Francis B. Carpenter, Six Months at the White House

“ [156] from the truth.” In reply, I made the commonplace remark, that the “papers” were not always “reliable.” “That is to say, Mrs. Welles,” broke in the President, “they ‘lie,’ and then they ‘re-lie!’ ”

At one of the “levees,” in the winter of 1864, during a lull in the hand-shaking, Mr. Lincoln was addressed by two lady friends, one of whom is the wife of a gentleman subsequently called into the Cabinet. Turning to them with a weary air, he remarked that it was a relief to have now and then those to talk to who had no favors to ask. The lady referred to is a radical,--a New Yorker by birth, but for many years a resident of the West. She replied, playfully, “Mr. President, I have one request to make.” “Ah!” said he, at once looking grave. “Well, what is it?” “That you suppress the infamous Chicago times,” was the rejoinder. After a brief pause, Mr. Lincoln asked her if she had ever tried to imagine how she would have felt, in some former administration to which she was opposed, if her favorite newspaper had been seized by the government, and suppressed. The lady replied that it was not a parallel case; that in circumstances like those then existing, when the nation was struggling for its very life, such utterances as were daily put forth in that journal should be suppressed by the strong hand of authority; that the cause of loyalty and good government demanded it. “I fear you do not fully comprehend,” returned