英文
17
While Lincoln was en route to Washington for his inauguration, both the United States Secret Service and private detectives discovered what they believed was a plot to assassinate him as he passed through Baltimore.
In alarm Lincoln's friends pleaded with him to abandon the schedule that had been announced, and urged him to slip into Washington incognito by night.
That sounded cowardly, and Lincoln knew it would raise a storm of scoffs and sneers. He was decidedly against it. But finally, after hours of pleading, he bowed to the wishes of his trusted advisers, and prepared to make the rest of the trip secretly.
As soon as Mrs. Lincoln heard about the altered arrangements she insisted that she would go with him, and when she was told most emphatically that she must come on a later train she lost her temper and protested so loudly that she all but gave the plan away.
It had been announced that Lincoln would speak in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, on February 22, spend the night there, and then leave the next morning for Baltimore and Washington.
He made his speech in Harrisburg according to schedule; but, instead of spending the night there, he slipped out of the back door of the hotel that evening at six and, disguised in an old threadbare overcoat and a soft wool hat such as he had never worn before, he was driven to an unlighted railway coach, and a few minutes later an engine was whirling him away to Philadelphia, and the telegraph wires in Harrisburg were cut at once so that the information would not be relayed to the would-be assassins.
At Philadelphia, his party had to wait for an hour to change trains and stations. In order to prevent recognition during that time, Lincoln and Allan Pinkerton, the famous detective, drove about the streets of the city in a darkened cab.
At 10:55, leaning on Pinkerton's arm and stooping so as not to draw attention to his height, Lincoln entered the station by a side door. He carried his head bent forward and had his old traveling shawl drawn close so that it almost covered his face. In that guise, he crossed the waiting-room and made his way to the rear section of the last sleeping-car on the train, which one of Pinkerton's aides, a woman, had had cut off from the rest of the car by a heavy curtain and reserved for her “invalid brother.”
Lincoln had received scores of threatening letters, declaring that he would never live to enter the White House, and General Winfield Scott, Commander-in-Chief of the Army, feared that Lincoln would be shot during the inaugural address—and so did thousands of others.
Many people in Washington were afraid to attend the ceremony.
So old General Scott had sixty soldiers stationed under the platform at the east portico of the Capitol from which Lincoln read his inaugural address; and he had soldiers standing on guard in the Capitol behind the President, and soldiers encircling the audience in front of him. And after the ceremony, the new President stepped into a carriage and rode back through Pennsylvania Avenue under the protection of buildings covered with sharpshooters in green coats, and between rows of infantrymen with bristling bayonets.
When he finally reached the White House without a bullet in his heart, many people were surprised.
Others were disappointed.
For several years prior to 1861 the nation had been struggling under a financial depression. Suffering had been so intense that the Government had been compelled to send troops to New York City to prevent hungry mobs from breaking into the sub-Treasury.
Thousands of gaunt, desperate men were still looking for work when Lincoln was inaugurated; and they knew that the Republicans, coming into power for the first time, would dismiss all Democratic office-holders, even down to the ten-dollar-aweek clerks.
Scores of applicants were scrambling for every job; and Lincoln had not been in the White House two hours when he was overwhelmed by them. They rushed through the halls; jammed the corridors; took entire possession of the East Room; and invaded even the private parlors.
Beggars came, importuning him for the price of a lunch. One man wanted Lincoln to give him an old pair of pants.
A widow came, seeking an appointment for a man who had promised to marry her provided she could get him an office that would support a family.
Hundreds came merely to get his autograph. An Irishwoman who kept a boarding-house rushed to the White House to implore Lincoln to help her collect a board bill from a government clerk.
As soon as an office-holder became seriously ill, dozens of applicants flocked to Lincoln, asking for the appointment “in case he should die.”
Every one was armed with testimonials, but of course Lincoln couldn't read a tenth of them. One day when two applicants for the same post-office thrust huge bundles of letters into his hands he simplified matters by tossing both packages unopened onto the scales, and appointed the man who had the heavier one.
Scores came to see Lincoln again and again, demanding jobs and abusing him savagely because he refused. Many were loafers without a shred of merit. One woman came asking for an appointment for her husband, admitting he was too drunk to come himself.
Their sordid selfishness, their voracious greed, appalled Lincoln. They intercepted him on his way to lunch. They rushed up to his carriage as he drove through the streets, presenting their credentials, begging for jobs. Even after Lincoln had been President for a year and the nation had been at war for ten months, the milling mob still hounded him.
“Will they never cease?” he exclaimed.
The mad onslaught of office-seekers had killed Zachary Taylor before he had been President a year and a half. The worry of it killed “Tippecanoe” Harrison in four weeks. But Lincoln had to endure the office-seekers and run a war at the same time. Finally, however, even his iron constitution all but broke under the strain. Stricken with an attack of smallpox, he said:
“Tell all the office-seekers to come at once, for now I have something I can give to all of them.”
Lincoln hadn't been in the White House twenty-four hours when he was confronted with a grave and momentous problem. The garrison holding Fort Sumter, in the harbor at Charleston, South Carolina, was almost out of food. The President had to decide whether to provision the fort or surrender it to the Confederates.
