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In
a republic, arbitrary stretches of power, even when demanded by
necessity, should never be permitted to pass without a protest on the one
hand, and without an apology on the other. It is well they did not so
pass during our civil war. That arbitrary measures were resorted to is
true. That they were resorted to most sparingly, and only when the
government thought them absolutely required by the safety of the
republic, will now hardly be denied. But certain it is that the history
of the world does not furnish a single example of a government passing
through so tremendous a crisis as our civil war was with so small a
record of arbitrary acts, and so little interference with the ordinary
course of law outside the field of military operations. No American
President ever wielded such power as that which was thrust into Lincoln's
hands. It is to be hoped that no American President ever will have to be
entrusted with such power again. But no man was ever entrusted with it
to whom its seductions were less dangerous than they proved to be to
Abraham Lincoln.


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