The Southerner: A Romance of the Real Lincoln Part 94

In spite of his bitterness, the simplicity and honesty of the President found John Vaughan's heart. No vain or cruel or selfish man could talk or feel like that. In the glow of his eager thought the ashen look of his face disappeared and it became radiant with warmth and tenderness.

In dreamy, pa.s.sionate tones he went on as if talking to convince himself he must not despair. The younger man for the moment was swept resistlessly on by the spell of his eloquence.

"They are always asking of me impossible things. Now that I shall remove Grant from command. I know that his battles have been b.l.o.o.d.y. Yet how else can we win? The gallant, desperate South has only a handful of men, ragged and half starved, yet they are standing against a million and I have exhaustless millions behind these. With Lee they seem invincible and every move of his ragged men sends a shiver of horror and of admiration through the North. Yet, if Grant fights on he must win. He will wear Lee out--and that is the only way he can beat him.

"Besides, his plan is bigger than the single campaign against Richmond.

There's a grim figure at the head of a hundred thousand men fighting his way inch by inch toward Atlanta. If Sherman should win and take Atlanta, Lee's army will starve and the end is sure. I can't listen to this clamor. I will not remove Grant--though I've reasons for believing at this moment that he may vote for McClellan for President.

"Don't think, my son, that all this blood and suffering is not mine. It is. Every sh.e.l.l that screams from those big guns crashes through my heart. The groans of the wounded, the sighs of the dying, the tears of widows and orphans, of sisters and mothers--all--blue and grey--they are mine. I see and hear it all, feel all, suffer all.

"No man who lives to-day is responsible for this war. I could not have prevented it, nor could Jefferson Davis. We are in the grip of mighty forces sweeping on from the centuries. We are fighting the battle of the ages.

"But our country's worth it if we can only save it. Out of this agony and tears will be born a united people. We have always been cursed with the impossible contradiction of negro slavery.

"There has never been a real Democracy in the world because there has never been one without the shadow of slavery. We must build here a real government of the people, by the people, for the people. It's not a question merely of the fate of four millions of black slaves. It's a question of the destiny of millions of freemen. I hear the tread of coming generations of their children on this continent. Their destiny is in your hand and mine--a free Nation without a slave--the hope, refuge and inspiration of the world.

"This Union that we must save will be a beacon light on the sh.o.r.es of time for mankind. It will be worth all the blood and all the tears we shall give for it. The grandeur of our sacrifice will be the birthright of our children's children. It will be the end of sectionalism. We can never again curse and revile one another, as we have in the past. We've written our character in blood for all time. We've met in battle. The Northern man knows the Southerner is not a braggart. The Southerner knows the Yankee is not a coward.

"There can be but one tragedy, my boy, that can have no ray of light--and that is that all this blood should have flowed in vain, all these brave men died for nought, that the old curse shall remain, the Union be dismembered into broken sections and on future b.l.o.o.d.y fields their battles be fought over again----"

He paused and drew a deep breath:

"This is the fear that's strangling me! For as surely as George B.

McClellan is elected President, surrounded by the men who at present control his party, just so surely will the war end in compromise, failure and hopeless tragedy----"

"Why do you say that?" John asked sharply.

"Because standing here on this very spot, before the battle of Gettysburg I offered him the Presidency if he would preside at a great ma.s.s meeting of his party and guarantee to save the Union. I offered to efface myself and give up the dearest ambition of my soul to heal the wounds of my people--and he refused----"

"Refused?" John gasped.

"Yes."

The younger man gazed at the haggard face for a moment through dimmed eyes, sank slowly to a seat and covered his face in his hands in a cry of despair!

The reaction was complete and his collapse utter.

The President gazed at the bent figure with sorrowful amazement, and touched his head gently with the big friendly hand:

"Why, what's the matter, my boy? I'm the only man to despair. You're just a captain in the army. If to be the head of h.e.l.l is as hard as what I've had to undergo here I could find it in my heart to pity Satan himself. And if there's a man out of h.e.l.l who suffers more than I do, I pity him. But it's my burden and I try to bear it. I wish I had only yours!"

John Vaughan sprang to his feet and threw his hands above his head in a gesture of anguish:

"O my G.o.d, you don't understand!"

He quickly crossed the s.p.a.ce that separated them and faced the President with grim determination:

"But I'm going to tell you the truth now and you can do what you think's right. In the last fight before Petersburg I killed my brother in a night attack and held his dying body in my arms. I think I must have gone mad that night. Anyhow, when I lay in the hospital recovering from my wounds, I got the letter about my father and made up my mind to kill you----"

He paused, but the sombre eyes gave no sign--they seemed to be gazing on the sh.o.r.es of eternity.

"And I came here to-night for that purpose--my men are in that hall now!"

He stopped and folded his hands deliberately, waiting for his judge to speak.

A long silence fell between them. The tall, sorrowful man was looking at him with a curious expression of wonder and self pity.

"So you came here to-night to kill me?"

"Yes."

Again a long silence--the deep eyes looking, looking with their strange questioning gaze.

"Well," the younger man burst out at last, "what is my fate? I deserve it. Even generosity and gentleness have their limit. I've pa.s.sed it.

And I've no desire to escape."

The kindly hand was lifted to John Vaughan's shoulder:

"Why didn't you do it?"

"Because for the first time you made me see things as you see them--I got a glimpse of the inside----"

"Then I won you--didn't I?" the President cried with elation. "I've been talking to you just to keep my courage up--just to save my own soul from the h.e.l.l of despair. But you've lifted me up. If I can win you I can win the others if I could only get their ear. All I need is a little time.

And I'm going to fight for it. Every act of my life in this great office will stand the test of time because I've put my immortal soul into the struggle without one thought of saving myself.

"I've told you the truth, and the truth has turned a murderer into my friend. If only the people can know--can have time to think, I'll win.

You thought me an ambitious tyrant--now, didn't you?"

"Yes."

"Great G.o.d!--I had my ambitions, yes--as every American boy worth his salt has. And I dared to dream this vision of the White House--I, the humblest of the humble, born in a lowly pioneer's cabin in the woods of Kentucky. My dream came true, and where is its glory? Ashes and blood.

And I, to whom the sight of blood is an agony unendurable, have lived with aching heart through it all and envied the dead their rest on your battlefields----"

He stopped suddenly and fixed John with a keen look:

"You'll stand by me, now, boy, through thick and thin?"

"I'd count it an honor to die for you----"

"All right. I give you the chance. I'm going to send you on a dangerous mission. I need but two things to sweep the country in this election and preserve the Union--a single big victory in the field to lift the people out of the dumps and make them see things as they are, and a declaration from Mr. Davis that there can be no peace save in division. I know that he holds that position, but the people in the North doubt it. I've sent Jaquess and Gilmore there to obtain his declaration. Technically they are spies. They may be executed or imprisoned and held to the end of the war. They go as private citizens of the North who desire peace.

"I want another man in Richmond whose ident.i.ty will be unknown to report the results of that meeting in case they are imprisoned. You must go as a spy at the double risk of your life----"

"I'm ready, sir," was the quick response.

The big hand fumbled the black beard a moment:

"You doubtless said bitter things in Washington when you returned?"

"Many of them."