CHAPTER XIII.

A CRITICISM OF NICOLAY AND HAY.

Nicolay and Hay in their "Life of Lincoln" (see _Century Magazine_ for January, 1890, p. 439), say: "The surviving conspirators, with the exception of John H. Surratt, were tried by a military commission sitting in Washington in the months of May and June.

"The charges against them specified that they were 'incited and encouraged' to treason and murder by Jefferson Davis and the Confederate emissaries in Canada. This was not proven on the trial; the evidence bearing on the case showed frequent communication between Canada and Richmond and the Booth coterie in Washington, and some transactions in drafts at the Montreal Bank where Jacob Thompson and Booth kept their accounts. It was shown by the sworn testimony of a reputable witness that Jefferson Davis at Greensboro', on hearing of the assassination, expressed his gratification at the news; but this, so far from proving any direct complicity in the crime, would rather prove the opposite, as a conscious murderer usually conceals his malice. Against all the rest, the facts we have briefly stated were abundantly proved," etc. In a foot-note they add: "When captured by General Wilson he (Jefferson Davis) affected to think he cleared himself of suspicion in this regard by saying that Johnson was more objectionable to him than Lincoln--not noticing that the conspiracy contemplated the murder of both." From this there would seem to have been some doubt in the mind of the writer on the question of Davis's innocence. Again, they say: "Davis, in speaking to General Wilson about this charge, said that he regarded the charge of treason as likely to give him more trouble than this." Of course he relied on the sagacity of his co-conspirators in Canada for the destruction of all documentary evidence against him, and so he felt that his guilt could not be proven. The writer has the highest regard for these authors, and a very high appreciation of the manner in which they have handled their great subject. The history of several of the last years of the life of Abraham Lincoln is inseparably linked with the history of his country, and that the most momentous period of its history. To do justice to the subject of their memoir required a vast amount of the most painstaking research, and a general overhauling of the political history of the country over a period of a dozen or more years.

This was a work of great labor, involving a careful examination of a multitude of documents and records. They had that familiar, personal acquaintance with Mr. Lincoln, growing out of their official relations to him, that enables them to form a correct estimate of his intellectual and moral character, and of the innermost feelings and governing motives of his life. They have done their work faithfully and well, and have presented Mr. Lincoln in his true character, and made manifest his wonderful astuteness, his wisdom, forbearance, charity, gentleness, and toleration toward his fellowmen, as well as his _firmness_ and fidelity to the right, to the gaze of an admiring world. It is with feelings of regret that faithfulness to my purpose of giving a true history of the great conspiracy which culminated in his death requires me to take issue with them in their treatment of this case. It will be evident to all my readers who have read and carefully considered the evidence presented by the government to sustain its charge against Jefferson Davis and his confederates in Canada, that authors who were familiar with it could never have come to the conclusion so confidently expressed by these authors when they say, "This was not proved on the trial." The abstract of the evidence which they then proceed to give, shows an equal degree of unfamiliarity with it. It consists merely in a confused jumbling of a few comparatively unimportant facts, leaving unnoticed and untouched the great mass of relevant and conclusive testimony that I have presented. The account which they give of the manner in which Davis received the news of the assassination does not consist at all with the testimony. They say: "It was shown by the sworn testimony of a reputable witness that Jefferson Davis at Greensboro', on hearing of the assassination, expressed his gratification at the news; but this, so far from proving any direct complicity in the crime, would rather prove the opposite, as a conscious murderer usually conceals his malice."

Jefferson Davis received the news of the assassination at Charlotte, not at Greensboro'. Breckinridge telegraphed the news to him from Greensboro'. It is the testimony of Lewis F. Bates to which they refer. But my readers, who have so lately read Mr. Bates' testimony, I am sure will not recognize it in the account which these authors give of it; and as they have failed in giving us a true account of the testimony, we cannot wonder if they draw an erroneous conclusion from it inferentially. It will be remembered that all the expressions that escaped from the rebel chief on that occasion were those of deep-felt dissatisfaction and bitter disappointment. A free rendering of his language on that occasion would amount to just this: "It might just as well not have been done at all, since the job was not thoroughly done. If Andy Johnson, the beast, and Stanton had only been included, the job would then have been complete. It would have been of some account to us." His whole speech and demeanor on that occasion show him to have been a co-conspirator, fully aware of the scope of their plot, and displeased at the incompleteness of the "job."

