Page:Cambridge Modern History Volume 7.djvu/579

1865] The work of Lincoln. 547 pistol which had missed fire, and of a soldier-nurse whom he brushed aside, fell upon the Secretary, inflicting three terrible wounds in his cheek and neck with a huge knife. With desperate energy the Secretary rolled himself to the floor between the bed and the wall, and, baffled in his attempt, the would-be murderer again forced his way downstairs to the street. Notwithstanding the weakness and pain of his broken leg, the assassin Booth, favoured by accidents, managed to escape first into Maryland and then into Virginia, where, after almost intolerable ex- posure and suffering, he was, on April 5, traced to his hiding-place in a barn and shot, while it was being burned to drive him out. Payne was arrested on his return to the city, after having for two days hidden himself in the woods east of Washington. The other conspirators were soon ferreted out and taken into custody. After a long and searching trial by a military commission, during the months of May and June, four of the accessories were sentenced and hanged, three imprisoned for life at the Tortugas, another was sentenced to six years in jail, and the ninth, after two years of wandering about Europe, was finally freed by a disagreement of the jury. The assassination of Abraham Lincoln caused a profound sensation throughout the civilised world. The deliberate malice of the murderer as shown in his preparations, the savage boldness of his deed in the midst of a great assemblage, the contrast of the black crime with the surrounding scene of brightness and pleasure, shocked every human soul not distorted by fanatical hatred. The sincere condolences and tributes of respect to the memory of the dead President that were sent by rulers and cabinets, by cities and associations, by individuals eminent in state and church, in science and art, came from all nations, in almost every language. These messages of sympathy were inspired more by affection than horror, for in the loss of this lowliest-born of men, whose genius had lifted him to the highest powers and prerogatives, who had shared the labours of the humblest and worn the honours of the proudest, all mankind felt a common bereavement. He was beloved by his countrymen because he was the full embodi- ment of American life, American genius, American aspiration. No American statesman has equalled him in comprehending and inter- preting the thought and will of the common people. He had realised the republican ideal that every American boy is a possible American President; and he gave the national birthright a new lustre, when, from the steps of the White House, he said to a regiment of volunteers : "I am a living witness that any one of your children may look to come here as my father's child has." It was by no means an idle forecast. Without even waiting for a generation to grow up, five American volunteer soldiers, who were under fire in the Civil War, have since then worthily filled the Executive Chair of the Republic. CH. xvi. 352