COL JOHN G. NICOLAY.
The next witness introduced by Lamon, is Col. John G. Nicolay, Lincoln's private secretary at the White House. Nicolay's relations with the President were more intimate than those of any other man. To quote the words of Lincoln's partner, "Mr. Lincoln loved him and trusted him." His testimony is among the most important that this controversy has elicited. It proves beyond the shadow of a doubt that all these stories concerning Lincoln's alleged conversation at Washington are false, that he did not change his belief, that he died as he had always lived—a Freethinker. In a letter written May 27, 1865, just six weeks after Lincoln's death, Colonel Nicolay says: "Mr. Lincoln did not, to my knowledge, in any way, change his religious ideas, opinions or beliefs, from the time he left Springfield till the day of his death. I do not know just what they were, never having heard him explain them in detail, but I am very sure he gave no outward indications of his mind having undergone any change in that regard while here" (Life of Lincoln, p. 492).
HON. DAVID DAVIS.
One of the most important, and in some respects the most eminent witness summoned to testify in regard to this question, is the Hon. David Davis. In moral character he stood above reproach, in intellectual ability, almost without a peer. Every step in his career was marked by unswerving integrity and freedom from prejudice. His rulings and decisions in the lower courts of Illinois, and on the bench of the Supreme Court of the United States, commanded universal respect. As a legislator, his love of truth and justice prevented him from being a political partisan. As United States Senator and Vice-President of the United States, the party that elected him could obtain his support for no measure that he deemed unjust. Referring to his acquaintance with Lincoln, Judge Davis says: "I enjoyed for over twenty years the personal friendship of Mr. Lincoln. We were admitted to the bar about the same time, and traveled for many years what is known in Illinois as the Eighth Judicial Circuit. In 1848, when I first went on the bench, the circuit embraced fourteen counties, and Mr. Lincoln went with the court to every county." A large portion of this time they passed in each other's company. They often rode in the same vehicle, generally ate at the same table, and not infrequently slept together in the same bed. The closest intimacy existed between them as long as Lincoln lived, and when he died, Mr. Davis became his executor. Judge Davis would not intentionally have misrepresented the opinions of an enemy, much less the opinions of his dear dead friend. Briefly, yet clearly, he defines the theological views of Lincoln:
"He had no faith, in the Christian sense of the term—had faith in laws, principles, causes, and effects—philosophically" (Life of Lincoln, p. 489).
Speaking of the many stories that had been circulated concerning Lincoln's religious belief, such as the Bateman and Vinton interviews, together with the various pious speeches he is reported to have made to religious committees and delegations that visited him, such as his reputed speech to the Negroes of Baltimore, Judge Davis says:
"The idea that Lincoln talked to a stranger about his religion or religious views, or made such speeches, remarks, &c, about it as are published, is to me absurd. I knew the man so well. He was the most reticent, secretive man I ever saw, or expect to see" (Ibid).
MRS. MARY LINCOLN.
But one of Lamon's witnesses remains—the wife of the martyred President. Her testimony ought of itself to put this matter at rest forever. Mrs. Lincoln says:
"Mr. Lincoln had no hope, and no faith, in the usual acceptation of those words" (Life of Lincoln, p. 489).