I 
 
PEESIDENT LINCOLN 
 
BOOTH BEING BURNT OUT Of THE BARN. 
 
ILLUSTRATED LIFE, SERVICES, MARTYRDOxM 
 
 AND FUNERAL OF 
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 SIXTEENTH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 With a full account of the Imposing Ceremonies at the National Capital, on 
 February 12th, 1866, and the 
 
 HON. GEORGE BANCROFT'S ORATION, 
 
 Delivered on the occasion hefore both Houses of Congress, by their request, 
 Bresence of President Andrew Johnson, the Cabinet, Gen, Grant, 
 Chief Justice Chase, and the Diplomatic Corps, 
 
 With a Portrait of Al)rafiaiii Lincoln, and otlier 
 Ensravinss of tlic Scene of tlie Assassination e 
 
 With a fall history of his Life ; Assassination ; Death, and Vuneral. His career as 
 a Lawyer and Politician ; his services in Congress ; with his Speeches, Proclama- 
 tions, Acts, and services as President of the United States, and Commander-in- 
 Chief of the Army and Navy, from the time of his first Inauguration as President 
 of the United States, until the night of his Assassination. Only new and complete 
 edition, with a full history of the assassination of the President, by distinguished 
 eye witnesses of it. Mr. Lincoln's Deathbed scenes, and a full account of the 
 Fiiaeral Ceveniouies, from the time his remains were placed in the East Koom at 
 the White House, until they woik finally consigned to their last resting place, in 
 Oak Ridge Cemetery, at f^prinufi-ld. Illinois; with Addresses an<l Situkuis by the 
 Hon. George Bancroft, Rev. Hfnrv Ward Rpocher, General Walbridge, Honorable 
 Schuyler Colfax, Bishop Simi>-..n, r\r ; wiili a full account of the esca.pe, imrsnit, 
 appreliension, and death of the :i-a"iii. l;'..>tli ; as well as the Oration delivered 
 by tlie Hun. George Bancroft. r,ii I' ■! i aai y 1 Litli, 1S66, before both Houses of Con- 
 gress, in presence of President A iidn-w Johnson, the Cabinet, Gen. Grant, Chief 
 Justice Chase, and the Foreign Ministers. 
 
 T. B. PETP:ilSCF?f^?N][JBROTHERS; 
 
 306 CHESTNUT STREET. 
 
 / 
 

 Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1865, by 
 
 T. B. P]:;TERS0N & BROTHERS, 
 
 In the Clerk's OflSce of the District Court of the United States, in and fur the 
 
 Eastern District of Pennsylvania. 
 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Birth of President Abraham Lincoln, and his ancestors.... 21 
 
 His grandfather killed by the Indians and scalped — De- 
 scription of his parents 22 
 
 " Abe" goes to school — The Lincoln Family remove to In- 
 diana 23 
 
 Death of Mrs. Lincoln — " Abe" learns to write — His father 
 marries again — " Abe" finishes his education 26 
 
 He becomes a hired hand on a flatboat, and goes to New 
 Orleans 27 
 
 The family remove to Illinois — " Abe" seeks his fortune 
 among strangers 28 
 
 He takes another trip to New Orleans — Becomes a miller 
 and salesman — His services in the Black Hawk war.... 29 
 
 Is nominated for the Legislature and is defeated — Becomes 
 a merchant and surveyor — Is elected to the Legislature 
 — Studies law 30 
 
 A thrilling incident in his legal career 31 
 
 A protest against slavery — Is a candidate for Presidential 
 Elector — Mr. Lincoln is elected to Congress — His votes 
 and speeches during his Congressional term 32 
 
 Becomes a delegate to the National Convention of 1848 — 
 He is nominated for United States Senator, but with- 
 draws 40 
 
 He is again nominated for the Senate — His speeches in the 
 celebrated Lincoln-Douglas campaign— His tribute to the 
 Declaration of Independence 41 
 
 Pen-Portraits of Abraham Lincoln 43 
 
 Mr. Lincoln is defeated by Mr. Douglas — Is then named 
 for the Presidency — Evidence of his skill as a Rail- 
 splitter 47 
 
 His great speech at the Cooper Institute, New York 48 
 
 Is nominated for President of the United States by the 
 
 Bepublican Convention 64 
 
 (15) 
 
16 CONTENTS. 
 
 He 13 notified of his nomination by a Committee appointed 
 by the Convention 65 
 
 Speech of the President of the Convention — Reply of Mr. 
 Lincoln — Correspondence between the Convention and 
 Mr. Lincoln 66 
 
 Is elected President of the United States 67 
 
 He leaves Springfield for Washington — Ovations on the 
 route 68 
 
 His arrival at Toledo and Indianapolis — His speeches at 
 each place 69 
 
 He arrives at Cincinnati, and addresses the citizens from 
 the Burnet House 70 
 
 His arrival at Columbus, with his speech 71 
 
 His arrival at Steubenville, and his address to the people — 
 Arrives in Pittsburg, and makes a speech to the citi- 
 zens 72 
 
 Proceeds to Cleveland, and from thence to Buffalo, with his 
 speeches at each place 74 
 
 Goes next to Albany — His arrival there, and speeches a* 
 the Capitol and to the members of the Legislature 76 
 
 Proceeds to New York, and on his way makes a speech at 
 Poughkeepsie — Arrival in New York, with his speech, 
 on being welcomed by the Mayor of the city to that 
 place 78 
 
 Goes next to Trenton — His speeches to the Senate and 
 to the Chambers of the Assembly of the State of New 
 Jersey 79 
 
 Proceeds to Philadelphia — Is welcomed by the Mayor of 
 that city — Mr. Lincoln's speech in reply 81 
 
 He visits " Old Independence Hall" — His speech there 82 
 
 lie raises the National Flag of the country to the top of the 
 flag-staff on " Old Independence Hall," on Washington's 
 Birth-day 83 
 
 He leaves for Harrisburg — His arrival there — Is welcomed 
 by both Houses of the Legislature, and his speech on 
 that occasion 84 
 
 A plot is made to assassinate him — How it was thwarted.... 85 
 
 Returns to Philadelphia in a special train, and proceeds to 
 Washington in disguise — His arrival there — Is welcomed 
 *o Washington by the authorities — His speech in reply 86 
 
 Addresses the Republican Association 87 
 
 He is inaugurated President of the United States — Inaugu- 
 ral Address of Abraham Lincoln 88 
 
 President Lincoln's interview with the Virginia Commis- 
 sioners, with his Address to them on that occasion 95 
 
CONTENTS. 17 
 
 PAOB 
 
 The first Proclamation for troops — Congress summoned to 
 
 assemble on the Fourth of July 97 
 
 A blockade of Southern ports ordered 98 
 
 The President's communication with the Maryland au- 
 thorities 1 99 
 
 Blockaoing of Virginia and North Carolina lOl 
 
 A call for additional troops 102 
 
 Has an interview with the Maryland Legislature 103 
 
 A special order for Florida — President Lincoln's first Mes- 
 sage to Congress 104 
 
 A day of Fasting and Prayer appointed 117 
 
 Commercial intercourse with the Rebellious States pro- 
 hibited 118 
 
 He modifies an order of General Fremont's — His second 
 
 Message to Congress 119 
 
 The President's Message recommending Gradual Emancipa- 
 tion 120 
 
 He assumes active command of the Army and Navy of the 
 
 United States 122 
 
 He orders Thanksgiving for signal victories— Slavery abol- 
 ished in the District of Columbia 123 
 
 Rt-opening of some of the Southern Ports — Repudiates an 
 
 emancipation order of Major-General Hunter 124 
 
 The President's conference with the Loyal Governors — His 
 interview with the Border Congressmen — He reads to 
 
 them a powerful Appeal 125 
 
 Instructions to Military and Naval Commanders 128 
 
 A draft fur Three Hundred Thousand Men ordered — The 
 
 President speaks at a war meeting in Washington 129 
 
 The Emancipation Proclamation of September 22d, 1862... 131 
 The Emancipation Proclamation of January 1st, 1863.... 133 
 
 Suspension of the Writ of Habeas Corpus 135 
 
 He issues an Order for the observance of the Sabbath 136 
 
 His Annual Message of December, 1862 — Important recom- 
 mendations to Congress 137 
 
 Receives a Complimentary Address from Manchester, Eng- 
 land 138 
 
 Ihe President visits the Army of the Potomac — Reviews 
 
 the troops etc 140 
 
 The Enrolment Act and the rights of Aliens 142 
 
 A National Thanksgiving ordered 143 
 
 Letter from the President on the Emancipation Proclama- 
 tion to the Union men of Illinois 145 
 
18 CONTENTS. 
 
 PAdl 
 
 Suspension of the Writ of Habeas Corpus in certain cases 143 
 
 A Proclamation for a National Thanksgiving 149 
 
 Three Hundred Thousand more men called for 151 
 
 The President's Dedicatory Address at the Consecration of 
 
 the National Cemetery at Gettysburg 152 
 
 He issues another Thanksgiving Proclamation — His Annual 
 Message of December, 1863 — Full pardon offered to the 
 
 Rebels , 153 
 
 Issues a Proclamation for Seven Hundred Thousand more 
 
 men 156 
 
 Explanatory Proclamation of one issued December eighth, 
 
 1863 157 
 
 An Impartial Review of the President's Policy 158 
 
 Address of President Lincoln at a fair held at the Patent 
 
 Office at Washington, on March 18th, 1864 174 
 
 His Address to the Committee of the Workingman's Demo- 
 cratic Republican Association of New York, on March 
 
 21st, 1864 175 
 
 He is the choice of the Legislatures of Fifteen States, and 
 
 of the American People for another term 177 
 
 Resolutions of the Union League of Philadelphia 179 
 
 General Grant made a Lieutenant-General 181 
 
 A vigorous Prosecution of the War 181 
 
 Mr. Lincoln Re-nominated for the Presidency 182 
 
 President Lincoln visits Philadelphia 185 
 
 Washington Threatened 186 
 
 "To whom it may Concern" 186 
 
 The Fall of Atlanta. Mr. Lincoln is Re-elected 187 
 
 Mr. Lincoln makes a Speech. His last Annual Message.. 188 
 
 More Troops wanted 189 
 
 Mr. Lincoln has an Interview with Rebel Commissioners. 189 
 Mr. Lincoln is inaugurated President of the United 
 
 States for a second term 101 
 
 Mr. Lincoln's Inaugural Address of March 4th, 1865 192 
 
 President Lincoln goes to " the Front" 193 
 
 Gen. Lee Surrenders. President returns to Washington. 11)4 
 
 Mr. Lincoln's Last Speech l'.)5 
 
 Assassination of President Lincoln 198 
 
 Scene of the Assassination of President Lincoln 201 
 
 The Dying Scenes of Abraham Lincoln 202 
 
 Tlie Autopsy on the Dody 204 
 
CONTENTS. 19 
 
 PAOB 
 
 The Murderer of President Lincoln, and what became of 
 him 205 
 
 Statements and Affidavits in Eelation to the Murder- 
 Statement of Assistant Secretary Field 207 
 
 M ajor Rathbone's Statement 210 
 
 Affidavit of Miss Harris, daughter of Senator Harris 212 
 
 Surgeon General Barnes' Statement 213 
 
 Full description of Ford's Theatre, in Washington 214 
 
 The Remains of Abraham Lincoln lay in State in the East 
 
 Room, at the White House 216 
 
 Funeral Services at the White House 217 
 
 The whole Audience join in the Prayers, and are affected 
 
 to tears 219 
 
 Bishop Simpson's Prayer at the Funeral Ceremonies at 
 
 the White House 220 
 
 The Funeral Oration by Dr. Gurley, at the White House. 221 
 
 The Funeral Procession at Washington 228 
 
 Arrival of the Remains at the Capitol 229 
 
 The Departure of the Funeral Cortege from Washington, 
 
 on their way to Springfield, Illinois 330 
 
 Route of the Funeral Cortege to Springfield 231 
 
 Distinguished Mourners, and Delegates from Illinois 232 
 
 Scenes along the route, and the arrival of the Funeral 
 
 Cortege at Baltimore 233 
 
 Their arrival at Harrisburg — Arrival at Philadelphia 234 
 
 The Body lay in State in Independence Hall 235 
 
 Is visited by the Mayor, Councils, and Judges of the 
 
 Courts — The Guard of Honor in Independence Hall.., 237 
 The Body is seen by over One Hundred and Twenty 
 
 Thousand persons in Philadelphia 288 
 
 The Funeral Cortege leaves Philadelphia — Its Passage 
 through New Jersey — Arrival at New York, and laid in 
 
 State in City Hall 239 
 
 Leave New York for Albany — Arrival in Albany — Syra- 
 cuse — Buffalo — Cleveland — Columbus — Indianapolis . . . 240 
 liCave Indianapolis for Chicago — Arrival at Chicago — 
 Leave Chicago for Springfield — Arrival at Springfield, 
 
 Illinois 241 
 
 The Funeral Procession at Springfield — The Guard of 
 Honor, etc 242 
 
20 CONTENTS. 
 
 Arrival of the Funeral Cortege at Oak Ridge Cemetery — 
 The Vault— The Religious Exercises at the Tomb 243 
 
 Last Sad Rites at the Vault — Depositing the Body into 
 the Tomb — Rcminiscenses of the Funeral Cortege from / 
 Washington to Springfield k\ 4 
 
 Bishop Simpson's Funeral Oration at the Vault at Oaj/ 
 Ridge Cemetery / . 245 
 
 A brahara Lincoln is mourned by Twenty-five Millioiis of 
 People ^'. 254 
 
 The first plot to Assassinate President Lincoln 256 
 
 Tributes to the Memory of Abraham Lincoln 2G0 
 
 The Religious Character and Nobility of Heart of Abra- 
 ham Lincoln. Address of the Hon. Schuyler Colfax, 
 Speaker of the House of Representatives, at Chicago, 
 Illinois, on April 30th, 18G5 261 
 
 Hon. George Bancroft's Oration in the city of New York. 275 
 
 Henry AVard Beecher's Tribute to Abraham Lincoln, 
 delivered in Plymouth Street Church, Brooklyn, on 
 Sunday, April 23d, 1865 280 
 
 Address of General Hiram Walbridge, in New York, on 
 the death of President Lincoln 288 
 
 Abraham I^incoln — By Henry Ward Beecher 293 
 
 In Memoriam — Abraham Lincoln, the Martyr President — 
 Ceremonies at the National Capital, February 12th, 1866.299 
 
 Hon. George Bancroft's Oration— God in History — Growth 
 of the American Republic — Territorial extent of the 
 Republic — Prophecies on the consequences of Slavery 
 — Despair of the Men of the Revolution — New views of 
 Slavery — Slavery at Home— Slavery and Foreign Rela- 
 tions — Squatter Sovereignty — Dred Scot Decision — 
 Taney and Slave Races^— Secession Resolved on — The 
 Election — Early Life of Abraham Lincoln — His Educa- 
 tion—His progress in life — He goes to Washington — In 
 what state he found the Country — His Inauguration — 
 Uprising of the People — The War a World-wide War — 
 Great Britain — Her Sentiments — Her Policy — Relations 
 with England— France and the Monroe Doctrine — The 
 Emperor Napoleon and Mexico — The perpetuity of Re- 
 publican Institutions — The Pope of Rome and the Re 
 bellion — The people of America — The Emancipation 
 Proclamation — Russia and China— Continuance of the 
 War — Lincoln's Assassination — The Greatness of Man — 
 The Just died for the Unjust — Character of Lincoln — 
 Palmcrston and Lincoln — Conclusion — Reception of the 
 Oration — Pi'oceedings of Congress 303-328 
 
LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 OF 
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 HIS BIRTH AND ANCESTORS. 
 Abraham Lincoln, the sixteeuth President of tba 
 United States, and the skilful ruler under whose wise ad- 
 ministration the country in its hour of peril has been en- 
 abled to combat successfully with the traitors who have 
 attempted its destruction, was born on the twelfth of 
 February, 1809, in that part of Hardin county, Kentucky, 
 which is now known as Larue. His father, Thomas Lin- 
 coln, and his grandfather, Abraham, were born in Rock- 
 ingham county, Virginia, a section of the " Old Dominion" 
 to which their ancestors had migrated from Berks county, 
 Pennsylvania. In the year 1Y80, the grandfather removed 
 his family to Kentucky, where, taking possession of a 
 small tract of laud in the wilderness, he erected a rude 
 cabin, and proceeded to make his new home comfortable 
 and productive. His daily labors were attended in their 
 prosecution with great personal danger. There was no 
 other resident within two or three miles, and the country 
 was infested with Indians, who allowed no opportunity to 
 pass to slaughter the white settlers. His gun was carried 
 
 21 
 
22 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 as regularly to his work as was his axe or any other im- 
 plement necessary to the successful clearing of the land, 
 and at night when he retired to the bosom of his little 
 flock, the faithful weapon was placed in a convenient cor 
 ner, where it could be quickly grasped in the event of an 
 attack from the wily enemy. 
 
 Individuals and whole families living in the vicinity 
 were murdered by the Indians, but Abraham Lincoln for 
 four years escaped their bloodthirsty characteristics ; but 
 at the end of that period, while clearing a piece of land 
 about four miles from home, he was suddenly attacked, 
 and killed, and his scalped remains were- found the next 
 morning. The loss was a severe one to the widow, who 
 now found. herself alone in the wilderness with her three 
 Bons and two daughters, and with but little money with 
 which to provide even the necessities of life for the young 
 members of her household. Poverty made it necessary 
 that the family should separate ; and all the children but 
 Thomas bade adieu to their remaining parent, and left the 
 county, the second son removing to Indiana, and the others 
 to other sections of Kentucky. 
 
 DESCEIPTION OF HIS PAKENTS. 
 
 Thomas also left home before he was twelve years old, 
 but subsequently returned to Kentucky, and in the year 
 1806, married Miss Xancy Ilanks, who was also a native 
 of Virginia ; so that it will be observed nearly all of the 
 immediate ancestors of the President were born upon 
 Southern soil. Thomas Lincoln and his wife were a plain, 
 unassuming couple, conscientious members of the Baptist 
 Church, and almost entirely uneducated. Mrs. Lincoln 
 could read, but not write, while her husband could do 
 neither, save so far as to scribble his own name in a style 
 of caligraphy which a few of his more intimate frienda 
 could decipher. He, however, appreciated the advan- 
 
LIFE AND SERVICiiS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, 23 
 
 tages of education, and honored and respected the superior 
 learning of others. His kindness of heart was proverbial, 
 and he was always industrious and persevering. His 
 wife, although uneducated, was blessed with much natural 
 talent, excellent judgment, and good sense, and these 
 qvialifications, with her great piety, made her a suitable 
 partnar for a man of Thomas Lincoln's attributes, and a 
 mother whose pi-ecepts and teachings could not fail to be 
 of vast benefit in the formation of her children's characters. 
 This estimable couple had three children — a daughter, a 
 son who had died in infancy, and Abraham. The sister 
 attained the years of womanhood, and married, but subse- 
 quently died without Issue. 
 
 ABE" GOES TO SCHOOL. 
 When Abraham, or "Abe," as he was already called at 
 home and by his companions, was seven years of age, his 
 name was entered for the first time on the roll of an edu- 
 cational institution — an academy which had but little pre- 
 tension in outward appearance, and the presiding genius 
 of which had neither ambition nor ability to impart greater 
 instruction than that which would enable his pupils to 
 read and write. His term of schooling was, however, to 
 be of short duration. 
 
 THE LINCOLN FAMILY REMOVE TO INDIANA. 
 
 Mr. Lincoln, although a Southerner by birth and resi- 
 dence, had become early imbued with a disgust for slavery. 
 He witnessed the evils of the " peculiar institution," and 
 longed to be free from the disagreeable effects of a condi- 
 tion of society which made a poor white man even more 
 degraded than the unfortunate negro, whose energies and 
 labors were controlled by an unprincipled and lazy master. 
 With these sentiments he naturally desired to change hi3 
 place of residence, and early in October, 1816, finding a 
 
24: LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 purchaser for his farm, he made arrangements for the 
 transfer of the property and for his removal. The price 
 paid by the purchaser was ten barrels of whiskey, of forty 
 gallons each, valued at two hundred and eighty dollars, 
 and twenty dollars in money. Mr. Lincoln was a tem- 
 perate man, and acceded to the terms, not because he 
 desired the liquor, but because such transactions in real 
 estate were common, and recognized as perfectly proper. 
 
 The homestead was within a mile or two of the Rolling 
 Fork river, and as soon as the sale was effected, Mr. JMn- 
 coln, with such slight assistance as little Abe coukl give 
 him, hewed out a flat-boat, and launching it, filled it with 
 his household articles and tools and the barrels of whiskey, 
 and bidding adieu to his son who stood upon the bank, 
 pushed off, and was soon floating down the stream on his 
 way to Indiana, to select a new home. His journey down 
 the Rolling Fork and into the Ohio river was successfully 
 accomplished, but soon afterwards his boat was unfortu- 
 nately upset, and its cargo thrown into the water. Some 
 men standing on the bank witnessed the accident and 
 saved the boat and its owner, but all the contents of the 
 craft were lost except a few carpenter's tools, axes, three 
 barrels of whiskey and some other articles. lie again 
 started, and proceeded to a well-known ferry on the river, 
 from whence he was guided into the interior by a resident 
 of the section of country in which he had landed, and to 
 whom he had given his boat in payment for his services. 
 After several days of difficult travelling, much of the time 
 employed in cutting a road through the forest wide enough 
 for a team, eighteen miles were accomplished, and Spencer 
 county, Indiana, was reached. The site for his new homo 
 having been determined upon, Mr. Lincoln left his goods 
 under the care of a person who lived a few miles distant, 
 and returning to Kentucky on foot, made preparations to 
 remove his family. In a few days the party bade farewell 
 
LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 25 
 
 to their old home and slavery, Mrs. Lincoln and her 
 daughter riding one horse, Abe another, and the father a 
 third. After a seven dajs^ journey through an uninhab- 
 ited country, their resting-place at night being a blanket 
 spread upon the ground, they arrived at the spot selected 
 for their future residence, and no unnecessary delays were 
 permitted to interfere with the immediate and successful 
 clearing of a site for a cabin. An axe was placed in 
 Abe's hands, and with the additional assistance of a neigh- 
 bor, in two or three days Mr. Lincoln had a neat house of 
 about eighteen feet square, the logs composing which 
 being fastened together in the usual manner by notches, 
 and the cracks between them filled with mud. It had only 
 one room, but some slabs laid across logs overhead gave 
 additional accommodations which were obtained by climb- 
 ing a rough ladder in one corner. A bed, table and four 
 stools were then made by the two settlers, father and son, 
 and the building was ready for occupancy. The loft was 
 Abe's bedroom, and there night after night for many 
 years, he who now occupies the most exalted position in 
 the gift of the American people, and who dwells in the 
 " White House" at Washington, surrounded by all the 
 comforts that wealth and power can give, slumbered with 
 one coarse blanket for his mattress and another for his 
 covering. Although busy during the ensuing winter with 
 his axe, ht d.d not neglect his reading and spelling, and 
 also practised frequently with a rifle, the first evidence of 
 his skill as a marksman being manifested, much to the 
 delight of his parents, in the killing of a wild turkey, 
 v^hich had approached too near the cabin. The knowledge 
 of the use of the rifle was indispensable in the border 
 settlements at that time, as the greater portion of the food 
 required for the settlers was procured by it, and the family 
 which had not among its male members one or more who 
 could discharge it with accuracy, {\'as very apt to suffer 
 from a scarcity of comestibles. 
 
26 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 DEATH OP MRS. LINCOLN-" ABE" LEARNS TO 
 WRITE. 
 
 A little more than a year after removing to Spencer 
 couatj, Mrs. Lincoln died, an event which brought deso- 
 lation to the hearts of her husband and children, but to 
 none so much as to Abe. He had been a dutiful son, and 
 she one of the most devoted of mothers, and to her in- 
 struction may be traced many of those traits and charac- 
 teristics for which even now he is remarkable. Soon 
 after her death, the bereaved lad had an offer which prom- 
 ised to afford him other employment during the long, 
 monotonous evenings, than the reading of books, a young 
 man who had removed into the neighborhood having 
 offered to teach him how to write. The opportunity was 
 too fraught with benefit to be rejected, and after a few 
 weeks of practice under the eye of his instructor, and also 
 out of doors with a piece of chalk or charred stick, he was 
 able to write his name, and in less than twelve months 
 could and did write a letter. 
 
 HIS FATHER MARRIES AGAIN-ABE FINISHES 
 HIS EDUCATION. 
 
 During the next year Mr. Jjincoln married Mrs. Sally 
 Johnston, of Elizabethtown, Kentucky, a widow-lady with 
 three children, and who was admirably adapted to supply 
 the vacancy which existed in the Lincoln family; and a 
 superior woman, between whom and Abe a most devoted 
 attachment sprung up, which ever afterwards continued. 
 About the same time a person named Crawford moved into 
 the neighborhood, and understanding how to read and 
 write and the rudiments of arithmetic, was induced to 
 open a school, to which Abe was sent, and in which he 
 greatly improved his knowledge of the first two branches, 
 and sc on mastered the second. His school-garb comprised 
 
LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 27 
 
 a suit of dressed buckskin and a cap made from a raccoon 
 skin. His memory wa6 retentive, and as lie took an un- 
 usual pride iu his studies, his close application made him 
 a favorite scholar with his teacher, while his superior 
 knowledge, limited though it was, caused him to be used 
 by the more ignorant settlers as their scribe whenever they 
 had letters to be written. A brief period at this school, 
 and to use a fashionable phrase, his education was finished. 
 Six months of instruction within the walls of an insigni- 
 ficant school- house is all the education that Abraham Lin- 
 coln has received during a long lifetime, a greater portion 
 of Avhich has been spent in public positions, where ability 
 and talent were indispensable requisites. 
 
 BECOMES A HIRED HAND ON A FLATBOAT. 
 
 For four or five years after leaving school, or until he 
 was eighteen, he constantly labored in the woods with his 
 axe, cutting down trees and splitting rails, and during 
 the evenings, read such works as he could borrow from 
 the other settlers. A year later, he was hired by a man 
 living near by, at ten dollars a month, to go to New 
 Orleans on a flatboat loaded with stores, which were 
 destined for sale at the plantations on the Mississippi 
 river, near the Crescent City, and with but one companion 
 started on his rather dangerous journey. At night they 
 tied up alongside of the bank, and rested upon the hard 
 deck with a blanket for a covering, and during the hours 
 of light, whether their lonely trip was cheered by a bright 
 sun or made disagreeable in the extreme by violent storms, 
 their craft floated down the stream, its helmsmen never for a 
 moment losing their spirits, or regretting their acceptance 
 of the positions they occupied. Nothing occurred to mar 
 the success of the trip, nor the excitement naturally inci- 
 dent to a flatboat expedition of some eighteen hundred 
 miles, save a midnight attack bv a party of negroes, who, 
 
28 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN". 
 
 after a severe conflict, were whipped by Abe and his 
 comrade and compelled to flee, and after selling their 
 goods at a handsome profit, the young merchants returned 
 to Indiana. 
 
 THE FAMILY REMOVE TO ILLINOIS— ABE 
 SEEKS HIS FORTUNE AMONG STRANGERS. 
 
 In March, 1830, Mr. Thomas Lincoln removed his 
 family to Illinois, their household articles being transported 
 thither in large wagons drawn by oxen, Abe himself 
 driving one of the teams. Upon the journey, and while 
 crossing the bottom lands of the Kaskaskia river, the 
 males of the family wore compelled to wade through 
 water up to their waists. In two weeks they reached 
 Decatur, Macon county, Illinois, near the centre of that 
 State, and in another day were at the tract of land 
 (ten acres) on the north side of the Sangamon river, and 
 about ten miles west of Decatur. A log cabin was imme- 
 diately erected, and Abe proceeded to split the rails for 
 the fence with which the lot was to be enclosed. As a 
 rail-splitter, as a tiller of the soil, or as a huntsman, to 
 whose accuracy of aim the family depended in a great 
 measure for their daily food, young Abraham Lincoln 
 was active, earnest and laborious, and when in the follow- 
 ing spring he signified his intention to leave his home to 
 seek his fortune among strangers, the tidings were re- 
 ceived by his parents and friends with the most profound 
 sorrow. 
 
 Confident that a more extended field of observation and 
 action would be more suitable to his tastes and disposition, 
 he packed up what little clothing he possessed, and went 
 westward into Menard county. He worked on a farm 
 in the vicinity of Petersburg, during the ensuing summer 
 and winter, at the same time improving himself, in read 
 iug, writing, grammar, and arithmetic. 
 
LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAnAM LINCOLN. 29 
 
 HE TAKES ANOTHER TRIP TO NEW ORLEANS- 
 BECOMES MILLER AND SALESMAN. 
 
 Early in the following spring he was hired by a man 
 unmed Offutt, to assist in taking a flatboat to New 
 Orleans ; and, as it was found impossible to purchase a 
 suitable boat, Abe lent a willing and industrious hand in 
 building one at Sangamon, from whence, when completed, 
 it was floated into the Mississippi river. The trip was 
 made, and his employer was so much gratified with the 
 industry and tact of his hired hand, that he engaged him 
 to take charge of his mill and store in the village of New 
 Salem. In this position, " Honest Abe," as he was new 
 called, won the respect and confidence of all with whom 
 he had business dealings, while socially, he was much 
 beloved by the residents — young and old — of the place. 
 He was affable, generous, ever ready to assist the needy 
 or to sympathize with the distressed, and never was 
 known to be guilty of a dishonorable act. 
 
 HIS SERVICES IN THE BLACK HAWK WAR. 
 
 Early in the following year the Black Hawk War broke 
 out, and the Governor ot Illinois calling for troops, Abe 
 determined to offer his services ; and a recruiting station 
 being opened in New Salem, he placed his name the first 
 on the roll ; and by his influence inducing many of his 
 friends and companions to do likewise, a company was 
 soon organized, and Abe was unanimously elected captain. 
 The company marched to Beardstown, and from there to 
 the seat of war ; but during their term of enlistment — 
 thirty days — were not called into active service. A new 
 levy was then called for, and he re-enlisted as a private, 
 and at the end of thirty days again re-enlisted, and re- 
 Kuined with his regiment until the war ended. 
 
so LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 IS NOMINATED FOR THE LEGISLATURE AND 
 IS DEFEATED. 
 
 Soon after his return from this campaign, in the pro- 
 gress of which he proved himself an efficient and zealou? 
 soldier, although his regiment was not brought in conflict 
 with the enemy, or as he subsequently expressed it, he 
 " did not see any live fighting Indians, but had a good 
 many bloody struggles with the mosquitoes," he was 
 waited upon by several of the influential citizens of Isew 
 Salem, who asked his consent to nominate him for the 
 Ajegislature. He had only been a resident of the county for 
 nine months, but as a thorough-going "Henry Clay man" 
 .vas needed, he was deemed the most suitable person to run, 
 particularly as it was believed that his popularity would 
 ensure success in a county which had, the year before, 
 given General Jackson a large majority for President. 
 There were eight aspirants for the legislative position ; 
 but, although Abraham received two hundred and seventy- 
 seven votes out of two hundred and eighty-four, cast in 
 New Salem, he was not elected, the successful candidate 
 leading him a few votes. 
 
 BECOMES A MERCHANT AND SURVEYOR. 
 
 Soon after his political defeat he engaged in the mer- 
 cantile business, but in a few months sold out, and under 
 the tuition of John Calhoun (in later years President of 
 the Lecompton Constitutional Convention) became' pro- 
 ficient in surveying, an occupation which for more than a 
 year he found very remunerative for a novice. He was 
 a BO for a time Postmaster of New Salem. 
 
 IS ELECTED TO THE LEGISLATURE-STUDIES 
 LAW 
 
 In August, 1834, he was >igain nominated for the Legis- 
 lature, and was elected by a large majority ; and in I806. 
 
LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 31 
 
 1838, and 1840, was re-elected. While attending: the pro- 
 ceedings of the first session, he determined to become a law- 
 yer, and being placed in possession of the necessary books 
 through the kindness of the Hon. John T. Stuart, applied 
 himself to study, and in 1836 was admitted to practice at 
 the bar. In April, 183t, he removed to Springfield, and 
 became a partner of Mr. Stuart. 
 
 A THRILLING INCIDENT IN HIS LEGAL 
 CAREER. 
 
 One instance which occurred during his early legal 
 practice is worthy of extended publication. At a camp 
 naeeting held in Menard county, a fight took place which 
 ended in the murder of one of the participants in the 
 quarrel. A young man named Armstrong, a son of the 
 aged couple for whom many years before Abraham Lin- 
 coln had worked, was charged with the deed, and being 
 arrested and examined, a true bill was found against him, 
 and he was lodged in jail to await his trial. As soon as 
 Mr. Lincoln received intelligence of the affair, he addressed' 
 a kind letter to Mrs. Armstrong, stating his anxiety that 
 her son should have a fair trial, and offering in return for 
 her kindness to him while in adverse circumstances some 
 years before, his services gratuitously. Investigation con- 
 vinced the volunteer attorney that the young man was the 
 victim of a conspiracy, and he determined to postpone the 
 ease until the excitement had subsided. The day of trial 
 however finally arrived, and the accuser testified positively 
 that he saw the accused plunge the knife into the heart of 
 the murdered man. He remembered all the circumstances 
 perfectly ; the murder was committed about half-past nine 
 o'clock at night, and the moon was shining brightly. 
 Mr. Lincoln reviewed all the testimony carefully, and 
 then proved conclusively that the moon which the accuser 
 had sworn was shining brightly, did not rise until an houi 
 
S2 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 or more after the murder was committed. Other dis- 
 crepancies were exposed, and in thirty minutes after the 
 jury retired they returned with a verdict of " Not Guilty " 
 
 A PEOTEST AGAINST SLAVERY. 
 
 On the third of March, 1837, a protest was presented 
 to the House of Representatives of Illinois and signed by 
 " Daniel Stone and Abraham Lincoln, Representatives 
 from Sangamon county," which is the first record that wo 
 have of the sentiments of the subject of our sketch on the 
 slavery question. It was in opposition to a series of reso- 
 lutions which had been adopted, taking an extreme South- 
 ern view of slavery, for which Mr. Lincoln refused to vote, 
 i!»nd subsequently handed in the protest. 
 
 IS A CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENTIAL 
 ELECTOR. 
 
 In every campaign from 1836 to 1852, he was a Whig 
 candidate for Presidential Elector, and in 1844, he stumped 
 the entire State of Illinois for Henry Clay ; and then 
 crossing the line into Indiana, spoke daily to immense 
 gatherings, until the day of election. His style of speak- 
 ing was pleasing to the masses of the people, and hia 
 earnest appeals were not only well received, but were 
 productive of much benefit to his. favorite candidate. 
 Accustomed from early childhood to the habits and pecu- 
 liarities of all kinds and conditions of men — th*} refined 
 and the vulgar, the intelligent and the illiterate, the rich 
 and the poor^ — he knew exactly what particular style of 
 language best suited his hearers, and the result was that 
 he was always listened to with a degree of attention and 
 interest which few political speakers receive. 
 
 MR. LINCOLN ELECTED TO CONGRESS -HIS 
 VOTES AND SPEECHES DURING HIS CON- 
 GRESSIONAL TERM. 
 
 In I84G, Mr. Lincoln was elected to Congress fi\'ni the 
 
LIFE ANI> SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LIJ^COLN. 33 
 
 Central District of Illinois, by a majority of over fifteen 
 hundred votes, the largest ever given in that District to 
 any candidate opposed to the Democratic party. Illinois 
 elected seven Representatives that year ; and all were 
 Democrats but Mr. Lincoln. He took his seat on the 
 first Monday of December, 1841, and during the exciting 
 session that followed, cast his vote pro or con on every 
 important question, and on more than one occasion dis 
 played his eloquence and superior argumentative ability. 
 One of his first votes was given on the twentieth of De- 
 cember in favor of the following resolution : 
 
 "Resolved, That if, in the judgment of Congress, it be neces- 
 sary to improve the navigation of a river to expedite and render 
 secure the movements of our army, and save from delay and loss 
 our arms and munitions of war, that Congress has the power to 
 improve such river. 
 
 "Resolved, That if it be necessary for the preservation of the 
 lives of our seamen, repairs, safety, or maintenance of our ves- 
 sels-of-war, to improve a harbor or inlet, either on our Atlantic 
 or Lake coast. Congress has the power to make such improve- 
 ment." 
 
 On the twenty-second of the same month, he voted in 
 favor of a similar resolution, and on the same day offered 
 the following series of resolutions, which he introduced* 
 with one of his characteristic speeches, humorous at one 
 moment and logical at the next. Although, like the large 
 majority of the Whig party opposed to the declaration of 
 war with Mexico by the President, he never failed to vote 
 for any resolution or bill which had for its object the send- 
 ing of supplies to our troops who had been ordered to the 
 Beat of war. The resolutions read as follows : 
 
 " Whereas, The President of the United States, in his mes- 
 sage of May 11th, 1846, has declared ' that the Mexican Govern- 
 ment not only refused to receive him (the envoy of the United 
 States) or listen to his propositions, but, after a long-continued 
 series of menaces, have at last invaded our territory and shed 
 the blood of our fellow -citizens on our own soil.' 
 
 "And again, in his message of December 8th, 1846, that 'we 
 
34 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 had ample cause of war against Mexico long before the break- 
 ing out of hostilities, but even then we forbore to take redresa 
 into our own hands until Mexico herself became the a<jgressor 
 by invading our soil in hostile array, and shedding the blood of 
 our citizens.' 
 
 "And yet again, in the message of December 7th, 1847, that 
 ' the Mexican Government refused even to hear the terms of 
 adjustment which he (our minister of peace) was authorized to 
 propose; and, finally, under wholly unjustifiable pretexts, in- 
 volved the two countries in war by invading the territory of the 
 State of Texas, striking the first blow, and shedding the blood 
 of our citizens on our own soil.' 
 
 " And ivhereas. This House is desirous to obtain a full knowl- 
 edge of all the facts which go to establish whether the particu- 
 lar spot on which the blood of our citizens was so shed, was or 
 was not at that time our own soil. Therefore, 
 
 ''Resolved, by the House of Representatives, That the Presi- 
 dent of the United States be respectfully requested to inform 
 this House, 
 
 "1st. Whether the spot on which the blood of our citizens 
 was shed, as in his messages declared, was or was not within the 
 Territory of Spain, at least after the treaty of 1819, until the 
 Mexican revolution, 
 
 " 2?^d. Whether that spot is or is not within the territory 
 which was wrested from Spain by the revolutionary Govern- 
 ment of Mexico. 
 
 " 3rd. Whether that spot is or is not within a settlement of 
 people, which settlement has existed ever since long before the 
 Texas revolution, and until its inhabitants fled before the ap- 
 |)roach of the United States Army. 
 
 "4th. Whether that settlement is or is not isolated from any 
 and all other settlements by the Gulf and the Rio Grande on 
 the south and west, and by wide uninhabited regions on the north 
 and east. 
 
 "5th. Whether the people of that settlement, or a majority 
 of them, or any of them, have ever submitted themselves to the 
 Government or laws of 'I'exas or of the United States, by con- 
 sent or by compulsion, either by accepting office, or voting at 
 elections, or paying tax or serving on juries, or having process 
 Berved upon them, or in any other way. 
 
 "6^/i. Whethfir the people of that settlement did or did not 
 floe from the approach of the United States Army, leaving un- 
 protected their homes and their growing crops, before the blood 
 was shed, as in the message stated ; and whether the first blood, 
 80 shed, was or was not shed within the enclosure of one of tl e 
 people who had thus fled from it. 
 
 " 1th. Whether our citizens, whose blood was shed, as in his 
 messages declared, were or were not, at that time, armed officers 
 
LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOl.N. 35 
 
 and soldiers, sent into that settlement by the military order of 
 the President, through the Secretary of War. 
 
 " Sth. Whether the military force of the United States was or 
 was not so sent into that settlement after General Taylor had 
 more than once intimated to the War Department that, in hia 
 opinion, no such movement was necessary to the defence or pro- 
 tection of Texas." 
 
 On several occasions during the session, he voted for 
 the reception of petitions and memorials in favor of the 
 abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia, against 
 the slave-trade, and advocating the prohibition of slavery 
 in the territory that might be acquired from Mexico. 
 
 On the seventeenth of February, 1848, Mr. Lincoln 
 voted for a Loan bill reported by the Committee of Ways 
 and Means, authorizing the raising of sixteen millions of 
 dollars to enable the Government to provide for its debts, 
 principally incurred in Mexico. 
 
 On the eleventh of May, in moving to reconsider a vote 
 by which a bill having reference to the public lands had 
 passed, he made the following remarks : 
 
 " He stated to the House that he had made this motion for 
 the purpose of obtaining an opportunity to say a few words 
 in relation to a point raised in the course of the debate on 
 this bill, which he would now proceed to make, if in order.* 
 The point in the case to which he referred, arose on the amend- 
 ment that was submitted by the gentleman from Vermont (Mr. 
 Collamer), in Committee of the Whole on the State of the Union, 
 and which was afterwards renewed in the House, in -elation to 
 the question whether the reserved sections, which, bj some bills 
 heretofore passed, by which an appropriation of land had been 
 made to Wisconsin, had been enhanced in value, should be re- 
 duced to the minimum price of the public lands. The question 
 of the reduction in value of those sections was, to him, at this 
 time, a matter very nearly of indifference. He was inclined to 
 desire that Wisconsin should be obliged by having it reduced. 
 But the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. C. B. Smith), the Chair- 
 man of the Committee on the Territories, associated that ques- 
 tion with the general question, which is now, to some extent, 
 agitated in Congress, of making appropriations of alternate sec 
 tions of land to aid the States in making internal imprgver^Dt* 
 and enhancing the prices of the section reserved, and tt* £■«!» 
 
36 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 tlernan from Indiana took ground against that policy. He di<? 
 not make any special argument in favor of Wisconsin ; but hi 
 took ground gctierally against the policy of giving alternate sec 
 tiona of land, and enhancing the price of the reserved sections 
 Now, he (Mr. L.) did not at this time, take the floor for the 
 pnrpose of attempting to make an argument on the general sub- 
 j<'Ct. He rose simply to protest against the doctrine which the 
 g'litleman from Indiana had avowed in tiie course of what he 
 (Air. L.) could not but consider an unsound argument. 
 
 ' It might however be true, for any thing he knew, that the 
 gentleman from Indiana might convince him that his argument 
 was sound ; but he (Mr. L.) feared that gentleman would not be 
 able to convince a majority in Congress that it was sound. It 
 was true, the question appeared in a different aspect to persons 
 in consequence of a difference in the point from which they 
 looked at it. It did not look to persons residing east of the 
 mountains as it did to those who lived among the public lands. 
 But, for his part, he would state that if Congress would make a 
 donation of alternate sections of public lands for the purpose 
 of internal improvement in his State, and forbid the reserved 
 sections being sold at $1.25, he should be glad to see the appro- 
 priation made, though he should prefer it if the reserved sec- 
 tions were not enhanced in price. He repeated, he should be 
 glad to have such appropriations made, even though the reserved 
 sections should be enhanced in price. He did not wish to be 
 understood as concurring in any intimation that they would re- 
 fuse to receive such an appropriation of alternate sections of 
 land because a condition enhancing the price of the reserved 
 sections should be attached thereto. He believed his position 
 would now be understood, if not, he feared he should not be able 
 to make himself understood. 
 
 " But before he took his seat he would remark that the Senate, 
 during the present session, had passed a bill making appropria- 
 tions of land on that principle for the benefit of the State in 
 which he resided — the State of Illinois. The alternate sections 
 were to be given for the purpose of constructing roads, and the 
 reserved sections were to be enhanced in yalue in consequence. 
 When the bill came here for the action of this House, it had 
 been received, and was now before the Committee on Public 
 Lands — he desired much to see it passed as it was, if it could 
 be put in a more favorable form for the State of Illinois. When 
 it should be before this House, if any member from a section of 
 the Union in which these lands did not lie, whose interest might 
 be less than that which he felt, should propose a reduction of 
 the price of the reserved sections to $1.25, he should be much 
 obliged ; but he did not think it would be well for those who 
 came from the section of the Union in which the lands lay, to 
 do so. He wished it, then, to be understood, that he did not 
 join in the warfare against the principle which had eng-aged the 
 
LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 37 
 
 minds of some members of Congress who were favorable to im- 
 provements in the western country. 
 
 " There was a good deal of force, he admitted, in what fell 
 from the Chairman of the Committee on Territories. It might 
 be that there was no precise justice in raising the price of the 
 reserved sectio".s to $2.50 per acre. It might be proper that 
 the price should be enhanced to some extent, though not to 
 double the usual price ; but he should be glad to have such au 
 appropriation with the reserved sections at $2.50; he should be 
 better pleased to have the price of those sections at something 
 less ; and he should be still better pleased to have them without 
 any enhancement at all. 
 
 " There was one portion of the argument of the gentlemaa 
 from Indiana, the Chairman of the Committee on Territories 
 (Mr. Smith), which he wished to take occasion to say that he 
 did not view as unsound. He alluded to tlie statement that the 
 General Government was interested in these internal improve- 
 ments being made, inasmuch as they increased the value of the 
 lands that were unsold, and they enabled the Government to sell 
 lands which could not be sold without them. Thus, then, the 
 Government gained by internal improvements, as well as by tho 
 general good which the people derived from them, and it might 
 be, therefore, that the lands should not be sold for more than 
 $1.50, instead of the price being doubled. He, however, merely 
 mentioned this in passing, for he only rose to state, as the prin- 
 ciple of giving these lands for the purposes which ho had men- 
 tioned had been laid hold of and considered favorably, and as 
 there were some gentlemen who had constitutional scruples 
 about giving money for these purposes, who would not hesitate 
 to give land, that he was not willing to have it understood that 
 he was one of those who made war against that principle. This 
 was all he desired to say, and having accomplished the object 
 with which he rose, he withdrew his motion to reconsider." 
 
 On the nineteenth of the following month he first had 
 an opportunity to record his views upon the Tariff ques- 
 tion, by voting in favor of a resolution instructing the 
 Committee of Ways and Means to inquire into the expe- 
 diency of reporting a bill increasing the duties on foreign 
 luxuries of all kinds, and on "such foreign manufactures 
 as are now coming into ruinous competition with Ameri- 
 can labor." He subsequently voted for a resolution in- 
 structing the Committee of Ways and Means to inquire 
 into the expediency of reporting a Tariff bill based upon 
 the principles of the Tariff of 1842. 
 
38 LIFE AND SERVICES ' iP ABRAHAM LINCOLN". 
 
 On the 28th of July, 1848, the celebrated bill estab- 
 lishing Territorial governments for Oregon, California and 
 JNew Mexico, the peculiar feature of which was a provi- 
 Bion prohibiting the Legislatures of California and JS'ew 
 Mexico from passing laws in favor of or against slavery, 
 and providing that the laws of the Legislatures should be 
 subject to the sanction of Congress, was argued, and after 
 an exciting debate, laid on the table, Mr. Lincoln voting 
 with Mr. Webster, Mr. Corwin, and other illustrious col- 
 leagues for this disposition of the bill. 
 
 On the sixteenth of January, 1849, Mr. Lincoln oflTered 
 the following substitute for a resolution which he had 
 voted against, not being satisfied with all its provisions : 
 
 " Resolved, That the Conimittee on the District of Columbia 
 oe instructed to report a bill in substance, as follows : 
 
 " Sec. 1. Be it enacted hy the Senate and House of Represen- 
 tatives of the United States in Congress assembled, That no ptr- 
 Bon not now within the District of Columbia, nor now owned by 
 any person or persons now resident within it, nor hereafter born 
 •within it, shall ever be held In slavery within said District, 
 t iSec. 2. That no person now within said District, or now owned 
 by any person or persons now resident within the same, or here- 
 after born within it, shall ever be held in slavery without the 
 limits of said District : Provided, That officers of the Govern- 
 ment of the United States, being citizens of the slaveholding 
 States, coming into said District on public business, and remain- 
 ing only so long as may be reasonably necessary for that object, 
 may be attended into and out of said District, and while there, 
 by the necessary servants of themselves and their families, with- 
 out their right to hold such servants in service being impaired. 
 
 " Sec. 3. 'I'hat all cliildren born of slave mothers within said 
 District, on or after the 1st day of January, in the year of our 
 Lord 1850, shall be free ; but shall be reasonably supported and 
 educated by the respective owners of their mothers, or by their 
 heirs or reproseiitatives, and shall serve reasonable service nfi 
 apprentices to such owners, heirs, or representatives, until they 
 
 respectively arrive at the age of years, when they shall 
 
 be entirely free: And the municipal authorities of Washington 
 and Georgetown, within their respective jurisdictional limits, 
 are hercb/ empowef^d and required to make all suitable and 
 necessa'-y rrovinio'i for cuforcing obedience to this section, on 
 the par^ o' both maBtere and apprentices. 
 
 " S»^ i. That all persons now within this District, lawfully 
 
LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 89 
 
 held as slaves, or now owned by any person or persons now resi- 
 dent within said District, shall remain such at the will of their 
 respective owners, their heirs or legal representatives : Pro- 
 vided that such owner, or his legal representatives, may at any 
 time receive from the Treasury of the United States the full 
 value of his or her slave, of the class in this section mentioned, 
 apon whi:h such slave shall be forthwith and forever free : And 
 provided further, That the President of the United States, th^ 
 Secretary of State, and the Secretary of the Treasury, shall be 
 a board for determining the value of such slaves as their owners 
 desire to emancipate under this section, and whose duty it shal? 
 be to hold a session for the purpose on the first Monday of eacb 
 calendar month, to receive all applications, and, on satisfactory 
 evident e in each case that the person presented for valuatioa 
 is a slave, and of the class in the section mentioned, and is 
 owned by the applicant, shall value such slave at his or her full 
 cash value, and give to the applicant an order on the Treasury 
 for the amount, and also to such slave a certificate of freedom. 
 
 "Sec. 5. That the municipal authorities of Washington and 
 Georgetown, within their respective jurisdictional limits, are 
 hereby empowered and required to provide active and efficient 
 means to arrest and deliver up to their owners all fugitive slaves 
 escaping into said District. 
 
 "Sec. 6. That the elective officers within said District of Col- 
 umbia are hereby empowered and required to open polls at all 
 the usual places of holding elections, on the first Monday of 
 April next, and receive the vote of every free white male citi- 
 zen above the age of twenty-one years, having resided within 
 said District for the period of one year or more next preceding 
 the time of such voting for or against this act, to proceed in 
 taking said votes in all respects not herein specified, as at elec- 
 tions under the municipal laws, and with as little-delay as pos- 
 sible to transmit correct statements of the votes so cast to the 
 President of the United States ; and it shall be the duty of the 
 President to count such votes immediately, and if a majority 
 of them be found to bo for this act, to forthwith issue his pro- 
 clamation giving notice of the fact ; and this act shall only be 
 in full force and effect on and after the day of such procla- 
 mation. 
 
 '• Sec. 7. That involuntary servitude for the punishment of 
 crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall 
 in nowise be prohibited by this act. 
 
 "Sec. 8. That for all purposes of this act, the jurisdictional 
 limits of Washington arc extended to all parts of the District 
 of Columbia not included within the present limits of George- 
 town." 
 
 We have given a sufficient record of Mr. Lincoln's ser 
 vices as a Representative in Congress, to show that in his 
 
40 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 numerous votes and remarks upon the slavery question, 
 ho was uniformly consistent, and a determined opponent 
 to that peculiar institution which, Mr. Corwin truly re- 
 marked, was an exotic that blights with its shade the soil 
 in which it is planted. He with almost equal determina- 
 tion opposed the annexation of Texas, and voted mora 
 than forty different times in favor of the Wilmot Proviso. 
 
 BECOMES A DELEGATE TO THE NATIOTffAL 
 CONVENTION OF 1848. 
 
 In the Whig National Convention of 1848, he was an 
 active delegate, and earnestly advocated the selection of 
 General Zachary Taylor as the nominee for the Presiden- 
 cy, and during the canvass which followed, he traversed 
 the States of Indiana and Illinois, speaking in behalf of 
 his favorite candidate and the choice of his party. 
 
 HE IS NOMINATED FOR UNITED STATES 
 SENATOR, BUT WITHDRAWS. 
 
 In 1849 he was a candidate before the Legislature of 
 Illinois for United States Senator, but his political oppo- 
 nents being in the majority. General Shields was chosen. 
 From that time until 1854, he confined himself almost 
 exclusively to the practice of his profession, but in that 
 year he again entered the political arena, and battled inde- 
 fatigably in the celebrated campaign which resulted in 
 victory for the first time to the opposition of the Demo- 
 cratic party in Illinois, and gave that State a Republican 
 liCgislature, and sent Mr. Trumbull to the United States 
 Senate. During the canvass, Mr. Lincoln was frequently 
 brought into controversy upon the stand with Stephen A. 
 Douglas, one of the discus-sions, that was held on the fourth 
 of October, 1854, during the progress of the annual State 
 Fair, being particularly remarkable as the great discussiop 
 of tlie campaign. 
 
LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 41 
 
 At the election of United States Senator, nine-tentbs of 
 the majority were Whigs and in favor of Mr. Lincoln, and 
 the other tenth were Democrats, but not in favor of voting 
 for a Whig, and for the purpose of securing the success of 
 a man whom he knew was opposed to the Nebraska bill, 
 and thus preventing the election of a third person who had 
 little or nothing in common with the Republican party, 
 which was then in its conception, he entreated his friends 
 to vote for Mr. Trumbull. Mr. Lincoln was subsequently 
 offered the nomination for Governor of Illinois, but de- 
 clined the honor in favor of Mr. Bissell ; was also pre- 
 sented, but inefiFectually, at the first Republican National 
 Convention for Vice-President ; and at the next Presi- 
 dential election headed the Fremont electoral ticket, and 
 labored industriously in support of that candidate. 
 
 AGAIN NOMINATED FOR THE SENATE— HIS 
 SPEECHES IN THE CELEBRATED LINCOLN- 
 DOUGLAS CAMPAIGN. 
 
 On the second of June, 1858, the Republican State 
 Convention met at Springfield, and nominated Mr. Lin- 
 coln as their candidate for the United States Senate. At 
 the close of their proceedings the honored recipient of their 
 suffrage delivered a speech, which was a forcible exposi- 
 tion of the views and aims of the party of which he was 
 to be the standard-bearer. 
 
 The contest which followed was one of the most ex- 
 citing and remarkable ever witnessed in this country. Mr 
 Stephen A. Douglas, his opponent, had few superiors as 
 a political debater, and while he had made many enemies 
 by his course upon the Nebraska bill, his personal popu- 
 larity had been greatly increased by his independence, and 
 by the opposition manifested to him by the Administra- 
 tion. His re-election, however, to the Senate would 
 have been equivalen'i to an indorsement of his acts and 
 
42 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN". 
 
 views by bis Commonwealth, and at tbe same time 
 would hare promoted his prospects for the Presidential 
 nomination. The Republicans, therefore, determined 
 to dafeat him if possible, and to increase the probabilitiea 
 of success in the movement, selected Mr. Lincoln as the 
 nian who was most certain of securing the election. Illi- 
 nois was stumped throughout its length and breadth bv 
 both candidates and their respective advocates, and the 
 people of the entire country watched with interest the 
 struggle. From county to county, township to township, 
 and village to village, the two leaders travelled, frequently 
 in the same car or carriage, and in the presence of 
 immense crowds of men, women and children — for the 
 wives and daughters of the hardy yeomanry were na- 
 turally interested — face to face, these two opposing cham- 
 pions argued the important points of their political belief, 
 and contended nobly for the mastery. 
 
 During the campaign, Mr. Lincoln paid the following 
 tribute to the Declaration of Independence 
 
 "These communities, (the thirteen colonies,) by their repre- 
 sentatives in old Independence Hall, said to the world of 
 inen, 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are 
 b(irn equal ; that they are endowed by their Creator with in- 
 alienable rights; that among tliese are life, liberty, and tbe pur- 
 suit of happiness.' This was their majestic interpretation of the 
 economy of the universe. This was their lofty, and wise, and 
 noble understanding of the justice of the Creator to His crea- 
 tures. Yes, gentlemen, to all His creatures, to the whole great 
 family of man. In their enlightened belief, nothing stamped 
 with the Divine image and lilveness was sent into the world to 
 be trodden on, and degraded, and imbruted by its fellows. They 
 grasped not only the race of men then living, but they reached 
 forward and seized upon the furthest posterity. They createij 
 a beacon to guide their children and their children's children, 
 a,id the countless myriads who should inhaiiit the earth in other 
 ages. Wise statesmen as they were, they knew the tendency of 
 prosperity to breed tyrants, and so they establislied these great 
 self-evident truths that when, in the distant future, some man, 
 some faction, some interest, should set up the doctrine that none 
 but rich men, or noue but white men, or none bat Anglo-Saxon 
 
LIFE AND SEKVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 4'j 
 
 while men, were entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of hap- 
 piness, their posterity might look up again to the Declaration 
 of Independence, and take courage to renew the battle which 
 their fathers began, so that truth, and justice and mercy, and 
 all the humane and Christian virtues might not be extinguished 
 from the land ; ro that no man would hereafter dare to limit 
 and circumscribe the great principles on which the temple of 
 liberty was being built. 
 
 " Now, my countrymen, if you have been taught doctrines 
 conflicting with the great landmarks of the Declaration of Inde- 
 pendence; if you have listened to suggestions which would take 
 away from its grandeur, and mutilate the fair symmetry of its 
 proportions ; if you have been inclined to believe that all men 
 are not created equal in those inalienable rights enumerated by 
 our chart of liberty, let me entreat you to come back — return to 
 the fountain »/hose waters spring close by the blood of the Re- 
 volution. T link nothing of me, take no thought for the politi- 
 cal fate of f fly man whomsoever, but come back to the truths 
 that are in f le Declaration of Independence. 
 
 " You m» J do any thing with me you clioose, if you will but 
 heed these lacred principles. You may not only defeat me for 
 the Senate but you may take me and put me to death. While 
 pretending lo indifference to earthly honors. I do claim to be 
 actuated i this contest by something higher than an anxiety 
 for office. I charge you to drop every paltry and insignificant 
 thought / f any man's success. It is nothing ; I am nothing ; 
 Judge D( glas is nothing. But do not destroy that immortal 
 emblem d humanity — the Declaration of American Independ 
 ence." 
 
 PEIi PORTRAITS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 As 'R.e have stated, the exciting struggle was watched 
 with ''ntense interest, not only by the members of the 
 respective political parties of which the two orators were 
 recognized leaders and champions, but by that portion of 
 the different communities of the Union who do not gen- 
 erally trouble their minds with political contests. Copious 
 extracts from the speeches of both Mr. Lincoln and Mr. 
 Douglas were published in the journals of the day, and 
 criticisms of the orators and their discussions a;i>peared in 
 the leading magazines and newspapers. 
 
 From some of the latter we select the following, feir the 
 purpose of showing in what estimation the talents and 
 
44 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 ability of the honorable subject of our sketch were held 
 at the time of which we now more particularly speak, and 
 to give those readers of this work who have not had the 
 oppoitunity to see Mr. Lincoln, an idea of his personal 
 appearance : 
 
 One writer gives the following pen-portrait- 
 
 " Mr, Lincoln stands six feet and four inches high in his 
 stockir:gs. His frame is not muscular, but gaunt and wiry ; 
 his arms are long, but not unreasonably so for a person of 
 his height ; his lower limbs are not disproportloned to liis body. 
 In walking, his gait, though firm, is never brisk. He steps 
 slowly and deliberately, almost always with his head inclined 
 forward, and his hands clasped behind his back. In matters of 
 dress he is by no means precise. Always clean, be is never 
 fashionable ; he is careless, but not slovenly. In manner he is 
 remarkably cordial, and, at the same time, simple. His polite- 
 ness is always sincere, but never elaborate and oppressive. A 
 warm shake of the hand, and a warmer smile of recognition, are 
 his methods of greeting his friends. At rest, his features, though 
 those of a man of mark, are not such as belong to a handsome 
 man ; but when his fine dark gray eyes are lighted up by any 
 emotion, and his features begin their play, he would be chosen 
 from among a crowd as one who had in him not only the kindly 
 Bentiments which women love, but the heavier metal of which 
 full-grown men and Presidents are made. His hair is black, and 
 though thin is wiry. His head sits well on his shoulders, but 
 beyond that it defies description. It nearer resembles that of 
 Clay than that of Webster; but it is unlike cither. It is very 
 large, and, phrenologically, well proportioned, betokening power 
 in all its developments. A sliglitly Roman nose, a wide-cut 
 mouth, and a dark complexion, with the appearance of having 
 been weather-beaten, complete the description. 
 
 " In his personal habits, Mr. Lincoln is as simple as a child. 
 He loves a good dinner, and eats with the appetite which goes 
 with a great brain ; but his food is plain and nutritious. He 
 never drinks intoxicating liquors of any sort, not even a glass 
 of wine. He is not addicted to tobacco in any of its shapes. 
 jle never was accused of a licentious act in all his life. He 
 never uses profane language. 
 
 "A friend says that once, when in a towering rage, in conse- 
 quence of the efforts of certain parties to perpetrate a fraud on 
 the State, he was heard to say: 'They sha'n't do it, d — n 'cm 1' 
 but beyond an expression of that kind, his bitterest feelings 
 never carry him. He never gambles ; we doubt if he ever in- 
 dulges in any games of chance. He is particularly cautious 
 
LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 4-5 
 
 aootit incurring pecuniary obligations for any purpose whatever, 
 and in debt, he is never content until the score is dischars^ed. 
 We presume he owes no man a dollar. He never speculates. 
 1'hc rage for the sudden acquisition of wealth never took hold 
 of him. His gains from his ]u-ofession have been moderate, but 
 BufScient for his purposes. While others have dreamed of gold, 
 he lias been in pursuit of knowledge. In all his dealings he has 
 the reputation of being generous but exact, and, above all, re- 
 ligiously honest. He would be a bold man who would say that 
 Abraham Lincoln ever wronged any one out of a cent, or ever 
 spent a dollar that he had not honestly earned. His struggles 
 in early life have made him careful of money; but his generosity 
 with his own is proverbial. He is a regular attendant upon re- 
 ligious worship, and though not a communicant, is a pew-holder 
 and liberal supporter of the Presbyterian Church, in Spring- 
 field, to which Mrs. Lincoln belongs. He is a scrupulous teller 
 of the truth — too exact in his notions to suit the atmosphere of 
 Washington, as it now is. His enemies may say that he tells 
 Black Republican lies ; but no man ever charged that, in a pro- 
 fessional capacity, or as a citizen dealing with his neighbors, he 
 would depart from the Scriptural command. At home, he lives 
 like a gentleman of modest means and simple tastes. A good- 
 sized house of wood, simply but tastefully furnished, surrounded 
 by trees and flowers, is his own, and there he live's, at peace with 
 himself, the idol of his family, and for his honesty, ability, and 
 patriotism, the admiration of his countrymen." 
 
 Another person gives the subjoined sketch of him : 
 
 "In personal appearance, Mr. Lincoln, or, as he is more 
 familiarly termed among those who know him best, ' Old Uncle 
 Abe,' is long, lean, and wiry. In motion he has a great deal of 
 the elasticity and awkwardness which indicates the rough train- 
 ing of his early life, and his conversation savors strongly of 
 Western idioms and pronunciation. His height is six feet four 
 inches. His complexion is about that of an octoroon ; his face, 
 without being by any means beautiful, is genial-looking, and good 
 humor seems to lurk in every corner of its innumerable angles. 
 He has dark hair tinged with gray, a good forehead, small eyes, 
 a long penetrating nose, with nostrils such as Napoleon always 
 Mked to find in his best generals, because they indicated a long 
 head and clear thoughts; and a mouth, which, aside from being 
 of magnificent proportions, is probably the most expressive 
 feature cf his face. 
 
 "As a speaker he is ready, precise, and fluent. His manner 
 before a popular assembly is as he pleases to make it, being 
 either superlatively ludicrous, or very impressive, ile employs 
 but little gesticulation, but when he desires to make a point, pro- 
 duces a shrug of his shoulders, an elevation of his eyebrows, a 
 3 
 
46 LIFE AND SEKVICES OF ABRAII/ F LINCOLN. 
 
 depression of his month, and a general mmformation of counte- 
 nance so comically awkward that it never fails to ' bring down 
 the house.' His enunciation is .slow and emphatic, and his voice, 
 though sharp and powerful, at times has a frequent tendency to 
 dwindle into a shrill and unpleasant sound ; but as before stated, 
 the peculiar characteristic of his delivery is the remarkable mo- 
 bility of his features, the frequent contortions of which excite i 
 merriment his words could not produce." 
 
 A tliinl says : 
 
 " In perhaps the severest test that could have been applied 
 to any man's temper — his political contest with Senator Doug- 
 las in 1858 — Mr. Lincoln not only proved himself an able speaker 
 and a good tactician, but demonstrated that it is possible to 
 carry on the fiercest political warfare without once descending 
 to rude personality and course denunciation. We have it on 
 the authority of a gentleman who followed Abraham Lincoln 
 throughout the whole of that campaign, that, in spite of all the 
 temptations to an opposite course to which he was continuously 
 exposed, no personalities against his opponent, no vituperation 
 or coarseness, ever defiled his lips. His kind and genial nature 
 lifted him above a resort to any such weapons of political warfare, 
 and it was the commonly-expressed regret of fiercer natures that 
 he treated his opponent too courteously and urbanely. Vulgar 
 personalities and vituperation are the last thing that can be 
 truthfully charged against Abraham Lincoln. His heart is too 
 genial, his good sense too strong, and his innate self-respect too 
 predominant to permit him to indulge in them. His nobility 
 of nature — and we may use the term advisedly — has been as 
 manifest throughout his whole career as bis temperate habits, 
 bis self-reliance, and his mental and intellectual power." 
 
 And a fourtli, a distinguished scholar, after listening to 
 a speech delivered at Galesburgh, thus wrote : 
 
 ''The men are entirely dissimilar. Mr. Douglas is a thick set, 
 finely-built, courageous man, and has an air of self-confidence 
 that docs not a little to inspire b's supporters with hope. M i-. 
 Ijincoln is a tall, lank man, awkward, apparently dilfident, and 
 when not speaking has neither firmness in his countenance nor 
 lire in his eye. 
 
 " Mr. Lincoln has a rich, silvery voice, enunciates with great 
 distinctness, and has a fine command of language. He com- 
 menced by u review of the points Mr. Douglas had made. In 
 this he showed great tact, and his retorts, though gentlemanly, 
 were sharp, and reached to the core the subject in dispute. 
 While he gave but little time to the work of review, we did not 
 feel that any thing was omitted which deserved attention 
 
LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 47 
 
 " He then proceeded to defend the Republican party. Here 
 he charged Mr. Douglas with doing nothing for freedom ; with 
 disregarding the rights and interests of the colored man: and 
 for about forty minutes he spoke with a power that we have 
 seldom heard equalled. There was a grandeur in his thoughts, 
 a comprehensiveness in his arguments, and a binding force in his 
 conclusions, which were perfectly irresistible. The vast throng 
 were silent as death ; every eye was fi.xed upon the speaker, 
 and all gave him serious attention. He was the tall man elo- 
 quent ; his countenance glowed with animation, and his eye 
 glistened with an intelligence that made it lustrous. He was nc 
 longer awkward and ungainly; but graceful, bold, commanding 
 
 " Mr. Douglas had been quietly smoking up to this time ; but 
 here he forgot his cigar and listened with anxious attention. 
 When he rose to reply he appeared excited, disturbed, and his 
 second effort seemed to us vastly inferior to his first, Mr. Lin- 
 coln had given him a great task, and Mr. Douglas had not time 
 to answer^him, even if he had the ability " 
 
 MR. LINCOLN DEFEATED BY MR. DOUGLAS. 
 
 The election-day at length arrived, and although the 
 efforts of Mr. Lincoln resulted in an immense increase of 
 the Republican vote, whatever aspirations he had for per- 
 sonal success were frustrated. A vote of 126,084 was 
 cast for the Republican candidates, 121,940 for the Doug- 
 las Democrats, and 5,091 for the Lecompton candidates, 
 but Mr. Douglas was elected United States Senator by 
 the Legislature, in which his supporters had a majority 
 of eight on joint ballot. 
 
 Although defeated in the liope of securing Mr. Lincoln 
 a,s their representative in the United States Senate, the 
 Republicans were not discouraged, and from that time de- 
 termined that their favorite leader shouhl be rewarded 
 with even more e.xalted honors. 
 
 IS NAMED FOR THE PRESIDENCY— EVIDENCE 
 OF HIS SKILL AS A RAIL-SPLITTER. 
 
 Tie was immediately mentioned prominently for the 
 Presidency, and at a meeting of the Illinois State Repub- 
 lican Convention, where he was present as a spectator, a 
 
iS LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 veteran Democrat of Macon county brought in and pre- 
 sented to the Convention two old fence-rails, gayly deco- 
 rated with flags and ribbons, and upon which the follow- 
 ing words were inscribed : 
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN, 
 
 THE RAIL CANDIDATE 
 
 FOR PRESIDENT IN 18 GO 
 
 Two rails from a lot of 3,000 made in 1830, by 
 ' Thos. Hanks and Abe Lincoln — whose 
 father was the first pioneer 
 of Macon county. 
 
 The event occasioned the most unbounded enthusiasm, 
 and for several minutes the most deafening applause re- 
 sounded through the building. Mr. Lincoln was vocifer- 
 ously called for, and arising from his seat, modestly ac- 
 knowledged that he had split rails some thirty jcavs pre- 
 vious in Macon county, and he was informed that those 
 before him were a small portion of the product of his 
 labor with the axe. 
 
 The fame of the able advocate of Republican principles 
 mduced the members of that party in other States to se- 
 cure his voice and influence in their behalf, and in Mie fall 
 of 1859 he made several effective speeches in favor of the 
 cause. 
 
 HIS GREAT SPEECH AT THE COOPER INSTI- 
 TUTE, NEW YORK. 
 
 On the twenty-seventh of February, ISGO, he mode the 
 following forcible speech at tbe Cooper Institute, lNe\7 
 York, before an immense audience : 
 
 " Mr. President and Fellow-citizens op New York : 
 The facts with wliich I shall deal tbis evening are mainlv oM 
 
LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. i.9 
 
 and familiar, nor is there any thing new in the general use I 
 shall make of them. If there shall be any novelty, it will be in 
 the mode of presenting the facts, and the inferences and obser- 
 vations following that presentation. 
 
 "In his speech last autumn, at Columbus, Ohio, as reported 
 in 27ie Neiv York Times, Senator Douglas said: 
 
 "'Our fathers, when they framed the Government undr.t 
 which we live, understood this question just as well, and ever 
 better than we do now.' 
 
 " I fully indorse this and I adopt it as a text for this discourse 
 I so adopt it because it furnishes a precise and agreed starting 
 point for the discussion between Republicans and that wing of 
 Democracy headed by Senator Douglas. It simply leaves the 
 inquiry : ' What was the understanding those fathers had of the 
 questions mentioned ?' 
 
 " What is the frame of Government under wh^cb we live? 
 
 "'I'he answer must be: ' Tae Constitution .^f the Unites* 
 States.' That Constitution consists of Xbe orig.nai, trained iu 
 1787 (and under which the present Government first went intt 
 operation), and twelve subsequently framed amendments, the first 
 ten of which were framed in 1789. 
 
 " Who were our fathers that framed the Constitution ? I sup 
 pose the ' thirty-nine' who signed the original instrument may 
 be fairly called our fathere who framed that part of the present 
 Government. It is almost exactly true to say they framed it, 
 and it is altogether true to say they fairly represented the 
 opinion and sentiment of the whole nation at that time. Their 
 names being familiar to nearly all, and accessible to quite all, 
 need not now be repeated. 
 
 " I take these ' thirty-nine,' for the present, as being ' om 
 fathers who framed the Government under which we live.' 
 
 " What is the question which according to the text, those 
 fathers understood just as well, and even better than we do 
 now ? 
 
 " It is this : Does the proper division of local from federal 
 authority, or any thing in the Constitution, forbid our Federal 
 Government control as to slavery in our Federal Territories ? 
 
 "Upon this, Douglas holds the affirmative, and Republicans 
 the negative. This affirmative and denial form an issue ; and 
 this issue — this question— is precisely what the text declares 
 our fathers understood better than we. 
 
 " Let us now inquire whether the ' thirty-nine,' or any of them, 
 ever acted upon this question ; and if they did, how they acted 
 upon it — how they expressed that better understanding. 
 
 '■ In 1784 — three years before the Constitution- — the United 
 States then owning the Northwestern Territory, and no other — 
 the Congress of the Confederation had before them the question 
 of prohibiting slavery in that Territory ; and four of the 
 * thirty-nine' who afterward framed the Constitution were in tluit 
 
50 LIFE AND SEKVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 Congress, and voted on that question. Of tbese, Roger Sher- 
 man, Thomas Mifflin, and Hugh Williamson, voted for the pro- 
 hibition — thus showing that, in their understanding, no line 
 dividing local from Federal authority, nor any thing else, prop- 
 erly forbade the Federal Government to control as to slavery in 
 federal territory. The other of the four — James Mcllenry — 
 voted against the prohibition, showing that, for some cause, he 
 thought it improper to vote for it. 
 
 "In 1737, still before the Constitution, but while the Con- 
 vention was in session framing it, and while the Northwestern 
 Territory still was the only territory owned by the United States 
 — the same question of prohibiting slavery iu the territory 
 again came before the Congress of the Confederation ; and three 
 more of the ' thirty-nine' who afterward signed the Constitution, 
 were in that Congress, and voted on the question. They were 
 William Blount, William Few, and Abraham Baldwin ; and 
 they all voted for the prohibition — thus showing that, in their 
 understanding, uo line dividing local from federal authority, nor 
 any thing else, properly forbids the Federal Government to 
 control as to slavery in federal territory. This time the pro- 
 hibitiQn became a law, being part of what is now well known as 
 the Ordinance of '87. 
 
 " The question of federal control of slavery in the territories, 
 seems not to have been directly before the Convention which 
 framed the original Constitution ; and hence it is not recorded 
 that the ' thirty-nine' or any of them, while engaged on that 
 instrument, expressed any opinion on that precise question. 
 
 " In 1789, by the first Congress which sat under the Con- 
 stitution, an act was passed to enforce the Ordinance of '87 
 including the prohibition of slavery in the Northwestern Terri- 
 tory. The bill for this act was reported by one of the 'thirty- 
 nine,' Thomas Fitzsimmons, then a member of the House of 
 Representatives from Pennsylvania. It went through all its 
 stages without a word of opposition, and finally passed both 
 branches without yeas and nays, which is equivalent to an unani- 
 mous passage. In this Congress there were sixteen of the 
 ' thirty-nine' fathers who framed the original Constitution. 
 They were John Langdon, Nicholas Gilman, Wm. S. Johnson, 
 Roger Sherman, Robert Morris, Thos. Fitzsimmons. William 
 Few, Abraham Baldwin, Rufus King, William Patterson, 
 George Clymer, Richard Bassett, George Read, Pierce Butler, 
 Daniel Carrol, James Madison. 
 
 " This shows that, in their understanding, no line dividing local 
 rrom federal authority, nor any thing in the Constitution, 
 properly forbade Congress to prohibit slavery iu the federal 
 territory; else both their fidelity to correct principle, and their 
 oath to support the Constitution, would Lave constrained them 
 to oppose the prohibition. 
 
 "Again, George Washington, another of the ' thirty-nine.' 
 
LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 51 
 
 was then President of the United States, and, as such, approved 
 and signed the bill, thus completing its validity as a law, and 
 thus showing that, in his understanding, no line dividing local 
 from federal authority, nor any thing in the Constitution, for- 
 bade the Federal Government to control as to slavery in federal 
 territory. 
 
 " No great while after the adoption of the original Constita 
 tion. North Carolina ceded to the Federal Government the 
 country now constituting the State of Tennessee ; and a few 
 years later Georgia ceded that which now constitutes the States 
 of Mississippi and Alabama. In both deeds of cession it was 
 made a condition by the ceding States that the Federal Gov- 
 ernment should not prohibit slavery in the ceded country. 
 Besides this, slavery was then actually in the ceded country. 
 Under these circumstances, Congress, on taking charge of these 
 countries did not absolutely prohibit slavery within them. But 
 they did interfere with it— take control of it — even there, to a 
 certain extent. In 1798, Congress organized the Territory of 
 Mississippi. In the act of organization they prohibited the 
 bringing of slaves into the Territory, from any place without the 
 United States, by fine and giving freedom to slaves so brought. 
 This act passed both branches of Congress without yeas and 
 nays. In that Congress were three of the ' thirty-nine' who 
 framed the original Constitution. 'IMiey were John Langdon, 
 George Read, and Abraham Baldwin. They all, probably, 
 voted for it. Certainly they would have placed their opposition 
 to it upon record, if, in their r.nderstanding, any line dividing 
 local from federal authority, or any thing in the Constitution, 
 properly forbade the Federal Government to control as to 
 slavery in federal territory. 
 
 "Id 1803, the Federal Government purchased the Louisiana 
 country. Our former territorial accpiisitions came from certain 
 of our own States ; but this Louisiana country was acquired 
 from a foreign nation. In 1804, Congress gave a territorial 
 organization to that part of it which now constitutes the State 
 of Ijouisiana. New Orleans, lying within tliat part, was an old 
 and comparatively large city. There were o;her considerable 
 towns and settlements, and slavery wa^ extensively and 
 thoroughly intermingled with the people. Congress did not. in 
 the Territorial Act, prohibit Slavery ; but they did interfere 
 with it — take control of it — in a more marked and extensive 
 way than they did in the case of Mississippi. The substance 
 of the provision therein made, in relation to slaves, was : 
 
 ^'First. That no slave should be imported into the territory 
 from foreign parts. 
 
 ''Second. 'J'iiat no slave should be carried into it who had 
 been imported into the United States since the first day of May, 
 1798. 
 
 "Third That no slave should be carried into it, except bj 
 
52 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 the owner, and for his own use as a settlor ; the penalty in all 
 the cases being a fine upon the violator of the law, and freedom 
 to the slave. 
 
 " This act also was passed without yeas and nays. In ♦he 
 Congress which passed it, there were two of rbe ' thirty-umo.' 
 They were Abrahan\ Baldwin and Jonatlvau Djiyton. Ae 
 stated in the ease of Mississippi, it is probable tl.ey ooth voto( . 
 for it. They would not have allowed it to pass without recoid 
 ing their opposition to it, if. in their understanding, it violated 
 either the Hue proper dividing local from Federal authority oi 
 any provision of the Constitution. 
 
 "lu lS19-2t\ cauie and passed the Missouri question. Many 
 votes were taken, by yeas and nays, in both branches of Con- 
 gress, npou the various phases of the general question, 'i'wo 
 of the 'thirty-nine' — Rufus King and Charles Pinckney — were 
 members of that Congress. Mr. King steadily voted for slavery 
 prohibition and against all compromises, while Mr. Pinckney as 
 steadily voted against slavery prohibition and against all ooie- 
 promises. l>y tliis Mr. King showed that, in his understanding, 
 no line dividing local from Federal anthoiity, nor auy thing iu 
 the Constitution, was violated by Congress prohibiting slavery 
 iu federal territory ; while Mr. Pinckney, by his voies, showed 
 that iu his understanding there was some sufficient reason for 
 opposing such prohibition in that case. 
 
 •'The cases 1 have mentioned are the only acts of the 'thirty- 
 nine,' or of any of them, upon the direct issue, which I have 
 been able to discover. 
 
 "To enumerate the persons who thus acted, as being four iu 
 17S4, three iu ITS", seveuteen iu ITS'J, three in 1798, two in 
 1804, and two in 1819-20 — there would be thirty-one of them. 
 But this would be counting John Laugdon, Roger Sherman, 
 "William Few, Rufus King, and tioorge Ri-ad. each twice, and 
 Abraham Baldwin fonr times. The true number of those of the 
 'thirty-nine' whom I have shown to have acted upon the ques- 
 tion, which, by the text they understood better than we, is 
 twenty-three, leaving sixteen not shown to have acted upon it 
 in any way. 
 
 •' Here, then, we have twenty-three out of our ' thirty-nine' 
 fathers who framed the government under which we live, who 
 have, upon their official responsibility and their corporal oaths, 
 acted upon the very question which the text affirms they'un- 
 derstood just as well, and even b.'tter than we do now;' and 
 twenty-one of them — a clear majority of the ' thirty-nine' — so 
 ftcting upon it as to make them guilty of gross political impro- 
 priety, and wilful perjury, if. in their understanding, any proper 
 division between local and Federal authority, or >.ny thing in the 
 Constitution they iiad made themselves, and sworn to support, 
 forbade the Federal government to control as to slavery in the 
 Federal territories Tius the twenty-one acted ; and, as actions 
 
LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 53 
 
 speak louder than words, so actions under such responsibility 
 Bpeak still louder. 
 
 "Two of the twenty-three voted against Congressional pro- 
 hibition of slavery in the Federal territories, in the instances in 
 which they acted upon the question. But for what reasons they 
 sc voted, is not known. They may hav^- done so because they 
 thou;5ht a proper division of local from Federal authority, or some 
 provision or jiriiiciple of the Constitiition, stood in the way; or 
 they may, without any such question, have voted against the pro- 
 hibition, on what appeared to them to be suGBcient grounds of ex- 
 pediency. No one who has sworn to support the Constitution, can 
 conscientiously vote for what he understands to be an urfconsti- 
 tutional measure, however expedient he may think it; but one 
 may and ought to vote against a measure which he deems con- 
 stitutional, if, at the same time, he deems it inexpedient. It, 
 therefore, would be unsafe to set down even the two who voted 
 against the prohibition, as having done so because, in their un- 
 derstanding, any proper division of local from Federal authority, 
 or any thing in the Constitution, forbade the Federal govern- 
 ment to control as to slavery in Federal territory. 
 
 "The remaining sixteen of the 'thirty-nine,' so far as I have 
 discovered, have left no record of their understanding- upon the 
 direct question of Federal control of slavery in the Federal ter- 
 ritories. But there is much reason to believe that their under- 
 standing upon that question would not have appeared different 
 from that of their twenty-three compeers, had it been manifested 
 at all. 
 
