Chapter 15

“Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting-place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honoured dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

In the unexpected prolongation of the war, volunteer enlistments became too slow to replenish the waste of armies, and in 1863 the government was forced to resort to a draft. The enforcement of the conscription created much opposition in various parts of the country, and led to a serious riot in the city of New York on the 13th-16th of July. President Lincoln executed the draft with all possible justice and forbearance, but refused every importunity to postpone it. It was made a special subject of criticism by the Democratic party of the North, which was now organizing itself on the basis of a discontinuance of the war, to endeavour to win the presidential election of the following year. Clement L. Vallandigham of Ohio, having made a violent public speech at Mt. Vernon, Ohio, on the 1st of May against the war and military proceedings, was arrested on the 5th of May by General Burnside, tried by military commission, and sentenced on the 16th to imprisonment; a writ ofhabeas corpushad been refused, and the sentence was changed by the president to transportation beyond the military lines. By way of political defiance the Democrats of Ohio nominated Vallandigham for governor on the 11th of June. Prominent Democrats and a committee of the Convention having appealed for his release, Lincoln wrote two long letters in reply discussing the constitutional question, and declaring that in his judgment the president as commander-in-chief in time of rebellion or invasion holds the power and responsibility of suspending the privilege of the writ ofhabeas corpus, but offering to release Vallandigham if the committee would sign a declaration that rebellion exists, that an army and navy are constitutional means to suppress it, and that each of them would use his personal power and influence to prosecute the war. This liberal offer and their refusal to accept it counteracted all the political capital they hoped to make out of the case; and public opinion was still more powerfully influenced in behalf of the president’s action, by the pathos of the query which he propounded in one of his letters: “Must I shoot the simple-minded soldier boy who deserts, while I must not touch a hair of a wily agitator who induces him to desert?” When the election took place in Ohio, Vallandigham was defeated by a majority of more than a hundred thousand.

Many unfounded rumours of a willingness on the part of the Confederate States to make peace were circulated to weaken the Union war spirit. To all such suggestions, up to the time of issuing his emancipation proclamation, Lincoln announced his readiness to stop fighting and grant amnesty, whenever they would submit to and maintain the national authority under the Constitution of the United States. Certain agents in Canada having in 1864 intimated that they were empowered to treat for peace, Lincoln, through Greeley, tendered them safe conduct to Washington. They were by this forced to confess that they possessed no authority to negotiate. The president thereupon sent them, and made public, the following standing offer:—

“To whom it may concern:“Any proposition which embraces the restoration of peace, the integrity of the whole Union, and the abandonment of slavery, and which comes by and with an authority that can control the armies now at war against the United States, will be received and considered by the Executive Government of the United States, and will be met by liberal terms on substantial and collateral points, and the bearer or bearers thereof shall have safe conduct both ways.“July 18, 1864.”“Abraham Lincoln.”

“To whom it may concern:

“Any proposition which embraces the restoration of peace, the integrity of the whole Union, and the abandonment of slavery, and which comes by and with an authority that can control the armies now at war against the United States, will be received and considered by the Executive Government of the United States, and will be met by liberal terms on substantial and collateral points, and the bearer or bearers thereof shall have safe conduct both ways.

“July 18, 1864.”

“Abraham Lincoln.”

A noteworthy conference on this question took place near the close of the Civil War, when the strength of the Confederacy was almost exhausted. F. P. Blair, senior, a personal friend of Jefferson Davis, acting solely on his own responsibility, was permitted to go from Washington to Richmond, where, on the 12th of January 1865, after a private and unofficial interview, Davis in writing declared his willingness to enter a conference “to secure peace to the two countries.” Report being duly made to President Lincoln, he wrote a note (dated 18th January) consenting to receive any agent sent informally “with the view of securing peace to the people of our common country.” Uponthe basis of this latter proposition three Confederate commissioners (A. H. Stevens, J. A. C. Campbell and R. M. T. Hunter) finally came to Hampton Roads, where President Lincoln and Secretary Seward met them on the U.S. steam transport “River Queen,” and on the 3rd of February 1865 an informal conference of four hours’ duration was held. Private reports of the interview agree substantially in the statement that the Confederates proposed a cessation of the Civil War, and postponement of its issues for future adjustment, while for the present the belligerents should unite in a campaign to expel the French from Mexico, and to enforce the Monroe doctrine. President Lincoln, however, although he offered to use his influence to secure compensation by the Federal government to slave-owners for their slaves, if there should be “voluntary abolition of slavery by the states,” a liberal and generous administration of the Confiscation Act, and the immediate representation of the southern states in Congress, refused to consider any alliance against the French in Mexico, and adhered to the instructions he had given Seward before deciding to personally accompany him. These formulated three indispensable conditions to adjustment: first, the restoration of the national authority throughout all the states; second, no receding by the executive of the United States on the slavery question; third, no cessation of hostilities short of an end of the war, and the disbanding of all forces hostile to the government. These terms the commissioners were not authorized to accept, and the interview ended without result.

As Lincoln’s first presidential term of four years neared its end, the Democratic party gathered itself for a supreme effort to regain the ascendancy lost in 1860. The slow progress of the war, the severe sacrifice of life in campaign and battle, the enormous accumulation of public debt, arbitrary arrests and suspension ofhabeas corpus, the rigour of the draft, and the proclamation of military emancipation furnished ample subjects of bitter and vindictive campaign oratory. A partisan coterie which surrounded M‘Clellan loudly charged the failure of his Richmond campaign to official interference in his plans. Vallandigham had returned to his home in defiance of his banishment beyond military lines, and was leniently suffered to remain. The aggressive spirit of the party, however, pushed it to a fatal extreme. The Democratic National Convention adopted (August 29, 1864) a resolution (drafted by Vallandigham) declaring the war a failure, and demanding a cessation of hostilities; it nominated M‘Clellan for president, and instead of adjourningsine dieas usual, remained organized, and subject to be convened at any time and place by the executive national committee. This threatening attitude, in conjunction with alarming indications of a conspiracy to resist the draft, had the effect to thoroughly consolidate the war party, which had on the 8th of June unanimously renominated Lincoln, and had nominated Andrew Johnson of Tennessee for the vice-presidency. At the election held on the 8th of November 1864, Lincoln received 2,216,076 of the popular votes, and M‘Clellan (who had openly disapproved of the resolution declaring the war a failure) but 1,808,725; while of the presidential electors 212 voted for Lincoln and 21 for M‘Clellan. Lincoln’s second term of office began on the 4th of March 1865.

