MARCH 12 The labourer is worthy of his reward. I. Timothy 5:18. General Grant. (U. S. Grant, commissioned Lieutenant-General at his first meeting with Lincoln, March 9, 1864.) General Grant, the nation's appreciation of what you have done, and its reliance upon you for what remains to be done in the existing struggle, are now presented with this commission, constituting you lieutenant-general in the army of the United States. With this high honor devolves upon you a corresponding responsibility. As the country trusts in you, so, under God, it will sustain you. I scarcely need add that with what I here speak for the nation goes my own hearty personal concurrence. But there are deeds which should not pass away, Forgets her empires with a just decay. The enslavers and the enslaved, their death and birth; Should be, and shall, survivor of its woe, And from its immortality look forth In the sun's face, like yonder Alpine snow, -Byron. MARCH 13 To undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke. Isaiah 58: 6. The Jewel of Liberty in the Family of Freedom. (Letter to Governor Hahn, of Louisiana, March 13, 1864.) I congratulate you on having fixed your name in history as the first Free-State Governor of Louisiana. Now, you are about to have a convention, which, among other things, will probably define the elective franchise. I barely suggest, for your private consideration, whether some of the colored people may not be let in, as, for instance, the very intelligent, and especially those who have fought gallantly in our ranks. They would probably help, in some trying time, to keep the jewel of liberty in the family of freedom. When will the world shake off such yokes, oh, when As heaven and nature meant mankind should be? -Thomas Moore. MARCH 14 Understandest thou what thou readest? Acts 8:30. Shakespeare. (To Mr. McDonough, an actor, who called at the White House, accompanied by W. D. Kelley.) I am very glad to meet you, Mr. McDonough, and I am grateful to Kelley for bringing you in so early, for I want you to tell me something about Shakespeare's plays as they are constructed for the stage. You can imagine that I do not get much time to study such matters, but I recently had a couple of talks with HackettBaron Hackett, as they call him-who is famous as Jack Falstaff, from whom I elicited few satisfactory replies, though I probed him with a good many questions. . . . Hackett's lack of information impressed me with a doubt as to whether he had ever studied Shakespeare's text. (To a chaplain who was present.) From your calling it is probable that you do not know that the acting plays which people crowd to hear are not always those planned by their reputed authors. Thus, take the stage edition of Richard III. It opens with a passage from Henry VI., after which comes portions of Richard III., then another scene from Henry VI., and the finest soliloquy in the play, if we may judge from the many quotations it furnishes, and the frequency with which it is heard in amateur exhibitions, was never seen by Shakespeare, but was written-was it not, Mr. McDonough?— after his death, by Colley Cibber. When Learning's triumph o'er her barbarous foes -Dr. Johnson. MARCH 15 Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth? Galatians 4:16. The Truth Needs to be Told. (Letter to Thurlow Weed, March 15, 1865.) Every one likes a compliment. Thank you for yours on my little notification speech, and on the recent inaugural address. I expect the latter to wear as well as, perhaps better than anything I have produced; but I believe it is not immediately popular. Men are not flattered by being shown that there has been a difference of purpose between the Almighty and them. To deny it, however, in this case, is to deny that there is a God governing the world. It is a truth which I thought needed to be told, and, as whatever of humiliation there is in it falls most directly on myself, I thought others might afford to let me tell it. They are slaves who fear to speak For the fallen and the weak; They are slaves who will not choose Hatred, scoffing, and abuse, Rather than in silence shrink From the truth they needs must think; They are slaves who dare not be In the right with two or three. -Lowell. MARCH 16 This woman was full of good works and almsdeeds which she did. Acts. 9:36. Compliment to Woman. (Extract from a speech at a Ladies' Fair for the benefit of the soldiers, Washington, March 16, 1864.) In this extraordinary war extraordinary developments have manifested themselves such as have not been seen in former wars; and among these manifestations nothing has been more remarkable than these fairs for the relief of suffering soldiers and their families, and the chief agents in these fairs are the women of America. I am not accustomed to the use of the language of eulogy; I have never studied the art of paying compliments to women; but I must say that if all that has been said by orators and poets since the creation of the world in praise of women were applied to the women of America, it would not do them justice for their conduct during the war. I will close by saying, God bless the women of America. Woman! blest partner of our joys and woes! Untarnish'd yet thy fond effection glows, Throbs with each pulse, and beats with every thrill! -Sands. |