The other did not reply. He was an honest man who did not deal in smooth phrases.
"I'd resign to-morrow," Lincoln went on. "No railsplitter ever laid down his axe at the end of a hard day so gladly as I would lay down my office. But I've got to be sure first that my successor will keep faith with this nation. I've got to find a man who will keep the right course."
"Which is?" Stanton asked.
"To fight it out to the very end. To the last drop of blood and the last cent. There can be no going back.If I surrendered my post to any successor, though he were an archangel from heaven, who would weaken on that great purpose, I should deserve to be execrated as the betrayer of my country."