While this political contest was going on the Civil War was being brought to a decisive close. Grant, at the head of the Army of the Potomac, followed Lee to Richmond and Petersburg, and held him in siege to within a few days of final surrender. General W. T. Sherman, commanding the bulk of the Union forces in the Mississippi Valley, swept in a victorious march through the heart of the Confederacy to Savannah on the coast, and thence northward to North Carolina. Lee evacuated Richmond on the 2nd of April, and was overtaken by Grant and compelled to surrender his entire army on the 9th of April 1865. Sherman pushed Johnston to a surrender on the 26th of April. This ended the war.

Lincoln being at the time on a visit to the army, entered Richmond the day after its surrender. Returning to Washington, he made his last public address on the evening of the 11th of April, devoted mainly to the question of reconstructing loyal governments in the conquered states. On the evening of the 14th of April he attended Ford’s theatre in Washington. While seated with his family and friends absorbed in the play, John Wilkes Booth, an actor, who with others had prepared a plot to assassinate the several heads of government, went into the little corridor leading to the upper stage-box, and secured it against ingress by a wooden bar. Then stealthily entering the box, he discharged a pistol at the head of the president from behind, the ball penetrating the brain. Brandishing a huge knife, with which he wounded Colonel Rathbone who attempted to hold him, the assassin rushed through the stage-box to the front and leaped down upon the stage, escaping behind the scenes and from the rear of the building, but was pursued, and twelve days afterwards shot in a barn where he had concealed himself. The wounded president was borne to a house across the street, where he breathed his last at 7A.M.on the 15th of April 1865.

President Lincoln was of unusual stature, 6 ft. 4 in., and of spare but muscular build; he had been in youth remarkably strong and skilful in the athletic games of the frontier, where, however, his popularity and recognized impartiality oftener made him an umpire than a champion. He had regular and prepossessing features, dark complexion, broad high forehead, prominent cheek bones, grey deep-set eyes, and bushy black hair, turning to grey at the time of his death. Abstemious in his habits, he possessed great physical endurance. He was almost as tender-hearted as a woman. “I have not willingly planted a thorn in any man’s bosom,” he was able to say. His patience was inexhaustible. He had naturally a most cheerful and sunny temper, was highly social and sympathetic, loved pleasant conversation, wit, anecdote and laughter. Beneath this, however, ran an undercurrent of sadness; he was occasionally subject to hours of deep silence and introspection that approached a condition of trance. In manner he was simple, direct, void of the least affectation, and entirely free from awkwardness, oddity or eccentricity. His mental qualities were—a quick analytic perception, strong logical powers, a tenacious memory, a liberal estimate and tolerance of the opinions of others, ready intuition of human nature; and perhaps his most valuable faculty was rare ability to divest himself of all feeling or passion in weighing motives of persons or problems of state. His speech and diction were plain, terse, forcible. Relating anecdotes with appreciative humour and fascinating dramatic skill, he used them freely and effectively in conversation and argument. He loved manliness, truth and justice. He despised all trickery and selfish greed. In arguments at the bar he was so fair to his opponent that he frequently appeared to concede away his client’s case. He was ever ready to take blame on himself and bestow praise on others. “I claim not to have controlled events,” he said, “but confess plainly that events have controlled me.” The Declaration of Independence was his political chart and inspiration. He acknowledged a universal equality of human rights. “Certainly the negro is not our equal in colour,” he said, “perhaps not in many other respects; still, in the right to put into his mouth the bread that his own hands have earned, he is the equal of every other man white or black.” He had unchanging faith in self-government. “The people,” he said, “are the rightful masters of both congresses and courts, not to overthrow the constitution, but to overthrow the men who pervert the constitution.” Yielding and accommodating in non-essentials, he was inflexibly firm in a principle or position deliberately taken. “Let us have faith that right makes might,” he said, “and in that faith let us to the end dare to do our duty as we understand it.” The emancipation proclamation once issued, he reiterated his purpose never to retract or modify it. “There have been men base enough,” he said, “to propose to me to return to slavery our black warriors of Port Hudson and Olustee, and thus win the respect of the masters they fought. Should I do so I should deserve to be damned in time and eternity. Come what will, I will keep my faith with friend and foe.” Benevolence and forgiveness were the very basis of his character; his world-wide humanity is aptly embodied in a phrase of his second inaugural: “With malice toward none, with charity for all.” His nature was deeply religious, but he belonged to no denomination.

Lincoln married in Springfield on the 4th of November 1842, Mary Todd (1818-1882), also a native of Kentucky, who bore him four sons, of whom the only one to grow up was the eldest, Robert Todd Lincoln (b. 1843), who graduated at Harvard in 1864, served as a captain on the staff of General Grant in 1865, was admitted to the Illinois bar in 1867, was secretary of war in the cabinets of Presidents Garfield and Arthur in 1881-1885, and United States Minister to Great Britain in 1889-1893, and was prominently connected with many large corporations, becoming in 1897 president of the Pullman Co.

Of the many statues of President Lincoln in American cities, the best known is that, in Chicago, by St Gaudens. Among theothers are two by Thomas Ball, one in statuary hall in the Capitol at Washington, and one in Boston; two—one in Rochester, N.Y., and one in Springfield, Ill.—by Leonard W. Volk, who made a life-mask and a bust of Lincoln in 1860; and one by J. Q. A. Ward, in Lincoln Park, Washington. Francis B. Carpenter painted in 1864 “Lincoln signing the Emancipation Proclamation,” now in the Capitol at Washington.

