Chapter VI: Testimony of Hon. William H. Herndon--Unpublished Testimony

Extracts from Herndon's Letters--The Books Lincoln Read--His
Philosophy--His Infidelity--Refutation of Christian Claims--
Attempts to Invalidate Herndon's Testimony--Reed's
Calumnies--Vindication.

In the preceding chapter has been submitted the evidence of Mr. Herndon that has already been published. In this chapter will be presented some hitherto unpublished testimony.

The writer corresponded with Mr. Herndon for many years. Much of this correspondence related to Abraham Lincoln, and no inconsiderable portion of it to the subject under consideration. Permission was granted by Mr. Herndon to use such parts of this correspondence as may be deemed of value. The limits of this work preclude the presentation of much that is really interesting, but no apology is needed for devoting space to the following extracts from his letters, written at various intervals between 1880 and 1890:

"I was the personal friend of Mr. Lincoln from 1834 to the day of his death. In 1843 we entered into a partnership which was never formally dissolved. When he became unpopular in this Congressional district because of his speeches on the Mexican war, I was faithful to him. When he espoused the antislavery cause and in the eyes of most men had hopelessly ruined his political prospects, I stood by him, and through the press defended his course. In these dark hours, by our unity of sentiment and by political ostracism we were driven to a close and enduring friendship. You should take it for granted, then, that I knew Mr. Lincoln well. During all this time, from 1834 to 1862, when I last saw him, he never intimated to me, either directly or indirectly, that he had changed his religious opinions. Had he done so--had he let drop one word or look in that direction, I should have detected it.

"I had an excellent private library, probably the best in the city for admired books. To this library Mr. Lincoln had, as a matter of course, full and free access at all times. I purchased such books as Locke, Kant, Fichte, Lewes; Sir Wm. Hamilton's 'Discussions on Philosophy;' Spencer's 'First Principles,' 'Social Statics,' etc.; Buckle's 'History of Civilization,' and Lecky's 'History of Rationalism.' I also possessed the works of Parker, Paine, Emerson, and Strauss; Gregg's 'Creed of Christendom,' McNaught on Inspiration, Volney's 'Ruins,' Feuerbach's 'Essence of Christianity,' and other works on Infidelity. Mr. Lincoln read some of these works. About the year 1843 he borrowed 'The Vestiges of Creation' of Mr. James W. Keys, of this city, and read it carefully. He subsequently read the sixth edition of this work, which I loaned him. Mr. Lincoln had always denied special creation, but from his want of education he did not know just what to believe. He adopted the progressive and development theory as taught more or less directly in that work. He despised speculation, especially in the metaphysical world. He was purely a practical man. He adopted Locke's notions as his system of mental philosophy, with some modifications to suit his own views. He held that reason drew her inferences as to law, etc., from observation, experience, and reflection on the facts and phenomena of nature. He was a pure sensationalist, except as above. He was a materialist in his philosophy. He denied dualism, and at times immortality in any sense.

"Before I wrote my Abbott letter I diligently searched through Lincoln's letters, speeches, state papers, etc., to find the word _immortality_, and I could not find it anywhere except in his letter to his father. The word _immortality_ appears but once in his writings."

"If he had been asked the plain question, 'Do you _know_ that a God exists?' he would have said: 'I do _not know_ that a God exists.'"

"At one moment of his life I know that he was an Atheist. I was preparing a speech on Kansas, and in it, like nearly all reformers, I invoked _God_. He made me wipe out that word and substitute the word _Maker_, affirming that said Maker was a principle of the universe. When he went to Washington he did the same to a friend there."

"Mr. Lincoln told me, over and over, that man has no freedom of will, or, as he termed it, 'No man has a freedom of mind.' He was in one sense a fatalist, and so died. He believed that he was under the thumb of Providence (which to him was but another name for fate). The longer he lived the more firmly he believed it, and hence his invocations of God. But these invocations are no evidence to a rational mind that he adopted the blasphemy that God seduced his own daughter, begat a son on purpose to have mankind kill him, in order that he, God, might become reconciled to his own mistakes, according to the Christian view."