 " For the purpose of adhering rigidly to the text, I have pur- 
 posely omitted whatever understanding may have been mani- 
 fested, by any person, however distinguished, other than the 
 ' thirty-nine' fathers who framed the original Constitution ; and, 
 for the same reason, I have also omitted wliatever understanding 
 may have been manifested by any of the 'thirty-nine' even, on 
 any other phase of the general question of slavery. If we should 
 look into their acts and declarations on those other phases, as the 
 foreign slave-trade, and the morality and policy of slavery gen- 
 erally, it would appear to us that on the direct question of Fed- 
 eral control of slavery in Federal territories, the sixteen, if they 
 had acted at all, would probably have acted just as the twenty- 
 three did. Among that sixteen were several of the most noted 
 anti-slavery men of those times — as Dr. Franklin, Alexander 
 Hamilton, and Governeur Morris — while there was not one new 
 known to have been otherwise, unless it may be John Rutledge, 
 of South Carolina. 
 
 "The sum of the whole is, that of our 'thirty-nine' fathers 
 who framed the original Constitution, twenty-ooe — a clear ma- 
 jority of the whole — certainly understood that no proper divisioQ 
 of local from Federal authority nor any part of the Constitution, 
 f )-bade the Federal government to control slavery in the Fed- 
 
54: LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 eral territories, while all the rest probably had the same under- 
 standing. Such, unquestional)ly, was the understanding of our 
 fathers who framed the original Constitution ; and the text 
 affirms that they understood the question better than we. 
 
 " But, so far, I have been considering the understanding of 
 'the question manifested by the framers of the original Constitu- 
 tion. In and by the original instrument, a mode was provided 
 Cor amending it ; and, as I have already stated, the present 
 frame of government under which we live consists of that 
 original, and twelve amendatory articles framed and adopted 
 since. Those who now insist that Federal control of slavery in 
 Federal territories violates the Constitution, point us to the 
 provisions which they suppose it thus violates ; and, as I under- 
 stand, they all fix upon provisions iu these amendatory articles, 
 and not in the original instrument. The Supreme Court, in the 
 Dred Scott case, plant themselves upon the fifth amendment, 
 which provides that ' no person shall be deprived of property 
 without due process of law;' while Senator Douglas and his 
 peculiar adherents plant themselves upon the tenth amendment, 
 providing that 'the powers not granted by the Constitution are 
 reserved to the States respectively, and to the people.' 
 
 " Now, it so happens that these amendments were framed by 
 the first Congress which sat under the Constitution — the identi- 
 cal Congress which passed the act already mentioned, enforcing 
 the prohibition of slavery in the northwestern territory. Not 
 only was it the same Congress, but they were the identical, same 
 individual men who, at the same session, and at the same time 
 within the session, had under consideration, and in progress 
 toward maturity, these Constitutional amendments, and this act 
 prohibiting slavery iu all the territory the nation then owned. 
 The Constitutional amendments were introduced before, and 
 passed after the act enforcing the Ordinance of '87 ; so that 
 during the whole pendency of the act to enforce the Ordinance, 
 the Constitutional amendments were also pending. 
 
 " That Congress, consisting in all of sevent^'-six members, in- 
 cluding sixteen of the framers of the original Constitution, as 
 before stated, were pre-eminently our fathers who framed that 
 part of the government under which we live, which is now 
 claimed as forbidding the Federal government to control 
 slavery in the Federal territories. 
 
 " Is it not a little presumptuous in any one at this day to 
 affirm that the two things which thai Congress deliberately 
 framed, and carried to maturity at the same time, are absolutely 
 inconsistent with each other? And does not such aliirmat-on 
 become impudently absurd when coupled with the other affirma- 
 tion, from the same mouth, tliiit those who did the two things 
 alleged to be inconsistent understood whether they really were 
 inconsistent better than we — better than he who affirms that 
 thej are inconsistent? 
 
LIF.;, AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 55 
 
 "It is surely safe to assume that the 'thirty-nine' framers of 
 the original Constitution, and the seventy-six members of the 
 Congress which framed the amendments thereto, taken together, 
 do certanly include those who may be fairly called 'our fathers 
 who framed the government under which we live.' And so as- 
 suming, I defy any man to show that any one of them ever, in 
 his whole life, declared that, in his understanding, any proper 
 division of local from Federal authority, or any part of tlie Con- 
 stitution, forbade the Federal government to control as to 
 slavery in the Federal territories. I go a step further. I defy 
 any one to show that any living man in the whole world ever 
 did, prior to the beginning of the present century (and I might 
 almost say prior to the beginning of the last half of the present 
 century), declare that, in his understanding, any proper division 
 of local from Federal authority, or any part of the Constitution, 
 forbade the Federal government to control as to slavery in the 
 Federal territories. To those who now so declare, I give, not 
 only ' our fathers who framed the government under which we 
 live,' but with them all other living men within the century in 
 which it was framed, among whom to search, and they shall not 
 be able to find the evidence of a single man agreeing with them. 
 
 " Now, and here, let me guard a little against being misun- 
 derstood. I do not mean to say we are bound to follow im- 
 plicitly in whatever our fathers did. To do so, would be to 
 discard all the lights of current experience — we reject all prog- 
 ress — all improvement. What I do say is, that if we would 
 supplant the opinions and policy of our fathers in any case, we 
 should do so upon evidence so conclusive, and argument so clear, 
 that even their great authority, fairly considered and weighed, 
 cannot stand ; and most surely not in a case whereof we our- 
 selves declare they understood the question better than we. 
 
 "If any man, at this day, sincerely believes that a proper 
 division of local from Federal authority, or any part of the 
 Constitution, forbids the Federal government to control as to 
 slavery in the Federal territories, he is right to say so, and to 
 enforce his position by all truthful evidence and fair argument 
 which he can. But he has no right to mislead others, who have 
 less access to history and less leisure to study it, into the false 
 belief that ' our fathers, who framed the government under 
 ■which we live,' were of the same opinion — thus substituting falso- 
 hood and deception for truthful evidence and fair argument. If 
 any man, at this day, sincerely believes ' our fathers, who framed 
 the government under which we live,' used and applied princi- 
 ples, in other cases, which ought to have led them to understand 
 that a proper division of local from Federal authority, or some 
 part of the Constitution, forbids the Federal government to 
 control as to slavery in the Federal territories, he is right to say 
 BO. But he should, at the same time, brave the responsibility 
 of declaring that, iu his opinion, he understands their principles 
 
56 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 better than they did themselves ; and especially should he i»ot 
 shirk that responsibility l)y asserting that they ' understood ihe 
 question juat as well, and even better than we do now.' 
 
 " But enough. Let all who believe that ' our fathers, who 
 framed the government under which we live, understood this 
 question just as well, and even better than we do now,' speak as 
 tliey spoke, and act as they acted upon it. This is all Republi- 
 cans ask, all Eepublicans desire, in relation to slavery. As 
 those fathers marked it, so let it be again marked, as an evil not 
 to be extended, but to be tolerated and protected only because 
 of and so far as its actual presence among us makes that tolera- 
 tion and protection a necessity. Let all the guaranties those 
 fathers gave it, be, not grudgingly, but fully and fairly main- 
 Uiined. For this Republicans contend, and with this, so far as 
 1 know or believe, they will be content. 
 
 "And now, if they would listen — as I suppose they will not — 
 I would address a few words to the Southern people. 
 
 "I would say to them : You consider yourselves a reasonable 
 and a just people; and I consider that, in the general qualities 
 of reason and justice, you are not inferior to any other people. 
 Still, when you speak of us Republicans, you dc so only to de- 
 nounce us as reptiles, or, at the best, as no better than outlaws. 
 You will grant a hearing to pirates or murderers, but nothing 
 like it to ' Black Republicans.' In all your contentions with 
 one another, each of you deems an unconditional condemnation 
 of ' Black Republicanism' as the first thing to be attended to. 
 Indeed, such condemnation of us seems to be an indispensable 
 prerequisite — license, so to speak — among you to be admitted 
 or permitted to speak at all. 
 
 " Now can you, or not, be prevailed upon to pause and to 
 consider whether this is quite just to us, or even to yourselves ? 
 
 "Bring forward your charges and speciiications, and then be 
 patient long enough to hear us deny or justify. 
 
 " You say we are sectional. We deny it. That makes an 
 issue ; and the burden of proof is upon you. You produce your 
 proof; and what is it? Why, that our party has no existence 
 in your section — gets no votes in your section. The fact is sub- 
 stantially true; but does it prove the issue? If it does, then, 
 in case we should, without change of principle, begin to set 
 votes in your section, we should thereby cease to be sectional 
 You cannot escape this conclusion ; and yet, are you willing to 
 abide by it ? If you are, you will probably soon find that we 
 have ceased to be sectional, for we shall gei votes in your sec- 
 tion this very year. You will then begin to discover, as the 
 truth plainly is, that your proof does not touch the issue. 'J'he 
 fact that we get no votes in your section is a fact of your 
 making, and not of ours And if there be fault in that fact, 
 that fault is primarily yours, and remains so until you show that 
 we repel you by some wrong principle or practice. If we do 
 
LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 57 
 
 Yepel you by any wrong principle or practice, the fault is oura ; 
 bat this brings us to where you ought to have started — to a dis- 
 cussion of the right or wrong of our principle. If our principle, 
 put in practice, would wrong your section for the benefit of ours, 
 or for any other object, then our principle, and we with it, are 
 sectional, and are justly opposed and denounced as such. 
 Meet us, then, on the question of whether our principle, put ia 
 practice, would wrong your section ; and so meet it as if it were 
 possible that something may be said on our side. Do you ac- 
 cept the challenge? No? Then you really believe that the 
 principle which our fathers, who framed the government under 
 which we live, thought so clearly right as to adopt it, and indorse 
 it again and again upon their official oaths, is, in fact, so clearly 
 wrong as to demand your condemnation without a moment's 
 consideration. 
 
 " Some of you delight to flaunt in our faces the warning 
 against sectional parties given by Washington in his Farewell 
 Address. Less than eight years before Washington gave that 
 warning, he had, as President of the United States, approved 
 and signed an act of Congress enforcing the prohibition of 
 slavery in the Northwestern Territory, which act embodied the 
 policy of the government upon that subject, up to and at the 
 very moment he penned that warning; and about one year after 
 he penned it he wrote Lafayette that he considered that prohi- 
 bition a wise measure, expressing, in the same connection, his 
 hope that we should some time have a confederacy of free 
 States. 
 
 " Bearing this in mind, and seeing that sectionalism has since 
 arisen upon this same subject, is that warning a weapon in your 
 hands against us, or in our hands against you? Could Wash- 
 ington himself speak, would he cast the blame of that sectional- 
 ism upon us, who sustain his policy, or upon you, who repudiate 
 it? We respect that warning of Washington, and we commend 
 it to you, together with his example pointing to the right ap- 
 plication of it. 
 
 " But you say you are conservative — eminently conservative — 
 while we are revolutionary, destructive, or something of the 
 sort. What is conservatism ? Is it not adherence to the old 
 and tried against the new and untried? We stick to, contend 
 for, the identical old policy on the point in controversy which 
 was adopted by our fathers who framed the government under 
 which we live ; while you, with one accord, reject, and scout, 
 and spit upon that old policy, and insist upon substituting some- 
 thing new. True, you dis.agree among yourselves as to what 
 that substitute shall be. You have considerable variety of new 
 propositions and plans, but you are unanimous iu rejecting and 
 denouncing the old policy of the fathers. Some of you are for 
 reviving the foreign slave-trade; some for a Congressional 
 Slave-Code for the Territories j some for Congress forbidding 
 
58 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 the Territories to prohibit slivery within their limits ; some for 
 maintaining slavery in the Territories through the Judiciary, 
 some for the ' gur-reat pur-rinciple' that, ' if one man would en- 
 elave another, no third man should object,' fantastically called 
 ' Popular Sovereignty ;' but never a man among you in favor of 
 Federal prohibition of slavery in Federal Territories, according 
 to the practice of our fathers who framed the government under 
 which we live. Not one of all your various plans can show a 
 precedent or an advocate in the century within which our go- 
 vernment originated. Consider, then, whether your claim of 
 conservatism for yourselves, and your charge of destructivencss 
 against us, are based on the most clear and stable foundations. 
 
 "Again, you say we have made the slavery question more 
 prominent than it formerly was. We deny it. We admit that 
 it is more prominent, but we deny that we made it so. It was 
 not we, but j'ou, who discarded the old policy of the fathers. 
 We resisted, and still resist, your innovation ; and thence comes 
 the greater prominence of the question. Would you have that 
 question reduced to its former proportions ? Go back to that 
 old policy. What has been vvili be again, under the same con- 
 ditions. If you would have the peace of the old times, re-adopt 
 the precepts and policy of the old times. 
 
 "You charge that we stir up insurrections among your slaves 
 We deny it. And what is your proof? Harper's Ferry ! John 
 Brown 1 John Brown was no Republican ; and yOu have failed 
 to implicate a single Republican in his Harper's Ferry enter- 
 prise. If any member of our party is guilty in that matter, yon 
 know it, or you do not know it. If you do know it, you are in- 
 excusable to not designate the man, and prove the fact. If you 
 do not know it, you are inexcusable to assert it, and especi' 
 ally to persist in the assertion after you have tried and failed ti> 
 make the proof. You need not be told that persisting in a 
 charge which one does not know to be true is dimply malicious 
 slander, 
 
 "Some of you admit that no Republican designedly aided or 
 encouraged the Harper's Ferry affair ; but still insist that our 
 doctrines and declarations necessarily lead to such results. Wo 
 do not believe it. We know we hold to no doctrine, and make 
 no declarations which were not held to and made by our fathers 
 who framed the government under which we live. You never 
 deal fairly by us in relation to this afiair. When it occurred, 
 some important State elections were near at hand, and you 
 were in evident glee with the belief that, by charging the blame 
 upon us, you could get an advantage of us in those elections. 
 The elections came, and your expectations were not quite ful- 
 filled. Every Republican man knew that, as to himself, at least 
 your charge was a slander, and he was not much inclined by it 
 to cast his vote in your favor. Republican doctrines and deela- 
 rations are accompanied with a continual protest against any 
 
LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 59 
 
 interference wluitcver with your slales, or with you about your 
 slaves. Surely, tliis does nut encourage tbera to revolt. True, 
 we do, in comniou with our fathers, who framed the government 
 undor which we live, declare our belief that slavery is wrong; 
 bat the slaves do not hear us declare even this. For any thing 
 we say or do, the slaves would scarcely know there is a Repub- 
 lican party. I believe they would nut, in fact, generally know 
 it but fof your misrepresentations of us in their hearing. In 
 your political contests among yourselves, each faction charges 
 the other with sympathy with Black Eepublicanisra; and then, 
 to give point to the charge, defines Black Republicanism to 
 simply be insurrection, blood and thunder among the slaves. 
 
 " Slave insurrections are no more common now than they 
 were before the Republican party was organized. What in- 
 duced the Southampton insurrection, twenty-eight years ago, in 
 which, at least, three times as many lives were lost as at Har- 
 per's Ferry? You can scarcely stretch your very elastic fancy 
 to the conclusion that Suuthampton was got up by Black Re- 
 publicanism. In the present state of things in the United 
 States, I do not think a general, or even a very extensive slave 
 insurrection, is possible. The indispensable concert of action 
 cannot be attained. 'J'he slaves have no means of rapid com- 
 munication ; nor can incendiary free men, black or white, sup- 
 ply it. The explosive materials are everywhere in parcels ; but 
 there neither are, nor can be supplied, the indispensable coq- 
 uecting trains. 
 
 " Much is said by southern people about the afTection of 
 slaves for their masters and mistresses ; and a part of it, at least, 
 is true. A plot for an uprising could scarcely be devised and 
 communicated to twenty individuals before some one of them, 
 to save the life of a favorite master or mistress, would divulge 
 it. This is the rule ; and the slave revolution in Hayti was not 
 an exception to it, but a case occurring under peculiar circum- 
 stances. The gunpowder-plot of British history, though not 
 connected with the slaves, was more in point. In that case, 
 only about twenty were admitted to the secret ; and yet one of 
 tiiem, in his anxiety to save a friend, betrayed the plot to that 
 friend, and, by consequence, averted the calamity. Occasional 
 poisonings from tlie kitchen, and open or stealthy assassinations 
 in the field, and local revolts extending to a score or so, will 
 continue to occur as the natural results of slavery; but no gen- 
 eral insurrection of slaves, as I think, can happen in this country 
 for a long time. Whoever much fears, or much hopes, for such 
 an event, will be alike disappointed. 
 
 " In the language of Mr. Jeflerson, uttered many years ago, 
 'It is still in our power to direct the process of emancipation, 
 and deportation, peaceably, and in such slow degrees, as that the 
 evil will wear otf insensibly ; and their place be, pari passu, 
 filled up by free white laborers. If, ou the contrary, it is left t9 
 
60 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 force itself on, human nature must shudder at the prospect 
 held up.' 
 
 " Mr. Jefferson did not mean to say, nor do I, that the powei 
 of emancipation is in the Federal Government. He spoi^e of 
 Virginia ; and, as to the power of emancipation, I speak of the 
 slaveholding States only. 
 
 "The Federal Government, however, as we insist, ha.'^ the 
 power of restraining the extension of the institution — the power 
 to insure that a slave insurrection shall never occur on any 
 American soil which is now free from slavery. 
 
 " John Brown's effort was peculiar. It was not a slave insur- 
 rection. It was an attempt by white men to get up a revolt 
 among slaves, in which the slaves refused to participate. In 
 fact, it was so absurd that the slaves, with all their ignorance, 
 Baw plainly enough it could not succeed. That affair, in its 
 philosophy, corresponds with the many attempts, related in his- 
 tory, at the assassination of kings and emperors. An enthusiast 
 broods over the oppression of a people till he fancies himself 
 commissioned by Heaven to liberate them. He ventures the 
 attempt, which ends in little else than in his own execution. 
 Orsini's attempt on Louis Napoleon, and John Brown's attempt 
 at Harper's Ferry were, in their philosophy, precisely the same. 
 'J'he eagerness to cast blame on old England in the one case, 
 and on New England in the other, does not disprove the same- 
 ness of the two things. 
 
 "And how much would it avail you, if you could, by the use 
 of John Brown, Helper's book, and the like, break up the Re- 
 publican organization ? Human action can be modified to some 
 extent, but human nature cannot be changed. There is a judg- 
 ment and a feeling against slavery in this nation, which cast at 
 least a million and a-half of votes. You cannot destroy that 
 judgment and feeliBg — that sentiment— by breaking up the poli- 
 tical organization which rallies around it. You can scarcely 
 scatter and disperse an army which has been formed into order 
 in the face of your heaviest fire ; but if you could, how much 
 would you gain by forcing the sentiment which created it out 
 of the peaceful channel of the ballot-box, into some other clian- 
 nel ? What would that other channel probably be ? Would tLe 
 number of John Browns be lessened or enlarged by the 
 operation. 
 
 " But you will break up the Union rather than submit to a 
 d'>'>ial of your Constitutional rights. 
 
 " That has a somewhat reckless sound ; but it would bo pal- 
 liated, if not fully justified, were we proposing, by the mere 
 force of numbers, to deprive you of some right plainly written 
 down in the Constitution. But we are proposing ao such thing. 
 
 "When you make these declarations, you have a specific and 
 well-understood allusion to an assumed Constitutional right of 
 yours, to take slaves into the federal territories, and hold them 
 
LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN; 61 
 
 tkcre as property. But no such right is specificcally written in 
 the Coustitutiou. That instrument is literally silent about any 
 such right. We, on the contrary, deny that such a right ha3 
 any existence in the Constitution, even by implication. 
 
 " Your purpose, than, plainly stated, is, that you will destroy 
 the Government, unless you be allowed to construe and enforce 
 the Constitution as you please, on all points in dispute between 
 you and us. You will rule or ruin in all events. 
 
 " This, plainly stated, is your language to us. Perhaps yo« 
 will say the Supreme Court has decided the disputed Constitu- 
 tional question in your favor. Not quite so. But waiving tho 
 lawyer's distinction between dictum and decision, the Courts 
 have decided the question for you iu a sort of way. The Courts 
 have substantially said, it is your Constitutional right to take 
 slaves into the Federal Territories, and to hold them there a3 
 property. 
 
 " When I say the decision was made iu a sort of way, I mean 
 it was made in a divided Court by a bare majority of the Judges, 
 and they not quite agreeing with one another in the reasons for 
 malving it ; that it is so made as that its avowed supporters 
 disagree with one another about its meaning, and that it was 
 mainly based upon a mistaken statement of fact — the statement 
 iu the opinion that ' the right of property in a slave is distinctly 
 and expressly affirmed in the Constitution.' 
 
 " An inspection of the Constitution will show that the right 
 of property in a slave is not distinctly and expressly afBrmed in 
 it. Bear in mind the Judges do not pledge their judicial 
 opinion that such right is impliedly affirmed in the Constitution ; 
 but they pledge their veracity that it is distinctly and expressly 
 affirmed there — 'distinctly' that is, not mingled with any thing 
 else — ' expressly' that is, iu words meaning just that, without 
 the aid of any inference, and susceptible of no other meaning. 
 
 " If they had only pledged their judicial opinion that such 
 right is affirmed in the instrument by implication, it would be 
 open to others to show that neither the word ' slave' nor ' sla- 
 very' is to be found in the Constitution, nor the word ' property' 
 even, in any connection with language alluding to the things 
 slave, or slavery, and that wherever in that instrument the slave 
 is alluded to, he is called a ' person ;' and wherever his master's 
 legal right in relation to him is alluded to, it is spoken of as 
 * ser-=-lce or labor due,' as a ' debt' payable in service or labor. 
 Also, it would be open to show, by contemporaneous history, 
 that this mode of alluding to slaves and slavery, instead of 
 speaking of them, was employed on purpose to exclude from the 
 Constitution the idea that there could be property in man. 
 
 " To show all this is easy and certain. 
 
 " When this obvious mistake of the Judges shall be brought 
 to their notice, is it not reasonable to expect that they will 
 withdraw the mistaken statement, and reconsider the conclusion 
 based upon it ? . 
 
62 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LI^-COLN. 
 
 "And then it is to be remembered that ' our fathers, who 
 framed the Government under which we live' — the men who 
 made the Constitutiun — decided this same Constitutional questioQ 
 in our favor, long' ago — decided it without a division among them- 
 selves, when making the decision ; without division amont^ 
 themselves about the meaning of it after it was made, and so 
 far as any evidence is left, without basing it upon any mistaken 
 statement of facts. 
 
 " Under all those circumstances, do you really feel yourselves 
 justified to break up this Government, unless such a court 
 decision as yours is, shall be at once submitted to, as a conclusive 
 and finaJ rule of political action. 
 
 " But you will not abide the election of a Republican Presi- 
 dent. In that supposed event, you say, you will destroy the 
 Union ; and then, yoa say, the great crime of having destroyed 
 it will be upon us ! 
 
 " That is cool. A highwayman holds a pistol to my ear, and 
 mutters through his teeth, ' stand and deliver, or I shall kill you, 
 and then you will bo a murderer !' 
 
 "To be sure, what the robber demanded of me — my money- 
 was my own ; and I had a clear right to keep it; but it was no 
 more my own than my vote is my owu ; and threat of death to 
 me, to extort my money, and threat of destruction to the 
 Union, to extort my vote, can scarcely be distinguished in 
 principle, 
 
 "A few words now to Republicans. It is exceedingly desira- 
 ble that all parts of this great Confederacy shall be at peace, 
 and in harmony, one with another. Let us Republicans do our 
 part to have it so. . Even though much provoked, let us do 
 nothing through passion and ill temper. Even though the 
 southern people will not so much as listen to us, let us calmly 
 consider their demands, and yield to them if, in our deliberate 
 view of our duty, we possibly can. Judging by all they say and 
 do, and by the subject and nature of their controversy with us, 
 let us determine, if we can, what will satisfy them ? 
 
 " Will they be satisfied if tlie Territories be unconditionally 
 surrendered to them? 'We know they will not. In all their 
 present complaints against us, the Territories are scarcely 
 mentioned. Invasions and insurrections are the rage now. 
 Will it satisfy them if, in the future, we have nothing todo with 
 ih/asions and insurrections? We know it will not. We so 
 know because we know we never had any thing to do with 
 invasions and insurrections; and yet this total abstaining does 
 not exempt us from the charge and the denunciation. 
 
 " The question recurs, what v/ill satisfy them ? Simply thin : 
 We must not only let them alone, but we must, somehow, con- 
 vince them that we do lot them aione. This, we know by 
 experience, is no easy task. We have been so trying to 
 convince them from the very beginning of our c rgauizatioa 
 
LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM IJNCOLN. 63 
 
 but with no snccess. In all our platforms and speeches we have 
 constantly protested our purpose to let them alone; but this 
 has had no tendency to convince them. Alike unavailing to 
 convince them is the fact tliat they have never detected a man 
 of us in any attempt to disturb them. 
 
 "These natural, and apparently adequate means all failing, 
 what will convince tbem ? This, and this only : cease to call 
 slavery lorong, and join them in calling it right. And this must 
 be done thoroughly — done in acts as well as in words. Silence 
 will not be tolerated — we must place ourselves avowedly with 
 them. Douglas's new sedition law must be enacted and en- 
 forced, suppressing all declarations that slavery is wrong, 
 whether made in politics, in presses, in pulpits, or in private. 
 We must arrest and return their fugitive slaves with greedy 
 pleasure. We must pull down our Free-State Constitu- 
 tions. The whole atmosphere must be disinfected from all 
 taint of opposition to slavery, before they will cease to believe 
 that all their troubles proceed from us. 
 
 " I am quite aware they do not state their case precisely in 
 this way. Most of them would probably say to us, ' Let U3 
 alone, do nothing to us, and say what you please about slavery.' 
 But we do let them alone — have never disturbed them — so that, 
 after all, it is what we say, which dissatisfies them. They will 
 continue to accuse us of doing, until we cease saying. 
 
 " I am also aware they have not, as yet, in terms demanded 
 the overthrow of our Free-State Constitutions. Yet those 
 Constitutions declare the wrong of slavery, with more solemn 
 emphasis, than do all other sayings against it ; and when all 
 these other sayings shall have been silenced, the overthrow of 
 these Constitutions will be demanded, and nothing be left to 
 resist the demand. It is nothing to the contrary, that they do 
 not demand the whole of this just now. Demanding what 
 they do, and for the reason they do, they can voluntarily stop 
 nowhere short of this consummation. Holding, as they do, 
 that slavery is morally right, and socially elevating, they cannot 
 cease to demand a full national recognition of it, as a legal 
 right, and a social blessing. 
 
 "Nor can we justifiably withhold this, on any ground save 
 our conviction that slavery is wrong. If slavery is right, all 
 vords, acts, la?'?, and constitutions against it, are themselves 
 ■wrong, and ghauld be silenced, and swept away. If it is right, 
 we canio't justly object to its nationality — its universality ; if it 
 is wrong, they cannot justly insist upon its extension — its 
 enlargement. All they ask, we could readily grant, if we 
 thought slavery right ; all we ask, they could as readily grant, 
 if they thought it wrong. Their thinking it right, and our 
 thinking it wrong, is the precise fact upon which depends the 
 whole controversy. Thinking it right, as they do, they are not 
 to blame for desiring its full recognition, as being right ; but, 
 
64 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 thinking it wrong, as we do, can we yield to them ? Can we 
 cast our votes with their view, and against our own ? In view 
 of our moral, social, and political responsibilities, can we do this 1 
 
 " Wrong as we think slavery is, we can yet afford to "let i* 
 alone where it is, because that much is due to the necessity 
 arising from its actual presence in the nation ; but can we, 
 while our votes will prevent it, allow it to spread into the 
 National Territories, and to overrun us here in these Free 
 States ? 
 
 " If our sense of duty forbids this, then let us stand by our 
 duty, fearlessly and effectively. Let us be diverted by none of 
 those sophistical contrivances wherewith we are so industriously 
 died and belabored — contrivances such as groping for some 
 hiiddle ground between the right and the wrong, vain as the 
 search for a man who should be neither a living man nor a dead 
 man — such as a policy of * don't care' on a question about 
 which all true men do care — such as Union appeals beseeching 
 true Union men to yield to Disunionists, reversing the divine 
 rule, and calling, not the sinners, but the righteous to repen- 
 tance — such as invocations to Washington, imploring men to 
 unsay what Washington said, and undo what Washington did. 
 
 " Neither let us be slandered from our duty by false accusations 
 against us, not frightened from it by menaces of destruction to 
 the Government, nor of dungeons to ourselves. Let us have 
 faith that right makes might, and in that faith, let us, to the end, 
 dare to do our duty, as we understand it." 
 
 IS NOMINATED FOR PRESIDENT OF THE 
 UNITED STATES BY THE REPUBLICAN CON- 
 VENTION. 
 
 On the sixteenth of May, 1860, the Republican National 
 Convention assembled in Chicago, for the purpose of 
 nominating candidates for the Presidency and Vice-Presi- 
 dency. The first day was spent in organizing, and the 
 second, in adopting rules for the government of the Con- 
 vention and the platform of the party, and on the third, 
 the body proceeded to ballot for the two candidates. 
 Mr. Lincoln was nominated for President by Mr. Judd, 
 of Illinois, and on the first ballot, received 102 votes, Mr. 
 Seward receiving, on the same ballot, 113^ votes, and the 
 balance being divided between the other candidates. On 
 the second ballot, the vote stood : Lincoln, 181 ; Seward, 
 lS4i; and on the third, Mr. Lincoln received 280^ votes, 
 
LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 65 
 
 or within one and one-half of a nomination. One of the 
 delegates then changed four votes of his State, giving them 
 to Mr. Lincoln, thus nominating him, and then, amid a 
 scene of the most intense excitement, vote after vote was 
 changed to the successful candidate, until at length the 
 nomination was made unanimous, The selection was re- 
 ceived by the Republican voters of the country with the 
 most unbounded enthusiasm, and immediate preparations 
 were made for an arduous campaign. The antecedents 
 of their standard-bearer were of such an honorable and 
 noble character, that they felt convinced the different fac- 
 tions among the opposition — indeed, all who were inspired 
 more by patriotism than party predilections — would sup- 
 port him in the canvass and at the ballot-box. The ar- 
 chitect of his own fortunes, he had raised himself from 
 obscurity to eminence and distinction. Born in a floorlesa 
 log-cabin, in a Kentucl^y wilderness ; the child of humble 
 and uneducated, but Christian parents ; and with no edu- 
 cation save that received during six months tuition in an 
 unpretending school-house, and from attentive study at 
 home by the light of a log fire, Abraham Lincoln, by his 
 indefatigable perseverance and energy, rapidly rose from 
 one position of trust and responsibility to another, until 
 he attained the nomination of a great political party for 
 the highest office in the gift of the American people. 
 
 IS NOTIFIED OP HIS NOMINATION— THE 
 ADDRESSES ON THE OCCASION. 
 
 The committee appointed by the Convention to notify 
 Mr. Lincoln of his nomination, performed their duty 
 tvithout delay, and upon arriving at his ^residence in 
 Springfield, whither they were escorted by an immense 
 concourse of citizens, the President of the Convention 
 addressed the nominee as follows : 
 
66 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 SPEECH OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE CON- 
 VENTION. 
 
 "I have, sir, the honor, in behalf of the gentlemen who are 
 present, a Committee appointed by the Republican Convention, 
 recently assembled at Chicago, to discharge a most pleasant 
 duty. We have come, sir, under a vote of instructions to that 
 Committee, to notify you that you have been selected by the 
 Convention of the Republicans at Chicago, for President of the 
 United States. They instruct us, sir, to notify you of that 
 selection, and that Committee deem it not only respectful to 
 yourself, but appropriate to the important matter which they 
 have in hand, that they should come in person, and present to 
 you the authentic evidence of the action of that Convention ; 
 and, sir, without any phrase which shall either be considered 
 personally plauditory to yourself, or which shall have any refer- 
 ence to the principles involved in the questions which are con- 
 nected with your nomination, I desire to present to you the 
 letter which has been prepared, and which informs you of the 
 nomination, and with it the platform, resolutions and sentiments, 
 which the Convention adopted. Sir, at your convenience, wo 
 shall be glad to receive from you such a response as it may be 
 your pleasure to give us." 
 
 BEPLY OF MR. LINCOLN. 
 
 In response, Mr. Lincoln said : 
 
 "Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of the Committee: I tender 
 to you, and through you to the Republican National (Jonvention, 
 and all the people represented in it, my profoundest thanks for 
 the high honor done nie, which you now formally announce. 
 Deeply, and even painfully sensible of the great responsibility 
 which is inseparable from tliis high honor — a responsibility 
 which I could almost wish had fallen upon some one of the far 
 more eminent men and experienced statesmen whose distin- 
 guished names were before the Convention, I shall, by your 
 leave, consider more fully the resolutions of the Convention, 
 denominated the platform, and without unnecessary or unrea- 
 sonable delay, respond to you, Mr. Chairman, in writing, not 
 doubting tiiat the platform will be found satisfactory, and the 
 nomination gratefully accepted. And now I will not longer 
 del.,r the pleasure of taking you, and each of you, by the hand." 
 
 CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN THE CONVEN- 
 TION AND MR. LINCOLN. 
 
 The following letter was addressed to Mr. Lincoln by 
 
LIFE A^U SEKVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 67 
 
 the President of the Convention, and a committee ap- 
 pointed for that purpose : 
 
 "Chicago, May \&h, 1860. 
 " To TUK Hon. Abraham Lincoln, of Illinois. 
 
 " Sir : The representatives of the Republican party of the 
 United States, assembled in Convention at Chicago, have this 
 day by a unanimous vote, selected you as the Republican can- 
 didate for the office of President of the United States to be 
 supported at the next election ; and the undersigned were ap- 
 pointed a Committee of the Convention to apprise you of this 
 nomination, and respectfully to request that you will accept it. 
 A declaration of the principles and sentiments adopted by the 
 Convention accompanies this communication. 
 
 " In the performance of this agreeable duty we take leave to 
 add our confident assurance that the nominution of the Chicago 
 Convention will be ratilicd by the suffrages of the people. 
 
 " We have the honor to be, with great respect and regard, 
 your friends and fellow-citizens." 
 
 On the 23d, Mr. Lincoln addressed the following letter 
 to the President of the Convention : 
 
 " Sprtnofield, Illinois, May 2'ird, 1860. 
 "Hon. (jIeorge Ashman, President of the Eepuhlican National 
 "■Convention. 
 " Sir : I accept the nomination tendered me by the Conven- 
 tion over which you presided, and of which I am formally ap- 
 prised in the letter of yourself and others, acting as a Commit- 
 tee of the Convention for that purpose. 
 
 " The declaration of principles and sentiments, which accom- 
 panies your letter, meets my approval ; and it shall be my care 
 not to violate, or disregard it, in any part. 
 
 " Imploring the assistance of Divine Providence, and with 
 due regard to the views and feelings of all who were represented 
 in the Convention ; to the rights of all the States and Territo- 
 ries, and people of the nation ; to the inviolability of the Cou- 
 Btitution, a..d the perpetual union, harmony and prosperity of 
 all, I am most happy to co-operate for the practical success of 
 «he principles declared by the Convention, 
 
 "Your obliged friend and fellow-citizen, 
 
 " Abraham Lincoln." 
 
 On the sixth of November, 1860, the election for President 
 took place, with the following result : Mr. Lincoln received 
 491,275 over Mr. Douglas ; 1,018,499 over Mr. Brecken- 
 
68 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 ridge, and 1,215,821 over Mr. Bell ; and the vote waa 
 subsequently procliiinicd by Congress to be as follows : 
 
 For Abralicim Ijiiicoln, of Illinois 180 
 
 For John C. Breckeuridge, of Keutucky 72 
 
 For John Bell, of Tennessee 39 
 
 For Stephen A. Douglas, of Illinois V2, 
 
 To describe the various movements and projects which 
 were devised and consummated in the South between the 
 time that Mr. Lincoln was elected and the date of his in- 
 auguration, would require a much larger work than that 
 which we now offer to the public, and we will therefore 
 confine our account merely to those which it is unavoid- 
 ably necessary to mention. The principal and most dia- 
 bolical plot conceived and recommended by the traitors, 
 was to prevent the inauguration by obtaining possession 
 of the Federal Capital, or by assassinating Mr. Lincoln 
 while on his way thither, or upon the day that the cere- 
 monies were to take place. Whatever may have been the 
 plan, or however large the reward offered to the villain 
 who would accomplish the murderous deed, the object of 
 their vindictivcness escaped their machinations, and still 
 continues to administer the government wisely and faith- 
 fully. 
 
 LEAVES SPRINGFIELD FOR WASHINGTON — 
 OVATIONS ON THE ROUTE. 
 
 The President Elect left his home in Springfield, Illinois, 
 on the eleventh of February, 1861, for Washington, having 
 before leaving the depot addressed the following words 
 of farewell to the thousands of his fellow-citizens who haa 
 assembled at the place of departure : 
 
 " My friends : No one not in my position can appreciate the 
 Badness 1 feel at this parting. To this people I owe all that I 
 am. Here 1 have lived more than a quarter of a century. Here 
 my children were born, and here one of them lies buried. T 
 kuow not how soon I shall see you again. A duty devolves 
 
LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 69 
 
 opon me wbich is jjcrbaps greatpr than that which has devolved 
 upon any other man since the days of Washington. He never 
 ■would have succeeded except for the aid of Divine Providence, 
 upon which he at all times relied. I feel that I cannot succeed 
 without the same Divine aid which sustained him, and in tho 
 same Almighty Being I place my reliance for support ; and I 
 hope you, my friends, will all pray that I may receive that 
 Divine assistance, without which I cannot succeed, but with 
 which success is certain. Again, I bid you all an affectionate 
 farewell." 
 
 Along the route, multitudes assembled at the railway 
 
 stations to greet him. At Toledo, in response to repeated 
 
 calls, Mr. Lincoln appeared on the platform and said : 
 
 " I am leaving you on an errand of national importance, at- 
 tended, as you are aware, with considerable difficulties. Let us 
 believe, as some poet has expressed it, ' Behind the cloud the 
 sua is shining still.' I bid you an affectionate farewell." 
 
 He next proceeded to Indianapolis, where Mr. Lincoln 
 was welcomed by the Governor of the State, and escorted 
 by a procession composed of both Houses of the Legis- 
 lature, the public officers, municipal authorities, military, 
 and firemen. On reaching the Hotel he addressed the 
 people as follows : 
 
 ^^Fellow-citizens of the State of Indiana : I am here to thank 
 you much for this magnificent welcome, and still more for the 
 very generous support given by your State to that political 
 cause, which I think is the true and just cause of the whole 
 country and the whole world. Solomon says ' there is a time to 
 keep silence ;' and when men wrangle by the mouth, with no 
 certainty that they meau the same thing while using the same 
 words, it perhaps were as well if they would keep silence. The 
 words 'coercion' and 'invasion' are much used in these days, 
 and often with some temper and hot blood. Let us make sure, if 
 we can, that we do not misunderstand the meaning of those who 
 use them. Let us get the exact definitions of these words, not 
 from dictionaries, but from the men themselves, who certainly 
 deprecate the things they would represent by the use of the 
 words. What, then, is 'coercion V What is 'invasion ?' Would 
 the marching of an army into South Carolina, without the con- 
 sent of her people, and with hostile intent towards them, be in- 
 vasion ? I certainly think it would, and it would be ' coercion' 
 al»o if the South Carolinians were forced to submit. But if the 
 United States should merely hold and retake its own forts and 
 other property, and collect the duties on foreign importations, 
 
VU LIFE AND SEEVIGES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 or even withhold the mails from places where they were habil- 
 nally violated, would any or all of these things be ' invasion' or 
 ' coercion ?' Do onr professed lovers of the Union, but who 
 Bpitefnlly resolve that they will resist coercion and invasion, un- 
 derstaud that such things as these, on the part of the Unitec' 
 States, would be coercion or invasion of a State? If so, their 
 idea of means to preserve the object of their great affection 
 would seem to be exceedingly thin and airy. If sick, the little 
 pills of the honiccopathist would be much too large for it to 
 swallow. In their view, the Union, as a family relation, would 
 seem to be no regular marriage, but rather a sort of ' free-love' 
 arrangement, to be maintained on passional attiaction. By the 
 way, in what consists the special sacredness of a State ? 1 
 speak not of the position assigned to a State in the Union by 
 the Constitution, for that is the bond we all recognize. That 
 position, however, a State cannot carry out of the Union with 
 it. I speak of that assumed primary right of a State to rule 
 all which is less than itself, and to ruin all which is larger than 
 itself. If a State and a County, in a given case, should be 
 equal in extent of territory and equal in number of inhabitants, 
 in what as a matter of principle, is the State better than the 
 County? Would an exchange of name be an exchange of 
 rights ? Upon what principle, upon Avhat richtful principle, may 
 a State, being no more than one-fiftieth part of the nation in 
 soil and population, break up the nation, and then coerce a pro- 
 portionably larger subdivision of itsolf in the most arbitrarj 
 way? What mysterious right to play tyrant is conferred on a 
 district of country with its people, by nu'rcly calling it a State ? 
 Fellow-citizens, I am not asserting any thing. I am merely 
 asking questions for you to consider. And now allow me to bid 
 you farewell." 
 
 Proceeding to Cincinnati, be received a most enthusi- 
 astic welcome. Having been addressed by the mayor of 
 the city, and escorted by a civic and military procession 
 to the Burnet House, he addressed the assemblage in 
 these words : 
 
 " Felloxv-ciiizcns : I have spoken but once before this in Cin 
 vjinnati. 'J'hat was a year previous to the late Presidential elec- 
 tion. On that occasion, in a playful manner, but with sincere 
 words, I addressed much of what I said to the Kentuckiano. 1 
 gave my opinion that we, as Republicans, would ultimately beat 
 them as Democrats, but that they could postpone the result 
 longer by nominating Senator Douglas for the Presidency than 
 they could in any other way. They did not, in any true sense 
 of the word, nominate Mr. Douglas, and the result has come 
 certainly as soon as ever I expected. 
 
LIFE AXD SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, 71 
 
 " I also told them how I expected they would be treated after 
 they should have been beaten, and now wish to call their atten- 
 tion to what I then said : 
 
 " ' When we do, as we say we will, beat you, you perhaps 
 want to know what we will do with you. I will tell you — as far 
 as I am authorized to speak for the opposition — what we mean 
 to do with you. We mean to treat you as near as we possibly 
 can, as Washington, Jefferson, and Madison treated you. Wft 
 mean to leave you alone, and in no way to interfere with your 
 institutions ; to abide by all and every compromise of the Con- 
 stitution. In a word, coming back to the original proposition, 
 to treat you, as far as degenerate men — if we have degenerated 
 — may, according to the example of those noble fathers, Wash- 
 ington, Jefferson, and Madison. We mean to remember that 
 you are as good as we ; that there is no difference between us 
 othur than the difference of circumstances. We mean to recog- 
 nize and bear in mind always that you have as good hearts in 
 your bosoms as other people, or as we claim to have, and to 
 treat you accordingly.' 
 
 " Fellow-citizens of Kentucky, friends, brethren : May I call 
 you such ? In my new position I see no occasion and feel no 
 inclination to retract a word of this. If it shall not be made 
 good be assured that the fault shall not be mine.' 
 
 In the evening he had a reception, when large crowds 
 called upon him. 
 
 On the next morning he left Cincinnati, and arrived at 
 Columbus, where he was received with every demonstra- 
 tion of enthusiasm. He visited the Governor in the Ex- 
 ecutive Chamber, and was subsequently introduced to the 
 members of the Legislature in joint session, when he was 
 formally welcomed by the Lieutenant-Governor, to whom 
 Mr. Lincoln responded in these words : 
 
 "It is true, as has been said by the President of the Senate, 
 that very great responsibility rests upon me in the position to 
 which the votes of the American people have called me. I am 
 deeply sensible of that weighty responsibility. I cannot but 
 know, what you all know, that without a name — perhaps without 
 a reason why I should have a name — there has fallen upon me a 
 task such as did not rest upon the Father of his Country. And 
 so feeling, I cannot but turn and look for the support without 
 which it will be impossible for me to perform that great task 
 I turn, then, and look to the American people, and to that God 
 who has never forsaken them. 
 
 "Allusion has been made to the interest fylt in relation to the 
 policy of the new Administration. In this, I have received 
 
72 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 from some a degree of credit for having kept silence, from 
 others some depreciution. I still think I was right. In the 
 varying and repeatedly shifting scenes of the present, without a 
 precedent which could enable me to judge for the past, it has 
 seemed fitting, that before speaking upon the difficulties of the 
 country I should have gained a view of the whole field. To be 
 sure, after all, I would be at liberty to modify and change the 
 course of policy as future events might make a change 
 necessary. 
 
 " I have not maintained silence from any want of real anxiety. 
 It is a good thing that there is no more than anxiety, for there 
 is nothing going wrong. It is a consoling circumstance that 
 when we look out there is nothing that really hurts anybody. 
 We entertain different views upon political questions, but 
 nobody is suffering any thing. This is a most consoling circum- 
 stance, and from it I judge that all we want is time and patience, 
 and a reliance on that God who has never forsaken this people." 
 
 On the 14th of February, Mr. Lincoln proceeded to 
 Pittsburgh. At Steubenville, on the route, in reply to an 
 address, he said : 
 
 " I fear the great confidence placed in my ability is un- 
 founded. Indeed, I am sure it is. Encompassed by vast diffi- 
 culties, as I am, nothing shall be wanted on my part, if 
 sustained by the American people and God. I believe the 
 devotion to the Constitution is equally great on both sides of 
 the river. It is only the different understanding of that instru- 
 ment that causes difficulties. The only dispute is ' What are 
 their ria;hts ?' If the majority should not rule who should be 
 the judge? Where is such a judge to be found? We should 
 all be bound by the majority of the American people — if not, 
 then the minority must control. Would that be right ? "Would 
 it be just or generous? Assuredly not." He reiterated, the 
 majority should rule. If he adopted a wrong policy, then the 
 opportunity to condemn him would occur in four yeara' time. 
 " 'J'hcn I can be turned out and a better man with better views 
 put in my place." 
 
 The next morning he left for Cleveland, but before his 
 departure he made an address to the people of Pittsburgh, 
 in which he said : 
 
 " In every short address I have made to the people, and ia 
 every crowd through which I have passed of late, some allusion 
 has been made to the present distracted condition of the coun- 
 try. It is naturally expected that I should say something upon 
 this subject, but to touch upon it at all would involve an 
 elaborate discussion of a great many questiou5 and circum- 
 
LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 73 
 
 stances, would require more time than I can at present com- 
 mand, and would perhaps unnecessarily commit me upon matters 
 which have not yet fully developed themselves. 
 
 " The condition of the country, fellow-citizens, is an extra, 
 ordinary one, and fills the mind of every patriot with anxiety 
 and solicitude. My intention is to give this subject all the con- 
 Bideration which I possibly can before I speak fully and 
 definitely in regard to it, so that, when I do speak, I may 
 be as nearly right as possible. And when I do speak, fellow- 
 citizens, I hope to say nothing in opposition to the spirit of the 
 Constitution, contrary to the integrity of the Union, or which 
 will in any way prove inimical to the liberties of the people or 
 to the peace of the whole country. And, furthermore, when 
 the time arrives for me to speak on this great subject, I hope to 
 say nothing which will disappoint the reasonable expectations 
 of any man, or disappoint the people generally throughout the 
 country, especially if their expectations have been based upon 
 any thing which I may have heretofore said. 
 
 " Notwithstanding the troubles across the river, [the speaker, 
 smiling, pointed southwardly to the Monongahela River,] there 
 is really no crisis springing from any thing in the Government 
 itself. In plain words, there is really no crisis except an arti- 
 ficial one. What is there now to warrant the condition of 
 affairs presented by our friends 'over the river'? Take even 
 their own view of the questions involved, and there is nothing 
 to justify the course which they are pursuing. I repeat it, then, 
 there is no crisis, except such a one as may be gotten up at 
 any time by turbulent men, aided by designing politicians. 
 My advice, then, under such circumstances, is to keep cool. If 
 the great American people will only keep their temper on both 
 sides of the line, the trouble will come to an end, and the ques- 
 tion which now distracts the country will be settled just aa 
 surely as all other difficulties of like character which have 
 originated in this Government have been adjusted. Let the 
 people on both sides keep their self-possession, and just as other 
 clouds have cleared away in due time, so will tliis, and thia 
 great nation shall continue to prosper as heretofore." 
 
 He then referred to the subject of the tariff, and said : 
 
 " According to my political education, I am inclined to be- 
 lieve that the people in the various portions of the country 
 should have their own views carried out through their represen- 
 tatives in Congress. That consideration of the Tariff bill should 
 not be postponed until the next session of the National Legisla- 
 ture. No subject should engage your representatives more 
 closely than that of the tariff. If I have any recommendation 
 to make, it will be that every man who is called upon to serve 
 the people, in a representative capacity, should study the whole 
 
74 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 Bubject thoroughly, as 1 intend to do myself, looking to all -re 
 varied interests of the common country, so thiit, when the tihia 
 for action urrives, adcqiiaie protection shall be extended to the 
 coal and iron of Pennsylvania and the corn of Illinois. Permit 
 Mie to express the hope that this important subject may receive 
 Buch consideration at the hands of your representatives that the 
 interests of no part of the country may be overlooked, but that 
 all sections may share in the common benefits of a just and 
 equitable tariff.'' 
 
 Mr. Lincoln, upon bis arrival in Cleveland, adverted to 
 the same subject in the following terms : 
 
 " It is with you, the people, to advance the great cause of the 
 Union and the Constitution, and not with any one man. It 
 rests with you alone. This fact is strongly impressed on my 
 mind at present. In a community like this, wnuse appearance 
 testifies to their intelligence, I am convinced that the cause of 
 liberty and the Union can never be in danger. Frequent allu- 
 sion is made to the excitement at present existing in national 
 politics. I think there is no occasion for any excitement. The 
 crisis, as it is called, is altogether an artificial crisis. In all 
 parts of the nation, there are differences of opinion in politics. 
 T'here are differences of opinion even here. You did not all 
 vote for the person who now addresses you. And how is it with 
 those who are not here? Have they not all their rights as they 
 ever had? Do they not have their fugitive slaves returned now 
 as ever ? Have they not the same Constitution that they have 
 lived under for seventy odd years ? Have they not a position 
 as citizens of this common country, and have we any power to 
 change that position ? What, then, is the matter with them t 
 Why all this excitement? Why all these complaints ? As I 
 said before, this crisis is all artificial. It has no foundation in 
 fact. It was ' argued up,' as the saying is, and cannot be argued 
 down. Let it alone, and it will go down itself." 
 
 On Saturday he proceeded to Buffalo, M'here he arrived 
 at evening, and was met by an immense concourse of citi- 
 zens, headed by Ex-President Fillmore. 
 
 Arriving at the hotel, Mr. Lincoln was welcomed in a 
 brief speech by the acting chief magistrate, to which he 
 made a brief reply, as follows : 
 
 "Mr. Mayor and Fellow- Citizens : — I am here to thank yon 
 brietiy for this grand reception given to me, not personally, but 
 as the representative of our great and beloved country. Your 
 worthy mayor has been pleased to mention in his address to me, 
 
LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 75 
 
 the fortunate and agreeable journey which I have had from 
 home — only it is rather a circuitous route to the Federal Capi- 
 tal. I am very happy that he was enabled, in truth, to congrat- 
 ulate myself and company on that fact. It is true, we have 
 had nothing thus far to mar the pleasure of the trip. We have 
 not been met alone by those who assisted in giving the election 
 to me; I say not alone, but by the whole population of tho 
 fountry through which we have passed. This is as it should be. 
 Had the election fallen to any other of the distinguished candi- 
 dates instead of myself, under the peculiar circumstances, to say 
 the least, it would have been proper for all citizens to have 
 greeted him as you now greet me. It is an evidence of the de- 
 votion of the whole people to the Constitution, the Union, and 
 the perpetuity of the liberties of this country. I am unwilling, 
 on any occasion, that I should be so meanly thought of as to 
 have it supposed for a moment that these demonstrations arc 
 tendered to me personally. They are tendered to the country, 
 to the institutions 6f the country, and to the perpetuity of the 
 liberties of the country for which these institutions were made 
 and created. Your worthy mayor has thought fit to express 
 the hope that I may be able to relieve the country from the pre- 
 sent, or, I should say, the threatened difiiculties. I am sure I 
 bring a heart true to the work. For the ability to perform it, I 
 trust in that Supreme Being who has never forsaken this favored 
 land, through the instrumentality of this great and intelligent 
 people. Without that assistance I should surely fail ; with it 
 I cannot fail. When we speak of the threatened difficulties to 
 the country, it is natural that it should be expected that some- 
 thing should be said by myself with regard to particular mea 
 sures. Upon more mature reflection, however — and others will 
 agree with me — that, when it is considered that these difficulties 
 are without precedent, and never have been acted upon by any 
 individuoj^situated as I am, it is most proper I should wait and 
 see the developments, and get all the light possible, so that, 
 when I do speak authoritatively, I may be as near right as possi- 
 ble. When I shall speak authoritatively, I hope to say nothing 
 inconsistent with the Constitution, the Union, the rights of all 
 the States, of each State, and of each section of the country, 
 and not to disappoint the reasonable expectations of those who 
 have confided to me their votes. In this connection, allow me 
 to say that you, as a portion of the great American people, need 
 only to maintain your composure, stand up to your sober con- 
 victions of right, to your obligations to the Constitution, and 
 act in accordance with those sober convictions, and the clouds 
 which now arise in the horizon will be dispelled, and we shall 
 have a bright and glorious future ; and, when this generation 
 shall have passed away, tens of thousands shall inhabit this 
 country where only thousands inhabit it now. I do not propose 
 to address you at length. I have no voice for it. Allow mo 
 
76 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 again to thank you for this magnificent reception, and bid yon 
 farewell." 
 
 Mr. Lincoln then proceeded from Buffalo to Albany. 
 Here be was met by tbe Mayor, the City Councils, and 
 the Legislative Committees, and was conducted to tue 
 Capitol, where he was welcomed by Governor Morgan, 
 nnd responded briefly, as follows : 
 
 "Governor Morgan: — I was pleased to receive an invitation 
 to visit the capital of the great Einpire State of this nation, 
 while on my way to the Federal capital. I now thank you, and 
 you, the people of the capital of the State of New York, for 
 this most hearty and magnificent welcome. If I am not at fault, 
 the great Empire State at this time contains a larger population 
 than did the whole of the United States of America at the time 
 they achieved their national independence ; and I was proud to 
 be invited to visit its capital, to meet its citizens as I now have 
 the honor to do. I am uotified by your governor that this re- 
 ception is tendered by citizens without distinction of party. 
 Because of this, I accept it the more gladly. In this country, 
 and in any country where freedom of thought is tolerated, citi- 
 zens attach themselves to political parties. It is but an ordi- 
 nary degree of charity to attribute this act to the supposition 
 that, in thus attaching themselves to the various parties, tach 
 man, in his own judgment, supposes he thereby best advances 
 the interests of the whole country. And wi\en an election is 
 passed, it is altogether befitting a free people that, until the 
 next election, they should be one people. The reception you 
 have extended me to-day is not given to me personally. It 
 should not be so, but as the representative, for the time being, 
 of the majority of the nation. If the election had fallen to any 
 of the more distingnished citizens, who received the support of 
 the people, this same honor should have greeted him that greets 
 me this day, in testimony of the unanimous devotion of the whole 
 people to the Constitution, the Union, and to tlie perpetual 
 liberties of succeeding generations in this country. I have 
 neither the voice nor the strength to address you at any greater 
 length. I beg you will, therefore, accept my most grateful 
 thanks for this manifest devotion — not to me but to the institu- 
 tions of this great and glorious country." 
 
 He was then conducted to the Legislative halls, where, 
 in reply to an address of welcome, he again adverted to 
 the troubles of the country in the following terms : 
 
 "Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Legislature of th« 
 
LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 77 
 
 State of New York : — It is with feelings of great difBJence, aucf, 
 I may say, feelings even of awe, perhaps greater than I have re- 
 cently experienced, that I meet you here in this place. The 
 history of this great State, the renown of its great men, who 
 have St jod in this chamber, and have spoken their thoughts, all 
 crowd around my f;i.ucy, and incline me to shrink from an attempt 
 to address you. Yet I have some confidence given me by the 
 generous manner in which you have invited me, and the still 
 more generous manner in which you have received me. You 
 have invited me and received me without distinction of party. 
 I could not for a moment suppose that this has been done in any 
 considerable degree with any reference to my personal self. It 
 is very much more grateful to me that this reception and the 
 invitation preceding it were given to me as the representative 
 of a free people than it could possibly have been were they but 
 the evidence of devotion to me or to any one man. It is true 
 that, while I hold myself, without mock-modesty, the humblest 
 of all the individuals who have ever been elected President of the 
 United States, I yet have a more difiQcult task to perform than 
 any one of them has ever encountered. You have here gen- 
 erously tendered me the support, the united support, of the great 
 Empire Slate. For this, in behalf of the nation — in behalf of 
 the President and of the future of the nation — iu behalf of the 
 cause of civil liberty iu all time to come — I most gratefully 
 thank you. I do not propose now to enter upon any expressions 
 as to the particular line of policy to be adopted with reference 
 to the difficulties that stand before us in the opening of the in- 
 coming Administration. 1 deem that it is just to the country, 
 to myself, to you, that I should see every thing, hear every 
 thing, a-nd have every light that can possibly be brought within 
 my reach to aid me before I shall speak officially, in order that, 
 when I do speak, I may have the best possible means of taking 
 correct and true grounds. For this reason, I do not now an- 
 nounce any thing in the way of policy for the new Administra- 
 tion. When the time comes, according to the custom of the 
 government, I shall speak, and speak as well as I am able for 
 the good of the present and of the future of this country — for the 
 good of the North and of the South — for the good of one and 
 of the other, and of all sections of it. In the meantime, if we 
 have patience, if we maintain our equanimity, though some may 
 allow themselves to run off in a burst of passion, I still have con- 
 fidence that the Almighty Jlulcr of the Universe, through tho 
 instrumentality of this great and intelligent people, can and will 
 bring us through this difficulty, as he has heretofore brought us 
 through all preceding difficulties of the country. Relying upou 
 this, and again thanking you, as I forever shall, in my heart, for 
 thiB generous reception you have given me, I bid you farewell." 
 
 At Albany, he was met by a delegatioa from the oily 
 authorities of New York, and ou the 19th started for that 
 
78 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 City. At Poughkeepsie, he was welcomed by the Mayor 
 of the city. Mr. Lincohi, ia reply, said : 
 
 " I am grateful for this cordial welcome, and I am gratified 
 that this immense multitude has come together, not to meet the 
 individual man, hut the man who, for the time being, will humbly 
 but earnestly represent the majesty of the nation. These re- 
 ceptions have been given me at otiier places, and, as here, by 
 men of diflerent parties, and not by one party alone. It shows 
 an earnest elFort oti the part of all to save, not the country, for 
 the country can save itself, but to save the institutions of the 
 country— those institutions under which, for at least three- 
 quarters of a century, we have become the greatest, the most 
 intelligent, and the liappiest people in the world. These mani- 
 festations show that we all make common cause for these ob- 
 jects ; that if some of us are successful in an election, and others 
 are beaten, those who are beaten are not in favor of siniiing the 
 ship in consequence of defeat, but are earnest in their purpose 
 to sail it safely through the voyage in hand, and, in so far as they 
 may think there has been any mistake in the election, satisfying 
 themselves to take their chance at setting the matter right tlie 
 next tinic. That course is entirely right. 1 am not sure — I do 
 not pretend to be s,ure — that in the selection of the individual 
 who has been elected this term, tlie wisest choice has been made. 
 I fear it has not. In the purposes and in the principles that 
 have been sustained, I have been the instrument selected to 
 carry forward the affairs of this Government. I can rely upon 
 you, and upon the people of the country; and with their sus- 
 taining hand, I think that even I shall not fail in carrying the 
 Ship of State through the storm." 
 
 The reception of President Lincoln in New York City 
 was a most imposing demonstration. Places of business 
 were generally closed, and hundreds of thousands wore in 
 the streets. On the next day, he was welcomed to the 
 city by Mayor Wood, and replied as follows : 
 
 ''Mr. Mayor: It is with feelings of deep gratitude that i 
 make my acknowledgments for the reception given me in the 
 {ireat commercial city of New Yorlj. I cannot but remember 
 that this is done by a people who do not, by a majority, agree 
 w 'h me in political sentiment. It is the more grateful, because 
 in this I see that, for the great principles of our Government, 
 the people arc almost unanimous. In regard to the difficulties 
 that confront us at this time, and of which your Honor haa 
 thought fit to speak so becomingly and so justly, as 1 suppose, 
 T can only suy that I agree in the sentiments expressed. In luy 
 
LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 79 
 
 devotion to the Union, I hope I am behind no man in the nation 
 In the wisdom with which to conduct the affairs tending to the 
 preservation of the Union, I fear that too great confidence may 
 have been reposed in me ; but I am sure I bring a heart devoted 
 to the work. There is nothing that could ever bring me to wil 
 liugly consent to the destruction of this Union, under which not 
 only the great commercial city of New York, but the whole 
 cointry, acquired its greatness, except it be the purpose for 
 wl ich the Union itself was formed. I understand the ship to 
 be made for the carrying and the preservation of the cargo, and 
 80 long as the ship can be saved with the cargo, it should never 
 be abandoned, unless it fails the possibility of its preservation, 
 and shall cease to exist, except at the risk of throwing overboard 
 both freight and passengers. So long, then, as it is possible that 
 the prosperity and the liberties of the people be preserved in this 
 Union, it shall be my purpose at all times to use all my powers 
 to aid in its perpetuation. Again thanking you for the recep- 
 tion given me, allow me to come to a close." 
 
 On the next day, he left for Philadelphia. At Trenton, 
 ne remained a few hours, and visited both Houses of tlie 
 Legislature. On being received in the Senate, he thus 
 addressed that body : 
 
 "Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Senate of the State of 
 New Jersey: I am very grateful to you for the honorable recep- 
 tion of which I have been the object. 1 cannot but remember 
 the place that New Jersey holds in our early history. In the 
 early Revolutionary struggle, few of the States among the old 
 'I'hirteen had more of the battle-Gelds- of the country wilhin its 
 limits than old New Jersey. May I be pardoned, if, upon this 
 occasion, I mention, that away back in my childhood, the earliest 
 days of my being able to read, I got hold of a small book, snch 
 a one as few of the younger members have ever seen, ' Weems' 
 Life of Washington.' I remember all the accounts there given 
 of the battle-fields and struggles for the liberties of the country, 
 and none fixed themselves upon my imagination so deeply as the 
 struggle here at 'I'renton, New Jersey. The crossing of liie 
 river- — the contest with the 1 iessians— the great hardships en- 
 dured at that time— all fix(d themselves on my memory more 
 thi'n any single revolutioniuy event; anrl yon all know, for you 
 have all been boys, how the-e early impressions last longer than 
 any others. I recollect thii.king then, boy even though 1 was. 
 that there must have been something morn than common th:it 
 those men struggled for. I am exceedingly anxious that that 
 thing which they struggled for — that something even more than 
 National Independence — that something that held out a great 
 promise to all the people of the world to all time to come — I uin 
 
80 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 exceedingly anxious that this Union, the Constitution, and the 
 liberties of the people, shall be perpetuated in accordance with 
 thi' original idea for which that struggle was made, and I shall 
 be most happy indeed if I shall be an humble instrument in the 
 hands of the Almighty, and of tliis. His almost chosen pcojile, 
 for perpetuating the object of that great struggle. You give 
 ma this reception, as I understand, without distinction of party. 
 I learn that this body is composed of a majority of gentlemen 
 who, in the exercise of their best judgment in the choice of a 
 Chief Magistrate, did not think I was the man. I understand, 
 nevertheless, that they came forward here to greet me as the 
 constitutional President of the United States — as citizens of the 
 United States, to meet the man who, for the time being, is the 
 representative man of the nation, united by a purpose to per- 
 petuate the Union and liberties of the people. As such, I ac- 
 cept this reception more gratefully than I could do did I believe 
 it was tendered to me as an individual." 
 
 He then passed into the Chamber of the Assembly, and 
 upon being introduced bj the Speaker, addressed that 
 body as follows : 
 
 ''Mr. Speaker and Gentlemen: I have just enjoyed the honor 
 of a reception by the other branch of this Legislature, and I re- 
 turn to you and them my thanks for the reception which the 
 people of New Jersey have given, through their chosen repre- 
 sentatives, to me, as the representative, for the time being, of 
 the majesty of the people of the United States. I appropriate 
 to myself very little of the demonstrations of respect with which 
 1 have been greeted. I think little should be given to any man, 
 but that it should be a mauirestatiou of adherence to the Uniou 
 and the Constitution. I understand myself to be received here 
 by the representatives of the people of New Jersey, a majority 
 of whom differ in opinion from those with whom I have acted. 
 This manifestation is therefore to be regarded by me as expres- 
 sing their devotion to the Union, the Constitution, and the lib- 
 erties of the people. Ynu, Mr. Speaker, have well snid. that 
 this is the time when the brav(,'st and wisest loi.ik with doubt and 
 awe upon the aspect presented by our national affairs. Under 
 these circumstances, you will readily see why I should not speak 
 in detail of the course I shall deem it best to pursue. It is 
 proper that I should avail myself of all the information and all 
 the time at my command, in order that when the time arrives in 
 •which I must speak officially, I shall be able to take the ground 
 which I deem the best and safest, and from which I may have 
 no occasion to swerve. I shall endeavor to take the ground I 
 deem most just to the North, the East, the West, the South, and 
 the whole country. I take it, 1 hope, in good temper— certainly 
 
LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, 81 
 
 ■with no malice towards any section. I shall do all that may be 
 in my power to promote a peaceful settlement of all our difficul- 
 ti(>s. The man does not live who is more devoted to peace than 
 I am — none who would do more to preserve it. But it may be 
 necessary to put the foot down firmly. And if I do my duty, 
 and do right, you will sustain me, will you not? Received, as I 
 am, by the members of u Legislature, the majority of whom do 
 not ao^ree with me in political sentiments, I trust that I may 
 have their assistance in piloting the Ship of State through this 
 voyage, surrounded by perils as it is ; for if it should suffer ship- 
 wreck now, there will be no pilot ever needed for another voy- 
 age." 
 
 On his arrival in Philadelphia, he was received with 
 great enthusiasm, and the Major greeted him with the 
 following address : 
 
 "Sir: In behalf of the Councils of Philadelphia and of its 
 citizens, who, with common respect for their chief Magistrate- 
 elect, have greeted your arrival, I tender you the hospitality of 
 this city. I do this as the official representative of ninety thou- 
 sand hearths, around which dwell six hundred thousand people, 
 firm and ardent in their devotion to the Union ; and yet it may 
 not be withheld, that there are but few of these firesides whose 
 cheer is not straitened and darkened by the calamitous condition 
 of our country. The great mass of this people are heartily weary 
 and-sick of the selfish schemes and wily plots of mere politicians, 
 who bear no more relation to true statesmanship than do the 
 barnacles which incrust the ship to the master who stands by 
 the helm. Your fellow-countrymen look to you in the earnest 
 hope that true statesmanship and unalloyed patriotism may, 
 with God's blessing, restore peace and prosperity to this dis- 
 tracted land. It is to be regretted that your short stay pre- 
 cludes that intercourse with the merchants, manufacturers, me- 
 chanics, and other citizens of Philadelphia, which might aflbrd 
 you a clear discernment of their great interests. And, sir, it 
 could not be other than gratt-ful to yourself to have the oppor- 
 tunity of communicating with the memories of the past, in those 
 historic walls where were displayed the comprehensive intellects, 
 and the liberal, disinterested virtues of our fathers, who framed 
 the Constitution of the Federal States, over which you have 
 be^n called upon to preside." 
 
 Mr. Lincoln replied : 
 
 " Mr. Mayor and Fellow-citizens of Philadelphia : I appear 
 before you to make no lengthy speech but to thank you for this 
 reception. The reception you have given me to-night is not to 
 me, the man, the individual, but to the man who temporarily 
 
82 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 represents, or should represent, the majesty of the nation. It is 
 true, as your worthy Mayor has said, that there is anxiety among 
 the citizens of the United States at this time. I deem it a happy 
 circumstance that this dissatisfied portion of our fellow-citizens 
 do not point us to any thinp: in which they are being injured, or 
 are about to be injured ; for which reason I have felt all the 
 while justified in concluding that the crisis, the panic, the anxiety 
 of the country at this time, is artificial. If there be those who 
 differ with me upon this subject, they have not pointed out the 
 substantial difficulty that exists. I do not mean to say that an 
 artificial panic may not do considerable harm ; that it has done 
 such I do not deny. The hope that has been expressed by jour 
 Mayor, that I may be able to restore peace, harmony, and pros- 
 perity to the country, is most worthy of liim ; and happy indeed 
 will I be if I shall be able to verify and fulfil that hope. I 
 promise you, in all sincerity, that I bring to the work a sincere 
 heart. "Vv'liether I will bring a head equal to that heart, will be 
 for future times to determine. It were useless for m,e,to speak 
 of details of plans now ; I shall speak officially next Monday 
 week, if ever. If I should not speak then, it were useless for 
 me to do so now. If I do speak then, it is useless for me to do 
 so now. When I do speak, I shall take such ground as I deem 
 best calculated to restore peace, harmony, and prosperity to the 
 country, and tend to the perpetuity of the nation, and the liberty 
 of these States and these people. Your worthy Mayor has ex- 
 pressed the wish, in which I join with him, that it were con- 
 venient for me to remain with your city long enough to consult 
 your merchants and manufacturers ; or, as it were, to listen to 
 those breathings rising within the consecrated walls wherein the 
 Constitution of the United States, and, I will add, the Declara- 
 tion of Independence, were originally framed and adopted. I 
 assure you and your Mayor, that I had hoped on this occasion, 
 and upon all occasions during my life, that I shall do nothing 
 inconsistent with the teachings of these holy and most sacred 
 walls. I never asked any thing that does not breathe from those 
 ■walls. All my political warfare has been in favor of the teach- 
 ings that come forth from these sacred walls. May my right 
 hand forget its cunning, and my tongue cleave to the roof of 
 my mouth, if ever I prove false to those teachings. Fellow-citi- 
 zens, now allow me to bid you good-night." 
 
 On the next morning, Mr. Lincoln visited the old " In- 
 dependence Hall," for the purpose of raising the national 
 flag over it. Here he was received "with a warm welcome, 
 and made the following address : 
 
 "I am filled with deep emotion at finding myself standing 
 here, in thia place, where were collected the wiedom, the patriot- 
 
LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 83 
 
 Ism, the devotion to principle, from which sprang the institutions 
 under which we live. You have kindly suggested to me that in 
 my bands is the task of restoring peace to the present distracted 
 cundition of the country. I can say in return, sir, that all the 
 political sentiments I entertain h.ave been drawn, so far as I 
 have been able to draw them, from the sentiments which origi- 
 nated and were given to the world from this hall. I have never 
 had a feeling politically that did not spring from the sentiments 
 embodied in the Declaration of Independence. I have oftea 
 pondered over the dangers which were incurred by tlie men who 
 assembled here, and framed and adopted that Declaration of In- 
 dependence. I have pondered over the toils that wore endured 
 by the officers and soldiers of the army who achieved that inde- 
 pendence. I have often inquired of myself what great principle 
 or idea it was that kept this Confederacy so long together. It 
 was not the mere matter of the separation of the colonies from 
 the mother-land, but that sentiment in the Declaration of Inde- 
 pendence which gave liberty, not alone to the people of this 
 country, but, I hope, to the world for all future time. It was 
 that which gave promise that in due time the weight would b& 
 lifted from the shoulders of all men. This is a sentiment era- 
 bodi':'!! ih ,be Declaration of Independence. Now, my friends^ 
 can ihis country be saved upon this basis ? If it can, I will 
 consider myself one of the happiest men in the world if I can 
 help to save it. If it cannot be saved upon that principle, it 
 will be truly awful. But if this country cannot be saved with- 
 out giving up that principle, I wa.s about to say I would rather 
 bo assassinated on this spot than surrender it. Now, in my 
 view of the present aspect of affairs, there need be no bloodshed 
 or war. There is no necessity for it. I am not in favor of such 
 a course, and I may say, in advance, that there will be no blood- 
 shed unless it be forced upon the government, and then it will 
 be compelled to act in self-defence. 
 
 " My friends, this is wholly an unexpected speech, and I did 
 not expect to be called upon to say a word when I came here. 
 I supposed it was merely to do something towards raising th« 
 flag. I may, therefore, have said something indiscreet. I have 
 said nothing but what I am willing to live by, and, if it be the 
 pleasure of Almighty God, to die by." 
 
 The party then proceeded to a platform erected in front 
 of the State House, and Mr. Benton, of the Select Council, 
 invited the President-elect to raise the flag. Mr. Lincoln 
 responded in a brief speech, .^^tating his cheerful compli- 
 ance with the request, and alluded to the original flag of 
 thirteen stars, saying that the number had increased as 
 
84 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 time rolled on, and we became a bappy and a powerful 
 people, each star adding to its prosperity. " The future," 
 he added, " is in the hands of the people. It is on such an 
 occasion as this that we can reason together, reaffirm our 
 devotion to the country and the principles of the Declara- 
 tion of Independence. Let us make up our mind, that 
 when we do put a new star upon our banner, it shall be a 
 fixed one, never to be dimmed by the horrors of war, but 
 brightened by the contentment and prosperity of peace. 
 Let us go on to extend the area of our usefulness, add 
 star upon star, until their light shall shine upon five hun- 
 dred millions of a free and happy people." 
 
 The President-elect then raised the flag to the top of 
 the staff. 
 
 At half-past 9 o'clock the party left for Harrisburg. 
 Both Houses of the Legislature were visited by Mr. Lin- 
 coln, and to an address of welcome he thus replied : 
 
 " I appear before you only for a very few brief remarks, in 
 response to what hns been said to me. I thank you most sin- 
 cerely for this reception, and the generous words in which sup- 
 port has been promised me upon this occasion. T thank your 
 great commonwealth for tlie overwlielming support it recently 
 gave, not to me personally, but the cause, which I think a just 
 one, in the late election. Allusion has been made to the fact — 
 the interesting fact, perhai)s we should say — that I, for the first 
 time, appear at the Capital of the great Commonwealth of 
 Pennsylvania upon the birthday of the Father of his Country, 
 in connection with that beloved anniversary connected with the 
 history of this country. I have already gone through one ex- 
 ceedingly interesting scene this morning in the ceremonii'S at 
 Philadelphia. Under the high conduct of gentlemen there. I 
 was, for the first time, allowed the privilege of standing in Old 
 Independence ITall, to have a few words addressed to me there, 
 and opening up to me an opportunity of expressing, with much 
 regret, that I had not more time to express something of my 
 own feelings, excited by the occasion, somewhat to harmonize 
 and give shape to the feelings that had been really the feelings 
 of my whole life. Besides 1 his, our friends there had provido-i a 
 magnificent flag of the country. They had arranged it so that I 
 was given the honor of raising it to the head of its staff. And 
 when it went up I was pleased that it went to its place by the 
 strength of my own feeble arm ; when, according to the arrange- 
 
LIFE iND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN". 85 
 
 ment, the cord was pulled, and it flaunted gloriously to the wind 
 without an accident, in the bright glowing sunshine of the morn- 
 ing, I could not help hoping that tUers was in the entire success 
 of that beautiful ceremony at least something of an omen of 
 what is to come. Nor could I help feeling then, as I often have 
 felt, in the whole of that proceeding, I was a very humble in- 
 strument. I had not provided the flag ; I had not made the ar- 
 rangements for elevating it to its place. I had applied but a 
 very small portion of my feeble strength in raising it. In the 
 whole transaction I was in the hands of the people who had ar- 
 ranged it, and if I can have the same generous cooperation of 
 the people of the nation, I think the flag of our country may yet 
 be kept flaunting gloriously. I recur for a moment but to 
 repeat some words uttered at the hotel in regard to what has 
 been said about the milit^iry support which the General Gov- 
 ernment may expect from the Commonwealth of Pennsylva- 
 nia in a proper emergency. To guard against any possible 
 mistake do I recur to this. It is not with any pleasure that 
 1 contemplate the possibility that a necessity may arise in 
 this country for the use of the military arm. While 1 
 am exceedingly gratified to see the manifestation upon your 
 streets of your military force here, and exceedingly gratified 
 at your promise here to use that force upon a proper 
 emergency — while I make these acknowledgments, I desire 
 to repeat, in order to preclude any possible misconstruction, 
 that I do most sincerelj iiope that we shall have no use for 
 them ; that it will never become their duty to shed blood, and 
 most especially never to shed fraternal blood. I promise that, 
 so far as I may have wisdom to direct, if so painful a result 
 shall in any wise be brought about, it shall be through no fault 
 of mine. Allusion has also been made by one of your honored 
 speakers to some remark recently made by myself at Pittsburg, 
 in regard to what is supposed to be the especial interests of this 
 great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. I now wish only to say, 
 in regard to that matter, that the few remarks which I uttered 
 on that occasion were rather carefully worded. I took pains 
 tliat they should be so. I have seen no occasion since to add to 
 them or subtract from them. I leave them precisely as they 
 stand, adding only now, that I am pleased to have an expres- 
 sion from you, gentlemen of Pennsylvania, significant that they 
 are satisfactory to you. And now, gentlemen of the General 
 Assembly of the Conmonwealth of Pennsylvania, allow me to 
 return you again my most sincere thanks." 
 
 PLOT TO ASSASSI]N-ATE HIM— HOW IT WAS 
 THWARTED. 
 
 Arraugeinents bad been made for bis departure from 
 
86 LIFE AND SEKVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 Harrisburg on the following morning, but the discovery 
 of a plot to assassinate liira as he passed through Balti- 
 more—a plot Iq which some of the principal residents of 
 that city were interested, although their projects were to- 
 be accomplished by means of paid emissaries — caused a 
 change in the schedule, and on the evening of the day that 
 he had been received by the Legislature, he left in a 
 special train for Philadelphia, and from thence proceeded 
 in the sleeping-car attached to the regular midnight train 
 to "Washington, where he arrived at an early hour on the 
 morning of the twenty-third. 
 
 The sudden departure of Mr. Lincoln from the Penn- 
 sylvania State Capital naturally astonished the people of 
 the country ; and while the loyal citizens exulted in the 
 fact that he was safe in Washington, the traitors and their 
 sympathizers were greatly exasperited ai the failure of 
 their nefarious designs, and pronouncing the movement 
 an act of cowardice, solemnly declared that he should 
 ne^er be inaugurated. 
 
 IS WELCOMED TO WASHINGTON BY THE 
 AUTHORITIES. 
 
 A few days after his arrival he was waited upon by the 
 Mayor and other municipal authorities, who welcomed 
 him to the city, aad to whom he made the following 
 reply : 
 
 "Mr. Mayor: I thank yon, and through you the municipal 
 authorities of this city who accompany you, for this welcome. 
 And as it is the first time in my life since the present phase of 
 politics has presented it-=elf in this country, tliat I have said 
 s iy thing publicly within a region of country where the institu- 
 tion of slavery exists, 1 will take this occasion to say that I 
 think very much of the ill-fcMing that has existed, and still ex- 
 i'^la, between the people in the sections from whence I came 
 and the people here, is dependent upon a misunderstanding of 
 one another. I therefore avail myself of this opportunity to 
 assure you, Mr. Mayor, and all the gentleman present, that I 
 have not now, and never have had, any other than as kindly 
 
LIFi. AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 87 
 
 feelings towards you as the people of ray own section. I havo 
 not DOW, and never have had, any disposition to treat you in any 
 respect otherwise than as my own neighbors. I have not now 
 any purpose to withhold from you any of the benefits of the 
 Constitution, under any circumstances, that I would not feel 
 myself constrahied to withhold from my neighbors ; and I hope, 
 in a word, that, when we shall become better acquainted, and 1 
 say it with great confidence, we shall like each other the more. ] 
 thank you for the kindness of this reception." 
 
 ADDRESSES THE REPUBLICAN ASSOCIATION. 
 
 On the following evening the Republican Association 
 tendered him a delightful serenade, at the conclusion of 
 which he made the following remarks to the assembled 
 crowd : 
 
 "My friends : I suppose that I may take this as a compli- 
 •ment paid to me, and as such please accept my thanks for it. 
 I have reached this city of Washington under circumstances 
 considerably differing from those under which any other man 
 has ever reached it. I am here for the purpose of taking an 
 official position amongst the people, almost all of whom were 
 politically opposed to me, and are yet opposed to me as I 
 suppose. I propose no lengthy address to you. I only propose 
 to say, as I did on yesterday, when your worthy Mayor and 
 Board of Aldermen called upon me, that I thought much of the 
 ill-feeling that has existed between you and the people of your 
 surroundings and that people from amongst whom I came, has 
 depended, and now depends, upon a misunderstanding. 
 
 " I hope that, if things shall go along as prosperously as I 
 believe we all desire they may, I may have it in my power to re- 
 move something of this misunderstanding; that I may be 
 enabled to convince you, and the people of your section of the 
 country, that we regard you as in all things our equals, and in 
 all things entitled to the same respect and the same treatment 
 that we claim for ourselves ; that we are in nowise disposod. if 
 it were in our power, to oppress you, to dejirive you of any of 
 your rights under the Constitution of the United States, or even 
 narrowly to split hairs with you in regard to those rights, but 
 are determined to give you, as far as lies in our hands, all your 
 rights under the Constitution — not grudgingly, but fully and 
 fairly. I hope that, by thus dealing with you, we will become 
 better acquainted, and be better friends. And now, my friends, 
 with these few remarks, and again returning my thanks for thia 
 compliment, and expressing my desire to hear a little more of 
 your good music, I bid you good-oight." 
 
LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 IS INAUGURATED PRESIDENT OP THE 
 UNITED STATES. 
 
 On the fourth of March, 1861, Abraham Lincoln waa 
 inaugurated the Sixteenth President of the United States, 
 the ceremonies incident to the event being of the most 
 imposing description. A large number of troops partici- 
 pated in the procession, and every arrangement was made 
 to frustrate any movement the Secessionists or theii 
 friends might make to prevent the choice of a majority of 
 the voters of tbe nation from taking the oath of office. 
 From a platform erected in the usual position on the east 
 front of the capitol, and in the presence of not less than 
 ton thousand persons, Mr. Linooln delivered the following 
 Inaugural Address : 
 
 INAUGURAL ADDRESS OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN". 
 
 '■'■Felloio-citizens of the United States : 
 
 "In compliance with a custom as old as the Government it- 
 self, I appear before you to address you briefly, and to take, in 
 your presence, the oath prescribed by the Constitution of the 
 United States to be taken by the President, before he enters on 
 the execution of his office. 
 