SeeThe Complete Works of Abraham Lincoln(12 vols., New York, 1906-1907; enlarged from the 2-volume edition of 1894 by John G. Nicolay and John Hay). There are various editions of the Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858; perhaps the best is that edited by E. E. Sparks (1908). There are numerous biographies, and biographical studies, including: John G. Nicolay and John Hay,Abraham Lincoln: A History(10 vols., New York, 1890), a monumental work by his private secretaries who treat primarily his official life; John G. Nicolay,A Short Life of Abraham Lincoln(New York, 1904), condensed from the preceding; John T. Morse, Jr.,Abraham Lincoln(2 vols., Boston, 1896), in the “American Statesmen” series, an excellent brief biography, dealing chiefly with Lincoln’s political career; Ida M. Tarbell,The Early Life of Lincoln(New York, 1896) andLife of Abraham Lincoln(2 vols., New York, 1900), containing new material to which too great prominence and credence is sometimes given; Carl Schurz,Abraham Lincoln: An Essay(Boston, 1891), a remarkably able estimate; Ward H. Lamon,The Life of Abraham Lincoln from his Birth to his Inauguration as President(Boston, 1872), supplemented byRecollections of Abraham Lincoln 1847-1865(Chicago, 1895), compiled by Dorothy Lamon, valuable for some personal recollections, but tactless, uncritical, and marred by the effort of the writer, who as marshal of the District of Columbia, knew Lincoln intimately, to prove that Lincoln’s melancholy was due to his lack of religious belief of the orthodox sort; William H. Herndon and Jesse W. Weik,Abraham Lincoln, the True Story of a Great Life(3 vols., Chicago, 1889; revised, 2 vols., New York, 1892), an intimate and ill-proportioned biography by Lincoln’s law partner who exaggerates the importance of the petty incidents of his youth and young manhood; Isaac N. Arnold,History of Abraham Lincoln and the Overthrow of Slavery(Chicago, 1867), revised and enlarged asLife of Abraham Lincoln(Chicago, 1885), valuable for personal reminiscences; Gideon Welles,Lincoln and Seward(New York, 1874), the reply of Lincoln’s secretary of the navy to Charles Francis Adams’s eulogy (delivered in Albany in April 1873) on Lincoln’s secretary of state, W. H. Seward, in which Adams claimed that Seward was the premier of Lincoln’s administration; F. B. Carpenter,Six Months in the White House(New York, 1866), an excellent account of Lincoln’s daily life while president; Robert T. Hill,Lincoln the Lawyer(New York, 1906); A. Rothschild,Lincoln, the Master of Men(Boston, 1906); J. Eaton and E. O. Mason,Grant, Lincoln, and the Freedmen(New York, 1907); R. W. Gilder,Lincoln, the Leader, and Lincoln’s Genius for Expression(New York, 1909); M. L. Learned,Abraham Lincoln: An American Migration(Philadelphia, 1909), a careful study of the Lincoln family in America; W. P. Pickett,The Negro Problem: Abraham Lincoln’s Solution(New York, 1909); James H. Lea and J. R. Hutchinson,The Ancestry of Abraham Lincoln(Boston, 1909), a careful genealogical monograph; and C. H. McCarthy,Lincoln’s Plan of Reconstruction(New York, 1901). For an excellent account of Lincoln as president see J. F. Rhodes,History of the United States from the Compromise of 1850(7 vols., 1893-1906).

(J. G. N.; C. C. W.)

1Lincoln’s birthday is a legal holiday in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, West Virginia and Wyoming.2Samuel Lincoln (c.1619-1690), the president’s first American ancestor, son of Edward Lincoln, gent., of Hingham, Norfolk, emigrated to Massachusetts in 1637 as apprentice to a weaver and settled with two older brothers in Hingham, Mass. His son and grandson were iron founders; the grandson Mordecai (1686-1736) moved to Chester county, Pennsylvania. Mordecai’s son John (1711-c.1773), a weaver, settled in what is now Rockingham county, Va., and was the president’s great-grandfather.3Douglas and Lincoln first met in public debate (four on a side) in Springfield in December 1839. They met repeatedly in the campaign of 1840. In 1852 Lincoln attempted with little success to reply to a speech made by Douglas in Richmond. On the 4th of October 1854 in Springfield, in reply to a speech on the Nebraska question by Douglas delivered the day before, Lincoln made a remarkable speech four hours long, to which Douglas replied on the next day; and in the fortnight immediately following Lincoln attacked Douglas’s record again at Bloomington and at Peoria. On the 26th of June 1857 Lincoln in a speech at Springfield answered Douglas’s speech of the 12th in which he made over his doctrine of popular sovereignty to suit the Dred Scott decision. Before the actual debate in 1858 Douglas made a speech in Chicago on the 9th of July, to which Lincoln replied the next day; Douglas spoke at Bloomington on the 16th of July and Lincoln answered him in Springfield on the 17th.4Without Lincoln’s knowledge or consent, the managers of his candidacy before the convention bargained for Cameron’s votes by promising to Cameron a place in Lincoln’s cabinet, should Lincoln be elected. Cameron became Lincoln’s first secretary of war.5In November 1861 the president drafted a bill providing (1) that all slaves more than thirty-five years old in the state of Delaware should immediately become free; (2) that all children of slave parentage born after the passage of the act should be free; (3) that all others should be free on attaining the age of thirty-five or after the 1st of January 1893, except for terms of apprenticeship; and (4) that the national government should pay to the state of Delaware $23,200 a year for twenty-one years. But this bill, which Lincoln had hoped would introduce a system of “compensated emancipation,” was not approved by the legislature of Delaware, which considered it in February 1862.6It is to be noted that slavery in the border slave states was not affected by the proclamation. The parts of Virginia and Louisiana not affected were those then considered to be under Federal jurisdiction; in Virginia 55 counties were excepted (including the 48 which became the separate state of West Virginia), and in Louisiana 13 parishes (including the parish of Orleans). As the Federal Government did not, at the time, actually have jurisdiction over the rest of the territory of the Confederate States, that really affected, some writers have questioned whether the proclamation really emancipated any slaves when it was issued. The proclamation had the most important political effect in the North of rallying more than ever to the support of the administration the large anti-slavery element. The adoption of the 13th amendment to the Federal Constitution in 1865 rendered unnecessary any decision of the U.S. Supreme Court upon the validity of the proclamation.

