He states that Dr. Smith's first visit to Lincoln was "at the suggestion of a lady friend." To have avoided another glaring contradiction in the evidence of his witnesses, Reed should have had Major Stuart state that this "lady friend" was Thomas Lewis. As it is, the account given by Stuart of Dr. Smith's first visit and acquaintance with Lincoln is entirely at variance with the account given by Mr. Lewis in his letter, quoted in chapter I.
Mr. Stuart evidently entertained no very kind opinion of Colonel Lamon's work, and this made him all the more disposed to accede to Reed's demands. His position on the slavery question, for a time, was one which, in the light of subsequent events, he had no reason to be proud of, and Lamon in narrating the acts of Lincoln's life found it necessary frequently to refer to this. Such passages as the following were calculated not only to make him offended at Lamon, but jealous of Herndon: "John T. Stuart was keeping his eye on Lincoln, with the view of keeping him on his side—the totally dead conservative side." "Mr. Lincoln was beset by warm friends and by old coadjutors, and besought to pause in his anti-slavery course while there was yet time. Among these there was none more earnest or persuasive than John T. Stuart, who was but the type of a class.... But Mr. Herndon was more than a match for the full array against him. An earnest man, instant in season and out of season, he spoke with the eloquence of apparent truth and of real personal love" (Life of Lincoln, pp. 374, 352).
Colonel Matheny was not prepared to deny the correctness of a single statement in his testimony, but was forced to modify its bearing as a whole. He was made to say: "It does not express my sentiments of Mr. Lincoln's entire life and character." Now, anyone who reads his evidence cannot fail to observe that he did intend to cover Lincoln's entire life and character. There is not in it the slightest intimation that he referred merely to a part of his life. Indeed, there is one statement in his evidence which utterly precludes such an assumption. He expressly says: "I never heard that Lincoln changed his views, though his personal and political friend from 1834 to 1860." But Reed must have a sufficient portion of his life reserved in which to inject the story of his alleged conversion; and so Matheny's offense was condoned on the condition that he retain the earlier part of Lincoln's life for his testimony to rest upon, and concede the remainder to Reed for "The Later Life and Religious Sentiments of Lincoln." This division of Lincoln's life is quite indefinite, but Reed would have us believe that Colonel Matheny's evidence relates wholly to that portion of his life anterior to 1848, when Dr. Smith began the task of Christianizing him. Matheny's disclaimer is dated Dec. 16, 1872. On Dec. 9, 1873, he made the following explanation, which was published in a Springfield paper:
"What I mean, in my Reed letter, by Mr. Lincoln's earlier life, is his whole life and history in Illinois. In Illinois, and up to the time he left for Washington, he was, as I understand it, a confirmed Infidel. What I mean by Mr. Lincoln's later life, is his Washington life, where he associated with religious people, when and where I believe he thought he became a Christian. I told Mr. Reed all this just before signing the letter spoken of. I knew nothing of Mr. Lincoln's investigation into the subject of Christianity."
He says that his evidence "is a mere collection of sayings gathered from private conversations." It is doubtless true that he had many private conversations with Mr. Herndon on this subject; but his published testimony was all given at one sitting, and more, he signed that testimony. Every word attributed to him in Lamon's work, and repeated in this chapter, originally appeared above his signature.
The concluding words of his disclaimer are as follows:
"While I do believe Mr. Lincoln to have been an Infidel in his former life, when his mind was as yet unformed, and his associations principally with rough and skeptical men, yet I believe he was a very different man in later life; and that after associating with a different class of men, and investigating the subject, he was a firm believer in the Christian religion."
These words, as modified by the following, constitute a most remarkable statement:
"In Illinois, and up to the time he left for Washington, he was, as I understand it, a confirmed Infidel. What I mean by Mr. Lincoln's later life, is his Washington life, where he associated with religious people."
Colonel Matheny confines Lincoln's Infidelity to that portion of his life "when his mind was as yet unformed," and affirms that this portion comprised all the years preceding his removal to Washington in 1861. Thus during the first fifty-two years of Lincoln's life, "his mind was as yet unformed." His enviable reputation as one of the foremost lawyers of Illinois was achieved while "his mind was as yet unformed;" when his friends sent him to Congress "his mind was as yet unformed;" when he made his Bloomington speech, "his mind was as yet unformed;" when he delivered his famous Springfield speech, "his mind was as yet unformed;" when he conducted his masterly debates with Stephen A. Douglas, "his mind was as yet unformed;" when he prepared and delivered that model of political addresses, the Cooper Institute address, "his mind was as yet unformed;" when at the Chicago Convention he outstripped in the race for Presidential nominee such eminent leaders as Seward and Chase, "his mind was as yet unformed;" when he was elected Chief Magistrate of this great nation, "his mind was as yet unformed."