112 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 



earnest man, around whom the fragments of France were to 

 gather themselves till she took her place again as a planet of 

 the first magnitude in the European system. In one respect 

 Mr. Lincoln was more fortunate than Henry. However 

 some may think him wanting in zeal, the most fanatical 

 can find no taint of apostasy in any measure of his, nor can 

 the most bitter charge him with being influenced by motives 

 of personal interest. The leading distinction between the 

 policies of the two is one of circumstances. Henry went 

 over to the nation ; Mr. Lincoln has steadily drawn the 

 nation over to him. One left a united France ; the other, 

 we hope and believe, will leave a reunited America. We 

 leave our readers to trace the further points of difference 

 and resemblance for themselves, merely suggesting a general 

 similarity which has often occurred to us. One only point 

 of melancholy interest we will allow ourselves to touch upon. 

 That Mr. Lincoln is not handsome nor elegant, we learn 

 from certain English tourists who would consider similar 

 revelations in regard to Queen Victoria as thoroughly 

 American in their want of bienseance. It is no concern of 

 ours, nor does it affect his fitness for the high place he so 

 worthily occupies; but he is certainly as fortunate as 

 Henry in the matter of good looks, if we may trust con 

 temporary evidence. Mr. Lincoln has also been reproached 

 with Americanism by some not unfriendly British critics ; 

 but, with all deference, we cannot say that we like him any 

 the worse for it, or see in it any reason why he should 

 govern Americans the less wisely. 



People of more sensitive organisations may be shocked, 

 but we are glad that in this our true war of independence, 

 which is to free us for ever from the Old World, we have 

 had at the head of our affairs a man whom America made, 

 as God made Adam, out of the very earth, unancestried, 

 unprivileged, unknown, to show us how much truth, how 

 much magnanimity, and how much statecraft await the call 

 of opportunity in simple manhood when it believes in the 

 justice of God and the worth of man. Conventionalities 

 are all very well in their proper place, but they shrivel at 



