Lincoln's Life and Legacy - Jake Campbell Copyright 2009

©2009 Jake Campbell

‘Of such stuff as this are we English made’: Abraham Lincoln’s Life and Legacy in Britain

Master of Studies in History, Trinity Term 2009


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Abstract

This dissertation assesses British perceptions of one of America’s greatest statesmen,

Abraham Lincoln, and uses it to illustrate concurrent trends in Anglo-American relations.

Whilst president, he received much criticism in Britain, as relations between the countries

were damaged as a by-product of the American Civil War. Much of the disapproval

directed towards Lincoln revolved around slavery and race, with Britain taking the high

moral ground. Many Britons did not understand or appreciate the constitutional

constraints Lincoln faced as president. His assassination marked a significant turning

point, with a reassessment of Lincoln’s character. There was widespread sympathy for the

American people, though only for a brief moment. Relations between the two countries

continued to be strained, though improved, culminating in the ‘Great Rapprochement’ of

the early twentieth century.

Following this, the dissertation explores the legacy of Lincoln in Britain, assessing his

influence in politics and culture during the 1910s and 1920s. His rhetoric was adopted by

a number of politicians, from all parties, and applied to a wide range of situations, such as

the First World War and Irish Independence. It then explores numerous avenues where

Lincoln has made an impact, including statues erected in his honour and John Drinkwater’s

dramatization of the president’s tenure.

Prime Minister David Lloyd George claimed that Lincoln ‘lost his nationality in death’. In

life he was a target of British anti-Americanism and tarred with the brush of slavery, but in

death he became a figure that many Britons embraced in the following years. Yet Lloyd

George’s claim was at the high-water mark of Lincoln’s popularity in Britain, and after this

time his fame dwindled, becoming only one of many American icons celebrated abroad.


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Table of Contents

Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Chapter 1: Contemporaneous Perceptions of Lincoln in Britain……………………………….........

Chapter 2: Assassination – An Outpouring of Grief Around Britain………………………………….

Chapter 3: Lincoln in the Great Rapprochement……………………………………………………………..

Postscript: ‘Now He Belongs to the ages’.......................………………………………....................

Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………...

Bibliography…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………...

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5

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44

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47

1

Front Cover Source: Quote from Lord Bryce, Times, 29 July 1920, p. 14.


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Introduction

‘Abraham Lincoln said some very wise things’

Denzil Davies, Labour MP 2

‘one of the greatest Americans and one of the greatest Anglo-Saxons that ever lived’

Stanley Baldwin, Conservative MP and Prime Minister 3

While living as president, Abraham Lincoln was severely criticized by many in the British

public, especially in the press, often being the victim of a Punch cartoon or poem.

However, in death he became an immortal figure, whose renown not only occupied the

American imagination, but also the other side of the Atlantic. Since then, London,

Manchester, Edinburgh and even Norfolk (his ancestral home) have erected statues in his

honour. What caused this remarkable shift from dislike to such respect for Lincoln? When

did this shift occur? In some ways, this change in opinion illustrates the Anglo-American

relationship. During the Civil War, tensions were high between Britain and America, as can

be seen in the Trent Affair, and although there was an improvement in relations

afterwards, it was inconsistent. In the ‘Great Rapprochement’ of the early twentieth

century, Lincoln’s legacy was cemented in Britain.4 This dissertation will demonstrate that

Lincoln can be considered as a barometer of Anglo-American relations during the Civil War

and Great Rapprochement. It will also illustrate the general feeling towards him in Britain,

as expressed in the political sphere and in the media, both of which have the dual role of

reflecting and shaping public opinion.5

2 Hansard, 5

th Series, 1978, CML, 1739.

3 Hansard, 5

th Series, 1928, CCXXII, 755.

4 The phrase comes from Bradford Perkins’ The Great Rapprochement: England and the United States, 1895-

1914 (New York, 1968), though rapprochement was used by contemporaries to describe their ‘coming together’. His definition will be extended through to the early 1920s.

5 G. Lundberg, 'The Newspaper and Public Opinion', Social Forces, 4 (1926), 712-3. Lundberg argues that

newspapers seek to both ‘discover and reflect’ public opinion and that they are ‘products of the various forces which make opinion in a community.’


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The first chapter will assess Lincoln's portrayal in Britain during his lifetime. Largely a

political unknown outside of his own state for many years, it is understandable why British

interest developed in Lincoln only took place at the time of his election as president in

1860. As Blackett argues, the American Civil War became the single most important event

that affected the British economy and its political life during this period, hence a great

interest in Lincoln.6 Following his inauguration, there was naturally an increase in British

press coverage of American politics as secession turned into full-scale war. Lincoln, as

head of the government and of the nation, bore the majority of British criticism directed

towards the Union. He was often considered an incompetent leader and it was said that

the Emancipation Proclamation was only an expedient to win the war, having exhausted all

alternatives. However, this opinion of the president was not uniformly expressed, and he

was defended most notably by MP John Bright and increasingly by abolitionists after his

proclamation. As the tide turned in the war, and Lincoln’s sincerity in pursuing

emancipation was evident, the British press became somewhat more favourable to

Lincoln.

The second chapter will discuss the impact of Lincoln's assassination and the outpouring

of grief in Britain. There was a near universal expression of sympathy for the American

people. Even Punch, which had been vehemently critical of the president, produced a

cartoon of Britannia placing a wreath upon Lincoln’s covered body.7 Was it guilt that

marked such a change in opinion of the late president? This chapter will argue that the

astounding reversal in opinion did not come because Lincoln had abolished slavery, but

because his assassination forced a reassessment of his contribution to successfully

prosecuting the war. It will also highlight the growing awareness of Anglo-Saxonism and

the foundations of a new Anglo-American relationship.

The connection between Lincoln and the Anglo-American friendship would manifest itself

most overtly in the ‘Great Rapprochement’ of the 1910s and early 1920s. Chapter Three

6 R.J.M. Blackett, Divided Hearts: Britain and the American Civil War (Baton Rouge, 2001), p. 7.

7 Punch, 6 May 1865, p. 185.


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illustrates Lincoln's political and cultural legacy in Britain during this period. Throughout

the First World War, many politicians looked to Lincoln as a brilliant strategist who could

make tough decisions, such as the introduction of conscription and the temporary

suspension of some liberties in order to preserve them in the long run. He was a hero to

wartime Prime Minister David Lloyd George. It is interesting that Lincoln was praised in

Britain as a symbol of democracy in the early twentieth century (and later too), despite

many Britons having previously considered democracy as synonymous with 'mob rule'.

The chapter will also assess the cultural legacy of the president, including the moves to

erect various memorials in his honour. The British literary community played a significant

role in propagating Lincoln's memory, especially Lord Charnwood's biography of Lincoln

and John Drinkwater's internationally acclaimed play, Abraham Lincoln.

A postscript will briefly assess Lincoln in his decline as an icon in Britain. Other characters

from American history have taken precedence, such as Martin Luther King and John F.

Kennedy. However, the popularity of political ‘celebrities’ largely pales in comparison to

the interest in American popular culture. In a BBC website poll, 47% of the 37,000 voters

chose television character Homer Simpson as the ‘greatest American’, with Lincoln coming

in second with a mere 9.67%.8 This seems to demonstrate that popular culture and

entertainment is America’s most famous export. Perhaps it is right to say that when

Britons think of what best represents America, they talk less about ‘Honest Abe’ and more

about Homer, the average beer-loving family man from another ‘Springfield’.

8 'Your Greatest American', http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/wtwta/2997144.stm (accessed 6 May

2009). The BBC notes that the results ‘may not reflect public opinion’, but nonetheless they make interesting reading.


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-1-

Contemporaneous Perceptions of Lincoln in Britain

Being almost an unknown in his own country, it is hardly surprising that Lincoln was

unheard of in Britain at the time he was elected president.9 This was, however, to change

during the course of the Civil War. British coverage of Lincoln during his presidency reveals

two streams of thought. The first is evident – Britons learned about the president as an

individual, having read press coverage about him choosing generals, his conduct during

the Trent Affair, and issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation. The second strand is

more subtle – Lincoln served as a symbol of America. The British ‘hobby’ of Anti-

Americanism was projected onto the president, often regardless of his personal

convictions.10 The aim of this chapter is not to recount who supported the North or South,

since it has been thoroughly covered by other historians, such as Blackett, Ellison and

Campbell. Whilst favouring a particular side influenced people’s views of Lincoln, it will

also be argued that he can be decoupled from this factor, and was sometimes judged on

his personal merits. Mary Ellison has noted that editors ‘made frequent attempts to

fathom Lincoln’s complex personality and to interpret his sometimes ambiguous public

statements’.11 This ambiguity produced divided opinions about Lincoln, and the

fascination with trying to understand his mind appealed to contemporaries on both sides

of the Atlantic, and has occupied the work of many historians since.

Existing historiography covers British opinions of Americans and the Civil War, but little on

their judgements of Lincoln. Ellison’s Support for Secession argues that generally

Lancashire was pro-Southern and did not warm to Lincoln, but is willing to note the

exceptions, contrary to Blackett’s criticism of her argument.12 She does not assert that

everyone hated Lincoln, but demonstrates that even ardent Union supporters doubted his

9 J. J. Barnes and P. P. Barnes, eds., The American Civil War through British Eyes: Dispatches from British

Diplomats, (Kent, Ohio, 2003), ii, 3: Dispatch 283, Lyons to Russell, 12 November 1861. 10

J.M. McPherson, Drawn with the Sword: Reflections on the American Civil War (New York, 1997), p. 214. 11

M. Ellison, Support for Secession: Lancashire and the American Civil War (Chicago, 1972), p. 176. 12

Blackett, Divided Hearts, pp. 5, 174-5.


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capacity to govern or successfully prosecute a war. Ellison’s work is particularly useful in

highlighting the mixture of ambivalence, ignorance, and hatred towards Lincoln and, more

generally, America.13 Foner, on the other hand, writes little about Lincoln and Britain,

except the claim that the working-class almost wholly supported Lincoln and the Union.14

Blackett’s Divided Hearts, as the title suggests, presents a more complicated picture,

though states that generally the aristocracy supported the South and had little admiration

for Lincoln, and the working-class largely supported him, favouring the Union.15 Yet this

was not clear-cut, as Lincoln’s hesitancy on the slave question will demonstrate. Duncan

Campbell’s study asserts that Britons were largely uncertain about both sides during the

war, as will be illustrated in the case of Lincoln.16

Lincoln’s Image

In Britain little was known about Lincoln before his election, so after his victory various

miniature biographies appeared in the press, borrowing heavily from their American

counterparts.17 They labelled him as a political lightweight, with an unexceptional career

as a labourer, boatman and woodcutter.18 When Times war correspondent William

Howard Russell met the president shortly after his inauguration, he was struck by Lincoln’s

‘extraordinary dimensions’ and remarked that if someone ‘met Mr. Lincoln in the street

[he] would not take him to be what – according to the usages of European society – is

called a “gentleman”’.19 Nonetheless, Russell’s first report on the president was not

completely negative, and he noticed an ‘appearance of kindliness, sagacity, and the

awkward bonhomie of his face’. It is perhaps this ‘bonhomie’ (i.e. approachability) that

appealed to some Britons.