 " I do not consider it necessary, at present, for me to discuss 
 those matters of administration about which there is no special 
 anxiety or excitement. Apprehension seems to exist among the 
 people of the Southern States, that, by the accession of a Re- 
 publican Administration, their property aud their peace and 
 personal security are to be endangered. There has never been 
 any reasonable cause tor such apprehension. Indeed, the most 
 ample evidence to the contrary has all the while existed, and 
 been open to their inspection. It is found in nearly all the pub- 
 lished speeches of him who now addresses you. I do but quote 
 from one of those speeches, when I declare that ' I have no pur- 
 pose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of 
 Slavery in the States where it exists.' I believe I have no law- 
 ful right to do so ; and I have no inclination to do so. Those 
 who nominated and elected me, did so with the full knowledge 
 that I had made this, and made many similar declarations, and 
 had never recanted them. And more than this, they placed in 
 the platform, for my acceptance, and as a law to themselves and 
 to me, the clear aud emphatic resolution which I now read : 
 
 " 'liesolved, That the maintenance inviolate of the rights of 
 
LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 89 
 
 the States, and especially the ri^ht of each State to order and 
 control its own domestic institutions according to its own judg- 
 ment exclusively, is essential to that balance of power on which 
 the perfection and endurance of our political fabric depend ; and 
 we denounce the Inwk'ss invasion by armed force of the soil of 
 any State or Territory, uo matter under what pretext, as among 
 the gravest of crimes.' 
 
 " I now reiterate these sentiments ; and in doing so I only 
 press upon tlie public attention the most conclusive evidence of 
 which the case is susceptible, that the property, peace, and se- 
 curity of no section are to be in anywise endangered by the now 
 incoming Administration. 
 
 " I add, too, that all the protection which, consistently with 
 the Constitution and the laws, can be given, will be cheerfully 
 given to all the States when lawfully demanded, for whatevei" 
 cause, as cheerfully to one section as to another. 
 
 " There is much controversy about the delivering up of fugi- 
 tives from service or labor. The clause I now read is as plainly 
 written in the Constitution as any other of its provisions : 
 
 " 'No person held to service or labor in one State under the 
 laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any 
 law or regulation therein, be discharged from such service or 
 labor, butshall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom 
 such service or labor may be due.' 
 
 " It is scarcely questioned that this provision was intended by 
 those who made it for the reclaiming of what we call fugitive 
 slaves ; and the intention of the lawgiver is the law. 
 
 "All members of Congress swear their support to the whole 
 Constitution — to this provision as well as any other. To the 
 proposition, then, that slaves whose cases come within the terms 
 of this clause ' shall be delivered up,' their oaths are unanimous. 
 Now, if they would make the effort in good temper, could they 
 not, with nearly equal unanimity, frame and pass a law by means 
 of which to keep good that unanimous oath? 
 
 " There is some difference of opinion whether this clause 
 should be enforced by national or by State authority; but 
 surely that difference is not a very material one. If the slave 
 is to be surrendered, it can be of but little consequence to him 
 or to others by which authority it is done ; and should any one, 
 in any case, be content that this oath shall go unkept on a 
 merely un substantial controversy as to how it shall be kept ? 
 
 "Again, in any law upon this subject, ought not all the safe- 
 guards of liberty known in the civilized and humane jurisprudence 
 to be introduced, so that a free man be not, in any case, surren- 
 dered as a slave? And might it not be well at the same time to 
 provide by law for the enforcement of that clause in the Consti- 
 tution, which guarantees that ' the citizens of each State shall be 
 entitled to all the privileges and immunities of citizens in tho 
 eeveral States?' 
 
90 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 " I take the official oath to-day with no mental reservations, 
 and with uo jiurpose to construe the Coustitiition or laws by 
 any hypercritical rules ; find while I do not choose now to 
 specify particular acts of Congress as proper to be enforced, I 
 do suggest that it will be much safer for all, both in official and 
 private stations, to conform to and abide by all those acts which 
 stand unrepealed, than to violate any of them, trusting to find 
 impunity in having them held to be unconstitutional. 
 
 " It is seventy-two years since the first inauguration of a 
 President under our national Constitution. During that period 
 fifteen different and very distinguished citizens have in succes- 
 sion administered the executive branch of the government. 
 They have conducted it through many perils, and generally 
 with great success. Yet, with all this scope for precedent, I 
 now enter upon the same task, for the brief constitutional term 
 of four years, under great and peculiar difficulties. 
 
 "A disruption of the Federal Union, heretofore only menaced, 
 is now formidably attempted. 1 hold that in the contemplation 
 of universal law and of the Constitution, the Union of tliese 
 States is perpetual. Perpetuity is implied, if not expressed, in 
 the fundamental law of all national governments-. It is safe 
 to assert that no government proper ever had a provision in its 
 organic law for its own termination. Continue to execute all 
 the express provisions of our national Constitution, and the 
 Union will endure forever, it being impossible to destroy it ex- 
 cept by some action not provided for in the instrument itself. 
 
 "Again, if the United States be not a government proper, but 
 an association of States in the nature of a contract merely, can 
 it, as a contract, be peaceably unmade by less than all the parties 
 who made it? One party to a contract may violate it — break it, 
 so to speak; but does it not require all to lawfully rescind it? 
 Descending fmm these general principles, we find the proposi- 
 tion that in legal contemplation the Union is perpetual, con- 
 firmed by the history of the Union itself. 
 
 " The Union is much older than the Constitution. It was 
 formed, in fact, by the Articles of Association in 1774. It was 
 matured and continued in the Declaration of Independence in 
 1776. It was further matured, and the faith of all the then 
 thirteen States expressly plighted and engaged that it should be 
 perpetual, by the Articles of Confederation, in 1778; and, 
 finally, in i787, one of the declared objects for ordaining and 
 establishing the Constitution was to form a more perfect 
 Union. B'lt if the destruction of the Union by one or by a 
 part only of the States be lawfully possible, the Union is less 
 than before, the Constitution having lost the vital element of 
 perp.etuity. 
 
 "It follows from these views that no State, upon its own mce 
 motion, can lawfully get out of the Union ; that resolves and 
 ordUiances to that effect are legally voitl ; and that acts of vio 
 
LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 91 
 
 lence within any State or States against the authority of the 
 United States are insurrectionary or revolutionary, according to 
 eirouni stances. 
 
 " I therefore consider that, in view of the Constitution and 
 the laws, the Union is unbroken, and, to the extent of my 
 ability, I shall take care, as the Constitution itself expresslj 
 enjoins upon me, that the laws of the Union shall be faithfully 
 executed in all the States. Doing this, which I deem to be only 
 a simple duty on my part, I shall perfectly perform it, so far as 
 is practicable, unless my rightful masters, the American people, 
 shall withhold the requisition, or, in some authoritative manner, 
 direct the contrary. 
 
 " I trust this will not be regarded as a menace, but only as the 
 declared purpose of the Union that it will constitutionally defend 
 and maintain itself. 
 
 " In doing this there need be no bloodshed or violence, and 
 there shall be none unless it is forced upon the national au- 
 thority. ■ 
 
 " 'J'he power confided to me will he used to hold, occupy, and 
 \-)ossess the property and places belonging to the government, and 
 collect the duties and imposts ; but -beyond what may be neces- 
 sary for these objects there will be no invasion, no using of force 
 against or among the people anywhere. 
 
 "Where hostility to the United States shall be so great and 
 so universal as to prevent competent resident citizens from holding 
 the Federal oifices, there will be no attempt to force obnoxious 
 strangers among the people that object. While strict legal right 
 may exist of the government to enforce the exercise of these 
 offices, the attempt to do so would be so irritating, and so 
 nearly impracticable withal, that I deem it better to forego for 
 the time the u^es of such offices. 
 
 "The mails, unless repelled, will continue to be furnished to 
 all parts of the Union. 
 
 " So far as possible, the people everywhere shall have that 
 sense of perfect security which is most favorable to calm thought 
 and reflection. 
 
 " 'i'he course here indicated will be followed, unless current 
 events and experience shall show a modification or change to be 
 proper; and in every case and exigency my best discretion will 
 be exercised according to the circumstances actually existing, 
 and with a view and hope of a peaceful solution of the national 
 troubles, and the restoration of fraternal sympathies and af- 
 fections. 
 
 " That there are persons, in one section or another, who seek 
 to destroy the Union at all events, and are glad of any pretext 
 to do it, I will neither affirm nor deny. But if there be sucli, I 
 need address no word to them. 
 
 "To those, however, who really love the Union, may I not 
 Bpeak, before entering upon so grave a matter as the destruc- 
 
92 LIFE. AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 tion of our national fabric, with all its benefits, its memoriea, 
 and its hopes? Would it not be well to ascertain why we do 
 it? Will you hazard so desperate a step, while any portion of 
 the ills you fly from have no real existence? Will you, while 
 the certain ills you fly to, are greater than all the real ones you 
 fly from ? Will you risk the commission of so fearful a mistake ? 
 All profess to be content in the Union if all constitutional righta 
 eau be maintained. Is it true, then, that any right, plainly writ« 
 ten in the Constitution, has been denied? I think not. Hap- 
 pily the human mind is so constituted, that no party can reach 
 to the audacity of doing this. 
 
 " Think, if you can, of a single instance in which a plainly- 
 written provision of the Constitution has ever been denied. If, by 
 the mere force of numbers, a majority should deprive a minority 
 of any clearly-written constitutional right, it might, in a moral 
 point of view, justify revolution ; it certainly would, if such right 
 were a vital one. But such is not our case. 
 
 "All the vital rights of minorities and of individuals are so 
 plainly assured to them by affirmations aud negations, guar- 
 antees and prohibitions in the Constitution, that controversies 
 never rise concerning them. But no organic law can ever be 
 framed with a provision specifically applicable to every question 
 which may occur in practical admiuistration. No foresight can 
 anticipate, nor any document of reasonable length contain, ex- 
 press provisions for all possible questions. Shall fugitives from 
 labor be surrendered by national or by State authorities? The 
 Constitution does not expressly say. Must Congress protect 
 slavery in the territories? The Constitution does not expressly 
 say. From questions of this class spring all our constitutional 
 controversies, and we divide upon them into majorities aud 
 minorities. 
 
 " If the minority will not acquiesce, the majority must, or the 
 government must cease. There is no alternative for continuing 
 the government but acquiescence on the one side or the other. If 
 a minority in such a case will secede rather than acquiesce, they 
 make a precedent which in turn will ruiu and divide them, for a 
 minority of their own will secede from them whenever a ma- 
 jority refuses to be controlled by such a minority. For instance, 
 why not any portion of a new confederacy, a year or two hence, 
 ^rbitarily secede again, precisely as portions of the present 
 Union now claim to secede from it? AH who cherish disunion 
 Bcntimeuts are now being educated to the exact temper of doing 
 this. Is there such perfect identity of interests among the 
 States to compose a new Union as to produce harmony only, 
 and prevent renewed secession ? Plainly, the central idea of 
 secession is the essence of auarchy. 
 
 "A majority held in restraint by constitutional check and 
 limitations, and always changing easily with deliberate changvs 
 of popular opinions and sentiments, is the only true sovereii^-n of 
 
LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 93 
 
 a free people. Whoever reject it, does, of necessity, fly to an- 
 archy or to despotism. Uiiauimity is impossible ; the rule of a 
 majority, as a permanent arrangement, is wholly inadmissible. 
 So that, rejecting the majority principle, anarchy or despotism 
 in some form is all that is left. 
 
 " I do not forget the position assumed by some that constitu- 
 tional questions are to be decided by the Supreme Court, nor do 
 I deny that such decisions must be binding in any case upon the 
 parties to a suit, as to the object of that suit, while they are also 
 entitled to very high respect and consideration in all parallel 
 cases by all other departments of the government : and while it 
 is obviously possible that such decision may be erroneous in any 
 given case, still the evil effect following it, being limited to that 
 particular case, with the chance that it may be overruled and 
 never become a precedent for other cases, can better be borne 
 than could the evils of a different practice. 
 
 "At the same time, the candid citizen must confess that, if the 
 policy of the government upon the vital questions affecting the 
 whole people is to be irrevocably fixed by the decisions of the 
 Supreme Court, the iustant they are made, as in ordinary litiga- 
 tion between parties in personal actions, the people will have 
 ceased to be their own masters, unless having to that extent 
 practically resigned their government into the hands of that 
 eminent tribunal. 
 
 " Nor is there in this view any assault upon the court or the 
 judges. It is a duty from which they may not shrink, to decide 
 cases properly brought before them ; and it is no fault of theirs 
 if others seek to turn their decisions to political purposes. One 
 section of our country believes slavery is right, and ought to be 
 extended, while the other believes it is wrong, and ought not to 
 be extended ; and this is the only substantial dispute ; and the 
 fugitive slave clause of the Constitution, and the law for the 
 suppression of the foreign slave-trade, are each as well enforced, 
 perhaps, as any law can ever be in a community where the moral 
 sense of the people imperfectly supports the law itself. The 
 great body of the people abide by the dry legal obligation in 
 both cases, and a few break over in each. This, I think, cannot 
 be perfectly cured, and it would be worse, in both cases, aftei 
 the separation of the sections, than before. The foreign slave- 
 trade now imperfectly suppressed, would be ultimately revived, 
 without restriction, in one section ; while fugitive slaves, now 
 only partially surrendered, would not be surrendered at all by 
 the other. 
 
 '* Physically speaking, we cannot separate — we cannot remoTe 
 our respective sections from each other, nor build an impassable 
 wall between them. A husband and w.fe may be divorced, and 
 go out of the presence and beyond the reach of the other, but 
 the different parts of our country cannot do that. They cannot 
 but remain face to fa-ce ; and intercourse, either amicable or 
 6 
 
94 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 hostile, must continue between them. Is it possible, then, to 
 make that intercourse more advantageous or more satisfactory 
 after separation than before? Can aliens make treaties easier 
 than friends can make laws ? Can treaties be more faithfully 
 enforced between aliens than laws can among friends? Suppose 
 you go to war, you cannot light always ; and when, after much 
 loss on both sides, and no gain ou either, you cease fighting, the 
 identical questions as to terms of intercourse are again upon 
 you. 
 
 " This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who 
 iahabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing 
 government, they can exercise their constitutional right of 
 amending, or their revolutionary right to dismember or over- 
 throw it. 1 cannot be ignorant of the fact that many worthy 
 and patriotic citizens are desirous of having the national Con- 
 stitution amended. While I make no recommendation of amend- 
 ment, I fully recognize the fnll authority of the people over 
 the whole subject, to be exercised in either of the modes pre- 
 Bcribed in the instrument itself, and I should, under existing 
 circumstances, favor, rather than oppose, a fair opportunity 
 being aflorded the people to act upon it. 
 
 " I will venture to add that to me the convention mode seems 
 preferable, in that it allows amendments to originate with the 
 people themselves, instead of only permitting them to take or 
 reject propositions originated by others not especially chosen for 
 the purpose, and which might not be precisely such as they 
 would wish either to accept or refuse. I understand that a pro- 
 posed amendment to the Constitution (which amendment, how- 
 ever, I have not seen) has passed Congress, to the effect that 
 the Federal Government shall never interfere with the domestic 
 institutions of States, including that of persons held to service. 
 To avoid misconstruction of what I have said, I depart from my 
 purpose not to speak of particular amendments, so far as to say 
 that, holding such a provision to now be implied constitutional 
 law, I have no objections to its being made express and irrevo- 
 cable. 
 
 " The chief magistrate derives all his authority from the peo- 
 ple, and they have conferred none upon him to fix the terms for 
 the separation of the States. The people themselves, also, can 
 dr this if they choose, but the Executive, as such, has nothing 
 to do with it. His duty is to administer the present government 
 as it came to his hands, and to transmit it, unimpaired by him, 
 to his successor. Why should there not be a patient coutidence 
 in the ultimate justice of the people? Is there any better or 
 ecjual hope in the world ? In our present differences, is either 
 party without faitli of being in the right ? If the Almighty 
 liuler of nations, with his eternal truth and justice, be on your 
 side of the North, or on yours of the South, that truth and that 
 justice will surely prevail by the judgment of this great tribunal, 
 
LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABKAHAM LINCOLN". 95 
 
 the American people. By the frame of the government under 
 which we live, this same pi'ople have wisely given their public 
 servants but little power for mischief, and have, with equal wis- 
 dom, provided for the return of that little to their own hands at 
 very short intervals. While the people retain their virtue and 
 vigilance, no administration, by any extreme wickedness or 
 folly, can very seriously injure the government in the short space 
 of four years. 
 
 " My countrymen, one and all, think calmly and well upon 
 this whole subject. Nothing valuable can be lost by taking 
 time. 
 
 " If there be an object to hurry any of you, in hot haste, to 
 a step which you would never take deliberately, that object will 
 be frustrated by taking time ; but no good object can be frus- 
 trated by it. 
 
 " Such of you as are now dissatisfled still have the old Con- 
 stitution unimpaired, and, on the sensitive point, the laws of your 
 own framing under it; while the new administration will have 
 no immediate power, if it would, to change either. 
 
 "If it were admitted that you who are dissatisfied hold the 
 right side in the dispute, there is still no single reason for pre- 
 cipitate action. Intelligence, patriotism, Christianity, and a 
 firm reliance on Him who has never yet forsaken this favored 
 land, are still competent to adjust, in the best way, all our 
 present difiiculties. 
 
 " In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen, and not in 
 .mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. The government 
 will not assail you. 
 
 "You can have no conflict without being yourselves the ag- 
 gressors. You have no oath registered in heaven to destroy 
 the government; while I shall have the most solemn one to 
 ' preserve, protect, and defend it.' 
 
 " I am loth to close. We are not enemies, but friends. We 
 must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it 
 must not break our bonds of afiPection. 
 
 " The mystic cords of memory, stretching from every battle- 
 field and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all 
 over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, 
 when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angela 
 cf our nature." 
 
 Chief Justice Taney then administered the oath of 
 office, and President Lincoln left the Capitol for the 
 White House, whore he held a public reception. 
 
 PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S INTERVIEW WITH 
 tIiE VIRGINIA COMMISSIONERS. 
 
 On the 13th of April, ISGl, Messrs. Preston Stuart and 
 
96 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 Randolph, a committee appointed by the Virginia Con- 
 vention, were formally received by the President, and pre 
 sented the resolutions under which they were appointed. 
 In response, Mr. Lincoln made the following address : 
 
 " Gentlemen : As a committee of the Virginia Convention, 
 now in session, you present me a preamble and resolution iu 
 these words : 
 
 " ' Whereas, in the opinion of this Convention, the uncertainty 
 which prevails iu the public mind as to the policy which the 
 Federal Executive intends to pursue towards the seceded States 
 is extremely injurious to the industrial and commercial iuterests 
 of the country, tends to keep up an excitement which is un- 
 favorable to the adjustment of the pending difficulties, and 
 threatens a disturbance of the public peace ; therefore, 
 
 " 'Besolved, That a committee of three delegates be appointed 
 to wait on the President of the United States, present to him 
 this preamble, and respectfully ask him to communicate to this 
 Convention the policy which the Federal Executive intends to 
 pursue in regard to the Confederate States.* 
 
 " In answer I have to say, that having, at the beginning of 
 my official term, expressed my intended policy as plainly as I 
 was able, it is with deep regret and mortification I now learn there 
 is great and injurious uncertainty in the public mind as to what 
 that policy is, and what course I intend to pursue. Not having 
 as yet seen occasion to change, it is now my purpose to pursue 
 the course marked out in the inaugural address. I commend a 
 careful consideration of the whole document as the best ex- 
 pression I can give to my purposes. As I then and therein said, 
 I now repeat, 'The power confided in me will be used to hold, 
 occupy, and possess property and places belonging to the Gov- 
 ernment, and to collect the duties and imports; but beyond 
 what is necessary for these objects there will be no invasion, no 
 using of force against or among the people anywhere.' By the 
 words ' property and places belonging to the Government,' I 
 chiefly allude to the military posts and property which were in 
 possession of the government when it came into my hands. 
 But if, as now appears to be true, in pursuit of a purpose to 
 drive the United States authority from these places, an unpro- 
 voked assault has been made upon Fort Sumter, I shall hold 
 myself at liberty to repossess it, if I can, like places which had 
 been seized before the Government was devolved upon mo, and 
 in any event I shall, to the best of my ability, repel force by 
 f^rce. In case it proves true that Fort Sumter has been 
 assaulted, as is reported, I shall, perhaps, cause the Un:ted 
 States mails to be withdrawn from all the States which claim to 
 have seceded, believing that the commencement of actual war 
 against the Government justifies and possibly demands it. I 
 
LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 97 
 
 scarcely need to say that I consider the military posts and 
 property situated within the States which claim to have seceded, 
 as yet belonging to the Government of the United States as 
 ffuch as they did before the supposed secession. Wliatever 
 else I may do for the purpose, I shall not attempt to collect the 
 duties and imposts by any armed invasion of any part of ihe 
 country; not meaning by this, however, that I may not land a 
 force deemed necessary to relieve a fort upon the border of the 
 country. From the fact that I have quoted a part of the 
 inaugural address, it must not be inferred that I repudiate any 
 other part, the whole of which I reaffirm, except so far as what I 
 DOW say of the mails may be regarded as a modification." 
 
 Two days later the following proclamation was issued : 
 
 THE FIRST CALL FOR TROOPS.---COWGRESS 
 SUMMONED TO ASSEMBLE. 
 
 " Whereas, The laws of the United States have been for some 
 time past, and now are opposed, and the execution thereof ob- 
 structed, in the States of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, 
 Florida, Mississippi, Ijouisiana, and Texas, by combinations too 
 powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial pro- 
 ceedings, or by the powers vested in the marshals by law ; now, 
 therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United Stati-s, 
 in virtue of the power in me vested by the Constitution and the 
 laws, have thought fit to call forth, and hereby do call forth, the 
 militia of the several States of the Unioii to the aggregate nuin- 
 bor of 75,000, in order to suppress said combinations and to 
 cause the laws to be duly executed. 
 
 " Tlie details for this object will be immediately communicated 
 to the State authorities through the War Department. I ap- 
 peal to all loyal citizens to favor, facilitate, and aid this effort 
 to maintain the honor, the integrity, and existence of our na- 
 tional Union, and the perpetuity of popular government, and to 
 ■edress wrongs already long enough endured. I deem it pro])(T 
 .0 say that the first service assigned to the forces hereby called 
 "orth, will probably be to repossess the forts, places, and property 
 ivhich have been seized from tlie Union ; and in every event the 
 utmost care will be observed, consistently with the objects afore- 
 said, to avoid any devastation, any destruction of, or interference 
 with property, or any disturbance of peaceful citizens of any 
 part of the country; and I hereby command the persons coai- 
 posing the combinations aforesaid, to disperse and retire peace- 
 ably to their respective abodes, within twenty days from this 
 date. 
 
 " Deeming that the present condition of pubMc affairs presenta 
 un extraordinary occasion, I do hereby, in virtue of the power 
 in me vested by the Constitution, convene both Houses of Oua- 
 
98 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM- LINCOLN. 
 
 gress. The Senators and Representatives are, tbercfore. sum- 
 moned to assemble at their respective chambers at twelve crclock, 
 noon, on Thursday, the fourth day of July next, then and there 
 to consider and determine such measures as, in their wisdom, the 
 public safety and interest may seem to demand. 
 
 " In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused 
 the seal of the United States to be affixed. 
 " Dane at the City of Washington, this fifteenth day of April, ia 
 the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and sixty- 
 one, and of the independence of the United Stales the eighy- 
 fifth. 
 
 " By the President: "Abraham Lincoln. 
 
 "William H. Seward, Secretary of State." 
 
 Within three days after the appeal had been made to 
 the patriots of the North, six hundred of their number 
 had arrived in Washington, prepared for active duty and 
 ready to sacrifice their lives in defence of the capital. The 
 avenues to the city of Washington were guarded night 
 and day, and cannon w'ere placed in position. The excite- 
 ment w^as intense, but amid all the various apprehensions 
 of the residents and the country, he, who really should 
 have been more especially anxious and fearful, was always 
 calm and collected. The murderous outbreak in Balti- 
 more on the nineteenth only increased the excitement, but, 
 as if indill'erent to the scenes which were in progress im- 
 mediately around him, the President issued the following 
 Proclamation, ordering a blockade of the Southern ports : 
 
 k BLOCKADE OP SOUTHERN PORTS ORDERED. 
 
 " Whereas, An insurrection against the Government of ths 
 United States has broken out in the States of South Carolina, 
 Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, 
 and the laws of the United States for the collection of the 
 revenue cannot be efficiently executed therein conformably to 
 that provision of the Constitution which requires duties to be 
 uiiform throughout the United States. 
 
 "And ivhereas, A combination cf persons, engaged in such 
 insurrection, have threatened to grant pretended letters of 
 marque to authorize the bearers tliereof to commit assaults on 
 the lives, vessels, and property of good citizens of the country 
 lawfully engaged in commerce on the high seas, and iu waters 
 of the United States. 
 
LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 99 
 
 "And lohereas, An Executive Proclamation has been already 
 issued, requiring the persons engaged in tliese disorderly pro- 
 ceedings to desist therefrom, calling out a militia force for the 
 purpose of repressing the same, and convening Congress in ex- 
 traordinary session to deliberate and determine thereon. 
 
 " Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of ths 
 United States, with a view to the same purpose before men- 
 tioned, arii to the protection of the public peace, and the 
 lives and property of quiet and orderly citizens pursuing theii 
 lawful occupations, until Congress shall have assembled and de- 
 liberated on the said unlawful proceedings, or until the same 
 shall have ceased, have further deemed it advisable to set on 
 foot a blockade of the ports within the States aforesaid, in pur- 
 suance of the laws of the United States and of the laws of nations 
 in such cases provided. For this purpose a competent force will 
 be posted so as to prevent entrance and exit of vessels from the 
 ports aforesaid. If, therefore, with a view to violate such block- 
 ade, a vessel shall approach, or shall attempt to leave any of the 
 said ports, she will be duly warned by the commander of one of 
 the blockading vessels, who will indorse on her register the fact 
 and date of such warning ; and if the same vessel shall agaiu 
 attempt to enter or leave the blockaded port, she will be cap , 
 in red and sent to the nearest convenient port, for such proceed- 
 ings against her and her cargo as prize as may be deemed ad 
 visable. 
 
 "And I hereby proclaim and declare, that if any person, un- 
 der the pretended authority of said States, or under any other 
 pretence, shall molest a vessel of the United States, or the 
 persons or cargo on board of her, such person will be held 
 amenable to the laws of the United States for the prevention 
 and punishment of piracy. 
 
 " By the President : "Abraham Lincoln. 
 
 "William H. Seward, Secretary of Slate. 
 "Washington, April I9lh, 18G1." 
 
 THE PKESIDENT'S COMMUNICATION WITH 
 THE MARYLAND AUTHOKITIES. 
 
 On the twentieth of April, the President sent the follow- 
 ing letter to the Governor of Maryland and also to the 
 Mayor of Baltimore : 
 
 " Washington, April 20th, 1861. 
 " Governor Hicks and Mayor Brown : 
 
 "Gentlemkn: — Your letter by Messrs. 'Bond, Dobbin, and 
 Brune, is received. I tender you both my sincere thanks for 
 your efforts to keep the peace in the trying situation in which 
 you are placed. For the future, troops must be brought here, 
 but I make no point of bringing them throvgh Baltimore. 
 
100 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LII COLX. 
 
 "Without any military knowlcdfre myself, of course I must 
 leave details to General Scott. He hastily said this morning, 
 in presence of those gentlemen, ' March them around Baltimore, 
 and not through it.' 
 
 "I sincerely hope the general, on fuller reflection, will con- 
 eider this practical and proper, and that you will not object to 
 rt. By this a collision of the people of Baltimore with tho 
 troops will be avoided, unless they go out of the way to sock it. 
 I hope you will exert yonr influence to prevent this. Now and 
 ever, I shall do all in my power for peace, consistently with the 
 maintenance of government 
 
 " Your obedient servant, 
 
 "A. Lincoln." 
 
 And on the twenty- first, he sent a despatch to Mayor 
 Brown, requesting him to proceed immediately to Wash- 
 ington, a request that was obeyed, and upon arriving at 
 the White House the invited guest was admitted to an 
 interview with the Cabinet and General Scott. The Presi- 
 dent informed the Mayor, and three of the citizens of Bal- 
 timore who had accompanied him, that he recognized the 
 good faith of the City and State authorities, but should 
 insist upon a recognition of his own. 
 
 lie admitted the excited state of feeling in Baltimore, 
 and his desire and duty to av^oid the fatal consequences 
 of a collision with the people. lie urged, on the other 
 hand, the absolute, irresistible necessity of having a tran- 
 sit through the State for such troops as might be neces- 
 sary for the protection of the Federal capital. The pro- 
 tection of Washington, he asseverated with great earnest- 
 ness, was the sole object of concentrating troops there ; 
 and he protested that none of the troops brought through 
 Maryland were intended for any purpo.'-^s hostile to the 
 State, or aggressive as against the Southern States. Being 
 now unable to bring them up the Potomac in secLiiLy, the 
 Government must cither bring them through Maryland or 
 abandon the capital. 
 
 He called on General Scott for his opinion, which the 
 General gave at length, to the effect that troops might be 
 
LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 101 
 
 brought through Maryland, without going through Balti- 
 more, by either carrying them from Perryville to Annapo- 
 lis, and thence by rail to Washington, or by bringing them 
 to the Relay House on the Northern Central railroad, and 
 marching them to the Helay House on the Washington 
 railroad, and thence by rail to the capital. If the people 
 would permit them to go by either of these routes uninter- 
 ruptedly, the necessity of their passing through Baltimore 
 would be avoided. If the people would not permit them 
 a transit thus remote from the city, they must select their 
 own best route, and, if need be, fight their way through 
 Baltimore, a result which the General earnestly depre- 
 cated. 
 
 The President expressed his hearty concurrence in the 
 desire to avoid a collision, and said that no more troops 
 should be ordered through Baltimore if they were per- 
 mitted to go uninterrupted by either of the other routes 
 Buggested. In this disposition the Secretary of War ex- 
 pressed his participation. 
 
 About this same date a deputation of sympathizers 
 visited the President, and demanded a cessation of hostili- 
 ties until the convening of Congress, accompanying the 
 demand with the assertion that seventy-five thousand 
 Marylanders would contest the passage of troops over 
 their soil. Mr. Lincoln, in refusing to accede to the truce, 
 quietly replied that he presumed there was room enough 
 on her soil to bury seventy-five thousand men. 
 
 BLOCKADING OP VIRGINIA AND NORTH 
 CAROLINA. 
 
 On the twenty-seventh of April, the following additional 
 proclamation, extending the blockade, was issued : 
 
 "Whereas, For the reasons assigned in my proclamation of 
 tne 19tli instant, a blockade of the ports of the States of South 
 Caiolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, 
 and Texas, was ordered to be established ; And luhereus, Since 
 
 \ 
 
102 LIFE AKT) SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 thai date public property of the United States has been seized, 
 the collection of the revouue obstructed, and duly coraniissioaed 
 ofiicers of the United States, wiiile engaged iu executing the 
 orders of their superiors, have been arrested and held in custody 
 a« prisoners, or have been impeded in the discharge of their 
 official duties, without due legal process, by persons claiming to 
 act under authority of the States of Virginia and North Caro- 
 lina, an efficient blockade of the ports of these States will there- 
 fore also be established. 
 
 " In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused 
 the seal of the United States to be affixed. 
 " Done at the City of Washington, this 27th day of April, in the 
 year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, 
 and of the Independence of the United States the eighty- 
 fifth. 
 
 " By the President : "Abraham Lincoln. 
 
 "William II. Seward, Secretary of State." 
 
 Although the first call for troops had been responded to 
 in the most gratifying manner by the outraged citizens of 
 the free States, it was early ascertained that the number 
 asked was totally insufficient for the existing exigencies, 
 and on the third of May the following proclamation was 
 issued : 
 
 A CALL FOR ADDITIONAL TROOPS. 
 
 " Washington, Friday, 31ai/ 3d, 18G1. 
 " Whereas, Existing exigencies demand immediate and ade- 
 quate measures for the protection of the national Constitution 
 and the preservation of the national Union by the suppression ' 
 of the insurrectionary combinations now existing in several 
 States for opposing the laws of the Union and obstructing the 
 execution thereof, to which end a military force, in addition to 
 that called forth by my Proclamation of the fifteenth day of 
 April, in the present year, appears to be indispensably ueces- 
 eary, now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the 
 United States, and Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy 
 thereof, and of the militia of the several States, when called into 
 actual service, do hereby call into the service of the United 
 States forty-two thousand and thirty-four volunteers, to serve 
 for a period of three years, unless sooner discharged, and tc be 
 mustered into service as infantry and cavalry. The proportions 
 of each arm and the details of enrolment and organization will 
 be made known through the Department cf War ; and I also 
 direct that the regular army of the United States be increased 
 by the addition of eight regiments of infantry, one regiment ol 
 
LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM 1 INCOLN. 108 
 
 cavalry, and one regiment of artillery, making altogether a 
 maximum aggregate increase of 22,714 officers and enlisted men, 
 the details of which increase will also be made known through 
 the Department of War; and I further direct tlie enlistment, 
 for not less than one nor more than three years, of 18,000 sea- 
 men, in addition to the present force, for the naval service of 
 the United States. The details of the enlistment and organiza- 
 tion will be made known through the Department of the Navy. 
 The call for volunteers, hereby made, and the direction of the 
 increase of the regular army, and for the enlistment of seamen 
 hereby given, together with the plan of organization adopted for 
 the volunteers and for the regular forces hereby authorized, will 
 be submitted to Congress as soon as assembled. 
 
 " In tJTe meantime, I earnestly invoke the co-operation of all 
 good citizens in the measures hereby adopted for the effectual 
 suppression of unlawful violence, for the in)partial enforcement 
 of constitutional laws, and for the speediest possible restoration 
 of peace and order, and with those of happiness and prosperity 
 throughout our country. 
 
 ; "In testimony whereof, I liave hereunto set my hand, and 
 caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. 
 "Done at the City of Washington, this third day of May, in the 
 year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, 
 and of the Independence of the United States the eighty- 
 fifth. 
 
 " By the President : "Abraham Lincoln. 
 
 " William H. Seu'ard, Secretary of State." 
 
 AN INTERVIEW WITH THE MARYLAND 
 LEGISLATURE. 
 
 On the following day, the President had an interview 
 with a Committee of the Maryland Legislature, who ad- 
 mitted the right of the Government to transport troops 
 through Baltimore or Maryland, but expressed their belief 
 that no immediate efforts would be made by the State au- 
 thorities at secession or resistance, and asked that the 
 State might be spared military occupation, or a mere re- 
 vengeful chastisement for former transgressions. The 
 Tresidcnt, in reply, promised to give their suggestions a 
 respectful consideration, and stated that whatever meas- 
 ures might be adopted, would be actuated entirely by the 
 public interests and not by any spirit of revenge. 
 
104 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 A SPECIAL ORDER FOR FLORIDA. 
 
 On the teuth of Ma}', 1861, the following proclamatioQ 
 was promulgat-ed : 
 
 " WHiereas, Au hisurrection exists in the State of Florida, by 
 ■which the lives, liberty, and property of loyal citizens of the 
 United States are endangered. 
 
 ''And whereas, It is deemed proper that all needful measures 
 ehould be taken for the protection of such citizens and all ofiBcers 
 of the United States hi the discharge of their public duties :a 
 the State aforesaid. 
 
 " Now, therefore, be it known that I, Abraham Lincoln, 
 President of the Unit-^d States, do hereby direct the Com- 
 mander of the forces of the United States on the Florida coast 
 to permit no person to exeroise any office or authority upon the 
 Islands of Key West, the Tortugas, and Santa Rosa, which 
 may be inconsistent with the laws and Constitution of the 
 United States, authorizing him at the same time, if he shall 
 find it necessary, to suspend there the writ of habeas corpus, 
 and to remove from the vicinity of the United States fortresses 
 all dangerous or suspected persons. 
 
 " In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused 
 the seal of the United States to be affixed. 
 " Done at the City of Washington, this tenth day of May, in the 
 year of our Lord one thousand eight hiMidred and sixty-one, 
 and of the Independence of the United States the eighty- 
 fifth. 
 
 "By the President : "Abraham Lincoln. 
 
 " William H. Seward, Secretary of State." 
 
 PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S FIRST MESSAGE TO 
 CONGRESS. 
 
 On the fourth of July, 1861, Congress acsembled, in 
 pursuance to the call of the President, and received from 
 the Executive the following Message : 
 
 " Fkllow-Cittzens of the Senate and ITousr of Rkpreren- 
 TA.TIVES: — Having been convened on an extraordinary occasion, 
 as authorized by the Constitution, your attention is not called 
 to any ordinary subject of legislation. At the beginning of thp 
 present Presidential term, four months ago, the functions of the 
 Federal Government were found to be generally suspended 
 within the several States of South Carolina, Gaorgia, Alabama. 
 Mississippi, Louisiana, and Florida, excepting only those of the 
 Post-OIEce Department. 
 
LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN". 105 
 
 " wTthiu these States all the Forts, Arsenals, Dock-Yards, 
 Cnstom-Houses, and the like, including the movable and station- 
 ary property in and about them, had been seized, and were held 
 in open hostility to this Government, excepting only Forts 
 Pickens, Taylor, and Jeflerson, on and near the Florida coast, 
 and Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor, South Carolina. The 
 forts thus seized had been put in improved condition, new ones 
 had been built, and armed forces had been organized, and were 
 organizing, all avowedly for the same hostile purpose. 
 
 " The forts remaining in possession of the Federal Govern- 
 ment in and near these States were either besieged or menaced 
 by warlike preparations, and especially Fort Sumter was nearly 
 surrounded by well-protected hostile batteries, with guns equal 
 in quality to the best of its own, and outnumbering the latter as, 
 perhaps, ten to one— a disproportionate share of the Federal 
 muskets and rifles had somehow found their way into these 
 States, and had been seized to be used against the Government. 
 " Accumulations of the public revenue lying within them had 
 been seized for the same object. The navy was scattered in 
 distant seas, leaving but a very small part of it within the imme- 
 diate reach of the Government. 
 
 " Officers of the Federal army had resigned in great numbers, 
 And of those resigning a large proportion had taken up arms 
 against the Government. 
 
 " Siraaltaneously, and in connection with all this, the purpose 
 to sever the Federal Union was openly avowed. In accordance 
 with this purpose an ordinance had been adopted in each of these 
 States, declaring the States respectively to be separated from 
 the National Union. A formula for instituting a combined 
 Government of these States had been promulgated, and this 
 illegal organization, in the character of the ' Confederate States,' 
 was already invoking recognition, aid, and intervention from 
 foreign Powers, 
 
 "Finding this condition of things, and believing it to be an 
 imperative duty upon the incoming Executive to prevent, if pos- 
 sible, the consummation of such attempt to destroy the Federal 
 Union, a choice of means to that end became indispensable. 
 This choice was made and was declared in the Inaugural 
 Address. 
 
 " The policy chosen looked to the exhaustion of all peaceful 
 measures before a resort to any stronger ones. It sought only 
 to hold the public places and property not already wrested from 
 the Government, and to collect the revenue, relying for the rest 
 on time, discussion, and the ballot-box. It promised a contin- 
 nance of the mails, at Government expense, to the very people 
 who were resisting the Government, and it gave repeated pledges 
 against any disturbances to any of the people, or any of their 
 rights, of all that which a President might constitutionally and 
 justifiably do in such a case ; every thing was forborne, without 
 which it was believed possible to keep the Government on foot. 
 
106 MFE AXD SEEVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 " On the 5th of March, the present incumbent's first full day 
 in office, a letter fro% Major Anderson, commanding at Fort 
 Sumter, written on tlie 28lh of February and received at the 
 War Department on the 4th of March, was by that Department 
 placed ill his hands. This letter expressed the professional 
 opinion of the writer, that reinforcements could not be thrown 
 into that fort within the time for its relief rendered necessary by 
 the limited supply of provisions, and with a view of holding pos- 
 session of the same, with a force less than 20,000 good and well- 
 disciplined men. This opinion was concurred in by all the 
 officers of his command, and their memoranda on the subject 
 were made inclosures of Major Anderson's letter. The whole 
 was Immediately laid before Lieutenant-General Scott, who at 
 once concurred with Major Anderson in his opinion. On re- 
 flection, however, he took full time, consulting with other officers 
 both of the army and navy, and at the end of four days came 
 reluctantly but decidedly to the same conclusion as before. He 
 also stated at the same time that no such sufficient force was 
 then at the control of the Government, or could be raised and 
 brought to the ground, within the time when the provisions in 
 the fort would be exhausted. In a purely military point of view, 
 this reduced the duty of the Administration in the case to thb 
 mere matter of getting the garrison safely out of the fort. 
 
 " It was believed, however, that to so abandon that position, 
 under the circumstances, would be utterly ruinous; that the 
 necessity under which it was to be done would not be fully un- 
 derstood ; that by many it would be construed as a part of a 
 voluntary policy ; that at home it would discourage the friends 
 of the Union, embolden its adversaries, aud go far to insure to 
 the latter a recognition abroad ; that, in fact, it would be our 
 national destruction consummated. This could not be allowed. 
 Starvation was not yet upon the garrison, and ere it would be 
 reached. Fort Pickens might be reinforced. This last would 
 be a clear indication of policy, and would better enable the 
 country to accept the evacuation of Fort Sumter as a military 
 necessity. An order was at once directed to be sent for the 
 landing of the troops from the steamship Brooklyn into Fort 
 Pickens. This order could not go by land, but must take the 
 longer and slower route by sea. The first return news from the 
 order was received just one week before the fall of Sumter. The 
 E8W3 itself was that the officer commanding the Sabine, to which 
 vessel the troops had been transferred from the Brooklyn, acting 
 upon some quasi armistice of the late Administration, and of 
 the exist( nee of wliich the present Administration, up to the 
 tinre the order was despatched, had only too vague and uncertain 
 rumors to fix attention, had refused to land the troops. To now 
 reinforce Fort Pickens before a crisis would be reached at 
 Fort Sumter was impossible, rendered so by the near exhaustion 
 of provisions at the latter named foit. In precaution against 
 
LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 107 
 
 Bucli a conjuncture the Government had a few days before com- 
 menced preparing an expedition, as well adapted as might be, to 
 relieve Fort Sumter, which expedition was intended to be ulti- 
 mately used or not, according to circumstances. The strongest 
 anticipated case for using it was now presented, and it was re- 
 Bolvcd to send it forward as had been intended. In this contin- 
 gen( y it was also resolved to notify the Governor of South Caro- 
 lina that he might expect an attempt would be made to pro- 
 vision the fort, and that if the attempt should not be resisted, 
 tLere would be no attempt to throw in men, arms, or ammu- 
 nition, without further notice or in case of an attack upon the 
 fort. This notice was accordingly given, whereupon the fort 
 was attacked and bombarded to its fall, without even awaiting 
 the arrival of the provisioning expedition. 
 
 " It is thus seen that the assault upon, and reduction of Fort 
 Sumter, was, in no sense, a matter of self-defence on the part 
 of the assailants. They well knew that the garrison in the fort 
 could by no possibility commit aggression upon them ; they 
 knew they were expressly notified that the giving of bread to the 
 few brave and hungry men of the garrison was all which would 
 on that occasion be attempted, unless themselves, by resisting 
 so much, should provoke more. They knew that this Govern- 
 ment desii'ed to keep the garrison in the fort, not to assail 
 them, but merely to maintain visible possession, and thus to pre- 
 serve the Union from actual and immediate dissolution ; trust- 
 ing, as hereinbefore stated, to time, discussion, and the ballot- 
 box for final adjustment, and they assailed and reduced the fort, 
 for precisely the reverse object, to drive out the visible authority 
 of the Federal Union, and thus force it to immediate dissolution ; 
 that this was their object the Executive well understood, having 
 said to them in the Inaugural v^ddress, ' you can have no con- 
 flict without being yourselves the aggressors.' He took paing 
 not only to keep this declaration good, but also to keep the case 
 so far from ingenious sophistry as that the world should not 
 misunderstand it. By the affair at Fort Sumter, with its sur- 
 roundiug circumstances, that point was reached. Then and 
 thereby tnc assailants of the Government began the conflict of 
 arms,— w iDout a gun in sight or in expectancy to return theii 
 fire, save only the few in the fort sent to that harbor years 
 before, for their own pi-otection, and still ready to give that pro- 
 tection in whatever was lawful. In this act, discarding all else, 
 they have forced upon the country the distinct issue, immediate 
 dissolution or blood, and this issue embraces more than the fate 
 ' af these United States. It presents to the whole family of 
 man the question whether a Constitutional Republic or De- 
 mocracy, a Government of the people, by the same people, cau 
 or cannot maintain its territorial integrity against its own 
 domestic foes. It presents the question whether discontented 
 individuals, too few in numbers to control the Administratioa 
 
108 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 according to the orp;anic law in any case, can always, upon 
 the pretences made in this case, or any other pretences 
 or arbitrarily without any pretence, break up their Govern- 
 ment, and thus practically put an end to free governmeLt 
 upon the earth. It forces us to ask, ' Is there in all republics 
 this inherent and fatal weakness ?' Must a Government of 
 uccessity be too strong for the liberties of its own people, or too 
 weak to maintain its own existence ? So viewing the issue, no 
 choice was left but to call out the war power of the Government, 
 and so to resist the force employed for its destruction by force 
 for its preservation. The call was made, and the response of 
 the country was most gratifying, surpassing, in unanimity and 
 s])irit, the most sanguine expectation. Yet none of the States, 
 commonly called slave States, except Delaware, gave a regi- 
 ment through the regular State organization. A few regiments 
 have been organized within some others of those States by 
 individual enterprise, and received into the Government service. 
 Of course the seceded States, so called, and to which Texas 
 had been joined about the time of the inauguration, gave no 
 troops to the cause of the Union. The Border Slates, so called, 
 were not uniform in their action, some of them being almost for 
 the Union, while in others as in Virginia, North Carolina, 
 1'ennessce, and Arkansas, the Union sentiment was nearly 
 repressed and silenced. The course taken in Virginia was the 
 most remarkable, perhaps the most important. A convention, 
 elected by the people of that State to consider this very ques- 
 tion of disrupting the Federal Union, was in session at the 
 capital of Virginia when Fort Sumter fell. 
 
 " To tliiy body the people had chosen a large majority of pro- 
 fessed Union men. Almost immediately after the fall of Sum- 
 ter many members of that majority went over to the original 
 disunion minority, and with them adopted an ordinance for with- 
 drawing the State from the Union. Whether this change was 
 wrought by their great approval of the assault upon Sumter, or 
 their great resentment at the Government's resistance to that 
 assault, is not definitely known. Although they submitted the 
 ordinance for ratification to a vote of the people, to be taken oa 
 a day then somewhat more than a month distant, the Conven- 
 tion and the Legislature, which was also in session at the same 
 time and place, with leading men of the State, not membera 
 of cither, immediately commenced acting as if the Slate was 
 already out of the Union. They pushed military preparations 
 vigorously forward all over the State. They seized the United 
 8tates Armory at Harper's Ferry, and the Navy-Yard at Gos- 
 port, near Norfolk. They received, perhaps invited into their 
 State large bodies of troops, with their warlike appointments, 
 from the so-called seceded States. 
 
 "They formally entered into a treaty of temporary alliance 
 with the so-called Confederate States, and sent members to their 
 
LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 109 
 
 Congress at Montgomery, and finally they permitted the insnr- 
 rectionary Government to be transferred to their eapitol at 
 Richmond. The people of Virginia have thus allowed this 
 giant insurrection to make its nest within her borders, and this 
 Government has no choice left but to deal with it whore it finds 
 it, and it has the less to regret as the loyal citizens have in due 
 form claimed its protection. Those loyal citizens this Govern- 
 ment is bound to recognize and protect as being in Virginia, 
 lu the Border States, so called, in fact the middle States, there 
 are those who favor a policy which they call armed neutrality, 
 that is, an arming of those States to prevent the Union forces 
 passing one way or the disunion forces the other over their soil. 
 This would be disunion completed. Figuratively speaking, it 
 would be the building of an impassable wall along the line of 
 separation, and yet not quite an impassable one, for under the 
 guise of neutrality it would tie the hands of the Union men, and 
 freely pass supplies from among them to the insurrectionists, 
 which it could not do as an open enemy. At a stroke it would 
 take all the trouble ofi" the hands of secession, except only 
 what proceeds from the external blockade. It would do for the 
 disunionists that which of all things they most desire, feed them 
 well and give them disunion without a struggle of their own. 
 It recognizes no fidelity to the Constitution, no obligation to 
 maintain the Union, and while very many who have favored it 
 are doubtless loyal citizens, it is nevertheless very injurious ia 
 effect. 
 
 " Recurring to the action of the Government it may be stated 
 that at first a call was made for 75,000 militia, and rapidly 
 following this a proclamation was issued for closing the ports 
 of the insurrectionary districts by proceedings in the nature 
 of a blockade. So far all was believed to be strictly legal. 
 
 "At this point the insurrectionists announced their purpose 
 to enter upon the practice of privateering. 
 
 " Other calls were made for volunteer?, to serve three years, un- 
 less sooner discharged, and also for large additions to the regular 
 army and navy. These measures, whether strictly legal or not, 
 were ventured upon under what appeared to be a popular demand 
 and a public necessity, trusting then, as now, that Congress 
 would ratify them. 
 
 " It is believed that nothing has been done beyond the con- 
 stitutional competency of Congress. Soon after the first call 
 for militia it was considered a duty to authorize the commanding 
 general, in proper cases, according to his discretion, to suspend 
 the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus ; or, in other words, 
 to arrest and detain, without resort to the ordinary processes 
 and forms of law, such individuals as he might deem dangerous 
 to the public safety. This authority has purposely been exer- 
 cised but very sparingly. Nevertheless the legality and pro- 
 priety of what has been done under it are questioned, and the 
 
110 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 Attention of the country has been called to the proposition that 
 one who is sworn to take care that tlie laws be faithfully exe- 
 cuted, should not himself violate them. Of course some 
 consideration was given to the questions of power and propriety 
 oefore this matter was acted upon. The whole of the laws 
 wirich were required to be faithfully executed were being resisted, 
 and failing of execution in nearly one-third of the States. 
 Most they be allowed to finally fail of execution, even had it 
 been perfectly clear that by use of the means necessary to their 
 execution, some single law, made in such extreme tenderness of 
 the citizen's liberty that practically it relieves more of the 
 guilty than the innocent, should to a very great extent be 
 violated ? To state the question more directly, are all the lawa 
 but one to go unexecuted, and the Government itself to go to 
 pieces lest that one be violated ? Even in such a case would 
 not the officfal oath be broken if the Government should be 
 overthrown when it was believed that disregarding the single law 
 would tend to preserve it. 
 
 " But it was not believed that thi? question was presented. 
 It was not believed that any law was violated. The provision 
 of the Constitution, that the privilege of the writ of habeas 
 corpus shall not be suspended, unless when, in cases of rebel- 
 lion or invasion, the public safety may require it, is equivalent to 
 a provision that such privilege may be suspended when, in cases 
 of rebellion or invasion, the public safety does require it. It 
 was decided that we have a case of rebellion, and that the 
 public safety does require the qualified suspension of the 
 privilege of the writ, which was authorized to be made. Now, 
 it is insisted that Congress, and not the Executive, is vested 
 with this power. But the Constitution itself is silent as 
 to which or who is to exercise the power ; and as the provision 
 was plainly made for a dangerous emergency, it cannot be 
 believed that the framers of the instrument intended that in 
 every case the danger should run its course until Congress could 
 be called together, the very assembling of which might be pre- 
 vented, as was intended in this case by the rebellion. No more 
 extended argument is now afiForded, as an opinion at sume 
 length will probably be presented by the Attorney-General. 
 Whether there shall be any legislation on the subject, and if so 
 what, is submitted entirely to the better judgment of Congress. 
 The forbearance of this Government had been so extraordinary, 
 and so long continued, as to lead some foreign nations to shape 
 their action as if they supposed the early destruction of our 
 national Union was probable. While this, on discovery, gave 
 the Executive some concern, he is now happy to say that the 
 sovereignty and rights of the United States are now everywhere 
 practically respected by foreign Powers, and a general sympathy 
 with the country is manifested throughout the woHd. 
 
 " The reports of the Secretaries of the Treasury, War, aud 
 
LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. Ill 
 
 the Navy, will pive the information in detail deemed necessary 
 and convenient for your deliberation and action, while the Ex- 
 ecutive and all the departments will stand ready to supply 
 omissions or to communicate new facts considered important for 
 you to know. 
 
 " It is now recommended that you give the legal means for 
 making this contest a short and decisive one ; that you place at 
 the control of the Government for the work at least 400,000 
 men and S400,000,000 ; that number of men is about one-tenth 
 of those of proper ages within the regions where apparently all 
 are willing to engage, and the sum is less than a twenty-third 
 jiart of the money value owned by the men who seem ready to 
 devote the whole. A debt of SGOO,000,000 now is a less sum 
 per head than was the debt of our Revolution when we came 
 out of that struggle, and the money value in the country bears 
 even a greater proportion to what it was then than does the 
 population. Surely each man has as strong a motive now to 
 preserve our liberties as each had then to establish them. 
 
 "A right result at this time will be worth more to the world 
 than ten times the men and ten times the money. The evidence 
 reaching us from the country leaves no doubt that the material 
 for the work is abundant, and that it needs only the hand of 
 legislation to give it bgal sanction, and the hand of the Execu- 
 tive to give it practical shape and efficiency. One of the greatest 
 perplexities of the (lovernment is to avoid receiving troops 
 faster than it can provide for them ; in a word, the people will 
 save their Government if the Government will do its part only 
 indifferently well. It might seem at first thought to be of little 
 difference whether the present movement at the South be called 
 secession or rebellion. The movers, however, well understand 
 the difference. At the beginning they knew that they could 
 never raise their treason to any respectable magnitude by any 
 name which implies violation of law ; they knew their people 
 possessed as much of moral sense, as much of devotion to law 
 and order, and as much pride in its reverence for the history and 
 Government of their common country, as any other civilized 
 and patriotic people. They knew they could make no advance- 
 ment directly in the teeth of these strong and noble sentiments. 
 Accordingly they commenced by an insidious debauching of the 
 oublic mind ; they invented an ingenious sophism, which, if con- 
 ceded, was followed by perfectly logical steps through all the 
 incident* of the complete destruction of the Union. The 
 sophism itself is that any State of the Union may, consistently 
 with the nation's Constitution, and therefore lawfully and peace 
 fully, withdraw from the Union without the consent of the 
 Union or of any other State. 
 
 " The little disguise that the supposed right is to be exercised 
 only for just cause, themselves to be the sole judge of its justice, 
 is too thin to merit any notice with reljelliou. Thus augar 
 
112 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 coated, they have been drugging the public mind of their section 
 for more than thirty years, and until at length they have bronghl 
 many good men to a willingness to take up arms against the 
 Government the day after some assemblage of men have enacted 
 the farcical pretence of taking their State out of the Union, wlio 
 could have been brought to no such thing the day before. This 
 sophism derives much, perhaps the whole of its currency, from 
 the assumption that there is some omnipotent and sacred su- 
 premacy pertaining to a State, to each State of our Federal 
 Union. Our States have neither more nor less power than that 
 reserved to them in the Union by the Constitution, no one of 
 them ever having been a State out of the Union. The original 
 ones passed into the Union before they cast off their British 
 Colonial dependence, and the new ones came into the Union 
 directly from a condition of dependence, excepting Texas, and 
 even Texas, in its temporary independence, was never designated 
 as a State. The new ones only took the designation of States 
 on coming into the Union, wliile that name was first adopted 
 for the old ones in and by the Declaration of Independence. 
 Thereia^the United Colonies were declared to be free and inde- 
 pendent States. But even then the object plainly was not to 
 declare their independence of one another of the Union, but di- 
 rectly the contrary, as their mutual pledge and their mutual ac- 
 tion before, at the time, and afterward, abundantly show. The 
 express plight of faith by each and all of the original thirteen 
 States in the Articles of Confederation two years later that the 
 Union shall be perpetuated, is most conclusive. Having never 
 been States either in substance or in name outside of the Union, 
 whence this magical omnipotence of State rights, asserting a 
 claim of power to lawfully destroy the Union itself. Much is 
 said about the sovereignty of tlie States, but the word even is 
 not in the National Constitution, nor, as is believed, in any of 
 the State constitutions. What is sovereignty in the political 
 sense of the word ? Would it be far wrong to define it a politi- 
 cal community without a political superior? Tested by this, no 
 one of our States, except Texas, was a sovereignty, and even 
 Texas gave up the character on coming into the Union, by 
 which act she acknowledged the Constitution of the United 
 States ; and the laws and treaties of the United States, made in 
 pursuance of States, have their status in the Union, made in 
 pursuance of the Constitution, to be for her the supreme law. 
 Tlie States have their status in the Union, and they have no 
 other legal status. If they break from this, they can only do so 
 against law and by revolution. The Union, and not themselves 
 separately, procured their independence and their liberty by con- 
 quest or purchase. The Union gave each of them whatever of 
 independence and liberty it has. The Union is older than any 
 of the States, and, in fact, it created them, as States. Origi- 
 Dally, some dependent Colonies made the Union, and in turn tbo 
 
LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 113 
 
 Union threw o£F their old dependence for them and made them 
 States, snch as they are. Not one of them ever had a State 
 constitution independent of the Union. Of course it is not for- 
 gotten that all the new States formed their constitutions before 
 they entered the Union; nevertheless, dependent upon, and pre- 
 paratory to coming into the Union. Unquestionably, the States 
 have the powers and rights reserved to them in and by the ^ia- 
 tional Constitution. 
 
 " But among these surely are not included all conceivaole 
 powers, however mischievous or destructive, but at most such 
 only as were known in the world at the time as gcvernmenta! 
 powers, and certainly a power to destroy the Government itself 
 had never been known as a governmental, as a merely adminis- 
 trative power. This relative matter of national power and State 
 rights as a principle, is no other than the principle of generality 
 and locality. Whatever concerns the whole should be conferred 
 to the whole General Government, while whatever concerns only 
 the State should be left exclusively to the State. This is all 
 there is of original principle about it. Whether the National 
 Constitution, in defining boundaries between the two, has ap- 
 plied the principle with exact accuracy, is not to be questioned 
 We are all bound by that defining without question. What w 
 now combated, is the position that secession is consistent with 
 the Constitution, is lawful and peaceful. It is not contended 
 that there is any express law for it, and nothing should ever be 
 implied as law which leads to unjust or absurd consequences. 
 The nation purchased with money the countries out of which 
 several of those States were formed. Is it just that they shall 
 go off without leave and without refunding? The nation paid 
 very large sums in the aggregate, I believe nearly a hundred 
 millions, to relieve Florida of the aboriginal tribes. Is it just 
 that she shall now be ofi" without consent or without any return? 
 The nation is now in debt for money applied to the benefit of 
 these so-called seceding States, in common with the rest. Is it 
 just, either that creditors shall go unpaid, or the remaining 
 States pay the whole ? A part of the present national debt was 
 contracted to pay the old debt of Texas. Is it just that she 
 shall leave and pay no part of this herself? Again, if one State 
 may secede so may another, and when all shall have seceded 
 none is left to pay the debts. Is this quite just to creditors? 
 Did we notify thein of this sage view of ours when we borrowed 
 their money ? If we now recognize this doctrine by allowing the 
 seceders to go in peace, it is difficult to see what we can do if 
 others choose to go, or to extort terms upon which they will 
 promise to remain. The seceders insist that our Constitution 
 admits of secession. They have assumed to make a National 
 Constitution of their own, in which, of necessity, they have either 
 discardeo* or retained the right of secession, as they insist exists 
 in ours. If they have discarded it, they thereby admit that oa 
 
114 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABliAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 principle it ought not lo exist in ours ; if they have retained il, 
 by their own construction of ours that shows that to be consist- 
 ent, they must secede from one another whenever they shall find 
 it the easiest way of settling their debts, or effecting any other sel- 
 fish or unjust object. The principle itself is one of disintegra- 
 tion, and upon which no Government can possibly endure. If 
 all the States save one should assert the power to drive that one 
 out of the Union, it is presumed the whole class of seceder poli- 
 ticians would at once deny the power, and denounce the act aa 
 the greatest outrage upon State rights. But suppose that pre- 
 cisely the same act, instead of being called driving the one out, 
 should be called the seceding of the others from that one, it 
 would be exactly what the seceders claim to do, unless, indeed, 
 they made the point that the one, because it is a minority, may 
 rightfully do what the others, because they are a majority, may 
 not rightfully do. These politicians are subtle, and profound in 
 the rights of minorities. They are not partial to that power 
 •which made the Constitution, and speaks from the preamble, 
 calling itself, ' We, the people.' It may be well questioned 
 whether there is to-day a majority of the legally-qualified voters 
 of any State, except, perhaps. South Carolina, in favor of dis- 
 union. There is much reason to believe that the Union men are 
 the majority in many, if not in every one of the so-called seceded 
 States. The contrary has not been demonstrated in any one of 
 them. It is ventured to affirm this, even of Virginia and Ten- 
 nessee, for the result of an election held in military camps, where 
 the bayonets are all on one side of the question voted upon, can 
 scarcely be considered as demonstrating popular sentiment. At 
 such an election all that large class who are at once for the 
 Union and against coercion, would be coerced to vote against 
 the Union. It may be affirmed, without extravagance, that the 
 free institutions we enjoy have developed the powers and im- 
 proved the condition of our whole people beyond any example 
 in the world. Of this we now have a striking and impressive 
 illustration. So large an army as the Government has now on 
 foot was never before known, without a soldier in it but who has 
 taken his place there of his own free choice. But more than 
 this, there are many single regiments whose members, one and 
 another, possess full practical knowledge of all the arts, sciences, 
 professions, and whatever else, whether useful or elegant, ia 
 known in the whole world, and there is scarcely one from which 
 there could not be selected a President, a Cabinet, a Congress, 
 and perhaps a Court, abundantly competent to administer the 
 Government itself. Nor do I say this is not true also in the 
 army of our late friends, now adversaries, in this contest. But 
 it is 80 much better the reason why the Government which has 
 conferred such benefits on both them and us should not be broken 
 np. Whoever in any section proposes to abandon such a Gov- 
 ernment, would do well t) consider in deference to what prin 
 
LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 115 
 
 ciple it is that he does it. What better he is likely to get in 
 its stead, whether the substitute will give, or be intended to 
 {rive so much of good to the people. There are some fore- 
 sliadowings on this subject. Our adversaries have adopted some 
 declarations of independence in which, unlike the good old one 
 penned by Jeiferson, they omit the words, 'all men are created 
 equal ' Why ? They have adopted a temporary National Con- 
 Btitution, in the preamble of which, unlike our good -old one 
 Bigned by Washington, they omit ' We tlie people,' and substi- 
 tute ' We, the deputies of the sovereign and independent States 
 Why' Why this deliberate pressing out of view the rights of 
 men a'nd the authority of the people ? This is essentially a peo- 
 ple's contest. On the side of the Union it is a struggle for 
 maintaining in the world that form and substance of Government 
 whose leading object is to elevate the condition of men to lift 
 artificial weights from all shoulders, to clear the paths of laud- 
 able pursuit for all, to afford all an unfettered start and a fair 
 chance in the race of life, yielding to partial and temporary de- 
 partures from necessity. This is the leading object of the (gov- 
 ernment, for whose existence we contend. 
 
 " I am most happy to believe that the plain people understand 
 and appreciate this. It is worthy of note that while in this, the 
 Government's hour of trial, large numbers of those in the army 
 and navy who have been favored with the ofiBces, have resigned 
 and proved false to the hand which pampered them, not one 
 common soldier or common sailor is known to have deserted hia 
 flao- Great honor is due to those oERcers who remained true 
 des'pite the example of their treacherous associates, but the 
 greatest honor and the most important fact of all, is the unani- 
 mous firmness of the common soldiers and common sailors. To 
 the last man, so far as known, they have successfully resisted 
 the traitorous efforts of those whose commands but an hour be- 
 fore they obeyed as absolute law. This is the patriotic instinct 
 of plain people. They understand without an argument that the 
 destroying the Government which was made by Washington 
 means no good to them. Our popular Government has often 
 been called an experiment. Two points in it our people have 
 settled : the successful establishing and the successful adminis- 
 tering of it. One still remains. Its successful maintenance 
 agaiirst a formidable internal attempt to overthrow it. It is now 
 for them to demonstrate to the world that those who can tairly 
 carry an election can also suppress a rebellion ; that ballots are 
 the rightful and peaceful successors of bullets, and that when 
 ballots have fairly and constitutionally decided, there can be no 
 successful appeal back to bullets ; that there can be no success- 
 ful appeal except to ballots themselves at succeeding elections. 
 Such will be a great lesson of peace, teaching men that what 
 they cannot take by an election, neither can they take by a war, 
 teaching all the folly of being the beginners of a war. 
 
 " Lest there be some uneasiness in the minds of candid men 
 
116 LIFE AND SEKVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 as to what is to be the course of the government toward the 
 Southern States after the rebellion shall have been suppressed, 
 the Executive deems it proper to say it will be his purpose, then, 
 as ever, to be guided by the Constitution and the laws, and that 
 he probably will have no different understanding of the powera 
 and duties of the Federal Government relatively to the rights 
 of the States and the people under the Constitution than ttiat 
 expressed in the inaugural address. He desires to p:'eserve the 
 government, that it may be administered for all, as it was ad- 
 ministered by the men who made it. Loyal citizens everywhere 
 have the right to claim this of their government, and the gov- 
 ernment has no right to withhold or neglect it. It is not per- 
 ceived that, in giving it, there is any coercion, any conquest, or 
 any subjugation in any sense of these terms. 
 
 " The Constitution provided, and all the States have accepted 
 the provision, ' that the United States shall guarantee to every 
 State in this Union a Republican form of government ;' but if a 
 State may lawfully go out of the Union, having done so, it may 
 also discard the Republican form of government. So that to 
 prevent its going out is an indispensable means to the end of 
 maintaining the guarantee mentioned ; and, when an end is law- 
 ful and obligatory, the indispensable means to it are also lawful 
 and obligatory. 
 
 " It was with the deepest regret that the Executive found the 
 duty of employing the war power forced upon hira. In defence 
 of the government he could but perform this duty or surrender 
 the existence of the government. No compromise by public 
 servants oould, in this case, be a cure ; not that compromises are 
 not often proper, but that no popular government can long sur- 
 vive a marked precedent, that those who carry an election can 
 only save the government from immediate destruction by giving 
 up the main point upon which the people gave the election. 
 The people themselves and not their servants can safely reverse 
 their own deliberate decisions. 
 
 "As a private citizen, the Executive could not have consented 
 that these institutions shall perish, much less could he in be- 
 trayal of so vast and so sacred a trust as these free people had 
 confided to him. He felt that he had no moral right to shrink, 
 nor even to count the chances of his own life in what might 
 follow. 
 
 " In full view of his great responsibility, he has so far done what 
 he has deemed his duty. You will now, according to your own 
 judgment, perform yours. He sincerely hopes that your view3 
 and your actions may so accord with his as to assure all faith- 
 ful citizens who have been disturbed in their rights of a cer- 
 tain and speedy restoration to them under the Constitution and 
 laws ; and, having thus chosen our cause without guile, and 
 with pure purpose, let us renew our trust in God, and go for- 
 Vard without fear and with manly hearts. 
 
 " Abraham Lincoijj." 
 
LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 117 
 
 A DAY OP FASTING AND PRAYER AP- 
 POINTED. 
 
 Oa the twelfth of August, the following proclamation, 
 «ippointing a day of fasting and prayer, was issued : 
 
 ^^Whereas, A joint committee of both Houses of Congress 
 has waited on the President of the United States, and requested 
 him to ' recommend a day of public humiliation, prayer, and fast- 
 ing, to be observed by the people of the United States with reli- 
 gious solemnities, and the offering of fervent supplications to 
 Almighty God for the safety and welfare of these States, His 
 blessings on their arms, and a speedy restoration of peace.' 
 
 "■And whereas, It is fit and becoming in all people, at all 
 times, to acknowledge and revere the Supreme Government of 
 God ; to bow in humble submission to his chastisements ; to 
 confess and deplore their sins and transgressions, in the full con- 
 viction that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and 
 to pray, with all fervency and contrition, for the pardon of their 
 past ofi'enoes, and for a blessing upon their present and prospec 
 tive action. 
 
 "And whereas, When our own beloved country, once, by the 
 blessing of God, united, prosperous, and happy, is now afflicted 
 with faction and civil war, it is peculiarly fit for us to recognize 
 the hand of God in this terrible visitation, and, in sorrowful re- 
 membrance of our own faults and crimes as a nation, and as in- 
 dividuals, to humble ourselves before Him, and to pray for His 
 mercy — to pray that we may be spared further punishment, 
 though most justly deserved ; that our arms may be blessed and 
 made effectual for the re-establishment of law, order, and peace 
 throughout the wide extent of our country ; and that the inesti- 
 mable boon of civil and religious liberty, earned under Hia 
 guidance and blessing by the labors and sufferings of our fathers, 
 may be restored in all its original excellence ; 
 
 "Therefore I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United 
 States, do appoint the last Thursday in September next as a 
 day of humiliation, prayer and fasting for all the people of the 
 nation. And I do earnestly recommend to all the people, and 
 especially to all ministers and teachers of religion, of all d(!Uomi- 
 natioufl, and to all heads of families, to observe and keep that 
 day, according to their several creeds and modes of worship, in 
 all humility, and with all religious solemnity, to the end that the 
 united prayer of the nation may ascend to the Throne of Grace, 
 and bring down plentiful blessings upon our country. 
 , *' In testimony whei-eof, I have hereunto set my hand, atid 
 caused the seal of the United States to be affixed, this 
 [l. s.] 12th day of August, a. d. 1861, and of the Independ- 
 ence of the United States of America the eighty-sixth. 
 'By the President: "Abraham Lincoln. 
 
 " William H. Sewaed, Secretary of State." 
 
118 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, 
 
 COMMERCIAL INTERCOURSE WITH THE HB- 
 BELLIOUS STATES PROHIBITED. 
 
 Four days later he also promulgated the following : 
 
 "Wliereas, Oc the 15th day of April, the President of the 
 United States, in view of an insurrection atjainst the laws, Con- 
 fititutioo, and Government of the United States, which had 
 broken out within the States of South Carolina, Georgia, Ala- 
 bama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, and in pursu- 
 ance of the provisions of the act entitled an act to provide for 
 calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the Union, sup- 
 press insurrections, and repel invasions, and to repeal the act 
 now in force for that purpose, approved February 28th, 1795, 
 did call forth the militia to suppress said insurrection and cause 
 the laws of the Union to be duly executed — and the insurgents 
 have failed to disperse by the time directed by the President ; 
 and whereas, such insurrection has since broken out and yet 
 exists within the States of Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, 
 and Arkansas ; and whereas, the insurgents in all the said 
 States claim to act under authority thereof, and such claim is 
 not disclaimed or repudiated by the persons exercising the func- 
 tions of government in such State or States, or in the part or 
 parts thereof in which such combinations exist, nor has such 
 insurrection been suppressed by said States, 
 
 " Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the 
 United States, in pursuance of the act of Congress approved 
 July 13th, 1861, do hereby declare that the inhabitants of the 
 said States of Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, 
 Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Florida, except the 
 inhabitants of that part of the State of Virginia lying west of 
 the Alleghany Mountains, and of such other parts of that Stata 
 and the other States hereinbefore named as may maintain a loyal 
 adhesion to the Union and the Constitution, or may be, from 
 time to time occupied and controlled by the forces of the 
 United States engaged in the dispersion of said insurgents, as 
 are in a state of insurrection against the United States, and that 
 all commercial intercourse between the same and the inhabi- 
 tants thereof, with the exception aforesaid, and the citizens of 
 other States and other parts of the United States, is unlawful 
 and will remain unlawful until such insurrection shall cease or 
 has been suppressed ; that all goods and chattels, wares and 
 merchandize, coming from any of the said States, with the ex- 
 ceptions aforesaid, into other parts of the United States, without 
 the special license and permission of the President, through tho 
 Secretary of the Treasury, or proceeding to any of the said 
 States, with the exception aforesaid, by land or water, together 
 with the vessel or vehicle conveying the same or conveying per- 
 
LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABKAHAM LI^COLX. 119 
 
 sous to and from the said States, with the said exceptions, will 
 be forfeited to the United States; and that, from and after fif- 
 teen days from the issuing of this proclamation, all ships and 
 vessels belonging, in whole or in part, to any citizen or inhabi- 
 tant of any of the said States, with the said exceptions, found at 
 sea in any part of the United States, will be forfeited to the 
 United States ; and I hereby enjoin upon all district attorneys, 
 marshals, and officers of the revenue of the military and naval 
 forces of the United States to be vigilant in the execution of the 
 said act, and in the enforcement of the penalties and forfeitures 
 imposed or declared by it, leaving any party who may think him- 
 self aggrieved thereby to his application to the Secretary of the 
 Treasury for the remission of any penalty or forfeiture, which 
 the said Secretary is authorized by law to grant if, in his judg- 
 ment, the special circumstances of any case shall require such 
 a remission. 
 
 " In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my haad, and caused 
 the seal of the United States to be affixed, 
 
 " Done in the city of Washington, this, the 16th day of Au- 
 gust, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and 
 sixty-one, and of the Independence of the United States of 
 America the eighty-sixth. 
 
 " By the President : "Abraham Lincoln. 
 
 " William H. Seward." 
 
 HE MODIFIES AN ORDER OP GENERAL FRE- 
 MONT. 
 Iq the latter part of August, General Fremont declared 
 martial law throughout the State of Missouri, and at the 
 same time ordered that the property of all persons within 
 the limits of his Department who had been disloyal, should 
 be confiscated, and their slaves declared free men, but the 
 President promptly issued an order modifying that clause 
 of the proclamation in relation to the confiscation of prop- 
 erty and the liberation of slaves, so as to conform with, 
 and not transcend the provisions on the same subject con- 
 tained in the Act of Congress approved August Gth, 1861. 
 
 HIS SECOND MESSAGE TO CONGRESS. 
 
 On the 3d of December, 18G1, Congress having convened 
 on the preceding day, the President sent in his Message, a 
 document which was eminently conservative and whicl 
 
120 LirE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 was received with great satisfaction by the loyal men of 
 the country. No general scheme of emancipation was 
 urged, and in alluding to the policy to be adopted to en- 
 sure the suppression of the rebellion, he stated that he 
 had been anxious and careful that the inevitable conflict 
 necessary for that purpose should not degenerate into a 
 violent and remorseless revolutionary struggle. " I have, 
 therefore," he continued, " in every case, thought it proper 
 to keep the integrity of the Union prominent as the pri- 
 mary object of the contest on our part, leaving all ques- 
 tions which are not of vital military importance to the 
 more deliberate action of the Legislature." 
 
 There can never be any difficulty in ascertaining Mr. 
 Lincoln's views upon the exciting and absorbing topics of 
 the day. His messages, proclamations, and correspond- 
 ence all evince the same spirit of independence and deter- 
 mination, while his language is so explicit that there can 
 be no doubt of his meaning. In his letter to Governor 
 Magoffin, of Kentucky, declining to remove the Union 
 troops from that State, and rebuking that official for his 
 indifference to the cause of his country — in the one to Gen- 
 eral Fremont, in reference to the modification of his pro- 
 clamation, and in fact in all his correspondence on matters 
 connected with political movements, his views have been 
 of such a force and exalted character that they could not 
 fail to receive the hearty approbation of his fellow-country- 
 men. 
 
 On the nineteenth of February, 1862, he issued a pro- 
 clamation requesting the people of the United States to 
 assemble on the twenty-second of the same month and 
 celebrate the day by reading the Farewell Address of the 
 " Father of his Country." 
 
 THE PEESIDENT'S MESSAGE RECOMMENDING 
 GRADUAL EMANCIPATION. 
 On the sixth of March, 1862. the President sent into 
 
LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 121 
 
 Congress the following Message, recommending the adop- 
 tion of measures looking to " gradual, aad not sudden" 
 emancipation : 
 
 ''Fellow- Citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives : 
 
 " I recommend the adoption of a joint resolution by your 
 honorable bodies which shall be substantially as follows : 
 
 " 'Resolved, That the United States ought to cooperate with 
 any State which may adopt a gradual abolishment of slavery, 
 giving to such State pecuniary aid to be used by such Stata 
 in its discretion, to compensate for the inconveniences, public 
 and private, produced by such change of system.' 
 
 " If the proposition contained in the resolution does not meet 
 the approval of Congress and the country, there is the end ; but 
 if it does command such approval, I deem it of importance 
 that the States and people immediately interested should be at 
 once distinctly notified of the fact, so that they may begin to 
 consider whether to accept or reject it. The Federal Govern- 
 ment would find its highest interest in such a measure as one of 
 the most efficient means of self-preservation. The leaders of 
 the existing insurrection entertain the hope that the Govern- 
 ment will ultimately be forced to acknowledge the independence 
 of some part of the disaff'ected region, and that all the slave 
 States north of such parts will then say : ' The Union for which 
 we have struggled being already gone, we now choose to go with 
 thesouthein section.' To dejjrive them of this hope, substan- 
 tially ends the rebellion, and the initiation of emancipation com- 
 pletely deprives them of it as to all the States initiating it. 
 
 " The point is not that all the States tolerating slavery would 
 very soon, if at all, initiate emancipation, but that while the 
 oifer is equally made to all, the more northern shall, by such 
 initiation, make it certain to the more southern that in no 
 event will the former ever join the latter in their proposed con- 
 federacy. I say 'initiation,' because, in my judgment, gradual 
 and not sudden emancipation is better for all. In the mere 
 financial or pecuniary view, any member of Congress, with the 
 census tables and the treasury report before him, can readily 
 see for himself how very soon the current expenditures of this 
 war would purchase, at a fair valuation, all the slaves in any 
 named State. 
 
 " Such a proposition on the part of the general Government 
 sets up no claim of a right by Federal authority to interfei'e 
 with slavery within State limits, referring as it does the absolute 
 control of the subject in each case to the State and its people 
 immediately interested. It is proposed as a matter of perfectly 
 free choice with them. 
 
 ' In 'he annual message last December I thought fit to say ' 
 
122 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 •The Union must be preserved, and hence all indispensable 
 means must be employed.' I said this not hastily, but deliber- 
 ately. War has been, and continues to be an indispensabla 
 means to this end. A practical re-ackuowlcdgment of the 
 •:!atiional authority would render the war unnecessary, and it 
 would at once cease. If, however, resistance continues, the war 
 must also continue, and it is impossible to foresee all the inci- 
 dents which may attend, and all the ruin which may follow it. 
 Such as may seem indispensable, or may obviously promis? 
 great efiBciency toward ending the struggle, must and will come. 
 The proposition now made is an ofTer only, and I hope it maj 
 be esteemed no offence to ask whether the pecuniary considera 
 lion tendered would not be of more value to the States and 
 private persons concerned than are the institution and property 
 in it, in the present aspect of affairs. While it is true that tho 
 adoption of the proposed resolution would be merely initiatory, 
 and not within itself a practical measure, it is recommended in 
 the hope that it would soon lead to important results. In full 
 view of my great responsibility to my God and to my country, 
 I earnestly beg the attention of Congress and the people to the 
 Bubiect. "Abraham Lincoln." 
 
 This important recommendation was received with the 
 most unbounded satisfaction in all sections of the great 
 North and West, and the leading loyal journals vied with 
 each other in the laudatory notices bestowed upon its illus- 
 trious author. The English press favorable to the preser- 
 vation of the Union, were equally complimentary, and 
 pronounced it a fair, moderate, and magnanimous policy, 
 greatly in contrast with that adopted by the rebel authori- 
 ties. 
 
 ASSUMES ACTIVE COMMAND OP THE ARMY 
 AND NAVY. 
 On the eleventh of March, 1862, the President gave an 
 additional evidence of his independence and fearlessness 
 by promulgating, for the information of the service and 
 the country, three important military orders, assuming tho 
 active duties of Commander-in-Chief of the Army and 
 Navy of the United States ; ordering a general and com- 
 bined movement of the land and naval forces ; requiring 
 the Army of the Potomac to be organized into Corps ; con- 
 
LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 128 
 
 fining General McClellan to the command of the Depart- 
 ment of the Potomac ; and organizing the Department of 
 the Mississippi and the Mountain Department. 
 
 THANKSGIVING FOR SIGNAL VICTORIES. 
 
 The triumphant success of our arms in the South and 
 West during the early spring months of that year of con- 
 flict and carnage, prompted Mr. Lincoln to call upon the 
 patriots of the nation to offer up their thanks to the Al- 
 mighty for his manifold kindnesses, and for the inestimable 
 blessings he bad showered upon them in their hour of 
 need. The recommendation was scrupulously observed, 
 and from almost every place of public worship arose upon 
 the following Sabbath songs of thanksgiving, mingled with 
 invocations for a continuance of the Divine guidance. 
 
 SLAVERY ABOLISHED IN THE DISTRICT OP 
 COLUMBIA. 
 
 On the sixteenth of April, 1862, Mr. Lincoln consum- 
 mated an act which had for many years been one of his 
 most favorite projects, by sending into Congress the fol- 
 lowing Message : 
 
 ^^ Fellow- Citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives : 
 
 " The act entitled 'An act for the release of certain persona 
 held to service or labor in the District of Columbia,' has this 
 day been approved and signed. 
 
 " I have never doubted the constitutional authority of Con- 
 gress to abolish slavery in this District, and I have ever desired 
 to see the national capital freed from the institution in some 
 satisfactory way. Hence there has never been in my mind any 
 question upon the subject except the one of expediency, arising 
 in view of all the circumstances. If there be matters witliin 
 and about this act, which might have taken a course or shape 
 more satisfactory to my judgment, I do not attempt to specify 
 them. I am gratified that the two principles of compensation 
 and colonization are both recognized and practically applied in 
 the act. 
 
 "In the matter of compensation, it is provided that claims 
 may be presented within ninety days from the passage of the 
 act, but uot thereafter, and there is no saving for minors, /emmes 
 
124 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 coverts, insane, or absent persons. I presume this is an omis- 
 bIou by mere oversight, and I recommend that it be supplied by 
 an amendatory or supplemental act. "Abraham Lincoln." 
 
 RE-OPENING OF SOUTHERN PORTS. 
 
