. Abraham Lincoln and the battles of the Civil War . ting only thestyle, but changing no argument or proposi-tion of policy. Whether these were on thewhole an improvement depends perhaps uponthe taste of the reader and critic, whether heprefers a full and formal or a direct and sen- and to philosophic breadth. Mr. Lincoln likedto condense his idea into a short sentence,with legal conciseness and specific point. Inthe present crisis Mr. Sewards policy, as an-nounced in his 12th of January speech, was to meet prejudice with conciliation, exac-tion with concession which ^surrenders noprinciple, a
. Abraham Lincoln and the battles of the Civil War . ting only thestyle, but changing no argument or proposi-tion of policy. Whether these were on thewhole an improvement depends perhaps uponthe taste of the reader and critic, whether heprefers a full and formal or a direct and sen- and to philosophic breadth. Mr. Lincoln likedto condense his idea into a short sentence,with legal conciseness and specific point. Inthe present crisis Mr. Sewards policy, as an-nounced in his 12th of January speech, was to meet prejudice with conciliation, exac-tion with concession which ^surrenders noprinciple, and violence with the right hand of 276 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. peace.* Mr. Lincolns policy was, withoutprejudice or passion to state frankly and main-tain firmly the position and doctrines assumedby the American people in the late presiden-tial election. Mr. Seward believed himself tobe the past and the coming peacemaker; andthus his whole ettbrt was to soften, to post-pone, to use diplomacy. His corrections ofthe inaugural were in this view: a more care-. seized by the rebels, but for the present todeclare only that he would hold those yet inpossession of the Government. One othersomewhat important change Mr. Lincolnhimself made. In the origmal draft any ideaof an amendment of the Constitution wasrather repelled than invited. In the revisionMr. Lincoln said he should favor rather thanoppose a fair opportunity being afforded thepeople to act upon it, and further expressedhis willingness to accept the amendmentrecently proposed by Congress. All thesevarious alterations, proposed or adopted, areadded as notes to the text of the inaugural inthis chapter, where the critical student willcompare them with special interest. It was in the closing paragraph of the inau-gural that Mr. Lincolns mastery in literary artclearly revealed itself Mr. Seward, as we haveseen in the postscript of his letter, thought that some words of affection — some of calm andcheerful confidence, to meet and removep
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