Lincoln’s image in British popular print has drawn some interest from some Lincoln

scholars, but it has largely been superficial, despite its importance to the British view of

13

Ellison, Support for Secession, pp. 173-188. 14

P.S. Foner, British Labor and the American Civil War (London, 1981). 15

Blackett, Divided Hearts, p. 124. 16

D.A. Campbell, English Public Opinion and the American Civil War (Woodbridge, England, 2003). 17

Times, 27 November 1860, p. 4. This particular sketch was from the New York Tribune. 18

Reynolds's Newspaper, 25 November 1860, p. 1. 19

Times, 20 December 1861, p. 5.


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the president.20 In fact, there were more than fifty cartoons featuring him in the satirical

periodicals, the well-known Punch and its new rival Fun. For its readers, the cartoons of

Lincoln were a valuable aid in understanding America and its new president, and today

provide historians with the richest and most interesting graphical (and poetical)

representations of Lincoln in Britain. Furthermore, the satirical image of Lincoln was his

predominant appearance in Britain, since few other pictures were reproduced.21 Kent

notes, for example, that cartoons have a ‘more emotive and participatory’ address, which,

at a ‘basic level is accessible to all’, whereas reams of text in newspapers may have far less

appeal to the common reader.22 Punch was a popular periodical, with a weekly circulation

of forty thousand, which had been built up over a twenty-year existence. Fun, on the

other hand, started in September 1861, but at one penny a copy, it sold twenty thousand

copies a week by the end of the Civil War.23 Lincoln's appearance was especially useful for

cartoonists because he perfectly embodied the perceived vulgarity and rough nature of

Americans (seen in illustrations before the Civil War) which were easily adapted to fit the

new president.24 This can be seen in Fun's cartoon, 'Columbia's Nightmare', where Lincoln

is portrayed as an intimidating and ugly creature, exaggerating his already prominent

features.25

20

C. Kent, 'War Cartooned/Cartoon War: Matt Morgan and the American Civil War in "Fun" and "Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper"' Victorian Periodicals Review, 36 (2003), 153-181., G.S. Boritt, 'Punch Lincoln: Some Thoughts on Cartoons in the British Magazine', Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association, 15 (1994), 1-22.

21 G.S. Boritt, M.E. Neely and H. Holzer, 'The European Image of Abraham Lincoln,' Winterthur Portfolio 21

(1986), 158-9. 22

Kent, 'War Cartooned', p. 154. 23

N. Hiley, 'Comic Periodicals', http://find.galegroup.com/ukpc/NCUK_researchguide.htm (accessed 27 March, 2009).

24 Compare, for example, Punch, 28 August 1852, p. 101.

25 Fun, 10 September 1864, p. 261.

http://find.galegroup.com/ukpc/NCUK_researchguide.htm


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It is useful to compare British perceptions of Lincoln with contemporary American

politicians, and previous presidents, to determine whether the criticism was aimed at

Lincoln personally, or whether it was more generic. Crawford highlights a persistent

negativity towards American presidents, stemming from a ‘long-held suspicion of

executive weakness in the United States’.26 This suspicion, however, found substance in

incidents such as Franklin Pierce’s 1856 Annual Message to Congress. Furthermore, the

‘capricious and illogical nature of its democratic system’ meant that incompetent vice

presidents, in the view of the Times, could become president if their predecessor died.27

This was evident in ascendency of Millard Fillmore, of whom the British had ‘entire

ignorance’, and Lincoln’s successor, Andrew Johnson.28 There was great ‘disenchantment’

towards James Buchanan, Lincoln’s predecessor, for not being able to prevent the

26

M. Crawford, The Anglo-American Crisis of the Mid-Nineteenth Century: The Times and America, 1850-1862 (London, 1987), p. 91.

27 Times, 22 July 1850, cited in Ibid., p. 46.

28 Ibid., pp. 42, 46.


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outbreak of war. This criticism extended to Lincoln as he refused to surrender Fort Sumter

to South Carolina. Buchanan was castigated for abdicating responsibility from all the

unfolding events, especially his denial of federal power to intervene in the collapse of the

Union.29 Comparisons with Lincoln’s rival, Confederate President Jefferson Davis, were

regularly made in the press, but this has been often overlooked by historians. Ellison

found several newspapers praising Davis, such as the Bury Guardian’s claim that he was

‘the most remarkable man of the age.’30 She also noted that in Liverpool there was

‘spectacularly uniform underestimation’ of Lincoln, whereas Davis, as well as Confederate

commanders Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson, were judged to be ‘superior’.31

Blackett, however, notes that Davis was seen as ‘bland’ and did ‘little to excite the

imagination’, and never achieved widespread popularity in Britain.32

Lincoln in the Eyes of Political Reform Advocates and Workingmen

Lincoln was a figure of interest for political reform advocates and workingmen. This

appeal came from his remarkable rise to the presidency, having been born in a log cabin

and worked as a rail-splitter. Whilst his mere two years in the House of Representatives

highlighted his inexperience for the most important job in the country, his humble

background not only provided an inspiration to the ordinary citizen in America, but also to

poor British subjects. For example, men on the docks of Liverpool celebrated the end of

the Civil War, holding up ‘the plain picture that appeals to the plain people in all the world

– ABRAHAM LINCOLN.’33 An anti-slavery advocate paraphrased Lincoln’s own words to

state that he was a ‘man from the people, with the people, and for the people.’34 This

effectively sums up the traditional interpretation of the working-class opinion of Lincoln.

However, it is difficult to track working-class opinion of Lincoln as there were few avenues

of expression open to them, although it will be shown how they participated in meetings

to express their shock at Lincoln’s assassination. For example, although the Union and

29

Ibid., pp. 83-4, 88. 30

Ellison, Support for Secession, p. 178. 31

Ibid., p. 184. 32


Outlook, 22 March 1902, p. 719., cited in Blackett, Divided Hearts, p. 3. 34

Ibid., p. 231.


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Emancipation Society was formed to give workingmen a voice, it was dominated by

wealthier supporters, since often poorer people could not afford the society’s dues (as in

the case of other abolition and Civil War-related groups). This was especially true for the

unemployed operatives in Manchester, who had a letter sent on their behalf to Lincoln in

December 1862 at a meeting attended by six thousand ‘working people and others’. It

praised ‘his erasure of that foul blot on civilisation and Christianity – chattel slavery’. The

letter also hoped that this ‘glorious consummation’ would ‘cement Great Britain and the

United States in close and enduring regards.’ Lincoln’s personal response to the letter is

fascinating and would be fondly remembered in future years, particularly in Manchester

where a statue was erected in his honour. The president praised the ‘sublime Christian

heroism’ of the unemployed for not tolerating slavery and enduring such suffering until

the crisis was resolved. He hoped for ‘peace and friendship’ between Britain and America

that would last beyond that moment. Although it did not come immediately, the

correspondence signalled the beginnings of a restoration in the Anglo-American

relationship.35

The more liberal elements of the British press praised Lincoln’s election, declaring him to

be ‘the representative man’ with ‘no army to fall back upon, no parliamentary power... [or]

aristocratic influence and rotten boroughs.’36 He served as a symbol for electoral reform in

Britain and has been credited, rightly or wrongly, by some as influencing the passage of

the Reform Act of 1867.37 This included MP John Bright, who often claimed to speak on

behalf of the working-people. However, his belief was overstated, and newspapers argued

that he was ‘a wholly unauthorised representative of British opinion.’38 Although he

regularly featured in the press, it was because of his outlandish and extreme statements,

which commentators would proceed to ridicule. Other pro-Union sympathisers did not

have much respect for Lincoln. One such man was radical MP, Richard Cobden. He was

35

Public Monument and Sculpture Association National Recording Project, ‘Abraham Lincoln’, http://pmsa.cch.kcl.ac.uk/MR/MR-MCR09.htm (accessed 21 May 2009).

36 Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper, 3 March 1861, p. 6.

37 Campbell notes that the importance was exaggerated by Liberal MP John Bright, and also that less than

five per cent of speeches on reform bills included discussion of America. D.A. Campbell, Unlikely Allies: Britain, America and the Victorian Origins of the Special Relationship (London, 2007), p. 283.

38 Birmingham Daily Post, 8 November 1864, p. 2.

http://pmsa.cch.kcl.ac.uk/MR/MR-MCR09.htm


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one of the few Englishmen Lincoln ever met and was in a better position to assess his

chances of success as president, which he doubted. The meeting, however, was so

insignificant to Cobden, that he did not even note it in his diary.39 After the election,

Cobden was concerned that because Lincoln was ‘intellectually inferior’ he would be

‘unequal to the occasion’.40 Liberal antipathy towards Lincoln was compounded by his

support for protectionism. They had the choice between the North, with free labour but

tariffs, or the South, with free trade but slavery. This dilemma meant that Britons often

chose to remain neutral.41 Yet, at the same time the election of Lincoln produced great

hope for liberals and radicals like Cobden. It showed that democracy could elevate men

from the humblest of backgrounds and, in Howe's words, was an ‘embodiment of the

positiveness of America.’42 Of course, to conservatives the election of Lincoln represented

quite the opposite, and they would continue to criticize his political judgements

throughout the war, stating that he was simply bowing to the demands of the mob. Even

upon hearing of his assassination, certain elements of the conservative press remained

unsympathetic.

Although the British press did not like Lincoln’s Secretary of State, William Seward (and the

favour was returned), it considered him a more apt leader and often compared him to the

inadequacies of Lincoln. Bell's Life in London, for example, stated that it ‘would be doing

him [Lincoln] an injustice not to admit that he is not entirely his own master...[Seward has]

a stronger will, more acuteness, better education, and more experience in statecraft.43

Lincoln's lack of familiarity with the wider world was picked up by the British press to

further argue his inadequate qualifications for president, comparing this with Seward’s

recent eight-month tour of Europe.

39

A. Howe, '"A Very Sublime Spectacle": Cobden, Lincoln and the American Liberal Tradition', (University College London, 20 February 2009).

40 D.B. Mahin, One War at a Time: The International Dimensions of the American Civil War (Washington, D.C.,

1999), p. 29. 41

Howe, 'A Very Sublime Spectacle'. 42

Ibid. 43

Bell's Life in London, 12 January 1862, p. 2.


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Lincoln and the Trent Affair

The Trent Affair is one of the most effective illustrations of British opinions of Lincoln. A

British mail steamer, the Trent, was stopped at gun-point by an American vessel in

November 1861, and told to hand over the Confederate commissioners on board, causing

a diplomatic crisis. It is a well-documented incident, with historians demonstrating the

general animosity towards America, but little about the president himself. This stems

from the British perception that Seward was the architect of the whole affair. The Trent

Affair worsened Seward’s already bad reputation in Britain, but Lincoln emerged as a

somewhat ambiguous character. Britons were more familiar with Seward than Lincoln

because of his infamous anti-British actions as governor of New York and his regular calls

for America to take Britain’s North American territory.44 During the affair the Liverpool

Mercury raised the issue of Seward's long-term ‘animosity’ and ‘recklessness’, but hoped

that a calmer Lincoln would make the right decision.45 Seward's history with Britain

explains why Britain's harshest criticism was reserved for him, and that Lincoln faired

rather better.