Again, on page 432 of the _Century_ for January, 1890, we find the following: "He (Booth) was a fanatical secessionist; had assisted at the capture of John Brown, and had imbibed, at Richmond and other Southern cities where he had played, a furious spirit of partisanship against Mr. Lincoln and the Union party.

"After the re-election of Mr. Lincoln, which rung the knell of the insurrection, Booth, like many of the secessionists North and South, was stung to the quick by disappointment. He visited Canada, consorted with the rebel emissaries there, and at last--whether or not at their instigation cannot certainly be said--conceived a scheme to capture the President and take him to Richmond. He spent a great part of the autumn and winter inducing a small number of loose fish of secession sympathies to join him in this fantastic enterprise. He seemed always well supplied with money, and talked largely of his speculations in oil as a source of income; but his agent afterwards testified that he never realized a dollar from that source--that his investments, which were inconsiderable, were a total loss. The winter passed away, and nothing was accomplished. On the 4th of March, Booth was at the capitol, and created a disturbance by trying to force his way through the line of policemen who guarded the passage through which the President passed to the east front of the building. His intentions at this time are not known. He afterwards said he lost an excellent chance of killing the President that day. There are indications in the evidence given on the trial of the conspirators that they suffered some great disappointment in their schemes in the latter part of March; and a letter from Arnold to Booth, dated 27th March, showed that some of them had grown timid of the consequences of their contemplated enterprise, and were ready to give it up. He advised Booth, before going farther, to go and see how it would be taken at R----d. But timid as they might be by nature, the whole group was so completely under the ascendency of Booth that they did not dare disobey him when in his presence; and after the surrender of Lee, in an excess of malice and rage which was akin to madness, he called them together and assigned each his part in the _new crimes_ [the italics are ours], the purpose of which had arisen suddenly in his mind out of the ruins of the abandoned abduction scheme. This plan was as brief and simple as it was horrible. Powell, _alias_ Payne, the stalwart, brutal, simple-minded boy from Florida, was to murder Seward; Atzerodt, the comic villain of the drama, was assigned to remove Andrew Johnson; Booth reserved for himself the most difficult and most conspicuous role of the tragedy; it was Herold's duty to attend him as a page, and aid in his escape."

In this rather long extract, in which the situation is pictured with a facile pen, there are two assumptions that are wholly irreconcilable with the evidence.

The first is, that the plot was at first to capture the President and carry him to Richmond, whether with or without the approbation of the Canada conspirators, our author's assume cannot be known.

The evidence does not show that such a plot was really entertained either by Booth or his co-conspirators in Canada. Conover testified that he heard this scheme discussed at a meeting of the latter in February; but it does not appear that it was ever considered practicable, or was really entertained by them. The proposition was too quixotic to receive the serious consideration of rational, intelligent men. All the testimony in regard to the Canada conspirators shows that they were all the time from October, 1864, devoting all their thoughts to securing the assassination, not only of the President, but also of the others named in the charge and specifications, and that by nothing but the assassination of all of these men could the political end which they sought be secured. This assumption of our authors is shown by the testimony to be wholly untenable. The next assumption to which I take exceptions is equally untenable in the light which the testimony throws on the subject. It is, that the assassination was the result of a hasty impulse of rage and disappointment, akin to madness; that a new crime was thus conceived, which grew out of the ruins of the abduction plot, which I have already sufficiently shown was never entertained by any of the parties. So far from being the result of a hasty impulse, the testimony clearly proves that it had been long entertained, and that they had all been planning, preparing, and arranging for its execution for months.

It is greatly to be regretted that such popular, and usually reliable, authors, should have allowed themselves on this occasion to write thus loosely, and express opinions and conclusions so much at variance with the testimony. It tends to obscure the truth of history, and to the formation of an erroneous public opinion.

The conclusion at which I have arrived, and expressed without hesitation, as to the guilt of Davis and his Canada Cabinet in this matter, stands untouched by that expressed by these authors, because it is manifest that they not only had never studied, but were quite unfamiliar with, the evidence on which alone a right judgment can be based.

All I ask of my readers is, that they will scan carefully what I have given as having been fairly deduced from the testimony before the Commission, or to study the testimony itself as given in Pittman's official report of the trial, and then judge between us.