EXECUTIVE MANSION,
WASHINGTON, Nov. 24,
1862.
Gen. Carl Schurz
My dear Sir:
I have just received, and read, your letter of the 20th. The
purport of it is that we lost the late elections, and the administration is
failing, because the war is unsuccessful; and that I must not flatter myself
that I am not justly to blame for it. I certainly know that if the war fails,
the administration fails, and that I will be blamed for it, whether I
deserve it or not. And I ought to be blamed, if I could do better. You think I
could do better; therefore you blame me already. I think I could not do better;
therefore I blame you for blaming me. I understand you now to be willing
to accept the help of men, who are not republicans, provided they have “heart
in it.” Agreed. I want no others. But who is to be the judge of hearts, or of “heart
in it”? If I must discard my own judgment, and take yours, I must also take
that of others; and by the time I should reject all I should be advised to
reject, I should have none left, republicans, or others — not even yourself.
For, be assured, my dear Sir, there are men who have “heart in it” that think
you are performing your part as poorly as you think I am performing mine. I
certainly have been dissatisfied with the slowness of Buell and McClellan; but
before I relieved them I had great fears I should not find successors to them,
who would do better; and I am sorry to add, that I have seen little since to
relieve those fears. I do not clearly see the prospect of any more rapid
movements. I fear we shall at last find out that the difficulty is in our case,
rather than in particular generals. I wish to disparage no one — certainly not
those who sympathize with me; but I must say I need success more than I need
sympathy, and that I have not seen the so much greater evidence of getting
success from my sympathizers, than from those who are denounced as the
contrary. It does seem to me that in the field the two classes have been very
much alike, in what they have done, and what they have failed to do. In sealing
their faith with their blood, Baker, an Lyon, and Bohlen, and Richardson,
republicans, did all that men could do; but did they any more than Kearney, and
Stevens, and Reno, and Mansfield, none of whom were republicans, and some, at
least of whom, have been bitterly, and repeatedly, denounced to me as secession
sympathizers? I will not perform the ungrateful task of comparing cases of
failure.
In answer to your question “Has it not been publicly stated
in the newspapers, and apparently proved as a fact, that from the commencement
of the war, the enemy was continually supplied with information by some of the
confidential subordinates of as important an officer as Adjutant General
Thomas?” I must say “no” so far as my knowledge extends. And I add that if you
can give any tangible evidence upon that subject, I will thank you to come to
the City and do so.
Very truly your
friend
A. LINCOLN
SOURCE: Frederic Bancroft, editor, Speeches, correspondence and political papers of Carl Schurz,
Volume 1, p. 219-21; Roy P. Basler, Editor, The Collected Works of Abraham
Lincoln, Vol. 5, p. 509-10;
a copy of this letter can be found in the Abraham Lincoln Papers
at the Library of Congress;
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