News of the incident sparked a deluge of anti-American comments and preparations were

made for war. There were calls for Lincoln to dare to ‘defy the omnipotence of England’

but others appealed to the president's reason to prevent an escalation of the crisis.46

Lincoln was considered more level-headed than Seward, but the main concern was

whether he could assert his control. The Sunderland Herald, for example, had its doubts,

stating that Lincoln was ‘partly the slave of Seward, very much the slave of the mob, and

will do all it can to uphold him.’47 For the sake of America's own honour, the Times

reporter Russell believed that Lincoln would ‘put down his foot’ and that he would ‘die

sooner than submit to the humiliation of his country’.48 Lord Lyons, Minister to the United

States, was in a better position to make a sober judgement on the Trent Affair. He

44

Campbell, Unlikely Allies, pp. 147-8. 45

Liverpool Mercury, 2 December 1861, p. 6. 46

Durham Chronicle, 27 December 1861, p. 5., Durham County Advertiser, 27 December 1861, p. 5. 47

Sunderland and Durham County Herald, 27 December, 1861, p. 5. 48

Times, 8 January 1862, p. 7.


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considered the president to be a temperate, realistic and cautious manager of affairs, and

willing to concede defeat over the Trent order to save the Union (which was his ultimate

goal).49 Over time this opinion would be shared throughout the British press, and the

peaceful resolution of the Trent Affair was an important contributing factor.

Despite British criticism of the president, there were some positive remarks, especially as

the crisis came to an end with the release of the commissioners. The Daily News argued

that even though Lincoln was ‘a man of no great power’, he would be nonetheless willing

‘to act rightly in harmony with the strict claims of justice and the requirements of public

law.’50 This contrasts with the general animosity after Lincoln’s election, and highlights a

growing respect for the president, especially because he did not give in to the pressure of

the mob that Britons usually associated with democracy. In the eyes of one Dublin

newspaper, the Trent Affair showed Lincoln was a ‘very intelligent and good-tempered

man’, and not one of the ‘Savage men’ (according to the Times) that made up the Federal

Government.51 In some newspapers Lincoln was praised for restraining his ‘War-

Secretary’ Seward, but in other cases it was seen that Lincoln had been overruled by his

Secretary.52 Seward, of course was not the Secretary of War, but the quotation illustrates

British suspicion of his intentions, and also the fact that Lincoln was unable to control his

Cabinet. He was criticized for his indecisiveness and for being manipulated by Seward. The

Preston Guardian believed that Lincoln, a ‘sagacious and prudent minister’, was ‘thwarted’

at every opportunity by Seward, who had presidential ambitions, which he was trying to

attain through Lincoln.53 Nonetheless, the British press often paired Seward and Lincoln

during the Trent Affair, arguing both were complicit in the seizure.54 By the end of the

affair, there was little praise in the British press for Lincoln and Seward, and instead simply

a relief that the incident had been put to rest.

49

Barnes and Barnes, American Civil War through British Eyes, i, 239, 242: Dispatches 735 & 742, Lyons to Russell, 3 & 6 December 1861.

50 Daily News, 30 December 1861, p. 4.

51 Freeman's Journal and Daily Commercial Advertiser, 13 January 1862, p. 2.

52 Durham County Advertiser, 3 January 1862, p. 5., Campbell, English Public Opinion, p. 227.

53 Preston Guardian, 11 January 1862, p. 2.

54 John Bull, 21 December 1861, p. 809.


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Lincoln and the Slavery Issue

As a symbol of America, Lincoln was attributed with British perceptions of American views

on race. Britons believed that they had a more enlightened view of black people since

they had abolished slavery and had heard stories of poor treatment of free blacks in the

Northern States.55 This influenced cartoons such as the first ‘big cut’ of Lincoln in Punch,

which put these words in his mouth: ‘What a nice White House this would be, if it were

not for the blacks!’ This illustrated that from the outset an assertion of British moral

superiority would be a constant theme in the press during the Civil War.56 Yet Lincoln’s

own words condemned himself in the eyes of the British public. His initial claim that he

merely wanted to restore the Union, regardless of whether or not the slavery issue was

touched, disappointed many Britons. Some British abolitionists were willing to follow

William Lloyd Garrison’s line in calls for a permanent separation, which could provide the

opportunity to press the Confederacy towards emancipation. Even James Spence, a

leading pro-Confederate from Liverpool, claimed an independent South would lead to the

end of slavery.57

Lincoln’s conduct related to slavery affected early British views of the president. It

confirmed to Britons that there was no moral obligation to support Lincoln or the North.

Clear evidence is provided by the reaction to Lincoln’s abrogation of General Frémont’s

emancipation decree in September 1861. This incident has largely been overlooked by

historians, even though the British press considered that it gave a clear indication of the

president’s views on slavery.58 The Liverpool Mercury’s editorial accused Lincoln of

‘tenderness for the great Southern institution [slavery]’ and that he was hypocritical for

declaring Frémont’s decree unconstitutional, whilst elsewhere there were ‘countless

violations’ of federal powers.59 The Daily News’ Northern correspondent praised Frémont

55

D. Lorimer, 'The Role of Anti-Slavery Sentiment in English Reactions to the American Civil War', Historical Journal, 19 (1976), 407-10.

56 Punch, 11 May 1861, p. 195.

57 Lorimer, 'Role of Anti-Slavery Sentiment', 407, 409-10. Lord John Russell (Foreign Secretary) and William

Gladstone (Chancellor) were the main proponents within the Cabinet. Blackett, Divided Hearts, p. 57. 58

Campbell, English Public Opinion, p. 24. 59

Liverpool Mercury, 3 October 1861, p. 6.


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for the ‘bold stroke he has made for human liberty’ and criticised Lincoln for being so

‘scrupulous’ regarding slavery, yet suspending habeas corpus and allowing martial law in

Missouri.60 Crawford argues that the decision to relieve Frémont of duty completed the

undermining of the abolitionist aspect of the Civil War.61 However, a number of British

newspapers understood Lincoln’s difficulty in keeping the loyal slave states within Union,

and that he could not afford to be undermined by a rogue officer.62 Lloyd’s Weekly

Newspaper interpreted Lincoln’s call to the ‘limitation’ of slavery as meaning eventual

abolition, under the right circumstances – Frémont’s action was premature.63 If the

Frémont controversy was not enough, months later Lincoln removed the paragraphs on

the emancipation and arming of slaves from Secretary of War Simon Cameron’s draft of his

own annual address to Congress. In the eyes of the British press, this proved that Lincoln

himself was not an anti-slavery sympathiser. Pro-Confederate supporters, such as Liberal

politician William Lindsay found great currency from these stories, even suggesting that

Cameron was ‘turned out of the Cabinet’ by Lincoln for expressing anti-slavery views.64

Lincoln’s personal opinion of slavery was made known by the August 1862 letter to Horace

Greeley. For Britons, the most striking portion was Lincoln’s claim that ‘My paramount

object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery’.

This was quoted liberally in the press and by politicians.65 The Newcastle Courant

responded to the letter with a rhetorical question: ‘can it be surprising that England still

remains an inactive and sorrowful spectator of their strife?’66 The Examiner’s editorial was

delighted with the letter, since it proved what the newspaper ‘had been saying from the

first’ – slavery was unaffected by the conflict.67 Most of the British public did not

understand the constitution’s limits on presidential power to abolish the institution.68 One

of the few newspapers to recognize this, the Leeds Mercury, spoke of Lincoln’s letter to

60

Daily News, 8 October 1861, p. 5. 61

Crawford, Anglo-American Crisis, p. 125. 62


Lloyd’s Weekly Newspaper, 6 October 1861, p. 6., Belfast News-Letter, 10 October 1861, p. 3. 64

Hansard, 3rd

Series, 1862, CLXVIII, 514-5., Hansard, 3rd

Series, 1862, CLXV, 1208. 65

Birmingham Daily Post, 27 January 1864, p. 3. 66

Newcastle Courant, 12 September 1862, p. 8. 67

Examiner, 13 September 1862, p. 579. 68

McPherson, Drawn with the Sword, p. 220.


17 | P a g e

Greeley as ‘refreshingly candid’, but understood (or at least hoped) that it expressed

merely ‘official views’ rather than ‘his personal wish that all men should be free.’69

The initial reception to Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation was largely hostile and a

significant amount of cynicism was evident among British opinion. There are two reasons

for this. The first arose from the circumstances of the decree. The Civil War was clearly

far from finished and the aftermath of Antietam had not made the prospect of a Union

victory any more likely. Hence, the Times was among many who doubted the sincerity of

Lincoln’s proclamation, and compared it to ‘a Chinaman beating his two swords together

to frighten his enemy’ rather than ‘an earnest man pressing on his cause in steadfastness

and truth’.70 The Morning Post, ‘organ’ of Prime Minister Viscount Palmerston, called the

document a piece of ‘trash’ issued in desperation by an ‘utterly powerless and

contemptible’ president.71 In Lancashire, Ellison notes that the decision was ‘almost

universally dismissed as an act of hypocrisy’ and was a clear sign that an inept Lincoln

69

Leeds Mercury, 8 September 1862, p. 2. 70

Times, 7 October 1862, p. 8. 71

Morning Post, 8 October 1862, cited in Mahin, One War at a Time, p. 133.


18 | P a g e

could not win by ‘more straightforward means.’72 In the comic periodicals, Lincoln was

portrayed as ‘a political opportunist using Negroes as pawns’.73 Punch believed that

Lincoln had become so desperate that he had to play his ‘last card’ – emancipation. 74

Fun, in their ‘big cut’ that same week, portrayed a tiny Lincoln, who is meant to be

'Jupiter', with a small and ineffectual thunderbolt of ‘emancipation’.75 In the eyes of Fun,

the president was clearly not a match for the Roman god of war. It is worth noting that

72


O. Maurer, '"Punch" on Slavery and Civil War in America 1841-1865', Victorian Studies, 1 (1957), pp. 19-20. 74

Punch, 18 October 1862, p. 163. 75

Fun, 18 October 1862, p. 47.


19 | P a g e

the slaves in the cartoon seem happy (one is smiling) and most are uninterested in

Lincoln’s grand entrance onto the scene.

For Punch, the proclamation provided evidence of Lincoln’s poor leadership qualities,

whose measures had resulted in anarchy.76 At the time of Lincoln's Second Inaugural

Address, Punch created a parodied version which included this phrase regarding

emancipating the slaves: ‘[sic] They give this here war a holy character, and we can call it a

crusade for freedom’. This clearly illustrated the common perception in Britain that a

shrewd Lincoln was using emancipation for political expediency.77

The second reason for a lack of support for Lincoln post-Emancipation is more subtle.

Lorimer and Blackett have noted that during the mid-nineteenth century there was a

growing fatigue in Britain towards abolitionism, and so the enthusiasm for Lincoln was

relatively low-key, compared to the reception such a measure would have received

decades before. In Britain there was scepticism about the benefits of emancipation after

the apparent ‘failure’ of its implementation in the West Indies.78 Blackett describes the

antislavery movement as having ‘lost some of its bite’, though it did revive following

Lincoln’s Proclamation.79 Even the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society refused show

enthusiasm or support, and instead focussed its efforts on abolishing slavery in Cuba.80

However, the measure did have some positive effect in Britain. It dealt a blow to Southern

advocates, who could no longer claim that the North did not care about abolition, and the

North-South contrast became more evident as the war progressed. It reinvigorated the

efforts of anti-slavery societies, including fundraising and the reactivation of dormant

chapters.81 In the month after the Proclamation took effect there were huge celebrations.

