Objective Comprehension-VIII

Please study carefully the comprehension given below. The passages is followed by a set of questions choose the best answer to each question.

In modern time Abraham Lincoln stands as the model of a compassionate statesman. He showed this quality not only in striving for the emancipation of the American blacks but in the dignity with which he conducted the American Civil War.
Lincoln did not fancy himself as a liberator. He thought it would be better for all if emancipation was a gradual process spread over many years. He proposed compensation for slave—owners in US bonds and grants for the rehabilitation of blacks— ‘colonisation’ as the called it. But fate was to deem otherwise. The haste with which the South wanted to break away from the Union with the North, compelled him to move faster than he expected, perhaps more than most men of his time he had thought through the issue of slavery. ‘We must free the slaves’, he said, ‘or be ourselves subdued. ‘Before reading he first draft of the proclamation of Emancipation, he told his colleagues. ‘In giving freedom to the slaves, we assure freedom to the free’.
On September 22nd, 1862. Lincoln set his hand on the Proclamation of Emancipation declaring that on the first day of January 1863, all persons held as slaves within any state ‘shall the then and forever free. ’
Lincoln’s revulsion for slavery left him without any moral indignation or passion against the slave-owners. The guilt of the slave-owners, he felt , should be shared by the whole country the North and the South, for it seemed to him that everyone in the nation was an accomplice in perpetuating that system. To have whipped up any hatred against slave-owners would, to him, have been an act of malice.
“I shall do nothing in malice”, he wrote, ‘what I deal with is too vast for malicious dealing”. As the Civil War was coming to a successful conclusion, a Northerner demanded of Lincoln, “Mr President, how are you going to treat the Southerners when the war is over?” Lincoln replied, “As if they never went to war?”
When the news came of the Victory of the Northern against the Confederate forces, someone suggested that the head of the Confederation Administration, Jefferson Davies, really ought to be hanged. “Judge not, that ye be not judged”, Lincoln replied, as to the demand for the prosecution of rebels, Lincoln replied , “We must extinguish our resentments if we expect harmony and union”. This was his last recorded utterance.

Ques 1. The sentence : ‘In giving freedom .............. to the free’(last sentence of para 2) means :
(a) by freeing slaves, we are honouring the concept of freedom
(b) by freeing slaves, we are safeguarding our own interests
(c) if we give freedom to the slaves, they will serve us better
(d) if we do not give freedom to the slaves, they will free themselves (e) None of the above

Ques 2. What came in Lincoln’s way of carrying out emancipation as a gradual process?
(a) The haste of the South to break away from the Union with the North
(b) The inadequate compensation given to slave-owners
(c) His own over-enthusiasm to complete the process fast
(d) His proposition to give grant for the rehabilitation of slaves (e) None of the above

Ques 3. Which of the following makes Abraham Lincoln a compassionate statesman?
(a) His hesitation in striving for emancipation of American blacks
(b) His indifference in conducting the American Civil War
(c) His efforts to force the American blacks from slavery
(d) His efforts to conclude the American Civil War without dignity (e) None of the above

Ques 4. The term ‘colonisation’ as used in passage means :
(a) making separate dwelling arrangements for slave-owners
(b) rehabilitation arrangements made for slave-owners
(c) efforts made by American blacks to free themselves
(d) handing over slaves to the slave-owners (e) None of the above

Ques 5. The incidents in the passage prove that Lincoln was :
(a) not a firm administrator
(b) afraid of the majority of slaves
(c) unduly concerned for the safety of the rebels
(d) sympathetic and kind-hearted statesman.
(e) unreasonably in favour of slaves.

Ques 6. The author of the passage seems to be
(a) a staunch and biased critic of Abraham Lincoln
(b) an advocate of the system of slavery
(c) an opponent of the system of slavery
(d) indifferent to Lincoln’s remarkable achievements
(e) impressed with Lincoln’s good qualities

Ques 7. According to Lincoln, the culprits of the system of slavery were :
(a) the slaver-owners alone
(b) the slaves alone
(c) both the slaves and the slave-owners
(d) all the people in the country
(e) None of these

Ques 8. Which of the following statements is true in the context of the passage?
(a) Lincoln hated the demand of hanging Jefferson Davies
(b) Lincoln turned down the demand of the prosecution of rebels
(c) Lincoln wondered how mere compassion cold lead to harmony
(d) The Civil War was fought by the Northerners and Southerners against the enemies
(e) None of the above

Ques 9. Lincoln didn’t have any hatred for the slave-owners because :
(a) they were in a vast majority
(b) they all belonged to upper caste
(c) they would have treated him with malice

(d) they were not guilty at all
(e) None of the above

Ques 10. Lincoln’s reply to the Northerner’s question regarding the treatment to Southerners proves that :
(a) the Southerners were wicked in their dealings
(b) Lincoln did not have revengeful attitude towards the Southerners
(c) the Northerners were in favour of the Southerners
(d) Lincoln did not like the Southerner’s act of breaking away from the union with the North
(e) Lincoln could control his anguish against the Southerners while expressing himself

Answers :
1. (a), 2. (a), 3. (e), 4. (e), 5. (d), 6. (e), 7. (d), 8. (b), 9. (e), 10. (b).