ing laws-SS 164 and 1753 of U.
S. Revised Statutes, 23; causes
a radical change, 24; will in-
crease efficiency, elevate politics,
aid in purifying elections, &c.
38-40; will promote self-respect,
honesty, impartiality, &c. 54-56;
has caused a salutary change and
promises complete reform, 89,
90; its flexibility, 195; no objec-
tion because it is experimental,
195; cannot enforce itself, 218.
Civil service laws, two other. 23.
Clay H. denounces proscriptive pol-
icy, relates incident of a dem-
ocratic convention, tells Marcy
that Gov. Metcalfe practiced the
merit system, criticises decision
on power removal, 76, 81, 163;
resolution of, 168.
Cleveland G. on Castle Garden cor-
ruption, 56; notes, 89, 90; de-
fends the merit system, 96, 97.
Clinton D. W. on patronage, 73.
Clymer G. power removal, 128.
Commission, the civil service, no
right to depart from the law and
evidence (note) 26, 27; on cor-
ruption in Washington, 200, 201.
Commission, the New York State
civil service, on results realized
and competitive tests, 18, 33;
on same in Ireland, 34; on read-
justment of salaries, 66.
Commission, the Jay, 57.
Commission, the Royal, 198.
Commissioner of Customs, report
of, 210.
Commissions, the Ridley and Play-
fair, 197, 198.
Committee, joint select, report of,
210.
Committee of Parliament on pro-
motion examinations (note) 28;
should be carefully conducted,
28; in Patent Office (note) 213.
Competition, uses of, 33, 221, 222.
Competitive examinations- back-
bone of civil service law, 26; im-
partiality and utility of, 26-28;
supplemented by trial by proba-
tion, 27; compare favorably in
results with West Point examin-
ations, 28; a check on politically
ambitious chief officials, 29; re-
lieve the President and others of
burdens, 29, 213; sometimes se-
cure private employment, 14, 15,
16, 30; superior to non-competi-
tive, 30; not a guarantee of good
character, but may expose bad
character, 30; education requir
ed, 31; high character of indi-
viduals examined (note) 31; in
Ireland, 34; in England, 198.
Confucius, maxims of, 193, 194.
Congressmen and officeseekers, 58,
59, 60: a right of, 202.
Constitution, the American, W. E.
Gladstone's opinion of (note) 21.
Corrupt Practices Act, 52.
Council of Appointment, the old, 71.
Cox J. D. on corruption in Wash-
ington, 30, 58, 87; tenure of of
fice act, inefficacy of, 115.
Crawford W. H. ambition of, 161;
author 4-years' law, 161.
Crosby Howard, on certain politi-
cians (note) 54.
Crockett D. on President Jackson's
susceptibility to flattery (note) 77.
Curtis G. W. obligation to, 4; civil
service rules of, 45; defends civil
service law, 67-69; peroration to
1885 Newport address (note) 68;
on old Council of Appointment
and amusing incident connected
with it (note) 71; reasons for and
authorship of 4-years' law, 161.
DAVIS DAVID, on Lincoln, 85.
Davis Garrett. report of, 112.
Dawes Senator, bill of, 8; graphic
picture by, 59, 60; philosophical
remarks by, 214; on "public sen-
timent," 214.
Departments, the government, as
schools (note) 28.
Draper's (J. W.) warning of a false
standard of social distinction and
description of the depravity of
the Roman aristocracy that re-
sulted therefrom (note) 63; on
Chinese government, 194.
EATON D. B. author of civil service
law bill, 7; examinations some-
times expose bad character, 31;
"influence," 57; Burr and Van
Buren, 71; Crawford and Van
Buren, 161; defalcations, 161;
English civil service history, 178;
British India civil service, 183;
serves without pay, 209; versus
Mr. Ham, 209; why he trusted
Pendleton, 217.
Edward I, election law of, 46.
Elections, interference with. See
"Bribery at elections."
Elections, D. Barton on purity and
freedom of 42; W. J. Graves on
same and Jackson's removals, 44.
Elections, the crime of buying or
selling votes at (note) 52.
Elections, too much care and inter-
est cannot be taken in, 40, 45;
America profits by England's ex-
perience, 52.
Ellsworth O. power removal, 155,
156, 159.
Encyclopedia Britannica, on an al-
leged defect of Chinese civil ser-
vice system, 193.
English aristocracy, pitiable condi-
tion of, 64; how it viewed the
civil service law (in 1855) 69.
English civil service law, good ef
fect of, 50; features of, 178; let-
ter from civil service commission
of, 197, 198; reorganization of
system of, 198.
English election laws, chief, from
1275 till 1883, 46-52.
English government, one cause of
stability of, 45.
Everett E. on "the importance of
education in a republic," 32.
Ewing T. against confirming 'polit-
ical gladiators' by Senate, 172.
Examinations by Postmaster-Gen-
eral and Secretary of Navy (note)
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FAVORITISM, an inherent if not nec-
essary fault of humanity, 55.
Federalists, not removed by Jeffer-
son for partisan reasons, 205.
Fisher S. S. holds first competitive
examinations, 36; rigid promo-
tion examinations by, with anec-
dote, 213; Senators Wilson and
Morrill's opinions of, 213.
Foot S. A. attributes proscriptive
policy to Van Buren, 76.
Forsyth J. boomerang speech of. 78.
Four-years' law, the (note) 160–
162; not repealed, 219.
France, civil service of, 184.
Franklin Benjamin, deprecates high
salaries, 64; warns the constitu-
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