The London Emancipation Society’s meeting in Exeter Hall, London, became so full (with

three thousand in attendance) that they held an impromptu open-air meeting on the

76

Punch, 8 August 1863, p. 59., 24 January 1863, p. 37. 77

Punch, 10 December 1864, p. 237. 78

Blackett, Divided Hearts, pp. 39-40. 79

Ibid., p. 88. 80

Lorimer, 'Role of Anti-Slavery Sentiment', 413., Blackett, Divided Hearts, pp. 98, 107. 81

Blackett, Divided Hearts, p. 192.


20 | P a g e

Strand, stopping all the traffic.82 It took a while for Britain to digest the importance of the

Emancipation Proclamation, beyond a mere expedient of war, but support for the measure

grew, particularly after it came into effect on 1 January 1863. In Sheffield and Manchester

there were New Years’ Eve gatherings to mark the occasion, including six thousand

‘working people and others’ who ‘rejoiced in the greatness of the American president’ at

the Free Trade Hall in Manchester.83 Previously, British anti-slavery societies had sent

letters and petitions to Lincoln pressing him for abolition, and once it had taken affect,

there was another surge of correspondence, encouraging and congratulating the president

on his good work.84

Reaction to Lincoln’s Re-election in 1864

There was a significant amount of uncertainty leading up to the 1864 Presidential Election,

especially because the British press believed the Union’s military victory was not yet

guaranteed.85 Many newspapers, however, predicted a probable result for Lincoln, aided

by a divided Democratic Party and possibility of more military successes (Mobile and

Atlanta), and this confidence grew stronger as the election drew near. The election gave

the British public an opportunity to assess Lincoln’s success or failure as president thus far,

which was met with mixed feelings. The Caledonian Mercury, for example, listed Lincoln’s

achievements (military success and emancipation), and concluded that he should remain

in office. Their editorial, along with several others, portrayed the Democrats and their

presidential candidate George McClellan as self-interested, merely wanting ‘place and

power’.86

82

Ibid., p. 196. 83

B. Jenkins, Britain & the War for the Union, (Montreal, 1974), ii, 212. 84

Blackett, Divided Hearts, pp. 157-8, 160. 85

Daily Telegraph, cited in Belfast News-Letter, 26 September 1864, p. 4., Liverpool Mercury, 10 November 1864, p. 6.

86 Caledonian Mercury, 15 September 1864, p. 2.


21 | P a g e

Fun’s ‘Columbia’s Nightmare’ cartoon shown earlier referred to the belief, and in some

cases hope, that Lincoln would not be re-elected in 1864 after a poor performance in his

first term.87 Continuing with the mythical theme, Tenniel’s cartoon ‘The Federal Phoenix’

highlighted Lincoln’s unbelievable success in being re-elected.88 He portrayed the

president as rising from the ashes, despite having ‘burned’ away many rights of American

citizens, such as a free press and the constitution. The Daily News congratulated Lincoln on

the result, and stated he had even approval from eminent British statesmen.89 The Times,

not usually known for pro-Lincoln sentiments, acknowledged his political maturity, and

despite the Trent controversy, he had since behaved favourably towards Britain.90 Now

87

Fun, 10 September 1864, p. 261. 88

Punch, 3 December 1864, p. 231. 89

Daily News, 3 December 1864, p. 4. 90

Times, 22 November 1864, p. 6.


22 | P a g e

that the emancipation issue was a concrete war aim, there were fewer qualms about

prolonging the war. Yet, Lincoln still had many critics, often in regard to his ‘despotic’

governing of America, leading one newspaper to label him ‘Abraham the First’.91 There

was not, however, a significant shift in public opinion favouring Lincoln – it would take

another four months and his assassination to reverse the criticism.

Conclusions

It can be seen that during Lincoln’s presidency he did not receive much praise from the

British public or press. However, to a certain extent the criticism could easily be translated

to any other American leader before, as attacks on Lincoln were more often directed at

America’s political system, of which he happened to be the head. Blackett states that the

‘conflicting images of the president reflected the deep divisions created by the war’, and

this is especially evident in reactions to Lincoln’s slavery-related measures.92 The satirical

periodicals consistently portrayed Lincoln in a negative light. It seems that the press never

had faith in Lincoln’s ability to lead, due to his inadequate experience, and he was rarely

credited when the Union achieved military success. His Emancipation Proclamation,

which might have been expected to receive praise, was initially condemned. Whilst there

was a growing positive attitude towards Lincoln as the Proclamation came into effect and

the Union secured more victories, his assassination was the trigger event that caused a

mass change of heart. The shock of such a crime forced a reassessment of his character

and his achievements.

91

Lloyd’s Weekly Newspaper, 27 November 1864, p. 6., Preston Guardian, 26 November 1864, p. 4. 92

Blackett, Divided Hearts, p. 232.


23 | P a g e

-2-

Assassination: An Outpouring of Grief Around Britain

In the two years after Lincoln's assassination, the United States Government collected the

‘expressions of condolence and sympathy’ and published them as a 976-page document.93

Campbell tries to downplay the widespread sympathy after the assassination, but the

evidence is overwhelming, and the State Department’s Expressions of Condolence is the

best example of this.94 More than one-third of the collection is devoted to responses from

Great Britain and its dependencies, nearly three times the amount of the next biggest

contributor, France. It is clear from this fact alone that the assassination had a profound

effect on the British people. Yet at the same time, as Christine Bolt notes, there was a

‘curious amnesia’ by many Britons who praised Lincoln after his death – their previous

criticism of the president had been forgotten in the shock and media frenzy.95 The

geographical spread of the expressions of sympathy is even more fascinating, as it was not

restricted to the major cities with ties to the United States, such as London, Liverpool and

Manchester, but extended to places as far as the Isle of Wight, Kendal in Cumbria and Elgin

in the far north of Scotland. Messages came from the far corners of the British Empire

too, including Bengal, New South Wales and Cape Town. To add to this, the diversity in

groups that sent messages to America is striking. American residents in Britain were

among these, but most came from organizations apparently unconnected to America, the

Civil War, or slavery. Town councils, temperance societies, religious associations,

workingmen's clubs and many spontaneous public meetings all passed resolutions to

express their abhorrence at the crime. On the other hand, it is hardly surprising that there

was a lack of sympathy for Seward, even with reports of his possible death or serious

93

United States Department of State, The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln ... and the Attempted Assassination of William H. Seward, Secretary of State, and Frederick W. Seward, Assistant Secretary, on the Evening of the 14th of April, 1865: Expressions of Condolence and Sympathy Inspired by these Events (Washington, D.C., 1867). This collection will be referred to as Expressions of Condolence throughout this chapter. 94


C.A. Bolt, ‘British Attitudes to Reconstruction in the United States, 1863-77,’ (PhD London, 1966), p. 50, cited in Ellison, Support for Secession, p. 179.


24 | P a g e

injury. His past crimes, in the eyes of the British had not been forgotten. Despite having

come so close to war over the Trent Affair, Lincoln's assassination seems to have rekindled

the Anglo-American relationship, and once again some Britons were prepared to refer to

their neighbours across the Atlantic as ‘brethren and sisters’ of the ‘great Anglo-Saxon

race’.96 Some Britons saw the opportunity in Lincoln’s death to heal the wounds of the

transatlantic relationship. One English resident in Philadelphia wrote home hoping that

Britain's sympathy toward America would be ‘productive and much benefit to both’, going

some way to recreating a warm bond between the two nations.97 In Edinburgh, one

Scottish sheriff remarked that Americans

Speak the tongue Which Shakespeare spoke -- the faith and morals Which Milton held

He told the audience that America and Britain had the same ancestry and heritage, which

was best illustrated by Lincoln, with his ‘energy’ and ‘industry’ that was shared among all

Anglo-Saxon peoples.98 The above quote demonstrates the growing understanding of a

common racial makeup, history, language, and religion, which would continue to increase

long into the twentieth century. The shock of Lincoln’s murder clearly had a profound

impact, and it was hoped this recognition of commonality would mark the beginning of a

new era in Anglo-American relations. As Home Secretary Sir George Grey's speech in

parliament showed, Britain was united with America in its horror at the crime, and the fact

that Queen Victoria had recently lost her own husband, meant that she could console Mrs

Lincoln. She sent a personal letter of condolence, remarking how ‘No one can better

appreciate [Mrs Lincoln's grief] than I can, who am myself utterly brokenhearted by the

loss of my own beloved husband.’99 However, this unity in grief was relatively brief and

superficial. Lincoln's death did not cement the friendship, only signifying a short

rapprochement between Britain and America. Tensions remained for the rest of the

96

Department of State, Expressions of Condolence, pp. 230, 250. 97

Caledonian Mercury, 27 May 1865, p. 2. 98

Caledonian Mercury, 4 May 1865, p. 4. 99

Queen Victoria to Mary Todd Lincoln, 29 April 1865, cited in Mahin, One War at a Time, p. 256.


25 | P a g e

century, as the Alabama claims (1862-72) and Venezuela Crisis (1895-6) clearly

illustrate.100

Sympathy from British Politicians

Foreign Secretary Earl Russell took the unprecedented step in acknowledging the death of

a foreign statesman so overtly in parliament. The above 'word cloud' represents the

occurrences of the most popular words in his speech, and others, who deplored Lincoln's

assassination.101 It highlights the connection between Lincoln and abolition was

unapparent in the eyes of parliament, and themes often associated with him – democracy,

‘self-made man’, and emancipation – are non-existent. Lincoln was not referred to as

some ‘Great Emancipator’. Furthermore, Russell was the sole member to mention slavery

in relation to Lincoln's actions, and in that case it was not praising him, merely stating that

he had ‘proposed’ to free slaves.102 Upon hearing the news of Lincoln's death, sixty MPs

across from all parties signed a letter of sympathy and handed it to the American Minister

that same day.103 It is clear that the greatest concern was about the ‘great...crime’, and

the ‘abhorrence’ and ‘sympathy’ that Britain felt for the American ‘people’.

100

Campbell, Unlikely Allies, pp. 182-190., K. Burk, Old World, New World: The Story of Britain and America (London, 2007), pp. 272-6, 380-444. 101

The largest words represent the most frequently mentioned. Hansard, 3rd

Series, 1865, CLXXVIII, 1220-8, 1242-7.

102 Hansard, 3

rd Series, 1865, CLXXVIII, 1221.

103 Birmingham Daily Post, 28 April 1865, p. 3.


26 | P a g e

In the House of Lords, Russell’s speech clearly shows a growing admiration for the late

president. Although many had doubted Lincoln’s ability, in the eyes of this politician (who

had previously held the highest political post in Britain), he had risen to the occasion:

President Lincoln was a man who, though not conspicuous before his election, had since displayed a character of so much integrity, so much sincerity and straightforwardness, and at the same time of so much kindness... Such a man this particular epoch required.

