[x]

I see this article cited on line as being from the Baltimore Exchange, the Memphis Daily Avalanche, Richmond Times Dispatch, and the Fayetteville Semi-Weekly Observer but never from the Baltimore Sun (where the story allegedly first appeared), so yes, it would have been nice to see a reproduction of the page of the Sun with that story on that day (the same day the Exchange came out citing a Sun article on the conversation). You ought to be able to see where that could have cleared things up a little and established your argument on a firmer foundation. It would have brought the article one (small) step closer to possible sources.

As it is, I don't know what to make of the article:

"The delegation, on leaving 'the presence,' conferred together, and agreed on the hopelessness of their errand and the sad prospect of any good thing from such a source, and the exclamation was actually made, 'God have mercey on us, when the government is placed in the hands of a man like this!'"

It sounds like there's a very clear propagandistic purpose to the article. The story about the Irishman, the talk of "spunk" that appear in some accounts - this is certainly one of the stranger meetings any president ever had.

BroJoeK, you wrote about this last year, so maybe you know more about it and have something to contribute.

[rustbucket]

I'll provide some links to other sources of Lincoln's words about the revenue. Some of these sources have different wording, as you noted above.

1. Link 1.

2. Link 2.

3. The Baltimore Daily Exchange article of April 3, 1861 sounds like a different reporter wrote his own version of what he was told by an attendee of the meeting with Lincoln, possibly a different attendee than the source in the Sun article. See: Link 3

4. But here is what might convince you about the Baltimore Sun article, a reprinted copy of the Sun article in another newspaper minus the last two paragraphs. This reprint was published in the Bedford Inquirer, (Bedford Pennsylvania), May 3, 1861. (I've already provided one of those last two paragraphs and would be happy to provide the other.) For the Bedford Inquirer article, see: Link 4

I've also provided a link above to the many pages of John Baldwin's 1866 congressional testimony that mentions a similar Lincoln comment about the revenue made in an April 4, 1861 meeting with Lincoln.

x, you said, If Lincoln said it, was it really a jaw-dropping moment that revealed his inner-most motivations, or was it one of many things said in the conversation?. How is your jaw? Certainly it wasn't the only thing Lincoln said in the meeting or the only topic discussed, but IMO it does indicate one of the main drivers for his actions.

rockrr, are you still a skeptic? The Belton Inquirer reprint of the Sun article matches my copy of the Sun article, minus the last two paragraphs as I mentioned above.