 Duviag the month of Maj, 18G2, two important proclama- 
 tions were published. — one on the twelfth, declaring the ports 
 of Beaufort, Port Royal, and New Orleans open for trade ; 
 and the second, a week later, repudiating an emancipation 
 order of Major-General Hunter. This last document is 
 too important a part of the history of the rebellion to be 
 omitted here, and we therefore give it in full. It is as 
 follows : 
 
 " Whereas, There appears in the public prints what purports 
 to be a proclamation of Major-Geueral Hunter, in the words and 
 figures following, to wit : 
 
 " ' Head-quarters, Department of the South, 
 " ' Hilton Head, S. C, May Uh, 1862. 
 "'General Orders No. 11. 
 
 " ' The three States of Georgia, Florida, and South Carolinii, 
 comprising the Military Department of the South, having delib- 
 erately declared themselves uo longer under the protection of 
 the United States of America, and having taken up arms against 
 the said United States, it becomes a military necessity to declare 
 them under martial law. This was accoi-diugly done on the 
 twenty-fifth day of April, 18G'2. Slavery and martial law in a 
 free country are altogether incompatible. The- persons in these 
 three States, Georgia, Florida, and Soulli Carolina, heretofore 
 held as slaves, are therefore declared forever free. 
 
 "'David Hunter, Major-General Commanding. 
 
 '"Official: 
 
 " ' Ed. W. Smith, Acting Assistant Adjutant-General.' 
 
 '^And wherea,s, Tlie same is producing some excitement and 
 misunderstanding, 
 
 "■'Dxerefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United 
 States, proclaim and declare that the government of the United 
 States had no knowledge or belief of an intention, ou the part of 
 General Hunter, to issue such a proclamation, nor has it yet any 
 authentic information that the document is genuine ; and further, 
 that neither General Hunter nor any other commander or persoii 
 Las been authorized by the government of the United States to 
 make proclamation declaring the slaves of any State free, and 
 that the supposed proclamation now in question, whether 
 genuine or false, is altogether void, so far as respects euch 
 dcclaruViou, 
 
LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 125 
 
 " I further make known, that whether it be competent for me 
 as commander-in-chief of the army and navy to declare tlia 
 slaves of any State or States free, and whether at any time, or 
 in any case, it shall have become a necessity indispensable to the 
 maintenance of the government to exercise such supposed power, 
 are questions which, under my respousibility, I reserve to myself, 
 and which I cannot feel justified in leaving to the decision of 
 commanders in the field. These are totally different questions 
 from those of police regulations in armies and camps. 
 
 " On the sixth day of March last, by a special message, I 
 recommended to Congress the adoption of a joint resolution, to 
 be substantially as follows : 
 
 " 'Resolved, That the United States ought to co-operate with 
 any State which may adopt a gradual abolishment of slavery, 
 giving to such State in its discretion to compensate for the in- 
 conveniences, public and private, produced by such change of 
 system.' 
 
 "The resolution, in the language above quoted, was adopted 
 by large majorities in both branches of Congress, and now stands 
 an authentic, definite and solemn proposal of the nation to the 
 States and people most immediately interested in the subject 
 matter. To the people of these States I now earnestly appeal, 
 1 do not argue ; I beseech you to make the arguments for your- 
 selves. You cannot, if you would, be blind to the signs of the 
 times. I beg of you a calm and enlarged consideration of them, 
 ranging, if it may be, far above personal and partisan politics. 
 This proposal makes common cause for a common object, cast- 
 ing no reproaches upon any. It acts not the Pharisee. The 
 change it contemplates would come gently as the dews of 
 Heaven, not rending or wrecking any thing. Will you not em- 
 brace it? So much good has not been done by one effort in all 
 past time, as in the Providence of God it is now your high 
 privilege to do. May the vast future not have to lament that 
 you have neglected it. 
 
 " In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused 
 the seal of the United States to be afBxed. 
 
 " Done at the City of Washington, this nineteenth day of 
 May, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and 
 Bixty-two, and of the Independence of the United States the 
 eighty-sixth. 
 
 " By the President : "Abraham Lincoln. 
 
 " Wm. H. Seward, Secretary of Stated 
 
 THE PRESIDENT'S CONFERENCE WITH THE 
 LOYAL GOVERNORS— HIS INTERVIEW WITH 
 THE BORDER CONGRESSMEN. 
 
 Ou the first of July, 1862, the President, iu ao- 
 cordance with the Act for the collection of direct taxes in 
 
126 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 the insurrectionary districts, issued a proclamation de- 
 claring in what States and in what counties of Virginia 
 insurrection existed ; and on the same day addressed a 
 letter to the Governors of the loyal States, in reply to one 
 received from them, asking that for the purpose of follow- 
 ing up recent signal successes by measures which would 
 ensure the speedy restoration of the Union, a sufficient 
 number of men from each State to fill up existing regi 
 ments and to form new organizations, might be called for. 
 Mr. Lincoln fully concurred in the views of the Executives 
 and expressed his intention to call for an additional force 
 of three hundred thousand men. 
 
 On the twelfth of July, an interesting interview took 
 place at the White House, the Senators and Representa- 
 tives of the Border States having assembled there by in- 
 vitation of the President, who wished to converse with 
 them upon the important topic of gradual emancipation. 
 During an extended conversation, he expressed his views 
 clearly and explicitly, requesting their calm consideration 
 of the subject, and charging them to commend his sug- 
 gestions to their constituents, and to prevent all doubt of 
 his meaning, read to tiiem the following appeal : 
 
 ^'Gentlemen: After the adjournment of Congress, now near, I 
 shall have no opportunity of seeing you for several months. 
 Believing that you of the border States hold more power for 
 good than any other equal number of members, I feel it a duty, 
 which I cannot justifiably waive, to make this appeal to you. 
 
 " I intend no reproach or complaint when I assure you that, 
 in my opinion, if you all had voted for the resolution in the gradual 
 emancipation message of. last March, the war would now be sul)- 
 stantially ended. And the plan therein proposed is yet one of 
 fche most potent and swift means of ending it. Let the States 
 which are in rebellion see definitely and certainly that, in no 
 event, will the States you represent ever join their proposed 
 confederacy, and they cannot much longer maintain the contest. 
 But you cannot divest them of their hope to ultimately have you 
 with them so long as you show a determination to perpetuate the 
 institutions within your own States. Beat them at elections, as 
 you have overwhelmingly done, and, nothing daunted, they still 
 claim you as their own. You and 1 know what tlie lever of their 
 
LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 127 
 
 power is. Break that lever before their faces, and they can 
 shake you no more forever. 
 
 " Most of you have treated me with kindness and consi Jeratiouj 
 and I trust you will not now think I improperly touch what ia 
 exclusively your own, when, for the sake of the whole country, 
 I ask, ' Can you, for your States, do better than to take th« 
 course I urge?' Discarding pundi'lio and maxims adapted to 
 more manageable times, and looking only to the unprecedeutedly 
 Btern facts of our case, can you do better in any possible event ? 
 You prefer that the constitutional relation of the States to the 
 nation shall be practically restored without disturbance of the 
 institution ; and, if this were done, my whole duty, in this re- 
 spect, under the Constitution and my oath of office, would be 
 performed. But it is not done, and we are trying to accomplish 
 it by war. The incidents of the war cannot be avoided. If the 
 war continues long, as it must if the object be not sooner at- 
 tained, the institution in your States will be extinguished by 
 mere friction and abrasion — by the mere incidents of the wa,r. 
 It will be gone, and you will have nothing valuable in lieu of it. 
 Much of its value is gone already. How much better for you 
 and for your people to take the step which at once shortens the 
 war, and secures substantial compensation for that which is sure 
 to be wholly lost in any other event I How much better to thus 
 save the money which else we sink forever in the war ! How 
 much better to do it while we can, lest the war, ere long, rea- 
 der us pecuniarily unable to do it ! How much better for you, aa 
 seller, and the nation, as buyer, to sell out and buy out that without 
 which the war could never have been, than to sink both the thing 
 to be sold and the price of it in cutting one another's throats. 
 '' I do not speak of emancipation at once, but of a decision at 
 once to emancipate gradually. Room in South America for 
 colonization can be obtained cheaply and in abundance ; and, 
 when numbers shall be large enough to be company and en- 
 couragement for one another, the freed people will not be so 
 reluctant to go. 
 
 " I am pressed with a difficulty not yet mentioned — one which 
 threatens division among those who, united, are none too strong. 
 An instance of it is known to you. General Hunter is an honest 
 man. He was, and I hope still is, my friend. I valued him 
 none the less for his agreeing with me in the general wish that 
 ail men everywhere could be freed. He proclaimed all men free 
 within certain States, and I repudiated the proclamation. He 
 expected more good and less harm from the measure than I could 
 believe would follow. Yet, in repudiating it, I gave dissatisfac- 
 tion, if not offence, to many whose support the country cannot 
 afford to lose. And this is not the end of it. The pressure in 
 this direction is still upon me, and is increasing. By conceding 
 what I now ask, you can relieve me, and, much more, can relievaf 
 me country in this important point. 
 
IlS life and SEP.YICE5 OF AEKAHAM LI>-COL?r 
 
 " Upon these considerations I have again begged your attei 
 tion to the message of March last. Before leaving the capital 
 coiisider and discnss it among yourselves. Yoa are patriots aac 
 Etate^men, and, as tocb, I pray you consider this proposition, 
 and. at the least, commend it to the consideration of yoar Statea 
 aDd j>eople. As you would perpetuate popular government for 
 the best people in the world. I beseech you that you do in nowise 
 omit this. Our common country is in great peril, demandii.g 
 the loftiest views and boldest action to bring a speedy relief. 
 Onje relieved, its form of government is saved to the world, its 
 beloved history and cherished memories are vindicated, and its 
 happy future fully assured and rendered inconceivably grand 
 To you, more than to any others, the privilege is given to assme 
 that happiness and swell that grandeur, and to link your own 
 names therewith forever." 
 
 INSTBTTCTIOKS TO MILITARY AND NAVAL 
 
 COMI-IANDEES. 
 
 On the twentv-second of Julj, he issued the following 
 order : 
 
 " Was. Depaetkest, "VTashtsgtox, Juii/ 22d, 1862. 
 
 "First. Ordered that military commanders within the Statea 
 of Virginia, North Carolina. Georgia. Florida, Alabama, Mis- 
 sissippi, Louisiana, Texas, and Arkansas, in an ordinary manner 
 seize and use any property, real or personal, which may be 
 necessarv or convenient for their several commands, for sup- 
 plies, or for other military purposes ; and that while property 
 nay be destroyed for proper military objects, none shall be de- 
 Etroyed in wantonness or malice. 
 
 '' Second. That military and naval commandere shall employ 
 as laborers, within and from said States, so many persons of 
 African descent as can be advantageously used for military or 
 naval purposes, giving them reasonable wages for their labor. 
 
 •• Third. That, as to both pro{>erty, and persons of African 
 descent, accounts shall be kept sufficiently aj?curate and in de- 
 tail to show quantities and amounts, and from whom both prop- 
 erty and such pereons shall have come, as a basis upon which 
 compensation can be made in proper cases ; and the several de- 
 partments of this government shall attend to and perform their 
 appropriate parts toward the execution of the.ce orders. 
 
 " By order of the President. 
 
 ' Edwi.v M. Sta.vtox, 
 
 "Secretary of MVar." 
 
 And on the twenty-fifth of July, by proclamation, be 
 warned all persons to cease participating in aiding, counte- 
 BAncing, or abetting the rebellion, and to return to 'heir 
 
LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 129 
 
 allegiance under penalty of the forfeitures and seizures 
 provided by an Act " to suppress insurrection, to punish 
 treason and rebellion, to seize and confiscate the property 
 of rebels, and for other purposes,"' approved on the seven- 
 teenth of July, 1S62. 
 
 A DEAFT FOE THREE HUNDRED THOUSAND 
 MEN ORDERED. 
 
 On the fourth of August, 1862, the following order for 
 a draft was issued : 
 
 '• Ordered : First, that a draft of three hundred thousand mili- 
 tia be immediately called into the service of the United States, 
 to serve for nine months, unless sooner di;icharged. The Secre- 
 tary of War will assign the quotas to the States and establish 
 regulations for the draft. 
 
 " Second, that if any State shall not. by the fifteenth of 
 August, furnish its quota of the additional three hundred thou- 
 saud volunteers authorized by law. the deficiency of volunteerg 
 in that State will also be made up by a special draft from the 
 militia. The Secretary of War will establish regulations foi 
 this purpose. 
 
 " Third, regulations will be prepared by the War Department 
 and presented to the President, with the object of securing the 
 promotion of officers of the army and volunteers for meritorious 
 and distinguished services, and cf proventiug the nomination and 
 appointment in the military service of incompetent or uu- 
 worthy officers. 
 
 " The regulations will also provide for ridding the service of 
 Buch incompetent persons as now hold commissions. 
 
 "By order of the President. 
 
 " Edwix M. Staxtox, 
 
 '■Secretari/ of War.' 
 
 THE PRESIDENT SPEAKS AT A WAR 
 
 MEETING. 
 
 On the sixth of August, 1862, a large and enthusi- 
 ajrtic Union meeting was held in Washington, at which a 
 series of patriotic resolutions was adopted, and numerous 
 eloquent speeches delivered, among others the following 
 characteristic one by the Chief Magistrate of the nation : 
 
 '■ Fell etc -citize-ns: I believe there is no precedent for my ap- 
 pearing before you on this occasion, [appUiuse,] but it is alao 
 
130 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LI.NCOLX. 
 
 tiue that there is no precedent for your being here yourselves, 
 [appUxuso and laughter,] and I ofiTer, in justification of myself 
 and of you, that, upon examination, 1 have found nothing in the 
 Constitution against it. [Renewed applause.] I, however, have 
 an impression that there are younger gentlemen who will enter- 
 tain you better, [voices — 'No, no 1 none can do better than 
 yourself. Go on !'] and better address your understanding than 
 1 will or could, and therefo e I propose but to detain you a mo- 
 ment longer. [Cries — 'Co vi I Tar and feather the rebels!'] 
 
 *' I am very little inclined on any occasion to say any thing 
 unless 1 hope to produce some good by it. [A voice — ' You do 
 that; go on.'] The only thing I think of just now not likely to 
 be better said by some one else is a matter in which we have 
 heard some other persons blamed for what I did myself. 
 [Voices — ' What is it ?'] There has been a very wide-spread at- 
 tempt to have a quarrel between General McCiellau and the 
 Secretary of War. Now, I occupy a position that enables me 
 to observe, at leapt these two gentlemen are not nearly so deep 
 in the quarrel as some pretending to be their friends. [Cries of 
 'Good.'] General McClellan's attitude is such that, in the verv 
 selfishness of his nature, he cannot but wish to be successful, 
 and I hope ne will — and the Secretary of War is in precisely the 
 same situation. If the military commanders in the field cannot 
 be successful, not only the Secretary of War, but myself, for the 
 time being the master of them both, cannot be but failures. 
 [Laughter and applause.] I know General McClellan wishes to 
 be successful, and I know he does not wish it any more than the 
 Secretary of War for him, and both of them together no more 
 than I wish it. [Applause and cries of ' Good.'] Sometimes 
 we have a dispute about how many men General McClellan has 
 had, and those who would disparage him say that he has had a 
 very large number, and those who would disparage the Secretary 
 of War insist that General McClellan has had a very small 
 number. The basis for this is, there is always a wide difference, 
 and on this occasion perhaps a wider one, between the grand 
 total on McClellan's rolls and the men actually fit for duty ; and 
 those who would dis,./arage him talk of the grand total on paper, 
 and those who would disparage the Secretary of War talk of 
 those at present fit for duty. General McClellan has sometimes 
 asked for things that the Secretary of War did not give him. 
 General McClellan is not to blame for asking what he wanted and 
 needed, and the Secretary of War is not to blame for not giving 
 when he had none to give. [Applause, laughter, and cries of 
 •GooJ, good.'] And I say here, as far as 1 know, the Secretary 
 of War has withheld no one thing at any time in my power to 
 give him. [Wild applause, and a voice—' Give him enough 
 now!'] I have no accusation against him. I believe he is » 
 brave and able man, [applause.] and I stand here, as justice re- 
 quires me to do, to take upon myself what has been charged OQ 
 the Secretary of War, as withholding from hioa. 
 
LIFE AND SERVICKS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, loi 
 
 *' I have talked longer than I expected to, [cries of ' No, no- 
 go on,'] and now I avail myself of ray privilege of saying no 
 more." 
 
 THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATIONS OP 
 SEPTEMBER, 1862, AND JANUARY, 1863. 
 
 On the twenty-second of September, 1862, Mr. Lincoln 
 issued one of the two most important proclamations ever 
 / enned by a President of the United States : that which 
 mnounced to the negroes held as slaves in the rebellious 
 States that on and after the first day of the new year, they 
 should be forever released from bondage. This great docu 
 ment, which was read with joy by the loyal residents of the 
 North, and which was a source of such infinite happiness 
 to the unfortunate class of beings who were to be more 
 particularly afi"ected by its provisions, was as follows : 
 
 " I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States of 
 America, and Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy 
 thereof, do hereby proclaim and declare that hereafter as here- 
 tofore the war will be prosecuted for the object of practically 
 restoring the constitutional relation between the United States 
 and the people thereof in those States in which that relation is, 
 or may be, suspended or disturbed ; that it is my purpose upon 
 the next meeting of Congress to again recommend the adoption 
 of a practical measure tendering pecuniary aid to the free ac- 
 ceptance or rejection of all the slave States, so-called, the peo- 
 ple whereof may not then be in rebellion against the United 
 States, and which States may then have voluntarily adopted, or 
 thereafter may voluntarily adopt, the immediate or gradual 
 abolishment of slavery within their respective limits, and that 
 the effort to colonize persons of African descent, with their con- 
 sent, upon the continent or elsewhere, with the previously ob- 
 tained consent of the government existing, there, will be con- 
 tinued ; that on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord 
 one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as 
 Blaves within any State, or any designated part of a State, the 
 people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United 
 States, shall be then, thenceforward and forever, free, and the 
 executive govetoment of the United States, including the 
 military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and main- 
 tain the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to 
 repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may 
 make for their actual freedom ; that the Executive will, on the first 
 
132 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABEAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 day of January aforesaid, by proclamation, designate the Statea 
 and parts of States, if any, in which the people thereof respec- 
 tively shall then be in rebellion against the United States; and 
 the fact that any State, or the people thereof, shall on that day 
 be in good faith represented in the Congress of the United 
 States by members chosen thereto, at elections wherein a ma- 
 jority of the qualified voters of such Stat/^ shall have partici- 
 pated, shall, ir. the absence of strong countervailing testimony, 
 be deemed conclusive evidenre that such State and the people 
 thereof have not been in rebellion against the United States. 
 
 " That attention is hereby called to an act of Congress en- 
 titled, 'An act to make an additional article of war,' approved 
 March 13, 1862, and which act is in the words and figures fol- 
 lowing : 
 
 " 'Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Hepresentatives of 
 the United States of Avierica, in Congress assembled. That here- 
 after the following shall be promulgated as an additional article 
 of war for the government of the army of the United States, and 
 shall be observed and obeyed as such. 
 
 " ' Article — . All officers or persons of the military or naval 
 service of the United States are prohibited from employing any 
 of the forces under their respective commands for the purpose 
 of returning fugitives from service or labor who may have 
 escaped from any persons to whom such service or labor is 
 claimed to be due, and any officer who shall be found guilty by 
 a court-martial of violating this article, shall be dismissed from 
 the service. 
 
 " ' Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That tliis act. shall take 
 effect from and after its passage.' 
 
 •' Also to the ninth and tenth sections of an act entitled, ' An 
 act to suppress insurrection, to punish treason and rebellion, to 
 rieize and confiscate property of rebels, and for other purposes,' 
 approved July 17, 1862, aud which sections are in the words 
 and figures following: 
 
 '"Sec. 9. And belt further enacted, That all slaves of per- 
 sons who shall hereafter be engaged in rebellion against the 
 government of the United States, or who shall in any way give 
 aid or comfort thereto, escaping from such persons and taking 
 refuge within the lines of the army ; and all slaves captured 
 from such persons or deserted by them, and coming under the 
 control of the government of the United States, and all slaves of 
 such pei'sons found on (or being within) any place occupied by 
 rebel forces and afterwards occupied by the forces of the United 
 States, shall be deemed captives of war, and shall be forever 
 free of their servitude and not again held as slaves. 
 
 " ' Sec. 10. And be it further enacted. That no slave escaping 
 into any State, Territory, or the District of Columbia, from any 
 of the States, shall be delivered up, or in any way impeded or 
 hindered of his liberty, except for crime, or some offence against 
 
LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 133 
 
 the laws, unless the person claiming said fugitive shall first maka 
 oath that the person to whom the labor or service of such fugi- 
 tive is alleged to be due, is his lawful owner, and has not aeoQ 
 in arras against the United States in the present rebellion, nor 
 in any way given aid and comfort thereto ; and no person en- 
 gaged in the military or naval service of the United States 
 shall, under any pretence whatever, assume to decide on the 
 validity of the claim of any person to the service or labor of any 
 other person, or surrender up any such person to the claimant, 
 on pain of being dismissed from the service.' 
 
 " And I do hereby enjoin upon, and order all persons engaged 
 in the military and naval service of the United States to ob- 
 serve, obey and enforce within their respective spheres of ser- 
 vice the act and sections above recited. 
 
 " And the executive will in due time recommend that all citi- 
 zens of the United States who shall have remained loyal thereto 
 throughout the rebellion, shall (upon the restoration of the con- 
 stitutional relation between the United States and their respec- 
 tive States and people, if the relation shall have been suspended 
 or disturbed) be compensated for all losses by acts of the United 
 States, including the loss of slaves. 
 
 " In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused 
 the seal of the United States to be affixed. 
 
 " Done at the city of Washington, this twenty-second day of 
 September, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred 
 and sixty-two, and of the Independence of the United States 
 the eighty-seventh. 
 
 " By the President : " Abraham Lincoln. 
 
 " Wm. H. Seward, Secretary of State." 
 Such a bold movement was necessarily distasteful to 
 the traitors, and while the Southern journals pronounced 
 it to be a bid for the slaves to rise in insurrection, a bid 
 which none but a barbarian would devise, it was denounced 
 in the Richmond Congress, and a resolution was there 
 offered, exhorting the people to slay every Union soldier 
 and raider found within their borders, and offering a reward 
 to every negro, who would, after the first of January, 1863, 
 kill a Unionist. 
 
 The other important proclamation was issued on the 
 first of January, 1863, and was worded as follows : 
 
 "Whereas, on the twenty-second day of September, in 
 year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two. a 
 proclamation was issued by the President of the United States 
 eontaining among other things the following, to wit: 
 
134- LIFE AND SERVICEa OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN-. 
 
 " That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord 
 one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as 
 slaves within any State, or designated part of a State, the 
 people whereof shall then be m rebellion against the United 
 States, shall be then, thenceforth and forever free, and the Ex- 
 ecutive Government of the United States, including the military 
 and naval authorities thereof, will recognize and maintain the 
 freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress 
 such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for 
 their actual freedom. 
 
 " That the Executive will, on the first day of January afore- 
 said, by proclamation, designate the States and parts of States, 
 if any, in which the people therein respectively shall then be in 
 rebellion against the United States, and the fact that any State 
 or the people thereof, shall on that day be in good faith repre- 
 sented in the Congress of the United States by members chosen 
 thereto, at elections wherein a majority of the qualified voters 
 of such States shall have participated, shall, in the absence of 
 strong countervailing testimony, be deemed conclusive evidence 
 that such State and the people thereof are not then in rebellion 
 against the United States. 
 
 " Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the 
 United States, by virtue of the power in me vested as Com- 
 mander-in-chief of the Army and Navy of the United States iu 
 time of actual armed rebellion against the authority and Gov 
 ernmcnt of the United States, and as a fit ati.d necessary war 
 measure for suppressing said rebellion, do, on this first day of 
 January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred 
 and sixty-three, and in accordance with my purpose so to do, 
 publicly proclaimed for the full period of one hundred days 
 from the day of the first above-mentioned order, and designate, 
 as tlie States and parts of States wherein the people thereof 
 respectively are this day in rebellion against the United States, 
 the following to wit: Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, except the 
 parishes of St. Bernard, Plaquemines, Jefferson, St. John, St. 
 Charles, St. James, Ascension, Assumption, Terre Bonne, La- 
 fourche, St. Mary, St. Martin, and Orleans, including the City 
 of New Orleans. Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, 
 South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia, except the forty- 
 eight counties designated as West Virginia, and also the 
 counties of Berkeley, Accomac, Northampton, Elizabeth City, 
 York, Princess Ann, and Norfolk, including the cities of Nor- 
 folk and Portsmouth, and which excepted parts are, for the 
 present, left precisely as if this proclamation were not issued. 
 
 "And by virtue of the power and for the purpose aforesaid, I 
 do order and declare that all persons held as slaves within said 
 designated States and parts of States are, and henceforward 
 shall be free ; and that the Executive Government of the 
 United States, including the Military and Naval authoritica 
 
LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 135 
 
 thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of said 
 persons. 
 
 "And I hereby enjoin upon the people so declared to be free, 
 to abstain from all violence, unless in necessary self-defence, and I 
 recommend to them, that in all cases, when allowed, they labor 
 faithfully for reasonable wages. 
 
 "And I further declare and make known that such persons of 
 suitable condition will be received into the armed service of 
 the United States to garrison forts, positions, stations, and 
 other places, and to man vessels of all sorts in said service. 
 
 "And upon this, sincerely believed to be an act of justice, 
 warranted by the Constitution, upon military necessity, I invoke 
 the considerate judgment of mankind and the gracious favor 
 of Almighty God. 
 
 "In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused 
 the seal of the United States to be affixed. 
 
 "Done at the City of Washington, this first day of 
 r 1 January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight 
 '- * 'J hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of 
 the United States of America the eighty-seventh, 
 "By the President : "Abraham Lincoln. 
 
 " William H. Seward, Secretary of State." 
 
 SUSPENSION OP THE WRIT OF HABEAS 
 CORPUS. 
 
 On the twenty-fourth of September, 18G2, two dajs 
 after the promulgation of the renowned Emancipation Proc- 
 lamation, the following order was published : 
 
 " Whereas, It has become necessary to call into service, not 
 only volunteers, but also portions of the militia of the State by 
 draft, in order to suppress the insurrection existing in the United 
 States, and disloyal persons are not adequately restrained by 
 the ordinary processes of law from hindering this measure, and 
 from giving aid and comfort in various ways to the insurrection : 
 
 " Now, therefore, be it ordered : 
 
 " First. That during the existing insurrection, and as a ne- 
 cessary measure for suppressing the same, all rebels and insur- 
 gents, their aiders and abettors, within the United States, and 
 all persons discouraging volunteer enlistments, resisting militia 
 drafts, or guilty of any disloyal practice affording aid and com- 
 fort to the rebels against the authority of the United States, 
 shall be subject to martial law, and liable to trial and punish- 
 ment by courts-martial or military commit;sions. 
 
 " Tliird. Tliat tlie writ of habeas corpus is suspended in re- 
 spect to all ])ersons arrested, or who are now, or hereafter du- 
 ring the rebellion shall be imprisoned in any fort, camp, arsenal, 
 militftry prison, or other place of confiuement, by any military 
 
136 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 authority or by the sentence of any court-martial or military 
 commission. 
 
 " In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused 
 the seal of the United States to be aflixed. 
 
 " Done at the City of Washington, this twenty-fourth day of 
 September, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred 
 and sixty-two, and of the Independence of the United States 
 the eighty-seventh. 
 
 " By the President, " Abraham Lincoln, 
 
 " Wm, H. Seward, Secretary of State." 
 
 The suspension of the Writ of Habeas Corpus was 
 naturally obnoxious to Northern sympathizers with trea- 
 son, and for some time their newspaper organs were daily 
 filled with editorial and other articles, teeming with in- 
 vidious criticism and abuse. The act placed more power 
 in the hands of the President than was acceptable to men 
 who, by their voice and pen, if not by their pecuniary 
 means, were aiding and abetting the enemies of the country, 
 aad as they were not aware what moment they might be 
 an'ested and imprisoned for their despicable crimes, in 
 their regard for their personal safety, they forgot their 
 prudence, and abused the Executive. The beneficial ef- 
 fects of the order were not over-estimated by Mr. Lincoln, 
 and with its promulgation almost entirely ceased the in- 
 teference with enlistments, which had too often before that 
 date delayed the organization of regiments in some of the 
 loyal States. 
 
 THE SABBATH TO BE OBSERVED. 
 
 On the sixteenth of November, 18C2, the following 
 order was issued to the soldiers and sailors of the Union : 
 
 " The President, Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy, 
 desires and enjoins the orderly observance of the Sabbath by 
 the officers and" men in the military and naval service. The im- 
 portance for man and beast of the prescribed weekly rest, the 
 sacred rights of Christian soldiers and sailors, a becoming def(;r- 
 ence to the best sentiment of a Christian people, and a due 
 regard for the Divine will, demand that Sunday labor in the 
 Army and Navy be reduced to the measure of strict necessity. 
 
LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 137 
 
 " The discipline and character of the National forces shoula 
 aot suffer, nor the cause they defend be imperilled, by the pro- 
 fanation of the day or name of the Most High. 'At this time of 
 public distress' adopting the words of Washington in 1776, 
 ' meu may find enough to do in the service of God and their 
 country without abandoning themselves to vice and immorality.' 
 The first general order issued by the Father of his Country 
 after the Declaration of Independence indicates the spirit iu 
 which our institutions were founded and should ever be defended : 
 * The General hopes and trusts that every officer and niau will 
 endeavor to live and act as becomes a Christian soldier defend- 
 ing the dearest rights and liberties of his country.' 
 
 "Abraham Lincoln." 
 
 HIS ANNUAL MESSAGE.— IMPORTANT RECOM- 
 MENDATIONS TO CONGRESS. 
 
 On the first of December, 1862, Mr. Lincoln sent in to 
 Congress his annual message ; giving a satisfactory resumd 
 of the events of the previous twelve months ; calling the 
 attention of the Senators and Representatives to important 
 matters which should receive their notice ; recommending 
 the organization of national banking associations, under 
 the hope and belief that they Avould be the means of pro- 
 moting the early resumption of specie payments ; re-im- 
 pressed upon them the importance of his plan of " compen- 
 sated emancipation;" repeated at length his views upon 
 the slavery question, and recommended the adoption of 
 the following resolutions and articles amendatory to the 
 Constitution : 
 
 "Resolved, By the Senate and House of Representatives of 
 the United States of America in Congress assembled, two-thirds 
 of both houses concurring, that the following articles be pro- 
 posed to the Legislatures or Conventions of the several States, 
 as amendments to the Constitution of the United States, all oi 
 any oI which articles, when ratified by three-fourths of the said 
 I-ogislatures or Conventions to be valid as part or parts of the 
 said Constitution, namely : 
 
 "Article — . Every State wherein slavery now exists, which 
 shall abolish the same therein at any time or times before the 
 first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand nine 
 hundred, shall receive compensation from the United States aa 
 follows, to wit : 
 
138 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 " The President of the United States shall deliver to every 
 euch State, bonds of the United States, bearing interest at the 
 
 rate of , for each slave shown to have been therein, by the 
 
 eighth census of the United States ; said bonds to be delivered 
 to such State by instalments, or in one parcel at the completion 
 of the abolishment, according as the same shall have been 
 gradual or at one time within such State ; and interest shall 
 bf gin to run upon any such bond only from the proper time of its 
 delivery as aforesaid, and afterward. Any State having received 
 bonds as aforesaid, and afterward introducing or tolerating 
 slavery therein, shall refund to the United States the bonds so 
 received, or the value thereof, and all interest paid thereon. 
 
 "Article — . All slaves who shall have enjoyed actual free- 
 dom, by the chances of the war at any time, before the end of 
 the rebellion, shall be forever free ; but all owners of such, who 
 shall not have been disloyal, shall be compensated for them at 
 the same rates as is provided for States adopting abolishment 
 of slavery—but in such a way that no slave shall be twice 
 accounted for. 
 
 "Article — . Congress may appropriate money, and otherwise 
 provide for colonizing free colored persons with their own con- 
 sent, at any place or places without the United States." 
 
 The message and its recommendations were received 
 with the same eclat which has attended all the official 
 docmnents penned by the illustrious statesman. The 
 proclamation of September had awakened the people of 
 the Union to the vast advantages to be derived from the 
 adoption of his views and suggestions on every thing re- 
 lating to slavery, and as the day on which the unfortunate 
 blacks were to be rescued from a life of degradation ap- 
 proached, thousands, who had hitherto protested against 
 interference with the " peculiar institution," united with 
 their old political opponents, and awaited anxiously the 
 hour when the order of emancipation was to go into effect. 
 Residents of foreign lands were no less eager for the time 
 to arrive when the Federal Government should strike off 
 the fetters of the slave, and among other complimentary 
 addresses sent to the President, was one from Manchester, 
 England, from which we make the following extracts : 
 
 "As citizfins of Manchester, assembled at the Free-Trade 
 Hall, we beg to express our fraternal sentiments toward you and 
 
LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN". 13iJ 
 
 yonr country. "We rejoice in your greatness as an outgrowth 
 of England, whose blood and language you slaare, whose orderly 
 Rud legal freedom you have applied to new circumstances, over 
 a region immeasurably greater than our own. We honor your 
 Free States, as a singularly happy abode for the working rail- 
 lions where industry is honored. One thing alone has, in the 
 past, lessened our sympathy with your country and our confi- 
 dence in it — we moan the ascendency of politicians who not 
 merely maintained negro slavery, but desired to extend and root 
 it more firmly. We joyfully honor you, as the President, and 
 the Congress with you, for many decisive steps toward practi- 
 cally exemplifying your belief in the words of your great 
 founders: 'All men are created free and equal,' You have 
 procured the liberation of the slaves in the district around 
 Washington, and th(>reby made the centre of your Federation 
 visibly free. You have enforced the laws against the slave- 
 trade, and kept up your fleet against it, even while every ship 
 was wanted for service in your terrible war. You have nobly 
 decided to receive embassadors from the negro republics of 
 Hayti and Liberia, thus forever renouncing that unworthy 
 prejudice which refuses the rights of humanity to men and 
 women on account of their color. In order more efiectually to 
 stop the slave-trade, you have made with our Queen a treaty, 
 which your Senate has ratified, for the right of mutual search. 
 Your Congress has decreed freedom as the law forever in the 
 vast unoccupied or half unsettled Territories which are directly 
 subject to its legislative power. It has offered pecuniary aid to 
 all States whj^h will enact emancipation locally, and has for- 
 bidden your generals to restore fugitive slaves who seek thcii 
 protection. You have entreated the slave-masters to accept 
 these moderate offers ; and after long and patient waiting, you, 
 as Commander-in-chief of the Army, have appointed to-morrow, 
 the first of January, 1863, as the day of unconditional freedom 
 for the slaves of the rebel States. We implore you, for your 
 own honor and welfare, not to faint in your providential mission. 
 While your enthusiasm is aflame, and the tide of eveots runs 
 high, let the work be finished effectually. Leave no root of 
 bitterness to spring up and work fresh misery to your children. 
 It is a mighty task, indeed, to reorganize the industry not only 
 of four millions of the colored race, but of five millions of 
 whites. Nevertheless, the vast progress you have made in the 
 short space of twenty months, fill us with hope that every 
 Btain on your freedom will shortly be removed, and that the 
 " erasure of that foul blot upon civilization and Christianity— 
 chattle slavery — during your Presidency, will cause the name of 
 Abraham Lincoln to be honored and revered by posterity." 
 
 In answer to this flattering letter, Mr. Lincoln sent a 
 "happy respoHse, in which he explained the motive which 
 
140 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN". 
 
 had prompted him to the undeviating course he hf^s pur- 
 sued siuce his inauguration. He had, he said, considered 
 the duty of maintaining and preserving the Constitution 
 and the integrity of the Federal Republic paramount to 
 all others, and as a conscientious purpose to perform that 
 duty was the key to all the measures of his administrar- 
 tion, he could not, if he would, under his oath and our 
 frame of government, depart from that purpose. 
 
 THE PRESIDENT VISITS THE ARMY OP THE 
 POTOMAC. 
 
 Early in April, 1863, the President left Washington on 
 a visit to the Army of the Potomac. He had in the pre- 
 vious year, when the same noble troops were resting at 
 Harrison's Landing, after their campaign before Richmond, 
 gone thither to observe for himself their ti'ue condition, 
 and upon other occasions has visited their camping-grounds, 
 where he has been always received with great enthusiasm. 
 Upon the visit to which we now refer, he was accompanied 
 by Mrs. Lincoln and one of his sons, and an eye-witness 
 thus describes the proceedings incident to the entertain- 
 ment of such distinguished guests : 
 
 On the morning of April seventh, 1863, a reception was 
 had in General Hooker's tent, the members of the staff pass- 
 ing in and being introduced to the President by the Chief of 
 Staff. Mr. Lincoln was in unusual good humor, and com- 
 pletely banished the constraint felt by all by his sociability 
 and shafts of wit. The interview lasted some time, much 
 to the enjoyment of all, until finally the officers one by one 
 dropped out, and the hour designated for the review ar- 
 rived. Early in the morning the several cavalry brigades 
 commenced moving towards the field selected for the re- 
 view, and during the forenoon were engaged forming the 
 lines and stationing guards to keep off the crowd. At 
 noon the roar of artillery announced that the cortege had 
 
LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 141 
 
 arrived. President Lincoln, mounted on a magnificent 
 bay, adorned with heavy trappings, rode steadily and 
 rapidly along the line, with Generals Hooker and Stone- 
 man at his side, and followed by an imposing cavalcade 
 of general officers, aides-de-camp and orderlies. Having 
 returned to the right of the line, a position was selected for 
 the President upon a slight eminence, while the cavalry at 
 a walk passed in review before him, the bands playing 
 and the bugles sounding merril}^ Mrs. Lincoln occupied 
 a carriage at the right of the President while the regi- 
 ments passed in review, surrounded by major-generals and 
 stars of lesser magnitude. After the cavalry had moved 
 o(f tRe field, the lancers, in splendid order, wheeled around 
 into line fronting the President, while the light artillery 
 dashed at a gallop through the avenue thus formed, the 
 guns and caissons bounding over the irregularities as 
 though the wheels were of India rubber. The cannon 
 were soon off the field, the lancers filed in behind the cav- 
 alcade of generals, spectators vanished, and the plateau, 
 torn and trodden by the squadrons, was left to the scatter- 
 ing working parties engaged in preparing the ground foi 
 the grand review of infantry. The President also rode 
 over to the head-quarters of several commanding officers, 
 .and during the day reviewed the reserve artillery. 
 
 Doubtless the lady readers are anxious to know iq 
 what dress the wife of the Chief Magistrate visited the 
 army, how she appeared, what she said, and how she liked 
 the contrast — the Executive mansion, with its costly fur 
 iiiture, and the bare floor, cot and camp stools of the field 
 ifrs. Lincoln's attire was exceedingly simple — of that pe- 
 culiar style of simplicity which creates at the time no im- 
 presf.ion upon the mind, and prevents one from remem- 
 bering any article of dress. In this case there was nothing 
 to attract attention, and after she had entered the tent 
 there was not one in twenty of those gathered about who 
 9 
 
142 LIFE AND REKVICES OF ABU A HAM LINCOLN". 
 
 conlcl toll what slio wore. A rich blaclv silk dross, with 
 narrow flounces; a blatk cape, with a broad trimming of 
 velvet around the border, aud a plain hat of the same hue, 
 composed her costume. A shade of weariness, doubtless 
 the result of her labors in behalf of the sick and wounded 
 in Washington, rested upon her countenance ; but tha 
 change seemed pleasant to her, and the scenes of camp 
 were noted with evident interest. The President wore a 
 dark sack overcoat and a fur muffler, while Master Lincoln 
 sported a suit of gray, and rambled about among the tents, 
 examining the quarters of the staff, and watched by the 
 orderlies and sentries Avith a curiosity somewhat amusing 
 
 THE EISTROLMETTT ACT AND THE PvIGHTS 
 OP ALIENS. 
 To enumerate all the proclamations which the President 
 issued during the year 18C3, would be impossible in this 
 work, and we must therefore restrict ourselves to those 
 vi'hich were of more than usual interest. The one in re- 
 gard to the rights of aliens, under the act calling out the 
 national forces, was one of these, and reads as follows : 
 
 "Whereas, The Con.oresa of the United States at its last 
 session enacted a law cntilled, 'An act for enrolling and calling 
 out the national I'orces and for other purposes,' which was ap 
 proved on the third day of March last, and, 
 
 ''Whereafi, It is recited in tlie said act that there now exists 
 in the United States an insurrection and rebellion ajrainst the 
 authority thereof, and it is, under the Constitution of the United 
 States, the duty of the Government to suppress insurrection and 
 rebellion, to fi;narantee to each State a republican form of gov- 
 ernment, and to preserve the public tranquility, and 
 
 " Wliereas, Fur these high purposes a military force is indis- 
 pensable, to rai.'^e aud support wiiich all persons ought willingly 
 tc contribute ; and 
 
 "Whereas, No service can be more praiseworthy and honor- 
 able than that which is rendered for the maintenance of tha 
 Constitution and the Union, and the consequent preservation 
 of the Government; and 
 
 " Whereas, For the reasons thus recited, it was enacted by tho 
 said statute that all able-bodied mule citizens of the United 
 Btatc3 and persons of foreign birth, who shall have declared oa 
 
LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 143 
 
 oath their intentions to become citizens, under and in pursnaneo 
 of I lie laws thereof, between the ages of twenty and forty-f.vu 
 years, with certain exceptions not necessary to be here men- 
 tioned, are declared to constitute the national forces, and shall 
 be liable to perform military duty in the service of the United 
 States, when called out by the President for that purpose ; 
 and 
 
 " ]VJiereas, It is claimed, and in behalf of persons of foreign 
 birth within the ages specified in said act who have heretoforo 
 declared on oath their intentions to become citizens under and 
 in pursuance of the laws of the United States, and who have 
 not exercised the right of sutfrage or any other political fran- 
 chise under the laws of the United States, or any of the States 
 thereof, are not absolutely precluded by their aforesaid declara- 
 tion of intention from renouncing their purpose to become 
 citizens, and that, on the contrary, such persons under treaties 
 or the law of nations, retain a riglit to renounce that purpose 
 and to forego the privilege of citizenship and residence within 
 the United States under the obligations imposed by the afore- 
 said act of Congress. 
 
 " Now, therefore, to avoid all misapprehensions concerning 
 the liability of persons concerned to perform the service 
 required by such enactment, and to give it full effect, I do 
 hereby order and proclaim that no plea of alienage will be 
 rsceived or allowed to exempt from the obligations imposed by 
 the aforesaid act of Congress, any person of foreign birth who 
 shall have declared, on oath, his intention to become a citizen 
 of the United States under the laws thereof, and who shall be 
 found within the United States at any time daring the con- 
 tinuance of the present insurrection and rebellion, at or after 
 the expiration of the sixty-five days from the date of this proc- 
 lamation, nor shall any such pica of alienage be allowed la 
 favor of any such person who has so as aforesaid declared his 
 intention to become a citizen of the United States, and shall 
 have exercised at any time the right of suffrage or any other 
 political franchise within the United States, under the laws 
 thereof, or under the laws of any of the several States. 
 
 " In witness whiM-eof I have hereunto set rny hand and caused 
 the seal of the United States to be affixed. 
 
 " Done at the city of Washington, this eighth day of May, 
 in the year of our Lord 18G3. and of the independence of the 
 United Sti^tes the eighty-seventh. 
 
 " By the President, "Abraham Lincoiji. 
 
 "William H Seward, Secretary of State." 
 
 A KATIO.S'AL THAWSS GIVING ORDERED. 
 
 On tlie fifteenth day of July, 1803, the President or- 
 'lered the sixth of the follov/ing month to be set apart as 
 
14:4 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 a day of National Thanksgiving. Victories had crowned 
 our arms on land and sea, and no greater cause for offer- 
 ing thanks to the Almighty ever prompted the Chief ]\Iag- 
 istrate of a country to call the people together, and few 
 proclamations were ever written more chaste and beauti- 
 ful than the following : 
 
 " It has pleased Almighty Cod to hearken to the supplications 
 and prayers of au afflicted jieople, and to vouclisafe to the army 
 and the navy of the United States, on the land and on the sea, 
 victories so signal and so ellective as to furnish reasonable 
 grounds for angn)ented confidence that tiie union of these States 
 will be maintained, their constitutions preserved, and their peace 
 and prosperity permanently preserved. 
 
 *■ ii'ii these victories have been accorded not without sacrifice 
 of li.'e, limb and liberty, incurred by the brave, patriotic and 
 loyal citizens. Domestic affliction in every part of the country 
 follo;Vs in tlic train of tiiese fearful bereavements. It is meet 
 and right to recognize and confess the presence of the Almiglity 
 Father, and the power of His hand ecpially in these triumphs 
 and these sorrows. 
 
 " Now, therefore, be it known, tliat I do set apart Thursday, 
 the sixth day of August next, to be observed as a day for na- 
 tional Thanksgiving, praise, and prayer, and I invite the people of 
 the United States to assemble on that occasion in their custom- 
 ary places of worship, and in the forms approved by their own 
 conscience, render the homage due to the Divine Majesty for 
 the wonderful things He has done in the nation's behalf, and 
 invoke the influence of His Holy Spirit to subdue the anger 
 which has produced and so long sustained a needless and cruel re- 
 bellion ; to change the hearts of the insurgents, to guide the 
 counsels of the government with wisdom adecpiate to so great a 
 national emergency, and to visit with tender care and consola- 
 tion throughout the length and breadtii of our land all those 
 who through the vicissitudes of marches, voyages, battles and 
 sieges, have been brought to suffer in mind, body or estate and 
 family, to lead the whole nation through pat lis of repentance 
 and submission to the Divine Will, back to the perfect enjoy- 
 ment of Union and fraternal peace. 
 
 " In witness whereof, I have herounto set my hand and caused 
 the seal of the United States to be ailixcd. 
 
 " Done at the city of Washington, this 1.5th day of July, in 
 the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty- 
 three, and of the independence of the United Slates of America 
 the eighty-eighth. "Auraham Linooi^n. 
 
 " By the President : 
 
 " William II. Skward, Secretary of State." 
 
LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABKAIIAM LINCOLN. 145 
 
 LETTER FROM THE PRESIDEISTT ON THE 
 EMANCIPATIOl-I PROCLAMATION. 
 
 The following letter, written in August, 18G3, in answer 
 to an invitation to attend a meeting of unconditional Union 
 men held in Illinois, gives at length the President's views 
 at that time on his Emancipation proclamation : 
 
 " ExF.cuTivK Mansion, Washington, August 26th, 1863. 
 "My Dear Sir: — Your letter inviting me to attend a mass 
 meeting of unconditional Union men, to be held at the capi>ol 
 of Illinois on the third day of September, has been received. It 
 would be very agreeable to me thus to meet my old friends at 
 my own home; but I cannot just now be absent from this city 
 BO long as a visit there would require. The meeting is to be of 
 all those who maintain unconditional devotion to the Union ; 
 and I am sure tliat my old political friends will thank me for 
 tendering, as I do, the nation's gratitude to those other noble 
 men whom no partisan malice cr partisan hope can make false 
 to the nation's life. There are those who are dissatisfied with 
 me. To such I would say : — You desire peace, and you blame 
 me that we do not have it. But how can we attain it? There 
 are but three conceivable ways : — First, to suppress the rebel- 
 lion by force of arms. This I am trying to do. Are you for 
 it? If you are, so far we are agreed. If. you are not for it, a 
 second way is to give up the Uuion. I am against this. If you 
 are, you should say so, plainly. If you are not for force, nor yet 
 for dissolution, there only remains some imaginable compro- 
 mise. I do not believe that any compromise embracing the 
 maintenance of the Union is now possible. All that I learn 
 leads to a directly opposite belief. The strength of the rebel- 
 lion is its military — its army. 'J'hat army dominates all the 
 country and all the people within its range. Any offer of any 
 terms made by any man or men within that range in opposition 
 to that army is simply nothing for the present, because such 
 man or men have no power whatever to enforce their side of a 
 compromise, if one were made with them. To illustrate : Sup- 
 pose refugees from the South and peace men of the North get 
 together in convention, and frame and proclaim a compromise 
 embracing the restoration of the Union. In what way can that 
 compromise be used to keep General Lee's army out of Penn- 
 sylvania? General Meade's army can keep Lee's army out of 
 Pennsylvania, and I think can ultimately drive it out of ex- 
 istence. But no paper compromise to which the controllers of 
 General Lee's army are not agreed, can at all affect that army. 
 In an effort at such compromise we would waste time which the 
 enemy would improve to our disadvantage, and that would be 
 all. A compromise, to be elfcctlve, must be made either with 
 
146 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABIiAlIAM LINCOLN. 
 
 those who control the rebel army, or with the people, first liber- 
 ated from the domination of that army by the success of our 
 army. Now, allow me to assure you that no word or intimation 
 from the rebel army, or from any of the men controlling it, in 
 iclation to any peace compromise, has ever come to my know- 
 ledge or belief. All charges and intimations to the contrary 
 are deceptive and groundless. And I pron)ise yon that if any 
 Buch proposition shall hereafter come, it shall not be rejected 
 and kept secret from you. I freely acknowledge myself to bs 
 the servant of the people, according to the bond of service, the 
 United States constitution ; and that, as such, I am responsible 
 to them. But, to be plain. You are dissatisfied with me about 
 the negro. Quite likely there is a difference of opinion between 
 you and myself upon that subject. I certainly wish that all 
 men could be free, while you, I suppose, do not. Yet I have 
 neither adopted nor proposed any measure which is not consist- 
 ent with even your view, provided you are for the Union. I 
 suggested compensated emancipation, to which you replied that 
 you wished not to be taxed to buy negroes. But I have not 
 asked you to be taxed to buy negroes, except in such way as to 
 save you from greater taxation, to save the Union exclusively 
 by other means. 
 
 "You dislike the emancipation proclamation, and perhaps 
 would have it retracted. You say it is unconstitutional. I 
 think differently. I think that the constitution invests its com- 
 mander-in-chief with the law of war in time of war. The most 
 that can be said, if so much, is, that the slaves are property. 
 Is t'here, has there ever been, any question that by the law of 
 war, property, both of enemies and friends, may be taken when 
 needed ? And is it not needed whenever taking it helps us or 
 hurts the enemy ? Armies, the world over, destroy enemies' prop- 
 erty when they cannot use it ; and even destroy their own to 
 keep it from the enemy. Civilized belligerents do all in their 
 power to help themselves or hurt the enemy, except a few 
 things regarded as barbarous or cruel. Among the exceptions are 
 the massacre of vanquished foes and non-combatants, male and 
 female. But the proclamation, as law, is valid or is not valid. 
 If it is not valid it needs no retraction. If it is valid it cannot 
 be retracted, any more than the dead can be brought to life. 
 Som-e of you profess to think that its retraction would operate 
 favorably for the Union. Why better after the retraction than 
 before the issue? There was more than a year and a half of 
 trial to suppress the rebellion before the proclamation was is- 
 sued, the last one hundred days of which passed under an ex- 
 plicit notice, that it was coming unless averted by those in 
 revolt returning to their allegiance. The war has certainly 
 progressed as favorably for us since the issue of the proclamation 
 as before. I know as fully as oue can kuow the opinions of others, 
 that some of the commanders of our avmies in the Held, who 
 
I 
 
 LIFE AND SEUVU^ES OF AbRAllAM LINCOLN. 147 
 
 have given us our moi^t important vietories, believe the emanci- 
 pation policy and the iiiil of colored troops constitute tbe 
 heaviest blows yet dealt to the rebellion, and that at least one 
 of those important successes could not have been achieved when 
 it was but for the aid of black soldiers. Among the command- 
 ers holding these views are some who have never had any affinity 
 with what is called abolitionism or with 'republican paity 
 politics.' — But who hold them purely as military opinions. I 
 submit their opinions as being entitled to some weight against 
 the objections often urged that emancipation and arming the 
 blacks are unwise as military measures, and were not adopted 
 as such in good faith. You say that you will nut light to free 
 negroes. 8ome of them seem to be willing to fight for you — 
 but no matter. Fight you, then, exclusively to save the Union. 
 I issued the proclamation on purpose to aid you in saving the 
 Union. Whenever you shall nave conquered all resistance to 
 the Union, if I shall urge you to continue lighting, it will be au 
 apt time then for you to declare that you will not fight to free 
 negroes. I thought that in your struggle for the Union, to 
 whatever extent the negroes should cease helping the enemy, to 
 that extent it weakened the enemy in his resistance to you. Do 
 you think differently ? I thought that whatever negroes can be 
 got to do as soldiers, leaves just so much less for white soldiers 
 to do in saving the Union. Does it appear otherwise to you? 
 13nt negroes, like other people, act upon motives. Why should 
 they do any thing for us if we will do nothing for them ? If 
 they stake their lives for us they must be prompted by the 
 strongest motive, even the promise of freedom. And the prom- 
 ise, being made, must be kept. The signs look better. The 
 Father of Waters again goes un vexed to the sea. Thanks to 
 the great North-west for it. Xot yet wholly to them. Three 
 hundred miles up they met New England, Empire, Keystone and 
 Jersey, hewing their way right and left. The .Sunny South, too, 
 in more colors than one, also lent a hand. On the spot their 
 part of the history was jutted down in black and while. The 
 job was a great national one, and let none be banned who bore 
 an honorable part in it ; and, while those who have cleared the 
 great river may well be proud, even that is not all. It is hard 
 to say that any thing has been more bravely and better done than 
 at Antietam, Murfreeshoro, Gettysburg, and on many fields of 
 less note. Nor nnist Uncle Sam's weblleet be forgotten. At 
 all the v>-aters' margins tliey have been present : — not only ou 
 the deep sea, the broad bay and the rapid river, but also up the 
 narrow, muddy bayou ; and wherever the ground was a little 
 damp they have been and made their tracks. Thanks to all. 
 For the great republic — for the princii)les by which it lives and 
 keeps alive — for man's vast future — thanks to all. Peace does 
 not appear so far distant as it did. I hope it will conie soon, aud 
 come to stay : aud so come as to be worth the keeping in all future 
 
143 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAKAM LINCOLN. 
 
 time. It will then have been proved that among freemen there 
 can be no successful appeal from the ballot to tlie bullet, and 
 that they who take such appeal are sure to lose their case and 
 pay the cost. And then there will be some black men who can 
 remember that, with silent tongue, and clenched teeth, and 
 steady eye, and well poised bayonet, they have helped mankind 
 on to this great consunnnation ; wliile I fear that there will be 
 some white men unable to forget that with malignant heart and 
 deceitful speecli they have striven to hinder it. Still let us not 
 be over sanguine of a speedy final triumph. Let us be quite 
 sober. Let us diligently apply the means, never doubting that 
 a just God, in his own good time, will give us tlie rightful re- 
 sult. Yours very truly, "A.Lincoln." 
 
 During September and October, 1SG3, the following 
 proclamations were published : 
 
 SUSPENSION OP THE WRIT OF HABEAS 
 COHPUS IIT CERTAIN CASES. 
 
 " WAsniNoroN, Sept. Ibth, 18G3. 
 " Whereas, the Constitution of the United States has or- 
 dained that 'the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall 
 not be suspended, unless when in cases of rel^ellion or invasion 
 tbe ])ublic safety may require it ;' and 
 
 " Whereas, a rebellion was existing on the third day of March, 
 18G3, which rebellion is still existing; and 
 
 " Whereas, by a statute which was approved on that day, it 
 was enacted by the Senate and House of Kepresentatives of the 
 United States in Congress assembled, that during the present 
 insurrection the President of the United States, whenever in hia 
 judgment the public safety may require, is authorized to suspend 
 the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus in any case throughout 
 the United States, or any part thereof; and 
 
 "Whereas, in the judgment of the President the public safety 
 does require that the privilege of the said writ shall now be sus- 
 pended throughout the United States in cases where, by the au- 
 thority of the President of the United States, military, naval and 
 civil officers of the United States, or any of them, hold persons 
 under their command or in their custody, either as prisoners of 
 war, spies, or aiders or abettors of the enemy, or officers, soL 
 diers, or seamen enrolled, drafted or mustered or enlisted in or 
 belonging to the land or naval forces of the United States, or as 
 deasrters therefrom, or otherwise amenable to military law, or to 
 the Rules and Articles of War, or to the rules and regulations 
 prescribed for the military or naval service by the authority of 
 the President of the United States, or for resisting a draft, or 
 for any other offence against the military or naval service : 
 
LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 149 
 
 " Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United 
 States, do hereby proclaim and make known to all whom it may 
 concern, that the privilege of tlie writ of habeas corpus is sus- 
 pended throughout the United States in the several cases beforw 
 mentioned, and that the suspension will continue throughout the 
 duration of the said rebellion ; or until this prochimation shall by 
 a subsequent one, to be issued by the Presielent of the United 
 States, be modified and revoked. And I do hereby require all 
 magistrates, attorneys and other civil officers within the United 
 States, and all officers and others in the military and naval 
 services of the United States, to take distinct notice of this sus- 
 pension, and give it full effect ; and all citizens of the United 
 States to conduct and govern themselves accordingly and in con- 
 formity with the Constitution of the United States and the laws 
 of Congress in such cases made and provided. 
 
 " In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and 
 caused the seal of the United States to be affixed, this fifteenth 
 da^ of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand eiglit 
 hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the United 
 States of America the eighty-eighth. 
 
 " Abraham Lincoln. 
 
 " By the President : 
 
 " William H. Seward, Secretary of Slate." 
 
 NATIONAL THANKSGIVING PROCLAMATION. 
 
 " The year that is drawing towards its close has been filled with 
 the blessings of fruitfvd fields and healthful skies. To these 
 bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to 
 forget the source ffom which they come, others have been added, 
 which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to 
 penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible 
 to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. 
 
 " In the midst of a civil war of unequalled magnitude and 
 severity, whicli has sometimes seemed to invite and provoke tha 
 aggression of foreign States, peace has been preserved with all 
 uations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected 
 and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere, except ia 
 the theatre of military conflict ; while that theatre has been 
 greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the 
 Union. 
 
 "The needful diversions of wealth and strength from the fields 
 of peaceful industry to the national defence have not arrested 
 the plough, the shuttle or the ship. The axe has enlarged the 
 borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and 
 coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abun- 
 dantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, not- 
 withstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the 
 siege and the battle-field ; and the country, rtjoiciug in the con* 
 
150 LIFE A^a SERVICES OF ABRAHAM Ll^^COLN- 
 
 Bequences of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to ex- 
 pect continuance of yeai's with larue increase of freedom. 
 
 "No human counsel hath devised, nor hath any mortal liiind 
 worked out these great things. 'I'liey are the gracious gifis of 
 the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our 
 Bins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. 
 
 "It has seemed to me fit and proper that tliey should ba 
 Bolemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one 
 lie;u-t and voice by the whole American people ; I do, therefore,, 
 invite my fellow-citizens in every part of the United States, and 
 also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign 
 lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November 
 next as a Day of Thanksgiving and Piayer to our beneficent 
 Father, who dvvelleth in the heavens. And I recommend to 
 them that, while offering up the ascriptions justly due te him for 
 such singular deliverances and blessings ; they do also, with 
 humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, 
 commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, 
 orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in 
 which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the 
 interposition of the Almighty hand to heal the wounds of tho 
 nation and to restore it, as soon as may be consistent with the 
 Divine purposes, to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tran- 
 ciuillity, and union. 
 
 "In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and 
 caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. 
 
 " Done at the city of AVashington this third day of October, 
 in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty- 
 three, and of the Independence of the United States the eighty- 
 eighth. " Abraham Lincoln. 
 
 ■'By the President: 
 
 "William H. Seward, Secretary of State." 
 
 Wc have shown, in the first pages of this volume, that 
 the early instruction of Abraham Lincoln was of that re- 
 ligious character which could not fail to have a proper 
 effect upon his after life, and it is not therefore surprising 
 that during his Presidential career he has embraced every 
 opportunity to publicly acknowledge the source from 
 'Vil'^nce have come all the blessings the people of tht^ 
 Union have received during the progress of the civil war ; 
 and the unanimity with which liis numerous requests for 
 a general Thanksgiving have been acquiesced in, can but 
 be gralil'ving to their author. 
 
LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 151 
 
 THUEE HUNDRED THOUSAND MORE MEN 
 CALLED FOR. 
 
 " Whereas, The term of service of part of the volunteer forces 
 of the United States will expire during the coming year; and 
 whereas, in addition to the men raised by the present draft, it ia 
 deemed expedient to call out three hundred thousand volunteers, 
 lo serve for three years or the war — not, however, exceeding 
 three years. 
 
 " Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the 
 United States and Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy 
 thereof, and of the militia of the several States when called into 
 actual service, do issue this my proclamation, calling upon tho 
 Governors of the dillerent States to raise and have enlisted into 
 the United States service, for the various companies and regi- 
 ments in the field from their respective States, their quotas of 
 three hundred thousand men. 
 
 " I further proclaim that all the volunteers thus called out and 
 duly enlisted shall receive advance pay, premium and bounty, as 
 heretofore communicated to the (4overnors of States by the 
 War Department, through the Provost Marshal General's office, 
 by special letters. 
 
 " I further proclaim that all volunteers received under this 
 call, us well as all others not heretofore credited, shall be duly 
 credited and deducted from the quotas established for the next 
 draft. 
 
 " I further proclaim that, if any State shall fail to raise the 
 quota assigned to it by the War Department under this call; 
 then a draft for the deficiency in said quota shall be made in 
 said State, or on the districts of said State, for their due pro- 
 portion of said quota, and the said draft shall commence ou the 
 fifth day of January, 1864. 
 
 "And I further proclaim that nothing in this proclamation 
 shall interfere with existing orders, or with those which may 
 be issued for the present draft in the States where it is now in 
 progress or where it has not yet been commenced. 
 
 " The quotas of the States and districts will be assigned by 
 the War Department, through the Provost Marshal General's 
 office, due regard being had for the men heretofore furnislied, 
 whether by volunteering or drafting, and the recruiting will be 
 conducted in accordance with such instructions as have been or 
 may be issued by that dopartnieut. 
 
 "In issiring this proclauialion I address myself not only to 
 the Governors of the several States, but also to the good and 
 loyal people thereof, invoking them to lend their cheerful, will- 
 ing and etfective aid to the measures thus adopted, with a vicnv 
 to reinforce our victorious ai'uiies now in the field and bring 
 our needful military operations to a prosperous end, thus closiug 
 forever the fouutaiua of sedition and civil war. 
 
152 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 
 
 " In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused 
 
 the seal of the United .States to be atlixi d. 
 
 "Done at the city of Washingt.m, this sevonteenth day of 
 October, in the year of our l-oid one thousand eiglit hundred 
 and sixty-three, and of the iudepeuueuce of the United States 
 the eiglity-eif^hth. "Abraham Lincoln. 
 
 " By the President : 
 
 " Wm. it. Seward, Secretary of State." 
 
 THE PRESIDE]S"T'S DEDICATORY ADDRESS AT 
 GETTYSBUEG. 
 
 On the ninetecuth of November, 18G3, the President par- 
 ticipated in the solemn and imposing ceremonies incident to 
 the consecration of the National Cemetery at Gettysburg. 
 Arriving in the town on the previous evening, he was the 
 recipient of a delightful serenade, which he acknowledged 
 in a brief speech. On the next day he delivered the fol- 
 lowing beautiful Dedicatory Address : 
 
 " Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth 
 upon this continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and 
 dedicated to tlie proposition that all men are created equal. 
 Now we are engaged in a great civil war, tet^tiiig whether that 
 nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long 
 endure. We are met on a great battle-field of tliat war. We 
 are met to dedicate a portion of it as the final resting-place of 
 those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It 
 is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. 
 
 " But in a larger sense we cannot dedicate, we cannot conse- 
 crate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living 
 and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our 
 power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long 
 remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they 
 did here. It is for us, the living, rather to be dedicated here to 
 tlie unfinished work that they have thus far so nobly carried on. 
 It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remain- 
 ing before us — that from these honored dead we take increased 
 devotion to the cause for which they here gave the last full mea- 
 sure of devotion, — that we here highly resolve that the dead shall 
 not have di(>d in vain, that the nation shall, under (Jod, have a 
 Lew birth of freedom, and that tlie government of the people, by 
 the jeople, and for the people, shall not perish from the earth." 
 
 THANKSGIVING PROCLAMATION. 
 On the seventh of December, 1863, the following recom- 
 mendatioa was made to the people of the country : 
 
LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 153 
 
 " ExKcuTivE Mansion, Washington, Dec. Ith, 1863. — Reliable 
 information beii.g received that the insurgent force is retreating 
 from East Tennessee, uiiiler circumstances rendering it probable 
 that the Union forces cannot liereafter be dislodged from that 
 important position, and esteeming this to be of high National 
 consequence, I recommend that all loyal people do, on the re- 
 ceipt of this, informally assemble at their places of worship, au(3 
 render special homage and gratitude to Almighty God for this 
 great advancement of the National cause. "A. Lincoln." 
 
 THE ANNTJAL MESSAGE OP 1863— FULL PAR- 
 DON OPPEHED TO THE REBELS. 
 
 On the ninth of December, 1863, President Lincoln sent 
 into Congress his Annual Message, and never were his wis- 
 dom and moderation more satisfactorily exhibited than in 
 this document. His review of our foreign relations and the 
 operations of the viirious departments of the Government 
 was comprehensive and clear, while on the subject of the 
 rebellion he- re-affirmed all that he had written in his pre- 
 vious messages, and in referring to the success which had 
 attended the proclamation of emancipation, he said : 
 " While I remain in my present position, I shall not at- 
 tempt to retract or modify the emancipation proclamation ; 
 nor shall I return to slavery any person who is free by 
 the terms of that proclamation, or by any of the acts of 
 Congress." 
 
 Accompanying the Message, was a proclamation oETering 
 for the acceptance of the traitors a fair and practicable mode, 
 by which they might return to their allegiance, and once 
 again become loyal citizens. It was worded as follows : 
 
 ''Wliereas, In and by the Constitution of the United States, 
 it is provided that the President ' shall have power to grant re- 
 prieves and pardons for offences against the United States, ex- 
 cept in cases of impeachment;" and 
 
 " Wiereas, A rebellion now exists whereby the loyal State 
 po^ernmonts of several States have for a longtime been sub- 
 verted, and many persons have committed and are now guilty 
 of treason against the United States ; and 
 
 " Wiereas, With reference to said rebellion and treason, laws 
 have been enacted by Congress, declaring forfeitures and con- 
 
154 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN-. 
 
 fiscations of proporty and liberation of slaves, all upon ternia 
 and eondilions therein stated, and also dechiring' that the I'rcs- 
 idcjit wiis tlierehy authorized at any time thereafter, hy jjrucla- 
 mation, to extend to persons who may have participated hi tlie 
 existing rebellion in any State, or part tliereof, pardon and am- 
 nr'sty, with such exceptions and at such times and on such con- 
 ditions as he may deem expedient for the public welfare ; and 
 
 " Whereas, Tlie Congressional declaration for limited and 
 conditional pardfm accords with well-established judicial expo- 
 sition of the pardoning power; and 
 
 " Wliercas, AV'ith reference to said rebellion, the President of 
 the United States has issued several proclamations, with pro- 
 visioris in regard to the liberation of slaves ; and 
 
 Whereas, It is now desired by some persons heretofore en- 
 piiged in said rebellion to resume their allegiance to the United 
 States, and to re-inaugurate loyal State governnieuts witliin and 
 fur their respective States ; 
 
 "Therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the U?Mtod 
 States, do proclaim, declare, and make known to nil persMi!? 
 who have, directly or by imjilication, })articip;iled in the exist- 
 ing rebellion, except as hereinafter excepted, that a rv\A. pardon 
 is hercljy granted to them and each of tliem. with restoration of 
 all rights of j)ro[)erty, except as to slaves, and in property cases 
 where rights of tliird parties shall have intervened, and upon the 
 condition that every such person shall take and subscribe ao 
 cath, and thenceforward keep and maintain said oath inviolate; 
 and which oath shall be registered for permanent preservation, 
 and shall be of the tenor and effect following, to wit : 
 
 "'I , do solemnly swear, in presence of Almighty God. 
 
 that I will henceforth faithfully support, protect, and defend tho 
 Constitution of the United States, and the Union of the States 
 tliereunder; and that 1 will, in like manner, abide by and faith- 
 fully support all acts of Congress passed during the existing 
 rebellion with reference to slaves, so long and so far as not re- 
 fiealed, modified, or held void by Congress, or by decision of the 
 Supreme Court ; and that 1 will, in like manner, abide by and 
 faithfully support all proclamations of the President made du- 
 ring the existing rebellion having reference to slaves, so long 
 and so far as not modified or declared void by decision of tho 
 Sujireme Court. So help me God.' 
 
 "The persons excepted from the benefits of the foregoing 
 provisions are all who are or shall have been civil or diplomatic 
 (iflicors or agents of the so-called Confederate Government ; all 
 who have left judicial stations under the United States to aid 
 the rebellion; all who are or shall have been militaiy or naval 
 officers of said Confederate Government above the rank of 
 Colonel in the army or of Lieutenant in ihe navy; all who left 
 Beats in the United States Congress to aid the rebellion; all 
 who resigned their commissions in the army or navy of tho United 
 
LIFE AND SEEVICES OF ABRAHAM LIN-COLN. 155 
 
 Statos, and aftciwards aided tlio rebellion, and all who have en- 
 gaged in any way, in treating colored persons or white person?, 
 in charge ot" such, otlierwiso than lawfully, as prisoners of war, 
 and which persons inay be found in the United States service, 
 as soldiers, seamen, or in any other capacitj'. 
 
 "And I do further proclaim, declare, and make known, that 
 whenever, in any of the Slates of Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, 
 Mississippi, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, South Caro- 
 lina, and North Carolina, a number of persons, not less than 
 one-tenth in number of the votes cast in sucli State at the Presi- 
 dential election of the year of our Lord 1860, each having taken 
 the oath aforesaid and not b.aving since violated it, and bei'ig a 
 qualiQed voter by the election law of the State existing imme- 
 diately before the so-called act of secession, and excluding all 
 others, shall re-establish a State government which s'lall be Re- 
 publican, and in nowise contravening said oath, such shall be 
 recognized as the true government of the State, and the State 
 shall receive thereunder the benefits of the constitutional pro- 
 vision, which declares that ' the United States shall guarantee 
 to every State in this Union a Republican form of government, 
 and shall protect each of them against invasion ; and, on appli- 
 cation of the Legislature, or the executive (when the Legisla- 
 ture cannot be convened), against domestic violence.' 
 
 "And I do further proclaim, declare, and make known, that 
 any provision which may be adopted by such State Government 
 in relation to the freed people of such Stale, which shall recog- 
 nize and declare their permanent freedom, provide for their 
 education, and which may yet be consistent, as a temporary ar- 
 rangement, with their present condition as a laboring, landless, 
 and homeless class, will not be objected to by the National 
 Executive. And it is suggested as not improper, that, in con- 
 structing a loyal Slate government in any State, the name of 
 the Stale, the boundary, the subdivisions, the Constitution, and 
 the general code of laws, as before the rebellion, bo maintained, 
 subject only to the modifications made necessary by the con.li- 
 tious hereinbefore stated, and such others, if any, rot contra- 
 vening said conditions, and which may be deemed expedient by 
 those framing the new State Government. 
 
 " To avoid misunderstanding, it may be proper to say that this 
 proclamation, so far as it relates to State Governnnnts, has 
 no reference to States wherein loyal State Governments have 
 all the while been maintained. And for the same reason, it may 
 be proper to further say, that whether members sent to Congress 
 from any Stale shall be admitted to seats constitutionally, rests 
 exclusively with the respective Houses, and not to any extent 
 with the Executive. And still further, that this prochimation 
 is intended to present the people of the States wherein Ih'i 
 National authority has been suspended, and loyal State (;overn. 
 ments have been subveited, a mode in and by wliich the Na- 
 
156 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 tional authority and loj-al State Govornmonts may be re-estab- 
 lished within said States, or in any of them; and, while the 
 mode presented is the best the Executive can suggest, with his 
 present impressions, it must not be undeustood that no other 
 possible mode would be acceptable. 
 
 " Given under my hand at the City of Washington, the eighth 
 day of December, A. D. one thousand eight hundred and sixty- 
 thrje, and of the Independence of the United States of America 
 the eighty-eighth. 
 
 "±5y the President : " Abraham Lincoln. 
 
 " Wm. U. Seward, Secretary of State." 
 
 CALLS MADE FOR SEVEN HUNDRED 
 THOUSAND MEN. 
 
 Since the beginning of the present year, 1864, two orderg 
 have been issued by the President, with a view of augment- 
 ing the armies of the Union to correspond with the require- 
 ments of the service. The first, dated February first, is as 
 follows : 
 
 " ExKCUTiVE Mansion, Washington, February Iftf, 18C4. — 
 Ordered, that a draft for five hundred thousand men, to serve 
 three years or during the war, be nuulc on the tenth of March 
 next, for the military service of the United States, crediting and 
 deducting therefrom so many as have been enlisted or drafted 
 into the service prior to the first day of March, and not hereto- 
 fore credited. 
 
 " (Signed) "Abraham Lincoln." 
 
 The other, dated March fourteenth, Avas worded as fol- 
 lows : 
 
 "ExKCUTivE Mansion, WAsniNGTON, March lAtJi, 1S64. — In 
 order to supply the force required to be drafted for the navy, and to 
 provide an adecjuate reserve force for all contingencies, in addition 
 to the five hundred thousand men called for February 1st, 1864, the 
 call is herelty made, and a draft ordered for two hundred thou- 
 sand men, fur the military service of the army, navy, and marina 
 corps of the United States. The proportionate quotas for the 
 different wards, towns, townships, precincts, election districts, 
 or counties will be made known through the Provost Marshal 
 General's bureau, and account will be taken of the credits and 
 deficiencies on former quotas. The Iftth day of April, 1864, la 
 designated as the time up to which the numbers required in each 
 ward of a city, town, etc., may be raised by voluntary enlist- 
 ttient ; and drafts will be made ia each "yard of a city, town, 
 
LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, 157 
 
 etc., which shall not have filled the quota assig-ned to it within 
 tlie time desijruated for the iitiinlier iT(|uiivd to fill the said 
 qiiotus. Tiie di'iift will lie coinnn'iiced hh soon utter the Ifith of 
 April as practicable, 'i'lie Goveniiiieiit buuiities, as uow paid, 
 will be continued until April 15th, 18G4, at which time the ad- 
 ditional bounties cease. On and after that date, one hundred 
 dollars only will be paid, as provided by the act approved Julj 
 22ud, 1861, "Abraham Lincoln. 
 
 " Official. "E. D, TowNSEND, A. A. G. " 
 
 EXPLANATORY PS,OCLAMATION. 
 
 On the twenty-sixth of March, 18G4, the following proc- 
 lamation, explanatory of the one issued on the eighth of 
 December, 1863, was published : 
 
 "Wltercns, It has become necessary to define the cases in 
 which insurgent enemies are entitled to the benefits of tha 
 Proclamation of the President of the United States, which was 
 made on the 8th day of December, 18('>3, and the nianiicr in which 
 they shall iiroceed to avail themselves of these lionellls; 
 
 ''And ichereas, The object of that proclamation were to sup- 
 press the insurrection and to restore the authority of the United 
 States ; 
 
 "And wlicrcas, The amnesty theiein proposed by the Presi- 
 dent was otiered with reference to tliese olijects alone; 
 
 " Now, therefore, 1, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United 
 States, do hereby proclaim and declare that the said proclama- 
 tion does not a)iply to the cases of jjcrsons who, at the time when 
 they seek to obtain the benefits thereof, by taking- the oath thereby 
 prescribed, are in military, naval or civil confinement or custody, 
 or under bonds or on parole of the civil, military or naval au- 
 thorities or agents of the United States, as prisoners of war, or 
 persons detained for ofteneep of any kind, either before or after 
 conviction ; and that on the contrary, it does ai)ply only to those 
 persons who, beingf at large and free from any arrest, confine, 
 meiit or duress, shall voluntarily come forward and take the said 
 oath, with the purpose of restoring peace and establishing the 
 national authority. 
 
 " Prisoners excluded from the amnesty offered in the said 
 proclanuition may apply to the President for clemency, like all 
 other olTenders, and their applicatiou will receive due con- 
 Gidcration. 
 
 " 1 do further declare and proclaim that the oath prescribed 
 'n the aforesaid proclamation of the 8th of December, ISO!], 
 may be taken and sul)scribed to before any commanding officer, 
 civ'il, military or naval, in the service of the United States, or 
 any civil or military ofiicer of a State or territory not in insur 
 rectioi., who, by the laws thereof, may be qualified for adminis- 
 tering oaths. 
 10 
 
158 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN". 
 
 "All office. IS who receive such oaths ure hereby authorized to 
 give certificates thereon to the persons respectively by whom 
 they are made, and such officers aro hereby required to tiaiismit 
 the original records of s.ich oaths at as early a diiy as may be 
 coQvenieut to the Department of State, where they will be 60- 
 posited and remain in the archives of the government. 
 
 "The Secretary of State will keep a register thereof, and will, 
 on application, in proper cases, issue certificates of such record? 
 in the customary form of official certificates. 
 
 '■ In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and 
 ca-i'^ed the seal of the United States to be affixed. 
 
 "Done at the City of Washington, the twenty-sixth day of 
 March, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred 
 and sixty-four, and of the ludeiKudcncc of the United States 
 the eighty-eighth. 
 
 " By the l*resident : "Arraiiam Lincoln. 
 
 " Wii. H. Skward, Secretary of Stale." 
 
 REVIEW OP THE PBESTDENT'S POLICY. 
 
 In the number of the Norih American Review for 
 January, 1864, a most able article was published, rcvievkr- 
 iuf? the policy of President Lincoln, and from it we make 
 the following extracts : 
 
 "'Bare is back,' says the Norse proverb, 'without 
 brother behind it ;' and this is, by analogy, true of an 
 elective magistracy. The hereditary ruler in any critical 
 emergency may reckon on the inexhaustible resources of 
 l)restige, of sentiment, of superstition, of dependent inter- 
 est, while the new man must slowly and painfully create 
 all these out of the unwilling material around him, by 
 superiority of character, by patient singleness of purpose, 
 by sagacious presentiment of popular tendencies and in- 
 stinctive sympathy with the national character. Mr. Lin- 
 eclii's task was one of peculiar and exceptional difficulty 
 Long habit had accustomed the American people to the 
 notion of a party in power, and of a President as its crea- 
 ture and organ, while the more vital fact, that the execu- 
 tive for the time being represents the abstract idea of 
 government as a permanent principle superior to all party 
 and all private interest, had gradually become unfamiliar. 
 They had so long seen the public policy more or lesa 
 
LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 159 
 
 directed by views of party, and often even of personal ad- 
 vantage, as to be ready to suspect the motives of a chief 
 magistrate compelled, for the first time in our history, to 
 feel himself the head and hand of a great nation, and to act 
 upon the fundamental maxim, laid down by all publicists, 
 that the first duty of a government is to defend and main- 
 tain its own existence. Accordingly, a powerful weapon 
 seemed to bo put into the hands of the opposition by the 
 necessity under which the administration found itself of 
 applying this old truth to new relations. They were not 
 slow in turning it to use, but the patriotism and common- 
 sense of the people were more than a match for any 
 sophistry of mere party. The radical mistake of the lead- 
 ers of the opposition was in forgetting that they had a 
 country, and expecting a similar obliviousness on the part 
 of the people. In the undisturbed possession of office for 
 so many years, they had come to consider the government 
 as a kind of public Gift Enterprise conducted by them- 
 selves, and whose profits were nominally to be shared 
 among the holders of their tickets, though all the prizes 
 had a trick of falling to the lot of the managers. Amid 
 the tumult of war, when the life of the nation was at stake, 
 when the principles of despotism and freedom were grap- 
 pling in deadly conflict, they had no higher conception of 
 the crisis than such as would serve the purpose of a con- 
 tested election ; no thought but of advertising the tickets 
 for the next drawing of that private speculation which 
 they miscalled the Democratic party. But they were too 
 little in sympathy with the American people to under- 
 stand them, or the motives by which they were governed. 
 It became more and more clear that, in embarrassing the 
 administration, their design was to cripple the country ; 
 that, by a strict construction of the Constitution, they 
 meant nothing more than the locking up of the only 
 arsenal whence effective arms could be drawn to defend the 
 nation Fortunately, insincerity by its very nature, by 
 
160 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN". 
 
 its necessary want of conviction, must ere long betray 
 itself by its inconsisteucics. It was bartl to believe that 
 men had any real horror of sectional war, who were busy 
 in fomenting jealousies between East and West; that they 
 could be in favor of a war for the Union as it was, who 
 were for accepting the violent amendments of Rebellion ; 
 that they could be heartily opposed to insurrection in the 
 South, who threatened government with forcible resistance 
 in the North ; or that they were humanely anxious to stay 
 the eifusion of blood, who did not scruple to stir up the 
 mob of our chief city to murder and arson, and to compli- 
 ment the patriotism of assassins with arms in their hands. 
 Believers, if they believed any thing, in the divine right 
 of Sham, they brought the petty engineering of the caucus 
 to cope with the resistless march of events, and hoped to 
 stay the steady drift of the nation's purpose, always set- 
 ting deeper and stronger in one direction, with the scoop- 
 nets that had served their turn so well in dipping fish from 
 the turbid eddies of politics. They have given an example 
 of the shortest and easiest way of reducing a great party 
 to an inconsiderable faction, 
 
 " The change which three years have brought about, is 
 too remarkable to be passed over without comment — too 
 weighty in its lesson not to be laid to heart. Never did 
 a President enter upon office with less means at his com- 
 mand, outside his own strength of heart and steadiness of 
 understanding, for inspiring confidence in the people, and 
 go winning it for himself, than Mr. Lincoln. All that was 
 known of him was that he was a good stump-speaker, 
 nominated for his availability — that is, because he had no 
 history — and chosen by a party with whose more extreme 
 opin ons be was not in sympathy. It might well be feared 
 that I man past fifty, against whom the ingenuity of hos- 
 tile partisans could rake up no accusation, must be lacking 
 ia manliness of character, in decision of principle, in 
 
LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 161 
 
 Strength of will,— that a man who was at best only tho 
 representative of a party, and who yet did not fairly re- 
 present even that— would fail of political, much more of 
 popular support. And certainly no one ever entered upon 
 office with so few resources of power in the past, and so 
 many materials of weakness in the present, as Mr. Lincoln. 
 Even in that half of the Union which acknowledged him 
 as Tresident, there was a large and at that time danger- 
 ous minority, that hardly admitted his claim to the office, 
 and even in the party that elected him there was also a 
 large minority that suspected him of being secretly a 
 communicant with the church of Laodicea. All that ho 
 did was sure to be virulently attacked as ultra by one side : 
 all that he left undone, to be stigmatized as proof of luke- 
 warmness and backsliding by the other. Meanwhile h«> 
 was to carry on a truly colossal war by means of both ; he 
 was to disengage the country from diplomatic entangle- 
 ments of unprecedented peril undistui-bed by the help or 
 the hinderance of either, and to win from the crowning 
 dangers of his administration, in the confidence of tho 
 people, the means of his safety and their own. lU has 
 contrived to do it, and perhaps none of our PrcsidentB 
 since Washington has stood so firm in the confidence of 
 the people as he does after three years of stormy admin 
 i.stration. 
 