104

As leader of the Conservative party and another ex-Prime Minister, the Earl of Derby was

unable to match Russell’s praise for Lincoln. To summarize the Earl's speech, he

deliberately refused to discuss the Civil War or its consequences, and merely stated that

Lincoln had been ‘deprived of life’ and as president he had acted with a ‘singular

moderation and prudence’.105 It is clear from his speech that the approval of Lincoln was

not shared by all members of the House, and reinforces the interpretation that

Conservatives were neither sympathetic to the Northern cause nor American democracy,

even when their leader had been brutally murdered.106

In the House of Commons, there was praise from Sir George Grey for Lincoln's ‘efforts’ in

the war, bringing the North to the brink of victory, before his assassination halted this

‘new era’.107 Lincoln’s death forced a reassessment of his character (best seen in Punch's

reversal), and Grey came to admit that he was due his ‘well-earned fame and

reputation’.108 However, the main content of Grey’s speech was an abstract appraisal of

the crime, expressing sympathy with the American people, and some discussion of war’s

progress, but nothing about the president's conduct of the war. In response, Conservative

leader in the House of Commons, Benjamin Disraeli, gave a similarly vague message,

though he had genuine admiration for Lincoln standing tall in ‘one of the severest trials

which ever tested the moral qualities of man’. Significantly, Disraeli noted that it was ‘not

possible for the people of England, at such a moment, to forget that he sprang from the

same fatherland, and spoke the same mother tongue’, to which members of the House

104

Ibid., 1220. 105

Ibid., 1225. 106

Blackett, Divided Hearts, pp. 3-5. 107

Hansard, 3rd

Series, 1865, CLXXVIII, 1243. 108

Ibid., 1244.


27 | P a g e

responded with cheers.109 This is further evidence of a positive acknowledgement of the

Anglo-American connection, but also a linkage of Abraham Lincoln's ancestry to England –

this would be a common and persistent theme of his legacy in Britain, and was highlighted

by future British statesmen. This bond was also felt by the newly installed Minister to

Washington, Sir Frederick Bruce, who had been unable to meet Lincoln but still felt it was

‘incumbent on me to attend [his funeral], to mark the sympathy I felt in common with my

colleagues in this calamitous event.’110

Sympathy in the wider world – the Press and Meetings

The response to Lincoln's death extended beyond the walls of government. Newspapers

across the country for more than a month after the initial news discussed the

assassination, gave extended biographies of Lincoln’s life and wrote about the assassin

John Wilkes Booth. On the day news first arrived, 26 April, demand to know details of the

crime pushed up the prices of all the evening journals.111 At the London Stock Exchange,

the third edition of the Times sold for ten times its usual price due to such great

interest.112 As was custom, the provincial newspapers borrowed heavily from the London

newspapers, but their editorials contain their own opinions. Some admitted that they had

been too harsh on Lincoln during his lifetime and came close to a full apology. The Preston

Guardian, for example, confessed that it ‘never numbered ourselves among the professed

admirers of Abraham Lincoln...We were not slow to criticise’, and praised him for his kind

words and sincerity, and unwillingness to provoke Britain unlike his counterpart Seward.113

The Daily News claimed that many would ‘regret’ their belief that Lincoln ‘was the

wretched imbecile he was described to be by the Richmond press’ and the Pall Mall

Gazette hoped the ‘civilized world’ would be ‘juster and more generous to Mr. Johnson’,

his successor.114

109

Ibid., 1246. 110

Emphasis added. Barnes and Barnes, American Civil War through British Eyes, iii, 292: Dispatch 247, Bruce to Russell, 21 April 1865. 111

D. Jordan and E. J. Pratt, Europe and the American Civil War (London, 1931), p. 261. 112

Preston Guardian, 29 April 1865, p. 2. 113

Preston Guardian, 29 April 1865, p. 4. 114

Daily News, 27 April 1865, p. 6., Pall Mall Gazette, 27 April 1865, pp. 1-2.


28 | P a g e

However, it must be noted that support for Lincoln was not shared by everyone, even after

his death. Ellison argued that whilst there may have been ‘universal horror’ at the terrible

deed, it did not mean that Lincoln's image suddenly became one of a faultless martyr. She

summarizes the Liverpool newspapers' reports on the assassination, as commending ‘a

man honest and kind’ yet ‘inadequate for the role of president’. More pertinently, Ellison

claimed that the Liverpool Albion's reflection on Lincoln's death ‘renounced the hypocrisy

of praising someone simply because he was dead.’115 Leaders of pro-Southern

organizations in Liverpool were unwilling to grieve with the rest of the population, stayed

away from meetings and remained silent.116 James Spence contacted the Liverpool

Mercury's editor to express his concern regarding the assassination, but he was not

sympathetic – he stated that many a Southerner had died, yet they were not mourned. To

him, Lincoln's death was ‘still more terrible for the South’ as it would bring Northern

retribution.117 There was a similar response in London. The Tory Standard, for example,

felt no sympathy toward the mob-rule democracy in North America: ‘He [Lincoln] was not

a hero while he lived, and therefore his cruel murder does not make him a martyr.’118

Jordan and Pratt argue that the brief moment of condolence from the Times was shortly

followed by its ‘former lecturing tone.’119 For Spence, the Albion, the Standard, and

others, the emphasis was on the crime and its consequences, not the victim. The majority,

however, praised Lincoln and expressed shock at his murder, and the disgruntled few

largely kept quiet rather than face the wrath of mourners.120

Many meetings were convened across the country to express sympathy at the news of

Lincoln’s death. Blackett counts more than forty meetings sanctioned by local authorities

taking place within days of hearing the news, alongside seventeen by pro-Union

supporters and a further six for workingmen.121 Emancipation societies worked furiously

to organize commemorations of Lincoln throughout the country. A few likened his

115



Liverpool Mercury, 29 April 1865, p. 5. 118

Standard, 26 April 1865, cited in Jordan and Pratt, Europe and the American Civil War, p. 262. 119

Ibid., p. 262. 120


Ibid., p. 216.


29 | P a g e

martyrdom to that of John Brown, though this was not a regular occurrence.122 One such

sponsored event at St James's Hall in London attracted seventeen MPs, as well as trade-

union leaders, electoral reformers and anti-slavery Quakers, with a huge crowd outside

due to the hall filling to capacity.123 Such a mixture of guests illustrates the diversity of

support that Lincoln had achieved in Britain by the end of the war. Two similar meetings

were held in St Martin's Hall organized by a ‘workingmen's Anti-Slavery Committee’ to

celebrate the ‘triumph of Negro Emancipation’ and to express their sadness at Lincoln's

death.124 The first meeting was chaired by Thomas Potter, the founder of the Union and

Emancipation Society and Cobden's replacement as MP for Rochdale. In the second

gathering George Potter, manager of the trade-union newspaper Bee-Hive, reminded the

audience that the late president ‘was a working man’ and ‘rose from the poorest of the

people, winning his way slowly but surely upwards by sheer hard work’. The crowd

enthusiastically and unanimously adopted a resolution praising Lincoln as their

‘champion’.125 Although the Bee-Hive was not a popular newspaper, its founder's efforts

to organize these mass meetings were perhaps his most significant contribution.

Workingmen had few channels of expression available, and this meeting, along with a few

others, is an example of their limited success.126 Lincoln’s assassin, John Wilkes Booth,

was characterised as an enemy of democracy.127 Eugenio Biagini has claimed that ‘honest

Abe’ had become a ‘staple of democratic literature from this time.128 It is clear that these

assassination meetings were a chance to celebrate democracy and the working man, not

simply to mourn the death of a foreign statesman. There is a clear political message in

some of these meetings, including an association of Cobden to Lincoln, since they were

both self-made men.

There were meetings across the country, from sizeable gatherings in town halls, to

meetings at workingmen's clubs and churches. Petitions were signed by townspeople

122

Ibid., p. 225. 123

Jordan and Pratt, Europe and the American Civil War, pp. 263-4. 124

Foner, British Labor and the American Civil War, pp. 28, 86-7. 125

Ibid., p. 88. 126


Ibid., pp. 236, 240-2. 128

E. Biagini, Liberty, Retrenchment, and Reform, pp. 79-80., cited in Ibid., p. 243.


30 | P a g e

addressed to the mayor, requesting to hold 'indignation meetings'. After hearing the

news, it only took an hour in Liverpool to have six hundred people sign one such

request.129 The city held several meetings over the next month, including gatherings by

the Young Mens' Christian Association, the Liverpool Financial Reform Association and a

lecture about Lincoln at the Concert Hall.130 The main meeting in the aftermath of the

news was filled with the ‘principal men of the town’ and Handel's ‘Dead March’ was

played on the organ. Passions flared in the city as a ‘strongly Federal’ resolution at a

simultaneous meeting led to ‘disturbance’ for the rest of the evening. In the Liverpool

Exchange, a passionate Lincoln supporter ‘collared’ a neighbour for thinking he had said

'hurrah' at the news of his death, and shouted: ‘Be off, you incarnate fiend! You are an

assassin at heart!’131 Despite not having such strong links with the United States as

Lancashire, the West Riding of Yorkshire, had great interest in Lincoln and the

assassination. All the major towns, as well as some smaller locations, held a series of

meetings. A leading regional newspaper, the Leeds Mercury, extensively covered the

assassination's investigation and the county's response to it. In Halifax, more than two

hundred signatures persuaded the Mayor to call a public meeting, and in Huddersfield, the

Union and Emancipation Society, Improvement Commissioners and Chamber of

Commerce all sent letters of condolence. American flags that had been hung over some of

the town’s warehouses were at half-mast.132 The Mayor of Leeds, the largest city in the

region, called a meeting at the Town Hall which was attended by various dignitaries,

including Councillor Joy who had the rare opportunity for a Briton to have met Lincoln. He

fondly reflected on the moment, and on emancipation he said that Lincoln ‘threw all his

earnestness and soul into it.’ Another speaker, Mr F. Baines, expressed the belief that

Lincoln's character was ‘like the sun coming out of a mist and becoming brighter and

brighter...now so much better understood than it had ever been’.133 This effectively

129

Freeman's Journal and Daily Commercial Advertiser, 27 April 1865, p. 3. 130

Liverpool Mercury, 2 May 1865, p. 7., 13 May 1865, p. 7. 131

Freeman’s Journal and Daily Commercial Advertiser, 28 April 1865, p. 3. 132

Department of State, Expressions of Condolence, pp. 310-1, 306, 312, 322, 417., Leeds Mercury, 3 May 1865, p. 4. and 2 May 1865, p. 3., Blackett, Divided Hearts, p. 214. 133

Leeds Mercury, 2 May 1865, p. 3.


31 | P a g e

illustrates how, upon serious reflection, many of Lincoln’s previous critics in Britain were

now willing to admit that he had been a good leader, despite his flaws.

