Mr. Lincoln may not have expected death from the hand of an assassin, but he had an impression, amounting to a “presentiment,” that his life would end with the war. This was expressed not only to Mr. Lovejoy, as stated on a previous page, but to Mrs. Stowe and others.
“He told me, in July, 1864,” says a correspondent of the Boston “Journal,” “that he was certain he should not outlast the rebellion.
“It was a time of dissension among the Republican leaders. Many of his best friends had deserted him, and were talking of an opposition convention to nominate another candidate; and universal gloom was among the people.
“The North was tired of the war, and supposed an honorable peace attainable. Mr. Lincoln knew it was not,—that any peace at that time would be only disunion. Speaking of it, he said: ‘I have faith in the people. They will not consent to disunion. The danger is, in their being misled. Let them know the truth, and the country is safe.’ He looked haggard and careworn; and further on in the interview I remarked on his appearance, ‘You are wearing yourself out with work.’ ‘I can’t work less,’ he answered; ‘but it isn’t that,—work never troubled me. Things look badly, and I can’t avoid anxiety. Personally, I care nothing about a reëlection; but if our divisions defeat us, I fear for the country.’ When I suggested that right must eventually triumph, that I had never despaired of the result, he said:—
“‘Neither have I, but I may never live to see it. I feel a presentiment that I shall not outlast the Rebellion. When it is over, my work will be done.’”
“The Freedmen,” once said the President to the Secretary of War, “are the ‘wards’ of the nation.”
“Yes,” replied Stanton, “wards in chancery.”
A few days before the President’s death, Secretary Stanton tendered his resignation of the War Department. He accompanied the act with a heart-felt tribute to Mr. Lincoln’s constant friendship and faithful devotion to the country; saying, also, that he as Secretary had accepted the position to hold it only until the war should end, and that now he felt his work was done, and his duty was to resign.
Mr. Lincoln was greatly moved by the Secretary’s words, and tearing in pieces the paper containing the resignation, and throwing his arms about the Secretary, he said: “Stanton, you have been a good friend and a faithful public servant, and it is not for you to say when you will no longer be needed here.” Several friends of both parties were present on the occasion, and there was not a dry eye that witnessed the scene.
“On the night of the 3rd of March, the Secretary of War, with others of the Cabinet, were in the company of the President, at the Capitol, awaiting the passage of the final bills of Congress. In the intervals of reading and signing these documents, the military situation was considered,—the lively conversation tinged by the confident and glowing account of General Grant, of his mastery of the position, and of his belief that a few days more would see Richmond in our possession, and the army of Lee either dispersed utterly or captured bodily,—when the telegram from Grant was received, saying that Lee had asked an interview with reference to peace. Mr. Lincoln was elated, and the kindness of his heart was manifest in intimations of favorable terms to be granted to the conquered Rebels.