 " Mr. Lincoln's policy was a tentative one, and rightly 
 so. He laid down no programme which must compel 
 him to bo cither inconsistent or unwise— uo cast-irou 
 theorem to which circumstances must be fitted as they 
 rose, or else be useless to his ends. He seemed to have 
 chosen Mazarin's motto, Le temps et moi. The moi, to 
 be Burc, was not very prominent at first; but it has grown 
 more and more so, till the world is beginning to be per- 
 suaded that it stands for a character of marked individu- 
 ality and capacity for affiiirs. Time was his prime-miu- 
 
162 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 ister, and, we began to think at one period, his general- 
 in-chief also. At first he was so slow that he tired out 
 all those who see no evidence of progress but in blowing 
 up the engine ; then he was so fast, that he took the 
 Dreath away from those who think there is no getting on 
 safelj while there is a spark of fire under the boilers. God 
 is the only being who has time enough ; but a prudent 
 man, who knows how to seize occasion, can commonly 
 make a shift to find as much as ho needs. Mr. Lincoln, 
 as it seems to us in reviewing his career, though we have 
 Bometimes in our impatience thought otherwise, has al- 
 ways waited, as a wise man should, till the right moment 
 brought up all his reserves. Semper nocuit differre par- 
 alls is a sound axiom, but the really efficacious man will 
 also be sure to know when he is not ready, and bo firm 
 Apiinst all i)ersuasion and reproach till he is. 
 
 " One would be apt to think, from some of the criticisms 
 made on Mr. Lincoln's course by those who mainly agree 
 with him in principle, that the chief olyect of a statesman 
 (Should be rather to proclaim his adhesion to certain doc- 
 trines than to achieve their triumph by quietly accom- 
 plishing his ends. In our opinion, there is no more unsafe 
 politician than a conscientiously rigid doctrinaire, nothing 
 more sure to end in disaster than a theoretic sclieme of 
 policy that admits of no pliability for contingencies. True, 
 there is a popular image of an impossible He, in whose 
 plastic hands the submissive destinies of mankind become 
 as wax, and to whose commanding necessity the toughest 
 facts yield with the graceful pliancy of fiction ; but in real 
 life we commonly find that the men who control circum- 
 Btai'.ces, as it is called, are those who have learned to 
 allow for the influence of their eddies, and have the nerve 
 to turn them to account at the happy instant. Mr. Lin- 
 coln's perilous task has been to carry a rather shackly 
 raft through the rapids, making fast the unrulier logs as 
 
LIFE AND SEKVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 163 
 
 he could snatch opportunity ; and the country is to be 
 congratulated that he did not think it his duty to run 
 straight at all hazards, but cautiously to assure himself 
 with his setting-pole where the main current was, and 
 keep steadily to that. lie is still in wild water, but we 
 Iiave faith that his skill and sureness of eye will bring him 
 out right at last. 
 
 "A curious, and, as we think, not inapt parallel might 
 be drawn between Mr. Lincoln and one of the most 
 striking figures in modern history — Henry lY. of France. 
 The career of the latter may be more picturesque, as that 
 of a daring captain ahvaj's is ; but, in all its vicissitudes, 
 there is nothing more romantic than that sudden change, 
 as by a rub of Aladdin's lamp, from the attorney's oHiw 
 in a country town of Illinois to the helm of a great nation 
 in times like these. The analogy between the characters 
 and circumstances of the two men is, in many respects, 
 singularly close. Succeeding to a rebellion rather than a 
 crown, Henry's chief material dependence was the Hugue- 
 not party, whose doctrines sat upon him with a looseness 
 distasteful certainly, if not suspicious, to the more fanati- 
 cal among them. King only in name over the greater 
 part of France, and with his capital barred against him, 
 it yet gradually became clear to the n\ore far-sooing even 
 of the Catholic party, that he was the only centre of order 
 and legitimate authority round which France could re- 
 organize itself. While preachers who held the divine 
 right of kings made the churches of Paris ring with decla- 
 mations in favor of democracy rather than submit to the 
 heretic dog of a B^arnois — much as our soi-disaut Demo- 
 crats have lately been preaching the divine right of 
 slavery, and denouncing the heresies of the Declaration 
 of Independence — Henry bore both parties in hand till he 
 was convinced that only one course of action could pos- 
 sibly combine his own interests and those of France 
 
164 LIFE AISD SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 Meanwhile the Protestants believed somewLat doubtfully 
 that he was theirs, the Catholics hoped somewhat doubt- 
 fully that he would be theirs, and Henry himself turned 
 aside remonstrance, advice, and curiosity alike with a 
 jest or a proverb, (if a little high, he liked them none the 
 worse,) joking continually, as his manner was. We have 
 seen Mr. Lincoln contemptuously compared to Sancho 
 Tanza by persons incapable of appreciating one of the 
 deepest pieces of wisdom in the profoundest romance ever 
 written — namely, that, while Don Quixote was incompa- 
 rable in theoretic and ideal statesmanship, Sancho, with 
 his stock of proverbs, the ready-money of human experi- 
 ence, made the best possible practical governor. Henry 
 IV. was as full of wise saws and modern instances as Mr. 
 Lincoln, but beneath all this was the thoughtful, practi- 
 cal, humane, and thoroughly earnest man, around whom 
 the fragments of France were to gather themselves till 
 she took her place again as a planet of the first mnguitude 
 in the European system. In one respect Mr. Lincoln was 
 more fortunate than Henry. However some may think 
 him wanting in zeal, the most fanatical can find no taint 
 of apostasy in any measure of his, nor can the most bitter 
 charge him with being influenced by motives of personal 
 interest. The leading distinction between the policies of 
 the two is one of circumstances. Henry went over to 
 the nation ; Mr. Lincoln has steadily drawn the natiod 
 over to him. One left a united France ; the other, we 
 ]ioj)c and believe, will leave a re-united America. We 
 leave our readers to trace the further points of difference 
 and resemblance for themselves merely suggesting a gen- 
 eral similarity which has often ocevn-red to us. One only 
 point of melancholy interi'st we will allow ourselves to 
 toucli upon. That Mr. Lincoln is not handsome nor ele- 
 gant, we learn from certain English tourists who would 
 consider similar revelations in regard to C^ueeu Vicii^ria 
 
LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABKAHAM LINCOLN. 165 
 
 as thoroughly American in their want of bienseance. It 
 is no concern of ours, nor does it eETect his fitness for the 
 high place he so worthily occupies ; but he is certainly as 
 fortunate as Henry in the matter of good looks, if we 
 may trust contemporary evidence. Mr. Lincoln has also 
 been reproached with Americanism by some not unfriendly 
 British critics ; *but, with all deference, we cannot say that 
 we like him any the worse for it, or see in it any reasoa 
 why he should govern Americans the less wisely. 
 
 " The most perplexing complications that Mr. Lincoln's 
 government has had to deal with have been the danger 
 of rupture with the two leading commercial countries of 
 Europe, and the treatment of the slavery question. In 
 regard to the former, the peril may be considered as 
 nearly past, and the latter has been withdrawing steadily, 
 ever since the war began, from the noisy debating-ground 
 of faction to the quieter region of practical solution by 
 convincingness of facts and consequent advance of opinion 
 which we are content to call Fate. 
 
 " Even so long ago as when Mr. Lincoln, not yet con- 
 vinced of the danger and magnitude of the crisis, was en- 
 deavoring to persuade himself of Union majorities at the 
 South, and to carry on a war that was half peace in the 
 hope of a peace that would have been all war, — while he 
 was still enforcing the Fugitive Slave Law, under some 
 theory that Secession, however it might absolve States 
 from their obligations, could not escheat them of their 
 claims under the Constitution, and that slaveholders in 
 rebellion had alone among mortals the privilege of having 
 their cake and eating it at the same time, — the enemies of 
 free government were striving to persuade the people 
 that the war uas an Abolition crusade. To rebel with- 
 out reason was proclaimed as one of the rights of man, 
 while it was carefully kept out of sight that to suppress 
 rebellion is the first duty of government. AH the evils 
 
166 LIFE AND SERVICKS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 that have come upon the country have been attributed to 
 the Abolitionists, though it is hard to see how any party 
 can become permanently powerful except in one of two 
 ways, — either by the greater truth of its principles, or the 
 extravagance of the party opposed to it. To fancy the 
 ghip of state, riding safe at her constitutional moorings, 
 suddenly engulfed by a huge kraken of Abolitionism, 
 rising from unknown depths and grasping it with slimy 
 tentacles, is to look at the natural history of the matter 
 with the eyes of Pontoppidan. To believe that the 
 leaders in the Southern treason feared any danger from 
 Abolitionism, would be to deny them ordinary intelli- 
 gence, though there can be little doubt that they mado 
 use of it to stir the passions and excite the fears of their 
 deluded accomplices. They rebelled, not because they 
 thought slavery weak, but because they believed it strong 
 enough, not to overthrow the government, but to get pos- 
 session of it ; for it becomes daily clearer that they used 
 rebellion only as a means of revolution, and if they got 
 revolution, though not in the shape they looked for, is the 
 American people to save them from its consequences at 
 the cost of its own existence ? The election of Mr. Lin- 
 coln, which it was clearly in their power to prevent had 
 they wished, was the occasion merely, and not the cause, 
 of their revolt. Abolitionism, till within a year or two, 
 was the despised heresy of a few earnest persons, without 
 political weight enough to carry the election of a parish 
 constable; and their cardinal principal was disunion, be- 
 cause they were convinced that within the Union the 
 position of slavery was impregnable. In spite of the 
 proverb^ great effects do not follow from small causes — 
 that is, disproportionately small, — but from adequate 
 causes acting under certain required conditions. To con- 
 trast the size of the oak with that of the parent acorn, as 
 if the poor seed had paid all costs from its slender strong 
 
LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 167 
 
 box, may serve for a child's wonder ; but the real miracle 
 lies in that divine league which bound all the forces of 
 nature to the service of the tiny germ in fulGlling its 
 destiny. Every thing has been at work for the past ten 
 years in the cause of antislavery, but Garrison and 
 Phillips have been far less successful propagandists than 
 the slaveholders themselves, with the constantly-growing 
 arrogance of their pretensions and encroachments. They 
 have forced the question upon the attention of every voter 
 in the Free States, by deflantly putting freedom and de- 
 mocracy on the defensive. But, even after the Kansas 
 outrages, there was no wide-spread desire on the part of 
 the North to commit aggressions, though there was a 
 growing determination to resist them. The popular 
 unanimity in favor of the war three years ago was but in 
 small measure the result of antislavery sentiment, far less 
 of any zeal for abolition. But every month of the war, 
 every movement of the allies of slavery in the Free 
 States, has been making Abolitionists by the thousands. 
 The masses of any people, however intelligent, are very 
 little moved by abstract i)rinciples of numanity and jus- 
 tice, until those principles are interpreted for them by the 
 stinging commentary of some infringement upon their own 
 rights, and then their instincts and passions, once aroused, 
 do indeed derive an incalculable reinforcement of impulse 
 and intensity from those higher ideas, those sublime tra- 
 ditions, which have no motive political force till they are 
 allied with a sense of immediate personal wrong or im- 
 minent peril. Then at last the stars in their courses be- 
 gin to fight against Siscra. Had any one doubted before 
 that the rights of human nature are unitary, tliat oppres- 
 sion is of one hue the world over, no matter what the 
 color of the oppressed, — had any one failed to see what 
 the real essence of the contest was, — the efforts of the ad- 
 vocates of slavery among ourselves to throw discredit upou 
 
168 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 tlic fundamental axioms of the Declaration of Independence 
 and the radical doctrines of Christianity, could not fail to 
 sharpen his eyes. This quarrel, it is plain, is not between 
 Northern fanaticism and Southern institutions, but be- 
 tween downright slavery and upright freedom, between 
 despotism and democracy, between the Old World and 
 the New. 
 
 "The progress of three years has outstripped the ex- 
 pectation of the most sanguine, and that of our arms, 
 great as it undoubtedly is, is trifling in comparison with 
 the advance of opinion. The great strength of slavery 
 was a superstition, which is fast losing its hold on the 
 public mind. When it was first proposed to raise negro 
 regiments, there were many even patriotic men who felt 
 as the West Saxons did at seeing their high priest hurl 
 his lance again^^t the temple of their idol. They were sure 
 something terrible, they knew not what, would follow. 
 But the earth stood firm, the heavens gave no sign, and 
 presently they joined in making a bonfire of their bugbear. 
 That we should employ the material of the rebellion for its 
 own destruction, seems now the merest truism. In the same 
 way men's minds are growing wonted to the thought of 
 emancipation ; and great as are the difficulties which must 
 necessarily accompany and follow so vast a measure, we 
 have no doubt that they will be successfully ovei'ccme. 
 The point of interest and imixirtance is, that the feeling of 
 our country in regard to slavery is no whim of sentiment, 
 but a s^ettled conviction, and that the tendency of opinion 
 is unmistakably and irrevocably in one direction, no Icsa 
 in the Border Slave States than in the Free. The ch^.icos 
 of the war, which at one time seemed against us, arc now 
 greatly in our favor. The nation is more thoroughly 
 united against any shameful or illusory peace than it ever 
 was on any otherqncstion, and the very extent of the ter- 
 ritory to be subdued, which was the most serious cause of 
 
LIFE AND SERVICES 0^' ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 169 
 
 miagiving, is no longer an clpmont of strcngtli, but of dis- 
 iutegraliou, to the conspifacy. The llebel leiulei's can 
 make no concessions ; the country is unanimously resolved 
 that the war shall be prosecuted, at whatever cost ; and if 
 the war go on, will it leave slavery with any formidal)lo 
 strength in the South ? and without that, need there be any 
 fear of effective opposition in the North ? 
 
 " While every day was ])ringing the people nearer to tho 
 conclusion which all thinking men saw to be inevitable 
 from the beginning, it was wise in Mr. Lincoln to leave 
 the shaping of his policy to events. In this country, 
 where the rough and ready understanding of the people 
 is sure at last to bo the controlling power, a profound 
 common-sense is the best genius for statesmanship. 
 Hitherto the wisdom of the President's measures has 
 been justified by the fact that they have always resulted 
 in more firmly uniting public opinion. It is a curious 
 comment on the sincerity of political professions, that the 
 party calling itself Democratic should have been the last 
 to recognize the real movement and tendency of the 
 popular mind. The same gentlemen who two years ago 
 were introducing resolutions in Congress against coercion, 
 are introducing them now in favor of the war, but against 
 subjugation. Next year they may be in favor of emanci- 
 pation, but against abolition. It does not seem to have 
 occurred to them that the one point of difference between 
 a civil and a foreign war is, that in the former, one of the 
 parties must by the very nature of the case be put down, 
 xnd the other left in possession of the government. Un- 
 les'stne country is to be divided, no compromise is possible, 
 and, if one side must yield, shall it be the nation or the 
 conspirators ? A government may make, and any wise 
 government would make, concessions to men who have 
 risen against real grievances ; but to make them in favor 
 of a rebellion that had no juster cause than the personal 
 
170 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN". 
 
 ambition of a few bad men, would be to abdicate. 
 Southern politicians, however, have always been so 
 dexterous in drawing nice distinctions, that they may 
 find some consolation inappreciable by obtuser minds in 
 being coerced instead of subjugated. 
 
 " If Mr. Lincoln continue to act with the firmness and 
 prudence which have hitherto distinguished him, we think 
 he has little to fear from the efforts of the opposition. 
 Men without sincere convictions are hardly likely to have 
 a well-defined and settled policy, and the blunders they 
 have hitherto committed must make them cautious. If 
 their personal hostility to the President be unabated, we 
 may safely count on their leniency to the opinion of 
 majorities, and the drift of public sentiment is too strong 
 to be mistaken. They have at last discovered that there 
 is such a thing as Country, which has a meaning for 
 men's minds and a hold upon their hearts; they may 
 make the further discovery, that this is a revolution that 
 has been forced on us, and not merely a civil war. In 
 any event, an opposition is a wholesome thing ; and wo 
 are only sorry that this is not a more wholesome opposi- 
 tion. 
 
 " We believe it is the general judgment of the country 
 on the acts of the present administration, that they have 
 been, in the main, judicious and well-timed. The only 
 doubt about some of them seems to be as to their con- 
 stitutionality. It has been sometimes objected to our 
 form of government, that it was faulty in having a writ- 
 ten constitution which could not adapt itself to the needs 
 of the time as they arose. But we think it rather a 
 theoretic than a practical objection ; for in point of 
 fact there has been hardly a leading measure of any 
 administration that has not been attacked as uncon- 
 Btitutional, and which was not carried nevertheless. 
 Purchase of Louisiana, Embargo, Removal of the I)e- 
 
LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 171 
 
 posits, Annexation of Texas, not to speak of others loss 
 important, — on the unconstitutionality of all these, power- 
 ful parties have appealed to the country, and invariably 
 the decision has been against them. The will of the 
 people for the time being has always carried it. In tlio 
 present instance, we purposely refrain from any allusion 
 to the moral aspects of the question. We prefer to leave 
 the issue to experience and common-sense. lias any sane 
 man ever doubted on which side the chances were in this 
 contest? Can any sane man who has watched the steady 
 advances of opinion, forced onward slowly by the im- 
 mitigable logic of facts, doubt what the decision of the 
 people will be in this matter ? The Southern conspira- 
 tors have played a desperate stake, and, if they bad won, 
 would have bent the whole policy of the country to the 
 interests of slavery. Filibustering would have been 
 nationalized, and the slave-trade re-established as the most 
 beneficent form of missionary enterprise. But if they 
 lose ? They have, of their own choice, put the chance 
 into our hands of making this continent the empire of a 
 great homogeneous population, substantially one in race, 
 language, and religion, — the most prosperous and power- 
 ful of nations. Is there a doubt what the decision of a 
 victorious people will be ? If we w.ere base enough to 
 decline the great commission whicli Destiny lays on us, 
 should we not deserve to be ranked with those dastards 
 whom the stern Florentine condemns as hateful alike to 
 God and God's enemies ? 
 
 "We would not be understood as speaking lightly of the 
 respect due to constitutional forms, all the more essential 
 under a government like ours and in times like these. But 
 where undue respect for the form will lose us the substance, 
 and where the substance, as in this case, is nothing loss 
 than the country itself, to be over-scrupulous would be 
 unwise. Who are most tender in their solicitude that we 
 
172 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN-. 
 
 keep sacred the letter of the law, in order that its spiri* 
 may not keep us alive ? Mr. Jefferson Davis and those 
 who, in the Free Slates, would have been his associates, 
 but must content themselves with being bis political 
 guerilleros. If Davis had succeeded, would he have had 
 any scruples of constitutional delicacy ? And if he has 
 not succeeded, is it not mainly owing to measures which 
 his disappointed partisans denounce as unconstitutional ? 
 
 "We cannot bring ourselves to think that Mr. Lincoln 
 nas done any thing that would furnish a precedent dan- 
 gerous to oar liberties, or in any way overstepped the 
 just limits of his constitutional discretion. If his course 
 has been unusual, it was because the danger was equally 
 so. It cannot be so truly said that he has strained his 
 prerogative, as that the imperious necessity has exercised 
 its own. Surel}"- the framers of the Constitution never 
 dreamed that they were making a strait waistcoat, in 
 which the nation was to lie helpless while traitors were 
 left free to do their will. In times like these, men seldom 
 settle precisely the principles on which they shall act, but 
 rather adjust those on which they have acted to the lines 
 of precedent as well as they can after the event. This is 
 what the English Parliament did in the Act of Settlement. 
 Congress, after all, will only be called on for the official 
 draft of an enactment, the terms of which have been 
 already decided by agencies beyond their control. Even 
 while they are debating, the current is sweeping them 
 onward toward new relations of policy. At worst, a new 
 precedent is pretty sure of pardon, if it successfully meet 
 a new occasion. It is a harmless pleasantry to call Mr. 
 Lincoln ' Abraham the First,' — we remember when a 
 similar title was applied to President Jackson ; and it 
 will not be easy, we suspect, to persuade a people who 
 have more liberty than they know what to do with, that 
 they are the victims of despotic tyianny. 
 
LIFE AND SEKVICKS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 173 
 
 " Mr. Lincoln probably thought it more convenient, to 
 say the least, to have a country left without a constitution, 
 than a constitution without a country. We have no doubt 
 we shall save both ; for if we take care of the one, the 
 other will take care of itself. Sensible men, and it is the 
 sensible men in any country who at last shape its policy, 
 will be apt to doubt whether it is true conservatism, after 
 the fire is got under, to insist on keeping up the flaw in 
 the chimney by which it made its way into the house. 
 Radicalism may be a very dangerous thing, and so is 
 calomel, but not when it is the only means of saving the 
 life of the patient. Names are of great influence in ordi- 
 nary times, when they are backed by the vis inertice of 
 life-long prejudice, but they have little power in com- 
 parison with a sense of interest ; and though, in peaceful 
 times, it may be highly respectable to be conservative 
 merely for the sake of being so, though without very 
 clear notions of any thing in particular to be conserved, 
 what we want now is the prompt decision that will not 
 hesitate between the bale of silk and the ship when a leak 
 is to be stopped. If we succeed in saving the great land' 
 marks of freedom, there will be no difficulty in settling our 
 constitutional boundaries again. We have no sympathy 
 to spare for the pretended anxieties of men who, only two 
 years gone, were willing that Jefferson Davis should 
 break all the ten commandments together, and would 
 now impeach Mr. Lincoln for a scratch on the surface of 
 the tables where they are engraved." 
 
 As soon as the publication was received and read by 
 the President, he sent to the publishers the following 
 letter : 
 
 " ExEcuTivK Mansion, Washin«ton, January \&tli, 18C4. 
 "Messrs. Crosby Sj- Nichols : 
 
 " Gentlemen : The number for this month and year of the 
 North American Review was duly received and for which please 
 accept my thanks. Of course I am not the most impartial 
 II 
 
174 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 judge ; yet, with due allowance for this, I venture to hope that 
 the article entitled ' The President's Policy ' will be of value 
 to the country. I fear I am not quite worthy of all which is 
 therein kindly said of me personally. 
 
 " The sentence of twelve lines, commencing at the top of page 
 252, (which in this book is on page 165,) I could wish to be not 
 exactly as it is. In what is there expressed the writer has not 
 correctly understood me. I have never had a theory that seces- 
 sion could absolve States or people from their obligations. Pre- 
 cisely the contrary is asserted in the inaugural address; and it 
 was because of my belief in the continuation of those oblijaHms 
 that I was puzzled, for a time, as to denying the legal ri(ihts of 
 those citizens who remained individually innocent of treason or 
 rebellion. But I mean no more now than to merely call atten- 
 tion to this point. 
 
 " Yours respectfully, 
 
 "A. Lincoln." 
 
 The sentence referred to by Mr. Lincoln, is as follows : 
 " Even so long ago as when Mr. Lincoln, not yet con- 
 vinced of the danger and magnitude of the crisis, was 
 endeavoring to persuade himself of Union majorities at 
 the South, and to carry on a war that was half peace, in 
 the hope of a peace that would have been all war, while 
 he was still enforcing the Fugitive Slave law, under 
 some theory that secession, however it might absolve 
 States from their obligations, could not escheat them of 
 their claims under the constitution, and that slaveholders 
 in rebellion had alone among mortals, the privilege of 
 having their cake and eating it at the same time, — the 
 enemies of free government were striving to persuade the 
 people that the war was an abolition crusade. To rebel 
 without reason was proclaimed as one of the rights of man, 
 while it was carefully kept out of sight that to suppress 
 rebellion is the first duty of government." 
 
 RECENT ADDRESSES OP MR. LINCOLN. 
 
 On the night of the eighteenth of March, 1864, at the 
 olose of the successful fair held in the Patent Office at 
 Washington, Mr. Lincoln spoke as follows : 
 
 " Ladies and Gentlemen : — I appear, to say but a word. This 
 
LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 175 
 
 extraordinary war in which we are engaged falls heavily upon «ill 
 classes of people, but the most heavily upon the soldier. For it 
 has been said, all that a man hath will he give for his life and, 
 while all contribute of their substance, the soldier puts his life 
 at stake, and often yields it up in his country's cause. The high- 
 est merit, then, is due to the soldier. 
 
 'In this extraordinary war, extraordinary developments have 
 manifested themselves, such as have not been seen in forme! 
 wars; and among these manifestations nothing has been moie 
 remarkable than these fairs for the relief of suffering soldiers 
 and their families. And the chief agents in these fairs are the 
 women of America. I am not accustomed to the use of th3 
 language of eulogy ; I have never studied the art of paying 
 compliments to women ; but I must say that, if all that has been 
 said by orators and poets, since the creation of the world, in 
 praise of women were applied to the women of America, it would 
 not do them justice for their conduct during this war. I will 
 close by saying, Cod bless the women of America!" (Great 
 p.pplause.) 
 
 Three days later, a committee appoiuted by the Woik- 
 ingmen's Democratic Republican Association of New 
 York waited on the President, and presented him with an 
 address infoi-miug him that he had been elected a member 
 of that organization. After the chairman had stated the 
 object of the visit, Mr. Lincoln made the following reply : 
 
 "Gentlemen of the Committee : — The honorary membership in 
 your Association so generously tendered is gratefully accepted 
 You comprehend, as your address shows, that the existing re 
 bellion means more and tends to more than the perpetuation of 
 African slavery — that it ;b, in fact, a war upon the rights of all 
 working people. Partly to show that the view has not ost;a|)ed 
 my attention, and partly that I cannot better express myself, I 
 read a passage from the message to Congress in December, 18G1: 
 
 " ' It continues to develop that the insurrection is largely, if 
 not exclusively, a war upon the first principle of popular Gov- 
 ernment — the rights of the people. Conclusive evidence of thia 
 is found in the most grave and maturely-considered public docu- 
 ments, ae well as in the general tone of the insurgents. In those 
 documents we find the abridgement of the existing right of suf- 
 frage, and the denial to the people of all right to participate in 
 the selection of public ofiBcers, except the legislative body, boldly 
 advocated with labored arguments, to prore that large control 
 of the people in government is the source of all political evil. 
 Monarchy is sometimes hinted at as a possible retuge from the 
 power of the people. In my present poF-lIon, I could scarcely 
 
176 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 be justified were I to omit raising my voice against this approach 
 of returning despotism. 
 
 " ' It is not needed or fitting here that a general argument 
 should be made in favor of popular institutions ; but there is one 
 point, with its connections, not so hackneyed as most others, to 
 •which I ask a Ijrief attention. It is the effort to place capital, 
 on an equal footing with, if not above, labor in the structure of 
 tbe Government. It is assumed that labor is available only in 
 connection with capital ; that nobody labors unless somebody 
 else owning capital somehow, by use of it, induces him to labor. 
 
 " ' This assumed, it is next considered whether it is best that 
 capital shall hire laborers, and thus induce them to work by their 
 own consent, or buy them and drive them to it without their 
 consent. Having proceeded so far, it is naturally concluded 
 that all laborers are either hired laborers or what we call slaves. 
 And, farther, it is assumed that whoever is once a hired laborer 
 is fixed in that condition for life. Now there is no such relation 
 between capital and labor as assumed, nor is there any such 
 thing as a free man being fixed for life in the condition of a 
 hired laborer. Both of these assumptions are false, and all infer- 
 ences from them are groundless. 
 
 "'Labor is prior to and independent of capital. Capital is 
 only the fruit of labor, and never could have existed if labor had 
 not first existed. Labor is the support of capital, and deserves 
 much the higher consideration. Capital has its rights, which 
 are as worthy of protection as any other rights. Nor is it denied 
 that there is, and probably always will be, a relation between 
 labor and capital producing mutual benefits. The error is iu 
 assuming that the whole labor of a community exists within that 
 relation. A few men own capital, and that few avoid labor 
 themselves, and with that capital hire or buy another few to 
 labor for them. 
 
 "'A large majoiity belong to neither class — neither work 
 for others nor have others working for them. In most of the 
 Southern States a majority of the whole people, of all colors, 
 are neither slaves nor masters, while, in the Northern States, a 
 large majority are neither hirers nor hired. Men with their 
 families — wives, sous, and daughters — work for themselves on 
 their farms, in their houses, and in their shops, taking the whole 
 product to themselves, and asking no favors of capital on the 
 one hand nor of hired laborers or slaves on the other. It is 
 not forgotten that a considerable number ef persons mingle their 
 own labor with capital — ^that is, they labor with their own hands 
 And also buy or hire others to labor for them ; but this is only a 
 mixed and not a distinct class. No principle stated is disturbed 
 by the existence of this mixed class. 
 
 " 'Again. As has already been said, there is not of necessity 
 any such thing as the free hired laborer being fixed to that con- 
 dition for jife. Many independent men everywhere in thes* 
 
LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 177 
 
 States, a few years back in their lives, were hired laborers. The 
 prudent, penniless beginner in the world labors for wages a while, 
 saves a surplus with which to buy tools or lands for himself, then 
 labors on his own account another while, and at length hires 
 another new beginner to help him. This is the just, and gener- 
 ous, and prosperous system which opens the way to all — gives 
 hope to all, and consequent energy, and progress, and improve- 
 meut to all. No men living are more worthy to be trusted than 
 those who toil up from poverty — none less inclined to take or 
 touch aught with which they have not honestly earned. Let 
 them beware of surrendering a political power which they already 
 possess, and which, if surrendered, will surely be used to close 
 the door of advancement against such as they, and to. fix new 
 disabilities and burdens upon them till all of liberty shall be 
 lost.' 
 
 " The views then expressed remain unchanged — nor have I 
 much to add. None are so deeply interested to resist the 
 present rebellion as the working people. Let them beware of 
 prejudices working disunion and hostility among themselves. 
 The most notable feature of a disturbance in your city last sum- 
 mer was the hanging of some working people by other working 
 people. It should never be so. The strongest bond of human 
 sympathy, outside of the family relation, should be one uniting 
 all working people, of all nations, tongues, and kindreds. Nor 
 should this lead to a war upon property or the owners of prop- 
 erty. Property is the fruit of labor; property is desirable; 
 is a positive good in the world. That some should be rich, 
 shows that others may become rich, and hence is just encourage- 
 ment to industry and enterprise. Let not him who is houseless 
 pull down the house of another, but let him labor diligently and 
 Duild one for himself; thus, by example, assuring that his own 
 shall be safe from violence when built." 
 
 ABKAHAM LINCOLN THE CHOICE OP THE 
 PEOPLE FOR ANOTHER TERM. 
 
 Within the past few mouths, a movement has been in 
 progress throughout the North and West, which can but 
 be as gratifying to Abraham Lincoln as it is pleasing to 
 the great mass of the loyal voters of the country. 
 
 No President ever encountered the same difficulties 
 which have met the present incumbent of the " White 
 House" at every step he has taken since the day of hi« 
 inauguration. The traitors in the South have naturally 
 opposed every important order be has issued ; have ridi- 
 
178 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN-. 
 
 culed every proclamation he has promulgated ; have criti- 
 cised and sneered at every message he has written ; and 
 have vilified und maligned the character of their author. 
 This was to be expected ; but there have been traitors at 
 the North who have been no less bitter, no less strenuous 
 in their opposition ; but, under the guidance of Diviue 
 Providence, he has been able to repel the assaults of both 
 of these classes of unprincipled advocates of treason ; and, 
 strong in his holy purpose to rescue the countiy from the 
 machinations of its enemies, he has continued steadfast in 
 the path of official duty. He may have made some mis- 
 takes, but they have been few, and it must be remembered 
 that even those which have been more particularly re- 
 ferred to by his opponents were caused, not by ignorance, 
 but by the exigencies of the occasion, which compelled 
 him to give an important answer, or issue an important 
 order, without being allowed the time for reflection which 
 the magnitude of the subject demanded. 
 
 The importance, indeed the absolute necessity, of re- 
 taining Mr. Lincoln in his present exalted position, is now 
 the popular belief, and from every loyal Commonwealth 
 come tidings, pronouncing in language which cannot be 
 mistaken, that he alone is deemed the proper person to 
 rescue the country from its present danger. The Legis- 
 latures of fifteen States have declared that he is their 
 choice and the choice of their constituents. Union 
 Leagues, Conventions, and public assemblies of different 
 political characters, have indorsed the decision of their 
 legislative bodies ; and the loyal people almost unani- 
 cr.ouflly approve of the action which has again brought 
 Mr. Lincoln prominently forward as the best and only 
 man to nominate and elect to the Presidency. He has 
 been tried, and not found wanting, and no better return 
 for the perils encountered, the labors accomplished, and 
 the benefits derived to the country, could be ofi'ered, than 
 
LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 179 
 
 his re-nomination and re-election, both of which are now 
 almost as certain as that the Union Convention will assem- 
 ble at Baltimore in June next, and that the ele«(;tion will 
 be held in November. Maine, New Hampshire, Connec- 
 ticut, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Mary- 
 land, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minne- 
 sota, Kansas, and California, have spoken, and, at the 
 advent of the summer solstice, the other States will re- 
 echo the popular sentiments, as so emphatically expressed 
 by their sister Commonwealths. He is no longer the rep- 
 resentative of any particular political party, but cornea 
 before the loyal voters of the country as an indefatigable, 
 incorruptible, public servant, whose multiform and per- 
 plexing duties have been faithfully performed, and who 
 has no other ambition than to so administer the affairs of 
 the nation as will be most conducive to its welfare. 
 Throughout his Presidential career he has never failed 
 to prove himself equal to any emergency that might oc- 
 cur. To use the words of a patriotic Philadelphian, even 
 in the darkest hour of our struggle, when every thing 
 seemed . lost, and the feeling of despondency with regard 
 to the future was so great that those who had been con- 
 fident before lost all hope, he who was at the helm of 
 Government still maintained his self-command and a firm 
 reliance in an overruling Providence, which, in due time, 
 would order all things aright. Coolness, confidence, and 
 courage, are only valuable when they are needed ; and he 
 who has passed through ordeals in which the possession 
 of such qualities have been manifested, in no ordinary de- 
 gree, obtains a hold on the confidence of the world which 
 but few are fortunate enough to secure ; men of extraor- 
 dinary abilities, lacking these qualities, have, on great and 
 trying occasions, too often demonstrated their incapacity 
 for supreme command, like that which belongs to the head 
 of a great government. Considerations such as these will 
 
180 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 make the people loth to part with one who, in the hour of 
 trial, has proved himself equal to the emergency. 
 
 As an evidence of the sentiment to which we have re- 
 ferred, we publish the following resolutions, unanimously 
 adopted by the Union League of Philadelphia, on the 
 eleventh of January, 1864 : 
 
 " Whereas, The skill, courage, fidelity and integrity with 
 which, in a period of unparalleled trial, Abraham Lincoln has 
 conducted the administration of the National Government, have 
 won for him the highest esteem and the most affectionate regard 
 of his grateful countrymen ; 
 
 "And tvhereas, The confidence which all loyal men repose in 
 his honesty, his wisdom and his patriotism, should be proclaimed 
 on every suitable occasion, in order that his hands may be 
 strengthened for the important work he has yet to perform ; 
 
 "And whereas, The Union League of Philadelphia, composed 
 as it is, of those who, having formerly belonged to various 
 parties, in this juncture recognize no party but their country ; 
 and representing, as it does, all the industrial, mechanical, man- 
 ufacturing, commercial, financial, and professional interests 
 of the city, is especially qualified to give, in this behalf, an 
 unbiased and authentic utterance to the public sentiment; 
 therefore, 
 
 "Resolved, That to the prudence, sagacity, comprehension 
 and perseverance of Mr. Lincoln, under the guidance of a benign 
 Providence, the nation is more indebted for the grand results of 
 the war, which southern rebels have wickedly waged against 
 liberty and the Union, than to any other single instrumentality; 
 and that he is justly entitled to whatever reward it is in the 
 power of the nation to bestow. 
 
 "Resolved, That we cordially approve of the policy which 
 Mr. Lincoln has adopted and pursued, as well the principles he 
 haa announced as the acts he has performed, and that we shall 
 continue to give an earnest and energetic support to the doc- 
 trines and measures by which his administration has thus far 
 been directed and illustrated. 
 
 "Resolved, That as Mr. Lincoln has had to endure the largest 
 share of the labor required to suppress the rebellion, now 
 rapidly verging to its close, he should also enjoy the largest 
 share of the honors which await those who have contended for 
 the right ; and as, in all respects, he has shown pre-eminent 
 ability in fulfilling the requirements of his great ofiBce, we recog- 
 nize with pleasure the unmistakable indications of the popular 
 will in all the loyal States, and heartily join with our fellow- 
 citizens, without any distinction of party, here and elsewhere, in 
 presenting him as the People's candidate for the Presidency at 
 the approaching election. 
 
LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 181 
 
 "Resolved, That a Committee of Seventy-sis be appointed, 
 whose duty it shall be to promote the object now proposed, by 
 correspondence with other loyal organizations, by stimulating 
 the expression of public opinion, and by whatever additional 
 modes shall, in their judgment, seem best adapted to the end ; 
 and that this Committee have power to supply vacancies in 
 their own body and to increase their numbers at their own dis- 
 cretion. 
 
 '■'Resolved, That a copy of these proceedings, properly en- 
 grossed and attested, be forwarded to President Lincoln ; and 
 that they also be published in the loyal newspapers." 
 
 GENEBAL GRANT MADE A LIEUTENANT- 
 GENERAL. 
 
 On the 2d of March, 1864, President Lincoln approved 
 a bill passed by Congress on the 2Gth of February, revi- 
 Ting the grade of Lieutenant-Geueral, and the same day be 
 nominated for that high office Major-General Grant, the 
 hero of Vicksburg, and on the same day the Senate unan- 
 imously confirmed the nomination. On the 9th of March, 
 General Grant, being upon ofiicial business at Washington, 
 was invited to the White House, where the President, 
 handing him his commission, addressed him as follows : 
 
 " General Grant : — The expression of the nation's approba- 
 tion of what you have already done, and its reliance on you for 
 what remains to do in the existing great struggle, is now pre- 
 sented with this commission, constituting you Ldeutenant- Gen- 
 eral of the Army of the United States. 
 
 " With this high honor devolves on you an additional respon- 
 Bibdity. As the country herein trusts you, so, under God, it 
 will sustain you. I scarcely need add, that with what I here 
 speak for the country, goes my own hearty personal concur- 
 rence." 
 
 General Grant accepted the commission with character- 
 istic modesty, responding briefly and appropriately to the 
 remarks of the President. 
 
 A VIGOROUS PROSECUTION OP THE WAR. 
 
 In May, 1864, the President had approved the plans of 
 Lieutenant-General Grant ; and the grand combinations 
 of the latter, looking to the breaking up of the Cuiift derate 
 
182 LIFE A.ND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 power, and the fall of Richmond, were put in motion, 
 Sherman was at work in the South-west, and after taking 
 and destroying Atlanta, he designed marching directly 
 through the heart of Georgia, making Savannah his first 
 objective point ; and then, striking northward, he M'as to 
 compel the evacuation of Columbia, Charleston, and Wil- 
 mington, and co-operate with General Grant in the 
 conquest of the rebel capital. Thomas was left in the 
 South-west to check, and if possible, destroy Hood and 
 Johnston ; while Grant, aided by the splendid genius and 
 fighting qualities of Meade, Sheridan, and Hancock, were 
 operating in the immediate vicinity of Richmond. The 
 plans were finally all carried out almost to the letter, and 
 General Grant telegraphed to the President, in May, that 
 he " proposed to fight it out on this line if it took all sum- 
 mer." These vast military operations, aud the confidence 
 of the great mass of the people in the fidelity of the Pres- 
 ident, and in the skill of his generals, promoted a^great 
 degree of confidence in the speedy ending of the war, with 
 an unconditional restoration of the authority of the Union. 
 
 MR. LINCOLN IS RE-NOMINATED FOR THE 
 PRESIDENCY. 
 
 On the 7th of June, 18G4, the National Union Conven 
 tion met at Baltimore. The re-nomination of Mr. Lincoln 
 for President of the United States was clearly foreshad- 
 owed, and the formal naming of him as the choice of the 
 people for a second term in his high office, was looked for 
 as a matter of course. He was re-nominated by acclama- 
 tion, and Andrew Johnson of Tennessee, who, like him- 
 self, was a self-made man, was nominated for the "Vice- 
 ]*residency. The platform of principles adopted by the 
 convention was brief and pithy. We transfer some per- 
 tinent extracts to our pages- 
 
 I 
 
LlFis. A^TD SKRVICICS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 183 
 
 "i?esoZuerf, That it is the highest duty of every American citi- 
 zen to maintain against all their enemies the integrity of the 
 Union and the paramount authority of the Constitution and 
 laws of the United States ; and that, laying aside all differences 
 of political opinion, we pledge ourselves as Union men, animated 
 b5 a common sentiment, and aiming at a common object, to do 
 every thing in our power to aid the Government in quelling by 
 force of arms the rebellion now raging against its authority, and 
 In bringing to the punishment due to their crimes, the rebels 
 and traitors arrayed against it. 
 
 '^Resolved, That we approve the determination of the Gov- 
 ernment of the United States not to compromise with rebels, 
 nor to offer any terms of peace except such as may be based 
 upon an ' unconditional surrender' of their hostility and a re 
 turn to their just allegiance to the Constitution and laws of the 
 United States, and that we call upon the Government to main- 
 tain this position and to prosecute the war with the utmost 
 possible vigor to the complete suppression of the Rebellion, in 
 full reliance upon the self-sacrifice, the patriotism, the heroic 
 valor, and the undying devotion of the American people to their 
 country and its free institutions. 
 
 "Resolved, That, as Slavery was the cause, and now constitutes 
 the strength, of this rebellion, and as it must be always and 
 everywhere hostile to the principles of republican government, 
 justice and the national safety demand its utter and complete 
 extirpation from the soil of the republic ; and that we uphold 
 and maintain the acts and proclamations by which the Govern- 
 ment, in its own defence, has aimed a death-blow at this gigan- 
 tic evil. We are in favor, furthermore, of such an amendment 
 to the Constitution, to be made by the people in conformity 
 with its provisions, as shall terminate and forever prohibit the 
 existence of Slavery within the limits of the jurisdiction of the 
 United States. 
 
 "Resolved, That we approve and applaud the practical wis 
 dom, the unselfish patriotism, and unswerving fidelity to the 
 Constitution and the principles of American liberty, with which 
 Abraham Lincoln has discharged, under circumstances of un- 
 paralleled difBculty, the great duties and responsibilities of the 
 presidential ofiSce ; that we approve and indorse, as demanded 
 by the emergency, and essential to the preservation of the 
 nation, and as within the Constitution, the measures and acts 
 which he has adopted to defend the nation against its open and 
 secret foes ; that we approve especially the Proclamation of 
 riinancipation, and the employment as Union soldiers of i:2en 
 heretofore held in Slavery ; and that we have full confidence in 
 his determination to carry these and all other constitutional 
 measures essential to the salvation of the country into full and 
 complete effect." / 
 
184 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 On the 29th of August of the same year, the Democratic 
 Convention met at Chicago, and nominated George B. 
 McClellan and George H. Pendleton as its banner bearers. 
 General McClellan being named for the Presidency ana 
 Mr. Pendleton for the Yice-presidency. The platform of 
 the party, as laid down by this convention, set forth, 
 among other things, the following : 
 
 "Resolved, That this Convention does explicitly declare, as 
 the sense of tlie American people, that after four years of fail- 
 ure? to restore the Union by the experiment of war, during 
 which, under the pretence of a military necessity of a war 
 power higher than the Constitution, the Constitution itself has 
 been disregarded in every part, and pubhc liberty and private 
 right alike trodden down, and the miiterial prosperity of the 
 countiy essentially impaired ; justice, humanity, liberty, and tlie 
 public welfare, demand that immediate efforts be made for a 
 cessation of hostilities, with a view to an ultimate Convention 
 of all the States, or other peaceable means to the end that at 
 the earliest practicable moment peace may be restored on the 
 basis of the Federal Union of the States." 
 
 General McClellan, in his letter of acceptance to the 
 committee appointed by the Convention to notify him of 
 his nomination, virtually ignored the portion of the plat- 
 form given above, and he urged a vigorous prosecution of 
 the war. Much dissatisfaction in the Democratic party 
 grew out of the differences between the sentiments ex- 
 pressed by the platform and those of the principal candi- 
 date placed upon it, and for a time it seemed as though 
 the party would be wrecked in advance upon the rock of 
 these differences. Some of the leading peace men of the 
 party refused to support General McClellan, while the 
 War democracy denounced the platform in unmeasured 
 terras. 
 
 To use an expression of General McClellan's, the cam- 
 paign was " short, sharp, and decisive," and the candidates 
 of both parties came in for a liberal share of abusu and 
 ridiciile. 
 
LIFE AND SERVICHS OF ABIIAIIAM LINCOLN. ISo 
 
 PRESIDENT LINCOLN VT^^JTS PHILADELPHIA. 
 
 A sei'ies of raouster fairs was held, in 1864, in the prin- 
 cipal cities of the Union, for the purpose of aiding the funds 
 of the United States Sanitary Commission. Philadelphia 
 bold her great fair in June, and' on the sixteenth of the 
 moath, the President and Mrs. Lincoln, paid a visit to the 
 fair buildings, in Logan square. There was a huge crowd 
 present for the purpose of gazing upon the features of their 
 beloved Chief Magistrate. After a collation had been 
 partaken of, Mr. Lincoln made a characteristic address. 
 In speaking of the war, he said : 
 
 " War, at the best, is terrible, and this war of ours, in its 
 magnitude and its duration, is one of the most terrible. It has 
 deranged business, totally in many localities, and partially in all 
 localities. It has destroyed property, and ruined homes ; it has 
 produced a national debt and taxation unprecedented, at least 
 in this country. It has carried mourning to almost every home, 
 until it can almost be said that the ' heavens are hung in black.' 
 ********* 
 
 " It is a pertinent question, often asked in the mind pri- 
 vately, and from one to the other, ' when is the war to end ?' 
 Surely I feel as deep an interest in this question as any other 
 can, but I do not wish to name a day, or month, or a year when 
 it is to end. I do not wish to run any risk of seeing the time 
 come, without our being ready for the end, and for fear of dis- 
 appointment because the time had come, and not the end. We 
 accepted this war for an object, a worthy object, and the war 
 will end when that object is attained. Under God, I hope it 
 never will until that time. [G-reat cheering.] Speaking of the 
 present campaign, Gen. Grant is reported to have said, 'I am go- 
 ing through on this line if it takes all summer !' [Cheers.] 
 This war has taken three years ; it was begun, or accepted, upon 
 the line of restoring the national authority over the whole na- 
 tional domain — and for the xVmerican people, as far as my know- 
 ledge enables me to speak, I say, we are going thi'ough on this 
 line it" it takes three years more. [Cheers.] My friends, I did nut 
 knr w but that I might be called upon to say a few words before 
 I got away from here, but I did not know it was coming just 
 here. [Tjaughter.] I have never been in the habit of making 
 predictions in regard to the war, but I am almost tempted to 
 make one. If I were to hazard it, it is this : That Gr£.nt is this 
 evemng. with Gen. Meade and Gen. Hancock, of Pennsylvania, 
 and the brave officers and soldiers with him, in a position i'niui 
 
186 LIP^E AXI) SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN". 
 
 ■whence ho will never be dislodged until Richmond is taken, 
 [lond cheering], and I have but one single proposition to put 
 now, and peihaps I can best put it in the form of an interroga- 
 tory. If I shall discover that Gen. Grant, and the noble ofiicers 
 and men under him, can be greatly facilitated in their work by a 
 sudden pouring forward of men and assistance, will you give 
 them to me? [Cries of 'Yes!'] Then, 1 say, stand ready, 
 for ] am waiting for the chance. [Laughter and choers.] 1 
 Ih'Ank you, gentlemen." 
 
 The hint given by the President in his speech, was un- 
 dtr.stood when a call was made the following mouth foi 
 500,000 more men. 
 
 WASHINGTON THREATENED. 
 
 Towards the middle of July, 1864, rebel raiders, under 
 command of the traitor Breckinridge, audaciously threat- 
 ened Washington. They approached as near the capital 
 as Tenallytown, burned the residence of Postmaster Blair, 
 at Silver Springs, destroyed passenger trains on the rail- 
 road between Baltimore and the Susquehanna, and burnt 
 a large part of Chambersburg. President Lincoln re- 
 mained placidly in Washington during this exciting period, 
 
 "TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN." 
 
 While these stirring events were in progress near the 
 national capital, representations were made to President 
 Lincoln that certain parties, who professed to represent 
 the rebel government, were at the Clifton House, at 
 Niagara Falls, and anxious to enter into negotiations with 
 a view to the restoration of peace. Clement C. Clay, 
 Beverly Tucker, and George N. Sanders were the active 
 agents of the South in this business, and they succeeded 
 in persuading Mr. Horace Greeley that much good would 
 come of a conference. The project was doubtless a trick 
 to induce Mr. Lincoln to recognize the Southern Con- 
 federacy, and to trap him into a betrayal of bis plans. 
 But the following manifesto issued by him avcrturned all 
 tho.se hopes . 
 
LIFE AND SEKVIGE3 OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 187 
 
 -Executive Ma.ion, Washington, July 18 \^U.-Towhom 
 it ma^roZern- Any proposition ^vliich embraces the restora- 
 
 rontrol the armies now at war ag.amst the Un ted btates s^ui 
 be rer-eivcd and considered by the Execiitive Uoverrmenl of 
 fhauit'd States, and will be ^«\by ^^^^ .fXereJf^.tT, 
 Bubstantial and collateral points, and ^he bearers tl^reo^ball 
 have safe conduct both ways. Abraham Lincoln. 
 
 Mr Clay and Mr. Ilolcombe, who were among 
 the chief plenipotentiaries of Jefferson Davis, took high 
 offence at the tone and language of this paper, and they 
 responded to it in a tone of ill temper that evinced their 
 bitter disappointment at the failure of the trap set for the 
 feet of Mr. Lincoln. Their complaints had no other effect 
 than to make their authors ridiculous in the sight of the 
 
 world. 
 
 THE FALL OP ATLANTA. 
 
 In the month of September, 1864, intelligence arrived of 
 the fall of Atlanta, and the President appointed a day of 
 Thanksgiving, for the success of an event that none who 
 were not in the secrets of the administration could have 
 imagined the importance of at that time. 
 
 MR. LINCOLN IS RE-ELECTED. 
 The Presidential election took place upon the eighth of 
 November, 1864, and it resulted in the triumph of Mr. Lin- 
 coln in every loyal State except Kentucky, New Jersey and 
 Delaware. In some of the States, their soldiers in the 
 field were allowed to vote, and the military vote was 
 almost invariably cast for Lincoln and Johnson. The 
 official returns for the entire vote polled summed up 
 4,034,189. Of these Mr. Lincoln received 2,223,035, 
 and McClellan received 1,811,754, leaving a majority of 
 411,281 on the popular vote. Mr. Lincoln was elected 
 by a plurality in 1860. In 1864 his majority was decided 
 and unmistakable. 
 
 This result was considered a full cndorsemei^t of the 
 
188 LIFE AND SilRVICES 07 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 policy of Mr. Lincoln, and the war was more vigorously 
 prosecuted from this time, many of its opponents being 
 at least silenced, if they were not convinced. 
 
 MR. LINCOLN MAKES A SPEECH UPON HIS 
 ELECTION. 
 
 At a late hour on the night of the election, the Frcsi- 
 
 dent was serenaded by a club of Pennsylvanians, who 
 
 notified him of the fact of his being the choice of the 
 
 people for a second term. He responded as follows : 
 
 "Friends and Fellow-Citizens: Even before I had been in- 
 formed by you that this compliment was paid me by loyiil 
 citizens of Pennsylvania friendly to me, I bad inferred that you 
 were of that portion of ray countrymen who tbinlc that tlie 
 beat interests of the nation are to be subserved by the support 
 of the present administration. I do not pretend to say that 
 you, who think so, embrace all the patriotism and loyalty of 
 the country ; but I do believe, and I trust without personal in- 
 terest, that the welfare of the country does require that such 
 support and endorsement be given. I earnestly believe that 
 the consequences of this day's work, if it be as you assume, 
 and as now seems probable, will be to the lasting advantage if 
 not to the very salvation of the country. I cannot, at this 
 hour, say what lias been the result of the election, but what- 
 ever it may be, I have no desire to modify this opinion : that 
 all who have labored to-day in be^xulf of the Union organization, 
 have wrought for the best interest of their country and the 
 world, not only for the present but for all future ages. / am 
 thankful to God for this approval of the people; but tvhile 
 deeply grateful for this mark of their confidence in me, if I 
 knoiv my heart, my gratitude is free from any taint of per- 
 sonal triumph. I do not impugn the motives of any one op- 
 posed to me. It is no pleasure to me to triumph over any one, 
 but I give thanks to the Almighty for this evidence of the 
 peuple's resolution to stand by free government and the rights 
 of humanity 
 
 LAST ANNUAL MESSAGE OF MR. LINCOLN. 
 
 On the sixth of December, ISfit, Mr. Ijincoln sent into 
 Congress his last annual Message. After dwelling at 
 length upon our foreign relations, the state of the country, 
 and the results of the election, which had at once demon- 
 Btraied the strength of the people and their devotion to 
 tlie cause of the Union, he said : 
 
LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 189 
 
 " The public purpose to establish and maintain the national 
 authority, is unchanged, and, as we believe, unchangeable. 
 The manner of continuing the effort remains to choose. On 
 careful consideration of all the evidence accessible, it seems to 
 me that no attempt at negotiation with the insurgent leader 
 could result in any good. lie would accept nothing short of 
 severance of the Union — precisely what we will not and cannot 
 give. His declarations to this effect are explicit and oft- 
 repeated. He does not attempt to deceive us. He affords us 
 no excuse to deceive ourselves. He cannot voluntarily ro- 
 accept the Union. We cannot voluntarily yield it. Between 
 him and us the issue is distinct, single and inflexible. It is an 
 issue which can only be tried by war, and decided by victory. 
 If we yield we are beaten. If the Southern people fail him, he 
 is beaten. Either way, it would be the victory and defeat fol- 
 lowing war. What is true, however, of him who heads the 
 insurgent cause, is not necessarily true of those who follow. 
 Although he cannot re-accept the Union, they can. * * * * 
 In presenting the abandonment of armed resistance to the 
 National authority, on the part of the insurgents, as the only 
 indispensable condition to ending the war on the part of the 
 government, I retract nothing heretofore said as to slavery. I 
 repeat the declaration made a year ago, that while I remain in 
 my present position I shall not attempt to retract or modify 
 the Emancipation Proclamation, nor shall I, retiTrn to slavery 
 any person who is free by the terms of that proclamation or 
 by any of the acts of Congress. If the people should, by 
 whatever mode or means, make it an Execut.ve duty to re- 
 enslave such persons, another, and not I, must bte their instru- 
 ment to perform it. In stating a single condition of peace, I 
 mean simply to say that the war will cease on the part of the 
 government whenever it shall have ceased on the part of thodQ 
 who began it." 
 
 MORE TROOPS WANTED. 
 Oq the 19th of December, 1864, a call was made for 
 300,000 more men to fiuish up the great work on hand in 
 the field. 
 
 MR. LINCOLN HAS AN INTERVIEW WITH 
 REBEL COMMISSIONERS. 
 
 lu the early part of Feln-uary, 1865, application was 
 made to the National Government for permission for 
 Messrs. A. H. Stephens of Georgia, E,. M. T. Hunter of 
 Virginia, and J. A. Campbell of Alabama, tc pass through 
 the Union lines as quasi commissioners fron\ the rebel 
 12 
 
190 LIFE AlkD SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 government to treat for peace. Permission was granted, 
 with the understanding that the parties named were not 
 to be allowed to land. This determination upon the part 
 of the Federal authorities caused much annoyance to the 
 rebel agents, as they made no secret of their desire to 
 visit Washington. Mr. Seward met the distinguished 
 rebels named above, at Fortress Monroe. The Secretary 
 of State telegraphed for the President, and Mr. Lincoln 
 at once repaired to that point, where an interview was 
 had on board the steamer River Queen. 
 
 The conference lasted four hours, and was perfectly 
 friendly and good-tempered throughout. Not a word was 
 said on either side indicating any but amicable sentiments. 
 On our side the conversation was mainly conducted by the 
 President ; on theirs by Mr. Hunter, Mr. Stephens occa- 
 sionally taking part. The rebel commissioners said 
 nothing whatever of their personal views or wishes, but 
 spoke solely and exclusively for their government, and, at 
 the outset and throughout the conference, declared their 
 entire lack of authority to make, receive, or consider any 
 proposition whatever looking toward a close of the war, 
 except on the basis of a recognition of the independence 
 of the Confederate States as a preliminary condition. The 
 President presented the subject to them in every conceiva- 
 ble form, suggesting the most liberal and considerate mod- 
 ification of whatever, in the existing legislation and action 
 of the United States Government, might be regarded as 
 specially hostile to the rights and interests, or wounding 
 to the pride of the Southern people — but in no single par- 
 ticular could he induce them to swerve for a moment from 
 their demand for recognition. They did not present this 
 conspicuously as resting on their own convictions of 
 wishes, but as the condition which their government had 
 made absolutely indispensable to any negotiations or dis- 
 cussions whatever concerning peace. 
 
LIFE AXD SKRVICKS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 191 
 
 President Lincoln, on the other hand, informed them, 
 at every point, that such recognition was utterly and 
 totally out of the question ; that the United States could 
 stop the war and arrest, even temporarily, the movement 
 of its armies, only on the condition precedent, that the 
 authority of the National Government should be recog- 
 nized and obeyed over the whole territory of the United 
 States. This point conceded, he assured them that upon 
 every other matter of difference they would be treated 
 with the utmost liberality ; but without that recognition 
 the war must and would go on. 
 
 All the conversation which took place between the re- 
 spective parties came back to, and turned upon, this radical 
 and irreconcilable diffei'ence. Neither side could be 
 swerved a hair's breadth from its position. And, there- 
 fore, the attempt at negotiation was an utter failure. 
 Upon separating, it was distinctly understood and explic- 
 itly stated that the attitude and action of each Govern- 
 ment was to be precisely what it would have been if this 
 interview had never taken place. So this negotiation 
 went for nought, and President Lincoln and Mr. Seward 
 returned to Washington ; while the discomfited rebel 
 commissioners made the best of their way back to Rich- 
 mond. 
 
 IS INAUGURATED PRESIDENT OF THE 
 UNITED STATES FOR A SECOND TERM. 
 
 On the fourth of March, 1865, Abraham Lincoln was 
 re-inaugurated President of the United States for a second 
 term of four years, the demonstrations on the occasion being 
 of the most imposing description. Arriving at the East 
 ])orlico of the Capitol, the President, President-elect, took 
 a seat provided for him, and the other distinguished persons 
 filling the whole vast platform had places assigned to them. 
 The President, President-elect, then advanced to the front. 
 
192 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLNT. 
 
 and Chief Justice Chase administered the oath of office, 
 which the President pronounced in a clear, solemn voice 
 as follows : — 
 
 " I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the oSic« 
 of the President of the United States, and will, to the best of 
 my ability, protect and defend the Constitution of the United 
 States " 
 
 The President then delivered his Inaugural Address, as 
 follows ; 
 
 INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 
 
 Fellow- Countrymen — At this second appearing to take the 
 oath of the Presidential ofiBce, there is less occasion for an ex- 
 tended address than there was at the first. Then a statement 
 somewLat in detail of a course to be pursued seemed fitting and 
 proper. Now, at the expiration of four years, during which 
 public declarations have been constantly called forth on every 
 point and phase of the great contest which still absorbs the 
 attention and engrosses the energy of the nation, little that is 
 new could be presented. The progress of our arms, upon which 
 all else chiefly depends, is as well known to the public as to 
 myself, and it is, I trust, reasonably satisfactory and encouraging 
 to all. 
 
 With high hope for the future, no prediction in regard to it is 
 ventured. On the occasion corresponding to this four years 
 ago, all thoughts were anxiously directed to an impending civil 
 war. All dreaded it. All sought to avert it. 
 
 While the Inaugural Address was being delivered from this 
 place, devoted altogether to the saving of the Union without 
 war, insurgent agents were in the city seeking to destroy it 
 without war — seeking to dissolve the Union and divide the 
 effects by negotiation. 
 
 Both parties deprecated war, but one of them would make 
 war rather than let the nation survive ; and the other would 
 accept war rather than perish — and the war came. One-eighth 
 of the whole population were colored slaves, not distributed 
 generally over the Union, but localized in the Southern part 
 of it. 
 
 These slaves constituted a peculiar and beneficial interest. 
 All knew that this interest was somehow the cause of the war 
 To strengthen, perpetuate and extend this interest was the object 
 for which the insurgents would rend the Union even by war, 
 while the Government claimed no right to do more than to 
 restrict the territorial enlargement of it. Neither party ex- 
 pected for the war the magnitude nor the duration which it has 
 already attained. Neither anticipated that the cause of the 
 
LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 193 
 
 conflict might cease with or even before the conflict itself should 
 cease. Each looked for an easier triumph and a result less 
 fundamental and astounding. Both read the same Bible and 
 pray to the same God, and each invokes His aid against the 
 other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a 
 just God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of 
 ether men's faces. 
 
 But let us judge not that we be not judged. The prayers of 
 both could not be answered ; that of neither has been answeied 
 fully. The Almighty has His own purpo;jes. " Woe unto th? 
 world beijause oi" offences, for it must needs be that offences 
 come, but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh." ]f 
 we shall suppose that American slavery in one of those offences 
 which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which, 
 having continued through His appointed time, He now wills to 
 remove and that He gives to both North and South this terrible 
 war as the woe due to those by whom the offence came, shall we 
 discern therein. any departure from these Divine attributes which 
 the believers in a loving God always ascribe to him ? Fondly do 
 we hope, fervently do we pray that this mighty scourge of war 
 may speedily pass away. Yet if God wills that it continue unti) 
 all the wealth piled by the bondman's two hundred and fifty 
 years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of 
 blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with 
 the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must 
 be said, "the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous 
 altogether." 
 
 With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in 
 the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up 
 the Nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the 
 battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may 
 achieve and cherish a just and a lasting peace among ourselves 
 and with all nations. 
 
 PRESIDENT LINCOLN GOES TO "THE FRONT." 
 
 On the 24th of March, 1865, Mr. Lincoln went to " tbo 
 ront," just as the lines of General Grant were being drawn 
 ighter and tighter around Richmond. He witnessed a 
 )art of the assault upon Petersburg, and was at City Foint 
 vhen Richmond fell into the possession of the Federal 
 orces on the 2d of April, 1865. He pushed on to the rebel 
 capital, held a levee in the mansion of the fugitive Jeffer- 
 son Davis, and left the same evening for City Point, re- 
 turning to Washington soon after. 
 
194 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 GEN ERAL LEE SUBRENDERS. 
 
 The fall of Ri chmond was followed speedily by the sur- 
 render of Lee. The terms of capitulation determined upon 
 are embraced in the following note from General Grant to 
 General Lee : 
 
 "Appomattox Court House, April 9th. — General Robert E. 
 Lee, Army C. S. — In accordance with the substance of my 
 letter to you of the 8th inst., I propose to receive the surrender 
 of the army of Northern Virginia on the following terms, to 
 wit: Rolls of all the officers and men to be made in duplicate, 
 one copy to be given to an officer designated by me, the other 
 to be retained by such officer or officers as you may designate, 
 the officers to give their individual paroles not to take up arms 
 against the Government of the United States mitil properly 
 exchanged, and each company or regimental commander to 
 sign a like parole for the men of their commands. The arms, 
 artillery, and public property to be parked and stacked, and 
 turned over to the officers appointed by me to receive them. 
 This will not embrace the side arms of the officers, nor their 
 private horses or baggage. This done, each officer and man 
 will be allowed to return to their homes, not to be disturbed by 
 United States authority so long as they observe their parole 
 and the laws in force were they may reside. 
 
 " Very Respectfully, " U. S. Grant, 
 
 " Ueuienant-General.'^ 
 
 These easy terms were accepted, and it is known that 
 President Lincoln, in dictating them, was actuated by a 
 kindly spirit of conciliation. 
 
 THE PRESIDENT RETURNS TO WASHINGTON. 
 
 On the nth of April, 1865, there was high rejoicing at 
 tb^ National Capital. The public buildings were illuminated 
 at night, in honor of the great victories o^ the Union 
 arms, and the people were happy at the prospect of a 
 speedy peace. President Lincoln was serenaded at the 
 White House. The President made a responsive speech, 
 in substance as follows: 
 
LIFE AND SERVICES OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 195 
 
 MR. LINCOLN'S LAST SPEECH. 
 
 " We meet this evening not in sorrow, but in gladness of 
 heart. The evacuation of Petersburg and Richmond, and the 
 Burrender of the principal insurgent army, give hopes of a 
 righteous and speedy peace, whose joyous expression cannot be 
 restrained. In the midst of this, however, He from whom all 
 blessings flow must not be forgotten. A call for a national 
 thanksgiving is being prepared, and will be duly promulgated. 
 Nor must those whose harder part gives us the cause of rejoic- 
 ing be overlooked. Their honors must not be parceled out with 
 others. I myself was near the front, and had the high pleasure 
 of transmitting much of the good news to yon. But no part of 
 the honor or execution is mine. To General Grant, his skillful 
 officers and brave men, all belongs. The gallant navy stood 
 ready, but was not in reach to ^ake active part. By these re- 
 cent successes the re-inauguration of the national authority — 
 reconstruction, which has had a large share of thought from 
 the first — is pressed much more closely upon our attention. It 
 is fraught with great difficulty. Unlike a war between indepen- 
 dent nations, there is no authorized organ for us to treat with. 
 No one man has authority to give up the rebellion for any other 
 man. We must simply begin with and mould from disorganized 
 and discordant elements. 
 
 *** ***** 
 
 " In the annual message of December, 1863, and the accom- 
 panying proclamation, I presented a plan of reconstruction, as 
 the phrase goes, which I promised, if adopted by any State, 
 would be acceptable to and sustained by the Executive Govern- 
 ment of the nation. I distinctly stated that this was not the 
 only plan which might, possibly, be acceptable ; and I also dis- 
 tinctly protested that the Executive claimed no right to say 
 when or whether members should be admitted to seats in Con- 
 gress from such States. This plan was in advance submitted 
 to the then cabinet, and approved by every member of it. One 
 of them suggested that 1 should then and in that connection 
 apply the Emancipation Proclamation to the theretofore ex^ 
 cepted parts of Virginia and Louisiana, that I should drop the 
 suggestion about apprenticeship for freed people, and that I 
 should omit the protest against my own power in regard to the 
 admission of members of Congress. But even he approved 
 every part and parcel of the plan which has since been employed 
 or touched by the action of Louisiana. The new constitution 
 of Louisiana, declaring emancipation for the whole State, prac- 
 tically applies the proclamation to the part previously excepted. 
 It does not adopt apprenticeship for freed people, and is silent, 
 as it could not well be otherwise, about the admission of mem- 
 bers to Congress. So that, as it applied to Louisiana, csry 
 
196 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN". 
 
 member of the Cabinet fully approved the plan. The message 
 went to Congress, and I received many commendations of the 
 plan, written and verbal, and not a single objection to it, from 
 any processed emancipationist, came to my knowledge imtil 
 after the news reached Washington that the people of Louis- 
 iana harf begun to move in accordance with it. From abou*- 
 July, 1862, I had corresponded with different persons supposea 
 to be interested in seel<ihg a reconstruction of a State Goveri,' 
 ment for Louisiana. When the message of 1863, with the plan 
 before mentioned, reached New Orleans, General Banks wrote 
 me that he was confident that the people, with his military co- 
 operation, would reconstruct substantially on that plan. I 
 wrote to him and some of tliem to try it. They tried it, and 
 the result is known. Such has been my only agency in getting 
 up the Louisiana government. As to sustaining it, my promise 
 is out, as before stated. But as bad promises are better broken 
 than kept, I shall treat this as a bad promise and break it when- 
 ever I shall be convinced that keeping it is adverse to the public 
 interest; but I have not yet been so convinced. 
 
 ******** 
 
 " We all agree that the seceded States, so called, are out of 
 their proper practical relation with the Union, and that the 
 sole object of the government, civil and military, in regard to 
 those States, is to again get them into their proper practical 
 relation. I believe that it is not only possible, but, in fact, 
 easier, to do this without deciding, or even considering, whether 
 those States have ever been out of the Union, than with it. 
 Finding themselves safely at home, it would be utterly imma- 
 terial whether they had been abroad. Let us all join in doing 
 tlie acts necessary to restore the proper practical relations 
 between those States and the nation, and each forever after 
 innocently indulge his own opinion whether in doing the acts 
 he brought the States from withoxit into the Union, or only 
 gave them proper assistance, they never having been out of it. 
 The amount of' constituency, so to speak, on which the Louisi- 
 ana Government rests, would be more satisfactory to all if it 
 contained 50,000, or 30,000, or even 20,000, instead of 12,000, as 
 it does. It is also unsatisfactory to some that the elective 
 franchise is not given to the colored man. I would myself 
 prefer that it were now conferred on the very intelligent, and 
 on those who serve our cause as soldiers. Still the question is 
 not whether the Louisiana government, as it stands, is quite all 
 that is desirable. The question is, will it be wiser to take it as 
 it is, and help to improve it, or to reject and disperse? Can 
 Louisiana be brought into proper practical relation with the 
 Union sooner by sustaining or by discarding her new State 
 government? Some twelve thousand voters in the heretofore 
 slave State of Louisiana have sworn allegiance to the Union, 
 assumed to be the rightful political power of the State, held 
 
\ 
 
LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 197 
 
 elections, organized a State government, adopted a Free State 
 constitution, giving the benefit of public schools equally to 
 black and white, and empowering the legislature to confer the 
 elective franchise upon the colored man. This Legislature has 
 already voted to ratify the constitutional amendment recently 
 passed by Congress, abolishing slavery throughout the nation. 
 These twelve thousand persciiis are thus fully committed to the 
 Union and to perpetuate freedom in the State ; committed to 
 the very things, and nearly all things, the nation wants, and 
 they ask the nation's recognition and its assistance to make 
 good this committal. Now if we reject and spurn them, we do 
 our utmost to disorganize and disperse them. We in fact say 
 to the white man, you are worthless or worse ; we will neither 
 help you nor be helped by you. To the blacks we say : This 
 cup of liberty which these, your old masters, held to your lips, 
 we will dash from you, and leave you to the chances of gather- 
 ing the spilled and scattered contents in some vague and unde- 
 fined when, where, and how. If this course, discouraging and 
 paralyzing both white and black, has any tendency to bring 
 Louisiana into proper practical relations with the Union, I have 
 so far been imable to perceive it. If, on the contrary, we 
 recognize and sustain the new government of Louisiana, the 
 converse of all this is made true. We encourage the hearts 
 and nerve the arms of 12,000 to adhere to their work, and argue 
 for it, and proselyte for it, and fight for it, and feed it, and grow 
 it, and ripen it to a complete success. The colored man, too, 
 in seeing all united for him, is inspired with vigilance, and 
 energy, and daring to the same end. Grant that he desires the 
 elective franchise, will he not attain it sooner by saving the 
 already advanced steps toward it, than by rimning backward 
 over them ? Concede that the new government of Louisiana 
 is to what it should be as the ef};g is to the fowl, we shall sooner 
 have the fowl by hatching the egg than by smashing it. 
 [Laughter.] 
 
 * * * * * * * * 
 
 "Can Louisiana be brought into proper practical relation 
 with the Union sooner by sustaining or by discarding her new 
 State government ? What has been said of Louisiana will 
 apply to other States. And yet so great peculiarities pertain 
 to each State, and such important and sudden changes occur 
 in the same State, and withal so new and unprecedented is the 
 whole case, that no exclusive and inflexible plan can safely be 
 prescribed as to details and collaterals. Such exclusive and 
 inflexible plan would surely become a new entanglement. Im 
 port ant principles may and must be inflexible. In the present 
 situation, as the phrase goes, tt may be my duly to make soine 
 new announcement to the people of the South. I am consider- 
 ing, and shall not fail to act when satisfied that action Will be 
 proper." 
 
198 THE ASSASSINATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 ASSASSINATION OP PRESIDENT LINCOLN. 
 
 Henceforward, the Fourteenth claj of April, 1865, will 
 stand in the annals of our country equal jn importance 
 with the ever memorable Fourth of July, 1176. On the 
 l,th of April, 1861, the national flag was lowered on the 
 ramparts of Fort Sumter to the overwhelming forces of 
 the Rebellion. On the 14th of April, 1865, just four years 
 after the gallant Major Anderson run the Banner down 
 from the flag-staif and bore it away as a holy treasure to 
 the care of the loyal North, the same banner vindicated 
 in a thousand bloody battles, was again flung to the breeze 
 by the same noble hero, over the same spot whence it dis- 
 appeared in 1861. The 14th of April, 1865, was a day 
 of jubilee throughout the nation. Richmond had been 
 captured. Lee's army of veterans, the main stay of the 
 Rebellion, was defeated, broken, and prisoners. It's sur- 
 render had sealed the fate of treason. Johnston could 
 not hold out before the invincible legions of Sherman, and 
 Peace, walking in the footsteps of Victory, was at hand. 
 The nation was exultant. Its great heart throbbed with 
 a joy inexpressible, and throughout the length and breadth 
 of the land preparations for celebrating the Fourteenth 
 day of April had been made. At twelve o'clock, the stars 
 and stripes were floating in every city, town and hamlet, 
 on many a mountain and hill-top, in every valley, and on 
 all the plains. North, East and West, in honor of their 
 restoration to Sumter and their triumph over the black 
 flag of anarchy and slavery. 
 
 Monday night, April the l^th, was designed as a night 
 of illumination, and there was not a loyal household :n 
 the land that had failed to prepare its flags, its portraits 
 of our heroes, and its candles, lamps or bonfires for the 
 glorious occasion. 
 
 Bat if the day was to be celebrated with such wild 
 demonstrations of delight as our fathers and their children 
 
THE ASSASSINATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 199 
 
 were used to honor the Anniversary of our Independence 
 nf Britain, henceforth associated with the laurels of vic- 
 tory are to be found entwined the sombre weeds of woe, 
 the sighing leaves of the yew tree, and the silently waving 
 ;ranches of the willow. 
 
 Assassination stalked abroad with the shadows of that 
 eventful night and 
 
 Abraham Lincoln, the respected, revered, and beloved 
 Leader and President, fell beneath the hand of one who 
 had not the courage to look into his manly and honest 
 face and commit the deed, but stealthily and cowardly ap- 
 proached him from behind and fired the fatal shot which 
 deprived the country of its best and purest magistrate 
 since the time of Washington. 
 
 During the day, Mr. Lincoln had been unusually cheer- 
 ful. His heart which entertained " malice toward none 
 and charity for all" was filled with a happiness which he 
 vainly tried to express in words to those around him. 
 His face told more than his lips could utter, and at the 
 Cabinet Meeting held that day, the members remarked 
 that he was more than ever cheerful, and seemed to feel 
 that the great burden which had been weighing so heavily 
 upon his spirits for the four years previous, was at last 
 lifting from his breast. 
 
 The hour had come — the long looked for, the often 
 prayed for hour, when the carnage which treason had 
 initiated was stayed, and smiling Peace again furled her 
 wings over a land restored to harmony. Realizing this, 
 as only the patriotic heart of Mr. Lincoln could realize 
 so momentous a fact, he was happy in the fullest and 
 broadest sense of the word. Amid the glad thoughts 
 which rushed like waves of joy through his bosom, there 
 was no one which whispered of the terrible fate which 
 awaited him, the horrible shock which with the next 
 morning's dawn was to strike the rejoicing nation, his 
 
200 THE ASSASSIXATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 own dearly loved people, dumb with grief — speecLlesa 
 with a woe that had no voice for utterance. 
 
 Late in the afternoon, the Hon. Schuyler Colfax, 
 Speaker of the House of Representatives and a warm per- 
 sonal friend of Mr. Lincoln, was with the President. Mr 
 Colfax had called to pay his last respects to Mr. Lincoln 
 ere setting out on a tour to the Rocky Mountains. The 
 President, ever mindful of the people, requested him to 
 say to the miners of Nevada and the pioneers of the Far 
 West, that he remembered them with much affection, and 
 he desired that they should be encouraged in their pur- 
 poses to develope the resources of that hitherto but little 
 known region of our Republic. His sole ambition ap- 
 peared then, as it always had during the war, and through 
 his whole life, to be that of a benefactor to his country. 
 
 During the day, President Lincoln had been invited to 
 visit Ford's Theatre in the evening, and it was also an- 
 nounced in the papers that Lieutenant-General Grant 
 would be present. When Speaker Colfax rose to leave 
 the Presidential Mansion, Mr. Lincoln asked him if ho 
 would not accompany himself and Mrs. Lincoln to the 
 theatre, but Mr. Colfax wishing to leave the city in a few 
 hours, declined the urgent invitation, and shaking hands 
 with the President in earnest farewell, and receiving 
 his kind remembrances for the miners of the Far off West, 
 left never again to see his illustrious friend in conscious 
 life. 
 
 Mr. Lincoln, in company with his lady. Miss Harris, 
 daughter of Senator Harris of New York, and Major 
 Rathburn of the U. S. A., reached the theatre shortly 
 before nine o'clock, and was received with a perfect tem- 
 pest of applause, the audience rising, cheering and waving 
 handkerchiefs and hats tumultuously. The President ac- 
 knowledged the compliment by bowing repeatedly from 
 his box, his face exhibiting a radiant pleasure, indicating 
 
THE ASSASSINATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 201 
 
 the gratitude which filled his heart. It was a proud mo- 
 ment, and yet he was a man who felt no pride except in 
 the discharge and accomplishment of duty. 
 
 THE ASSASSINATION. 
 
 About ten o'clock in the evening, while the play, "Our 
 American Cousin," was progressing, a stranger, who proved 
 to be John Wilkes Booth, an actor of some note, worked 
 his way into the proscenium box occupied by the presi- 
 dential party, and leveling a pistol close behind the head 
 of Mr. Lincoln, he fired, and the ball was lodged deep in 
 the brain of the President. The assassin then drew a 
 dirk, and cutting right and left with it, he sprang from 
 the box, flourishing the weapon aloft, and shouted as he 
 reached the stage the motto upon the escutcheon of the 
 State of Virginia, " Sic Semper Tijrannis .'" The miscre 
 ant dashed across the stage, and before the audience or 
 the actors could recover from their amazement and be- 
 wilderment, or realize the real position of affairs, the mur- 
 derer had mounted a fleet horse in waiting in an alley in the 
 rear of the theatre, and galloping off, he escaped for a time. 
 
 The screams of Mrs. Lincoln first disclosed to the audi- 
 ence the fact that the President was shot, when all rose, 
 many pressing toward the stage, and hundreds of per- 
 sons exclaiming, " Hang him ! Hang him !" The excite- 
 ment was of the wildest nature. Many rushed for the 
 President's box, while others cried out, " Stand back I 
 Give him fresh airl" and called for stimulants. It was 
 not known at first where he was wounded, the most of 
 those about him thinking that he was shot through the 
 heart; but after opening his vest, and finding no wound 
 in his breast, it was discovered that he was shot in the 
 head between the left ear and the centre of the back part 
 of the head. In a few moments he was borne to a private 
 house, Mr. Peterson's, just opposite the theatre, where 
 the Surgeon-General, and several prominent physicians 
 
202 THE DYING SCENES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 and surgeons were speedily summoned. Meanwhile the 
 members of the Cabiuet, with the exception of Secretary 
 Seward, whose life had been attempted by an assassin at 
 about the same hour with the President, assembled in the 
 room where the Chief Magistrate of the nation lay dying. 
 Secretaries Stanton, Welles, Ushee, McCuLLOcti, 
 Attorney-General Speed, and Assistant Secretaries Matjn 
 SELL B. Field, of the Treasury, and Judge William T. 
 Otto, of the Interior, together with Speaker Colfax, and 
 several other prominent gentlemen were present. The 
 scene was one of extraordinary solemnity. The history 
 of the world does not furnish a parallel. Quiet, breath- 
 ing away his life serenely, unconscious of all around, sen- 
 sible to no pain, lay the great Man of the Nineteenth Cen- 
 tury, passing hence to that immortality which has been 
 accorded by Providence to few of earthly mould. 
 
 THE DYING SCENES. 
 
 All the long, weary night, the watchers stood by the 
 touch of the dying President. From the moment when 
 the fatal bullet entered his brain he never spoke, never 
 evinced any consciousness, but with closed eyes rested in 
 a repose which appeared to be the quiet of death. Mrs. 
 Lincoln and Captain Robert Lincoln several times en- 
 tered the chamber, but their grief was such that they tar- 
 ried but a brief time, tender friends urging them to remain 
 in the adjoining room. 
 
 Day dawned at length, and the tide of life ebbed more 
 rapidly, and at twenty-two minutes past seven o'clock, on 
 the morning of Saturday, April 15th, 1865, the President 
 breathed his last, closing his eyes as if falling to sleep, 
 and his countenance assuming an expression of perfect 
 serenity. There were no indications of pain, audit was 
 not known that he was dead until the gradually decreas- 
 ing respiration ceased altogether. 
 
THE DYING SCENES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 203 
 
 The Rev. Dr. Gurley, pastor of the Presbyterian Church, 
 in Washington, which Mr. Lincoln attended regularly 
 with his family, immediately on its being ascertained that 
 life was extinct, knelt at the bedside and offered an im- 
 pressive prayer, which was responded to by all present. 
 