Churches were popular as venues to hold meetings to express people’s grief at the news

and on the Sunday after clergymen across the country evoked Lincoln's name in their

sermons.134 In Lambeth, residents used the space next to the local chapel to hold an

open-air meeting in which they expressed condolence for both Mrs Cobden and Mrs

Lincoln.135 News of Lincoln’s death reached as far as Crieff, a small market town in

Perthshire, where the local minister referred to the assassination throughout his sermon

on ‘The sword without and terror within’.136 The collection of sermons marking Lincoln's

death even includes a Swedenborgian minister in London, who compared the president to

the mighty biblical character of Samson, whose self-sacrificial death killed more enemies

than during the rest of his life.137 Even the leaders of the Church of England, which

Blackett claims staunchly supported the South, were able to come together and express

grief at Lincoln’s death, and praise his positive qualities.138

Following Lincoln's death, the British people looked to America's future. Having been

critical of Lincoln when he first became president, it is perhaps not surprising that his

successor, Andrew Johnson, fared no better. However, there were genuine reasons for

this, since Johnson's rhetoric after the assassination spoke of revenge and harsh treatment

of the South. Lincoln's reconciliatory nature had been praised, and his ‘malice toward

none’ phrase from his Second Inaugural Address would be repeated again and again in

future years. They feared that a tougher line would be taken by Johnson, and he might

even provoke a war with Britain.139 The Manchester Guardian and Courier limited their

praise of Lincoln to a contrast between his calm and conciliatory attitude and the ‘rowdy’

134


Richard Cobden died on 2 April 1865. Caledonian Mercury, 1 May 1865, pp. 2-3. 136

Caledonian Mercury, 1 May 1865, pp. 2-3. 137

Rev. J.F. Potts, 'Death of President Lincoln: A Sermon' in W.V. Spencer (ed.), Lincolniana. In Memoriam. [Sermons, Eulogies, etc. on the Death of President Lincoln.] (Boston, 1865), pp. 167-176.

138 Blackett, Divided Hearts, p. 235.

139 Preston Guardian, 29 April 1865, p. 4.


32 | P a g e

nature of the new president.140 According to Ellison, Southern sympathisers in Lancashire,

having also reversed their opinions of Lincoln, were especially critical of Johnson and

‘charged [him] with seeking vengeance from an innocent people.’141

Making Amends – The Comic Press on the Death of Lincoln

Following his assassination, Fun and Punch seem to have tried to make amends for their

previously scathing indictment of Lincoln. Fun surprisingly has little to say on the subject,

and seems to have lost interest in the war at the end of the previous year. It admitted that

it had ‘criticized Mr. Lincoln freely, and our tribute to his memory ought to be all the more

valuable.’ The poem that followed was positive, though its focus was on the murder,

Lincoln's lowly birth and his leadership – it mentions nothing of slavery. Fun's poorer

audience (compared to Punch) would have taken heart in the fact that he ‘prove[d] that

genius lives in humble birth’ and that his ‘fame shall sound through many an age’.142

140

Manchester Courier, 29 April 1865, cited in Ellison, Support for Secession, p. 183. 141

Ibid., p. 175. 142

Fun, 6 May 1865, p. 77.


33 | P a g e

Lincoln would continue to symbolise these aspects long into the following century, as

Britain itself adopted a democratic system of government.

Punch, on the other hand, expressed a far more extensive opinion, and Tenniel devoted his

big cut of the week to 'Britannia Sympathises with Columbia', with the solemn figure

representing Britain laying a wreath upon Lincoln's covered body.143 This was

accompanied by a lengthy poem by Tom Taylor, who coincidently happened to have

written Our American Cousin – the play Lincoln was watching when he was

assassinated.144 Maurer calls Punch's change of heart ‘perhaps the most drastic reversal of

opinion, openly acknowledged, in the history of journalism’, yet this sudden shift was not

equally felt by the entire team.145 Leading contributor Shirley Brooks, for example,

believed Taylor's poem had not only made the periodical ‘eat humble pie’, but ‘swallow

dish and all.’146 The publication of Taylor's poem was an important admission that British

public opinion had been somewhat mistaken about Lincoln and, faced with the cold fact of

assassination, they were forced to reassess what he had contributed during his few years

on earth. Taylor confessed that his countrymen had had a ‘self-complacent British sneer’,

sitting high on a moral pedestal, aloof from the realities that Lincoln struggled with as

president. However, as with the poem in Fun, Taylor does not mention the issue of

slavery. Tenniel's illustration, on the other hand, includes an unshackled and mourning

slave in the corner, which suggests that some Britons acknowledged Lincoln's contribution

in ending slavery in America.

Conclusions

Lincoln was dead. Though his life was not celebrated by all in Britain, there was a clear

universal shock at the crime across the country, though not everyone considered his

passing to be the ‘end of a great man.’147 There was, however, a realisation that previous

criticism of Lincoln had been unduly harsh, and his murder provided an opportunity for a

more sober assessment of his presidency, which had slowly begun after the Emancipation

143

Punch, 6 May 1865, p. 185. 144

Punch, 6 May 1865, pp. 182-3. 145

Maurer, '"Punch" on Slavery', pp. 25-6. 146

W. S. Walsh (ed.), Abraham Lincoln and the London Punch (New York, 1909), p. 113. 147

Ellison, Support for Secession, p. 186.


34 | P a g e

Proclamation. Although Britain would not fully embrace the Lincoln mythology that

followed, it came to accept more of his positive traits that had previously been ignored.

The peak of this acceptance came during the Great Rapprochement, the subject of the

next chapter.


35 | P a g e

-3-

Lincoln in the Great Rapprochement

The United States’ participation in the First World War provided the greatest evidence

thus far that its relationship with Britain had matured. The differences of the nineteenth

century were put aside as America came to the aid of the British in the efforts to defeat

the Axis powers. Some politicians praised this rapprochement – a ‘coming together’ – and

declared that it was necessary for the future peace and security of the world.148 In this

way, Lincoln’s life was embraced by both Britons and Americans. As his speeches,

correspondence and other works were collected together, Lincoln’s life became a resource

that could be used for ‘sound-bites’, strategies, or even a handbook for good and

successful government or moral living. In Britain, politicians were (and continue to be)

keen to appropriate his rhetoric and apply it to their own present-day circumstances. He

featured heavily in parliamentary debates, several statues in Britain were erected in his

honour, and even a British dramatization of his presidency was created.

Lincoln in Parliamentary Debates

Being a highly successful politician, it is clear why Lincoln has been so often cited in

parliamentary debates. In the course of more than a century, he has been referred to in

over five hundred different speeches, in a variety of topics, ranging from conscription to

conservatism, from equality to poverty, and from federalism to devolution. The peak of

his usage in parliament was during the Great Rapprochement, as can be seen in the graph

overleaf, where he was embraced by all parties. But what do these references to Lincoln

demonstrate about his impact on British politics? Besides being a source of memorable

quotations, these references illustrate how Lincoln has been an authoritative source for

Britons to use, despite being a foreign statesman. They provide evidence that admiration

for Lincoln lay beyond the borders of the United States.

148

Times, 4 October 1918, p. 8.


36 | P a g e

During the second decade of the twentieth century Britain faced a war of epic proportions

similar to the American Civil War (though even greater), but also a ‘secession crisis’ of

sorts in Ireland. It was also the decade of Lord Charnwood’s well-received biography of

the American statesman and John Drinkwater’s hugely successful production, Abraham

Lincoln. After this period, there was a large fall in references to Lincoln as America moved

back toward a non-interventionist stance. The third peak marked the Second World War,

when Lincoln took on a different meaning, becoming a symbol of what Britons were

fighting for – peace, democracy, union and freedom. However after 1945, Lincoln became

only one of a number of American icons appropriated by Britons – Franklin Roosevelt,

John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King were the new political ‘celebrities’ in use.

The Great War – Preparing a Nation for Total War

It has been argued by some historians that the American Civil War, not the First World

War, was the first ‘modern war’, since both conflicts involved unprecedented numbers of

men, supported by a huge effort in production of war materiel.149 For those politicians

149

D.G. Faust, '"Numbers on Top of Numbers": Counting the Civil War Dead', Journal of Military History, 70 (2006), 997.

Peak 2: First World War, Great Rapprochement

Trough 1: Anglo-American

tensions

Trough 2: US ‘isolationism’, anti-Americanism

Peak 3: Second World War Peak 1: American

Civil War


37 | P a g e

that made the comparison between 1861 and 1914, Lincoln's leadership was particularly

useful. He was able to successfully prosecute a war, even though he introduced

controversial measures such as conscription and the suspension of habeas corpus, as well

as firing popular leaders of the army. Peterson notes that there was a renewed interest in

Lincoln as Commander-in-Chief during the war, and several publications discussed him in

relation to their present circumstances.150

It was recognized that to conduct the war effectively, it would require a restriction on civil

liberties, as Lincoln had done during the Civil War, suspending the writ of habeas corpus.

As a Liberal MP stated, Lincoln faced ‘storm of opposition’, and the British government

would receive the same, if not worse.151 Conservative Chancellor of the Exchequer,

Andrew Bonar Law, paraphrased Lincoln’s claim that ‘he was suffering from the

disadvantage of free government’, arguing that it was necessary to extend governmental

power in the short-term in order to save the nation and protect democracy in the long-

term.152 Conscription was another controversial issue during both the Civil War and the

First World War, though support for the measure came from both sides of the House, and

used Lincoln as an advocate. For example, Liberal MP Sir Robert Finlay described Lincoln

as doing what was ‘considered necessary for the safety of the country’ even if it was

unpopular.153 Bonar Law thought that it was ‘grim business’ for Lincoln to have to

contemplate introducing the draft, and for Britain it was ‘grimmer’ still.154 He was willing

to forego any popularity in order to have this necessary measure passed. In doing so, he

quoted Lincoln: ‘It is right, and if you tell me I will fall in consequence, I will fall because it

is right.’155 The issue was made more problematic by the decision to extend conscription

into Ireland, increasing the intensity of the parliamentary debate. Furthermore, the ‘Irish

Question’, Ireland’s battle for independence from Britain, was becoming more violent and

Britain was now faced with external and internal conflict.

150

M.D. Peterson, 'The International Lincoln', in J.M. McPherson (ed.), 'We Cannot Escape History': Lincoln and the Last Best Hope on Earth (Urbana, Illinois, 1995), pp. 165-6.

151 Hansard, 5

th Series, 1918, CVII, 945.

152 Hansard, 5

th Series, 1917, XCII, 1395.

153 Hansard, 5

th Series, 1915, LXXVII, 285.

154 Hansard, 5

th Series, 1918, CIV, 1357.

155 Ibid., 1356.


38 | P a g e

Ireland – Britain's Equivalent to Secession

The Irish Question had posed a problem for the British government ever since it took

control of the country, but it reached a peak during the 1910s. The issue came to the

forefront as nationalist leaders saw Britain's war with Germany as a distraction away from

Ireland, and so they carried out an armed rebellion – the Easter Rising – in April 1916.

Whether or not the equation of Southern secession with rebellion in Ireland was an

accurate comparison, it was used throughout the period of British control of the island.

Prime Minister David Lloyd George seems to have thought he was ‘a latter-day Lincoln

endeavouring to stamp out a secessionist movement.’156 Since Lincoln was successful in

putting down a rebellion, unionist politicians looked to the president for solutions or

justification for their position. Paradoxically, Irish nationalists were quick to emphasise

Lincoln's rhetoric involving liberty and democracy. For example, T.P. O'Connor argued that

instead of a ‘government of the people by the people for the people’, Ireland was being

ruled by ‘the government of one class by one class for one class’.157 It is clear that to the

Irish nationalists Lincoln served as a symbol of democracy and freedom. However,

Lincoln’s significance as an archetype of democracy and a self-made man is barely

mentioned in parliament this period by non-Irish members.

