Any news from the front, this morning?
NICOLAY
[_Handing him a telegram._]
From General Grant"s lines--only this, sir----
LINCOLN
[_Reads._]
"Confederate Cavalry raiders capture a Brigadier General and fifty army mules."--Too bad--rush a regiment after the mules--they"re worth $200 a piece--Jeff Davis can have my Brigadier General----!
NICOLAY
[_Laughs._]
Yes, sir--and this came in code from Sherman--
[_Hands_ LINCOLN _another telegram._]
LINCOLN
[_Eagerly._]
Word from Sherman! Good!
[_Reads._]
--"Scouts report Hood"s trenches before Atlanta are impregnable--carefully considering a flank movement--but as yet, I cannot find the position or strength of Hood"s second line----" W. T. Sherman----
[_Pauses._]
Grant"s deadlocked with Lee at Petersburg--If-Sherman-could-only-give-us-Atlanta!----
[_Pauses._]
I"ve a notion to telegraph Sherman an order direct----!
NICOLAY
I wouldn"t go over General Grant"s head, sir, with a military order--he"s sensitive----
LINCOLN
It might make trouble--Grant might resent my interference with his plan of campaign----
NICOLAY
It would have to be filed in the War Department----
LINCOLN
Yes--I know. Anything else----?
NICOLAY
[_Handing him a large doc.u.ment._]
Baker"s full report of the secret service on the Copperhead Societies---- He asks for the immediate arrest of their leaders--and I think he"s right----
LINCOLN
[_Shakes his head._]
It won"t do--it won"t do just now--it"s an ugly business--too ugly for haste--I"ll look it over carefully----
[_Lays the report on his desk._]
I"m ready now to see the people----
NICOLAY
The Republican National Committee are in town, sir----
LINCOLN
What on earth are they doing here----?
NICOLAY
That"s what everybody"s asking----
LINCOLN
They should be in their States, leading the Party to victory---- What do they want?
NICOLAY
To see you----
LINCOLN
Umph----!
NICOLAY
Henry Raymond, their Chairman, is with them, and has just sent word demanding a hearing before your public reception this morning.