"Lincoln would wait patiently on the flow and logic of events. He believed that conditions make the man and not man the conditions. Under his own hand he says: 'I attempt no compliment to my own sagacity. I claim not to have controled events, but confess plainly that events have controled me.' He believed in the supreme reign of law. This law _fated_ things, as he would express it. Now, how could a man be a Christian--could believe that Jesus Christ was God--could believe in the efficacy of prayer--and entertain such a belief?"

"He did not believe in the efficacy of prayer, although he used that conventional language. He said in Washington, 'God has his own purposes.' If God has his own purposes, then prayer will not change God's purposes."

"I have often said to you, and now repeat it, that Lincoln was a scientific Materialist, i.e., that this was his tendency as opposed to the Spiritualistic idea. Lincoln always contended that general and universal laws ruled the universe--always did--do now--and ever will. He was an Agnostic generally, sometimes an Atheist."

"That Mr. Lincoln was an Infidel from 1834 to 1861, I know, and that he remained one to the day of his death, I honestly believe. I always understood that he was an Infidel, sometimes bordering on Atheism. I never saw any change in the man, and the change could not have escaped my observation had it happened."

"Lincoln's task was a terrible one. When he took the oath of office his soul was bent on securing harmony among all the people of the North, and so he chose for his Cabinet officers his opponents for the Presidential candidacy in order and as a means of creating a united North. He let all parties, professions, and callings have their way where their wishes did not cut across his own. He was apparently pliant and supple. He ruled men when men thought they were ruling him. He often said to me that the Christian religion was a dangerous element to deal with when aroused. He saw in the Kansas affairs--in the whole history of slavery, in fact--its rigor and encroachments, that Christianity was aroused. It must be controled, and that in the right direction. Hence he bent to it, fed it, and kept it within bounds, well knowing that it would crush his administration to atoms unless appeased. His oft and oft invocations of God, his conversations with Christians, his apparent respect for Christianity, etc., were all means to an end. And yet sometimes he showed that he hated its nasal whines."

"A gentleman of veracity in Washington told me this story and vouched for its truthfulness: 'A tall saddle-faced man,' said he, 'came to Washington to pray with Lincoln, having declared this to be his intention at the hotel About 10 o'clock A.M. the bloodless man, dressed in black with white cravat, went to the White House, sent in his card, and was admitted. Lincoln glanced at the man and knew his motives in an instant. He said to him angrily: "What, have you, too, come to torment me with your prayers?" The man was squelched--said, "No, Mr. Lincoln"--lied out and out. Lincoln spoiled those prayers.'"

"Mr. Lincoln was thought to be understood by the mob. But what a delusion! He was one of the most reticent men that ever lived. All of us--Stuart, Speed, Logan, Matheny, myself, and others, had to guess at much of the man. He was a mystery to the world--a sphinx to most men. One peculiarity of Mr. Lincoln was his irritability when anyone tried to peep into his own mind's laboratory. Considering all this, what can be thought of the stories about what he is said to have confided to strangers in regard to his religion?"

"Not one of Lincoln's old acquaintances in this city ever heard of his conversion to Christianity by Dr. Smith or anyone else. It was never suggested nor thought of here until after his death."

"I never saw him read a second of time in Dr. Smith's book on Infidelity. He threw it down upon our table--spit upon it as it were--and never opened it to my knowledge."

"My opinion is, from what I have heard and know, that these men--Gurley and Simpson--refused to be a party to a fraud on the public touching Lincoln's religion. I think that they understood each other the day that the remains of Lincoln were put to rest."

"Holland came into my office, in 1865, and asked me this question: 'What about Mr. Lincoln's Christianity?' To this, I replied: 'The less said about it the better.' Holland then said to me, 'Oh, never mind, I'll fix that,' and went over to Bateman and had it fixed."

