<h3>THE FEARLESSNESS OF THE GOD-FEARING.</h3>
<p>Lincoln said that by the death of his son Willie he was touched; by
the victory of Gettysburg made a believer. It is plain that, after
this, a fortitude replaced the despondency stamping him. It may be
due to this conviction of being one of the chosen, like Cromwell
and Gordon, soldiers of Christ, that he met all adjurations for
him to take care of his precious life with fanatical unconcern. He
communicated to the Cabinet, at the close of the conflict, how he had
appointed to confer alone and without guards to terrify the emissary,
a noted Confederate. They were to discuss peace--and by that word,
Lincoln was drawn to any one. He answered the cautions with the simple
saying:</p>
<p>"I am but an individual, and my removal will not in any way advance
the other folks in their endeavors."</p>
<p>In fact, it was so--the misdeed was a double-edged blade which cut
both ways. It will never be known, probably, how near a massacre
followed the explosion of indignation at that maniac's murder of the
Emancipator. Fortunately for the unsullied robe of Columbia, a hundred
advocates of leaving retribution to Heaven echoed Garfield's appeasing
address.</p>
<p>Lincoln met the intermediator, but the ultimate negotiation fell
through, like the others all. He came home from City Point with
sadness, but from his seed has outcome the Universal Peace Tribunal
of The Hague. Professor Martens based his original plea of the czar's
on the Lincolnian guide for the soldiers in our war.
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