“We will Get you Safe Across”
Lincoln reply to critics of his administration: “Gentlemen, suppose all the property you were worth was in gold and you had put it in the hands of Blondin, to carry across the Niagara River on a rope. Would you shake the cable or keep shouting at him, ‘Blondin, stand up a little straighter — Blondin, stoop a little more — go a little faster — lean a little more to the north — lean a little more to the south?’ No, you would hold your breath as well as your tongue and keep your hands off till he was safe over. The government is carrying an enormous weight. Untold treasures are in their hands ; they are doing the very best they can. Don’t badger them. Keep silence, and we will get you safe across.”
By Francis B. Carpenter: Six Months at the White House, 1866, pp. 257-9. Emil Ludwig,”Abraham Lincoln: And the Times that Tried His Soul” , Ludwig-281-15
April 21, 2020 at 22:11
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