"Lincoln never revealed to Judge Davis, Judge Matheny, Joshua F. Speed, Joseph Gillespie, nor myself that he was a Christian, or that he had a change of heart, or anything like it, at any time. Now, taking into consideration the fact that he was one of the most non-communicative of men--that Bateman was, as it were, a mere stranger to him--that Bateman was frightened, excited, conscience-smitten when I approached him on the subject, and that in after years he confessed to me that his notes in Holland's 'Life of Lincoln' _were colored_--taking all this into consideration, I say, can you believe Bateman's story to be true?"

"I see quoted frequently a supposed speech made by Mr. Lincoln to the colored people of Baltimore, on the presentation, of a Bible to him. This supposed speech contains the following: 'All the good from the Savior of the world is communicated to us through this book.' This idea is false and foolish. What becomes of nine-tenths of the life of Jesus of which we have no history--nine-tenths of the great facts of this grand man's life not recorded in this book? Mr. Lincoln was full and exact in his language. He never used the word Savior, unless in a conventional sense; in fact, he never used the word at all. Again, he is made to say: 'But for this book we could not know right from wrong.' The lowest organized life, I was about to say, knows right from wrong in its particular sphere. Every good dog that comes into possession of a bone, knows that that bone belongs to him, and he knows that it is wrong for another dog to rob him of it. He protests with bristling hair and glistening teeth against such dog robbery. It requires no revelation to teach him right from wrong in the dog world; yet it requires a special revelation from God to teach us right from wrong in the human world. According to this speech, the dog has the advantage. But Mr. Lincoln never uttered such nonsense."

"I do think that anyone who knew Mr. Lincoln--his history--his philosophy--his opinions--and still asserts that he was a Christian, is an unbounded falsifier. I hate to speak thus plainly, but I cannot respect an untruthful man."

"Let me ask the Christian claimant a few questions. Do you mean to say, when you assert that Mr. Lincoln was a Christian, that he believed that Jesus was the Christ of God, as the evangelical world contends? If so, where do you get your information? Do you mean to say that Mr. Lincoln was a converted man and that he so declared? If so, where, when, and before whom did he declare or reveal it? Do you mean to say that Mr. Lincoln joined a church? If so, what church did he join, and when did he join it? Do you mean to say that Mr. Lincoln was a secret Christian, acting under the cloak of the devil to advance Christianity? If so, what is your authority? If you will tell me when it was that the Creator caught with his almighty arms, Abraham, and held him fast while he poured the oil of grace on his rebellious soul, then I will know-when it was that he was converted from his Infidel views to Christianity."

"The best evidence this side of Lincoln's own written statement that he was an Infidel, if not an Atheist, as claimed by some, is the fact that he never mentions the name of Jesus. If he was a Christian it could be proved by his letters and speeches. That man is a poor defender of a principle, of a person, or of a thing, who never mentions that principle, person, or thing. I have never seen the name of Jesus mentioned by Mr. Lincoln."

"Mr. Lincoln never mentioned the name of Christ in his letters and speeches as a Christian. I have searched for such evidence, but could not find it. I have had others search, but they could not find it. This dead silence on the part of Mr. Lincoln is overwhelming proof that he was an unbeliever."

"While Lincoln frequently, in a conventional way, appeals to God, he never appeals to Christ nor mentions him. I know that he at first maintained that Jesus was a bastard, and later that he was the son of Joseph and not of God."

"Lincoln was not a Christian in any sense other than that he lived a good life and was a noble man. If a good life constitutes one a Christian, then Mill and a million other men who repudiated and denied Christianity were Christians, for they lived good and noble lives."

"If Mr. Lincoln changed his religious views he owed it to me to warn me, as he above all other men caused me to be an unbeliever. He said nothing to me, intimated nothing to me, either directly or indirectly. He owed this debt to many young men whom he had led astray, if astray the Christian calls it. I know of two young men of promise, now dead and gone--gone into endless misery, according to the evangelical creed--caused by Mr. Lincoln's teachings. I know some of the living here, men in prominent positions of life, who were made unbelievers by him."

