Robert C.Winthrop says: "I recall vividly the impressions I then formed both of his ability and amiability.

We were old Whigs together, and agreed entirely upon all questions of public interest.

I could not always concur in the policy of the party which made him President, but I never lost my personal regard for him.

For shrewdness, sagacity, and keen practical sense, he has had no superior in our day or generation." Alexander H.Stephens, writing seventeen years after Lincoln's death, recalled their service together in Congress.

"I knew Mr.Lincoln well and intimately," said Mr.Stephens.