Josiah Gilbert Holland

“ Though unconscious of any partiality for a party, capable of blinding my vision or distorting my judgment, I am aware that, at this early day, when opinions are still sharply divided upon the same questions concerning principles, policies and men, which prevailed during Mr. Lincoln's active political life, it is impossible to utter any judgment which will not have a bearing upon the party politics of the time. ”

“ Lincoln, though they satisfy an immediate want, and gather much which would otherwise be forever lost, can hardly hope to be more then tributaries to that better and completer biography which the next, or some succeeding generation, will be sure to produce and possess. ”

“ The Life of Washington, even though it was written by a Marshall, with the abundant access to unpublished documents which his position enabled him to command, or which it was the policy of the government to afford him, waited half a century for Irving, to give it symmetry and completeness. ”