"One by one, these apocryphal stories go by the board. Courageous and remorseless criticism will wipe out all these things. There will not be a vestige of them in fifty years to laugh at or to weep at."

Mr. Herndon's testimony, even in the absence of all other evidence, is conclusive. This was recognized by the Christian claimants after the appearance of his "Abbott Letter." They employed various measures to break the force of his testimony by trying to induce him either to retract or modify his statements. But they were not successful. He was not to be coaxed, he was not to be purchased, he was not to be intimidated. He had stated the truth and by the truth he proposed to stand. Foiled in these efforts, their last resort was to destroy his credibility as a witness by destroying his character. The most brazen falsehoods were invented and the most cruel calumnies circulated in order to crush him. Some of these stated that he was a drunkard, others that he was a pauper, and still others that he had become insane.

These defamatory statements were usually first noticed in some religious paper or periodical. From this they were naturally copied into the secular papers and sent broadcast over the land. Journalists who had once known Mr. Herndon, either personally or by reputation, were surprised and shocked at the announcements, and wrote articles like the following which appeared in a Kansas paper:

"Bill Herndon is a pauper in Springfield, Ill. He was once worth considerable property. His mind was the most argumentative of any of the old lawyers in the state, and his memory was extraordinary.

"For several years before Lincoln was nominated for the Presidency, Herndon was in some respects the most active member of the firm, preparing the greatest number of cases for trial and making elaborate arguments in their behalf. It is said that he worked hard with Lincoln in preparing the memorable speeches delivered by the man who afterward became President, during the debates between Lincoln and Douglas in 1858, and in constructing the Cooper Institute address delivered by Lincoln a short time before the war. Herndon, with all his attainments, was a man who now and then went on a spree. This habit became worse after Lincoln's death, and, like poor Dick Yates, he went down step by step till his old friends and associates point to him as a common drunkard."

I was in Springfield the very week that this article was published, and passed a day with Mr. Herndon at his home. I was prepared to testify, as all his neighbors were, that the charges it contained, together with others that were being circulated, were false. I knew that he still possessed a sound and vigorous intellect; I knew that he was in comfortable circumstances financially; I knew that he was an earnest advocate of temperance, and that he practiced what he preached; in short, I knew him to be a man of pure morals and exemplary character. At the very time that he was declared to be an inmate of the insane asylum, the Old Settlers' Society selected him to examine and report upon the correctness of the "History of Sangamon County," which, as it included a history of the capital of the state where, at one time or another, had resided a majority of Illinois's most gifted sons, was an important work, and one whose revision would not likely be intrusted to a lunatic. At the very time that he was said to be a pauper in the county poorhouse, he was entertaining such distinguished guests as William Lloyd Garrison. At the very time that he was reported to be a common drunkard, his neighbors had just appointed him guardian of the educational interests of their children.

All efforts to trace these slanders to their source and discover their author proved futile until 1880, when the writer of this saw in an Ohio paper an article on Lincoln, in which was quoted a portion of a letter which the contributor of the article stated had just been received from the Rev. J. A. Reed, of Springfield. It related wholly to Mr. Herndon, and did not contain one fair, truthful statement. In thirty brief lines were concentrated, in addition to several statements calculated and intended to deceive, no less than sixteen deliberate falsehoods, some of them of the most cruel and infamous character. It was evident that Reed had intended that the substance of his letter should be given to the public without disclosing its authorship. But, thanks to the innocent credulity and indiscreetness of the friend to whom it was sent, the defamer was discovered and exposed. And this sneaking, cowardly assassin was the "defender of Lincoln's Christian faith!" Could the inanimate remains of Abraham Lincoln have been revivified when this exposure was made, he would have arisen from his mausoleum at Oak Bidge, have come into the city, and have kicked this pretended "defender," this base calumniator of his beloved friend and associate, out of Springfield.