 Dr. Gurley then proceeded to the front parlor, where Mrs. 
 Lincoln, Captain Robert Lincoln, Mr. John Hay, the Presi 
 dent's Private Secretary, and others were waiting, where 
 he again offered prayer for the consolation of the family. 
 
 The following minutes, taken by Di*. Abbott, show the 
 condition of the President throughout the night: — 11 
 P.M., pulse 44 ; 11'05 P.M., pulse 45, and growing 
 weaker; 1110 P. M., pulse 45 ; 11-15 P. M., pulse 42 ; 
 11-20 P. M., pulse 45, respiration 2t to 30; 11-25 P. M., 
 pulse 42; 11-32 P.M., pulse 48 and full; 11-40 P. M., 
 pulse 45; 11-45 P.M., pulse 45, respiration 22; 12-08 
 A. M., respiration 22; 12-15 A. M., respiration 21, echmose 
 of both eyes; 1230 A. M., pulse 54 ; 12-32 A. M., pulse 
 60 ; 12-35 A. M., pulse 66 ; 12-40 A. M., pulse 69 ; right 
 eye much swollen, and echmose ; 12*45 A. M., pulse 70, 
 respiration 27 ; 12-55 A. M., pulse 80, struggling motion 
 of arms; 1A.M., pulse 86, respiration 30; 130 A.M., 
 pulse 95, appearing easier; 1-45 A.M., pulse 87, very 
 quiet, respiration irregular, Mrs, Lincoln present. 2-10 
 A. M., Mrs. Lincoln retired with Robert Lincoln to an 
 adjoining room ; 2-30 A. M., the President is very quiet, 
 pulse 54, respiration 28; 252 A. M., pulse 48, respira- 
 tion 30; 3 A.M., visited again by Mrs. Lincoln; 3-25 
 A. M., respiration 24, and regular ; 3-25 A. M., prayer by 
 the Rev. Dr. Gurley; 4 A.M., respiration 26 and regu- 
 lar ; 4-15 A.M., pulse 00, respiration 25; 5-50 A. M., 
 respiration 28 and regular, sleeping; 6 A. M., pulse fail- 
 irg. respiration 28; 6-30 A.M., still failing and labored 
 breathing; 7 A. M., symptoms of immediate dissolution; 
 7-22 A.M., death. 
 
201 THE DYING SCENES OF ABRAnAM LINCOLN 
 
 Surrounding the death-bed of tneTresident were Secre- 
 taries Stanton, Welles, Usher, Attorney-General Speed, 
 Postmaster-General Dennison, M. T. Field, Assistant 
 Secretary of the Treasury ; Judge Otto, Assistant Secre - 
 tary of Interior ; General Halleck, General Meigs, Sena- 
 tor Sumner, F, R Andrews, of New York ; General Todd, 
 of Dacotah ; John Hay, Private Secretary ; Governor 
 Oglesby, of Illinois ; General Farnsworth, Mr. and Miss 
 Kenny, Miss Harris, Captain Robert Lincoln, son of the 
 President, and Dr. E. W. Abbott, R. K. Stone, C. D 
 Gatch, Neal Hall, and Leiberman. Secretary McCulloch 
 remained with the President until about 5 A. M., and 
 Chief Justice Chase, after several hours attendance during 
 the night, returned again early in the morning. 
 
 A special Cabinet meeting was called immediately after 
 the President's death, by Secretary Stanton, and held in 
 the room where the corpse lay. Secretaries Stantoa, 
 Welles, and Usher, Postmaster- General Dennison, and 
 Attorney- General Speed, were present. 
 
 THE AUTOPSY. 
 
 After his death, a complete examination was made of 
 the wound with the following result : The ball entered 
 the skull midway between the left ear and the centre of 
 the back of the head, and passed nearly to the right eye. 
 The ball and two loose fragments of lead were found in 
 the brain. Singularly enough, both orbital roofs were 
 fractured inwardly, properly from contre-coup. The tena- 
 city of life, was specially noticed by every surgeon 
 in attendance. The brain was taken out, but a consider- 
 able portion of it had already escaped from the wound. 
 
 The autopsy of the President was made in the presence 
 of Surgeon-General Barnes, Dr. Crane and Dr. Stone, of 
 Washington, and by Drs. Woodward, Notson, and Curtis, 
 of the regular army. 
 
 Shortly after the sorrowful event, the President's body 
 
THE MURDERER OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 205 
 
 was removed to the Executive Mansion in a hearse, and 
 wrapped in the American fing. It was escorted by a small 
 guard of cavalry, General Augur and other military officers 
 following on foot. A dense crowd accompanied the re- 
 mains to the White House, where a military guard ex- 
 cluded the crowd, allowing none but persons of the house- 
 hold and personal friends of the deceased to enter the 
 premises. 
 
 The corpse was laid out in the room known as the 
 guests' room, in the northwest wing of the White House, 
 dressed in the suit of black clothes worn by him at his 
 last inauguration. A placid smile rested upon the fea- 
 tures, and the deceased seemed to be in a calm sleep, 
 while flowers were placed upon the pillow and over the 
 breast above the kindest heart that ever throbbed. 
 
 THE MURDERER OP PRESIDENT LINCOLN, 
 AND WHAT BECAME OP HIM. 
 
 The murderer of Mr. Lincoln was John Wilkes Booth, 
 an actor, and a native of Harford County, Maryland. 
 During the continuance of the rebellion he was an ardent 
 Secessionist, and he made no concealment of his warm 
 sympathy with armed treason. He had frequently threat- 
 ened to assassinate the President, and this threat was 
 executed in tlie tragic and dramatic manner described. 
 
 The assassin made his way on horseback into St. 
 Mary's county, where he lay concealed for some days, 
 eluding his pursuers, although the rewards for his capture 
 amounted in the aggregate to over one hundred thousand 
 dollars. It was, however, pretty conclusively ascertained 
 Ihat he was iu this locality, and parties of cavalry finally 
 closed in around him, so as to compel him to beat a retreat. 
 On Sunday, April 23d, 18G5, Colonel Baker ascertained 
 that Booth, and an accomplice named Harold, had crossed 
 the Potomac river in the noigliborhood of Swann Point, and 
 on Monday morning, April 2 llli, First Lieutenant Edward 
 13 
 
206 THE MURDERER OF ABRAHAM LIXCOLN. 
 
 Doherty, 16tli New York Cavalry, with a detachment of 
 twenty-five cavalrymen of that regiment, aud accomi)iinied 
 by some of Colonel Baker's detectives, proceeded by 
 steamer to Belle Plain. 
 
 On Tuesday afternoon, April 25th, a man named Jett, 
 by whom Booth and Harold had been ferried across the 
 Rappahannock river at Mathias Point, was arrested. At 
 first, Jett refused to communicate anything ; but upon 
 being threatened with instant death if he did not, he 
 agreed to lead the party to the place where Booth and 
 Harold were concealed. They were found on Tuesday 
 night, in a barn, on the premises of Mr. Garrett, about 
 three miles from Port Royal. They had ridden there 
 from the ferry, both mounted on one horse. 
 
 The cavalry surrounded the barn and summoned the in- 
 mates to surrender. At first Booth insisted that he was 
 alone. He talked with the men for three hours through the 
 crevices of the barn, through which he could see plainly 
 all that were outside, while they could distinguish nothing 
 within. He told Lieutenant Doherty he had a bead 
 drawn upon him, and could shoot him if he chose ; but did 
 not fire. 
 
 At last, as guerillas were gathering in the vicinity, and 
 Lieutenant Doherty feared his little party might be over- 
 powered and lose the prisoners, he determined to burn 
 them out. The barn was, therefore, set on fire, when 
 Harold gave himself up; but Booth refused to surrender, 
 and prepared to use his weapons. Sergeant Corbett then 
 fired through one of the crevices, and shot Booth in the 
 b(^ad. Upon being shot. Booth exclaimed, " It's ill up 
 new; I'm gone." He was found to be wounded in the 
 head, very nearly in the same spot where the fatal ball of 
 the assassin entered the head of President Lincoln. A 
 doctor was sent for, and brandy administered, but he died 
 in about two and a half hours after he was shot, lie did not 
 
ASSISTANT SECRETARY FIELD'S STATEAfENT. 207 
 
 deny his crime, but declared that he died for his country. 
 He was armed with two six-barrelled and one seven- 
 barrelled revolvers, and a large knife, probably the same 
 which he flourished on the stage on the occasion of the 
 assassination. He hads also three packages of pistol 
 cartridges, some bills of exchange, but only about one 
 liundred and seventy-five dollars in Treasury notes. The 
 bills of exchange were on a Canadian bank, were dated in 
 October, 1864, when Booth was there, and are received 
 as an important link in the chain of evidence showing that 
 the assassination was planned in Canada. The capture 
 occurred about three o'clock on Wednesday morning, 
 April 26th. His left leg was much swollen from an injury 
 received when he leaped from the President's box upon 
 the stage at the theatre, although he had told Dr. Mudd, 
 who had bandaged and set it, that he had been hurt by 
 his horse falling upon it. 
 
 His accomplice and companion, David C. Harold, who 
 had been with Booth ever since the crime was consum- 
 mated, was captured and taken to Washington in com- 
 pany with tJie body of the dead assassin. 
 
 STATEMENTS AND AFFIDAVITS IN RELATION 
 TO THE MURDER. 
 
 iMr. Field, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, de- 
 scribes the scene, and the momem when he received the 
 news of the murdei-, as follows : 
 
 MR. FIELD'S STATEMENT. 
 
 '• On Friday evening, April 14th, 1865, at about half-past 
 •en o'clock, I was sitting in the reading-room at Willard'a 
 Hotel, engaged -with a newspaper, when a person hurriedly en- 
 tered the hotel and passed up the hall, announcing in a loud 
 tone of voice that the President had just heen shot at Ford's 
 'i'heatre. I started to my feet, and had hardly reached the office 
 when two other persons came in and confirmed the report — 
 which at first I was hardly able to credit. I had parted about 
 fifteen minutes previously with Mr. Mellen, of the Treasury 
 l)epartmeut, who had retired to his room for the night, and 1 at 
 
20S ASSISTANT SECRETARY FIELD'S STATEMENT. 
 
 once went to Litn and communicated wliat had occurred, ai.d 
 ■we started together for the scene of the tragedy. 
 
 " We found the streets already crowded with excited masses 
 of people, and when we reached the theatre there was a very 
 large assemblage in front of it, as well as of the opposite house, 
 belonging to Mr. Peterson, into which the President had been 
 conveyed. The people around the theatre related to us sub- 
 stantially the general facts connected with the assassination 
 which have since been communicated to the public. The im- 
 pression was prevalent, however, at that time, that the Presi- 
 dent had been shot in the breast, about the region of the heart, 
 and that the wound might not prove fatal. After a few minutes 
 we crossed the street and endeavored to gain admission into the 
 house where Mr, Lincoln lay. This I effected with some little 
 difficulty. 
 
 " The first person whom I met in the hall was Miss Harris, 
 daughter of U. S. Senator Ira Harris, of New York, who had 
 been at the theatre with the Presidential party. She informed 
 me that the President was dying, but desired me not to communi- 
 cate the fact to Mrs. Lincoln, who was in the front parlor. 
 Several other persons who were there confirmed the statement 
 as to Mr, Lincoln's condition, I then entered the front par- 
 lor, where I found Mrs, Lincoln in a state of indescribable 
 agitation. She repeated over and over again, ' Why didn't he 
 kill me ? Why didn't he kill me ?' 
 
 " I asked if there was any service I could render her, and she 
 requested me to go for Dr. Stone, or some other eminent phy- 
 sician. Both Dr, Stone and Surgeon-General Barnes had been 
 already sent for, but neither had yet arrived. On my way out 
 I met Major T, T. Eckert, of the War Department, who told 
 me that he was himself going for Dr, Stone. I then went for 
 Dr. Hall, one of the most distinguished surgeons in the District. 
 I found him at home, and he at once accompanied me. When 
 we again reached the neighborhood of the house access had be- 
 come very difficult, guards having been stationed on every side, 
 
 "After much effort I was enabled to obtain admission for 
 Dr. Hall, but was not at that time permitted to enter myself; 
 accordingly, I returned to Willard's. The whole population 
 of the city was by this time out, and all kinds of conflicting 
 stories were being circulated. At three or four o'clock I again 
 started for Mr. Peterson's house. 'J'his time I was admitted with- 
 out difficulty. I proceeded at once to the room in which the Presi- 
 d'iut was dying. It was a small chamber, in an extension or 
 back building, on the level with the first or parlor floor. The 
 President was lying on his back, diagonally across a low double 
 bedstead, his head supported by two pillows on the outer side 
 of the bed. 
 
 " The persons in the room were the Secretaries McCulloch, 
 Stanton, Welles, and Harlan, Postmaster-General Denoison, 
 the Attorney-General, the Assistant Secretary of the Interior, 
 
ASSISTANT SECRETARY FIELD'S STATEMENT. 209 
 
 Senator Sumner of Ma.'sachusetts, General Halleck, General 
 Augur, General Meigs, General J. F. Farnsworth of Illinois, 
 General Todd of Dacotah, the President's Assistant Private 
 Secretary, Major Hay, the medical gentlemen, and perhaps two 
 or three others. Dr. Stone was sitting on the foot of the bed. 
 An army surgeon was sitting opposite the President's head, 
 occasionally feeling his pulse, and applying his fingers tp the 
 arteries of the neck and the heart. 
 
 " Mr. Lincoln seemed to be divested of all clothing except 
 the bed coverings. His e3'es were closed, and the lids and sur- 
 rounding parts so injected with blood as to present the ap- 
 pearance of having been bruised. He was evidently totally 
 unconscious, and was breathing regularly but heavily, and with 
 an occasional sigh escaping with the breath. There was 
 scarcely a dry eye in the room, and the scene was the most 
 solemn and impressive one I ever witnessed. After a while, 
 Captain Robert Lincoln, of General Grant's stafT, and eldest son 
 of the President, entered the chamber, and stood at the head- 
 board, leaning over his father. 
 
 " For a time his grief completely overpowered him, but he 
 soon recovered himself and behaved in the most manly manner 
 until the closing of the scene. As the morning wore on, the 
 condition of the President remained unchanged until about 
 seven o'clock. In the meantime, it came on to rain heavily 
 and the scene from the windows was in dreary sympathy with 
 that which was going on within. Just before this, Mrs. Lincoln 
 had been supported into the chamber, and had thrown herself 
 moaning upon her husband's body. She was permitted to re- 
 main but a few minutes, when she was carried out in an almost 
 insensible condition. 
 
 "At about seven o'clock, the President's breathing changed 
 in a manner to indicate that death was rapidly approaching. It 
 became low and fitful, with frequent interruptions. Several 
 times I thought that all was over, until the feeble respiration 
 was resumed. At last, at just cwenty-two minutes past seven 
 o'clock, without a struggle, without a convulsive movement, 
 without a tremor, he ceased breathing — and was no more. 
 
 " Thus died this great, pure, kind-hearted man, who never 
 willingly injured a human being — the greatest martyr to liberty 
 the world has ever seen. 
 
 " Shortly after his death, finding that his eyes were not en- 
 tirely closed, I placed my hands upon them. One of the 
 attendant surgeons first put nickel cents upon thom, and then 
 substituted silver half dollars. It was twenty minutes or half 
 an hour before the body commenced to grow cold. The lov/er 
 jaw began to fall slightly, and the lower teeth were exposed. 
 One of the medical gentlemen bound up the jaw with a pocket 
 handkerchief. Mr. Stanton threw down the window-shades, 
 and J left the Chamber of Death. Immediately after tha 
 
210 MAJOR EATIIBONe'S STATEMENT. 
 
 decease, the Rev. Dr. Gurley had offered up a fervent and 
 affecting prayer in the room, interrupted only by the sobs of 
 those present. 
 
 " When I left the room he was again praying in the front 
 parlor. Poor Mrs. Lincoln's moans were distressing to listen 
 to. After the prayer was over I entered the parlor, and found 
 Mrs. Ijincoln supported in the arms of her son Robert. She 
 was soon taken to her carriage. As she reached the front door 
 she glanced at the theatre opposite, and exclaimed several times, 
 • Oh, that dreadful house !' ' That dreadful house !' Immediately 
 thereafter guards were stationed at the door of the room in which 
 the President's body lay. In a few minutes I left myself. It 
 is hoped that some historical painter will be found capable of 
 portraying that momentous death-scene." 
 
 MAJOR BATHBONE'S STATEMENT. 
 
 In connection with the murder of Mr. Lincoln, we give 
 the statements of Major Rathbone and Miss Harris, who 
 were in the President's box at the time. Being the only- 
 persons, except Mrs. Lincoln, who were present when 
 Booth executed his foul purpose, their statements are 
 of great interest, delineating as they do the scenes which 
 immediately transpired. Major IIatiibone appeared be- 
 fore the investigating Magistrate, and testified as follows : 
 
 " That on the 14th April, 1865, at about twenty minutes past 
 eight o'clock in the evening, he, with Miss Clara H. Harris, left 
 his residence, at the corner of Fifteenth and II streets, and 
 joined the President and Mrs. Lincoln, and went with them in 
 their carriage to P'ord's Theatre, in Tenth street. The box 
 assigned to the President is in the second tier, on the riglit- 
 hand side of the audience, and was occupied by the President 
 and Mrs. Lincoln, Miss Harris, and the deponent — and by no 
 other person. The box is entered by passing from the front of 
 the building, in the rear of the dress-circle, to a small entry or 
 passage-way about eight feet in length and four feet in width. 
 
 " This passage-way is entered by a door which opens on the 
 inner side. The door is so placed as to make an acute angle 
 between it and the wall behind it on the inner side. At tiie 
 inner end of this passage-way is another door standing squarely 
 across, and opening into the box. On the left-hand side of the 
 passage-way, and very near the inner end, is a third door, which 
 also opens into the box. This latter door was closed. The 
 party entered the box through the door at the end of the pas- 
 sage-way. The box i.=! so const rncted that it may be divided 
 into two by a movable partiliun, one of the doors described 
 
MAJOR RATHBONE's STATEMENT. 211 
 
 Opening into each. Tlie front of the box is about ten or twelve 
 feet in length, and in the centre of the railing' is a small pillar 
 overhung with a curtain. The depth of the box from front to 
 rear is about nine feet. The elevation of the box above the 
 stage, including the railing, is about ten or twelve feet. 
 
 " When the party entered the box, a cushioned arm-chair was 
 standing at the end of the box furthest from the stage and near- 
 est the audience. This was also the nearest point to the door 
 by which the box is entered. The President seated himself in 
 this chair — and except that he once left the chair for the pur- 
 pose of putting on his overcoat, remained so seated until he was 
 shot. Mrs. Lincoln was seated in a chair between the Presi- 
 dent and the pillar in the centre above described. At the 
 opposite end of the box— that nearest the end of the stage — 
 were two chairs. In one of these, standing in the corner. Miss 
 Harris was seated. At her left hand, and along the wall run- 
 ning from that end of the box to the rear, stood a small sofa. 
 At the end of this sofa, next to Miss Harris, this deponent was 
 seated. The distance between this deponent and the President, 
 as they were sitting, was about seven or eight feet ; and the dis- 
 tance between this deponent and the door was about the same. 
 
 "The distance between the President, as he sat, and the door, 
 was about four or five feet. The door, according to the recol- 
 lection of this deponent, was not closed during the evening. 
 When the second scene of the third act was being performed, 
 and while this deponent was intently observing the proceedings 
 upon the stage, with his back towards the door, he heard the 
 discharge of a pistol behind him, and looking around, saw, 
 through the smoke, a man between the door and the President. 
 At the same time deponent heard him shout some word, which 
 deponent thinks was ' Freedom !' This deponent instantly 
 sprang towards him and seized him ; he wrested himself from the 
 grasp and made a violent thrust at the breast of deponent with 
 a large knife. Deponent parried the blow by striking it up, and 
 received a wound several inches deep in his left arm, between 
 the elbow and the shoulder. ^J'he orifice of the wound is about 
 an inch and a half in length, and extends upwards towards the 
 shoulder several inches. The man rushed to the front of the 
 box, and deponent endeavored to seize him again, but only 
 caught his clothes as he was leaping over the railing of the box. 
 The clothes, as deponent believes, were torn in this attempt to 
 seize him. 
 
 "As he went over upon the stage, deponent cried out with a 
 loud voice : — ' Stop that man !' Deponent then turned to the 
 President ; his position was not changed ; his head was slightly 
 bent forward, and his eyes were closed. Deponent saw that he 
 was unconscious, and supposing him mortally wounded, rushed 
 to the door for the purpose of calling medical aid. On reaching 
 tlie outer dot)r of the ]iassage-way us aljove described, deponent 
 found it barred by a heavy piece of plaidi, one end of which was 
 
212 MISS Harris's affteavit of the murder. 
 
 secured in the wall, and the other resting against the door. It 
 had been so securely fastened that it required considerable force 
 to remove it. This wedge or bar was about four feet from the 
 floor. Persons upon the outside were beating against the door 
 for the purpose of entering. Deponent removed the bar, and the 
 door was opened. 
 
 "Several persons who represented themselves to be surgeons 
 were allowed to enter. Deponent saw there Colonel Crawford, 
 and requested him to prevent other persons from entering tLe 
 box. Deponent then returned to the box, and found the sur- 
 geons examining the President's person. They had not yet dis 
 covered the wound. As soon as it was discovered it was deter- 
 mined to remove him from the theatre. He was carried out, 
 and this deponent then proceeded to assist Mrs. Lincoln, who 
 was intensely excited, to leave the theatre. On reaching the 
 head of the stairs, deponent requested Major Potter to aid him 
 in assisting Mrs. Lincoln across the street to the house to which 
 the President was being conveyed. The wound which deponent 
 had received had been bleeding very profusely, and on reaching 
 the house, feeling very faint from the loss of blood, he seated 
 himself in the hall, and soon after fainted away, and was laid upon 
 the floor. Upon the return of consciousness, deponent was 
 taken in a carriage to liis residence. 
 
 " In the review of the transaction, it is the confident belief of 
 this deponent that the time which elapsed between the discharge 
 of the pistol and the time when the assassin leaped from the box, 
 did not exceed thirty seconds. Neither Mrs. Lincoln nor Miss 
 Harris had left their seats. " H. R. Ratiihoxe. 
 
 '■'Subscribed and sioorn before me this 17 th day of April, 1865 
 "A. B. Olin, Justice Supreme Court, D. C." 
 
 AFFIDAVIT OF MISS HARRIS. 
 
 "District of Columbia, City of Washington, ss. : — Clara H. 
 Harris, being duly sworn, says that she has read the foregoing 
 affidavit of Major Eathbone, and knows the contents thereof; 
 that she was present at Ford's Theatre with the President, and 
 Mrs. Lincoln, and Major Rathbone on the evening of the 14th 
 of April instant ; that "at the time she heard the discharge of the 
 pistol she was attentively engaged in observing what was trans- 
 piring upon the stas^e, and looking round she saw Major Rath- 
 bone spring from his seat and advance to the opposite side of the 
 box ; that she saw him engaged as if in a struggle with another 
 man, but the smoke with which he was enveloped prevented this 
 deponent from seeing distinctly the other man; that the first 
 time she saw him distinctly was when he leaped from the box 
 apon the stage; that she then heard Major Rathbone cry out, 
 ' Stop that man !' and this deponent then immediately repeated 
 the cry, 'Stop that man! Won't somebody stop that man?' 
 A moment after some one from the stage asked, ' What is it?' 
 
SURGEON GENERAL BARNES' STATEMENT. 213 
 
 or ' What is the matter?' and deponent replied, ' The President 
 is shot.' Very soon after, two persons, one wearing the uniform 
 of a naval surgeon and the other that of a soldier of the Veteran 
 Reserve Corps, came upon the stage, and the deponent assisted 
 them in climbing up to the box. 
 
 " And this deponent further says that the facts stated in the 
 foregoing affidavit, so far as the same came to the knowledge or 
 notice of this deponent, are accurately stated therein. 
 
 "Clara H. Harris. 
 
 "Subscribed and sivorn before me this llth day of April, 1865. 
 "A. B. Oi.iN, Justice of Supreme Court, D. C." 
 
 SURGEON GENERAL BARNES' STATEMENT. 
 
 On the night of the assassination, Surgeon General 
 Barnes was mA in front of Willard's Hotel by an officer 
 pale and breathless, who informed him that the President 
 had been shot. Supposing that the deed was done at the 
 White House, General Barnes hurried thitherward. Stop- 
 ping at the Surgeon General's office to give orders for 
 assistance, he found a summons to the bedside of Secre- 
 tary Seward, who had been attacked by an assassin. 
 Believing that the two stories were from this, Barnes 
 hurried to the chamber of Mr. Seward. He found him 
 lying upon the bed with one cheek cut open and 
 part of the flesh lying upon the pillow. The room pre- 
 sented a horrible scene. Blood was everywhere. The 
 attendants were helpless. A deed of horror had been 
 enacted ; but there was no one to explain its details. Dr. 
 Barnes immediately gave his attention to Mr. Seward ; 
 but soon afterward Dr. Norris arrived, and, turning over 
 the Secretary to his care, the Surgeon General proceeded 
 to look after the Assistant Secretary, Frederick Seward, 
 who was lying insensible upon a sofa in the adjoining 
 room. In the meantime other surgical attendants had 
 come, among whom was Dr. Notson, and while minis- 
 tering to the wounded at Secretary Seward's, the Sur- 
 geon-G£neral was summoned to the dying murdered 
 President. 
 
214 FULL DESCRirTIOX OF FORDS THEATRE. 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF FORD'S THEATRE. 
 
 Ford's Theatre is situated on Tenth street, just above 
 E street, ia Washington. It is a large edifice, constructed 
 of brick, and of plain appearance. Its internal arrange- 
 ments are somewhat novel, differing from those in our 
 large cities. There are eight private boxes instead of six, 
 as is the case in the Philadelphia theatrea The four 
 ower boxes, two on each side of the stage, are scanely 
 more than loopholes, and are very excellent points from 
 which those who wish to see and remain unseen may take 
 inspection. The apertures which appear above the stage 
 are about three feet square. Consequentlj^the boxes im 
 mediately above them are elevated but a short distance 
 above the stage, a distance which any one could easily 
 leap, even were his nerves not freshly braced from the 
 commission of a murder. 
 
 The four upper boxes are the boxes of the theatre, and 
 are very elegant and spacious. They give a tone of ele- 
 gance to the auditorium, and are sumptuously appointed. 
 It is in them that the most magnificent displays of toilette 
 are made upon nights of opera, and that at once command' 
 the whole house, and are central points of inspection from 
 it. Each accommodates quite a party, and the locale is 
 so arranged that the greater portion of the occupants, ex- 
 cept those in the back of the box, are in full view of the 
 audience. 
 
 The box which the President occupied, and which was 
 known as " The President's Box," consisted of the two 
 upper boxes on the right hand side of the house as you 
 face the stage, thrown into one. Mr. Lincoln was al'vaj'S 
 accompanied by a party, which, although limited to per- 
 sonal friends and foreign officials, to whom courtesy re- 
 quired the extension of an invitation, was always suffi- 
 ciently large to render more than one box necessary for 
 comfort. 
 
FUi.L DESCRIPTION OF FORD's THEATRE. 215 
 
 The proprietor of tbe theatre had, therefore, at the 
 commencement of the season, made arrangements by 
 which these two boxes could at any time be thrown 
 into one. They were fitted up with great elegance and 
 taste. The curtains were of fine lace and buff satin, the 
 naper dark and figured, the carpet Turkey, the seats 
 velvet, and the exterior ornamentations were lit up with a 
 chaste chandelier suspended from the outside. A wind- 
 ing staircase leads up to the lobbies which conduct to the 
 box, and unless the arrangements are more stringent than 
 they used to be, no decently dressed person would find 
 much difficulty, probably, in entering one of these boxes 
 after they had once been opened for the ingress of the 
 party using them. 
 
 The parquet consists of cane-seat chairs, rising in very 
 gradual elevation, so that even the most distant observers 
 obtain a fair view of the stage, and the entire parquette 
 on an opera night, viewed from the stage or private boxes, 
 resembles an exquisitely variegated parterre. The first 
 tier or balcony is very commodious, and opens into a re- 
 tiring-saloon, elegantly illuminated and appointed. A 
 second tier, corresponding to the family circle, completed 
 the portion of the house dedicated to the accommodation 
 of the audience. The house would hold probably between 
 two and three thousand people. 
 
 There are two alleys at Ford's Theatre. One leads 
 from the stage, along the east side of the theatre, between 
 the theatre and a refreshment saloon, and so out to Tenth 
 sti'eet. The alley is neatly paved, and is boarded and 
 papered on both sides. The entry to it from the stage is 
 through a glass door, and the exit from it on to Tenth 
 Btreet through a wooden one. 
 
 The other passage-way leads from the back of the 
 theatre to a small alley which communicates with Ninth 
 and other streets, and conducts to a livery-stable locality 
 
216 REMAINS, IN STATE AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 
 
 It was in this alley that the horse of the murderer was 
 kept waiting. 
 
 The Tenth street door would have been too public, 
 and escape, even temporary, a matter of impossibility. 
 But the escape by the alley leading from the back of the 
 stage was comparatively safe. 
 
 There are two doors there, one used for the egress and 
 ingress of the actors, and the other devoted to the accom- 
 modation of scenery and machinery. It was through the 
 smaller one that the assassin made his exit. 
 
 THE FUNERAL. 
 
 In Cabinet Council it was determined that Wednesday, 
 the 19th of April, 1865, should be devoted to the obse- 
 quies at the Capital, and acting Secretary of State, Mr. 
 Hunter, issued the following dispatch to the people of 
 the United States: 
 
 " To THE Peoplp; of the United States : — The undersigned is 
 directed to announce that the funeral ceremonies of the late 
 lamented Chief Magistrate will take place at the Executive 
 Mansion, in this city, at 12 o'clock noon, on Wednesday, the 
 19th inst. The various religious denominations throughout the 
 country are invited to meet in their respective places of worship 
 at that hour, for the purpose of solemnizing this occasion with 
 appropriate ceremonies. 
 
 (Signed) " Wm. Hunter, 
 
 "Acting Secretary of Slate. 
 
 "Department of State, Washington, April llth, IbtJS." 
 
 Tuesday, April 18th, was set apart for the citizens of 
 Washington to visit the remains lying in state at the 
 White House, and fully twenty thousand persons, irre- 
 spective of rank or color, looked upon the face of the dead 
 President, and passed out with eyes weeping and hearts 
 overburdened with grief. 
 
 THE OBSEQUIES. 
 
 Wednesday, April 19th, dawned with a clear sky and 
 a genial sun. Washington was in the deepest mourning. 
 
FUXEBAL PERYICES AT THE WHITE HOUSE, 217 
 
 All the stores were closed as thej had been since the 
 assassination. Sadness was dej^ioted on every counte- 
 nance, and soon the streets were thronged with military, 
 societies, and citizens, wending their way to Pennsylvania 
 Avenue and the White House. All the public buildings 
 were draped in black, and every house in the city hung 
 out the sombre crape. 
 
 At ten o'clock those invited to attend the funeral 
 ceremonies in the White House began to assemble, while 
 all the avenues leading to it were crowded with the mili- 
 tary forming for procession, and the sidewalks were block- 
 aded with an anxious and orderly multitude of spectators. 
 
 THE SCENES AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 
 
 By 10.30 it was almost impossible to wend one's way 
 to the White House, x^one were admitted except by 
 cards, which were inscribed as follows : 
 
 GKEEX 
 
 ROOM. 
 
 ADMIT THE BEARER TO THE | 
 
 EXECUTIVE 
 
 MANSION, 1 
 
 0\ WEDNESDAY j 
 
 THE 19tU of 
 
 APRIL, 1865. j 
 
 In the centre of the East Room was the catafalque. 
 Around the coffin was a large wreath of white camelias, 
 orange blossoms, and evergreens. At the feet was a 
 beautiful anchor, of choicest flowers, sent by Hon. Mrs. 
 Sperry, of Connecticut ; at the head was a cross of white 
 camelias, and the delicate white exotics which, with a bas- 
 ket of flowers, was the present of Mrs. James H. Orne, of 
 Philadelphia. A number of wreaths were scattered 
 around in profusion. 
 
 Upon the centre, east side of the catafalque, was the 
 
218 FUNERAL SERVICES AT THE WUITE HOUSB. 
 
 President and Cabinet. 
 Upon their right was the 
 
 Diplomatic Corps. 
 
 The Assistant Secretaries. 
 
 Governors of States and Territories 
 
 The Judiciary. 
 
 The Army and Navy. 
 
 The New York Delegation. 
 
 Pall Bearers. 
 
 Upon the left of the President were the 
 
 Supreme Court. 
 
 The Senate. 
 
 Members op the House of Representatives. 
 
 Illinois and Kentucky Delegation. 
 
 The Clergy. 
 
 City Authorities. 
 
 Upon the west side were the Press ; upon the south 
 
 side, and at the foot of the catafalque, were the family of 
 
 Mr. Lincoln. 
 
 The guard of honor, consisting of Major-General 
 Hunter and Brigadier-General Dyer, marched in silence 
 to and fro. The lilies, the orange blossoms, and tho 
 choicest of flowers that decked the corpse filled the room 
 with the sweetest fragrance. The windows, shrouded with 
 crape, kept out the light, and made the gloom, that all felt, 
 seem like being in a living tomb 1 
 
 The echoes of the funeral dirges in the distance seemed 
 like the terrible murmur of the avenging God's wrath at 
 the impiety of the awful crime that brought all here as 
 mourners. As the various delegations came in they 
 quietly took the places assigned them. Not a word was 
 spoken loudly. Whispers faint, as though the loved one 
 was sleeping after his weary troubles and all feared to 
 w-ake him, were the only noises that marred the death-like 
 stillness of the room, which had been the scene of two 
 similar services. First, over the body of William Henry 
 
FUNEKAL SERVICES AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 219 
 
 Harrison, then over the gallant General Zachary Taylor, 
 now over Mr. Lincoln, beloved more than any man since 
 the days of Washington. 
 
 The exceeding great grief of Mrs. Lincoln was such 
 that she was unable to be present at the services, and the 
 chairs for herself and her sons were vacant. 
 
 The mourners present were : 
 
 Hon. J. G. Nicolay, the President's Confidential Secre- 
 tary, and his colleague, Major John Hay. 
 
 Mr. N. W. Edwards and Mr. C. M. Smith, brothers-in- 
 law of Mrs. Lincoln. 
 
 Dr. L. Beecher Todd, of Lexington, Kentucky, and 
 General J. B. S. Todd, of Dacotah, cousins of Mrs. 
 Lincoln. 
 
 Upon the left of President Johnson, was Ex-Senator P. 
 King, of New York ; and upon his right, Hannibal Ham- 
 lin, Ex-Vice-President. 
 
 Behind Mr. King, was Mr. Stanton, Secretary of War. 
 
 Behind the President, was Secretary McCulloch. 
 
 Behind Mr. Hamlin, were Chief Justice Chase, and 
 Secretaries Welles, Dennison, Speed, and Usher. 
 
 At twelve o'clock the room was filled, the President and 
 Cabinet having entered last. 
 
 Rev. Dr. Gurley then announced the order of exercises, 
 which were opened by Rev. Dr. Hall reading the funeral 
 service of the Episcopal Church, commencing "I am the 
 resurrection and the life, saith the Lord." 
 
 THE WHOLE AUDIENCE JOIN IN THE 
 PRAYERS. 
 
 This was followed by a fervent prayer by Bishop Simp- 
 son, of the Methodist Episcopal Church, which was not 
 only appropriate but efTective in all respects. He closed 
 with the Lord's Prayer, in which the whole audience 
 joined as if by one voice. All those present were 
 melted to tears under its effect. 
 
220 BISHOP Simpson's prayer at white house. 
 
 BISHOP SIMPSON'S PRAYER. 
 
 "In the course of his piayer iho Bishop said thatiu the hands 
 of God were the issues of life and death. Our sins had called 
 for his wrath to descend upon us as individuals and as a commu- 
 nity. For the sake of our blessed Redeemer, forgiveness was 
 asked for all our trangressions, and that all our iniquities may 
 be washed away. While we bow under this sad bereavement 
 which has caused a wide spread gloom, not only in this circle but 
 over the entire land, an invocation was made that all might sub- 
 mit to God's holy will. Thanks were returned for the gift of such 
 a man as ovxr Heavenly Father had just taken from us, and for 
 the many virtues which distinguished all his transactions ; for 
 the integrity, honesty and transparency of character bestowed 
 upon him, and for having given him counsellors to guide our 
 nation through periods of unprecedented sorrow. He was per- 
 mitted to live to behold the breaking of the clouds which over- 
 hung our national sky, and the disintegration of the rebellit n. 
 Going up the mount he beheld the land of promise, with its 
 beauty and happiness, and the glorious destiny reserved for us as 
 a nation. Thanks were also returned that his arm was strength- 
 ened and wisdom and firmness given to his heart to pen a 
 declaration of emancipation by which were broken the chains 
 of millions of the human race. God be thanked that the assas- 
 sin who struck down the Chief Magistrate had not the hand to 
 again bind the suffering and oppressed. The name of the be- 
 loved dead would ever be identilied with all that is great and 
 glorious with humanity on earth. God grant that all who stand 
 here entrusted with the administration of public affairs may have 
 the power, strength and wisdom to complete the work of His 
 servant so gloriously begun, and may the successor of the 
 deceased President not bear the sword in vain. God grant that 
 strength may be given to him and to our military to perfect vic- 
 tory, and to complete the contest now nearly closed. May the 
 spirit of rebellion soon pass away. May the last vestige 
 of slavery, which caused the rebellion, be driven from our land. 
 God grant that the sun may shine on a free people from the 
 Atlantic to the Pacific, and from the lakes to the Gulf. May 
 He not only safely lead us through the struggle, but give us 
 peace with all nations of the earth. Give us hearts to deal 
 justly with them, and give them hearts to deal justly with us, so 
 that universal peace may reign on earth. We rai.-e our hearts 
 to Thee, to plead that Thy blessing may descend on the family 
 of the deceased. God bless the weeping widow as in her 
 broken-heartedness she bows under a sad stroke more than she 
 can bear. Encircle her in Thy own arms. God, be gracious with 
 the children left behind him. Endow his sons with wisdom from 
 on high ; endow them with great usefulness. May they appre- 
 ciate the patriotic example and virtues of their father, and walk 
 
DOCTOR GURLEY's FUNERAL ORATION. 221 
 
 in h*3 footsteps. We pray Thee to make the assassination of 
 personal profit to our hearts, .while by the remains of the 
 deceased, whom we had called a friend, do Thou grant us peace 
 and repentance of our sins. So that at the end of life we may 
 be gathered where assassins are not found, where sorrow and 
 sickness never come ; but all gather in peace and love around 
 the Father's throne in glory. We pray Thee that our Republic 
 may be made the stronger for this blow. While here we pledge 
 ourselves to set our faces as a flint against every form of opposi- 
 tion which may rise up for its destruction ; so that we, the 
 children, may enjoy the blessed advantages of a government de- 
 livered from our fathers." 
 
 THE FUNERAL ORATION. 
 
 After the prayer, the Rev. Dr. Gurley, of the Presby- 
 terian Church, which the President and family attended, 
 delivered an eloquent and impressive funeral oration, as 
 follows : 
 
 "As we stand here to-day mourners around this coffin and 
 around the lifeless remains of our beloved Chief Magistrate, we 
 recognize and we adore the sovereignty of God. His throne is 
 in the heavens, and His kingdom ruleth over all. He hath 
 done and hath permitted to be done whatsoever He pleased. 
 Clouds and darkness are round about Him; righteousness and 
 judgment are the habitation of His throne. His way is in the 
 sea and His path in the great waters, and His footsteps are not 
 known. Canst thon by searching find out God ? Canst thou 
 find out the Almighty unto perfection ? It is as high as heaven. 
 AVhat canst thou do? Deeper than hell. What canst thou 
 know ? The measure thereof is longer than the earth and 
 broader than the sea. If He cut off and shut up, or gather to- 
 gether ; then who can hinder Him ? For He knoweth vain men ; 
 He seeth wickedness. Also, will He not then consider it. We 
 bow before His infinite majesty. We bow — we weep — we wor- 
 ship. 
 
 " ' There reason fails with all her powers 
 There faith prevails, and love adores.' 
 
 " It was a cruel, cruel hand, that dark hand of the assassin, 
 which smote our honored, wise and noble President, and filled' 
 the land with sorrow. But above and beyond that hand there 
 is another, which we must see and acknowledge. It is the chas- 
 tening hand of a wise and faithful Father. He gives us the bitter 
 cup; and the cup that our Father hath given us shall we not 
 drink it? God of the just, Thou gavest us the cup. We yield 
 to Thy behest, and dritk it up. Whom the Lord loveth He chas- 
 teneth. Oh, how these blessed words have cheered and strength- 
 
222 DOCTOR gurley's funeral oration. 
 
 ened and sustained us through all these long and weary years of 
 civil strife, while our friends and brothers on so many ensan- 
 guined fields were falling and dying for the cause of liberty and 
 Union. Let them cheer and strengthen and sustain us to-day. 
 True, this new sorrow and chastening has come in such an hour 
 and in such a way as we thought not, and it bears the impress 
 of ft rod that is very heavy, and of mystery that is very deep. 
 'J'lf.at such a life should be sacrificed at such a time, by such a 
 foul and diabolical agency ; that the man at the head of the 
 Elation, whom the people had learned to trust with a confiding 
 and a loving confidence, and upon whom more than upon any 
 other were centered, under God, our best hopes for the true and 
 speedy pacification of the country, the restoration of the Union, 
 and the return of harmony and love ; that he should be taken 
 from us, and taken just as the prospect of peace was brightly 
 opening upon our torn and bleeding country, and just as he was 
 beginning to be animated and gladdened with the hope of ere 
 long enjoying with the people the blessed fruit and reward of his 
 and their toil and care and patience, and self-sacrificing devotion 
 to the interests of liberty and the Union — oh ! it is a mysterious 
 and a most afflicting dispensation. But it is our Father in 
 heaven, the God of our fathers, who permits us to be so suddenly 
 and sorely smitten, and we know that His judgments are right, 
 and that in faithfulness He has afflicted us in the midst of our 
 rejoicings. We needed this stroke, this dealing, this disci- 
 pline, and therefoie He has sent it. Let us remember our afflic- 
 tion has not come forth of the dust, and our trouble has not 
 sprung out of the ground. Through and beyond all second 
 causes let us look and see the sovereign permissive agency of 
 the first great cause. It is His prerogative to bring light out of 
 darkness and good out of evil. Surely the wrath of man shall 
 praise Him, and the remainder of wrath He will restrain. In the 
 light of a clear day we may yet see that the wrath which planned 
 and perpetrated the death of the President was overruled by 
 Him, whose judgments are unsearchable and His ways past find- 
 ing out, for the highest welfare of all those interests which are 
 80 dear to the Christian, patriot and philanthropist, and for 
 which a loyal people have made such an unexampled sacrifice 
 of treasure and of blood. Let us not be faithless, but believing. 
 
 " ' Blind unbelief is prone to err, 
 And scan his work in vain ; 
 God is his own interpreter, 
 And he will make it plain.' 
 
 "We will wait for His interpretation, and we will wait in faith, 
 nothing doubting. He who has led us so well, and defended and 
 prospered us so wonderfully during the last four years of toil, 
 and struggle, and sorrow, will not forsake ua now. He may 
 chasten, but He will not destroy. He may purify us more aud 
 
DOCTOR GURLEY'S FUXETIAL ORATION. 223 
 
 more in the furnace of trial, hnt He will not consume us : no, no. 
 He lias chopen ns, as He did His people of old in the furnace, of 
 affliction, and He has said of us as He said of them, ' Thia 
 people have I formed for myself: they shall show forth my 
 praise.' Let our principal anxiety now be that this new sorrow 
 may be a sanctified sorrow ; that it may lead us to deeper repen- 
 tance, to a more humbling sense of our dependence upon God, 
 and to the more unreserved consecration of ourselves and all 
 that we have to the cause of truth and justice, of law and order, 
 dC liberty and good government, of pure and undefiled religion. 
 Then, though weeping may endure for a night, joy will come in 
 the morning. Blessed be God, despite of the great, and sudde., 
 and temporary darkness, the morning has begun to dawn — the 
 morning of a bright and glorious day, such as our country has 
 never seen. That day will come and not tarry, and the death 
 of a hundred presidents and their cabinets can never, never 
 prevent it. While we are hopeful, however, let us also be 
 humble. The occasion calls us to prayerful and tearful hu- 
 miliation. It demands of us that we lie low, very low, before 
 Him who has stricken us for our sins. Oh that all our rulers and 
 all our people may bow in the dust today beneath the chastening 
 hand of God, and may their voices go up to Him as one voice, 
 and their hearts go up to Him as one heart, pleading with Him 
 for mercy and for grace to sanctify our great and sore bereave- 
 ment, and for wisdom to guide us in this our time of need. 
 Such a united cry and pleading will not be in vain. It will 
 enter into the ear and heart of Him who sits upon the throne 
 and He will say to us as to his ancient Israel, ' In a little wrath 
 I hid my face from thee for a moment ; but with everlasting 
 kindness will I have mercy upon thee, saith the Lord, thy re- 
 deemer.' I have said that the people confided in the late 
 lamented President with a full and a loving confidence. Prob- 
 ably no man since the days of Washington was ever so deeply 
 and firmly imbedded and enshrined in the very hearts of the 
 people as Abraham Lincoln. Nor was it a mistaken confidence 
 and love. He deserved it — deserved it well — deserved it all. 
 He merited it by his character, by his acts and by the wholq 
 tenor and tone and spirit of his life. He was simple and sincere, 
 plain and honest, trustful and just, benevolent and kind. His 
 perceptions were quick and clear, bis judgments were calm and 
 accurate, and his purposes were good and pure, beyond a ques- 
 tion. Always and everywhere ho aimed and endeavored to be 
 right and to do right. His integrity was thorough, all perva- 
 ding, all controlling, and incorruptible. It was the same iD 
 every place and relation. In the consideration and the control 
 of matters, great or small, the same firm and steady principle 
 of power and beauty, that shed a clear and crowning lustre upon 
 all his other ex'cellences of mind and heart, and recommended 
 Lim to his fellow citizens as the man who, in a time of unexam- 
 
224 DOCTOR gurley's funeral oration. 
 
 pled peril, when the very life of the nation was at stake, should 
 be chosen to occupy — in the country aud for the country — its 
 highudt post of power and responsibility. How wisely and well, 
 how purely aud faithfully, how firmly and steadily, how justly 
 and successfully, he did occupy that post and meet its grave de- 
 mands, in circumstances of surprising trial and difficulty, is 
 known to you all, is known to the country and the world. He 
 c anpiehcuded from the first the perils to which treason had 
 I A^jused the freest and best government on the earth, the vast 
 interests of liberty and humanity that were to be saved or lost 
 forever, in the urgent impeuding conflict. He rose to the 
 iiignity aud momentousness of the occasion, saw his duty as 
 Chief Magistrate of a great and imperilled peoyile, and he deter 
 mined to do his duty and his whole duty, seeking the guidance 
 and leaning upon the arm of Him of whom it is written, ' He 
 giveth power to the faint, and to them that have no might He 
 increases their strength.' Yes, he leaned upon His arm ; he 
 recognized and received the truth that -the kingdom is the 
 Lord's, and He is the Governor among the nations.' He re- 
 membered that ' God is in history,' and he felt that no where 
 had His hand and His mercy been so marvellously conspicuous 
 as in the history of this nation. He hoped and prayed that 
 ' that same hand would continue to guide us, and that same 
 mercy continue to abound to ns in the time of our greatest need.' 
 1 speak what I know, and testify what I have often heard him 
 say, when I affirm that that guidance and mercy were the prop 
 on wliich he humbly and habitually leaned; that they were the 
 best hope he had for himself and for his country. Hence when he 
 was leaving his home in Illinois aud coming to this city to take 
 bis seat in the Executive chair of a disturbed and troubled 
 nation ; he said to the old and tried friends who gathered joj^- 
 /ully around him and bade him farewell, ' I leave you with 
 this request— pray for me.' They did pray for him. And mil- 
 lions of others prayed for him. Nor did they pray in vain. 
 'J'heir prayers were heard, and the answer appears in all his 
 subsequent history. It shines forth with a heavenly radiance in 
 the wliole course and tenor of his administration, from its com- 
 mencement to its close. God raised him up for a great and 
 glorious mission, furnished him for his work and aided him in its 
 accomplishment. Nor was it merely by strength of mind and 
 honesty ol' heart and purity and pertinacity of purpose that he 
 furnished him in addition to these things ; he gave him a calm 
 and abiding confidence in the overruling providence of God, 
 and in the ultimate triumph of truth and righteousness through 
 the power and blessing of God. This confidence strengthened 
 liim in all his hours of anxiety and toil, and inspired him with 
 calm and cheering hope, when others were inclining to despon- 
 dency aud gloom. Never shall I forget the emphasis and the 
 deep emotion with which he said in this very room to a company 
 
DOCTOR GUKLEYS FTXERAL OEATION. 225 
 
 of clergymen and others, who called to pay him their respects Jn 
 the darkest days of our civil conflict. ' Gentlemen, my hope of 
 success in this great and terrible struggle, rests on that immutable 
 foundation, the justice and goodness of God.' And when events 
 are very threatening, and prospects very dark, ' I still hope that in 
 some way which man cannot see, all will be well in the end ; 
 because our cause is just and God is on our side.' Such was 
 his sublime and holy faith, and it was an anchor to his soul, both 
 sure and steadfast; it made him firm and strong; and embold 
 ened him in the pathway of duty, however rugged and perilous 
 it might be. It made him valiant for the right, for the cause of 
 God and humanity, and it held him in steady, patient, and un- 
 swerving adherence to a policy of administration which, he 
 thought, and which we all now think, both God and humanity 
 required him to adopt. We admired and loved him on many 
 accounts, for strong and various reasons. Vie admired his 
 childlike simplicity, freedom from guile and deceit; his stauncii 
 and sterling integrity ; his kind and forgiving temper ; his indus- 
 try and patience; his persistent, self-sacrificing devotion to all 
 the duties of his eminent position, from the least to the greatest : 
 his readiness to hear and consider the cause of the poor and 
 humble, the suffering and the oppressed ; his charity towards 
 those who questioned the correctness of his opinions and the 
 wisdom of his policy ; his wonderful skill in reconciliating the 
 differences among the friends of the Union, leading them away 
 from obstructions, and inducing them to work together and har- 
 moniously for the common weal ; his true and enlarged philan- 
 thropy that knew no distinction of color or race, but regarded 
 all men as brethren and endowed alike by their Creator wilh 
 certain inalienable rights, amongst which are life, liberty, and 
 the pursuit of happiness ; his inflexible purpose that what free- 
 dom had gained in our terrible strife should never be lost, and 
 that the end of the war should be the end of slavery, and, as a 
 consequence, of rebellion ; his readiness to spend and be spent 
 for the attainment of such a triumph — a triumph, the blessL'd 
 fruits of which should be as wide-spreading as the earth and as 
 enduring as the sun. AH these tilings commanded and fixed 
 our admiration and the admiration of the world, and stamped 
 upon his character and life the unmistakable impress of great- 
 ness. But, more sublime than any or all of these, more holy 
 and influential, more beautiful and strong and sustaining was 
 his abiding confidence in God, and in the final triumph of truth 
 and righteousness, through Him and for His sake. This was 
 his noblest virtue, his grandest principle, the secret alike of his 
 strength, his patience, and his success ; and this, it seems to 
 me, after being near him steadily and with him often for more 
 than four years, is the principle by which more than by any 
 other, he being dead, yet speaketh. 
 
 " Yes, by his steady enduring confidence in God, and in the 
 
22(5 DOCTOR GURLEYS FLTNERAL ORATION. 
 
 complete ultimate success of the cause of God, which is thp 
 cause of humanity, more than in any other way does he now 
 speak to us, and to the nation he loved and served so well. By 
 this he speaks to his successor in office, and charges him to have 
 faith in God. By this he speaks to the members of his Cabinet, 
 the men with whom he counselled so often and -was associated 
 with so long, and he charges them to have faith in God. By 
 this he speaks to all who occupy positions of infiuenc-e and 
 Authority in these sad and troublesome times, and he charges 
 them all to have faith in God. By this he speaks to this great 
 people as they set in sackcloth to-day and weep for him with a 
 bitter wailing, and refuse to be comforted ; and he charges them 
 to have faith in God ; and by this he will speak through the 
 ages, and to all rulers and peoples in every land, and his message 
 to them will be : — ' Cling to liberty and right ; battle for them ; 
 bleed for them ; die for them, if need be, and have confidence in 
 God.' Oh ! that the voice of this testimony may sink down into 
 our hearts to-day and every day, and into the heart of the 
 nation, and exert its appropriate influence upon our feelings, 
 our faitli our patience and our devotion to the cause, now 
 dearer to us than ever before, because consecrated by the blood 
 of the most conspicuous defender, its wisest and most fondly 
 trusted friend, lie is dead, but the God in whom he trusted 
 lives, and He can guide and strengthen his successor as He 
 guided and strengthened him. He is dead, but the memory of 
 his virtues, of his wise and patriotic counsels and labors, of his 
 calm and steady faith in (^od lives, is precious, and will be a 
 power for good in the country quite down to the end of time. 
 He is dead ; but the cause he so ardently loved, so ably, patiently, 
 faithfully represented and defended, not for himself only, not for 
 us only, but for all people, in all their coming generations, till 
 time shall be no more — that cause survives his fall, and will 
 survive it. The light of its brightening prospects flashes cheer- 
 ingly to-day around the gloom occasioned by his duties, and the 
 language of God's united providences is telling us that, though 
 the friends of liberty die, liberty itself is immortal; there is no 
 assassin strong enough, and no weapon deadly enough to quench 
 its inextinguishable life or arrest ils onward march to the con- 
 quest and empire of the world. This is our confidence and this 
 is our consolation as we weep and mourn to-day. Though our 
 beloved President is slain, our beloved country is saved, and so 
 we sing of mercy as well as of judgment. Tears of gratitude 
 mingle with those of sorrow, while there is also the dawning of 
 ft brighter, happier day upon our stricken and weary land. God 
 be praised that our fallen chief lived long enough to see the day 
 dawn and the day star of joy and peace arise upon the nation. 
 He saw it and he was glad. Alas ! alas! he only saw the dawn. 
 When the sun has risen full orbed, and a glorious and a happy 
 reunited peojile are rejuicing in its light, it will shine upon his 
 
DOCTOR GURLEY's FUNERAL ORATION 227 
 
 grave. But that grave will be a precious and a consecrated 
 spot. The friends of liberty and of the Union will repair to it 
 in years and ages to come to pronounce the memory of its 
 occupant blessed, and gathering from his very ashes and from 
 the rehearsal of his deeds and virtues fresh incentives to patriot- 
 ism. They will then renew their vows of fidelity to their coun- 
 try and their God. And now I know not that I can more 
 appropriately conclude this discourse, which is but a sincere and 
 Bimple utterance of the heart; than by addressing to our depart- 
 f.d President, with some slight modification, the language which 
 Tacitus, in his life of Agricola, addressed to his venerated and 
 departed father-in-law : — ' With you we may now congratulate. 
 You are blessed, not only because your life was a career of glory, 
 but because you were released when, your country safe, it was 
 happiness to die. We have lost a parent, and, in our distress, 
 it is now an addition to our heartfelt sorrows that we had it not 
 in our power to commune with you on the bed of languishing 
 and receive yonr last embrace. Your dying words would have 
 been ever dear to us. Your commands we should have treasured 
 up and graved them on our hearts. This sad comfort we have 
 lost, and the wound for that I'eason pierces deeper. From the 
 world of spirits behold your disconsolate family and people. 
 Exalt our minds from fond regret and unvailing grief to the 
 coiitemplation of your virtues. These we must not lament. It 
 were impiety to sully them with a tear. To cherish their 
 memory, to embalm them with our praises, and so far as we can 
 to emulate your bright example, will be the truest mark of your 
 respect, the best tribute we can offer. Your wife will thus 
 pwiserve the memory of the best of husbands, and thus your 
 children will prove their final piety. By dwelling constantly on 
 your words and actions they will have an illustrious character 
 before their eyes ; and not content with the base image of your 
 mortal frame, they will have what is more valuable — the form 
 and features of your mind. Busts and statues, like their origi- 
 nals, are frail and perishable. The soul is formed of finer 
 elements, and its inward form is not to be expressed by the 
 hand of an artist with unconscious matter. Our manners and 
 our morals may in some degree trace the resemblance. All of 
 /ou that gained our love and raised our admiration still subsist, 
 and will ever subsist, preserved in the minds of men, the register 
 of ages and the records of fame. Others, matured on the stages 
 of life, and who were the worthies of a former day, will sink 
 for want of a faithful historian into the common lot of oblivion, 
 inglorious and unremembered ; but you, our lamented friend and 
 head, delineated with truth and fairly consigned to posterity, will 
 survive yourself and triumph over the injuries of time.'" 
 
 At the conclusion of the sermon, the Rev. Dr. Gray, of 
 the Baptist church, closed the solemnities by prayer. The 
 
228 THE FUNERAL PROCESSION AT WASHINGTON. 
 
 coffin was then closed, and carried out by twelve sergeants 
 of the Veteran Reserve Corps. 
 
 ORDER OF THE PROCESSION. 
 
 The following order of procession was strictly carried 
 out by the officers in command : — 
 
 Funeral Escort in Column of March. 
 One Regiment of (Javalry. 
 Two Batteries of Artillery. 
 
 Battalion of Marines. 
 Two Regiments of Infantry. 
 , Commander of Escort and Staff. 
 
 Dismounted Officers of Marine Corps 
 
 Navy and Army in the order named. 
 
 Mounted Officers of Marine Corps. 
 
 Navy and Army in the order named. 
 
 All Military Officers to be in uniform, with Side Arms. 
 
 CIVIC PROCESSION. 
 
 Marshal. 
 
 Clergy in Attendance. 
 
 The Surgeon-General of the United States and Physicians to 
 
 the deceased. 
 
 TALL 
 EARKRS. 
 
 j HEARSE, j 
 
 PALL 
 
 BEARERS 
 
 On the part of the Senate. 
 Mr. Foster, Connecticut, 
 Mr. Morgan, New York, 
 Mr. Johnson, Maryland, 
 Mr. Yates, Illinois, 
 Mr. Wade, Ohio, 
 Mr. Conness, California. 
 
 Army. 
 Lieut. Gen. U. S. Grant, 
 Maj. General H. W. Halleck. 
 Br't Brig. Gen.W. A. Nichols. 
 
 Civilians. 
 H. Browning, 
 Gcorge Ashmun. 
 
 07i the part of the House. 
 Mr. iJawes, Massachusetts. 
 Mr. Cofifroth, Pennsylvania, 
 Mr. Smith, Kentucky, 
 Mr. Colfax, Indiana, 
 Mr. Worthington, Nevada, 
 Mr. Washburne, Illinois. 
 
 Navy. 
 Vice-Admiral D. G. Farragut, 
 Rear-Admiral W.B. Shubrick. 
 Col. Jacob Zellin, M. C. 
 
 Civilians. 
 Thomas Corwin, 
 Simon Cameron. 
 
 THE FAMILY. 
 
 Relatives. 
 The Delegations of the States of Illinois and Kentucky 
 Mourners. 
 
'>^ 
 
ARRIVAL OP THE REMAINS AT THE CAPITOL. 229 
 
 THR PRKSIDENT. 
 
 The Cabinet Ministers. 
 
 The Diplomatic Corps. 
 
 Ex-Presidents. 
 
 The Chief Justice, 
 
 And Associate Justices of Supreme Court. 
 
 The Senate of the United States, 
 
 Preceded by its Officers. 
 
 The House of Representatives of the United States, preceded 
 
 by its Officers. 
 
 Legislatures of the several States and Territories. 
 
 The Federal Judiciary, and the Judiciary of the several States 
 
 and Territories. 
 
 The Assistant Secretaries of State, Treasury, War, Navy, and 
 
 Interior, and the Assistant Postmaster-General 
 
 and Assistant Attorney-General. 
 
 OfBcers of Smithsonian Institution. 
 
 The Members and Officers of the Sanitary and Christian 
 
 Commissions. 
 
 Corporate Authorities of Washington and Georgetown, and 
 
 other cities. 
 
 Delegations of the several States. 
 
 The Reverend Clergy of the various Denominations. 
 
 The Clerks and Employees of the several Departments and 
 
 Bureaus, 
 
 Preceded by the Heads of such Bureaus and their respective 
 
 Chief Clerks. * 
 
 Such Societies as may wish to join the Procession. 
 
 Citizens and Strangers. 
 
 The head of the column reached the Capitol at 8 P. M., 
 passing up Pennsylvania Avenue upon the north side of 
 the Capitol. When the infantry reached the Senate door, 
 they filed into the yard on the east front, and opened 
 column, forming a hollow square in the yard in front of 
 the Rotunda. The artillery and cavalry then passed cm 
 towards the old Capitol. When they had passed, the 
 commander of escort and staff and the army and navy 
 ofiQcers passed into the east front yard, the equestrians 
 passing on. 
 
 The coffin was then borne into the Rotunda of the 
 Capitol, and a Guard of Honor assigned to duty for the 
 several hours of the afternoon and evening. 
 
 Never before had Washington beheld so solemn a 
 
230 DEPARTURE OF REMAINS FROM WASHINGTON. 
 
 pageant as that which moved up Pennsylvania Avenue 
 on the 19th of April, 1865 ; a day now trebly memorable 
 in our annals as the day when the first blood of the Revo- 
 lution was shed at Lexington, the first blood spilled by 
 the Rebellion at Baltimore in 1861, and the day when tht 
 body of our martyred President, Abraham Lincoln, was 
 borne through the streets of our National Capital on its 
 way to its resting-place in the West. 
 
 The body remained lying in state in the Capitol over 
 Thursday, thousands of persons visiting the corpse. 
 
 DEPARTURE FROM WASHINGTON. 
 
 On Friday morning, April 21st, at seven o'clock, the coffin 
 was taken to the depot, and deposited in the funeral car. 
 Hon. Edwin M. Stanton, Hon. Gideon Welles, Hon. Hugh 
 McCulloch, Hon. Jno. P. Usher, Lieut. General U. S. 
 Grant, and Gen. M. C. Meigs left the escort at the depot, 
 and at 8 A. M. the train left. At least ten thousand 
 persons were out to see the departure. A special train was 
 provided for the occasion, and the route to Springfield, Illi- 
 uois, was designated by an order from the War Depart 
 ment, and the railroads over which the remains passed, 
 were declared military roads, subject to the order of the 
 War Department, and the railroads, locomotives, cars and 
 engines engaged on said transportation, were subject to 
 the military control of Brigadier-General McCallum. No. 
 person was allowed to be transported on the cars consti- 
 tuting the funeral train, save those who were specially 
 authorized by the orders of the War Department. The 
 funeral train consisted of nine cars, including baggage 
 and hearse car, which proceeded over the entire route 
 from Washington to Springfield. The time schedule for 
 the transportation was as follows : — 
 
 Leave Wasbiiigtou, Friday, April 21, 8 A. M. 
 
 Arrive at Baltimore, Friday, April 21, 10 A. M. 
 
 Leave Baltimore, Friday, April 21, 3 P. M. 
 
 Arrive at Harrisburf?, Friday, April 21, 8-20 P. M. 
 
 Leave Harnsburg, Saturday, April 22, 12 M. 
 
ROUTE OF THE FUNERAL TO SPRINGFIELD, 231 
 
 Arrive at Thiladelphia, Saturday, April 22, 4-30 P. M. 
 Leave Philadelphia, Monday, April 24, 4 A. M. 
 Arrive at New York, Monday, April 24, 10 A. M. 
 Leave New York, Tuesday, April 25, 4 P. M. 
 Arrive at Albany, Tuesday, April 25, 11 P. M. 
 Leave Albany, Wednesday, April 26, 4 P. M. 
 Arrive at Buffalo, Thursday, April 27, 7 A. M. 
 Leave BuEFalo, Thursday, April 27, IQ-IO A. M. 
 Arrive at Cleveland, Friday, April 28, 7 A. M. 
 Leave Cleveland, Friday, April 28, midnight. 
 Arrive at Columbus, Saturday, April 29, 7"30 A. M. 
 Leave Columbus, Saturday, April 29, 8 P. M. 
 Arrive at Indianapolis, Sunday, April 30, 7 A. M, 
 Leave Indianapolis, Sunday, April 30, midnight. 
 Arrive at Chicago, Monday, May 1, 11 A. M. 
 Leave Chicago, Tuesday, May 2, 9-30 P. M. 
 Arrive at Springfield, Monday, May 3, 8 A. M. 
 
 At various points on the route where the remains were 
 to be taken from the hearse-car by State or municipal 
 authorities, to receive public honors, according to the 
 aforesaid programme, the authorities were to make such 
 arrangements as might be fitting and appropriate to the 
 occasion, under the direction of the military commander 
 of the division, department, or district ; but the remains 
 continued always under the special charge of the officers 
 and escort assigned by the War Department. 
 
 The route from Columbus to Indianapolis was via the 
 Columbus and Indianapolis Central Railway, and from 
 Indianapolis to Chicago, via Lafayette and Michigan city. 
 In order to guard against accident, the train did not move 
 faster than twenty miles an hour. 
 
 Accompanying the remains were a distinguished party 
 of friends and mourners : Judge David Davis, Judge 
 United States Supreme Court; N. W. Edwards ; General 
 J. B S. Todd; Charles Alexander Smith. Guard of 
 Honor — namely: General E. D. Townsend ; Brigadier- 
 General Charles Thomas ; Brigadier-General A. D. Eaton ; 
 Brevet-Major-General J. G. Barnard ; Brigadier-General 
 G. D. Ramsay; Brigadier-General A. P. Howe; Briga- 
 dier-General D. C. MeCallum ; Major-General David 
 
232 MOURNERS >M> TELEIGATSS FRO^l ILLINOIS. 
 
 Hunter ; Brigadier-General J. C. Caldwell ; R^ar- Admiral 
 C. tl. Davis, United States Navy ; Captain William R. 
 Taylor, United States Navy ; Major T. Y. Field, United 
 States Marine Corps. (The foregoing constituted a guard of 
 honor.) Dr. Charles B. Brown, embalmer; Frank T. 
 Sands, undertaker ; and on the part of the Senate and 
 House of Representatives : Maine, Mr. Pike ; New Hamp- 
 shire, Mr. Rollins ; Vermont, Mr. Baxter ; Massachusetts. 
 Mr. Hooper ; Connecticut, Mr. Dixon ; Rhode Island. 
 Mr. Anthony ; New York, Mr. Harris ; Pennsylvania, 
 Mr. Cowan ; Ohio, Mr. Scbenck ; Kentucky, Mr. Smith, 
 Indiana, Mr. Julian ; Minnesota, Mr. Ramsay ; Michigan, 
 Mr. T. W. Ferry ; Iowa, Mr. Harlan ; Illinois, Mr. 
 Yates, Mr. Washburne, Mr. Farnsworth, and Mr. Arnold ; 
 California, Mr. Shannon ; Oregon, Mr. Williams ; Kansas, 
 Mr. Clarke ; Western Virginia, Mr. Whaley ; Nevada, 
 Mr. Nye ; Nebraska, Mr. Hitchcock ; Colorado, Mr. 
 Bradford ; Idaho, Mr. Wallace ; New Jersey, Mr. Newell ; 
 Maryland, Mr. Phelps ; George T. Brown, Sergeaut-at- 
 arms of the Senate ; and N. G. Ordway, Sergeant- at- arms 
 House of Representatives. 
 
 The delegates from Illinois were : Governor Richard J. 
 Oglesby ; General Isham N. Haynie, Adjutant-General 
 State of Illinois; Colonel James H Bowen, A. D. C. ; 
 Colonel M. H. Hanna, A. D C. ; Colonel D. B. James, 
 A. D. C. ; Maj. S. Waite, A. D. C. ; Col. D. L. Phillips, 
 United States Marshal Southern District of Illinois, A. D. 
 C. ; Hon. Jesse K. Dubois; Hon. J. T. Stuart; Col. 
 John Williams ; Dr. S. H. Melvin ; Hon. S. M. Cullum ; 
 General John A. McClernand ; Hon. Lyman Ti'umbull ; 
 Hon. J. S. V. Reddenburg ; Hon. Thomas J> Dennis ; 
 Li3utenant-Governor William Bross ; Hon. Francis E. 
 Sherman, Mayor of Chicago; Hon. Thomas A. Haine; 
 Hon. John Wentworth ; Hon. S. S. Hays ; Colonel R. M. 
 Hough; Hon. S. W. Fuller ; Capt. J. B. Turner; Hon. 
 I. Lawson ; Hon. C. L. Woodman; Hon. G. AV Gage 
 
ALONG THE ROUTE — ARRIVAL AT BALTIMORE. 233 
 
 G. H. Roberts, Esq ; lion. J. Commisky ; Hon. T. L. 
 Talcott ; Governor Morton, of Indiana ; Gov. Brough, of 
 Ohio ; Gov. Stone, of Iowa, together with their aids and 
 reporters for the press. 
 
 ALONG THE ROUTE. 
 
 'As the train moved on to Baltimore, thousands of 
 Marjianders assembled by the way-side to catch a glimpse 
 of the car which contained the corpse of the deceased 
 President. 
 
 ARRIVAL AT BALTIMORE. 
 
 When the Monumental city was reached, an immense 
 throng crowded the streets, anxious to do homage 
 to all that remained of their noble chief. The arrival 
 was heralded by a salvo of artillery, and the large 
 funeral procession which, at a short notice, had been pre- 
 pared to escort the deceased and retinue through the city, 
 formed in column, and the line of march was taken up. 
 Succeeding the military was the civic procession, headed 
 by Governor Bradford. All the associations of Baltimore 
 turned out in full numbers, and the rear was brought up 
 by an immense throng of colored people, all wearing 
 badges of mourning. 
 
 The cortege moved to the Post-office Building, where 
 the remains were placed in state, and an opportunity 
 was given the citizens to see the corpse. At 3 o'clock P. M. 
 the coffin was removed to the depot, and the train de- 
 parted for Harrisburg, amid the firing of minute guns and 
 the sorrows of a people who felt that the Republic had 
 indeed lost its best friend. 
 
 Governor Curtin and staff met the train on the borders 
 of Pennsylvania, and accompanied it to Harrisburg. At 
 York, Pa , six ladies, dressed in deep black, were kindly 
 permitted by General McCallum to enter the funeral car 
 and place upon the coffin a beautiful wreath of white 
 roses, camelias, and other rare flowers. Silently they 
 
284 ARRIVAL AT HARRISBURG — PHILADELPHIA. 
 
 performed their last tribute to the illustrious patriot, and 
 when they retired from the car there were no dry eyea 
 among the military chieftains who stood guard over the 
 bier. 
 
 ARRIVAL AT HARRISBURG. 
 Although the train arrived at the Capital of Pennsyl- 
 vania during a fearful storm of thunder, lightning, and 
 rain, the people were gathered on the streets and lined 
 the way to the Capitol building, where the body was 
 conveyed and placed in state until the next day, April 
 22d, at 12 o'clock, when it was taken to the depot, and, 
 amid the tears and lamentations of the whole city and 
 surrounding country, placed on the cars for Philadelphia. 
 Along the entire route, thousands of people assembled to 
 see the train pass by, all business in the towns and on the 
 farms having been suspended. 
 
 ARRIVAL AT PHILADELPHIA. 
 
 At half-past four the same afternoon, the train reached 
 the Baltimore depot at Broad and Washington. Hours 
 before, tens of thousands of men, women and children had 
 crowded all the streets leading to this great avenue. 
 
 The Procession was formed, and moved over the desig- 
 nated route to Independence Hall, the coffin being carried 
 through the square from the Walnut street entrance, the 
 grounds being illuminated with calcium lights, red, white 
 and blue colors, and the members of the Union League 
 standing on each side of the main avenue, dressed in deep 
 black, and white gloves, with a splendid band performing 
 funeral dirges. The coffin was taken into Independence 
 Hall and placed on an oblong platform in the centre of 
 the hall, covered with black cloth, and lay directly north 
 and south, the head towards the south, and directly oppo- 
 site " Old Independence Bell." The lid of the coffin was 
 removed far enough to expose to view the face and breast 
 of the deceased. An American flag, the one used to cover 
 
BODY IX STATE IN INDEPENDENCE HALL. 235 
 
 the coffin during the funeral procession, was thrown back 
 at the foot of the coffin, and a number of wreaths of ex- 
 otics laid upon it. A magnificent floral device, composed 
 of a large wreath of brilliant-colored flowers, and contain- 
 ing a beautiful American shield in the centre, also com- 
 posed of choice flowers, occupied a prominent position on 
 the lid of the coffin. 
 
 At the head of the coffin was suspended a highly 
 wrought cross, composed of japonicas, with a centre con- 
 sisting of jet black exotics. The device contained the fol- 
 lowing inscription : 
 
 SE IWI I HIH IIII W I B II W ■ ■ ■!■— — II ■ II III ■II WW IIIIIIIII 
 
 " To the memory of our beloved President, from 
 ladies of the United States Sanitary Commission." 
 
 On the " Old Independence Bell," and near the head of 
 the coffin, rested a large and beautifully made floral anchor, 
 composed of the choicest exotics. This beautiful offer- 
 ing came from the ladies of St. Clement's church. Four 
 stands, two at the head and two at the foot of the coffin, 
 were draped in black cloth, and contained rich candelabras 
 with lighted wax candles. Directly to the rear of these 
 were placed three additional stands, also containing can- 
 delabras vviiii burning tapers; and again, another row of 
 four stands, containing candelabras also, brought up the 
 rear, making in all eighteen candelabras and one hundred 
 and eight burning wax tapers. Between this flood of light, 
 shelving were erected, on which were placed rare vases 
 filled with japonicas, heliotropes, and other rare flowers. 
 These vases were about twenty-five in number. A most 
 Calicious perfume stole through every part of the hall, 
 which, added to the soft yet brilliant light of the wax 
 tapers, the elegant uniforms of the officers on duty, etc., 
 constituted a scene of oriental magnificence but seldom 
 witnessed. 
 
 The Hall at large was completelv shrouded with black 
 
23G BODY IX STATE IN IKDEPEXDENCE HALL. 
 
 cloth, arranged in a very graceful and appropriate man- 
 ner. The old eluuidelier that bangs from the centre of the 
 room, and which was directly over the coffin of the de- 
 ceased, was entirely covered, and from it radiated in every 
 direction festoons of black cloth, forming a sort of canopy 
 over the entire room. The walls of the room presented 
 I'ne appearance of having been papered with black. The 
 celebrated historical pictures that ornament the hall went, 
 with few exceptions, hid from view. The statue of Wash- 
 ington, at the east end of the room, stood out, however, in 
 bold relief against the black background. The only pic- 
 tures visible were the full-length portraits of William Penn, 
 Lafayette, Washington, and Chevalier Gerard, and the 
 smaller ones of Martha Washington, Stephen Decatur, and 
 one or two others. Wreaths of immortelle wei'e hung on 
 the black drapery that covered the walls, and were placed 
 about midway between the floor and ceiling. 
 
 One of the wreaths that lay near the head of the coffin 
 contained a card bearing the following inscription : 
 
 "Before any great national event I have always had 
 the same dream. I had it the other night. It is of a ship 
 sailing rapidly." 
 
 These words were used by Mr. Lincoln in a conversa- 
 tion not long since. 
 
 And thus Abraham Lincoln, the martyr of the nine- 
 teenth century, was laid in solemn repose beneath the roof 
 which once covered the grand old heroes and statesmen 
 of the Revolution. Cold and lifeless he lay in the same 
 chamber where our fathers subscribed their names to the 
 immortal Magna Charta of our liberties, the Declaration 
 of American Independence. On the 22d of February, 18G1, 
 he was in that Hall, and under the inspiration of its sacred 
 
BODY IN STATE IN INDEPENDENCE HALL. 237 
 
 memories, while raising the national flag above its hal- 
 lowed roof, he uttered these signilieant words: 
 
 " It was something in the Declaration of Independence, givin"^ 
 "liberty not only to the people of this country, but hope to the 
 " world for all future time. It was that which gave promise 
 'that in due time the weights should be lifted from the shoul- 
 " ders of all men, and that all should have an equal chance. ** * 
 ' Now, my friends, can the country be saved upon that basis? 
 ' If it can, I will consider myself one of the happiest men in the 
 "world if I can help to save it. But if this country cannot be 
 ^^ saved without giving up that principle. J loas about to say, I 
 ** ivould rather be assassinated upon this spot than to surren- 
 " der it." 
 
 It was proper that Abraham Lincoln, the champion 
 of freedom, the martyr to those principles, should rest 
 over the holy Sabbath in the sanctuary of the republic. 
 It was fltting that his remains should repose during the 
 sacred hours beneath the eyes of. the statesmen and pa- 
 triots who look down from the walls of that consecrated 
 temple, a temple dedicated nearly a century since by our 
 fathers as a shrine to human freedom, a shrine to which 
 all time would come with reverence and affection. It was 
 meet that the Sacrifice of the nineteenth century should be 
 laid in awful glory at the feet of his statue whose memory 
 we were taught to love and honor in our infancy — George 
 Washington. 
 
 At ten clock in the evening, a limited number of visit- 
 ors, embracing the City Councils, members of the C«urts, 
 and citizens, to the number of two or three thousand, were 
 admitted. Mayor Henry occupying a position at the head 
 of the coffin, while the following officers of the anny 
 termed the guard of honor. 
 
 (ilJAED OF HONOR. 
 
 Major General David ITunter. 
 ]'rigadier-(jeneral E. D.Townsend. 
 Brigadier-General Charles Thomas. 
 Brigadier-General A. B. Eaton. 
 Brigader-General J. G. Barnard. 
 15 
 
238 THE BODY SEE-V BY 120,000 CITIZENS. 
 
 Tlrinfn(lior-(ipnoral J. (}. Ramsoy. 
 Bn^a(lifi--(iciier:il A. I'. Howe. 
 Brigiulier-UcMierai 1>. (]. McCallum. 
 Brigiidicr (icneral J. (J. Caldwell. 
 Rear- Admiral C. II. Davis, U. S. Navy. 
 Captain W. K. Taylor, U. S. Navy. 
 Major T. Y. Field, U. S. Murine Corps, c 
 
 Six o'clock, Saljbath morning, the 23a of April, 1865, 
 was fixed a.s the hour when the remains were to be ex- 
 posed to public view. Long before the hour arrived, 
 thousands of people were on the streets and formed into 
 lines, patiently and silently awaiting the tmie when the 
 doors should be opened. The entrances were through two 
 windows on Chestnut street, and the exits through the 
 windows facing them on Independence Square, temporaiy 
 steps having been placed in position for that purpose. 
 By this arrangement two lines of spectators were admitted 
 at a time, passing on either side of the coffin. So great 
 was the anxiety of our citizens to view the body of theii 
 late beloved Chief Magistrate, that hundreds of them re- 
 mained around Independence Hall all night, waiting anx- 
 iously for the doors, or rather the windows, to be thrown 
 open. 
 
 At the liour of six o'clock a double line of applicants 
 were formed, extending as far west as Eighth street, and 
 east to Third street. By eleven o'clock the lines ex- 
 tended from the Hall west as far as the Schuylkill, and east 
 as far as the Delaware. The rcsidentsof West Philadelphia 
 flocked across the Market street bridge by hundreds, 
 while the Camden ferry-boats apparently brought across 
 the Delaware about one-half of the population of New 
 Jersey. So it was throughout the day and night, until 
 one o'clock on the morning of the 24th, when the lid of 
 the coffin was closed down and thousands of persons 
 found tliemsolves disappointed in getting a glimpse of 
 him whom they held so dear in memory. At least one 
 
LEAVE PIIILADELrillA — IN NEW YORK. 239 
 
 Imndi-cd find twenty thousand people passed threugh the 
 Hall (luring: the twenty-four hours. 
 
 At three o'clock on Monday morning, April 24th, the 
 mournful cortege left Philadeli)hia for New York. As 
 the draped cars passed through New Jersey, the people 
 of that State evinced the same grief, and paid the same 
 honors to the funeral train as had hitherto been done 
 by the people of Maryland and Pennsylvania. 
 
 Gov. Parker, of New Jersey, and staff, met the es- 
 cort at the State line, and accompanied it to New York. 
 At Trenton, Rahway, Elizabeth, Newark, and Jersey City, 
 as well as at all the intermediate points, bells were tolled, 
 minute guns were fired, and immense assemblages of 
 citizens were gathered. 
 
 ARRIVAL AT NEW YORK. 
 
 On arriving at New York, the remains were carried in 
 solemn procession to the City Hall, where 'they were 
 placed in state. The interior of the City Hall was 
 elaborately draped and festooned with mourning emblems, 
 presenting a sombre and solemn appearance. The room 
 in which the remains of the President were deposited was 
 thoroughly draped in black. The centre of the- ceiling was 
 dotted with silver stars relieved by black ; the drapery was* 
 finished with heavy silver fringe, and the curtains of black 
 velvet were fringed with silver and gracefully looped 
 The coffin rested on a raised dais, on an inclined plane, 
 the inclination being such that the face of the departed 
 patriot was in view of visitors while passing for two or 
 three minutes. 
 
 The coffin was laid on the dais in the presence of Gen- 
 erals Dix, Burnside, Yan Yliet, Peck, Ullman, Sandford, 
 and Townsend ; Admiral Spaulding ; Commodores Meade 
 and Rice ; the members of the Press, and a number of emi- 
 nent civilians. The embalmers then re-arranged the body, 
 which had been somewhat disturbed by the journey, after 
 
240 ALBANY — BUFFALO — COLUl^lBUS, ETC. 
 
 which the lid was removed, alTordiug a view of the face 
 and upper portion of the breast. 
 
 The people were admitted early the same afleruoon, 
 and from that time until twelve M., the next day, Tuesday, 
 the 25th, a continuous stream passed through the hall. 
 At one o'clock the remains were placed upon the hearse, 
 and an immense procession escorted them to the Hudson 
 lliver Railroad Depot, whence they departed for Albany. 
 
 ALBANY, SYRACUSE, AND BUFFALO. 
 
 At every point between the two cities, great concourses 
 of people assembled, and when the train arrived at the 
 State Capital of New York, a procession accompanied the 
 remains to the Capitol building, where they were placed in 
 State. At four P. M., on the 2Cth, they were again borne 
 to the funeral car, and the train departed on its solemn 
 journey to the Great West. Syracuse. Buffalo, and each 
 town and village on the line paid their last tribute to the 
 dead statesman. 
 