2Samuel Lincoln (c.1619-1690), the president’s first American ancestor, son of Edward Lincoln, gent., of Hingham, Norfolk, emigrated to Massachusetts in 1637 as apprentice to a weaver and settled with two older brothers in Hingham, Mass. His son and grandson were iron founders; the grandson Mordecai (1686-1736) moved to Chester county, Pennsylvania. Mordecai’s son John (1711-c.1773), a weaver, settled in what is now Rockingham county, Va., and was the president’s great-grandfather.

3Douglas and Lincoln first met in public debate (four on a side) in Springfield in December 1839. They met repeatedly in the campaign of 1840. In 1852 Lincoln attempted with little success to reply to a speech made by Douglas in Richmond. On the 4th of October 1854 in Springfield, in reply to a speech on the Nebraska question by Douglas delivered the day before, Lincoln made a remarkable speech four hours long, to which Douglas replied on the next day; and in the fortnight immediately following Lincoln attacked Douglas’s record again at Bloomington and at Peoria. On the 26th of June 1857 Lincoln in a speech at Springfield answered Douglas’s speech of the 12th in which he made over his doctrine of popular sovereignty to suit the Dred Scott decision. Before the actual debate in 1858 Douglas made a speech in Chicago on the 9th of July, to which Lincoln replied the next day; Douglas spoke at Bloomington on the 16th of July and Lincoln answered him in Springfield on the 17th.

4Without Lincoln’s knowledge or consent, the managers of his candidacy before the convention bargained for Cameron’s votes by promising to Cameron a place in Lincoln’s cabinet, should Lincoln be elected. Cameron became Lincoln’s first secretary of war.

5In November 1861 the president drafted a bill providing (1) that all slaves more than thirty-five years old in the state of Delaware should immediately become free; (2) that all children of slave parentage born after the passage of the act should be free; (3) that all others should be free on attaining the age of thirty-five or after the 1st of January 1893, except for terms of apprenticeship; and (4) that the national government should pay to the state of Delaware $23,200 a year for twenty-one years. But this bill, which Lincoln had hoped would introduce a system of “compensated emancipation,” was not approved by the legislature of Delaware, which considered it in February 1862.

6It is to be noted that slavery in the border slave states was not affected by the proclamation. The parts of Virginia and Louisiana not affected were those then considered to be under Federal jurisdiction; in Virginia 55 counties were excepted (including the 48 which became the separate state of West Virginia), and in Louisiana 13 parishes (including the parish of Orleans). As the Federal Government did not, at the time, actually have jurisdiction over the rest of the territory of the Confederate States, that really affected, some writers have questioned whether the proclamation really emancipated any slaves when it was issued. The proclamation had the most important political effect in the North of rallying more than ever to the support of the administration the large anti-slavery element. The adoption of the 13th amendment to the Federal Constitution in 1865 rendered unnecessary any decision of the U.S. Supreme Court upon the validity of the proclamation.

LINCOLN,a city and county of a city, municipal, county and parliamentary borough, and the county town of Lincolnshire, England. Pop. (1901) 48,784. It is picturesquely situated on the summit and south slope of the limestone ridge of the Cliff range of hills, which rises from the north bank of the river Witham, at its confluence with the Foss Dyke, to an altitude of 200 ft. above the river. The cathedral rises majestically from the crown of the hill, and is a landmark for many miles. Lincoln is 130 m. N. by W. from London by the Great Northern railway; it is also served by branches of the Great Eastern, Great Central and Midland railways.

Lincoln is one of the most interesting cities in England. The ancient British town occupied the crown of the hill beyond the Newport or North Gate. The Roman town consisted of two parallelograms of unequal length, the first extending west from the Newport gate to a point a little west of the castle keep. The second parallelogram, added as the town increased in size and importance, extended due south from this point down the hill towards the Witham as far as Newland, and thence in a direction due east as far as Broad Street. Returning thence due north, it joined the south-east corner of the first and oldest parallelogram in what was afterwards known as the Minster yard, and terminated its east side upon its junction with the north wall in a line with the Newport gate. This is the oldest part of the town, and is named “above hill.” After the departure of the Romans, the city walls were extended still farther in a south direction across the Witham as far as the great bar gate, the south entrance to the High Street of the city; the junction of these walls with the later Roman one was effected immediately behind Broad Street. The “above hill” portion of the city consists of narrow irregular streets, some of which are too steep to admit of being ascended by carriages. The south portion, which is named “below hill,” is much more commodious, and contains the principal business premises. Here also are the railway stations.

The glory of Lincoln is the noble cathedral of the Blessed Virgin Mary, commonly known as the Minster. As a study to the architect and antiquary this stands unrivalled, not only as embodying the earliest purely Gothic work extant, but as containing within its compass every variety of style from the simple massive Norman of the central west front, and the later and more ornate examples of that style in the west doorways and towers; onward through all the Gothic styles, of each of which both early and late examples appear. The building material is the oolite and calcareous stone of Lincoln Heath and Haydor, which has the peculiarity of becoming hardened on the surface when tooled. Formerly the cathedral had three spires, all of wood or leaded timber. The spire on the central tower, which would appear to have been the highest in the world, was blown down in 1547. Those on the two western towers were removed in 1808.

