Then,  referring  to  his  proposed  offer  of  compen-
sated emancipation  which  he  was  willing,  even
then,  to  tender  to  the  Southern  slave  owners,  he
added:  "The  way  is  plain,  peaceful,  generous,
just,  a  way  which,  if  followed,  the  world  will  for
ever  applaud  and  God  must  for  ever  bless."     Lin-


192  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN— MAN  OP  GOD

coin  longed  for  a  righteous  peace.  Knowing  the
havoc  and  horror,  the  barbarism  and  waste  of
war,  he  exhausted  every  agency  at  his  command
in  an  effort  to  obviate  such  an  unspeakable
calamity.  He  counted  the  money  that  compen-
sated emancipation  would  cost  as  nothing,  if  it
would  but  stop  the  effusion  of  blood  and  save  the
Union ;  but  it  seemed  that  God  hardened  the  hearts
of  the  slave  owners,  as  He  did  the  heart  of  Pharaoh,
who  refused  to  let  the  people  of  Israel  go.  The
bloody  work  had  to  go  on  until,  to  use  Lincoln's
words  in  another  utterance,  "every  drop  of  blood
shed  by  the  lash"  was  "paid  by  another  drawn  by
the  sword."

The  difficulties  which  beset  the  Lincoln  admin-
istration arising  from  the  jealousy  or  unfriendliness
of  the  foreign  powers  were,  perhaps,  the  most
perplexing  and  the  most  menacing.  They  added
to  Lincoln's  burden  of  anxiety  at  a  time  when,
through  reverses  to  the  Union  Army,  his  spirits
were  sorely  depressed.  During  the  latter  part  of
1862,  and  early  in  1863,  one  general  after  another,
whom  he  had  placed  in  command  of  the  Army
of  the  Potomac,  failed  to  win  conclusive  victories
against  the  enemy.  Frightful  losses  were  suffered
by  the  Union  troops,  which  sent  a  wave  of  dis-
couragement over  the  loyal  section  of  the  country,


THE  ENCIRCLING  GLOOM  193

while  there  were  unfriendly  verdicts  at  the  polls
which  sent  the  iron  into  Lincoln's  soul.