The cause of all the vituperation which for years had been heaped upon Mr. Herndon was now apparent. He had replied to Reed's lecture, and openly, honestly, and courteously, but effectively, refuted it; and because the latter could not come forward with a successful rejoinder, he was thus heartlessly and covertly plunging a dagger into the reputation of his chivalrous opponent.

The intercession of friends secured for the culprit immunity from arrest for libel, but in the newspapers of his city he received such a castigation as he will not soon forget. The _Daily Monitor_, in an editorial replying to the slanders that were being circulated concerning Mr. Herndon, said:

"Mr. Herndon is not a pauper, is not a drunkard; whisky did not ruin him, and, in a word, the whole thing is a lie. Mr. Herndon lives on his farm near this city. He is a great admirer of nature, loves flowers, and spends his whole time on the farm, except when doing his trading, or coming into the city to see his children and grandchildren. He don't drink, he don't chew tobacco, he don't gamble, he is honorable and truthful, and he is highly respected by his fellow-citizens. He is a great reader, a great thinker, loves his neighbors and his neighbors love him. He has a great, big, kind heart for his fellow-man in distress, and, while never worth 'considerable property,' he has always had enough for his generous purposes. Just why this thing should be allowed we are at a loss to know, and have waited to see if some of those who profess so much of the Christ-like in their composition would not have enough of the man-like to be men, and not allow a good and true man as Mr. Herndon is to be thus infamously maligned and belied by those whose works in the salvation of men would have more effect if more akin to Christ in practice."

After a life of honest toil, much of it in behalf of the poor and the weak, without reward and without the expectation of reward, to be in his old age thus shamefully robbed of his good name, was an outrage almost without a parallel, save in the treatment received by Thomas Paine. That Mr. Herndon was keenly sensitive to this great wrong is disclosed by the tone of his letters written at the time. In one he says: "I have done nothing in the spirit of self-laudation. I prefer moving down the grooves of time unnoticed and unknown, except to friends. I have no ambition for fame or money. My ambition is to try to do good. I spent ten or more years of my best life for the negro, liberty, and union, not forgetting Kansas and her brave people. But let it all go; I make no complaint. I try to live a moral and a manly life, love my fellow man, love freedom, love justice, and would die for the eternal right."

As an index of public sentiment in the community where the defamed and the defamer resided, I will state two facts. On a pleasant September evening, in 1882, I attended Dr. Reed's church in Springfield. In that commodious edifice, built to accommodate an audience of nearly one thousand, I found assembled to listen to this renowned "defender of Lincoln's Christian faith," an audience of forty-four persons. About the same time, in the published report of a public meeting held near Springfield, appeared the following: "Five thousand people hovered around the speaker's stand for the purpose of listening to the able, eloquent, and well-known Hon. W. H. Herndon."

It has been charged that Mr. Herndon's statements concerning Lincoln's unbelief were inspired by a spirit of revenge in consequence of Lincoln's not having recognized him with an appointment. This charge and this assumption are both false. There is now on file at Washington and at Springfield a telegram from Lincoln tendering him a judgeship, which he declined.

To know Lincoln was to love him. None knew him better than Mr. Herndon, and none entertained a deeper affection for his memory. In a letter to me, dated Nov. 4, 1881, he pays this tribute to his dead friend:

"Some people say that Mr. Lincoln was an ungrateful man. This is not true, and especially when applied to myself. He was always kind, tender, and grateful to me--clung to me with hooks of steel. I know that I was true to him. It is said that no man is great to his valet. If I was Mr. Lincoln's valet, the rule does not apply in this case, for my opinion of him is too well known. His was a grand, noble, true, and manly life. He dreamed dreams of glory, and glory was justly his. He was growing and expanding to the day of his death. He was slow in his development, but strong and big when he did come. The last letter which I ever received from him concluded thus: 'God bless you, says your friend.--_A. Lincoln_' He felt what he expressed, and in return I say, _God bless you, Lincoln._"