The ground plan of the first church, adopted from that of Rouen, was laid by Bishop Remigius in 1086, and the church was consecrated three days after his death, on the 6th of May 1092. The west front consists of an Early English screen (c.1225) thrown over the Norman front, the west towers rising behind it. The earliest Norman work is part of that of Remigius; the great portals and the west towers up to the third storey are Normanc.1148. The upper parts of them date from 1365. Perpendicular windows (c.1450) are inserted. The nave and aisles were completedc.1220. The transepts mainly built between 1186 and 1235 have two fine rose windows, that in the N. is Early English, and that in the S. Decorated. The first has beautiful contemporary stained glass. These are called respectively the Dean’s Eye and Bishop’s Eye. A Galilee of rich Early English work forms the entrance of the S. transept. Of the choir the western portion known as St Hugh’s (1186-1204) is the famous first example of pointed work; the eastern, called the Angel Choir, is a magnificently ornate work completed in 1280. Fine Perpendicular canopied stalls fill the western part. The great east window, 57 ft. in height, is an example of transition from Early English to Decoratedc.1288. Other noteworthy features of the interior are the Easter sepulchre (c.1300), the foliage ornamentation of which is beautifully natural; and the organ screen of a somewhat earlier date. The great central tower is Early English as far as the first storey, the continuation dates from 1307. The total height is 271 ft.; and the tower contains the bell, Great Tom of Lincoln, weighing over 5 tons. The dimensions of the cathedral internally are—nave, 252 × 79.6 × 80 ft.; choir, 158 × 82 × 72 ft.; angel choir, which includes presbytery and lady chapel, 166 × 44 × 72 ft.; main transept, 220 × 63 × 74 ft.; choir transept, 166 × 44 × 72 ft. The west towers are 206 ft. high.The buildings of the close that call for notice are the chapter-house of ten sides, 60 ft. diameter, 42 ft. high, with a fine vestibule of the same height, builtc.1225, and therefore the earliest of English polygonal chapter-houses, and the library, a building of 1675, which contains a small museum. The picturesque episcopal palace contains work of the date of St Hugh, and the great hall is mainly Early English. There is some Decorated work, and much Perpendicular, including the gateway. It fell into disuse after the Reformation, but by extensive restoration was brought back to its proper use at the end of the 19th century. Among the most famous bishops were St Hugh of Avalon (1186-1200); Robert Grosseteste (1235-1253); Richard Flemming (1420-1431), founder of Lincoln College, Oxford; William Smith (1495-1514), founder of Brasenose College, Oxford; William Wake (1705-1716); and Edmund Gibson (1716-1723). Every stall has produced a prelate or cardinal. The see covers almost the whole of the county, with very small portions of Norfolk and Yorkshire, and it included Nottinghamshire until the formation of the bishopric of Southwell in 1884. At its earliest formation, when Remigius, almoner of the abbey of Fécamp, removed the seat of the bishopric here from Dorchester in Oxfordshire shortly after the Conquest, it extended from the Humber to the Thames, eastward beyond Cambridge, and westward beyond Leicester. It was reduced, however, by the formation of the sees of Ely, Peterborough and Oxford, and by the rearrangement of diocesan boundaries in 1837.

The buildings of the close that call for notice are the chapter-house of ten sides, 60 ft. diameter, 42 ft. high, with a fine vestibule of the same height, builtc.1225, and therefore the earliest of English polygonal chapter-houses, and the library, a building of 1675, which contains a small museum. The picturesque episcopal palace contains work of the date of St Hugh, and the great hall is mainly Early English. There is some Decorated work, and much Perpendicular, including the gateway. It fell into disuse after the Reformation, but by extensive restoration was brought back to its proper use at the end of the 19th century. Among the most famous bishops were St Hugh of Avalon (1186-1200); Robert Grosseteste (1235-1253); Richard Flemming (1420-1431), founder of Lincoln College, Oxford; William Smith (1495-1514), founder of Brasenose College, Oxford; William Wake (1705-1716); and Edmund Gibson (1716-1723). Every stall has produced a prelate or cardinal. The see covers almost the whole of the county, with very small portions of Norfolk and Yorkshire, and it included Nottinghamshire until the formation of the bishopric of Southwell in 1884. At its earliest formation, when Remigius, almoner of the abbey of Fécamp, removed the seat of the bishopric here from Dorchester in Oxfordshire shortly after the Conquest, it extended from the Humber to the Thames, eastward beyond Cambridge, and westward beyond Leicester. It was reduced, however, by the formation of the sees of Ely, Peterborough and Oxford, and by the rearrangement of diocesan boundaries in 1837.

The remains of Roman Lincoln are of the highest interest. The Newport Arch or northern gate ofLindumis one of the most perfect specimens of Roman architecture in England. It consists of a great arch flanked by two smaller arches, of which one remains. The Roman Ermine Street runs through it, leading northward almost in a straight line to the Humber. Fragments of the town wall remain at various points; a large quantity of coins and other relics have been discovered; and remains of a burial-place and buildings unearthed. Of these last the most important is the series of column-bases, probably belonging to a Basilica, beneath a house in the street called Bail Gate, adjacent to the Newport Arch. A villa in Greetwell; a tesselated pavement, a milestone and other relics in the cloister; an altar unearthed at the church of St Swithin, are among many other discoveries. Among churches, apart from the minster, two of outstanding interest are those of St Mary-le-Wigford and St Peter-at-Gowts (i.e.sluice-gates), both in the lower part of High Street. Their towers, closely similar, are fine examples of perhaps very early Norman work, though they actually possess the characteristics of pre-Conquest workmanship. Bracebridge church shows similar early work; but as a whole the churches of Lincoln show plainly the results of the siege of 1644, and such buildings as St Botolph’s, St Peter’s-at-Arches and St Martin’s are of the period 1720-1740. Several churches are modern buildings on ancient sites. There were formerly three small priories, five friaries and four hospitals in or near Lincoln. The preponderance of friaries over priories of monks is explained by the fact that the cathedral was served by secular canons. Bishop Grosseteste was the devoted patron of the friars, particularly the Franciscans, who were always in their day the town missionaries. The Greyfriars, near St Swithin’s church, is a picturesque two-storied building of the 13th century. Lincoln is rich in early domestic architecture. The building known as John of Gaunt’s stables, actually St Mary’s Guild Hall, is of two storeys, with rich Norman doorway and moulding. The Jews’ House is another fine example of 12th-century building; and Norman remains appear in several other houses, such as Deloraine Court and the House of Aaron the Jew. Lincoln Castle, lying W. of the cathedral, was newly founded by William the Conqueror when Remigius decided to found his minster under its protection. The site, with its artificial mounds, is of much earlier, probably British, date. There are Norman remains in the Gateway Tower; parts of the walls are of this period, and the keep dates from the middle of the 12th century. Among medieval gateways, the Exchequer Gate, serving as the finance-office of the chapter, is a fine specimen of 13th-century work. Pottergate is of the 14th century, and Stonebow in High Street of the 15th, with the Guildhall above it. St Dunstan’s Lock is the name, corrupted from Dunestall, now applied to the entrance to the street where a Jewish quarter was situated; here lived the Christian boy afterwards known as “little St Hugh,” who was asserted to have been crucified by the Jews in 1255. His shrine remains in the S. choir aisle of the minster. Other antiquities are the Perpendicular conduit of St Mary in High Street and the High Bridge, carrying High Street over the Witham, which is almost unique in England as retaining some of the old houses upon it.