His army and navy advisers said: “Don't try to send food. If you do, it will mean war.”
Six of the seven members of his Cabinet said the same thing. But Lincoln knew that he couldn't evacuate Sumter without virtually recognizing secession and encouraging it, and dissolving the Union.
In his inaugural address he had declared that he had the most solemn oath “registered in heaven” to “preserve, protect, and defend” the Union. He intended to keep his oath.
So he gave the orders, and away sailed the U.S.S. Powhatan, carrying bacon and beans and bread for Fort Sumter. But no guns, no men, no ammunition.
When Jefferson Davis heard the news he telegraphed General Beauregard to attack Fort Sumter if he thought it necessary.
Major Anderson, in command of the fortress, sent word to General Beauregard that, if he would wait only four days, the garrison would be compelled to evacuate through starvation, for they were already living on nothing but salt pork.
Why didn't Beauregard wait?
Perhaps it was because a few of his advisers felt that “unless blood were sprinkled in the faces of the people,” some of the seceding States might return to the Union.
Shooting a few Yankees would arouse enthusiasm and cement the Confederacy.
So Beauregard issued his tragic orders; and, at half-past four on the morning of April 12, a shell screamed through the air and fell hissing into the sea near the walls of the fort.
For thirty-four hours, the bombardment continued.
The Confederates turned the affair into a social event. Brave young men, gay in their new uniforms, fired their cannon to the applause of fashionable society women promenading the wharves and the Battery.
On Sunday afternoon the Union soldiers surrendered the fort and four barrels of salt pork; and, with the Stars and Stripes flying, and the band playing “Yankee Doodle,” they sailed away, bound for New York.
For a week Charleston abandoned itself to joy. A Te Dewn was sung with great pomp in the cathedral; and crowds paraded the streets, drinking and singing and carousing in tap rooms and taverns.
Judged by the loss of life, the bombardment of Sumter was nothing. Neither side lost a man. But judged by the train of events which it set in motion, few battles have been more momentous. It was the beginning of the bloodiest war the world had ever known up to that time.
中文
17
在林肯前往华盛顿就职的途中，美国特勤局和私家侦探们发现了一场计划在林肯经过巴尔的摩时暗杀林肯的阴谋。
得知这一消息后，林肯的朋友们恳求他放弃之前公布的行程，并且在晚上匿名进入华盛顿。
这样的做法听起来十分懦弱，林肯很清楚，如果他这样做，势必会引起暴风雨般的嘲讽。因此，林肯断然拒绝了。但是，经不住身边那些值得信任的顾问数小时的恳求，林肯同意秘密进入华盛顿。
林肯夫人听说行程变动后，坚持要与林肯一起走。当她得知自己必须乘坐下一班火车时，她非常生气，大声抗议，差点儿没把计划泄露出去。
