“I am not at all concerned about that,” replied Mr. Lincoln, “for I know that the LORD is _always_ on the side of the _right_. But it is my constant anxiety and prayer that _I_ and _this nation_ should be on the LORD’s _side_.” In the midst of the despondency produced by the raid on Washington, in the summer of 1864, and the successful return of the Rebel force to Richmond, the President’s Proclamation of July 18th appeared, calling for five hundred thousand more men. In view of the impending presidential canvass, Mr. Lincoln’s strongest friends looked upon this step, at this time, as calculated to utterly defeat his chances of reëlection. Commissioner Dole ventured to say as much upon the President’s announcement to him of his contemplated purpose. “It matters not what becomes of me,” replied Mr. Lincoln; “we must have the men! If I go down, I intend to go like the _Cumberland_, with my colors flying!” Upon Mr. Lincoln’s return to Washington, after the capture of Richmond, a member of the Cabinet asked him if it would be proper to permit Jacob Thompson to slip through Maine in disguise, and embark from Portland. The President, as usual, was disposed to be merciful, and to permit the arch-rebel to pass unmolested, but the Secretary urged that he should be arrested as a traitor. “By permitting him to escape the penalties of treason,” persistently remarked the Secretary, “you sanction it.” “Well,” replied Mr. Lincoln, “let me tell you a story. There was an Irish soldier here last summer, who wanted something to drink stronger than water, and stopped at a drug-shop, where he espied a soda-fountain. ‘Mr. Doctor,’ said he, ‘give me, plase, a glass of soda-wather, an’ if yees can put in a few drops of whiskey unbeknown to any one, I’ll be obleeged.’ Now,” continued Mr. Lincoln, “if Jake Thompson is permitted to go through Maine unbeknown to any one, what’s the harm? So don’t have him arrested.” I asked the President, during the progress of the battles of the Wilderness, how General Grant personally impressed him as compared with other officers of the army, and especially those who had been in command. “The great thing about Grant,” said he, “I take it, is his perfect coolness and persistency of purpose. I judge he is not easily excited,--which is a great element in an officer,--and he has the _grit_ of a bull-dog! Once let him get his ‘teeth’ _in_, and nothing can shake him off.” One of the latest of Mr. Lincoln’s stories was told to a party of gentlemen, who, amid the tumbling ruins of the ‘Confederacy,’ anxiously asked “what he would do with ‘Jeff. Davis’?”