Lincoln on Democracy

"My 'PUBLIC-OPINION BATHS' "

284 LINCOLN ON DEMOCRACY army on that very day, [cheers] and not only so, but in a succession of battles in Pennsylvania, near to us, through three days, so rapidly fought that they might be called one great battle on the 1st, 2d, and 3d of the month of July; and on the 4th the cohorts of those who opposed the declaration that all men are created equal, "turned tail" and run. [Long and continued cheers.] Gentlemen, this is a glorious theme, and the occasion for a speech, but I am not prepared to make one worthy of the occasion. I would like to speak in terms of praise due to the many brave officers and soldiers who have fought in the cause of the Union and liberties of the country from the beginning of the war. These are trying occasions, not only in success, but for the want of success. I dislike to mention the name of one single officer lest I might do wrong to those I might forget. Recent events bring up glorious names, and particularly prominent ones, but these I will not mention. Having said this much, I will now take the music. "My 'PUBLIC-OPINION BATHS' " Remarks to a Visiting Journalist, the White House [JULY 25, 1863] When New York journalist Major Charles G. Halpine visited the White House, he was astounded tofind a "crowd ofmen and women, representing all ranks and classes, who were gathered in the large waiting-room" to see the President. Halpine, who had gained fame as humorist "Miles O'Reilly, " suggested that Lincoln ease this burden by routinely screening visitors in advance, the way busy generals in the field did. In this frank and revealing response-"made with half-shut eyes, as if in soliloquy," remembered Halpine-Lincoln explained why he cherished the ritual of his "public days. " To Halpine the response revealed "the essentially representative character of his mind and of his administration." Lincoln and Liberty, 1862-1863 285 ... I feel-though the tax on my time is heavy-that no hours of my day are better employed than those which thus bring me again within the direct contact and atmosphere of the average of our whole people. Men moving only in an official circle are apt to become merely official-not to say arbitrary-in their ideas, and are apter and apter, with each passing day, to forget that they only hold power in a representative capacity. Now this is all wrong. I go into these promiscuous receptions of all who claim to have business with me twice each week, and every applicant for audience has to take his turn, as if waiting to be shaved in a barber's shop. Many of the matters brought to my notice are utterly frivolous, but others are of more or less importance, and all serve to renew in me a clearer and more vivid image of that great popular assemblage out of which I sprung, and to which at the end of two years I must return. I tell you ... that I call these receptions my ''public-opinion baths;" for I have but little time to read the papers and gather public opinion that way; and though they may not be pleasant in all their particulars, the effect, as a whole, is renovating and invigorating to my perceptions of responsibility and duty." "THOSE WHO SHALL HAVE TASTED ACTUAL FREEDOM ... CAN NEVER BE SLAVES" From a Letter to Stephen A. Hurlbut [JULY 31, 1863] The Emancipation Proclamation drew much criticism, North as well as South, not to mention challenges to its legality. In this letter to a general who expressed a wish to resign, Lincoln reaffirmed the inviolability ofthe proclamation, and his belief that it was lawful. Although Lincoln had wanted General Hurlbut's resignation in 1861, he did not accept it now. ...