根据公开的行程，林肯将在二月二十二日在宾夕法尼亚州的哈里斯堡发表演说，然后住一晚，第二天启程前往巴尔的摩和华盛顿。
他按照行程在哈里斯堡发表了演说，但却没有在那里住宿。当晚六点钟，他溜出了酒店大门。为了隐藏行踪，他穿了一件破旧的外套，戴了一顶自己从不会戴的软羊皮帽。他被送上了一辆没有点灯的火车车厢，几分钟后，引擎旋转起来，带着他直奔费城。与此同时，哈里斯堡的电报线全部被切断了，以防企图杀死林肯的刺客收到消息。
在费城，为了更换火车和车站，他的人不得不等一个小时。为了防止林肯在这段时间内被认出来，名侦探阿兰·平克顿（Allan Pinkerton）和林肯一起坐上了一辆没有灯光的出租车，在市区的街道上穿梭。
十点五十五分的时候，林肯从侧门进入了车站。为了不让人注意到他的身高，林肯一路弯腰靠在平克顿的手臂上。他低着头，拉紧旅行披肩，将脸埋在披肩里，顺利地穿过候车室，来到列车最后一节卧铺车厢的尾部。平克顿的一位女助手事先已将这段车厢用布与前段隔开，声称是为自己的“残疾弟弟”准备的。
林肯收到过很多恐吓信，声称不会让他活着进入白宫。陆军总司令温菲尔德·斯科特将军（Winfield Scott）担心林肯会在就职演说中遭遇袭击——事实上，人们都是这样认为的。
华盛顿的很多人都不敢去参加典礼。
因此，斯科特老将军在林肯预备发表就职演说的国会大厦东面门廊处安排了六十名士兵，另外还派兵从后方守卫总统和前来聆听演讲的观众。典礼结束后，新总统踏上一辆马车，经由宾夕法尼亚大道往回走。林肯的马车受到了严密的保护，路边站满了拿着明晃晃的刺刀的步兵，路旁的大楼里也布满了身着绿色制服的狙击手。
当林肯最终活着到达白宫的时候，很多人都觉得不可思议。
自然也有人深感失望。
早在一八六一年之前的好几年，整个国家的经济就已一片萧条，情况十分严重，政府不得不派出部队驻守纽约市，以防饥饿的暴民闯入国库。
在林肯就职的时候，华盛顿聚集着成千上万个憔悴又绝望的失业者。他们希望能得到一份工作，因为他们知道第一次执政的共和党肯定会第一时间解雇掉所有民主党的公务员，即便是一周拿十美金的小职员也不会放过。
可以说，每一个工作岗位都有大量的应聘者争夺，因此林肯进入白宫还不到两个小时，便被这些人包围了。他们在大厅穿梭着，挤在走廊里，占据了整个东房，甚至还想进入私人客厅。
乞丐们也来了，向林肯讨一顿午饭钱。还有一个乞丐求林肯给他一条旧裤子穿。
有一个寡妇也来求助林肯，因为如果她能给自己的男人找一份养家糊口的工作，那个男人就答应娶她。
还有好几百人是来找林肯签名的。一位开寄宿公寓的爱尔兰妇女来白宫的目的是恳求林肯帮她收回一位公务员在她那里欠下的食宿费。
一旦有公务员病倒了，便会冒出来几十个求职者。他们恳求林肯，“如果那个家伙死了”，就把岗位给他们。
每个人都带着推荐信，但是林肯连其中的十分之一都不可能看完。有一天，两个争夺同一个邮局岗位的求职者各拿着厚厚一捆推荐信交到林肯手里。林肯只好将两个包裹放在天平上，将职位给了材料更重的那个人。
总有几十个人天天往白宫跑，要林肯给他们工作。当林肯拒绝时，他们便破口大骂。这些人中很多是劣迹斑斑的懒汉。有一位妇女代替丈夫来谋工作，因为她的丈夫喝得太醉了，无法自己来。
他们肮脏的自私本性和永不满足的贪欲让林肯大开眼界。他们在林肯出去吃午饭的路上拦截他。当林肯坐在马车里穿过街道时他们跳上他的马车，拿出学历证书乞求工作。即便是在林肯当选总统一年后，内战也已开始十个月后，这些暴民仍旧缠着林肯不放。
“他们会有罢休的一天吗？”林肯感慨道。
这些求职者疯狂的攻击曾逼死了扎卡里·泰勒总统（Zachary Taylor），当时他上任还不到一年半的时间。哈里森总统也因这种事忧思过虑，上任四周便去世了。但是林肯不得不一边忍受求职者们的进攻，一边领导一场内战。终于，纵使林肯再体格健壮，也在巨大的压力下病倒了。他感染上了天花。他说：
“让所有的求职者都来吧，现在我有样东西可以给他们所有人。”
林肯入主白宫还不到二十四个小时，便面临了一个严肃的大问题。南卡罗来纳州查尔斯顿港口的萨姆特要塞中的卫戍部队基本没有供给了，因此总统需要决定是为他们提供供给，还是把他们让给南方联盟。
陆军和海军顾问向林肯建议道：“不要送食物给他们。如果你这样做，那便意味着战争开始了。”
内阁七位成员中有六位给出了同样的建议。但是林肯很清楚，如果从萨姆特撤军，就等于承认南北分离的局势，只会加快联邦瓦解。
在就职演说中林肯宣称自己已郑重地“向上帝发誓”，一定会“维护、保护并捍卫”联邦。因此他打算捍卫自己的誓言。
于是林肯下令波瓦坦号带着培根、豆子和面包前往萨姆特要塞，但是不带枪支，不带军队，不带弹药。
当杰佛逊·戴维斯得知这一消息后给博勒加德将军（Beauregard）发了一份电报，命令他若有必要，攻打萨姆特要塞。
要塞指挥官安德森少校给博勒加德将军传话，只要他愿意多等四天，卫戍部队就会因为饥饿而被迫撤军，因为他们现在只剩下一些咸肉可以吃了。
博勒加德将军为什么没有等呢？
也许是他的一些幕僚认为“除非血溅到了人们的脸上”，否则某些已经脱离联邦的州有可能会重回联邦。
而且，杀几个北方佬能增加士气，令南方联盟更加团结。
因此博勒加德将军下达了一项悲剧性的命令。四月十二日凌晨四点半，一枚炮弹呼啸着从天而降，落入了要塞围墙附近的水域，发出了咝咝的声音。
接下来，南方发起了持续三十四个小时的轰炸。
南方联盟将这一事件变成了一场社交事件。勇敢的青年男子穿着簇新的制服，时髦的交际花在码头和炮台附近散步。在交际花们的掌声中，士兵们发射出了一枚又一枚炮弹。
星期天下午，联邦的士兵投降了，交出了要塞和四桶咸肉。联邦军的船上星条旗迎风飘扬。士兵们在《洋基曲》的奏乐声中向纽约起航。
查尔斯顿城举行了为期一周的庆祝活动。人们涌进教堂，高唱《感恩曲》；群众在街上游行，在酒吧和酒馆喝酒狂欢。
从死亡人数上来看，萨姆特要塞的轰炸不算什么大事件，因为双方都没有人员伤亡。但是从它引发的一连串事件来看，很少有战役像它一样意义深远。它揭开了一场有史以来最残酷的战争——美国南北战争的序幕。