 CLEVELAND AND COLUMBUS. 
 The same sad duties were rendered by the people of 
 Ohio, the body being transferred from the train at Cleve- 
 land, and also at Columbus, where it was phiced in the 
 Capitol for several hours, giving thousands of the citizens 
 an opportunity to view all that ri'niained of Abuaiiam 
 Lincoln. 
 
 ARRIVAL AT INDIANAPOLIS. 
 In Indiana, the State in which Mr. Lincoln had spent 
 some ten years of his early life, the most intense exhil)i- 
 tions of grief and respect were evinced. Gov. Morton, a 
 warm personal friend of the deceased President, joined the 
 train at the State line, his suite consisting of his staff and all 
 the chief oflicers of the State, military and civil. On Sun- 
 day morning, April .3()th, the train reached Indianapolis, 
 and though a heavy rain prevailed, the entire population 
 
INDIAXAI'OLIS — CHICAGO — SPKINGFIELD 241 
 
 of the city and tlie adjacent country were gathered to 
 receive tlie remains. The coffin was borne beneath a 
 maj^uificcnt arch, into the Capitol, and placed under the 
 great dome, the splendid structure being festooned wUh 
 black. ■ The preparations here were of the most expensive 
 and elaborate nature, and were said to be by far the m.jsi 
 elegant and appropriate witnessed on the entire route 
 All through the Sabbath the people passed in an almost 
 endless line by the coffin, the scene proving one of most 
 extraordinary solemnity. All the children of the Sunday- 
 schools were admitted, and the City Councils of Cincin- 
 nati and Louisville, together with Gov. Buamlette of 
 Kentucky, were present. 
 
 ARRIVAL AT CHICAGO. 
 
 At midnight of Sunday, April 30lh, the remains were 
 escorted to the cars at Indianapolis, and the train left for 
 Chicago, where it arrived at eleven A. M., May 1st, 1865. 
 
 Minute guns and the tolling of bells announced the 
 arrival of the remains, and the multitude stood in pro- 
 found silence, with uncovered heads, as the coffin was 
 slowly borne to the funeral car, under a grand arch across 
 Park i)lace. The arch was fifty-one feet in span, sixteen 
 feet deep and forty feet high, its centre draped with the 
 national flags and mourning emblems, and containing 
 several inscriptions, including one as follows : " We Mourn 
 the Man with Heaven-born Principles." The remains 
 were conveyed to the rotunda of the Court-house. Among 
 the mottoes was " Illinois clasps to her bosom her slain 
 but glorified son." The number of people in the city at 
 the time the proccsssion moved was not less than a 
 quarter of a million. 
 
 ARRIVAL AT SPRINGFIELD. 
 
 At eight o'clock in the evening of May 1st, the coffin 
 was again closed, and borne to the cars on its journey to 
 
242 THE FUNERAL TROCESSION AT SPRINGFIELD. 
 
 Springfield, the earthly resting-place of its sacred treasure. 
 The next morning, May 2d, the funeral train reached the 
 city, and the corpse was conveyed to the State Capitol and 
 revealed to the view of the dead President's late fellow- 
 citizens. The grief expressed hero surpassed that of all 
 other communities. To thousands of the people Mr. Lin- 
 coln had been personally known, and their affection and 
 sorrow for his untimely death was of a deeper nature than 
 that of any of his countrymen. Bells were tolled, funeral 
 guns fired, and a universal woe overspread the city. Many 
 thousand people visited the Capitol during the day and 
 night. 
 
 THE FUNEEAL AT SPRINGFIELD. 
 
 The funeral took place on the fourth of May, and at noon 
 twenty-one guns were fired, and afterward single guns at 
 intervals of ten minutes. About noon, the remains were 
 brought from the State House and placed in a hearse, 
 which was surrounded by a magnificent crown of flowers. 
 Meanwhile a chorus of hundreds of voices, accompanied 
 by a brass band, sang the following hymn from the por- 
 tico of the Capitol. 
 
 " Children of the heavenly King, 
 Let us journey as we sing." 
 
 The funeral procession was under the imediate direction 
 of Major-General Hooker, Marshal-in-chiof, Brigadier- 
 General Cook and stafl", and Brevet Brigadier-General 
 Oakes and staif. The military and the firemen made a 
 fine appearance. The guard of honor consisted of General 
 Barnard; Rear-Admiral Davis; and Generals McCalltim, 
 Ramsay, Caldwell, Thomas, Howe, Townsend, and Eakin ; 
 and Captain Field, of the Marine Corps. The relations 
 and family friends of the deceased were in carriages. 
 Among them were Judge Davis, of the Supreme Court, 
 
ARRIVAL AT OAK UIDGE CEMETERY 2-13 
 
 the officiating clergyman, Bishop Simpson, Dr. Gurley, 
 and others. In the procession were the Gov^ernors of 
 several States, members of Congress, the State and mu- 
 nicipal authorities, and delegations from adjoining States* 
 The long line of civilians was clo.sed by the Free Masons, 
 Odd Fellows, and citizens at large, including colored per- 
 sons. The hearse was immediately followed by the horso 
 formerly belonging to Mr. Lincoln. Its body was covered 
 with black cloth, trimmed with silver fringe. Never be- 
 fore was there so large a military and civic display la 
 Springfield. There were immense crowds of people in 
 the immediate vicinity of the Capitol to see the procession 
 as it passed, and the people for several miles occupied the 
 side-ways. 
 
 The procession arrived at Oak Ridge Cemetery at one 
 o'clock. On the left of the vault in which the remains of 
 the President were deposited immediately on their arrival, 
 was a platform on which singers and an instrumental band 
 were in place, and these united in the chanting and sing- 
 ing of appropriate music, including a burial hymn by the 
 deceased President's pastor, the Rev. Dr. Gurley. On 
 the right was the speaker's stand, appropriately draped 
 with mourning. 
 
 The vault is erected at the foot of a knoll in a beautiful 
 part of the grounds, which contains forest trees of all 
 varieties. It has a doric gable resting on pilasters, the 
 main wall being rustic. The vault is fifteen feet high and 
 about the same in width, with semi-circular wings of 
 bricks projecting from the hill-sides. The material is 
 limestone, procured at Joliet, Illinois. Directly inside of 
 the ponderous doors is an iron grating. The interior walla 
 are covered with black velvet, dotted with evergreens. 
 In the centre of the velvet is a foundation of brick, capped 
 with a marble slab, on which the coffin rests. The front 
 of the vault is trimmed with evergreens. The dead 
 
244 LAST RITES AT THE VAULT. — REMINISCENCES. 
 
 march in " Saul" was sung, accompanied by the band, aa 
 the remains were deposited. Thousands of persons were 
 assembled at the cemetery before the arrival of the pro- 
 cession, occupying the succession of green hills, and the 
 scene was one of the most intense solemnity. The land- 
 scape was beautiful in the light of an unclouded sun. 
 
 The religious exercises were commenced by the singing 
 of a dirge. Then followed the reading of appropriate 
 portions of the Scriptures and a prayer. After a hymn 
 sung by the choir, the Ilev. Mr. Hubbard read the last 
 inaugural of President Lincoln. Another dirge was sung 
 by the choir, when Bishop Simpson delivered the funeral 
 oration. It was in the highest degree solemn, eloquent, 
 and patriotic, and portions of it vv^ere applauded. Then 
 followed another dirge and hymn, when benediction was 
 pronounced by the Rev. Dr. Gurley. The procession was 
 then re-formed, and returned to the city. 
 
 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 TVe have followed the remains of President Lincoln 
 from Washington, the scene of his assassination, to Spring- 
 field, his former home and now to be his final resting- 
 place. He had been absent from that city ever since he 
 left it in February, 1861, for the National Capital, to bo 
 inaugurated as President of the United States, We have 
 seen him lying in state in the Executive Mansion, where 
 the obsequies were attended by numerous mourners, some 
 of them clothed with the highest public honors and re- 
 sponsibilities which our republican institutions can bestow 
 and by the diplomatic representatives of foreign Govern- 
 ments. We have followed the remains from Washington 
 through Baltimore, Ilarrisburg, Philadelphia, Now York 
 Albany, Buffalo, Cleveland, Columbus, Indianapolis, and 
 Chicago to Springfield, a distance in circuit of fifteen hun- 
 dred or eighteen hundred miles. On the route million;? 
 
BISHOP Simpson's funeral oration, 245 
 
 of people have appeared to manifest by every means of 
 which they were capable, their deep sense of the public 
 loss, and their appreciation of the many virtues which 
 adorned the life of Abraham Lincoln. All classes, with- 
 out distinction of politics, spontaneously united in the 
 posthumous honors. All hearts seemed to beat as one at 
 the bereavement ; and now funeral processions are ended, 
 our mournful duty of escorting the mortal remains of 
 Abraham Lincoln hither is performed. We have seen 
 them deposited in the tomb. The bereaved friends, with 
 subdued and grief-stricksn hearts, have taken their adieu 
 and turn their faces homeward, ever to remember the 
 affecting and impressive scenes which they have witnessed. 
 The injunction, so often repeated on the way, " Bear him 
 gently to his rest," has been obeyed, and the great heart 
 of the nation throbs heavily at the portals of the tomb. 
 
 BISHOP SIMPSON'S FUNERAL ORATION". 
 
 " FKT.r.OW-ClTIZKXS OF IlJ.IN'OTS AND OF MANY PARTS OF OUR 
 
 ENTIRE Union : — Near tlie capital of iiii.< large and growing State 
 of Illinois, in the mid.^t of this beautiful grove, and at the open 
 mouth of the vault which has just rpccived the remains of our 
 fallen chieftain, we gather to pay a tribute of respect and drop 
 the tears of sorrow around the ashes of the mighty dead. A 
 little more than four years ago. from his plain and (piiet home in 
 yonder city, lie started, receiving the parting words of the con- 
 course of friends who gathered around him, and in tiie midst of 
 the dropping of the gentle shower he told of the pains of parting 
 from the place where his children had been born and his home 
 had been made so pleasant by early recollections. And as he 
 left he made an earnest request in the hearing of some who are 
 present, that as he was about to enter upon responsibilities which 
 he believed to be greater than any which had fallen upon any 
 man since the days of Washington, the people would ofler up 
 their prayers that God would aid and sustain him in the work 
 they had given him to do. His company left your (piict citv. 
 15ut as it went snares were in waiting for the (jiiief M agist i-ute. 
 Scarcely did he escape the dangers of the way or the hands of 
 the assassin as he neared Washington, and 1 believe he escaped 
 only through the vigilance of the oHicers and the prayers of the 
 people ; so that the blow was suspended for more than four 
 
246 BISHOP SIMPSON'S FUNERAL ORATIOX. 
 
 years, which was at last permitterl. through the providence of 
 (jlod, to fall. How different the occasion which witnessed hia 
 deparuire and that which witnessed his return ! Doubtless you 
 expected to take him by the hand, to feel the warm prusp which 
 you felt iu other days, and to see the tall form walking nmong 
 you which you had delighted to honor in years past. But he 
 was never permitted to return until he came with lips mute and 
 Bilent, his frame encoffined, and a weeping nation following f.s 
 his mourners. Such a scene as his return to you was never wit- 
 nessed among the events of history. There have been great 
 processions of mourners. There was one for the patriarch 
 Jacob, which came up from Egypt, and the Egyptians wondered 
 at the evidence of reverence and filial affection which came from 
 the hearts of the Israelites. There was mourning when Mosea 
 fell upon the heights of Pisgah and was hid from human view. 
 'J'herc have been mournings in the kingdoms of the earth when 
 kings and warriors have fallen ; but never was there in the his- 
 tory of man such mourning as that which has accompanied the 
 funeral procession and has gathered around the mortal remains 
 of him who was our loved one, and who now sleeps among us. 
 If we glance at the procession which followed him we see how 
 the nation stood aghast. Tears filled the eyes of many sun- 
 burned faces. Strong men, as they clasped the hands of their 
 friends, were unable to find vent for their grief in words. 
 Women and little children caught up the tidings as they ran 
 through the land and were melted into tears. The nation stood 
 Btill. Men left their plows in the fields and asked what the end 
 would be. The hum of manufactures ceased and the sound of 
 the hammer was not heard. Busy merchants closed their doors, 
 and in the exchange gold passed no more from hand to hand. 
 Three weeks have passed. 'JMie nation has scarcely breathed 
 easily yet. A mournful silence is abroad upon the land. Nor 
 is this mourning confined to any class or to any district of the 
 country. Men of all political parties and of all religious creeds 
 seem united in paying this mournful tribute. The Archbishop 
 of the Roman Catliolic Church in New York and a Protestant 
 minister walked side by side in the sad procession, and a Jewish 
 Rabbi performed a part of the solemn service. There are gath- 
 ered around his tomb rejiresentatives of the army and navy, 
 senators, judges, governors and officers of all the branchi^s of the 
 government and members of all the civic associations, with men 
 and women from the humblest as well as the highest occupation.s. 
 Here and there, too, are tears, as sincere and warm as any that 
 diop, which come from the eyes of those whose kindred and 
 whose race have been freed from their chains by him whom the_y 
 mourn as their deliverer. Far more have gazed on the face of 
 the departed than ever lodked upon the face of any other 
 departed man. More eyes have looked upon the procession for 
 sixtceii hundred unlet; or more by niyht and by day, by sunlight, 
 
BISHOP Simpson's funeral oration, 247 
 
 dawn, twilight and by torchliglit, than ever before watched the 
 progress of a procession. We ask wliy this wonderful mourning, 
 this great procession? I answer: First, a part of the interest 
 has arisen from the times in which we live, and in which he that 
 has fallen was a principal actor. It is a principle of our nature 
 that feelings once excluded from the object by which they are 
 excited, turn readily to some other object which may for the 
 time being take possession of the mind. Another principle is, 
 that the deepest affections of our hearts gather around some 
 human form in which are incarnated the loving thoughts and 
 ideas of the passing age. If we look, then, at the times, we see 
 an age of excitement. For four years the popular heart has 
 been stirred to its utmost depths. War had come upon us, di- 
 viding families, separating nearest and dearest friends— a war, 
 the extent and magnitude of which no one could estimate— a 
 war in which the blood of brethren was shed by a brother's hand. 
 A call for soldiers was made by this voice, now hushed, and 
 all over this land — from hill to mountain, from plain to'valley — • 
 they sprung up, hundreds of thousands of bold hearts, ready to 
 go forth and save our National Union. This feeling of excite- 
 ment was transferred next into a feeling of deep grief, because 
 of the dangers in which our country was placed. Many said, 
 Is it possible to save our nation ? Some in our own country, 
 and nearly all the leading men in other countries, declared it to 
 be impossible to maintain the Union ; and many an honest heart 
 was deeply pained with apprehensions of common ruin ; and 
 many, in grief, and almost in despair, anxiously inquired, 'What 
 shall the end of these things be?' In addition, the wi^es had 
 given their husbands, and motiiers their sons. In the pri le and 
 joy of their hearts, they saw them put on their uniform — they 
 saw them take their martial .step — and they tried to hide their 
 deep feelings of sadness. Many dear ones slept on the battle- 
 field — never, never, to return again — and there was mourning in 
 every mansion and in every cabin in our broad land. Then 
 came a feeling to deepen sadness, as the story came of prisoners 
 tortured to death, or starved, through the mandates of those 
 who are called the representatives of the Chivalry, or who claim 
 to be the honorable ones of the earth ; and as we read the stories 
 of frames attenuated, and reduced to mere skeletons, our grief 
 turned partly to horror, and partly into a cry for vengeance. 
 Then, the feeling was changed to one of joy. There came signs 
 of the end of the rebellion. We followed the career of our 
 glorious Generals. We saw our army, under the command of 
 the brave otlicer who is guiding this procession, climb up the 
 heights of Lookout Mountain, and drive the rebels from their 
 strongholds. Another brave General swept through Georgia, 
 South and North Carolina, and drove the cduibincd armies of 
 the rebels before him — while tiie honori'd Lieut<'nant-General 
 held Lee and his hoals in a dealh-grasp. Then the tidings came 
 
2!48 BISHOP stmpsox's funeral oration. 
 
 that Ricliniond was evacuated, and that Lee had surrendered I 
 'IMio bells rang merrily all over the land. The booming of 
 cannon was heard. Illuminatinns and torch-light processions 
 niiuill'sted the general joy. and liunilios wvre looking for the 
 speedy return of tlieir loved ones from the field of battle. Just 
 in the midst of the wildest joy — in one hour, nay, in one mo- 
 ment — the tidings rang throughout the land that Abraham I in- 
 coln, the best of Presidents, hud perished by the hands of an 
 assassin I And then, all that feeling which had been gatheixd 
 for four years — in forms of excitement, grief, horror, and joy — • 
 turned into one wail of woe : a sadness inexpressible, anguish 
 unutterable. But it is not the time merely which caused thia 
 mourning — the mode of his death must be taken into account. 
 Had he died on a bed of illness, with kind friends around him ; 
 had the sweat of death been wiped from his brow, by gentle 
 hands, while he was yet conscious; could he have had the power 
 to si)eak words of affection to his stricken widow ; words of 
 counsel to us all, like those which we heard in his parting for 
 Washington — in his inaugural, which shall now be immortal — • 
 how it would have softened or assuaged smnething of the grief. 
 There might at least have been preparatinn for the event. J3ut 
 no moment of warning was given to him or to us. He was 
 stricken down when his hopes for the end of the rebellion were 
 bright, and the prospects of a joyous life were before him. 
 'J'here was a Cabinet meeting that day, said to have been the 
 most cheerful and happy of any held since the beginning of the 
 rebellion. After this meeting, he talked with his friends, and 
 spoke of the four years of tempest, of the storm being over, and 
 of the four years of pleasure and j^y now awaiting him, as the 
 ■weight of care and anguish would be taken from his mind, and 
 he could have happy days with his family again. In the midst 
 of these anticipations, he left his house, never to return alive. 
 'J'hough the evening was Good Friday — the saddest day in the 
 whole calendar for the Christian Church — lienceforth in this 
 country to be made still sadder, if possible, by the memory of 
 our nation's loss. And so filled with grief was every Christian's 
 heart, that even all the joyous thoughts of Easter Sunday 
 f.iiled to remove the crushing sorrow under which the true 
 worsliip|)er bowed in the house of (jod. But the great cause 
 of this mourning is to be found in the man himself. Mr. Lin- 
 coln was no ordinary man ; and I believe the conviction has 
 bet t: growing on the nation's mind, as it certainly has been on 
 my own, especially in the last years of his administration, that, 
 by the hand of God, he was especially singled out to guide our 
 governuient in these troublous times. And it seems to me that 
 the h;ind of (^od maybe traced in many of the events connected 
 with his history. 
 
 "First, then, I recognize that in his physical education which 
 he received, and which prepared him for enduring llerculeau 
 
BISHOP STMPSOX'S FUNERAL ORATION 249 
 
 labors in the toils of his boyhood and the labors of his man- 
 hood, God was givinij^ him an iron form. Next to this, was his 
 ideiiti(ication with the lu'urt of the great jjcuplc — understanding 
 tlieir ft'elinijs, because lie was one uf them, and connected with 
 them in their movements and life. JJis education was simple. 
 A few months spent in the school-house, gave him the elements 
 of education. He read few books, but mastered all he read. 
 'Banyan's Progress' and the 'Lifu of Washington' were his fa- 
 vorites. In these we recognize the works which gave the bias 
 to his character, and which partly moulded his style. His early 
 life, with its varied struggles, joined him indissolubly to the 
 weeping masses, and no elevatitin in society diminished hia 
 resjiect for the sons of toil. He knew what it was to fell the 
 tall trees of the forest, and to stem the current of the swift 
 Mississippi. His home was in the growing West, the heart of 
 the Republic ; and, invigorated by tlie wind which swept over its 
 groves, he learned the lesson of self-reliance which sustained him 
 in seasons of adversity. His genius was soon recognized, as 
 true genius always will be. He was placed in the Legislature 
 of a State. Already acquainted with the principles of law, he 
 devoted his thoughts to matters of public interest, and began to 
 be looked on as the coming statesman. As early as 1849 he 
 j)resented resolutions in the Legislature asking for emancipation 
 in the District of Columbia, although, with rare e.vceptions, the 
 wliole popular mind of his State was opposed to tiie measures. 
 From that hour he was a steady and uniform friend of humanity, 
 and was preparing for the conflict of later years. If you ask on 
 what mental characteristics his greatness rested, I answer, on a 
 quick and ready perception of facts, and a memory unusually 
 ti'nacious and retentive, and on a logical turn of mind whicl^ 
 followed sterlingly and unwaveringly every link in the chain of 
 thought on any subject which he was called on to investigate. 
 1 think there have been minds more decided in their character, 
 more comprehensive in their scope, but I doubt if there has 
 been a man who could follow, step by step, with logical power, 
 the points which he desired to illustrate. He gained the power 
 by the close study of geometry, and by a determination to per- 
 severe in truth. It is said of him, that in childhood, wlwu he 
 had any difficultj', in listening to a conversation, to understand 
 what people meant, if he retired to rest he could not sleep till 
 he tried to understand the precise points intended, and, when 
 Uiilerstood, to co'nvey it in a clearer manner to those who had 
 listened with him. Who that has read his messages fails to 
 perceive the directness and the simplicity of his style ; and this 
 very trait, which was scoffed at and derided by his opposers, is 
 now recognized as one of the strong points of that mighty mind 
 which has so powerfully influenced the destiny of the nation, 
 and which shall for ages to come influence the destiny of hu- 
 manity. It is not, however, chiefly l)y his mental faculties that 
 
250 BISHOP Simpson's funkral oration". 
 
 ho gained such a control over mankind. ITis moral power frav© 
 liini jjrominenco. 'I'lie convictions of >nen that Abraham Ijin- 
 coln was an honest man, led them to yield to his guidance. As 
 has been said of Cobden, whom he <;reatly respected, he made 
 all men feel and own the sense of himself, and recognize in hi:n, 
 individually, a self-relying ])ower. They saw in him a man whi m 
 they believed would do tiiat which was right, regardless of all 
 consequences. It was this moral feeling which gave him the 
 greatest hold on the people, and made his utterances almost 
 oracular. When the nation was angered by the perfidy of 
 foreign nations in allowing privateers to be fitted oiit, he ut- 
 t(M-ed the significant expression — 'One war at a time' — and it 
 stilled the national heart. When his own friends were divided 
 as to what steps should be taken as to slavery, that simjjle 
 utterance — ' 1 will save the Union if I can with slavery; but, 
 if not, slavery must perish : for the Union must be preserved' 
 — became the rallying word. Men felt that the struggle was for 
 the Union, and all other questions must be subsidiarj'. I'ut 
 after all the acts of a man, shall his fall be perpetuated ? What 
 are his acts? Much y)raise is due to the men who aided him. 
 He called able counsellors around him, and able Generals into 
 the field — men who have borne the sword as bravely as any hu- 
 man arm has borne it. ITe had the aid of prayerful and tliouglit- 
 ful men everywhere. But under his own guiding hands the 
 movements of our land have been conducted. 
 
 " Turn towards the different departments. We had an unor- 
 ganized militia — a mere skeleton army ; yet under his care that 
 army has been enlarged into a force which for skill, intelligence, 
 efficiency and bravery surpasses any which the world has ever 
 seen. Before its veterans the renowned veterans of Napoleon 
 shall pale — and the mothers and sisters on these hillsides and 
 all over the land shall take to their arms again braver men 
 than ever fought in European wars. The reason is obvious. 
 Money, or a desire for fame collected their armies, or they were 
 rallied to sustain favorite theories or dynasties ; but the armies 
 he called into being fought for liberty, for the Union, and for 
 the right of self-government ; and many of them felt that the 
 battles they won were for humanity everywhere, and for all time ; 
 for 1 believe that God has not suffered this terrible rebellion to 
 come upon our laud merely as a chastisement to us or a lesson 
 to our age. There are moments which involve in themselves 
 eternities. There are instants which seem to contain germs 
 whic- shall develop and bloom forever. Such a moment comes 
 in the tide of time to our laiul when a question must be settled. 
 'J'h(> contest was not for the repuljlic merely, not for the Union 
 simply, but to decide whether the people, as a people, in their 
 entire majesty, were destined to be the government, or whether 
 they were to be subjects of tyrants, or autocrats, or to class-rule 
 of any kind. This is the great (juestion for which we have, been 
 
BISHOP SIMPSONS FUNERAL ORATION, 2D I 
 
 fightinj?, and its decision is ut hand, and the result of tlie con- 
 test will afTect tiie ages to come. If successful, republics will 
 spread, in spite of monarchism, all over this earth. [ExcUvrna- 
 Hd^s of Amen," " Thank God!") I turn from the Army to tiie 
 Navy. What was it when the war commenced ? Now we have our 
 ships of war at home and abroad — to guard privateers in foreign 
 sympathizing ports as well as to take care of every part of our 
 own coast. They have taken forts that military men said could 
 not be taken, and a brave admiral, for the first time in the 
 world's history, lashes himself to the mast, there to remain as 
 long as he had a particle of skill or strength to watch over his 
 ship while it engaged in the perilous contest of taking the strong 
 forts of the enemy. I turn to the Treasury Department. Where 
 shall the money come from ? Wise men predicted ruin, but our 
 National credit has been maintained, and our currency is safer 
 to-day than it ever was before. Not only is this so, but through 
 our National bonds, if properly used, we shall have a permanent 
 basis for our currency ; and they are also an investment so de- 
 sirable for -capitalists of other nations, that under the laws of 
 trade, I believe, the centre of exchange will be transferred from 
 England to the United Htate,s. But the great act of the mighty 
 cliieftian, on which his fame shall rest long after his frame shall 
 moulder away, is that of giving freedom to a race. We have all 
 been taught to revere the sacred character of Moses, of his 
 power, and the prominence he gave to the moral law. How it 
 lasts, and how his name towers among the names in Heaven, 
 and how he delivered three millions of his kindred out of bond- 
 age ; and yet we may assert that Abraham Lincoln, by his Pro- 
 clamation, liberated more enslaved people than ever Moses set 
 free, and these not of his kindred or of his race. Such a power, 
 or such an opportunity, God has seldom given to man. When 
 other events shall have been forgotten, when this world shall 
 have become a network of republics, when every throne shall 
 have been swept from the face of the earth, when literature 
 shall enlighten all minds, when the claims of humanity shall bo 
 recognized every where, this act shall still be conspicuous on 
 the pages of history, and we are thankful that God gave to 
 Abraham Lincoln the decision, wisdom and grace to issue that 
 Proclamation which stands high above all other papers which 
 have been penned by uninspired men. Abraham Lincoln was a 
 good man. He was known as an honest, temperate, forgiving 
 man, a just man, a man of noble heart in every way. As to his 
 religious experience, I cannot speak definitely, because 1 was 
 net privileged to know much of his private sentiments. My 
 acquaintance with him did not give me the opportunity to hear 
 him speak on this topic. I know, however, he read the Bible 
 frequently; loved it for its great truths and for its profound 
 teachings, and he tried to be guided by its precepts. He be- 
 lieved in Christ, the Saviour of sinners, and I think he was sin- 
 
252 BISHOP Simpson's fuxeral oration'. 
 
 cerely trying to briiij>: liis life into the principles of revealed 
 reiij;i()n. Certainly, if ever there was a man who illustrated 
 some of the principles of pure religion, that man waH our de- 
 parted President, Look over all his speeches ; listen to his 
 utterances. He never spoke unkindly of any man ; even the 
 rebels received no words of anger from him ; and the last day 
 illustrated, in a remarkable manner, his forgiving disposition. A 
 despatch was received that afternoon, that Thompson and 
 Tucker were trying to make their escape through Maine, and it 
 was proposed to arrest them. Mr. Lincoln, however, preferred 
 rather to let them quietly escape, and this morning we read the 
 I'roclamation offering twenty-hve thousand dollars each for the 
 arrest of these men, as aiders and abettors of his assassination. 
 iSo that in his expiring acts he was saying: 'Father forgive 
 them ; they know not what they do !' As a rule I doubt if any 
 I'resident has ever shown such trust in (iod, or in ])ublic docu- 
 ments so fiecpiently referred to Divine aid. Often did he remark to 
 friends and to delegaticms that his hope for our success rested in 
 Lis conviction that Uod would bless our efforts because we were 
 trying to do right. 'J'o the address of a large religious body he 
 replied, ''i'hanks be unto God, who, in our national trials, givett 
 us the churches.' To a minister who said he hoped the Lord was 
 on our side, he replied that it gave him no concern whether the 
 Lord was on our side or not, for, he added, ' 1 know that the Lord 
 is always on the side of the right,' and with a deep feeling, 
 added, ' But God is my witness that it is my constant anxiety 
 and prayer, that both myself and this nation should be on the 
 Lord's side.' In his domestic life he was exceedingly kind and 
 allectionate. He was a devoted husband and father. 
 
 " During his Presidential term he lost his second son, Willie. 
 To an officer of the army he said not long since, ' Do you ever 
 find yourself talking with the dead !' and added, ' Since Willie'.s 
 death I catch myself every day involuntarily talking with him, 
 as if he were with me.' On his widow, who is unable to be here, 
 1 need otdy invoke the blessing of Almighty God that she may 
 be comforted and sustained. For his son, who has witnessed 
 the exercises of this hour, all that I can desire is that the >nantle 
 of his father may fall upon him. {Exclamations of 'Amoi.') 
 hex us pause a moment in the lesson of the hour before we part. 
 This man, though he fell by the hand of the assassin, still he 
 fell under the permissive hand of God. He had some wise pur 
 pose in allowing him so to fall. What more could he have 
 desired of life for himself? Were not his honors full? There 
 was no office to wdiich he could aspire. The popular heart 
 clung around him as around no other man. The nations of the 
 world have learned to honor him. If rumors of a desired albance 
 with England be true, Napoleon trembled when he heard of the 
 fall of Ilichmond, and asked what nation would join him to pro- 
 tect him against our government. Besides the goodness of such 
 
BISHOP SIMPSON S FUNERAL ORATION. 253 
 
 a man liis fame was full, liis w^rk was clone, and he scaled his 
 glorj by b«.coiiiiii<i^ tlie iiatuin'.-; great, inai-tyr for lilicrty. He 
 appears to have had a yt range pu sentiment early in puiitieal 
 life, that some day lie would he I'l'esidcnt. You sec it, indeed, 
 in 1839. Of the slave power he said : 'Broken by it? 1, too, 
 may be asked to bow to it. I never will. The probability that 
 we may fail in the struggle ought not to deter us from the sup. 
 }^ort of a cause which 1 deem to be just. It shall not deter me. 
 If 1 ever feel the soul within me elevate and expand to those 
 dimensions not wholly unworthy of its Almighty architect, it is 
 WHen I contemplate the cause of my country, deserted by all the 
 World besides, and I standing up boldly and alone and hurling 
 defiance at her vicarious oppressors. Here, without contempla- 
 ting consequences, before high Heaven and iu the fiice of the 
 world, I swear eternal fidelity to the just cause, as I deem it, of 
 the hind, of my life, my lihcity and my love.' And yet secretly 
 he said to more than one, ' I never sliall live out the four years 
 of my term. When the rebellion is cruslied my work is done.' 
 So it was. He lived to see the last battle fought and to dictate 
 a despaleh from the lunnc (,f Jellurson Davis. Lived till the 
 power of the rebellion was iirolcen ; and then, having done the 
 work for which God had sent him. angels, 1 trust, were sent to 
 shield him from one munient of [lain or sndei'ing. and to bear 
 bin) from this world to that high and glorious realm where the 
 patriot and the go(,d .-hall live forever. His example teaches 
 young men that every positicui of eminence is open before the 
 diligent and the wurtliy, to the active men of the country. His 
 example urges the country to trust in Grod and do right. Stand- 
 ing as we do to-day by his conin and his sepulchre, let us 
 resolve to carry I'orwurd the policy which he so nobly and wholly 
 began. Let us do right to all men. Let us vow in the sight of 
 Heaven to eradicate every vestige of human slavery, to give every 
 human being his true position before (Jod and man, to crush 
 every form of rebellion, and to stand by the Hag which God has 
 given us. How joyfully we ought to be that it floated over 
 parts of every State before Mr. Lincoln's career was ended. 
 How singular is the fact that the assassin's foot was caught in 
 the folds of the (lug, and to this we aie indebted for his capture. 
 'I'he flag and the tnntor must ever be enemies, 'i'he traitors will 
 probably suffer by the change of rulers, for one of sterner mould, 
 whil himself has dei ■■.y snlfei'ed from the rebellion, now wield:3 
 t'lie sword of justice. <)ui- country, too, is stronger for the trial 
 tiirough wiiich it hns passed. A republic was declared by 
 nn.'Uarcliies too weak (o enduix' a civil war, yet we have crushed 
 the most gigantic rebellion in liistory, and have grown in strength 
 and popuhitioa eveiy year of the siruggle. We have passed 
 through the ordeal of a jiopu.lar election wlsile swords and 
 bayonets were in the field, and lia\e come out unchanged; and 
 now, in an hour of excilement, with a large minority who pre- 
 16 
 
254 BISHOP SIMPSON'S FUNERAL ORATION. 
 
 ferred another man for President, and the bullet of the assassin 
 Having laid our President prostrate, has there been a mutiny? 
 nas any rival proposed his claim? In an army of nearly a 
 million of men, no officer or soldier hns utt(!red one word of 
 dissent, and in an hour or two arL(;r Mr. Lincoln's doalh, another 
 leader, with constitutional powers, occupied his chair, and tlie 
 government moved forward without one single jar. The vvoild 
 will learn that republics are the strongest goverinuents on earth. 
 And now, my friends, in the words of the departed, 'with malice 
 towards none, free from ail feeling o." personal vengeance, yet 
 believing the sword must not be drawn or borne in vain, let ua 
 go forward in our painful duty.' Let every man who was a 
 Senator or Representative in Congress, and who aided in begin- 
 ning 'his rebellion, and thus led to the slaughter of our sons and 
 daughters, be brought to a speei^y and to certain punishment. 
 Let every officer educated at public expense, and who, having 
 been advanced to position, has perjured himself and has turned 
 his sword against the vitals of his country, be doomed to this. 
 I believe in the will of the American people. Men may attempt 
 to compromise, and to restore these traitors and murderers to 
 society again ; but the American people will arise in their 
 majesty and sweep all such compromises and compromisers 
 away, and shall declare that there shall be no ])eace to rebels ; 
 but to the deluded masses we shall extend the arms of forgive- 
 ness. We will take them to our hearts and walk with them 
 side by side as we go forward to work out a glorious destiny. 
 The time will come when, in the beautiful language of him whose 
 lips are forever closed, ' The mystic cords of memory, which 
 stretch from every battle field and from every patriot's grave, 
 shall yield a sweeter music when touched by the angels of our 
 better nature.' To the ambitious there is the fearful lesson of 
 the four candidates for Presidential honors in 18(30. Two of 
 them, Douglas and Lincoln, once competitors, but now sleeping 
 patriots, rest from their labors; Bell perished in poverty and 
 misery, as a traitor might perish, and Brcckenridge is a fright- 
 ened fugitive, with the brand of traitor on his brow. That will 
 be vouched by the angels of our better nature. (Cries of " good, 
 good.") 
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IS MOURNED BY 
 TWENTY-FIVE MILLIONS OP PEOPLE. 
 
 Thus was laid to his silent rest the most illuslriou* 
 citizen of the Nineteenth century. No otlier mortal evei" 
 went to his tomb amid such expressions of pjrief. Twenty 
 five milHons of people mourned him as children mourn tho 
 loss of a father. The ciu;mci[)ated blacks felt that they 
 
LIFE AND PRINCIPLES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 255 
 
 had parted with their earthly saviour, the man who, under 
 God, had been raised up to redeem them from oppression. 
 And now, as we write, the wail of old England, the sor- 
 rows of all Europe, the sighs of every breast which con- 
 tains a heart throbbing with the love of liberty, come 
 borne to us by every burdened breeze from over the 
 Atlantic. The world sympathizes with America in her 
 grief, and the world accords to our cherished dead the 
 meed of praise, the proud height of fame to which Mr 
 Lincoln's pure life, honest heart, and unsullied private 
 and public character entitled him before the eyes of man 
 and angels. 
 
 In his career we have seen how the flat-boatman and 
 rail-splitter of the West climbed step by step until he 
 reached the highest round of political preferment, as well 
 as the loftiest place in the affections of his countrymen. 
 We have seen how honesty of purpose won its way while 
 beset by the wiles of political chicanery and deceit. We 
 have seen how sterling principle lived down fierce oppo- 
 sition until the false and the wrong were forced to yield 
 to the true and the just. We have seen a grand illus- 
 tration of the practical democratic republicanism of our 
 American system, in elevating a man from the humblest 
 ranks of the people to the loftiest place on earth. And, 
 finally, we have seen how the malignant hate of foiled 
 traitors sped the Parthian arrow to the murdering of the 
 most illustrious citizen of the Republic. 
 
 "An eagle, tower'ing in his pride of place, 
 Was by a raousiug owl hawked at aud killed." 
 
 , But the principles enunciated and struggled for by 
 Abraham Lincoln are as imperishable as truth itself, and 
 having performed his great mission upon earth, he has 
 gone to meet his reward in another sphere, leaving to his 
 fellow citizens, and to posterity, the enjoyment of the 
 
256 FIRST PLOT TO ASSASSINATE MU. IJXCOLN. 
 
 great reforms of which he was the instrument in the 
 hands of Providence, and to American youth the in- 
 fluence of his grand example. 
 
 THE FIRST PLOT TO ASSASSINATE PRESI- 
 DENT LINCOLN. 
 
 The murder of Mr. Lincohi, more tlian four years after 
 his induction into tlie office of President of the United 
 States, is not the fulfilment of a recent intention, nor is 
 the guilt of it confined to the actual murderer and his 
 present active accomplices. Soon after the first election 
 of Mr. Lincoln, a plot was matured for his assassination, 
 which was vaguely rumored at the time of its intended 
 execution, but which was never exposed in any formal 
 manner, and hence never obtained general credence. As 
 we are in possession of its outlines, and the means by 
 which it was defeated, the mention of the circumstances 
 may now be received with a degree of interest which they 
 could not heretofore have excited. It is proper to say 
 that we state them substantially as they were reported 
 some time ago, by a gentleman who was chiefly instru- 
 mental in defeating the conspiracy. In the month of 
 January, 1861, a gentleman, holding a position in this 
 city, which made him a proper agent to act on the infor- 
 mation, was waited upon by a lady, who stated to him her 
 suspicions or knowledge — whence derived we are not able 
 to say — of a plot to assassinate Mr. Lincoln when on his 
 way from his home, in Illinois to Washington, to be inau- 
 gurated as President. The active parties, or some of 
 them, in the business, were understood to be in Baltimore. 
 At all events, the gentleman considered that the intelli- 
 gence had sufficient foundation to make it his duty to 
 satisfy himself whether it might be correct. lie accord- 
 ingly employed a detective officer, a man who had in In's 
 profession become notable for his sagacity and success, to 
 
FIRST PLOT TO ASSASSINATE MR, LINCOLN, 257 
 
 go to Baltimore and adopt his own course to detect the 
 parties to aud plan of the conspiracy. The officer went 
 to Baltimore, and opened an office as some sort of broker 
 or agent, under an assumed name. Being supplied witli 
 needful funds, he made occasions to become acquainted 
 with certain classes of secessionists, and by degrees was 
 on free and easy terms with them. He took each man in 
 his humor, dined and supped with some, gambled with 
 others, "treated" and seconded dissipations in more ways 
 than need be expressly stated, until he had secured enough 
 of their confidence to bo familiar with the particulars of 
 their schemes. Meanwhile it had been ascertained that 
 on the line of the Baltimore Railroad there were men en- 
 gaged in military drilling. Several other detectives were 
 employed by the chief to discover the purpose of those 
 organizations ; and, disguised as laborers or farm hands, 
 they got themselves mustered in. One of the military 
 companies proved to be loyal in its purpose ; another, 
 under pretence of being prepared to guai'd one or more of 
 the bridges north of Baltimore, was designed for quite an 
 opposite purpose. It will bo remembered that some time 
 before Mr, Lincoln set out from his home for Washington, 
 his intended route thither was published. A part of the 
 programme was that he should visit Ilarrisburg and Phi- 
 ladelphia. We believe that Mr. Lincoln was not advised 
 especially of any personal danger until he was about to 
 go to Harrisburg, and then, at the instance of the gentle- 
 man referred to, ho was urged to proceed without delay 
 to Washington. He replied, however, that he had pro- 
 mised the people of Harrisburg to answer their invitation, 
 and he would do so if it cost him his life. He accord- 
 ingly visited Plarrisburg on the 22d of February, 18GL 
 It was intended he should rest there that evening. But 
 under the management of " the gentleman," another ar- 
 rangement was effected. The night train from Philadel- 
 
258 FIRST PLOT TO ASSASSINATE MR. LINCOLN. 
 
 pliia to Baltimore and Wasbington left at half past ten 
 o'clock in the evening. It was dctcrniined that Mr. Lin- 
 coln should go secretly by that train on the evening of 
 the 23d ; and to enable him to do so, a special train was 
 provided to bring him secretly from Ilarrisburg to Phila- 
 delphia. After dark, in the former city, when it was pre- 
 sumed he had retired to his hotel, he accordingly took tiie 
 special train, and came to Philadelphia. Meanwhile, in 
 anticipation of his coming, "the gentleman" had insured 
 the detention of the Philadelphia and Baltimore train, 
 under the pretence that a parcel of important documents 
 for one of the departments in Washington must be dis- 
 patched by it, but which might not be ready until after 
 the regular time of the starting of that train. By a 
 similar representation, the connecting train from Balti- 
 more to Washington was also detained. Owing to the 
 late hour at which the special train left Harrisburg with 
 Mr. Lincoln, it did not, as was anticipated, reach this 
 city until after the usual Philadelphia and Baltimore 
 time. Mr. Lincoln was accompanied by the officer who 
 bad been employed in Baltimore. A formidable bundle 
 of old railroad reports had been made up in the office of 
 the Philadelphia and JJaltimore Company, which the 
 officer, duly instructed, had charge of. On the arrival of 
 the Ilarrisburg train, Mr. liincoln took a carriage in 
 waiting, and with his escort was driven to the depot at 
 Broad and Prime streets. The officer made some osten- 
 tatious bustle, arriving with his parcel for which the 
 train was detained, and passing through the depot en- 
 tered the cars, Mr. liincoln in his company. As Mr. 
 Lincoln passed through the gate, the man attending it 
 remarked: "Old fellow, it's well for you the train was 
 detained to-night, or you wouldn't have gone in it." No 
 one aboard the train but the agent of the company and 
 the officer knew of Mr. Lincoln's being in it. lie was 
 
FIRST PLOT TO ASSASSINATE MR. LINCOLN, 259 
 
 conducted to a sleeping? car, and thus was kept out of the 
 way of observ^ation. To guard against any possible com- 
 munication by telegraph at this time, the circuit was 
 broken, to be united when it would be safe to do so. The 
 plan of the conspirators was to break or burn one of tlie 
 bridges north of Baltimore, at the time of Mr. Lincoln's 
 anticipated approach, on the following day ; and in the 
 confusion incident to the stoppage of the train, to assas- 
 sinate him in the cars. Hence the extra precaution above 
 mentioned, regarding the telegraph. In due time the 
 train with Mr. Lincoln reached Washington, and he being 
 safe there, the officer, as previously instructed, sent a dis- 
 patch to "the gentleman" that "the parcel of documents 
 had been delivered." The public, and, above all, the 
 conspirators, awoke on the morning of the 24th to be 
 astonished with the intelligence that Mr. Lincoln had 
 arrived in Washington. It may be well to mention here 
 that the story of his disguise in a " Scotch cap" and 
 cloak, was untrue. He wore his ordinary traveling cap, 
 and was in no sense of the word disguised. 
 
 We give this narrative, assui>cd that in no essential 
 particular can it vary from the circumstantial account of 
 " the gentlemen," to whose precauticMis m;iy be properly 
 attributed the frustaliun of the first plot to assassinate 
 Abraham Lincohi. In con(irmaii()n of tlie view that this 
 plot was within tiic knowledge of certain eminent seces- 
 sion'sts in Washington, it n);iy be stated that a gentle- 
 man who was a member of the " Peace Convention," 
 th(>n in session, heard one of the Soulhern members 
 exclaim, when Mr. Lincoln's arrival in Washington was 
 mentioned, "My God ! Ikjw did he get here ?" The sur- 
 prise was too signifieant to be mistaken, when afterwards 
 remembered and associated with other circumstances. 
 
260 TRIBUTES TO MEMORY OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN-, 
 
 TRIBUTES TO THE MEMORY OE PRESIDENT 
 LINCOLN. 
 
 The history of Mr. Lincoln's life would be incomplete, 
 did we not introduce several of the eloquent tribii:es paid 
 to his memory by some of the most distinguished of our 
 public men and pulpit orators. The noble sentences 
 uttered by Schuyler Colfax, of Indiana, at Bryan Hull, 
 Chicago, will be read with intense interest and satisfaction 
 by the American people. No one knew the lamented 
 dead better than he. There was a unity of heart between 
 the two, and Mr. Lincoln rarely took any step affecting 
 the interests of the nation without making known his in- 
 tentions to and consulting with Mr. Colfax, in whose 
 judgment he placed the utmost confidence. A strong 
 affection existed between them, each admiring and re- 
 specting the other, for the honesty, firmness, and integrity 
 of character which have made the names of Abraham 
 Lincoln and Schuyler Colfax household words through- 
 out the land. 
 
 Ggorqe Bancroft, llic historian, also laid his tribute 
 of respect upon the tomb of the martyr, in a eulogy re- 
 markable for its elo(pience :ind si'iilenliousuess ; while 
 Uenry AVard Bkeciier, the orator of the Anu'ricnn 
 pulpit, delivered in the IMyniouth Church, IJrooklyn, a 
 sermon on the drath of the President which has not been 
 surpassed by :iny fuiK-rni option called forth by the event 
 which threw the countiy into nio\irning. 
 
 General IIjram WAMiUiixiK, of New York, one of the 
 most prominent men in the North — a man wlit n-as po- 
 litically opposed to the election of Mr. liiNcoLN, but a 
 man of undoubted patriotism — at an iunnense meeting 
 held in memory of the deceased Presidc-nt, didivered an 
 address worthy of the dislionuisiied spenkcr and of the 
 hallowed character of which he spoke. 
 
 The Orations arc sulijoiueti, and will be found com- 
 plete. 
 
HON. SCHUYLER COLFAX'S ADDRESS. 261 
 
 ABRAHAM LII^COLN-HIS RELIGIOUS CHAR- 
 ACTER AND NOBILITY OF HEART— ADDRESS 
 OF THE HON. SCHUYLER COLFAX, AT BRYAN 
 HALL, CHICAGO, SUNDAY, APRIL 30, 1865. 
 
 Every seat in Bryan Hall, and every inch of standing 
 room, was occupied by the audience, who came, notwith- 
 standing the inclemency of the weather, to hear Schuy- 
 ler Colfax, the Speaker of the National Ilouse of 
 Representatives, speak of the virtues and character of 
 the dead President. 
 
 The Chair was occupied by John Y. Farwell, Esq., 
 the President of the Northwestern Pranch of the Chris- 
 tian Commission. The services were opened with Prayer 
 by Professor P. W. Fisk, D. D., of the Chicago Theo- 
 logical Seminary ; after which Mr. Farwell introduced 
 the eloquent speaker, in a few befitting and appropriate 
 remarks. Mr. Colfax Avas loudly applauded. After 
 requesting the audience to omit all manifestations of 
 applause, Mr. Colfax said : 
 
 HON. SCHUYLER COLFAX'S ADDRESS. 
 
 " Over two centnrios and a lialf have passed away since tlie 
 Rnlcr of any gr.'at nation of the world has fallen by the murder- 
 ous attack of un assassin ; and, I'or the first time in our history, 
 there is blood on the Presidential Chair of the Republic. 
 Death is almost always saddeiiinjr. The passing away of some 
 dear IViend from our earthly sight forever, tills the heart with 
 sorrow. When it strikes down one who fills honorably a po- 
 sition oC influence and power, as in the case of our two Presi- 
 dents who died of disease in the White House, the sincerest 
 grief is felt throughout the laiul. r>ut when this affliction ia 
 aggravated by death coming througli the hand of a murderer, 
 it is not strange that the wave of woe sweeps gloomily over a 
 nntion, which sits down to mourn in sackcloth, and feels in every 
 individual heart as if there was one dead at their own hearth- 
 stones. It seems, too, as if this wicked deed was intensified, 
 in all its horror, by every attendant circumstance. The fatal 
 shot was fired on the very day when t!ie nation's flag was again 
 unfurled in triumph over that lort in tMiarlcstnn harbor, which, 
 in fcur years' time, had been the cnnile and the grave of the 
 Kebcliiou. It was at an hour when the death of the President 
 
262 HON. SCUUYLKR COLFAX'S ADDRESS. 
 
 could not. be of the slightest avail to the treasonable conspiracy 
 against the Republic, which its military leaders acknovvledgedj 
 at last, was powerless and overthrown. And it was aimed, 
 alas, with too sure a hand, at the life of that one man in the 
 Government whose heart was teuderest tov>'ards the would-be 
 assassins of the nation's life. 
 
 " You may s^?arch history, ancient and modern, and when tlie 
 task is ended, all will concede that Abraham liincolii was the 
 most merciful ruler who ever put down a powerful rebellion. 
 He had so won the hearts of the people, and so entwined him- 
 self in their regard and affection, that he was the only man 
 living who could have stood in the breach between the leaders 
 of this iniquity and the wrath of the country they had plunged 
 into bloody war. Feeling, as so many did, that his kindly heart 
 almost forgot justice in its throbbings for mercy, yet, knowing 
 his unfaltering devotion to his country his inflexible adherence 
 to principle, his unyielding determination fur the restoration of 
 our national unity, there was a trust in him almost filial in its 
 loving confidence, that whatevier he should finally resolve on 
 would prove in the end to be for the best. Had he been an un- 
 forgiving ruler ; had his daily practice been to sit in his high 
 place and there administer with unrelenting severity the pen- 
 alties of ofTended law; had he proclaimed his resolution to con- 
 Eign all the plotters against his country to the gallows they had 
 earned, we might have understood why the Rebel assassins 
 conspired against bis life. But no assassination in history- 
 Hot even that of Henry IV. of France, for which Ravaillac was 
 joru in pieces by horses — nor William of Orange — approximates 
 'D utterly unpalliated infamy to this. 
 
 " In the miilst of the national rejoicings over the assured tri- 
 umph of the national cause — with illuminations and bonfires 
 blazing in every town, and the merry peal of the festive bell in 
 every village, our cities blossoming with llag'^, our hearts beat- 
 ing high with joy, the two great armies of Grant and Lee fra- 
 ternizing together after their long warfare, and exulling together 
 over the rrtui-n of pi-ace — we were brought from the utmost 
 heights of felicity to the deepest valleys of lamentation. No 
 wonder that Rebel Generals acknowledged that it sent down 
 their cause through all the coming centuries to shameless dis- 
 honor. For, disguise it as some may seek to do, behind the 
 form of the assassin as his finger pulled the fatal trigger, looms 
 «)) the dark and fiendish .Spirit of the Rebellion, which, baffled 
 in its work of assassinating the natiim's life, avenged itself on 
 the life of him who represented the nation's contest and the 
 nation's victory. As surely as the infamous ofler of twenty-five 
 thousand crowns, by Philip of Spain, to whomsoever would rid 
 the world of the pious William of Orange, the purest and best- 
 loved ruler of his times — who, by a striking coincidence, was 
 culled Father William, us we called our beloved President 
 
HON. SCHUYLER COLFAX's ADDRESS. 263 
 
 Father Abraham — as surely as tliia public offer, with its false 
 denunciatious of William's offences, inspirited the murderous 
 Balthazar to shoot hiin through the bod}', so surely are the 
 Chiefs of this gigantic rebellion of our times responsible lor the 
 fatal bullet that carried death to our Chief Magistrate and filled 
 the land with unavailing sorrow. 
 
 " Unrebuked by them, history repeated itself in the folbwing 
 infamous proffer, published in the Selma (Alabama) Dispatch 
 of last December, and copied approvingly into other Kebel 
 organs : 
 
 '"One Million Dollars wanted, to have Peace by the 
 First of March. — If the citizens of the Southern Confederacy 
 will furnish me with the cash, or good securities, for the sum of 
 One Million Dollars, I will cause the lives of Abraham Lincoln, 
 William H. Seward, and Andrew Johnson, to be taken by the 
 1st of March next. This will give us peace, and satisfy the 
 world that cruel tyrants cannot live in a land of liberty. If 
 this is not accomplished, nothing will be claimed beyond the 
 sum of fifry thousand dollars, in advance, which is supposed to 
 be necessary to reach and slaughter the three villains. 
 
 " ' I will give, myself, one thousand dollars towards this patri- 
 otic purpose. 
 
 " ' Every one wishing to contribute will address Box X, Ca- 
 hawba, Ala. 
 
 " 'December 1, 1864.' 
 
 "And, to fix upon them the brand, ineffaceably and forever, 
 as the miscreant leaped upon the stage, his shout of Virginia's 
 motto, 'Sic semper (i/rannis,' with his own addition, ' 'Die South is 
 avenged,' proclaims to the civilized world, which will l)e filled with 
 horror at the deed, as well as to posterity, which will ever loathe 
 the crime and the cause for wliose interest it was committed, 
 the authorship of this unparalleled atrocity. It seems, however, 
 but a "natural sequel lo the infamous plot to murder him as he 
 passed through Baltimore when first elected ; to the brutalities 
 on our dead soldiers at liull Run, burying them face downwards, 
 and carving up their bones into trinkets ; to the piracies on the 
 higli seas, and attempts to burn women and children to death in 
 crowded hotels and theatres; to Fort Pillow massacres, and to 
 the sj'stcmatic and inexpiable starvation of thousands of IJn'on 
 prisoners in their horrid pens. 
 
 " I can scarcely trust myself to attempt the portruiliMx of 
 our Martyred Chief, whose dealh is niourued as never man's was 
 mourned before; and who, in all the ages that may be left to 
 Auurica, while time may last, will be enshrined in solemn 
 memory with the Father of the Republic which he savevl. How 
 much I loved him personally I cannot express to you. Honored 
 always by his confidence, treated ever by him with affectionate 
 regard; sittiuLr often with him familiarly at his table ; his last 
 Tisitor on that terrible niiiht ; receiving his last message, full 
 
264 HON. SCHUYLER COLFAX'S ADDRESS. 
 
 of interest to the toilinj^ minors of the distant West; walkitg 
 by his side from his parlor to the door, as he tooI\ his last stepa 
 in that Executive Mansion he had honored ; receiving the last 
 grasp of that generous and loving haml, ond his last good-bye ; 
 declining his last kind invitation to join him in those hours of 
 relaxation which incessant care and anxiety seemed to rcndei 
 so desirable, my mind has since been tortured by regrets that 1 
 had not accompanied him. If the knife whicli the assassin hiid 
 intended for (jI rant had not been wasted, as it possibly would 
 not have been, on one of so much less ^'mportance in our na- 
 tional affairs, perchance a sudden backward look at that event- 
 ful instant might have saved that life, so incalculably precious 
 to wife, and children, and country — or, failing in that, might 
 have hindered or prevented the escape of his murderer. The 
 willingness of any man to endanger his life for another's, is so 
 much doubted, that I scarcely dare to say how willingly I would 
 have risked my own to preserve his, of such priceless value to 
 us all. But if you can realize that it is sweet to die for one's 
 country — as so many scores of thousands, from every State, and 
 county, and hamlet, have pioven in the years that are passed, 
 you can imagine the consolation there would be to anyone, even 
 in his expiring hours, to feel that he had saved the land from 
 the funereal gloom which, but a few days ago, settled down upon 
 it, from ocean to ocean, and from capitol to cabin, at the loss of 
 one for whom even a hecatomb of victims coidd not atone. 
 
 " Of this noble-hearted nuin, so full cf gonial impulses, so 
 self-forgetful, so utterly unselfish, so pure, and gentle, and good, 
 who lived for us, and at last died for us, I feci how inadequate 
 I am to portray his niiinifold excellencies, his intellectual worth, 
 his generous character, his fervid patriotism. Po])e celebrated 
 the memory of Robert Harley, the Lord of Oxford, a privy 
 counsellor of Queen Anne, who himself narrowly escaped assas- 
 sination, in lines that seem prophetic of Mr. Lincoln's'virtues : 
 
 " 'A fonl supreme in oach Imril iustance tried; 
 Above all i);nii, .all iingor, ;inil ;ill prido, 
 Tlie r.age of power, tlie bhist of public' brpnth. 
 The lust of lucre, and the drcud of doiilh.' 
 
 " No one could ever convince the President that he was in 
 danger of violent death. Judging others by himself, he could 
 not realize that anyone could seek his blood. Or he nmy havo 
 believed, as Napoleon wrote to Jerome, that no public man 
 could effectually shield himself from the danger of assassina- 
 tion. Easier of access to the public at large than had been any 
 of his predecessors; admitting his bitterest enemies to his re- 
 ception-room alont ; restive under the cavalry escort, which 
 Secretary Stanton insisted should acc.iniiiany him last summer 
 in his daily journeys between' the White House and his summer 
 residence, at the Soldier's IIoni(>, s'veral miles from Washing- 
 ton, at a time, too, a.s tiuce uscci lained in the details of thia 
 
HON. SCIIUYT.En COLFAX'S ADDUESS. 265 
 
 lonnr-orofanizcd plot, dlscovereil sinoo his death, when it was in 
 tended to ,<;-;i,-- ;iii(l hundcnll' him, and carry liiiu to the Rebel 
 
 fi-om their escort by iuiticipatiiiir tiieir nsiiai iiour of attendance 
 Walkini;- about the <.'rouiids unattended ; he could not be per 
 suaded that he run any risk whatever. 
 
 " Being at City Point after the evacuation of Rielimond, lip 
 determined to go thither : not from idle curiosity, but to see if 
 he could not do something to stop the effusion of blood and 
 La.steii the peace for which he longed. 'J'lie ever-watclii'ul Sec 
 relaryof War hearing of it, inii)Iore(] him by telegraph not to 
 go, and warned him that some lurking assassin might take his 
 life. Bat, armed with his good intentions — alas, how feeble a 
 shield they proved against the death-blow afterwards — he went 
 Wiilked fearlessly and carelessly through the streets, met anc 
 conferred with a Rebel h'ad(;r who Inid remained there, and 
 when lie returned to City Point telegraphed to his faithful friend 
 and constitutional adviser, who tid tlu-n liad feared, as we all 
 did at that time, for his life — ' I received your despatch last 
 night, went to liichnumd this morning, and have just returned. 
 Adraham Lincoln.' \Vhen I told him, on that last night, how 
 uneasy all had been at his going, he replied, pleasantly, and with 
 a smile (I quote his exact words) : 'Why, if any one else had 
 been President and gone to Richmond, I would have been 
 alarmed too; but I was not scared about myself a bit.' If any 
 of you have ever been at Wasliington, you will remember the 
 footpath, lined and embowered with trees, leading from the back 
 door of the War Department to the A\'liite House. 
 
 "One night, and but recently too, when, in his anxiety for 
 news from the army, he !nid been with the Hecretaiy in tiie 
 telegraph ofhce of the Department, he was about starting home 
 at a late hour by this short route, Mr. Stanton stopped him, 
 and said, 'You ought not to go that way — it is dangerous lor 
 you even in the daytime, but worse at night.' Mr. Lincoln re- 
 plied, ' I don't believe there's amj danger there, day or night.' 
 Mr. Stanton resjJOiKled, solemnly, 'Well, Mr. President, you 
 shall not be killed returning that dark way from my Department 
 while I am in it; you mud let me take you round by the avenue 
 in my carriage.' And Mr. Lincoln, joking the Secretary on his 
 imperious military orders, and his needless alarm on his actount, 
 as he called it, entered his carriage and was driven by the weJl- 
 Ijghted avenue to tlie White House. 
 
 "And thus he walked through unseen dangers without ' the 
 dread of death ;' his warm heart so full of good-will, even to his 
 eneiiies, that he could not imagine there was any one base eiioui; h 
 to slay him ; and the death-dealing bulh t was sped to its mark 
 in a theatre, where, but little over an hour before, he had been 
 welcomed, as he entered, l)y a crowded audience rising, and with 
 cheers and wavintr of handkerchiefs, honoring- him with an ova- 
 
266 HON. SCHUYLER COLFAX's ADDRESS. 
 
 tion of which any ono might well be proud. Some regret that 
 he was there at all. But, to all human appearance, he was safer 
 there, by far, than in his own receptivMi-ruom, where unkn^WQ 
 visitors so often entered alone. He found there a temporary 
 respite, occasionally, from the crowds who thronged his ante- 
 rooms, relaxation from the cares and perplexities which so con- 
 stantly oppressed him, keeping his mind under the severest 
 tension, like the bent bow, till it almost lost its spring, and, on this 
 fatal night — to be so black an one hereafter in ourcalendar — goin^ 
 with reluctance, and, as he expressed it to Mr. Ashmun and 
 myself, ojdy because General (irant, wiio had been advertised 
 with himself to be present, had been cmnjielled to leave the city, 
 and he did not wish to disappoint those who would expect to 
 see him there. 
 
 " Of the many thousands of persons I have met in public or 
 private life, I cannot call to mind a single one who exceeded him 
 in calmness of temper, in kindness of disposition, and in over- 
 flowing generosity of impulse. 1 doubt if his most intimate 
 associate ever heard him utter bitter or vindictive language. 
 He seemed wholly free from malignity or revenge ; from ill-will 
 or injustice. Attacked ever so sharply, you all remember that 
 he never answered railing with railing. Criticised ever so 
 unjustly, he would rei)ly with no word of reproof, but patiently 
 and uncomplainingly, if he answered at all, strive to prove that 
 he stood on the rock of right. When, from the halls of Con- 
 gi-ess or elsewhere, his most earnest opponents visited the White 
 House with business, they would be met as frankly, listened to 
 as intently, and treated as justly as his most intimate friends. 
 It could be said of him as Pyrrhus said of Fabricius when the 
 latter, though in hostile array, exposed to his enemy the treach- 
 ery of his physician, who proffered to poison him — ' It is easier 
 to turn the sun from his career than Fabricius from his honesty.' 
 Men of all parties will remember, when the exciting contest of 
 last fall ended in his triumphant re-election, his first word there- 
 after, from the portico of the White House, was that he could 
 not and would not exult over his countrymen who had differed 
 with his policy. 
 
 "And thus he ruled — and thus he lived — and tlius he died. 
 Tiie wretch who stood behind him and sent his bullet crashing 
 through that brain, which had been devising plans of reconcilia- 
 tion with the country's deadliest foes, as he leaped upon the 
 stage and exulted over the death of him whom he denounced as 
 a tyrant, uttered as foul a falsehood as the lying witnesses who 
 caused the conviction and the crucifixion of the Sou of Man, 
 on the same Good Friday, nearly two thousand years ago. I 
 would not compare the human with the Divine, except in that 
 immeasurable contrast of the finite with the Infinite, But his 
 whole life proves to mo that if he could have had a single mo- 
 ment of consciousness and of speech, his great heart would 
 
I 
 
 HON. SCHUYLER COLFAX S ADDRESS. 267 
 
 have prompted liim to pray for those who had plotted for his 
 blood, ' Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do !' 
 
 "He bore the nations iifriis, and trials and sorrows, ever on 
 his mind. You hm-w him, in a hir^-e dej^ree, bj the illustrative 
 stories of which his memory and his tongue were so prolific, 
 using them to point a moral, or to soften discontent at his de- 
 cisions. But this was the mere badinage which relieved him fur 
 the moment from the heavy weight of public duties and re- 
 sponsibilities under wliich he often wearied. Those wliom he 
 admitted to his confidence, and with whom he conversed of his 
 feelings, knew that his inner life was checkered with the deepest 
 anxiety and mo.'^t discomforliiig solicitude. Klated by victories 
 for the cause which was ever in his thoughts, reverses to our 
 arms cast a pall of depression over him. One morning, over 
 two years ago, calling upon him on busine.=:s, I found him look- 
 ing more than usually pale and careworn, and inquired the 
 reason. He replied, with tiie bad news he had received at a 
 late hour the previous night, which had not yet been communi- 
 cated to the press — adding, that he had not closed his eyes or 
 breakfasted ; and, with an expression I shall never forget, he 
 exclaimed, ' IIow willingly would 1 exchange jjlaces to-day with 
 the soldier who sleeps on the ground in the Army of the l*o- 
 lomac !' 
 
 " lie was as free from deceit as from guile. He had one 
 peculiarity which often misled those with whom he conversed. 
 When his judgment, which acted slowly, but which was almost 
 as immovable as the eternal hills when settled, was grasping 
 some subject of importance, the arguments against his own 
 desires seemed uppermost in his mind, and in conversing upon 
 it he would present these arguments to see if they could bo 
 rebutted. He thus often surprised both friend and foe in his 
 final decisions; always willing to listen to all sides till the latest 
 possible moment ; yet, when he put down his foot, he never took 
 a backward step. Once, speaking of an eminent statesman, he 
 said : ' When a question confronts him, he always and naturally 
 argues it I'rom the stand-jjoint of which is the better policy ; 
 but with me,' he added, ' my only desire is to see what is right.' 
 And this is the key to his life. His parents left Kentucky for 
 Indiana in his childhood, on account of slavery in the former 
 State ; and he thus inherited a dislike for that institution. As 
 he said recently to Governor f5ramlette, of his native State, 'if 
 slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong.' Moving to lllindis, he 
 fo'ind the prejudices here against anti-slavery men, when he 
 enterec on public and professional life, more intense than in any 
 other free State in the Union. But he never dissembled, uevei 
 concealed liis opinions. 
 
 "Entering, in 1858, on that contest with his great political 
 rival, but personal friend. Judge Dou^ilas, which attracted 
 t'le attention of the whole Union, he startled many of his frienda 
 
268 HON-. SCHUYLER COLFAX'S ADDRESS. 
 
 by the declaration of his convictions that the Union could 
 not periimncntiy endure half shive and half free, that ultimately 
 it would be cither the one or the other, or be a divided house 
 that could not stand ; that he did not expect the Union to 
 be dissolved, or the house to fall, but that it would cease to be 
 divided, and that the hope of the Republic was in staying 
 the spread of slavery that the public mind might rest in the 
 hope of its ultimate extinction. And, though he coupled tliis 
 with declarations against Congressional interference with it in 
 existing States, it was not popular, and kept him in the whole 
 canvass upOn the defensive. But to every argument against it 
 his calm reply was, in substance, 'such is my clear conviction, 
 and I cannot unsay it.' 
 
 " His frankness in expressing unpopular opinions was mani- 
 fested also, when in Southern Illinois, before an audience almost 
 unanimously hostile to the sentiments, he declared, in the siune 
 close and doubtful contest, that, when the Declaration of Inde- 
 pendence proclaimed that all men were created free and equal, 
 it did not mean white men alone, but negroes as well ; and that 
 their rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, were as 
 inalienable as the noblest of the land. He claimed no power 
 over State laws in other States which conflicted with theso 
 rights, or curtaile<l them ; but with unfaltering devotion to his 
 conscientious conviction, and regardless of its effects upon his 
 ] olitical prospects, he never wavered in his adherence to this 
 truth. And yet, when elected President of the United States, 
 l,e executed the Fugitive Slave Lay, because his oath of office 
 as the Executive, in his opinion, required it. When urged to 
 si rike at slavery under the war power, he replied in a widely 
 jii blished letter, ' My paramount object is to save the Union, 
 ill d I would save it in the shortest way. If I could save the 
 Union without freeing any slaves, I would do it. If I could 
 Save it by freeing all the slaves, I would do it; and if I could do 
 il by freeing some and leaving others alone, I would also do 
 that. But 1 intend no modification of my oft-expressed per- 
 S( mil wish that all men everywhere could be free.' And, when 
 at last the hour arrived when, in his honest opinion, the alterna- 
 tive between the death of slavery and the death of the Union 
 confronted him, then, and imt till then, he struck at the cause 
 of all our woes with the l)attle axe of the Union, 
 
 '■ Signing that immortal proclamation, which made him the 
 Liberator of America, on the afternoon of Januaiy 1st, ISC):?, 
 iifler hours of New Year's hand shaking, he said to me and 
 other friends that night— ' The signature looks • little tremuh.ns, 
 f(ir my hand was tired, but my resnintion was firm. I told them 
 in Septendjer, if ihey did ii"t return to their allegiance and 
 cense murdering our soldiers, I would strike at this pillar 
 of their strength. And now the promise shall be kept ; and not 
 one word of it will 1 ever recall.' And the promise was kept, 
 
HON. SCHUYLER COLFAX's ADDRESS. 269 
 
 and every word of it has stood. Thank God, when slavery and 
 treason benumbed that hand in death, they could not destroy 
 that noble instrument to whicli that hand had given a life that 
 shall never die. A great writer said that when Wilberforce 
 stood at the bar of God, he held in his hand the broken shackles 
 which on earth had bound hundreds of thousands of his fellow- 
 men. But, when baffled treason hurried Abraham Lincoln into 
 the presence of his Maker, he bore with him the manacles of 
 four millions whom he had made free ; fetters that no power on 
 God's foot-stool is strong enough to place again on their 
 enfranchised limbs. 
 
 " No man, in our era, clothed with such vast power, has ever 
 used it so mercifully. No ruler holding the keys of life and 
 death, ever pardoned so many and so easily. When friends said 
 to him they wished he had more of Jackson's sternness, he 
 would say, ' 1 am just as God made me, and cannot change.' It 
 may not be generally known that his door-keepers had standing 
 orders from him that no matter how great might be the throng, 
 if either Senators or Representatives had to wait, or to be turned 
 away without an audience, he must see before the day closed, 
 every messenger who came to him with a petition for the saving 
 of life. One night in February I left all other business to ask 
 him to respite the son of a constituent, who was sentenced to be 
 shot, at Davenport, for desertion. He heard the story with his 
 usual patience, though he was wearied out with incessant calls, 
 and anxious for rest, and then replied : — ' Some of our generals 
 complain that I impair discipline and subordination in the army 
 by my pardons and respites, but it makes me rested, after a 
 hard day's work, if I can find some good excuse for saving 
 a man's life, and I go to bed happy as I think how joyous the 
 signing of my name will make hitn and his family and his friends.' 
 And with x happy smile beaming over that care-furrowed face, 
 he signef* .hat name that saved that life. 
 
 " But A oraham Lincoln was not only a good and a just and a 
 generoDfc and a humane man. I could not be just to that well- 
 rounded character of his, without adding that he was also a 
 praying man. He has often said that his reliance in the 
 gloomiest hours, was on his God, to whom he appealed in 
 prayer, although he had never become a professor of religion. 
 'J') a clergyman who asked him if he loved his Saviour, he replied, 
 and he was too truthful for us to doubt the declaration : 
 
 "'When I was first inaugurated I did not love Him; when 
 God took my son I was greatly impressed, but still I did not 
 love Him ; but when I stood upon the battle-field of Gettysburg, 
 1 gave my heart to Christ, aiul I can now say I do love the 
 Saviour.' 
 
 " The B'ble was always in his reception room. I have doubted 
 the report that he read an hour in it every day, for he often came 
 
 n 
 
270 HON. SCHUYLER COLFAX'S ADDRESS. 
 
 direct from his boil to hifi rccoption room, so anxious was he to 
 accommodate members who had important business, and it 
 would sometimes be two or three hours before he would play- 
 fully say to some friend whose turn had come, ' Won't you stay 
 here till I g^t some breakfast?' Uut be must have read the 
 Bible considerably, for he often quoted it. One day that I hap- 
 pened to come in he said, ' Mr. — has just been here attacking 
 one of my Cabinet, but I stopped him with this text,' and ha 
 read from the Proverbs a text, I had never heard quoted before, 
 as follows : ' Accuse not a servant to his master.' 
 
 " You cannot fail to have noticed the solemn and sometimes 
 almost mournful strain that pervades many of his addresses. 
 When he left Springfield in 1861 to assume the Presidency, his 
 farewell words were as follows : 
 
 " ' My FRif:NDs: — No one not in my position can appreciate 
 the sadness I feel at this parting. To this people I owe all 
 that I am. Here I have lived more than a quarter of a century ; 
 here my children were born, and here one of them lies buried. 
 I know not how soon I shall see you again. A duty devolves upon 
 me which is, perhaps, greater than that which has devolved upon 
 any other man since the days of Wasliington. He never would 
 have succeeded except for the aid of Divine Providence, upon 
 which he at all times relied. I feel that I cannot succeed with- 
 out the same Divine aid which sustained him, and on the same 
 Almighty Being I place my reliance for support ; and I hope 
 you, my friends, will all pray that I may receive that Divine 
 assistance, without which I cannot succeed, but with which suc- 
 cess is certain. Again, I bid you all an affectionate farewell.' 
 
 "Before that murderous blow closed his eyes in death, that 
 ' success' for which he had struggled was assured ; that ' duty' 
 devolved upon him had been performed. But the friends to 
 whom with the, ' sadness he felt at parting,' he bade this ' affec- 
 tionate farewell,' can only look at the lifeless corpse, now slowly 
 borne to their midst. 
 
 " When in the same month, he raised the national flag over 
 Independence Hall at Philadelphia, he said to the assembled 
 tens of thousands : ' It was something in the Declaration of 
 Independence giving liberty, not only to tlie people of this 
 country, but hope to the world for all coming time. It was 
 tliat which gave promise that in due time the weights should 
 be lifted from the shoulders of all men, and that all should have 
 an equal chance. * * * * Now, my friends, can this coun- 
 try be saved upon that basis? If it can, I will consider myself 
 one of the happiest men in the world, if I can help to save it. 
 But if this country cannot be saved witliout giving up that prin- 
 ciple, I was about to say that I would rather be assassinated 
 upon the spot than to surrender it. I have said nothing but 
 what I am willing to live by, and if it be the pleasure of 
 Almighty God, to die by.' 
 
HON. SCnUYLER COLFAX'S ADDRESS. 271 
 
 "He seemerl, as he thus spoke, to have the dark shadow of 
 his violent death before him. But even in its presence he de- 
 clared that lie would rather he assassinated than to surrender a 
 principle ; and that while he was willing to live by it, j'et, if it 
 was God's pleasure, he was equally willing to die by it. He was 
 assassinated ; but his name and principles will live while history 
 exists and the Republic endures. 
 
 " So, too, in the conclusion of his first inaugural, he appealed 
 in the language of entreaty and peace to those who had raised 
 their mailed hands against the life of their father-land : 
 
 "'You can have no conflict without being yourselves the 
 aggressors. You have no oath registered in ITeavcn to destroy 
 the Government, while I have the most solemn one to preserve, 
 pyotect and defend it. The mystic cord of memory, stretching 
 from every battle-field and patriot grave to every living heart 
 and hearthstone all over this broad land, .will yet swell the 
 chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, 
 by the better angels of our nature.' 
 
 "In the funeral exercises in the East Room, on the 19th of 
 April, the very anniversary of the day when the blood of mur- 
 dt'red Massachusetts soldiers stained the stones of the city of 
 Baltimore, Dr. Gurley quoted the President's solemn reply to a 
 company of clergymen who called on him in one of the darkest 
 hours of the war, when, standing where his lifeless remains thea 
 rested, he replied to them in tones of deep emotion : 
 
 "'Gentlemen, my hope of success in this great and terrible 
 struggle rests on that immutable foundation, the justness and 
 goodness of God. And when events are very threatening and 
 prospects very dark, I still hope in some way which man cannot 
 see, all will be well in the end, because our cause is just, and 
 God is on our side.' 
 
 "You cannot have forgotten this impressive invocation with 
 which he closed his Proclamation of P^mancipation : 
 
 " ' And, upon this last, sincerely believed to be an act of jus- 
 tice, warranted by the Constitution on military necessity, I 
 invoke the considerate judgment of mankind, and the gracious 
 favor of Almighty God.' 
 
 " The solemn words of his last inaugural sound in my ears to- 
 day as Iheard them fall from his lips on the steps of the Capitol. 
 'I'here was no exultation over his own success, though he was 
 the first Northern President who had ever been re-elected. 
 There was no bitterness against the men who had filled our 
 land with new made graves, and who were striving to stab the 
 nation to its death. There was no confident and enthusiastic 
 prediction of the country's triumph. But with almost the 
 solemn utterances of one of the Hebrew Prophets ; as if he felt 
 he was standing, as he was, on the vei'ge of his open grave, and 
 addressing his last official words to his countrymen, with hia 
 lips touched by the finger of Inspiration, he said : 
 
272 HON. SCHUYLER COLFAX'S ADDRESS. 
 
 •' ' The Almighty has his own purposes. ' Woe unto the world 
 because of offences, for it must needs be that offences come ; 
 but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh.' If we shall 
 suppose that American slavery Is one of those offences, which, 
 in the providence of God must needs come, but which having 
 continued through His appointed time. He now wills to remove, 
 and that He gives to both North and South this terrible war as 
 the woe due to those by whom the offence came, shall we discern 
 therein any departure from those Divine attributes which the 
 believers in a living God always ascribe to Him? Fondly do 
 we hope, fervently do we pray, that the mighty scourge of war 
 may soon pass away. Yet, if'God will that it continue until all 
 the wealth piled by the bondman's two hundred and fifty years 
 of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood 
 drawn with the lash shall be paid with another drawn with the 
 sword, as was said three thousand years ago. so still it must be said, 
 'The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.' 
 
 '•'With malice towards none, with charity for all, with firm- 
 ness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive 
 on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nations wounds, 
 to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his 
 widow and orphans, to do all which may achieve and cherish a 
 just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.' 
 
 " What a portraiture of his own character he unconsciously 
 draws in this closing paragraph. ' With malice towards none, 
 with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us 
 to see the right?' And yet, they slew him. 
 
 " Bear with me further while I quote the letter, when, in the 
 midst of the exciting canvass of last fall, in which he was so 
 deeply interested, during the very week that he was being 
 denounced in this city as scarcely any man had ever been 
 denounced before, he shut out the thoughts of these cruelly 
 unjust aspersions to write in this deeply impressive strain to a 
 Philadelphia lady, then resident in England : — 
 
 " ' Executive Mansion, Washinrfton, September 6, 1SG4. 
 
 " 'Emza Gurney : — Aly Esteemed Friend : — 1 have never for- 
 gotten, probably never shall forget, the very impressive Dcca- 
 sion, when yourself and friends visited me or. a Sabbath fore- 
 noon, two years ago, nor has your kind letter, written nearly a 
 year later, ever been forgotten. 
 
 "'In all it has been your purpose to strengthen my reliance 
 on God, I am much indebted to the good Christian people of 
 the couatry for their constant prayers and consolations, and to 
 no one of them more than yourself. The purposes of the 
 Almighty are perfect and must prevail, though we erring mor- 
 tals may fail to perceive them in advance. 
 
 " ' We hoped for a hapjiy termination of this terrible war long 
 before this, but (iod knows best, and has riileil otliei'wise. We 
 shall acknowledge His wisdom and our own t.-rrors therein. 
 
HON. SCHUYLER (X)LFAX'S ADDRESS. 273 
 
 Meanwhile we miist work earnestly in the best light He gives 
 us, trusting- that so workin;^ still conduces to the great end He 
 ordains. Surely He intends some great good to follow this 
 mighty convuLsicn, wliich no mortal could slay. Your people- — 
 the Friends — have had and are having very great trials on prin- 
 ciples and faith. Opposed to both loar and oppression, they 
 can only practically oppose oppression by war. In this hard 
 dilemma some have chosen one horn and some the other. 
 For those appealing to me on conscientious grounds, I have 
 done, and shall do the best I can in my own conscience, and my 
 oath to the law. That you believe this I doubt not, and be- 
 lieving it, I shall still receive, for our country and myself, your 
 earnest prayers to our Father in Heaven. 
 
 " ' Your sincere friend, 
 
 " ' A. Lincoln.' 
 
 " Nor should I forget to mention here that the last act of 
 Congress ever signed by him, was one requiring that the motto, 
 in which he sincerely believed, ' In God we trust,' should here- 
 after be inscribed upon all our national coin. But April came at 
 last, with all its glorious resurrection of spring, that spring which 
 he was not to see ripening into summer. 'I'he last sands in the 
 hour-glass of his life were falling. His last moment drew nigh, 
 for his banded assassins, foiled in an attempt to poison him last 
 year ( a plot only discovered since detectives have been track- 
 ing tlie mysteries of his death,) had resolved this time on striking 
 usurer blow. Victory after victory crowned our national armies. 
 A hundred captured rebel banners filled the War Department. 
 {Scores of thousands of Rebel soldiers had surrendered, and all 
 over the Republic the joyous acclaim of millions hailed the pro- 
 mised land of Peace. 
 
 " But our beloved leader was to enter another land of rest. 
 Thank Heaven, though wicked men may kill the body, they can 
 not kill the immortal soul. And, if the spirits of the good men 
 who haveleft us are permitted to look back on the land they loved 
 in life, it is not presumptuous to believe that Washington and 
 Lincoln, from the shining courts aliove, look ^own to-day with 
 paternal interest on the inition, which, under Providence, the 
 one had founded and the other saved, and which will entwine 
 their names together in hallowed recollection forever. 
 
 " But. in his last hours, all the affectionate traits of character 
 which I have so inadequately delineated shone out in more than 
 wonted brilliancy. How his kindly heart must have throbbed with 
 joy. as on the very day before his death he gladdened so many tens 
 of thousands of anxious minds by ordering the abandonment of the 
 impending but now not needed draft. With what generous mag- 
 nanimity he authorized our heroic Lieuteuant-Gencral to proffer 
 terms unparalleled in flicir liberality, to the Army of Virginia, so 
 long the bulwark of Rebellion. And the very last official act 
 
274 HON. SCHUYLER COLFAX'S ADDRESS. 
 
 of his life was, when learning by telegraph that very Friday 
 afternoon, that two of the leaders and concoctors of the Rebel- 
 lion were expected to arrive disguised, in a few hours, at one of 
 our ports, to escape to Europe, he instructed our officers not to 
 arrest them, but let them flee the country. He did not wish 
 their blood, but their associates thirsted for his, and in a few 
 short hours after this message of mercy to save their friends 
 from death sped on the wings of lightning, with wielded hands 
 they slew him. No last words of aifection to weeping wife and 
 children did they allow him. No moment's space for prayer to 
 God. But in order that consciousness might end with the 
 instant, the pistol was held close to the skull, that the bullet might 
 be buried in his brain. 
 