Among modern public buildings are the county hall, old and new corn exchanges and public library. Educational establishments include a grammar school, a girls’ high school, a science and art school and a theological college. The arboretum in Monks Road is the principal pleasure-ground; and there is a race-course. The principal industry is the manufacture of agricultural machinery and implements; there are also iron foundries and maltings, and a large trade in corn and agricultural produce. The parliamentary borough, returning one member, falls between the Gainsborough division of the county on the N., and that of Sleaford on the S. Area, 3755 acres.

History.—The British Lindun, which, according to the geography of Claudius Ptolemaeus, was the chief town of the Coritani, was probably the nucleus of the Roman town of Lindum. This was at first a Roman legionary fortress, and on the removal of the troops northward was converted into a municipality with the title ofcolonia. Such important structural remains as have been described attest the rank and importance of the place, which, however, did not attain a very great size. Its bishop attended the council of Arles in 314, and Lincoln (Lindocolina,Lincolle,Nicole) is mentioned in the Itinerary of Antoninus written about 320. Although said to have been captured by Hengest in 475 and recovered by Ambrosius in the following year, the next authentic mention of the city is Bede’s record that Paulinus preached in Lindsey in 628 and built a stone church at Lincoln in which he consecrated Honorius archbishop of Canterbury. During their inroads into Mercia, the Danes in 877 established themselves at Lincoln, which was one of the five boroughs recovered by King Edmund in 941. A mint established here in the reign of Alfred was maintained until the reign of Edward I. (Mint Street turning from High Street near the Stonebow recalls its existence.) At the time of the Domesday Survey Lincoln was governed by twelve Lawmen, relics of Danish rule, each with hereditable franchises of sac and soc. Whereas it had rendered £20 annually to King Edward, and £10 to the earl, it then rendered £100. There had been 1150 houses, but 240 had been destroyed since the time of King Edward. Of these 166 had suffered by the raising of the castle by William I. in 1068 partly on the site of the Roman camp. The strength of the position of the castle brought much fighting on Lincoln. In 1141 King Stephen regained both castle and city from the empress Maud, but was attacked and captured in the same year at the “Joust of Lincoln.” In 1144 he besieged the castle, held by the earl of Chester, and recovered it as a pledge in 1146. In 1101 it was held by Gerard de Camville for Prince John and was besieged by William Longchamp, Richard’s chancellor, in vain; in 1210 it stood a siege by the partisans of the French prince Louis, who were defeated at the battle called Lincoln Fair on the 19th of May 1217. Granted by Henry III. to William Longepée, earl of Salisbury, in 1224, the castle descended by the marriage of his descendant Alice to Thomas Plantagenet, and became part of the duchy of Lancaster.

In 1157 Henry II. gave the citizens their first charter, granting them the city at a fee-farm rent and all the liberties which they had had under William II., with their gild merchant for themselves and the men of the county as they had then. In 1200 the citizens obtained release from all but pleas of the Crown without the walls, and pleas of external tenure, and were given the pleas of the Crown within the city according to the customs of the city of London, on which those of Lincoln were modelled. The charter also gave them quittance of toll and lastage throughout the kingdom, and of certain other dues. In 1210 the citizens owed the exchequer £100 for the privilege of having a mayor, but the office was abolished by Henry III. and by Edward I. in 1290, though restored by the charter of 1300. In 1275 the citizens claimed the return of writs, assize of bread and ale and other royal rights, and in 1301 Edward I., when confirming the previous charters, gave them quittance of murage, pannage, pontage and other dues. The mayor and citizens were given criminal jurisdiction in 1327, when the burghmanmot held weekly in the gildhall since 1272 by the mayor and bailiffs was ordered to hear all local pleas which led to friction with the judges of assize. The city became a separate county by charter of 1409, when it was decreed that the bailiffs should henceforth be sheriffs and the mayor the king’s escheator, and the mayor and sheriffs with four others justices of the peace with defined jurisdiction. As the result of numerous complaints of inability to pay the fee-farm rent of £180 Edward IV. enlarged the bounds of the city in 1466, while Henry VIII. in 1546 gave the citizens four advowsons, and possibly also in consequence of declining trade the city markets were made free of tolls in 1554. Incorporated by Charles I. in 1628 under a common council with 13 aldermen, 4 coroners and other officers, Lincoln surrendered its charters in 1684, but the first charter was restored after the Revolution, and was in force till 1834.

Parliaments were held at Lincoln in 1301, 1316 and 1327, and the city returned two burgesses from 1295 to 1885, when it lost one member. After the 13th century the chief interestsof Lincoln were ecclesiastical and commercial. As early as 1103 Odericus declared that a rich citizen of Lincoln kept the treasure of King Magnus of Norway, supplying him with all he required, and there is other evidence of intercourse with Scandinavia. There was an important Jewish colony, Aaron of Lincoln being one of the most influential financiers in the kingdom between 1166 and 1186. It was probably jealousy of their wealth that brought the charge of the crucifixion of “little St Hugh” in 1255 upon the Jewish community. Made a staple of wool, leather and skins in 1291, famous for its scarlet cloth in the 13th century, Lincoln had a few years of great prosperity, but with the transference of the staple to Boston early in the reign of Edward III., its trade began to decrease. The craft gilds remained important until after the Reformation, a pageant still being held in 1566. The fair now held during the last whole week of April would seem to be identical with that granted by Charles II. in 1684. Edward III. authorized a fair from St Botolph’s day to the feast of SS Peter and Paul in 1327, and William III. gave one for the first Wednesday in September in 1696, while the present November fair is, perhaps, a survival of that granted by Henry IV. in 1409 for fifteen days before the feast of the Deposition of St Hugh.