Mark Sykes compared the 1916 Easter Rising to the Civil War, and admired Lincoln for

coming out ‘triumphant’, despite ‘all the difficulties’ he faced.158 As a member of a

Conservative Party who wanted to preserve Britain's imperial interests, Sykes called for a

heavy hand to come down upon the Irish rebels. Even members of the Liberal Party,

traditional supporters of self-determination, believed as with Lincoln, that ‘the whole

future of his country was then at stake’ and if force was required to save it, then it should

be used.159 Lord Sydenham argued that because the president did not shrink back and

was ultimately successful, then Britain should adopt the same course of action. Irish

156

P. Rowland, Lloyd George (London, 1975), p. 438. 157

Hansard, 4th

Series, 1902, CXII, 1127. 158

Hansard, 5th

Series, 1916, LXXX, 39. 159

Hansard, 5th

Series, 1921, XLVIII, 147.


39 | P a g e

members of the Commons, on the other hand, appealed to the government to follow

Lincoln's example of clemency, which ‘did an enormous work of good for the whole of the

country’.160 Lincoln, however, was not able to carry out this policy due to his

assassination, and President Johnson's toughness during Reconstruction arguably made

the effort ‘to bind up the nation's wounds’ far more difficult.161 The Irish members

seemed keen to avoid repeating this mistake in their own country. Arthur Lynch appealed

to the Prime Minister, arguing that he could become ‘a great statesman’ by following the

example of President Lincoln and his general amnesty.162 However, these appeals were

largely ignored, and the rebel leaders were executed. The Irish members were not alone

in alluding to Lincoln's justice towards Confederates, with Lord Charnwood emphasising

his ‘unexampled clemency, broadmindedness, and charity’. However, the difference was

that Charnwood did not believe that the Irish rebels were fighting for a justified cause, and

that the Easter Rising was ‘destitute in an unparalleled degree of those qualities appealing

to human sympathy’, as shared by Lincoln.163 This is clear evidence of how British and Irish

politicians differed on Irish independence, but also shows in what ways Lincoln's words

could be appropriated to defend opposing views.

When Bonar Law tried to associate himself with Lincoln to add credibility to the

government’s position on the Irish Question, he received a backlash from a host of Irish

members.164 Leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party, William Redmond, protested that

Ireland had been forced to join the British Union in 1800, not voluntarily become part of it,

as with the United States. Joseph Devlin argued that ‘President Lincoln was imposing

Conscription on his own people, but you are imposing Conscription upon a people who are

not your own.’ Devlin’s quote clearly came from a selective understanding or memory,

because Lincoln was known for introducing policies over a people which he did not

control, such as the Emancipation Proclamation. John Dillon argued that by quoting

160

Hansard, 5th

Series, 1916, LXXXII, 947.

161 A. Lincoln, 'Second Inaugural Address of President Abraham Lincoln – 1865,' http://www.nationalcenter.org/LincolnSecondInaugural.html (accessed 5 May 2009).

162 Hansard, 5

th Series, 1916, LXXXV, 2772.

163 Hansard, 5

th Series, 1916, XXI, 1011.

164 Hansard, 5

th Series, 1918, CIV, 1537-1575

http://www.nationalcenter.org/LincolnSecondInaugural.html


40 | P a g e

Lincoln on shooting a ‘wily agitator’, Bonar Law was making a clear threat against the Irish

people.165 Jeremiah MacVeigh was far more conciliatory, taking another quote from

Lincoln in reference to the conscription of blacks, ‘why should they do anything for us if we

will do nothing for them? If they stake their lives for us, they must be prompted by the

strongest motives, ever a promise of freedom.’ If the Irish were to fight for Britain, then

they too must be given freedom from their ‘bondage’.166 However, Daniel Boyle argued

that the comparison with the Civil War did not work well, as Lincoln was a far greater

character than anyone in parliament.167 It is clear that trying to assert Lincoln as an

authority to reinforce one’s ideas did not always work, and could add more complications

to the debate.

Lincoln as Lloyd George’s ‘Hero’

During the First World War, Arthur Lynch called for ‘a big man’ (not in reference to

Lincoln's large frame) to lead Britain ‘who had the sort of organic integrity displayed by

that rough man of the people of America’. He compared Lincoln to Lloyd George, who he

claimed had ‘shown himself to be a small, weak, and vacillating man’ with a ‘lack of

character’.168 Yet after his death, Lloyd George would be favourably compared to Lincoln,

especially for his leadership during the Great War.169 In fact, Lloyd George’s War Memoirs

contain numerous references to the president, particularly when it came to his

management of generals. He had a fair share of ‘donkeys’ (such as Douglas Haig) in charge

of his forces and, like Lincoln with McClellan, he would ultimately have to dismiss them.170

Biographers of Lloyd George have also highlighted the connection with Lincoln. For

example, Rowland notes that both were lawyers before they went on to become leaders

of their country in the midst of war.171 Lloyd George had some words of Lincoln framed on

his desk to remind him of how to practice his profession: ‘As a peacemaker the Lawyer has

165

Hansard, 5th

Series, 1918, CV, 294-5. 166

Hansard, 5th

Series, 1918, CIV, 1894. 167

Ibid., 1975. 168

Hansard, 5th

Series, 1918, CIII, 89. 169

Hansard, 5th

Series, 1942, CXXII, 867., Hansard, 5th

Series, 1945, CDIX, 1388. 170

D. Lloyd George, War Memoirs of David Lloyd George, (London, 1938), ii, 1823. 171

Rowland, Lloyd George, p. 19.


41 | P a g e

a supreme opportunity of being a good man.’172 Furthermore, as a child he had grown up

reading popular biographies of Lincoln, and it was from then on that Lincoln became his

‘hero’. After Lloyd George’s defeat to the Conservatives in 1922, he toured the United

States and Canada, and was ‘very much moved’ after meeting Abraham Lincoln’s first son,

Robert Todd Lincoln, whilst in New Hampshire. He then travelled to Springfield, Illinois, to

lay a wreath at Lincoln’s tomb and deliver a speech paying tribute to the president later

that evening.173

* * *

Lincoln in British Literature, Education and Drama

Interest in Lincoln extended beyond the political sphere during the Great Rapprochement,

in a way that has not been repeated since. In literature, Lord Charnwood’s Abraham

Lincoln (1916) biography achieved transatlantic popularity, going through numerous

editions before being superseded by Benjamin Thomas’ work in 1952. Peterson notes the

amazement of American reviewers ‘that an English lord would understand Lincoln so well.’

Charnwood was also invited to speak in America, significantly making an address at the

dedication of a Lincoln statue in the grounds of Springfield State House. 174 Lincoln was a

popular pedagogical tool elsewhere, with several Scottish prisons holding lectures on the

president to the inmates. On average, half the prison population at these locations

attended the lectures, and one report noted that prisoners ‘often ask for books dealing

with the subject’ of the biographical lectures, including Lincoln.175 It seems that he was a

useful subject matter as a man of lowly birth who was able to rise to the highest position

in his country. Furthermore, his character was an important example of temperance and

frugality.

John Drinkwater’s production Abraham Lincoln: A Play (1918) was seen by many Britons

across the country. Inspired by his new hero, having read Charnwood’s biography,

172

F. Owen, Tempestuous Journey: Lloyd George, His Life and Times (London, 1954), p. 29. 173

Times, 8 October 1923, p. 12. and 20 October 1923, p. 9. 174

M.D. Peterson, Lincoln in American Memory (New York, 1995), p. 201. 175

Parliamentary Papers, ‘Annual Report of the Prison Commissioners for Scotland’: Cd. 4044 (1908), p. 65., Cd. 4604 (1909), p. 51., Cd. 6763 (1913), pp. 55, 79-80., Cd. 7403 (1914), pp. 67-8.


42 | P a g e

Drinkwater embarked on writing a dramatization of the president’s most important

moments in office. The play portrays Lincoln as an intelligent and gracious man, and the

closing remarks of the play tell the audience that despite his death, ‘one man’s

character…endures’, whose example they should follow.176 The play was so successful that

it was resurrected on several occasions, and reached the West End and Broadway,

providing evidence of Lincoln’s enduring popularity with British theatregoers.

Drinkwater’s production is significant in the fact that it was the most successful Lincoln

dramatization, running for five years in every major American city, despite the fact that it

was written by an Englishman.177 The context of the Great War seems to have played an

important role in shaping Lincoln, drawing several parallels with the Civil War, as Prime

Minister Lloyd George had done. The play was released at the close of a bloody conflict,

and there were calls for harsh treatment of the defeated powers, as there was in Lincoln’s

time. Yet Drinkwater, through Lincoln, subtly appealed for clemency. Perhaps he was

making deliberate reference to this when gave Lincoln the following words: ‘It is for us to

set a great example’ and ‘We will defeat treason. And I will meet it with conciliation’.178

The success of the production and Drinkwater’s reference to Lincoln as ‘my hero’,

illustrates that he had an appeal that stretched beyond the American public. Interestingly,

Drinkwater had not visited America until his play opened in the United States, when he

went on lecture tour, yet he felt a deep personal connection with and admiration for

Lincoln.179 Shortly after the play’s opening, he wrote an accompanying book, Lincoln, the

World Emancipator (1920), which a contemporary reviewer noted was a gospel message

of ‘Anglo-Saxon cooperation’ where Lincoln was a ‘sufficient and fitting symbol’ to ‘work

out the salvation of the world.’180 The English Review noted that although ‘Lincoln is not

an English hero’, and was ‘the antithesis to the modern statesman’, he had such wide

appeal in Britain. The attraction, it argued, lay in the president’s moral character, with his

176

J. Drinkwater, Abraham Lincoln: A Play (London, 1918), p. 72. 177

R.P. Basler, 'Lincoln and American Writers', Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association, 7 (1985), 9. 178

Drinkwater, Lincoln, pp. 46, 56. 179

B. Honold, 'John Drinkwater: The Heroic in Lincoln', http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=149236622&blogId=421822615 (accessed 8 May 2009).

180 J. Drinkwater, Lincoln, the World Emancipator (New York, 1920) cited in A. C. Cole, 'Book Review: Lincoln, the World Emancipator by John Drinkwater', Mississippi Valley Historical Review, 8 (1921), 206-7.

http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=149236622&blogId=421822615


43 | P a g e

‘purpose’, ‘usefulness’, and ‘sacrifice’ being compared to that of soldiers in the Great War.

