Strange talk

   ‘Your conscience is troubling you,’ says someone.
   ‘By thunder, there is no lack of people determined to make my conscience trouble me,’ says Lincoln. ‘as though I can’t tend my own conscience, they must be forever running pins into it. There was this gentleman the other day, a worthy man, too, and I was ill-advised enough to say to him much what I’ve said tonight: that nigras, while deserving our utmost compassion and assistance, were nevertheless, a nuisance. I said they were the rock on which our nation had been splitting for years, and that they could well assume, the proportions of a national catastrophe – through no fault of their own, of course. I believe I concluded by wishing the whole parcel of them back to Africa. He was shocked: “Strange talk this,” says he, “from the sponsor of a bill against slavery.” “I’d sponsor a bill to improve bad drains,” says I. “They’re a confounded nuisance, too.” A thoughtless remark, no doubt, and a faulty analogy, but I paid fro it. “Good God,” cries he, “you’ll not compare human souls with bad drains, surely.” “Not invariably,” says I, but I got no further, because he stalked off in a rage, having misunderstood me completely.’

Flash For Freedom!, p.129, Pan edition, 8th printing, 1980.

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Flashman, Flashman quotes,Abraham Lincoln.