SeeHistorical Manuscripts Commission, Report, xiv., appendix pt. 8; John Ross,Civitas Lincolina, from its municipal and other Records(London, 1870); J. G. Williams, “Lincoln Civic Insignia,”Lincolnshire Notes and Queries, vols. vi.-viii. (Horncastle, 1901-1905);Victoria County History, Lincolnshire.

LINCOLN,a city and the county-seat of Logan county, Illinois, U.S.A., in the N. central part of the state, 156 m. S.W. of Chicago, and about 28 m. N.E. of Springfield. Pop. (1900) 8962, of whom 940 were foreign-born; (1910 census) 10,892. It is served by the Illinois Central and the Chicago & Alton railways and by the Illinois Traction Interurban Electric line. The city is the seat of the state asylum for feeble-minded children (established at Jacksonville in 1865 and removed to Lincoln in 1878), and of Lincoln College (Presbyterian) founded in 1865. There are also an orphans’ home, supported by the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and a Carnegie library. The old court-house in which Abraham Lincoln often practised is still standing. Lincoln is situated in a productive grain region, and has valuable coal mines. The value of the factory products increased from $375,167 in 1900 to $784,248 in 1905, or 109%. The first settlement on the site of Lincoln was made in 1835, and the city was first chartered in 1857.

LINCOLN,a city of S.E. Nebraska, U.S.A., county-seat of Lancaster county and capital of the state. Pop. (1900) 40,169 (5297 being foreign-born); (1910 census) 43,973. It is served by the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific, the Union Pacific, the Missouri Pacific and the Chicago & North-Western railways. Lincoln is one of the most attractive residential cities of the Middle West. Salt Creek, an affluent of the Platte river, skirts the city. On this side the city has repeatedly suffered from floods. The principal buildings include a state capitol (built 1883-1889); a city-hall, formerly the U.S. government building (1874-1879); a county court-house; a federal building (1904-1906); a Carnegie library (1902); a hospital for crippled children (1905) and a home for the friendless, both supported by the state; a state penitentiary and asylum for the insane, both in the suburbs; and the university of Nebraska. In the suburbs there are three denominational schools, the Nebraska Wesleyan University (Methodist Episcopal, 1888) at University Place; Union College (Seventh Day Adventists, 1891) at College View; and Cotner University (Disciples of Christ, 1889, incorporated as the Nebraska Christian University) at Bethany. Just outside the city limits are the state fair grounds, where a state fair is held annually. Lincoln is the see of a Roman Catholic bishopric. The surrounding country is a beautiful farming region, but its immediate W. environs are predominantly bare and desolate salt-basins. Lincoln’s “factory” product increased from $2,763,484 in 1900 to $5,222,620 in 1905, or 89%, the product for 1905 being 3.4% of the total for the state. The municipality owns and operates its electric-lighting plant and water-works.

The salt-springs attracted the first permanent settlers to the site of Lincoln in 1856, and settlers and freighters came long distances to reduce the brine or to scrape up the dry-weather surface deposits. In 1886-1887 the state sank a test-well 2463 ft. deep, which discredited any hope of a great underground flow or deposit. Scarcely any use is made of the salt waters locally. Lancaster county was organized extra-legally in 1859, and under legislative act in 1864; Lancaster village was platted and became the county-seat in 1864 (never being incorporated); and in 1867, when it contained five or six houses, its site was selected for the state capital after a hard-fought struggle between different sections of the state (seeNebraska).1The new city was incorporated as Lincoln (and formally declared the county-seat by the legislature) in 1869, and was chartered for the first time as a city of the second class in 1871; since then its charter has been repeatedly altered. After 1887 it was a city of the first class, and after 1889 the only member of the highest subdivision in that class. After a “reform” political campaign, the ousting in 1887 of a corrupt police judge by the mayor and city council, in defiance of an injunction of a federal court, led to a decision of the U.S. Supreme Court, favourable to the city authorities and important in questions of American municipal government.

1Lincoln was about equally distant from Pawnee City and the Kansas border, the leading Missouri river towns, and the important towns of Fremont and Columbus on the N. side of the Platte.

LINCOLN JUDGMENT, THE.In this celebrated English ecclesiastical suit, the bishop of Lincoln (Edward King,q.v.) was cited before his metropolitan, the archbishop of Canterbury (Dr Benson), to answer charges of various ritual offences committed at the administration of Holy Communion in the church of St Peter at Gowts, in the diocese of Lincoln, on the 4th of December 1887, and in Lincoln cathedral on the 10th of December 1887. The promoters were Ernest de Lacy Read, William Brown, Felix Thomas Wilson and John Marshall, all inhabitants of the diocese of Lincoln, and the last two parishioners of St Peter at Gowts. The case has a permanent importance in two respects. First, certain disputed questions of ritual were legally decided. Secondly, the jurisdiction of the archbishop of Canterbury alone to try one of his suffragan bishops for alleged ecclesiastical offences was considered and judicially declared to be well founded both by the judicial committee of privy council and by the archbishop of Canterbury with the concurrence of his assessors. The proceedings were begun on the 2nd of June 1888 by a petition presented by the promoters to the archbishop, praying that a citation to the bishop of Lincoln might issue calling on him to answer certain ritual charges. On the 26th of June 1888 the archbishop, by letter, declined to issue citation, on the ground that until instructed by a competent court as to his jurisdiction, he was not clear that he had it. The promoters appealed to the judicial committee of the privy council, to which an appeal lies under 25 Henry VIII. c. 19 for “lack of justice” in the archbishop’s court. The matter was heard on the 20th of July 1888, and on the 8th of August 1888 the committee decided (i.) that an appeal lay from the refusal of the archbishop to the judicial committee, and (ii.) that the archbishop had jurisdiction to issue a citation to the bishop of Lincoln and to hear the promoters’ complaint, but they abstained from expressing an opinion as to whether the archbishop had a discretion to refuse citation—whether, in fact, he had any power of “veto” over the prosecution. The case being thus remitted to the archbishop, he decided to entertain it, and on the 4th of January 1889 issued a citation to the bishop of Lincoln.

