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IN A HOPELESS MINORITY.
The President was often in opposition to the general public sentiment of
the North upon certain questions of policy, but he bided his time, and
things usually came out as he wanted them. It was Lincoln's opinion,
from the first, that apology and reparation to England must be made
by the United States because of the arrest, upon the high seas, of the
Confederate Commissioners, Mason and Slidell. The country, however (the
Northern States), was wild for a conflict with England.
"One war at a time," quietly remarked the President at a Cabinet
meeting, where he found the majority of his advisers unfavorably
disposed to "backing down." But one member of the Cabinet was a really
strong supporter of the President in his attitude.
"I am reminded," the President said after the various arguments had been
put forward by the members of the Cabinet, "of a fellow out in my State
of Illinois who happened to stray into a church while a revival meeting
was in progress. To be truthful, this individual was not entirely sober,
and with that instinct which seems to impel all men in his condition to
assume a prominent part in proceedings, he walked up the aisle to the
very front pew.
"All noticed him, but he did not care; for awhile he joined audibly in
the singing, said 'Amen' at the close of the prayers, but, drowsiness
overcoming him, he went to sleep. Before the meeting closed, the
pastor asked the usual question--'Who are on the Lord's side?'--and the
congregation arose en masse. When he asked, 'Who are on the side of
the Devil?' the sleeper was about waking up. He heard a portion of the
interrogatory, and, seeing the minister on his feet, arose.
"'I don't exactly understand the question,' he said, 'but I'll stand by
you, parson, to the last. But it seems to me,' he added, 'that we're in
a hopeless minority.'
"I'm in a hopeless minority now," said the President, "and I'll have to
admit it."
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Stories and Anecdotes About the Life of Abraham Lincoln
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