IF LINCOLN HAD BEEN WILSON

Our President's Mexican Policy—If Applied to the Civil War

Ernest Harvier

THE time, April, 1861: the place, Washington, D. C.: the cause of the tumult, tension and excitement due to fear that war would break out between North and South. The very life of the nation was imperilled and the blood-red cloud of a fratricidal war hung over the capital. Men discussed the situation in whispers. The telegraph operator in the War Department jumped convulsively from his chair: "Fort Sumter has been bombarded. The American flag has been fired upon in Charleston harbor. War has begun."

"Quick," said the Secretary, "some one run across to the White House and notify President Wilson. I will follow immediately with later details."

The news found the equanimity of the President unruffled.

"It is a purely psychological attack," said he. "A sporadic demonstration of no particular significance. I will speak to the Cabinet about it at Friday's meeting. Unfortunately Mr. Bryan, our Secretary of State, is away lecturing on temperance. But the matter is not urgent. What we need is a correct and undeviating mental poise and an open mind. A waiting policy will serve us best. Is the interesting news of the attack corroborated? Or is it only one of those impalpable exaggerations of which we have lately had so many?"

And the subsequent proceedings interested him no more!

THE ENEMY AT THE GATES

THE hours following the news of the Union defeat at Bull Run were trying to the souls of men in Washington. Martial law had been established. Cavalry patrols were seen on every street. Soldiers in hundreds were pouring into Washington in response to the Government's call for 75,000 men, but the fugitives and stragglers from the disasters at Bull Run were more numerous, and they told of a rapid and threatening Confederate advance upon Washington. The thunder of the Southern guns was heard and the detonating rattle of small arms on Arlington Heights spread terror along Pennsylvania Avenue. Half-hourly reports of the enemy's progress were brought to the War Department. But President W. Wilson, calm, collected, serene, dignified, self-possessed and optimistic, continued the revision of one of his essays. "It is incredible," he said cheerfully, "that evil counsels should propel men to such extremities as to attack the capital. And yet we have historical warrant for the capture of Washington. This occurred during the administration of James Madison. It is certain that if we are compelled to leave Washington, we will return as Madison did after the city had been burned. It would be an interesting historical parallel. Patience, fortitude and hope should be our watchwords, and our motto 'Safety first.' Josephus Daniels is the man to attend to the retreat. He has a number of transports upon which the trip from Washington could be made with celerity and some approach to comfort."

And the subsequent proceedings interested him no more!

THE SHADOW OF FOREIGN INTERVENTION

LIGHTS burned late in the British Embassy and anxious faces watched the rapid progress of events in Secretary Bryan's rooms at the State Department. The forcible seizure from a British ship of the Confederate emissaries, Mason and Slidell, brought threat of war by England. The tension in Washington became acute in this dark hour of the nation's need. General Grant had come for an interview with the President. "War is a mere question of academics," said President Wilson to General Grant. "Notify Red field that a reassuring commercial statement should be prepared at his convenience. We will show that the seizure, so far from creating complications with England for us, will cement our harmonious relations with Great Britain. Mr. Bryan has no doubt of this and the last letter I received from Col. House was in the same tenor. He was in Switzerland when he wrote."

And the subsequent proceedings interested him no more!

PEACE WITH HONOR

STANTON, much excited, entered the White House and pushed roughly past the guards. "Riots against the draft have broken out in New York City, word has come of the massacre of Union prisoners in Wilmington, N. C.: a traitor in our ranks has hauled down the American flag, without reproof. Action is imperative," he told Mr. Wilson, who was unmoved. After a few minutes of pleasant cogitation, he handed Stanton the following for transmission to Wilmington: "The President directs that diligent inquiry be made as to the soldier's motive in hauling down the American flag and whether it was an unpatriotic, or merely a psychological, act. The displacement of one ensign for another (as would be the substitution of the stars and bars for the stars and stripes) is not inherently or, as I may say, conclusively, treasonable. Ancient nations, notably the Chaldeansand Dacians, substituted one flag for another while fighting. No drastic action should be taken until the man who hauled down the American flag has been offered the fullest and the freest opportunity to explain, in a dispassionate manner, his intentions and his reasons for so doing."

And the subsequent proceedings interested him no more!

CARNAGE AND CONFIDENCE

THE President was going over his essays on "The Old Masters." He was interrupted by word of Burnside's bloody defeat at Fredericksburg, the sorrowful details of which saddened many million Americans, but it was a mere incident to the clear, logical, analytical mind of the unruffled President. "Our failure is rather arithmetical than military," he commented. "Our losses compared with our resources are as say I to 23. '23,' I may say, is 'our number.'

Similar defeats at intervals of six months will only prove the impossibility of overthrowing us. And this proof of our invincibility should gladden, cheer and sustain—not discourage or affright us."

THE HUSH BEFORE THE STORM BROKE

THE apprehension of disaster was shown in many faces in Washington during the days preceding Gettysburg. Pennsylvania had been invaded and Jeb Stuart, with his cavalry, was near Washington. The War Department was a hive of activity and the note of preparation was sounded everywhere. These events found President Wilson unmoved. He found time to attend to much personal correspondence. He reread several books —the best sellers of that period. He revised some of his early essays. "I believe," he said, "that the verdict of history upon our prowess (or lack of, prowess) in arms is more important than any immediate, proximate, ephemeral advantage. We may lose; we may win. Probably we shall lose, as I have no great confidence in battles fought in Pennsylvania. But our temper in defeat will be everything. We must be erect, not abased; conciliatory, not cowardly; sober, not defiant; chastened, not crushed. There must be no arrogance in us."

THE LAST CHAPTER

THERE were large crowds in front of all the newspaper bulletin-boards in Washington. The hotel lobbies were choked and a swaying multitude blocked many streets. Word hail just been flashed that Lee's army had evacuated Richmond, and there were loud demands that the President should enter the former Confederate capital at the head of the victorious troops. The crowds gravitated in front of the White House. The President, cool, calm and deliberate,appeared on the porch. "I deprecate," he said, "any extreme measure. To enter Richmond at this time would be unwise. Let us be cautious. Let us negotiate."

"On to Richmond!" "On to Richmond!" shouted the crowd.

"Gentlemen," said the President deprecatingly. "I am going away for a brief rest of five or six weeks and meanwhile, gentlemen, I urge you to await the course of coming events with the utmost equanimity."

On to Richmond," yelled the mob.

"No," said Mr. Wilson, "not on to Richmond, but off to the White Mountains."