On the 12th of February 1889 the archbishop of Canterbury sat in Lambeth Palace Library, accompanied by the bishops of London (Dr Temple), Winchester (Dr Harold Browne), Oxford (Dr Stubbs) and Salisbury (Dr Wordsworth), and the vicar-general (Sir J. Parker Deane) as assessors. The bishop of Lincoln appeared in person and read a “Protest” to the archbishop’s jurisdiction to try him except in a court composed of the archbishop and all the bishops of the province as judges. The court adjourned in order that the question of jurisdiction might be argued. On the 11th of May the archbishop gave judgment tothe effect that whether sitting alone or with assessors he had jurisdiction to entertain the charge. On the 23rd and 24th of July 1889 a further preliminary objection raised by the bishop of Lincoln’s counsel was argued. The offences alleged against the bishop of Lincoln were largely breaches of various rubrics in the communion service of the Prayer Book which give directions to the “minister.” These rubrics are by the Acts of Uniformity (1 Elizabeth c. 2, and 13 & 14 Car. II. c. 4) made legally binding. But it was argued that a bishop is not a “minister” so as to be bound by the rubrics. The archbishop, however, held otherwise, and the assessors (except the bishop of Salisbury, who dissented) concurred in this decision. At this and subsequent hearings the bishop of Hereford (Dr Atlay) took the place of the bishop of Winchester as an assessor, and the bishop of Rochester (Dr Thorold), originally appointed an assessor, but absent from England at the outset, was present.

The case was heard on its merits in February 1890, before the archbishop and all the assessors, and the archbishop delivered his judgment on the 21st of November 1890. The alleged offences were eight in number. No facts wereCharges and decisions.in dispute, but only the legality of the various matters complained of. I. The bishop was charged with having mixed water with wine in the chalice during the communion service, and II. with having administered the chalice so mixed to the communicants. It was decided that the mixing of the water with the wine during service was illegal, because an additional ceremony not enjoined in the Prayer Book, but that the administration of the mixed chalice, the mixing having been effected before service, was in accordance with primitive practice and not forbidden in the Church of England. III. The bishop was charged with the ceremonial washing of the vessels used for the holy communion, and with drinking the water used for these ablutions. It was decided that the bishop had committed no offence, and that what he had done was a reasonable compliance with the requirement of the rubric that any of the consecrated elements left over at the end of the celebration should be then and there consumed. IV. The bishop was charged with taking the eastward position (i.e.standing at the west side of the holy table with his face to the east and his back to the congregation) during the ante-communion service (i.e.the part of the communion service prior to the consecration prayer). The rubric requires the celebrant to stand at the north side of the table. A vast amount of research convinced the archbishop that this is an intentionally ambiguous phrase which may with equal accuracy be applied to the north end of the table as now arranged in churches, and to the long side of the table, which, in Edward VI.’s reign, was often placed lengthwise down the church, so that the long sides would face north and south. It was therefore decided (one of the assessors dissenting) that both positions are legal, and that the bishop had not offended in adopting the eastward position. V. The bishop was charged with so standing during the consecration prayer that the “Manual Acts” of consecration were invisible to the people gathered round. It should be stated that the courts (seeRidsdalev.Clifton, L.R. 1 P.D. 316; 2 P.D. 276) had already decided that the eastward position during the consecration prayer was legal, but that it must not be so used by the celebrant as to conceal the “Manual Acts.” The archbishop held that the bishop of Lincoln had transgressed the law in this particular. VI. The bishop was charged with having, during the celebration of holy communion, allowed two candles to be alight on a shelf or retable behind the altar when they were not necessary for giving light. The archbishop decided that the mere presence of two altar candles burning during the service, but lit before it began, was lawful under the First Prayer Book of Edward VI., and has never been made unlawful, and, therefore, that the bishop was justified in what he had done. VII. The bishop was charged with having permitted the hymn known asAgnus Deito be sung immediately after the consecration of the elements at a celebration of the holy communion. The archbishop decided that the use of hymns in divine service was too firmly established to be legally questioned, and that there was nothing to differentiate the use of this particular hymn at this point of the service from the use of other hymns on other occasions in public worship. VIII. The bishop was charged with making the sign of the Cross in the air with his hand in the benediction and at other times during divine service. The archbishop held that these crossings were ceremonies not enjoined and, therefore, illegal. The judgment confined itself to the legal declarations here summarized, and pronounced no monition or other sentence on the bishop of Lincoln in respect of the matters in which he appeared to have committed breaches of the ecclesiastical law.

The promoters appealed to the judicial committee. The bishop did not appear on the appeal, which was therefore argued on the side of the promoters only. The appeal was heard in June and July 1891, before Lords Halsbury, Hobhouse, Esher, Herschell, Hannen and Shand and Sir Richard Couch, with the bishop of Chichester (Dr Durnford), the bishop of St Davids (Dr Basil Jones) and the bishop of Lichfield (Dr Maclagan) as episcopal assessors. The points appealed were those above numbered II., III., IV., VI., VII. Judgment was given on the 2nd of August 1892, and the appeal failed on all points. As to II., III., IV., and VII. the Committee agreed with the archbishop. As to VI. (altar lights) they held that, as it was not shown that the bishop was responsible for the presence of lighted candles, the charge could not be sustained against him, and so dismissed it without considering the general question of the lawfulness of altar lights. They also held that the archbishop was within his right in pronouncing no sentence against the bishop, who, it should be added, conformed his practice to the judgment from the date of its delivery.

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