Strangely, the reviewer described Lincoln as ‘the epitome of the League of Nations’ in

wanting to liberate ‘the oppressed’ and abolish slavery.181

Memorials of Lincoln across Britain

The most visual legacy of Lincoln from the Great Rapprochement can be seen in the

various memorials across the country. There are two in London, and one each in Norfolk,

Manchester and Edinburgh. The New York Times expressed their value as ‘a visible symbol

of the accord of sentiment and sympathy between the British and American peoples’ in

the aftermath of the First World War.182 The statue in Edinburgh was the earliest, unveiled

at the dawn of the Great Rapprochement, and was dedicated to Scottish soldiers who

fought in the Civil War. Lincoln looms at large in the memorial, and an emancipated slave

looks up in honour at him. Despite this representation of Lincoln being the ‘Great

Emancipator’, it seems that the American benefactors (most notably Cornelius Vanderbilt,

J.P. Morgan and Scottish-born Andrew Carnegie) heavily influenced the final outcome,

despite it differing from British perceptions of Lincoln.183

181

English Review, February 1920, pp. 186-7. 182

New York Times, 21 October 1917, p. 19. 183

'The Lincoln Monument - Edinburgh', http://www.electricscotland.com/history/articles/lincoln_monument.htm (accessed 9 May 2009).

http://www.electricscotland.com/history/articles/lincoln_monument.htm


44 | P a g e

The statue carries a quotation from Lincoln: ‘To preserve the jewel of liberty in the framework of freedom’

184

Towards the end of the war, Britain embraced its connection with America, but America

also embraced its connection with Britain. The proposals and fundraising efforts largely

came from Americans. In Norfolk, the ancestral home of the Lincoln family, a bust of the

president was unveiled in 1919. The inscription underneath used famous words of Lincoln

and applied them to the Anglo-American friendship: ‘between that land and this land and

all lands there shall be “malice toward none with charity for all.”’185 That same year,

Manchester erected a statue of Lincoln, largely through the efforts of the powerful Taft

family. Originally the statue was destined for London, but Robert Todd Lincoln was

appalled at the statue created by George Barnard, calling it ‘a monstrous figure which is

grotesque as a likeness of President Lincoln and defamatory as an image’.186 Barnard’s

work, nicknamed the ‘stomach ache statue’, did not portray the eminent statesmen that

184

K. Chantrey, 'Chantrey's Edinburgh', http://citysnapper.org/chantrey/scotland/photos/20040819065edinburgh.jpg (accessed 7 May 2009). 185

'Lincoln Connection to Hingham', http://news.webshots.com/photo/2691694360075034447oUzuAw (accessed 7 May 2009)., 'Lincoln Bust Hingham', http://news.webshots.com/photo/2897943260075034447JgcIsc (accessed 7 May 2009).

186 H. E. Dickson, 'George Grey Barnard's Controversial Lincoln', Art Journal, 27 (1967), p. 13.

http://citysnapper.org/chantrey/scotland/photos/20040819065edinburgh.jpg

http://news.webshots.com/photo/2691694360075034447oUzuAw

http://news.webshots.com/photo/2897943260075034447JgcIsc


45 | P a g e

Abraham Lincoln’s son wanted the world to see.187 In the House of Lords, the Earl of

Dartmouth reported that someone had told him how the Barnard statue ‘seemed to

embody in his mind all the nasty things and spiteful attacks made against Lincoln’ during

his lifetime.188 Nonetheless, the statue was used in Manchester, and celebrations were

headed by the American Ambassador and Lord Mayor of the city. They were keen to

emphasise the ‘British American Friendship, the Foundation of the World’s Peace’, in

reference to their combined efforts in the Great War.189 There were also references to

Lincoln’s sympathetic letter to the cotton workers of Manchester. Judge Alton Parker,

Chancellor of the Sulgrave Institution was also present. The institution’s name came from

Sulgrave Manor, the ancestral home of George Washington in Oxfordshire, and its aim was

to promote co-operation between English-speaking peoples during the Great

Rapprochement. The most significant statue, primarily due to its location ‘in the capital of

the Empire’, was Augustus St Gaudens’ sculpture placed in the Canning Enclosure,

opposite the Houses of Parliament.190 Firstly, as Lord Charnwood noted in a parliamentary

debate on the issue, it was a ‘rather unusual step’ to honour a foreign statesman with a

statue in England.191 There was a grand ceremony to mark the occasion, including a

speech from former Secretary of State Elihu Root and the ‘Battle Hymn of the Republic’

sung by the Westminster Abbey choir, followed by a dinner attended by numerous

politicians.192 The speeches were of great significance in a time when the fate of

democracy across Europe was uncertain, due to the devastating effects of the war. Both

Lord Bryce and Lloyd George described Lincoln as a ‘beacon’ of democracy whose ‘help’

the ‘torn and bleeding earth’ needed to restore faith in free government during ‘these

dark days of strife and confusion.’193

187

Ibid., p. 14. 188

Hansard, 5th

Series, 1917, XXVII, 123. 189

New York Times¸ 15 September 1919, p. 5. 190

Hansard, 5th

Series, 1917, XXVII, 120. 191

Ibid., 112. 192

Times, 29 July 1920, p. 13. 193

Times, 29 July 1920, p. 14.


46 | P a g e

Conclusions

Although it cannot be said that Lincoln directly influenced British policymaking, these

examples have shown that his legacy has, nonetheless, been felt. Following the extension

of the franchise in Britain, he could be praised as a defender of democracy (though not as

frequently as might be expected) and adopted as a rallying point for the British during

moments of crisis.194 Richard Carwardine has stated that Lincoln ‘has remained a political

talisman’ for some politicians, and this is clearly evident in many parliamentary debates.195

The Great Rapprochement provides the best expression of Lincoln’s legacy, but beyond the

1920s, it became somewhat limited as other American icons took precedence.

194

During the Great Rapprochement, Lincoln is mentioned about sixty times in parliamentary debates, but rarely in connection to democracy. This came during the Second World War.

195 Wall Street Journal, 15 April 2004, p. 16.


47 | P a g e

Postscript: ‘Now he belongs to the ages’

As the Great Rapprochement became an enduring ‘Special Relationship’, Britons have

taken on other symbols of America, causing Lincoln to fall out of the limelight. He is now

only one of a large number of figures in the American historical and cultural pantheon

adopted by Britons. This move away from Lincoln is particularly evident in the latter half

of the twentieth century, as figures such as Franklin Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy and Martin

Luther King Jr. have become popular icons, not only in America, but in Britain as well. This

can be explained in part by the time elapsed from Lincoln’s life, as people old enough to

remember him died, such as Woodrow Wilson and David Lloyd George, the last heads of

their respective governments to have lived during the Civil War. The speed by which

parliament mobilised to erect a statue in Roosevelt’s honour after his death, and the

outpouring of grief following Kennedy’s assassination, illustrated how the memory of

Lincoln could be quickly replaced with more ‘modern’ or applicable examples.

Understandably, it was easier for Britons to empathise with American characters from the

own lifetime, rather than one from a hundred years before. Martin Luther King Jr. is

another of Lincoln’s ‘replacements’, being embraced by the black community and a central

figure in Britain’s version of Black History Month. Lincoln, the supposed ‘Great

Emancipator’, does not feature in any meaningful way.

This does not mean Lincoln has been forgotten. The Lincoln statues are an enduring

physical mark in Britain, and Conservative Prime Minister Harold MacMillan used the St

Gaudens statue as a platform to express Anglo-American solidarity during the Cold War,

imploring the two countries to follow Lincoln’s example and ‘work together for progress

and freedom.’196 The 200th anniversary of his death has been an especially significant

point marking his legacy in Britain, but it pales in comparison with his coverage during the

Great Rapprochement. The recent election to the presidency of Barack Obama, who has

consciously modelled himself on Lincoln, has roused British interest for a little while, and

196

Times, 13 February 1959, pp. 12-13.


48 | P a g e

sparked a flurry of Lincoln book reviews, television and radio shows, and Obama-Lincoln

comparisons.197

197

‘Newsnight Review’, 13 February 2009, BBC Two, ‘Night Waves’, 11 February 2009, BBC Radio 3.


49 | P a g e

Conclusion

This dissertation has demonstrated how Abraham Lincoln’s legacy has had an impact upon

Britain in a variety of ways. This can be seen especially in British political rhetoric and in

the cementing of Anglo-American relations. The British were generally unsympathetic

towards him during his lifetime, which was for a number of reasons. Conservatives were

happy to see the great ‘republican experiment’ appear to be failing, but even more liberal

and radical observers of the American Civil War did not give Lincoln much credit. Most

Britons were unable to appreciate the circumstances and restrictions placed on Lincoln’s

tenure. Proud of their anti-slavery heritage, they could not understand why the president,

who many considered some kind of despot (having suspended the writ of habeas corpus),

did not simply abolish slavery. As one parliamentary debate highlighted, Britain believes it

has a ‘far greater’ collection of its own emancipation heroes (not just William

Wilberforce), and does not need to supplement this with Lincoln. His statues continue to

present a physical reminder of the American statesman, but as Lord Winster noted, there

are ‘many statues in London’, including many ‘mediocre’ candidates, with which Lincoln

has to compete for attention.198 He seems to have been lost in the mass of American

political and cultural icons appropriated by Britain.

Lincoln has not been best remembered in Britain for his work in abolishing slavery, but

instead his character and principles. For statesmen during the World Wars, his example

was used as a framework for mobilizing the population for total war and executing military

strategy. Lectures in prisons used Lincoln as a real-life ‘rags-to-riches’ story of a man with

solid morals and providing a fine example of the benefits of democracy. Drinkwater’s

Lincoln play and accompanying book emphasised his compassion, humility and work to

reconcile a divided country.

Louis Blanc accurately summed up the somewhat fickle and unpredictable change in

British opinion of Lincoln: it is like the ‘scenery of an opera, where a horrible cavern is

198

Hansard, 5th

Series, 1949, CLXV, 1426, 1430.


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succeeded, all in a minute, by a smiling landscape.’199 The response to Lincoln’s

assassination demonstrates the fluidity of British public opinion, though it is clear that

some Britons had already begun to change their minds about the president following the

Emancipation Proclamation. However, criticism of his successor Andrew Johnson

illustrates the enduring hostility towards America and its form of government. Thus, the

Anglo-American relationship had a brief coming together, before again becoming

estranged. It would take several crises and joint efforts in two World Wars for a rekindling

of the friendship that has defined America and Britain ever since. Yet, Lincoln served as a

figure in this process, with David Lloyd George adopting him as his own hero, and

politicians in many generations adopting the president’s rhetoric.

Lloyd George is often quoted for saying that Lincoln ‘lost his nationality in death’.200

Lincoln faced copious amounts of criticism during his life, but this turned in praise in the

years after his death – people do not generally write negative obituaries. However, this

view of Lincoln is somewhat obscured, coloured by Lloyd George’s unbounded admiration

for the president at a high-water mark of the Anglo-American friendship. Whilst he has

been appropriated in Britain in different ways, he has not become a truly ‘global’ figure.

Outside most political and academic circles, and even within them, one wonders if many

Britons today have even heard of ‘Honest Abe’.

199

Cited in Blackett, Divided Hearts, p. 124. 200

Peterson, Lincoln in American Memory, p. 27.


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Miscellaneous

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http://find.galegroup.com/ukpc/NCUK_researchguide.htm



http://arthist.cla.umn.edu/aict/Tennielweb/index.html

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http://news.webshots.com/photo/2897943260075034447JgcIsc

http://news.webshots.com/photo/2691694360075034447oUzuAw

http://pmsa.cch.kcl.ac.uk/MR/MR-MCR09.htm

http://www.electricscotland.com/history/articles/lincoln_monument.htm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/wtwta/2997144.stm

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Lincoln's Life and Legacy - Jake Campbell Copyright 2009