 "Thus lived and thus died our murdered President. But, as 
 the rufSan shot down the pilot at our helm, just as the Ship of 
 State, after all its stormy seas, was sailing prosperously into port ; 
 another, whose life, like that of Seward and Stanton, had been 
 marked for that very night of horrors, but who had been saved, 
 sprang to the rudder, and the noble ship holds on her course, 
 without a flutter in her canvass, or a strain upon her keel. 
 Andrew Johnson, to whom the public confidence was so quickly 
 and worthily transferred, is cast in a sterner mould than him 
 whose place he fills. He has warred on traitors in his mountain 
 home as they have warred on him ; and he insists, with this 
 crowning infamy filling up their cup of wickedness, that treason 
 should be made odious, and that mercy to the leaders who en- 
 gendered it is cruelty to the nation. 
 
 "The text of Holy Writ, which he believes in for thom, is in 
 the twenty-sixth verse of the seventh chapter of Ezra. ' Let 
 judgment be executed speedily upon him, whether it be unto 
 death, or to banishment, or to confiscation of goods, or to im- 
 prisonment ;' and to this do not all loyal hearts res])ond Amen. 
 
 "And thus, though the President is slain, the Nation lives. 
 The statesman who has so successfully conducted our foreign 
 correspondence as to save us from threatened and endangering 
 complications and difBculties abroad, and who, with the Presi- 
 dent, leaned over to mercy's side, so brutally bowie-kuifed as he 
 lay helpless upon his bed of anguish, is happily to be spared us, 
 and the conspiracy which intended a bloody harvest of six 
 patriots' lives, reaped with its murderous sickle but one. 
 
 " But that one, how dear to all our hearts, how priceless in its 
 worth, how transparent and spotless its purity of character. In 
 the fiery trial to which the nation has been subjected we have 
 given of the bravest and best of the land. 'JMie South is bil- 
 lowed with the graves where sleep the patriot martyrs of Con- 
 stitutional liberty till the resurrection morn. The vacant chair 
 at the table of thousands upon thousands tells of those who, 
 inspired by the sublimest spirit of self-sacrifice, have died that 
 the Republic might survive. (Jolden and living treasures have 
 been heaped upon our country's altar. But, after all these 
 
HON. GEORGE BANCROFT'S ORATION. 275 
 
 oostly sacrificos had been ofTered, and the end seemed almost at 
 hand, a costlier sacrifice had to be made ; and from the highest 
 place in all the land the victim came. Slaughtered at the mo- 
 ment of victory the blow was too late to rob him of the grand 
 place he has won for himself in history. 
 
 " ' We know bim now. All narrow jealousies 
 Are silent. And we see him as ho moved, 
 How modest, kindly, all compH.ssiunato, wise, 
 With what sublime repression of himself, 
 And in what limits and how tenderly. 
 Whoso glory was redressing human wrongs ; 
 Not making his high place the lawless perch 
 Of winged ambitions, nor a vantage ground 
 Of pleasure. But through all this tract of years, 
 Wearing the white flower of a blameless life.' 
 
 " Murdered, coffined, buried, and will live with those few im- 
 mortal names who were not born to die ; live as the Father of 
 the Faithful in the time that tried men's souls ; live in the grate- 
 ful hearts of the dark-browed race he lifted from under the heel 
 of the oppressor to the dignity of freedom and of manhood ; 
 live in every bereaved circle which has given father, husband, 
 son or friend to die, as he did, for his country ; live with the 
 glorious company of martyrs to liberty, justice and humanity, 
 that trio of Heaven-born principles ; live in the love of all be- 
 neath the circuit of the sun who loathe tyranny, slavery and 
 wrong. And leaving behind him a record that shows how 
 honesty and principle lilted him, self-made as he was, from the 
 humblest ranks of the people to the noblest station on the 
 globe, and a name that shall brighten under the eye of posterity 
 as the ages roll by. 
 
 " ' From the top of Fame's ladder he stepped to the sky.'" 
 
 Notwithstanding the request of the speaker that the 
 audience would not applaud, it was impossible to restrain 
 them, and Mr. Colfax was repeatedly interrupted. 
 
 HON. GEORGE BANCROFT'S ORATION. 
 
 " Our grief and horror at the crime which has clothed the 
 continent in mourning, find no adequate expression in worda 
 and no relief in tears. The I'resident of the United States of 
 America has fallen by the hands of an assassin. Neither the 
 office with which he was invested by the approved choice of a 
 mighty people, nor the most simple-hearted kindliness of nature 
 could save him from the fiendish passions of relentless fanaticism. 
 The wailings of the millions attend his remains as they are borne 
 ia solemn procession over our great rivers, along the seaside, be- 
 yond the mountains, across the prairie, to their final resting-place 
 
276 HON. GEORGE BANCROFTS ORATION. 
 
 in the valley of the Mississippi, The echoes of his funeral knoll 
 vibrate through the world, and the friends of freedom of every 
 tongue and in every land are his mourners. 
 
 "Too few days have passed away since Abraham Lincoln 
 stood in the flrsh of vigorous manhood, to permit any attempt 
 at an analj'sis of his character or an exposition of his career. 
 We find it hard to believe that his large eyes, which in llieir 
 softness and beauty expressed nothing but benevolence and gen- 
 tleness, are closed in death ; we almost look for the pleasant 
 smile that brought out more vividly the earnest cast of his fea- 
 tures, which were serious even to sadness. A few years ago he 
 was a village attorney, engaged in the support of a rising family, 
 unknown to fame, scarcely named beyond his neighborhood; his 
 Administration made him the most conspicuous man in his coun- 
 try, and drew on him first the astonished gaze, and then the 
 respect and admiration of the world. 
 
 " Those who come after us will decide how much of the won- 
 derful results of his public career is due to his own good common 
 sense, his shrewd sagacity, readiness of wit, quick interpretation 
 of the public mind, his rare combination of fixedness and pliancy, 
 his steady tendency of purpose; how much to the American 
 people, who, as he walked with them side by side, inspired him 
 with their own wisdom and energy ; and how much to the over- 
 ruling laws of the moral world, by which the selfishness of evil 
 is made to defeat itself. But after every allowance, it will re- 
 main that members of the government which preceded his ad- 
 ministration opened the gates to treason, and he closed them ; 
 that when he went to Washington the ground on which he trod 
 shook under his feet, and he lelt the repul)lic on a solid founda- 
 tion ; that traitors had seized public forts and arsenals, and he 
 recovered them for the United States, to whom they belonged ; 
 that the capital, which he found the abode of slaves, now the 
 home only of the free ; that the boundless public domain which 
 was grasped at, and, in a great measure, held for the diffusion 
 of slavery, is now irrevocably devoted to freedom ; that then 
 men talked a jargon of a balance of [)ower in a republic between 
 Slave States and Free States, and now the foolish words are 
 blown away forever by the breath of Maryland, Missouri and 
 Tennessee ; that a terrible cloud of political heresy rose from 
 the abj'ss, threatening to hide the light of the sun, and under its 
 darkness a rebellion was rising into indefinable proportions; 
 now the atmosphere is purer than ever before, and the insurrec- 
 tion is vanishing away; the country is cast into another mould, 
 and the gigantic system of wrong, which had been the work of 
 more than two centuries, is dashed down, we hope forever. And 
 as to himself personally : he was then scoffed at by the proud as 
 unfit for his station, and now, against the usage of later years, 
 and in spite of numerous competitors, he was the unbiassed and 
 the undoubted choice of the American people for a second term 
 
HON. GEORGE BANCROFT'S ORATION. 277 
 
 of service. Tlirongh all tlie niari business of treason he retained 
 the sweetiies.s (»f a most yjlacalile disposition ; and the slaughtt-r 
 of myriads of the best on the battle-field, and the more terrible 
 destruftioH of our men in captivity by the siuw toiture of ex- 
 posure and .starvation, had never been able to provoke him into 
 harboring one vengeful feeling or one pur])ose of cruelty. 
 
 " How shall the nation most completely show its sorrow at 
 Mr. Lincoln's death? How shall it best honor his memory? 
 There can be but one answer. He was struck down when he 
 was highest in its service, and, in strict conl'ormity with duty, 
 was engaged in carrying out principles affecting its life, its gouil 
 name, and its relations to the cause of freedom and the progress 
 of mi.nkind. Grief must take the character of action, and 
 breathe itself forth in the assertion of the policy to which he fell 
 a sacrifice. The standard which he held in- his hand must be 
 uplifted again, higher and more firmly than before, and must be 
 carried on to triumph. Above every thing else, his proclamation 
 cf'the 1st day of January, 18G3, declaring throughout the parts 
 of the country in rebellion the freedom of all persons who had 
 been held as slaves, must be affirmed and maintained. 
 
 4' Events, as they rolled onward, have removed every doubt of 
 the legality and binding force of that proclamation. The coun- 
 try and the rebel government have each laid claim to the public 
 service of the slave, and yet but one of the two can have a right- 
 ful claim to such service. That rightful claim belongs to the 
 United States, because every one born on their soil, with the 
 few exceptions of the children of travelers and transient resi- 
 dents, owes them a [jrimary allegiance. Every one so born has 
 been counted among those represented in Congress; every slave 
 has ever been represented in Congress — imperfectly and wrongly 
 it may be — but still has been counted and represented. The 
 slave born on our soil always owed allegiance to the General 
 Government. It may in time past have been a qualified alle- 
 giance, manifested through his master, as the allegiance of a 
 ward through its guardian or of an infant through its parent. 
 But when the master became false to his allegiance the slave 
 stood face to face with his country, and his allegiance, which 
 may before have been a qualified one, became direct and imme- 
 diate. His chains fell ofl", and he stood at once in the presence 
 of the nation, bound, like the rest of us, to its public defence. Mr. 
 Lincoln's proclamation did but take notice of the already exist- 
 ing right of the bondman to freedom. The treason of the master 
 made it a public crime for the slave to continue his obedi^n^e; 
 the treason of a Slate set free the collected bondmen of that 
 State. 
 
 "This doctrine is supported by the analogy of precedents. 
 In the times of feudalism the treason of the lord of the manor 
 deprived him of his serfs; the spurious feudalism that existed 
 among us differs iu many respects from the feudalism of the mid- 
 
278 noN. georgp: Bancroft's oration. 
 
 die ages, but so far the precedent runs parallel with the present 
 case — for treason the master then, for treason the master now, 
 loses his slaves. 
 
 "In the middle ages the sovereign appointed another lord 
 over the serfs and the land which they cultivated : in our day the 
 sovereign makes them masters of their own persons, lords over 
 themselves. 
 
 " It has been said that we are at war, and that emancipation 
 is not a belligerent right. The objection disappears bifore 
 analysis. In a war between independent powers the invading 
 foreigner invites to his standard all who will give him aid, 
 whether bond or free, and he rewards them according to his 
 ability and his pleasure with gifts or freedom ; but when at a 
 peace he withdraws from the invaded country he must take his 
 aiders and comforters with him; or if he leaves them behind, 
 where he has no court to enforce his decrees, he can give them 
 uo security, unless it be by the stipulations of a treaty. In a 
 civil war it is altogether different. There, when rebellion is 
 crushed, the old government is restored, and its courts resume 
 their jurisdiction. So it is with us ; the United States have 
 courts of their own, that must punish the guilt of treason and 
 vindicate the freedom of persons whom the fact of rebellion has 
 Bet free. 
 
 " Nor may it be said, that because slavery existed in most of 
 the States when the Union was formed, it cannot rightfully bo 
 interfered with now. A change has taken place, such as Madison 
 foresaw, and for which he pointed out the remedy. The consti- 
 tutions of States had been transformed before the plotters of 
 treason carried them away into rebellion. When the Federal 
 Constitution was formed, general emancipation was thought to 
 be near : and everywhere the respective legislatures had au- 
 thority, in the exercise of their ordinary functions, to do away 
 with slavery ; since that time the attempt has been made in 
 what are called Slave States to make the condition of slavery 
 perpetual ; and events have proved with clearness of demon- 
 stration, that a constitution which seeks to continue a caste of 
 hereditary bondmen through endless generations is inconsistent 
 with the existence of republican institutions. So, then, the 
 new President and the people of the United States must insist 
 that the proclamation of freemen shall stand as a reality. And 
 moreover, the people must never cease to insist that the ccaisti- 
 tution shall be so amended as utterly to prohibit slavery on any 
 l)art of our soil for evermore. 
 
 " Alas! that a State in our vicinity should withhold its assci't 
 to this last beneficent measure ; its refusal was an encourage- 
 ment to our enemies equal to the gain of a pitched battle, and 
 delays the only hopeful method of pacilication. The removal of 
 the cause of the rebellion is not otdy demanded by justice; it is 
 the policy of mercy, making room for a wider clemency ; it is 
 
HON. GEOKGE BANCROFT'S ORATION. 21d 
 
 the part of order against a chaos of controversy ; its success 
 brings with it true reconcilement, a lasting peace, a continuous 
 growth of confidence through an assimilation of the social 
 condition. Here is the fitting expression of the mourning of 
 to-day. And let no lover of his country say that this warning 
 is uncalled for. The cry is delusive that slavery is dead. Even 
 now it is nerving itself for a fresh struggle for continuance. 
 
 "No sentiment of despair may mix with our sorrow. We 
 owe it to the memory of the dead, we owe it to the cause of 
 popular liberty throughout the world, that the sudden crime 
 which has taktni the life of the President of the United States 
 shall not produce the least impediment in the smooth course of 
 public affairs. This great city, in the midst of unexampled em- 
 blems of deeply-seated grief, has sustained itself with composure 
 and magnanimity. It has nobly done its part in guarding 
 against the derangement of business or the slightest shock to 
 public credit. The enemies of the republic put it to the severest 
 trial, but the voice of faction has not been heard — doubt and 
 despondency have been unknown. In serene majesty the coun- 
 try rises in the beauty and strength and hope of youth, and 
 proves to the world the quiet energy and the durability of insti- 
 tutions growing out of the reason and afi'ection of the people. 
 
 " Heaven has willed it that the United States shall live. The 
 nations of the earth cannot spare them. All the worn-out aris- 
 tocracies of Europe saw in the spurious feudalism of slaveholding 
 their strongest outpost, and banded themselves together with 
 the deadly enemies of our national life. If the Old World will 
 discuss the respective advantages of oligarchy or equality ; of 
 the union of church and state, or the rightful freedom of re- 
 ligion ; of land accessible to the many or of land monopolized 
 by an ever-decreasing number of the few, the United States 
 must live to control the decision by their quiet and unobtrusive 
 example. It has often and truly been observed that the trust 
 and afl'ectiou of the masses gather naturally round an individual ; 
 if the inquiry is made whether the man so trusted and beloved 
 shall elicit from the reason of the people enduring institutions 
 of their own, or shall sequester political power for a superintend- 
 ing dynasty, the United States must live to solve the problem. 
 If a question is raised on the respective merits of Timoleon or 
 Julius Cesar, of Washington or Nai'Oleon, the United States 
 must be there to call to mind that there were twelve Cicsars, 
 most of them the opprobrium of the human race, and to contrast 
 with them the line of American presidents. 
 
 "The duty of the hour is incomplete, our mourning is insin- 
 cere if, while we express unwavering trust in the great principles 
 that underlie our government, we do not also give our support 
 to the man to whom the people have entrusted its administration. 
 
 " Andkf.w Johnson is now, by the constitution, the President 
 of the United States, and he stands before the world as the most 
 
280 HENRY WARD BEECIIER'S TRIBUTE. 
 
 conspicuous representative of the industrial classes. Left an 
 orphan at four years ol J, poverty and toil wore his steps to honor. 
 His youth was not passed in llie halls of colleges; ne\erthel('ss 
 he has received a thorough political education in statesmanship 
 in the school of the people and by long experience of public life. 
 A village functionary; member successively of each branch of 
 the Tennessee legislature, hearing with a thrill of joy the words: 
 ''I'he Union, it must be preserved;' a representative in Congnsa 
 for successive years ; Governor of the great State of Tennessee, 
 approved as its Governor by re-election ; he was at the opening 
 of the Rebellion a Senator from that State in Congress. Then 
 at the Capitol, when Senators, unrebuked bj the governnuMit, 
 sent word by telegram to seize forts and arsenals, he alone from 
 that Southern region told them what the government did not 
 dare to tell them, that they were traitors, and deserved the 
 punishment of treason. Undismayed by a perpetual purpose of 
 pul)lic enemies to take his life, bearing up against the still greater 
 trial of the persecution of his wife and children, in due time he 
 went back to his State, determined to restore it to the Union, or 
 die with the American flag for his winding sheet. And now, at 
 the call of the United States, he has returned to Washington a3 
 a concpieror, with 'I'ennessee as a Free State for Ids trophy. It 
 remains for him to consummate the vindication of the Union. 
 
 "To that Union Abraham Lincoln has fallen a martyr. Ilia 
 death, which was meant to sever it beyond repair, binds it more 
 closely and more firmly than ever. The blow aimed at him, 
 was aimed not at the native of Kentucky, not at the citizen of 
 Illinois, but at the nnm who, as PresiJent, in the executive 
 branch of the government, stood as the representative of every 
 man in the United States. The object of the crime was the life 
 of the whole people; and it wounds the atfections of the whole 
 people. From Maine to the southwest boundary on the Pacific, 
 it makes us one. The country may have needed an imperishable 
 grief to touch its inmost feeling. 'I'he grave that receives the 
 remains of Lincoln, receives the martyr to the Union ; the 
 monument which will rise over his body will bear witness to the 
 Union ; his enduring memory will assist during countless ages 
 to bind the States together, and. to incite to the love of our one 
 undivided, individual country. Peace to the ashes of our de- 
 parted friend, the friend of his country and his race. Happy 
 was his life, for he was the restorer of the republic; he was 
 happy in his death, for the manner of his end will plead forever 
 for the union of the Statis and the freedom of man." 
 
 HENRY WARD BEECHER'S TRIBUTE. 
 
 On Sunday, April 23d, 18G5, the Plymouth street 
 Church, Brooklyn, vviis lilluU to overflowing long before 
 
HENRY WARD BEECH ER'3 SERMON. 281 
 
 the hour of service, it having been announced that Mr. 
 Beecher '.vould deliver an appropriate sermon on the event 
 which had cast tlie nation into mourning. Thousands 
 were turned away, and hundreds hung about the outer 
 door in the vain hope of hearing. The church was very 
 neatly and effectively draped in black and white, and upon 
 the pastor's desk was placed a basket of beautiful flowers. 
 At half-past ten Mr. Beecher went to his platform, the 
 whole of which was occupied by men and women, while 
 small boys fringed the front. 
 
 After the reading of the 90th Psalm, and conducting the 
 ordinary services of invocation and praise, Mr. Beecher 
 delivered the following 
 
 SERMON, 
 
 Taking for his text the first five verses of the last chap- 
 ter of Deuteronomy: 
 
 1. Anil Moses went up frnm tliR plains of Moab, nnto the Mountains of Nebo, to tiio 
 top (if PIsgali, tliat is over against Jericho; and the Lord sliowod him the land of 
 Oiload, nnto Dan. 
 
 •2. And all Naiihtali, and the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, and all the land of 
 Jnil.ih, unto thu utmost sea. 
 
 3. And the South, and the plain of the valley of Jericho, and the city of palm trees, 
 nnto Zoar. 
 
 4. And the Lord said unto him. This is the land which I sware unto Abrah.am, unto 
 Isaac, and unto Jacob, saying I will give it unto thy seed; 1 have caused thee to see 
 it with thine eyes, but thou slialt not go over thither. 
 
 6. So Moses, the servant of the Lord, died there in the land of Moab, according to 
 the word of the Lord. 
 
 •' There is no historic fijrure more noble than that of tho Jewish 
 lawfriver. After uumy thousand years, the figure of Moses is 
 not diminished, but stands up af^aiiist the background of early 
 days, distinct and individual as it he Hvcd but yesterday. There 
 is scarcely another event in history more touching than his 
 death. lie had borno tlie great burdens of state for forty years, 
 shaped the Jews to a nation, filled out their civil and religious 
 polity, administered their laws, and guided their steps, or dwelt 
 with them in all their sojourning in the wilderness, had mourned 
 in their punishment, kept step with their marches and led them 
 in wars, until the end of their labors drew nigh, the last stages 
 were reached, and Jordan only lay between them and the prom- 
 ised land. 
 
 •'The Promised Land! Oh, what yearnings had heaved his 
 breast for that Divinely promised place ! He had dreamed of it 
 by night and mused by day ; it was holy, and endeared as God's 
 favored spot; it was to be the cradle of an illustrious history. 
 
282 HENRY WARD BEECHER'S SERMON". 
 
 All his lonj^, laborious and now weary life, ho bad nimcd at this 
 as the consiininiation of every desire, the reward of every toil and 
 pain. Then came the word of the Lord to him, ' 'J'hou must not 
 go over. Get thee up into the mountain, look upon it and die.' 
 From that silent summit the hoary leader gazed to the North, 
 to the South, to the West, with hungry eyes. The dim outlines 
 rose up, the hazy recesses spoke of quiet valleys. With eager 
 longing, with sad resignation, he looked upon the promised land, 
 that was now the forbidden land. It was a moment's anguish. 
 He forgot all his personal wants and drank in the vision of his 
 people's home. His work was done. Tliere lay God's promise 
 fulfilled. There was the seat of coming Jerusalem, there the city 
 of Jehovah's King, the sphere of judges and prophets, the mount 
 of sorrow and salvation, the country whence were to fly blessings 
 to all mankind. Joy chased sadness from every feature, and the 
 prophet lay him down and died. 
 
 "Again, a great leader of the people has passed through toil, 
 sorrow, battle and war, and came near to the promised land of 
 peace, into which he might not pass over. Who shall recount 
 our martyr's sufferings for the people? Since the November of 
 18G0, his horizon has been black with storms. By day and by 
 night he trod its way of danger and darkness. On his shoulders 
 rested a Government, dearer to him than his own life. At its 
 life millions were striking at home ; upon us foreign eyes were 
 lowered, and it stood like a lone island in a sea full of storms, 
 and every tide and wave seemed eager to devour it. Upon 
 thousands of hearts great sorrows and anxieties have rested, but 
 upon not one such and in such measure, as upon that simple, 
 truthful, noble soul, our faithful and sainted Lincoln. Never 
 rising to the enthusiasm of more impassioned natures in hours 
 of hope, and never sinking with the mercurial in the hours of 
 defeat to the depths of despondency, he held on with immovable 
 patience and fortitude, putting caution against hope that it 
 might not be prciriature, and hope against caution that it might 
 riot yield to dread and danger. He wrestled ceaselessly through 
 four black and dreadful purgatorial years, when God was 
 cleansing the sins of this people as by f:re. 
 
 "At last the watchman beheld the grey dawn. The moun- 
 tains began to give forth their forms from out the darkness, and 
 the Last came rushing toward us with arms full of joy tor 
 all our sorrows. Then it was for him to be glad exceedingly 
 that had sorrowed immeasurably. Peace could bring to no 
 other heart such joy, such rest, such honor, such trust, su<..h 
 gratitude. He but looked upon it as Moses looked upon the 
 promised land. Then the wail of a nation proclaimed that he 
 had gone from among us. Not thine the sorrow, but ours. 
 Sainted soul, thou hast indeed entered the promised rest, while 
 wo are yet on the march. To us remains the rocking of the 
 deep, the storm upon the land, days of duty and nights of witch- 
 
HENRY WARD BEECnER'S SERMON. 283 
 
 ing ; but thou art splicrecl high above all rliirkness and fear, be- 
 yond all sorrow or weariness, liest, oh weary heart ! Rejoice 
 exceedingly, thou that hast enough suffered. Thou hast belicld 
 Him who invariably led thee in this great wilderness. Thou 
 standest among the elect ; around thee are the royal men that 
 have ennobled human life in every age ; kingly art thou, with 
 glory on thy brow as a diadem, and joy is upon thee for evermore 1 
 
 " Over all this land, over all the little cloud of years that now 
 from thine infinite horizon waver back from thee as a spark, thoii 
 art lifted up as high as the star is above the clouds that hide us, 
 but never reach it. In the goodly company of Mount Ziou thou 
 shall And that rest which so many have sought in vain, and thy 
 name, an everlasting name in heaven, shall flourish in fragrance 
 and beanty as long as men shall last upon the earth, or hearts 
 remain to revere truth, fidelity and goodness. Never did two 
 such orbs of experience meet in one hemisphere as the joy and 
 sorrow of the same week in this land. The joy was as sudden as 
 if no man had expected it, and as entrancing as if it had fallen 
 from heaven. It rose up over sobriety, and swept business from 
 its moorings, and ran down through the land in irresistible 
 course. Men wept and embraced each other; they sang or 
 prayed, or, deeper yet, could only think thanksgiving and weep 
 gladness. 
 
 " That peace was sure, that Government was firmer than ever, 
 the land was cleansed of plague, that ages were opening to our 
 footsteps and we were to begin a march of blessings, that blood 
 was staunched and scowling enmities sinking like spent storms 
 beneath the horizon ; that the dear fatherland, nothing lost, much 
 gained, was to rise up in unexampled honor among the nations of 
 the earth — these thoughts, and that undistinguishable throng of 
 fancies, and hopes, and desires, and yearnings, that filled the 
 soul with tremblings like the heated air of midsummer days — all 
 these kindled up such a surge of joy as no words may describe. 
 In an hour, joy lay without a pulse, without a gleam, or breath. 
 A sorrow came that swept through the land, as huge storms sweep 
 through the forest and field, rolling thunder along the skies, dis- 
 heveling the flames and daunting every singer in the thicket or 
 forest, and pouring blackness and darkness across the land and 
 up the mountains. Did ever so many hearts in so brief a time 
 touch two such boundless feelings ? It was the uttermost of 
 joy and the uttermost of 8orrow-;-noon and midnight, without 
 space between. 
 
 " The blow brouglit not a sharp pang. It was so terrible that 
 at first it stunned sensibility. Citizens were like men awakened 
 at midnight by an earthquake, and bewildered to find every 
 thing that tliey were accustomed to trust wavering and falling. 
 The very earth was no longer solid. The first feeling was the 
 least. Men waited to get strength to feel. They wandered in 
 the street as if groping after some impending dread or unde 
 
281 HENRY WAED BEECRERS SERMON. 
 
 vploped sorrow. They met each other as if each would ask the 
 other, 'Am I awake, or do I dream ?' There was a piteous help- 
 lessness. Strong men bowed down and wept. Other and com- 
 mon griefs belong to some one in chief, they are private prop- 
 erty ; but this was each man's and every man's. Every virtuous 
 household in the land felt as if its first-born were gone. Men 
 took it home. They were bereaved, and walked for days as if a 
 corpse lay unburied in their dwellings. There was nothing else 
 to think of; they could speak of nothing but that, and yet of that 
 they could speak only falteringly. All business was laid aside, 
 pleasure forgot to smile. 
 
 "The city for nearly a week ceased to roar, and the great 
 Leviathan laid down and was still. Even Avarice stood still, 
 and Greed was strangely moved to generous sympathy with 
 universal sorrow. Rear to his name monuments, found charita- 
 ble institutions, and with his name above their heights, but no 
 monument will ever ecpial the universal, spontaneous and 
 snl)liHie sorrow that in a moment swept down lines and parties, 
 and coviM-ed up animosities, and in an hour brought a divided 
 people with unity of grief and indivisible fellowship of anguish ! 
 For myself, I cannot yet command that quietness of spirit needed 
 for a just and temperate delineation of a man whom goodness 
 has made great. I pass, then, to some considerations aside from 
 the martyr President's character. And. first, let us not mourn 
 that his departure was so sudden, nor fill our imagination with 
 horror at its method. When good men pray for deliverance 
 from hidden death, it is only that they may not be plunged, 
 without preparation and all disrobed, into the presence of the 
 Judge. 
 
 " Men long eluding and evading sorrow, when suddenlj over- 
 taken, seem enchanted to make it great to the uttermost — a 
 hal)it which is not Christian, although it is doubtless natural. 
 When one is ready to depart, suddenness is a blessing. It is a 
 painful sight to see a tree overthrown by a tornado, wrenched 
 from its foundations and broken down like a reed ; but it is yet 
 more painful to see a vast and venerable tree lingering with vain 
 strife, when age and infirmity have marked it for destruction. 
 The process of decay is a spectacle humiliating and painful ; but 
 it seems good and grand for one to go from duty done with pulse 
 high, with strength full and nerve strong, terminating a noble 
 life in a fitting manner. Nor are we without Scripture warrant 
 for these thoughts : ' Let your loins be girded about. * * * 
 Blessed are those servants whom the Lord, when Pie cometh, 
 shall find watching.' * * * Not those who die in a stupor 
 are blessed, but they who go with all their powers about them, 
 and wide awake, as to a wedding. lie died watching. lie died 
 •with armor on. In the midst of hours of labor, in the very heart 
 of patriotic consultations, just returned from camps and council, 
 he was stricken down. 
 
HENRY WARD BEI.CIIER's S ETYMON'. 285 
 
 "No fever dried his blooc'' no plow waste oonsnmod him. 
 AH at once, in full strength and uianliood. with his ginlk' ti.aht 
 about iiim, he departed, and walks with (jod. Nor was tin; 
 manner of his death more slioclviug, if we will surround it with 
 higher associations. Have not thuusandvS of soldiers fallen on 
 the field of battle by the bullets of an enemy, and did not he ? 
 All soldiers that fall ask to depart in the hour of victory, and 
 at such an hour he fell. There was not a poor drummer boy in 
 all this war, that has fallen, for whom the great heart of Ivincoln 
 would not have bled ; there is not one private soldier without 
 note or name slain among thousands, and hid in the pit ainonf^ 
 liundreds, without even the memorial of a separate burial, for 
 whom the President would not have wept. He was a man from 
 and of the people, and now that he who might not i)ear the 
 nnnch, the toil and battle, with these humble citizens, has been 
 c:dlcd to die by the bullet, as they were, do you not feel that 
 there is a peculiar fitness to his nature and life, that he should 
 in death be joined with them in a final common experience? 
 For myself, when any event is susceptible of a nobler garnish- 
 ing, I cannot understand the nature or character oi' those who 
 seek rather to drag it down, degrading and debasing, rather 
 than ennobling and sanctil'ying it. 
 
 " Secondly : This blow was but the expiring rebellion ; and 
 as a miniature gives all the form and features of its suljject, so, 
 epitomized in this foul act, we find the whole nature and disposi- 
 tion of slavery. It begins in a wanton destruction of all human 
 rights, and in the desecration of all the sanctities of heart and 
 hcmie. It can be maintained only at the sacrifice of every right 
 moral feeling in its abettors and upholders. It is a two-edged 
 sword, cutting both wnys, desolating alike the oppressed and" 
 the oppressor, and viohuitly destroying manhood in the victim, 
 it insidiously destroys manhood in the master. No man born 
 and bred under the influence of the accursed thing can possibly 
 maintain his manhood, and I would as soon look for a saint in 
 the darkness of perdition, as for a man of honor in this hot-bed 
 oF iniquity. The problem is solved, its demonstration is com- 
 plete. Slavery wastes its victims, it wastes estates. It destroys 
 ))iihlic morality, it corrupts manhood in its centre. Communi- 
 ties in which it exists are not to be trusted. Its products are 
 rotten. No tindjer grown in its cursed soil is fit for the ribs of 
 GUI- ship of State or for our household homes. 
 
 "'I'he people are selfish in their patriotism, and brittle; who- 
 evr leans on them for support is pierced in his hand. Their 
 h<Mi<.t is not honor, but a bastard quality which disgraces the 
 n;i!iie rf honor, and for all time the honor of the supporters of 
 eitivery will be throughout the earth a by-word and a hissing. 
 Their whole moral nature is death-smitten. The needless rebel- 
 lion, the treachery of its leaders to oaths and trusts, their vio- 
 lations of the couimouest i)rincii)!es of fidelity, sitting in 
 18 
 
286 HENRY WARD BEECHER's SERMON. 
 
 Senates, Councils and places of trust, only to betray them ; the 
 long, general and unparalleled cruelty to prisoners, witlioiit pro- 
 vocation or excuse; their unreasoning uralignity and fierceness, 
 all mark the symptoms of the disease of slavery, that is a deadly 
 poison to soul and body. There may be exceptions, of course, 
 but as a rule, malignity is the nature and the essence. Slavery 
 is itself barbarous, and the nation which upholds and protects 
 it is likewise barbarous. It is fit that its ex])iring blow should 
 be made to take away from men the last forbearance, the last 
 pity, and fire the soul with invincible determination that the 
 breeding ground of such mischiefs and monsters shall be utterly 
 and forever destroyed. 
 
 " It needed not that the .assaesin should put on paper his 
 belief in slavery. lie was but the sting of the monster slavery 
 which has struck this blow, and as long as this nation lasts, it 
 will not be forgotten that we have had our ' Martyr President,' 
 nor while Heaven holds high court or Hell rots beneath, will it 
 be forgotten that slavery murdered him. 
 
 " Third : This blow was aimed at the life of government and of 
 the nation. Lincoln was slain, but America was meant. The 
 man was cast down, but the Government was smitten at. The 
 President was killed, but national life-breathing freedom and 
 benignity was sought. He of Illinois, as a private man, might 
 have been detested, but it was because he represented the cause 
 of just government, liberty and kindness, he was slain. It was 
 a crime against universal government, and was aimed at all. 
 Not more was it at us than at England or France or any well 
 compacted government. It was aimed at mankind. The whole 
 world will repudiate it, and stigmatize it as a deed without 
 a redeeming feature. It was not the deed of the oppressed, 
 stung to madness by the cruelty of the oppressor; it was not 
 the avenging hand against the heart of a despot; it was the 
 exponent of a venomous hatred of liberty, and the avowed 
 advocacy of slavery. 
 
 [Mr. Beecher illustrated the point by a report of the interview 
 between (Jovernor Pickens and Lieutenant 'I'albot, a few days 
 prior to the attack on Fort Sumter, wherein Pickens admitted 
 that the South had really no cause of complaint ; but that the 
 leaders, hoping to deceive the people, had manufactured the 
 necessary indignation at Northern insults, and were determined 
 to separate, even though confessedly without good grounds.] 
 
 "Fourth. But the blow has signally failed. The cause is not 
 stricken, ])ut strengthened ; men hate slavery the more, and love 
 liberty better. The nation is dissolved, but only in tears, and 
 stands more square and solid to-day than any pyramid in Kgypt. 
 The Government is not weakened, it is strengthed. How readily 
 and easily the ranks closed up. We shall be more true to every 
 instinct of liberty, to the Constitution, and to the principles 
 of universal freedom. Where, in any other community — the 
 
HENRY WARD BEECHER'S SERMON. 2b'/ 
 
 crowned head being stricken by the hand of an assassin — would 
 the funds have stood firm, as did ours, not wavering the half of 
 one per cent? 
 
 "After four years of drastic war, of heavy drafts upon the 
 people, on top of all, the very head of the nation is stricken 
 down, and the funds never quivered, but stand as firm as the 
 granite ribs in the mountains. Republican institutions have 
 been vindicated in this very evidence. God has said, by the 
 voice of his Providence, that republican liberty, based upon 
 universal freedom, shall be as firm as the foundation of the 
 globe. 
 
 " Fifth. Even he, who now sleeps, has by this event been 
 clothed with new influence. Dead, he speaks to men who now 
 willingly hear what before they shout their ears to. Like the 
 words of Washington, will his simple, mighty words be pondered 
 on by your children, and children's children. Men will receive 
 a new accession to their love of patriotism, and will, for his sake, 
 guard with more zeal the welfare of the whole country. On the 
 altar of this martyred patriot I swear you to be more faithful to 
 your country. They will, as they follow his hearse, swear a new 
 hatred to that slavery which has made him a martyr. By this 
 solemn spectacle. I swear you to renewed hostility to slavery, 
 and to a never-ending pursuit of it to its grave. They will ad- 
 mire and imitate his firmness injustice, his inflexible conscience 
 for the right, his gentleness and moderation of spirit, and I 
 swear you to a faithful copy of his justice, his mercy, and his 
 gentleness. 
 
 " You I can comfort, but how can I speak to the twilight 
 millions, who revere his name as the name of God. Oh, there 
 will be wailing for him, in hamlet and cottage, in woods and in 
 wilds, and the fields of the South. Her dusky children looked 
 on him, as on a Moses come to lead them out from the land of 
 bondage. To whom can we direct them but to the Shepherd of 
 Israel, and to his care commit them, for help, for comfort, and 
 protection. And now, the Martyr is moving in triumphal march 
 mightier than when alive. The nation rises up at his coming. 
 Cities and States are his pall-bearers, and cannon beat the hours 
 with solemn procession. Dead—dead — dead — he yet speak- 
 eth ! Is Washington dead ? Is Hampden dead ? Is David 
 dead? Now, disenthralled of flesh, and risen to the unob- 
 structed sphere where passion never comes, he begins his 
 illimitable work. His life is grafted upon the Infinite, and will 
 be fruitful now as no earthly life can be. 
 
 " Pass on, thou that hast overcome ! Your sorrows, oh peo- 
 ple, are his paean I Your bells, and bands, and muffled drums, 
 sound in his ear a triumph. You wail and weep here — God 
 makes it triumph there. Four years ago, oh Illinois, we took 
 him from your midst, an untried man from among the people. 
 Behold, we return him, a mighty Conqueror I Not thine, but 
 
288 GEN. HIRAM WALBEIDGE'S ADDRESS. 
 
 the Nation's — not ours, but the world's. Give him place, ye 
 Prairies! In the niiclst of this jri'eat cotitinciit, his ilusi phuU 
 rost, a sacred treasure to myriads who sl^all pilgrim to that 
 shriue to kindle anew their zeal and patrioism. Ye winds, that 
 move over the mighty spaces of the West, chant his requiem 1 
 Ye people, behold a martyr whose blood, as articulate words, 
 pleads for fidelity, for law, for liberty." 
 
 At the conclusion of the discourse, during which many 
 of the congregation were affected to tears, Mr. Boocher 
 offered another Prayer — a Hyinn of Victory was sung — 
 and the services closed with a Benediction. 
 
 ADDRESS BY GENERAL HIRAM WALBRIDGE. 
 
 At a large meeting of the congregation connected with 
 Dr. Bowling's church, New York, General Wall)ridge 
 was introduced, and delivered the following noble address 
 on the death of the President : 
 
 GENERAL WALBRIDGE'S SPEECH. 
 
 "The history of a nation is nothing more or less than the 
 biography of its distinguished sons. Whenever, therefore, a 
 citizen of any community has attained such a position as to con- 
 centrate within his own person the affections of his countrymen, 
 whatever affects him, for the time being, affects the State. And 
 whenever such an individual is transferred to that list whicli 
 makes up the record of the distinguished dead, just in propor- 
 tion to the extent of his influence while living will be the respect 
 paid his memory by those who shall come after him. The just 
 appreciation by posterity of those who have rendered eminent 
 services either in the Cabinet or in the field, is one of the 
 strongest incentives to virtue and moral worth — an obligation 
 which it is the highest duty of society to protect and cherish. 
 Tlius impressed, the American people since the assassination of 
 their lamented President, with hearts overflowing with sadness, 
 have gathered in their primary assemblages in every section of 
 the Union, to pay appropriate tributes to the memory of the 
 great and good man who, springing from tlie loins of the people, 
 without adventitious aid, by the force of his eminent virtues, his 
 patriotic services, his strict adherence to principle, and the 
 fidelity with which he pursued his convictions on all questions 
 affecting the interests of the State and influencing the destiny 
 of the people, rose to the highest dignity recognized in the land. 
 The peaceful death by the ordinary course of nature of a citizen 
 occupying such an exallod position, and invested with such 
 
GEN HIRAM WALBRIDGE's ADDRESS. 289 
 
 honors, would at anytime awaken the sensibilities of the people. 
 It is not strange, then, that the national emotion is stirred from 
 its innermost depths at the brutal and cowardly act of the 
 murderous assassin, under circumstances so peculiar as those 
 wliicli surrounded the recent death of the President of the 
 United States. But mysterious are the ways of Providence. 
 Called without solicitation on his part to discharge the high 
 duties incident to the Presidential office at a period of unex- 
 ampled bitterness in our political history, just as he comprehended 
 the period had arrived when he might tender forgiveness to the 
 great body of the people who had been induced to engage in the 
 rebellion^ — reserving for subsequent consideration whatever 
 action the Government would feel called upon to take in refer- 
 ence to the leaders of this foul conspiracy — for purposes un- 
 known to us the Great Intinite, at such a moment, suffered the 
 hand of the assassin to take tlie life of the Chief Magistrate. 
 But who is there that will say it has thereby taken the life of 
 the nation? For all realize at this moment, even amid this un- 
 broken lamentation, and before the mortal remains of our illus- 
 trious President are confined to their final resting-place, that 
 this last dispensation of Providence has only the more thor- 
 oughly strengthened the fixed determination of the American 
 people to preserve intact their liberties and perpetuate their 
 government to those into whose keeping in the future is to be 
 confided the control of Constitutional government. Upon two 
 former occasions in our political history, the second officer in 
 the Government has been called upon to discharge the duties of 
 Chief Magistrate, llow widely different the circumstances that 
 Lave attended the death of the late President, who by this 
 wicked rebellion had been prevented from exercising his legiti- 
 mate functions as President over a large number of States that 
 were in revolt? Yet at the moment when the murderous blow 
 was struck, he stood within sight of the promised land. He 
 realized, doubtless, that i" Providence was to continue his ex- 
 istence, the latter portion of his second Administration was to 
 be marked by the recognition of his authority over all the States 
 as they existed antecedent to the rebellion. It is true, that 
 when he departed from Washington to visit the headquarters 
 of his most illustrious commander, just j)revious to that wonder- 
 ful series of events which terminated not only in the surrender 
 of the rebel capital, but the capitulation of the vctern army of 
 the so-called Confederacy, many anxious prayers were offered to 
 heaven that, in his journey in the confines of a district so 
 recently infected with treason, that his life might be spared, and 
 that no murderous blow might be inflicted, which, robbing him 
 of life, should deprive the people of tlioir legitimate representa- 
 tive. When consequently he returned from his late mission, to 
 be himself the bearer of the good tidings of the complete over- 
 throw of the rebellion, and to give to the nation assurances that 
 
290 GEN". HIRAM WALBllIDGE'S ADDRESS. 
 
 pi'ace was not so far distant, his return to the Capital was hailed 
 throughout the Nation with notes of acchimation and praise. 
 Had we not reason to believe that our great and good Presi- 
 dent, protected by Providence, bore a charmed life, not simply 
 for himself, but as the representative of twenty millions of people, 
 engaged in the benificent mission of commending to the world 
 the benefits of free republican institutions. Man proposes, but 
 dod disposes. That was the instant which Providence had 
 selected to terminate his earthly existence, May we not reason- 
 ably conclude that the measure of his greatness was complete, and 
 that no lengthened years — no subsequent exertion — no addi- 
 tional labors, could add to the dignity and the greatness of a 
 Hie so pregnant with usefulness and renown ? Such a legacy for 
 the unborn millions that hereafter shall s|)eak his name and 
 bear his praises, as the representative of the American people, 
 who finally guaranteed Republican institutions to the VVestern 
 Hemisphere? Washington severed the colonies from Great 
 Britain — he aided to lay broad and deep the foundations of the 
 Republic. But the civilization of that age was not adequate to 
 found institutions of government which should meet all the re- 
 quirements of that higher civilization which should come when 
 human slavery was to Ije everywhere regarded an element hostile 
 to the true interests of a great, free, and Christian people. 
 Vv^here the labors of Washington terminated, the labors of 
 Lincoln began. AVashington formed a Republic which assumed 
 to recognize political equality. But while it declared that all 
 men were free and equal, it recognized within its limits an insti- 
 tution of human bondage. Washington was permitted to ex- 
 pire, surrounded by mourning relatives, in the tranquil shades 
 of Mount Vernon, conscious by his own reflection that the hour 
 of his mortal existence had been attained. How unlike the 
 death of our illustrious President. In the enjoyment of pci'fect 
 health, seeking that relaxation essential for the strength of his 
 faculties, after the arduous labors in which he had been engaged, 
 without a moment's note of preparation, in the twinkling of 
 an eye the bullet of the assassin pierced that majestic brain, 
 whose workings had wrought out the permanent i)rosperily of 
 this great peo})le; and whose judicious counsels had borne 
 us triumphantly through the most gigantic rebellion recurilcd 
 in history. 
 
 "It is true a single arm directed the accursed bullet, but the 
 murderous purpose which could conceive such an atrocity could 
 only result from the stifled enmity of that barbaric institution, 
 which for centuries had enslaved millions of the human race, 
 and had inaugurated within the boundaries of the Republic of 
 the United States an oligarchy of crime which fattened on the 
 sweat and toil and blood of the victims over which it exercised 
 Bueh material power. JV.it no single death can exjjiate this 
 great crime. Our beloved President was the representative of 
 
GEN. HIRAM WALBKIDGE's ADDRESS. 291 
 
 freedom and of free Government. lie will live in history as the 
 exponent of American Republican Constitutional (Tovernment. 
 His murderous assassin was the Representative of that accursed 
 Rebellion, and his name will live in immortal execration, as the 
 exponent of the conspiracy which had for its object the over- 
 throw of the Government of the United States, in order that 
 another government might be formed in this Christian age rest- 
 ing on the basis of human Slavery. Lincoln shall live with 
 Washington in immortal renown, while Booth and Davis shal. 
 forever stand in the same record of infamy to provoke the in- 
 dignation of the virtuous and good. Each were the representa- 
 tives of their respective civilizations. Washington and Lincoln 
 illustrated the genius of free institutions — of a Government 
 which recognized individual political equality — which had for its 
 object the recognition of the rights of man — which made labor 
 dignified — which secured for all men equal privileges, and which 
 founded a government which permitted the humblest individual, 
 by the exercise of virtue, sobriety, industry, and integrity to at- 
 tain the highest dignities of the Republic. Davis and Booth 
 represent that false civilization which has for its object the in- 
 stitution of a Government which divided society into classes — 
 which made the interests of the many subordinate to the interest 
 of the few, and which, while claiming to be a Government of 
 freedom, was the most grinding, odious, military despotism on 
 earth — a Government whose power was employed to enslave a 
 dependent race — which degraded labor in order that a favored 
 few, discarding the Divine injunction that by the sweat of his 
 brow man should earn his bread— placed itself in conflict with 
 our Divine religion, and in conflict with all the elements on 
 which the prosperity, peace and welfare of the State can safely 
 rest; a semi barbarous civilization, incompatible with the fun- 
 damental principles on which the republic is based ; a civiliza- 
 tion which cauy(.'d Davis to attempt the overthrow of his country, 
 with the Utopian idea that he could rear another government 
 which, claiming to be free, was to retain within its limits that 
 refractory element which had cursed the Republic of the United 
 States from the day of its origin to the day when the illustrious 
 deceased by his verdict d->clai-ed that within the limits of the 
 United States, slavery should no more exist forever; a civiliza- 
 tion which stimulated this wicked and murderous assassin to 
 fondly imagine that by ihc death of the great and good Presi- 
 dent of the United Stales he might thereby aid the falling 
 fortunes of the so-called Confederacy — if, indeed, he was not 
 stimulated by the ignol)le purjiose of living forever in history by 
 connection with Mr. Lincoln's death, as Judas lives in inf'iuny 
 in conjunciiou with the Friiice of Deace, wlmm he betrayed. 
 It is impossible to conceive what test our institutions should bo 
 subjected to in order to prove their ability to meet any emer- 
 gency that may an^e. Twice involved in I'ureign war, the 
 
292 GEN, HIRAM WALBRIDGES ADDRESS. 
 
 Government of the United States have inilicated the strength 
 and power of institutions based upon the intelligence, virtue, 
 integrity, and power of the people. The question, however, still 
 remained — was such a Government as adequate to supjjress 
 domestic treason as to resist foreign aggression? The (jovern- 
 ment of the United States, led hy its noble, kind-hearted Presi- 
 dent, proved itself adequate to this emergency, and hencefor- 
 ward Republican institutions will be regarded as capable of 
 suppressing domestic treason as any form of government recog- 
 nized among men. And yet it seems to be the will of heaven 
 that when this was accomplished, and the grave responsibilities 
 that cluster around the punishment of the bold, wicked, unscru- 
 pulous conspirators who have inaugurated this gigantic treason 
 had arrived, another was to be selected to determine the measure 
 of justice which should be meted out to them. One whose whole 
 life has been familiar with the machinations by which the con- 
 spirators organized a public sentiment, having for its object the 
 overthrow of the Government of the United States. Let us 
 rejoice that that selection has fallen upon one who brings to the 
 discharge of his high office a long and arduous career of un- 
 broken lidelity to the interests of the masses, to the amelioration 
 of whose condition he has devoted the best energies of his 
 existence. Thoroughly familiar with the demoralizing effects of 
 that institution whose continued existence was a wrong to the 
 industrial classes of the whole nation, to him may be well 
 awarded the high prerogative of inaugurating those great re- 
 forms essential to the continued prosperity of the people as they 
 emerge from the desolating influence of the terrible interneci»ie 
 war through which we have so recently passed. IJut we must 
 not forget tliat even this strong arm is powerful only as it is 
 invigorated with the strength and coniidence of the people. 
 Thus sustained, who shall mensure the greatness and renown 
 which awaits the administraliun of the (iovernnienl upon which 
 we are about to enter. (Jailed to exerciser power under circum- 
 stances so grave and une.xpi'cted, enough has already transpired 
 to assure the public confidence that the interests of the people 
 and the honor of the rejiublic will be safe in the hands of ihe 
 present Executive. Indicating his future policy, as he points to 
 his past illustrious and ))(>rsisTeut record, foreign Governments 
 may learn that hereafter the policy of this nation is to be that 
 early inaugurated by Washington, which sought to advance its 
 own great interests without any entangling alliances abroad : 
 and equally assuring them there must be incorporated upon this 
 continent no institutions unfriendly to the continued advance- 
 ment of the Government of the United States ; while the masses 
 abroad can equally a])iireciiite that the President of the United 
 States will be glad to welcome here all those who desire to 
 change their material condition and julvance their material 
 prosperity by availing themselves of the benefits of that bcncfi- 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN — BY IL W. BKECIIER. 293 
 
 cent legislation, which socnres to each iiiuii a home— a measine 
 which owes its success to the sagacity aixl t'oresight of President 
 Johnson more than to that of any other living man. He early 
 comprcheudeil that through the agency of the 'Homestead 
 Bill,' if it could once be established', he might make an inroad 
 upon the oligarchy of the South, who recognized slavery, and 
 by its agency fomented the treason which ultimately struck for 
 the overthrow of the Government. The people of the United 
 States themselves are to be assured that justice, though tem- 
 pered with mercy, will, nevertheless, be executed upon all who 
 have sought to take the life of the nation, and that treason must 
 be regarded the most odious crime recognized in our social and 
 political system." 
 
 As a fitting close to this volume, we append the follow- 
 ing powerful article, on Abraham Lincoln, written by 
 Ilcnry Ward Beecher, for the New York Ledger, and 
 published in that paper of May 20th, 1865. We think it 
 is the best utterance on the great topic of the day which 
 has yet seen the light of publicity. In addition to its 
 power and eloquence, and splendid philosophical analysis, 
 it contains some startling facts which will be new to most 
 people. 
 
 ABRAHAM LIITCOLN.— BY HEK"IIY WARD 
 BEECHER. 
 
 The last act of the subli-ne drama has at length been 
 finished, and the most wonderful spectacle of the age, or 
 perhaps of time, has been completed ! 
 
 Mr. Lincoln's assassination is not a single act, but the 
 last of a series, of which it forms the consummate whole. 
 It is seldom that history of itself falls into such natural 
 and dramatic periods as may be marked in the wonderful 
 tragedy of five years 1 It will be seen, too, that the ex- 
 citement of feeling, at each step seeming to have reached 
 its bounds, still rose, until in the last grand catastrophe 
 it surpasses all that man conceived possible or endurable. 
 And among the many other things demonstrated by this 
 civil revolution, is the capacity of comnmnities to endure 
 
29i: ABRAHAM LINCOLN— BY IL W. BEECHER. 
 
 profound excitements prolonj^erl tlirough wide periods of 
 time. The excitement of tlie Kansas strugj^le was only a 
 preface to the higher glow of the Presidential canvass of 
 18G0. But that was itself inferior to the profound anxict) 
 and feeling of the period between November, 1860, and 
 March, 1861, during which Secessionism developed into 
 civil war. When, in April, 1861, Fort Sumter was 
 assaulted, all feeling before seemed tame, compared with 
 that fire of patriotism which swept the land. That feel- 
 ing consolidated into a determination which the various 
 defeats and victories of four years had no power to 
 change. The flame-like character of popular feeling was 
 changed, but only as wood that blazes, at length growa 
 even hotter yet when it becomes coals. 
 
 In this last year of the war, as victory upon victory, 
 East, West and South, foretokened the glorious consum- 
 mation, the nation grew more joyful, until, on the fall of 
 Richmond and the surrender of Lee, it seemed as if the 
 people had expended no vital force in former emotions, 
 but burst with all the freshness of unwasted hearts into 
 the luxuriance of tropical joy. Was it possible that 
 human nature couJd bear another and greater strain ? 
 No one would believe it who had not seen the grief, 
 horror and indignation of the weeks following Mr. Lin- 
 coln's death. The sorrow was like the rolling in of an 
 ocean tide. It quenched the exultation of victory, and 
 the joy of anticipated peace, as completely as a brand is 
 quenched when thrown into the sea. Men forgot that 
 they had been glad. The banners and decorations of 
 victory were left to mingle with exhibitions of mourning, 
 and one could not tell whether the vast pageantry said, 
 "Victory is swallowed up in Death," or " Deal/i is sival- 
 lowed up in Victory.''^ 
 
 No voluntary sign of sorrow was half so striking as 
 the unconscious silence of that ever-roaring citv of New 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN — BY H. W. EEECUER. 295 
 
 York 1 A half million people thronged the city on Monday 
 and Tuesday, and filled the streets to suffocation. Yet 
 the presence of the Mighty Dead kept all so still and 
 gentle, that a bird flying over would be unscared by noise, 
 as if it were midnight, or a Sabbath day. 
 
 A martyred President was the city's king. His pulse- 
 less hand stretched out a sceptre, which awed all men to 
 silence ! — Before that Hearse enmities died, jealousies and 
 rivalries coiled and hid, pleasure forgot its rules, avarice 
 its toils, and for more than a week, the imperial city that 
 disdained always before to be subdued to any common 
 sentiment, now silently and humbly watched and waited, 
 in all its streets, to offer homage and affection to him, 
 when dead, for whom alive it would never give a vote ! 
 
 As a private citizen, Mr. Lincoln would have lived 
 respected, and died lamented as a kind, faithful and honest 
 man, and slept with hundreds of others, in a few years 
 undistinguishable. He had no such gifts of power as 
 would have raised him, in spite of circumstances, to emi- 
 nence. His was not a brain that dominated. His will 
 was firm, but not executive nor despotic. His mind was 
 broad and strong, but slow and laborious in its methods. 
 Truths did not break upon him with flash and instant 
 revelation. He saw them far off, obscurely, as nebula, 
 and like an astronomer, he resolved them only by patient 
 observation. Thus, he suspected things to be true long 
 before he was sure, and he was sure long before he had 
 made out the whole matter with distinct accuracy. He 
 travailed with truth in long gestation, but when once it 
 was his he loved it with intense parental instinct. His 
 wisdom was moral wisdom. His power and success 
 sprung from moral qualities. It was not intellect but 
 manhood that ennobled him. 
 
 Mr. Lincoln is, perhaps, the most eminent instance 
 since the days of Washington of a man made great by 
 
296 ABRAHAM LINCOLN — BY H. W. BEECIIER. 
 
 the inherent wisdom of true goodness. And such a 
 nature can scarcely be delineated apart and separate from 
 the events of that history wiiich called out his virtues. 
 This is particularly true of Mr. Lincoln for two reasons : 
 First, because his excellence did not assume the form of i 
 few bold qualities, but was the sum of many simpler 
 qualities maintained under great trial and provocation. 
 And secondly, because we are now but just beginning to 
 see the moral character of those bad men against whom 
 he acted. 
 
 That so soon in our history the dark crimes which 
 stained the later periods of Roman and mediaeval Euro- 
 pean history should have taken possession of the leading 
 Southern conspirators, could scarcely be imagined by 
 those who have been accustomed to study the effects of 
 slavery upon the masters, in the light of servile apologists, 
 rather than under the guidance of great principles of 
 human nature. 
 
 It is now known that a separation of the South from 
 the North was resolved upon as a matter simply of politi- 
 cal ambition, without any reference to supposed griev- 
 ances ; that the allegations of injury, of fears for tho 
 future, of political injustice, were deliberately framed by 
 Southern leaders as a means of exciting and uniting tho 
 common people of tlie South, while their authors, among 
 themselves, never pretended to believe in the truth of 
 their own representations. 
 
 There is, also, the gravest reason to believe that all 
 moral restrictions were yielded, and that crimes the most 
 infamous were deliberately employed as the means of pro- 
 moting the bad ends of those conspirators. Those who 
 know most of the interior of affairs, scarcely doubt that 
 Harrison was poisoned, that Tyler might fulfil Southern 
 plans of war with Mexico. With even stronger convic- 
 tion is it affirmed that Tnylor was poisoned that a less 
 
ABRAIfAM LINCOLN — BY H. W. EEECHER. 297 
 
 stern successormiglitgiveasuppler instrumentto Southern 
 managers. AVho doubts, now, tliat it was attempted to 
 poison Buchanan at the National Hotel, and leave Breck- 
 inridge in his room ? It is a matter of verified history 
 that efforts were made to take off Mr. Lincoln before he 
 should be inaugurated. And now, tlie whole world is 
 astounded by the hideous crime by which he has been 
 removed from life. 
 
 This perspective is needed to reveal the characters of 
 the chief men in this superlative infamy of secession. We 
 do not believe that the Southern people were privy to such 
 crimes, or that all who became conspicuous in the South- 
 era councils and armies knew of such things, but that the 
 real leaders were men steeped in crime, and capable of the 
 utmost infamy, we have not a doubt. 
 
 To misguided millions, unconsciously inspired and led 
 by men of such a spirit, Mr. Lincoln addressed the policy 
 of kindness and conciliation for uearly two years. It was 
 as if a Christian martyr had appealed to the reason and 
 kindness of lions and tigers in a Roman amphitheatre ! 
 
 But, though now known to have been misplaced, we 
 must study Ml". Lincoln's forliearance and gentleness, from 
 his own point of view. Never was man less disturbed by 
 passion, by party heats, by anger or rashness. In the 
 wild excitements which raged on every side, amidst 
 treacheries, defeats, and gloom, amid lukewarm patriots, 
 imbecile generals and divided counsellors, he maintained 
 on the whole, a straightforward and elevated course. 
 
 After Mr. Lincoln with long and painful hesitation 
 determined to issue h\s p7'oclamati(>n of Liberty, a change 
 took place, not only in the general policy of Government, 
 but in the success of his administration. 
 
 He relinquished the impractical hope of conciliating the 
 South ; he boldly assumed the reserved powers of Govern- 
 ment. He called to his aid men of nerve in the field, and, 
 
298 ABRAHAM LINCOLN — BY H. W. BEECHER. 
 
 freed from the toils of a doubtful expediency, and of nice 
 practical management, he fell back upon broad moral 
 grounds. There his true nature had full scope ; and 
 every hour after he conformed his policy to moral reason 
 rather than to precedent, and political device, and hack- 
 neyed expedients, Mr. Lincoln grew strong and success- 
 ful. Then began those victories which in spite of reverses 
 eat into the Southern power, and consumed its strength. 
 Then Mr. Lincoln took his place in the estimation of emi- 
 nent men in all the world, as a true and great statesman. 
 Then, for the first time in two-score years, America had a 
 President that embodied and really represented the prin- 
 ciples of her history and her institutions 1 
 
 Mr. Lincoln's re-election, in the midst of a civil war, by 
 a people burdened with taxation, smarting with bereave- 
 ments, assailed by factious partisans infected by the 
 poison of Southern sympathy, is one of the remarkable 
 events of history 1 Even more than the sublime homage 
 of universal grief which waits upon his death, it is a 
 monument of honor to his name. The unerring judgment 
 of an intelligent common people passing by the dangerous 
 glitter of military renown, with singular discretion put the 
 State again into the hands of a citizen proved to bo 
 honest, discreet, patient, wise and thoroughly good. 
 
 The tragedy of Mr. Lincoln's death gives to his name a 
 heroic renown which his plain and unassuming manners 
 might have missed. lie has taken his place among the 
 few great men of history. Not a stain of cruelty rests 
 upon it. It is all luminous with unquestioned gentle- 
 ness and lenity. Not one act of his administration can be 
 censured as inspirated by Vanity, Self-interest or Pride. 
 Amidst the disturbances of civil war and the confusion of 
 a vast revolution, he is seen standing always temperate, 
 calm, and wise. All his messages, letters and addresses 
 may now be searched for a line or a word whose spirit can 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN, THE MARTYR PRESIDENT. 299 
 
 ho rebuked, now, in the elevation and solemnity of these 
 hours which follow his death ! 
 
 We write another name in the Calendar of Great Men. 
 "We place new trust in institutions and principles which 
 breed such men among the common people ! 
 
 His form has fallen but his name abides forever. The 
 bad men who have filled our times with infinite mischiefs 
 are passing away to eternal infamy. The patriot and 
 Christian Statesman, in bright apposition, shall rise to 
 shine forever, like the stars in the firmament. 
 
 11^ 3VEE:3VEOr5.I-A-3VI. 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN, THE MARTYR PRESIDENT. 
 
 IMPOSING CEREMONIES AT THE MTMAL CAPITAL, FEBRUARY 12th, 18C6. 
 
 0I5/A.TI01T BY THE HOIsT. Q-EOIta-E B-A.lTCie,0:H"I'. 
 
 DELIVERED IN THE HALL OP THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF 
 THE UNITED STATES, BEFORE THE MEMBERS OF BOTH HOUSES OP 
 CONGRESS, PRESIDENT ANDREW JOHNSON, THE CABINET, CHIEF 
 
 JUSTICE CHASE, GENERAL GRANT, AND THE DIPLOMATIC CORPS 
 
 ON ABRAHAM LINCOLN'S PLACE IN HISTORY HIS CHARACTER 
 
 AS A PRIVATE CITIZEN AND AS A STATESMAN — AND THE PART 
 
 HE BORE IN TFIE GREAT WAR FOR THR UNION ORIGIN AND 
 
 CHARACTER OF THE SOUTHERN REBELLION — REVIEW OP THE 
 CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES OF THE ASSASSINATION, ETC. 
 
 Both Houses of Congress having set apart the 12th of Feb- 
 ruary, 1866, to assemble together and listen to a eulogy upon 
 the life and character of Abraham Lincoln, the Martyr Presi- 
 dent, Hon. George Bancroft, the American historian, was 
 selected to deliver the same. 
 
 At 10 o'clock on the morning of that day, the doors leading 
 to the rotunda of the Capitol were opened to those to whom in- 
 vitations had been extended by the presiding officers of the two 
 Houses of Congress, and to those holding tickets of admission 
 to the galleries, issued by the Chairman of the Joint Commit- 
 tee of Arrangements. The hall of the House of Representa- 
 tives was opened for the admission of Representatives and 
 
300 IN MEMORIAM — ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 those to whom invitations had been extended, who were con- 
 ducted to the seats assigned to them. 
 
 THE ORDEK OF SEATING. 
 
 The President of the United States was seated in front of the 
 Speaker's table. The Chief Justice and Associate Justices of 
 the United States occupied seats next to the President, on the 
 right of the Speaker's table. The heads of Departments, with 
 the Diplomatic Corps, occupied seats next to the President, on 
 the left of the Speaker's table. Lieutenant-General Grant, and 
 other officers of the army and navy, who by name have re- 
 ceived the thanks of Congress, occupied seats next to the 
 Supreme Court, on the right of the Speaker's table. Repre- 
 sentatives occupied scats on either side of the hall, in the rear 
 of those invited. Four rows of seats, on either side of the 
 main aisles, for Senators, in addition to those above mentioned, 
 were occupied by assistant heads of Departments, Governors 
 of States and Territories, the Mayors of Washington and 
 Georgetown, the Chief Justices and Judges of the Court of 
 Claims, and the Chief Justices and Associate Justices of the 
 Supreme Court of the District of Columbia, the heads of 
 Bureaus in the Departments, and others. 
 
 Tlie Marine band, in scarlet uniform, was stationed in the 
 vestibule of the reporters' gallery. The diplomatic gallery was 
 occupied by attaclies of the several legations, with elegantly 
 dressed ladies. Long before noon the male galleries were full, 
 and stout men, with hats firmly fixed on their heads, struggled 
 with ladies in the vestibules and doorways for a peep at the in- 
 terior of the hall. 
 
 The House was called to order at 12 o'clock by the Speaker, 
 when the Rev. Dr. Boynton, Chaplain of tlie Hoiise of Repre- 
 sentatives, offered the following prayer : 
 
 THE REV. DR. BOYNTON'S PRAYER. 
 
 Almighty God, who dost inhabit eternity, while we appear 
 but for a little moment and then vanish away, we adore Thy 
 eternal name. Infinite in power and majesty and greatly to be 
 feared art Thou. All earthly distinctions disappear in Thy 
 presence, and we come befoi-c Thy throne simply as men — fallen 
 men, condemned alike by Thy law, and justly cut off", through 
 sin, from communion with 'rhee. But through Thy infinite 
 mercy, a new way of access has been opened through Thy Son, 
 and consecrated by His blood. We come in that all worthy 
 name and plead the promise of pardon and acceptance through 
 Him. By the imposing solemnities of this scene, we are car- 
 ried back to the hour when the nation heard and shuddered at 
 hearing that Abraham Lincoln was dead — was murdered. AVe 
 would bow ourselves submissively to Him by whom that awful 
 hour was appointed. AVe bow to the stroke that fell on tlio 
 
REV. DR. BOYNTON's PRAYER. 301 
 
 country in the very hour of its triumph, and hushed all its 
 shouts of victory to one voiceless sorrow. The Lord gave 
 and the Lord hath taken away. Blessed is the name of the 
 Lord. The shadow of that death has not yet passed from the 
 heart of the nation, as this National testimonial bears witness 
 to-day. The gloom thrown from these surrounding emblems 
 of death is fringed, we know, with the gloi'y of a great triumph, 
 and the light of a great and good man's memory. Still, O 
 Lord, may this hour bring to us the proper warning. Be ye 
 also ready, for in such an hour as ye think not, the Son of 
 Man cometh. Any one of us may be called as suddenly as he 
 whom we mourn. We worship Thee as the God of our Fathers. 
 Thou didst trace for them a path over the trackless sea, and 
 bring them to these shores, bearing with them the seed of a 
 vast dominion. We thank Thee that the life-power of the 
 young nation they planted received from Thee such energy, 
 guidance, and protection; that it spread rapidly over the 
 breadth of the Continent, carrying with it Christian liberty, 
 churches, schools, and all the blessings of a Christian civi- 
 lization. We thank 'I'hee that the progress of the true Ameri- 
 can life has been irresistible, because sustained by Thy eternal 
 counsels and Thy almighty power, and because the might of 
 (iod was in this national life we have seen it sweeping all oppo- 
 sition away, grinding great systems and parties to powder, 
 and breaking in pieces the devices of men. and Thou hast 
 raised up for it heroic defenders in every hour of peril. We 
 thank Thee, strong Defender. And when treason was hatch- 
 ing its plots, and massing its armies, then, O God of Israel, who 
 didst bring David from the sheepfold. Thou gavest one reared 
 in the humble cabin to become the hope and stay of this great 
 people in their most perilous hour, to shield them in disaster, 
 and lead them to final victory. We thank Thee that 'J'hou 
 gavest us an honest man, simple hearted, and loving as a child, 
 but with a rugged strength that needed only culture and disci- 
 pline. Thanks be to God that this discipline was granted him 
 through stern public trial, domestic sorrow, and 'J'hy solemn 
 providence, till the mere politician was overshadowed by the 
 nobler growth of his moral and spiritual nature, till he came, as 
 we believe, into sympathy with Christ, and saw that we could 
 succeed only by doing justice. Then, inspired by Thee, he uttered 
 those words of power which changed three millions of slaves into 
 men— the great act which has rendered his name forever illus- 
 trious, and secured the triumph of our cause. We think of him 
 almost as the propliet of his era. Thou didst make that honest, 
 great-hearted man the central figure of his age, setting upon his 
 goodness, upon his moral grandeur, the seal of Thine ap])roval 
 and the crown of victory. We bless Thee that he did not die 
 until assured of victory, until he knew that his great wnrk wa3 
 done, and he had received all the honor that earth could bestow, 
 19 
 
302 IN MEMORIAM — ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 and thon we believe Thou didst givehira a martyr's crown. "Wo 
 thank Thee that we have tliis hope for the illustrious dead. 
 Great reason have we also to thank Thee tliat such was the en- 
 during strength of our institutions, that tliey received no per- 
 ceptible shock from the deatli even of such a man and in such 
 an hour, and that Thou didst provide for that perilous moment 
 one whose strength was sufficient to receive and bear the weight 
 of government, and who, we trust, will work out the great 
 problem of Christian freedom to its full solution, and build this 
 great people into one inseparable whole. We thank Thee that 
 the Representatives of the nation have come to sit to-day in 
 the shadow of Abraham Lincoln's tomb, to express once more 
 their now chastened sorrow. May they all re-consecrate them- 
 selves to those principles which made him worthy to be remem- 
 bered thus ; and then a redeemed and transfigured land will be 
 a fitting monument to him and for them. P^ndow the Presi- 
 dent with wisdom equal to his great responsibilities, that the 
 blessings of a whole nation may also be given to him. May 
 his advisers, our judges, and our legislators be constantly in- 
 structed by Thee. May 'J'hy blessing rest on the officers of the 
 army and navy, by whose skill and courage our triiunph was 
 won ; \ipon our soldiers and sailors, upon our people, and on 
 those who are struggling on toward a perfect manhood. Bless 
 these eminent men, the honored representatives of foreign 
 powers. Remember the sovereigns and people whom they 
 represent. We thank Thee that peace reigns with them as 
 with us. May it continue until the nations shall learn war 
 no more. Remember Abraham Lincoln's widow and family. 
 Comfort them in their sore bereavement. May they be con- 
 soled to know how much the father and husband is loved and 
 honored still. Give Divine support to the distinguished orator 
 of the day. May he so speak as to impress the whole nation's 
 mind. Prepare us to live as men in this age sliould, that we 
 may be received into Thy heavenly kingdom ; and to Thy name 
 shall be the praise and the glory for evermore. Amen. 
 
 ADDRESS OF SENATOR FOSTER. 
 
 ^ The Hon. Lafayette S. Foster, President of the Senate pro 
 tern., called the two Houses to order and then said: 
 
 No ordinary occasion could have convened this august assem- 
 bly. For foiir years the stoi'm of civil war raged fiercely over 
 our coimtry. The blood of the best and bravest of her sons had 
 been freely shed to preserve lier name and place among the 
 nations of the earth. In April last the dark clouds, which had 
 BO long hung heavily and gloomily over our heads, were all dis- 
 persed, and the light of peace, more welcome than even the vcr 
 nal sunshine, gladdened the eyes and the hearts of our people. 
 
ORATION BY IIOS. GEORGE BANCROFT. 803 
 
 Shouts of joy and songs of triumph echoed through our land. 
 The hearts of the devout poured themselves in orisons and 
 thanksgivings to the God of battles and of nations, that the 
 most wicked and the most formidable rebellion ever known in 
 human history, had been effectually crushed, and our country 
 was saved. In the midst of the abounding joy. suddenly and 
 swiftly as the lightning's flash, came the fearful tidings that tlie 
 Chief Magistrate of the Republic, our President, loved and 
 honored as few men ever were, so honest, so faithful, so true to 
 his duty and his country, had been foully murdered ; had fallen 
 by the bullet of an assassin. All hearts were stricken with 
 horror. 'J'he transition from extreme joy to profound sorrow 
 was never more sudden and universal. Had it been possible 
 for a stranger, ignorant of the truth, to have looked over the 
 land, he would have supposed that there had come upon us 
 some visitation of the Almighty, no less dreadful than that 
 which fell on ancient Egypt, on that fearful night when there 
 was not a house where there was not one dead. The nation 
 wept for him. After being gazed upon by myriads of loving 
 eyes, under the dome of this magnificent Capitol, the remains 
 of our President were borne in solemn procession through our 
 cities, towns, and villages— all draped in the habilunents of sor- 
 row, the symbols and tokens of profound and heartfelt grief — 
 to their final resting-place in the capital of his own State. There 
 he sleeps peacefully, embalmed in the tears of his countrymen. 
 The Senate and House of Representatives have thought proper 
 to commemorate this tragic event by appropriate services. This 
 day, the birthday of him whom we mourn, has properly been 
 selected. An eminent citizen, distinguished by his labors and 
 services in high and responsible public positions, at home and 
 abroad, whose pen has instructed the present age in the history 
 of his country, and done much to transmit the fame and renown 
 of that country to future ages — the Hon. George Bancroft — will 
 now deliver a discourse. Applause. 
 
 Mr. Bancroft, who was sitting between Senator Foot, on one 
 side, and Representative Washburne, of Illinois, on the other, 
 then arose and delivered the following address : 
 
 MR. BANCROFT'S ORATION. 
 
 GOD IN HISTORY. 
 
 Senators, Representatives of America : 
 
 That God rules in the affairs of men, is as certain as any 
 truth of physical science. On the great moving power, which 
 is from the beginning, hangs the world of the senses and the 
 world of thought and action. Eternal wisdom marshals the 
 great procession of the nations, working in patient continuity 
 through the ages, never halting and never abrupt, cncorapas- 
 
804 IN MEMORIAM — ABRAnAM LINCOLN. 
 
 sing all events in its oversif^ht, and ever effecting its will, though 
 mortals may slumber in apathy or oppose with madness. Kings 
 are lifted up or thrown down, nations come and go, republics 
 flourish and wither, dynasties pass away like a tale that is told; 
 but nothing is by chance, though men, in their ignorance of 
 causes, may think so. The deeds of time are governed, as well 
 as jiidged, by the decrees of eternity. The caprice of fleeting 
 existences bends to the immovable omnipotence which plants 
 its foot on all the centuries, and has neither change of purpose 
 nor repose. Sometimes, like a messenger through the thick 
 darkness of night, it steps along mysterious ways ; but when the 
 hour strikes for a people, or for mankind, to pass into a new 
 form of being, unseen hands draw the bolts from the gates of 
 futurity ; an all-subduing influence prepares the mind of men 
 for the coming revolution ; those who plan resistance find them- 
 selves in conflict with the will of Providence, rather than with 
 human devices ; and all hearts and all understandings, most of 
 all the opinions and influences of the unwilling, are wonderfully 
 attracted and compelled to bear forward the change which be- 
 comes more an obedience to the law of universal nature than 
 submission to the arbitrament of man. 
 
 GROWTH OF THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC. 
 
 In the fulness of time, a republic rose up in tlie wilderness 
 of America. Thousands of years had passed away before this 
 child of the ages could be born. From whatever there was of 
 good in the system of former centuries, she drew her nourish- 
 ment ; the wrecks of the past were her warnings. With the 
 deepest sentiment of faith fixed in her inmost nature, she dis- 
 enthralled religion from bondage to temporal power, that her 
 worship might be worship only in spirit and in truth. 'J'he 
 wisdom which had passed from India through Glreece, with 
 what Greece had added of her own ; the jurisprudence of Rome ; 
 the medieval municipalities ; the Teutonic method of represen- 
 tation; the political experience of England; the benignant 
 wisdom of the expositors of the law of nature and of nations in 
 France and Holland, all shed on her their selectest influence. 
 She washed the gold of political wisdom from the sands 
 wherever it was found ; she cleft it from the rocks ; she gleaned it 
 among ruins. Out of all the discoveries of statesmen and sages, 
 out of all the experience of past human life, she compiled a 
 perennial political philosophy, the primordial principles of na- 
 tional ethics. 'I'he wise men of Europe sought the best govern- 
 ment in a mixture of monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy ; 
 and America went behind these names to extract from them 
 the vital elements of social forms, and blend ihem harmoniously 
 in the free connnonwealth, which comes nearest to the illustra- 
 tion of the natural ci|ua!ity of all men. She intrusted tho 
 guardianship of established rights to law; the movements of 
 
ORATION BY HON. GEORGE BANCROFT. 
 
 305 
 
 reform to the spirit of the people, and drew her force from the 
 happy reconciliation of both. 
 
 TERRITORIAL EXTENT OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 Republics had hitherto been limited to JJ^f 1 f ^;^\«"^ ^^ 
 and their dependencies; America, domg that ff ?vhich the hU^e 
 h' ot before been knmvn upon the earth, or believed by longs 
 iud statesmen to be possible, extended her -1-^ic ao-o^s a 
 continent. Under her auspices the vine of jiberty took deep 
 ?oot tnd filled the land ; the hills were covered ^^^ its shadow 
 it^ hou'dis were like the goodly cedars, and reached into both 
 oceans ° The fame of thil only daughter of freedom went out 
 X all the lands of the earth ; from her the human race drew 
 hope. 
 
 PROPHECIES ON THE CONSEQUENCES OF SLAVERY. 
 
 Neither hereditary monarchy, nor hereditary autocracy, 
 planted itself on our soil; the only hereditary condtion that 
 fastened itself upon us was servitude. Nature works m s n- 
 c Hty and is ever true to its law. The bee hives honey he 
 viper distils poison; the vine stores its juices, and so do the 
 130PPV and the upas. In like manner, every thought and cvei y 
 Sn ripens its seed, each in its kind. In the mdividual man, 
 ^nd "tin more in a nkion, a just idea gives life, and progress 
 and glory; a false conception portends dis^^t^Br, shanie and 
 death. A hundred and twenty years ago, a West Jersey Quaker 
 wrote " This trade of importing slaves is dark gloominess hang- 
 in- over the land ; the consequences will be grievous to pos- 
 terity " At the North the growth of Slavery was arrested by 
 natu?al causes; in the regfon nearest ^lie/vopics it throve 
 ranklv, and worked itself into the organism of the rising States. 
 Vir-inia stood between the two, with soil, climate and resources 
 demanding free labor, and yet capable of the profitable employ- 
 ment of the slave. She was the land of great statesmen, and 
 thev saw the danger of her being whelmed under the rismg 
 flood, in time to struggle against the delusions of avarice and 
 pride. Ninety-four years ago, the Legislature of Virgmia ad- 
 dressed the British King, saying, that the trade in slaves was 
 " of great inhumanity," was opposed to the "security and hap- 
 piness " of their constituents, " would in time have the most de- 
 structive influence," and "endanger their very existence. 
 And the Kino- answered them, that "upon pam of his highest 
 displeasure, the importation of slaves should not be m any re- 
 spect obstructed. " " Pharisaical Britain, " wrote Franklm, m 
 behalf of Virginia, "to pride thyself in setting fee a single 
 slave that happened to land on thy coast, while thy laws con- 
 tinue a traffic, whereby so many hundreds of thousands are 
 dragged into a slavery that is entailed on their posterity. 
 
806 IN MEMORIAM— ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 " A serious view of this subject, " said Patrick ITcnry, in 1773, 
 " gives a fj-loomy prospect to future times. " In the same year, 
 George Mason wrote to the Legislature of Virginia: "The 
 laws of impartial Providence may avenge our injustice upon our 
 posterity. " In Virginia, and in the Continental Congress, 
 Jefferson, with the approval of P^lmund Pendleton, branded the 
 slave trade as piracy ; and he fixed in the Declaration of Inde- 
 pendence as the corner-stone of America : " All men arc 
 created equal, with an unalienable right to liberty. " On the 
 first organization of temporary Governments for the continen- 
 tal domain, Jefferson, but for the default of New Jersey, would, in 
 1784, have consecrated every part of that territory to freedom. 
 In the formation of the National Constitution, Virginia, opposed 
 by a part of New England, vainly struggled to abolish the slave- 
 trade at once and forever; and when the ordinance of 1787 was 
 introduced by Nathan Dane, without the clause prohibiting 
 slavery, it was, through the favoral)le disposition of Virginia 
 and the South, that the clause of Jefferson was restored, and the 
 whole Northwestern Territory — all the territory that then be- 
 longed to the nation — was reserved for the labor of freemen. 
 
 DESPAIR OP THE MEN OF THE REVOLUTION. 
 
 The hope prevailed in Virginia that the abolition of the 
 slave-trade would bring with it the gradual abolition of slavery. 
 But the expectation was doomed to disappointment. In sup- 
 porting incipient measures for emancipation, Jefferson encoun- 
 tered difficulties greater than he could overcome ; and after 
 vain wrestlings, the words that broke from him — " I tremble 
 for my country when I reflect that God is just, that His justice 
 cannot sleep forever" — were words of despair. It was the de- 
 sire of Washington's heart that Virginia should remove slavery 
 by a public act ; and as the prospects of a general emancipa- 
 tion grew more and more dim, he, in utter hopelessness of the 
 action of the State, did all that he could, by bequeathing free- 
 dom to his own slaves. Good and true men had, from the days 
 of 1776, thought of colonizing the negro in the home of his 
 ancestors. But the idea of colonization was thought to in- 
 crease the difficulty of emancipation ; and in spite of strong 
 support, while it accomplished much good for Africa, it proved 
 impracticable as a remedy at home. Madison, who in early life 
 disliked slavery so much that he wished "to depend as little as 
 possible on the labor of slaves ;" Madison, who held that where 
 slavery exists, " the republican theory becomes fallacious ;" 
 Madison, who, in the last years of his life, would not consent 
 to the annexation of Texas, lest his countrymen should fill it 
 with slaves ; Madison, who said, " Slavery is the greatest evil 
 imder which the nation labors — a portentous evil — an evil, 
 moral, political, and economical — a sad blot on our free coun- 
 try," went mournfully into old age, with the cheerless words : 
 
ORATION BY HON. GEORGE BANCROFT. 307 
 
 " No satisfactory plan has yet been devised for taking out the 
 stain." 
 
 NEW VIEWS OF SLAVERY. 
 
 The men of the Revolution passed away. A new generation 
 sprang up, impatient that an institution to which they clung 
 siiould be condemned as inhuman, unwise, and unjust. In the 
 throes of discontent at the self-reproach of their fathers, and 
 blinded by the lustre of wealth to be acquired by the culture 
 of a new staple, they devised the theory that slavery, which 
 they would not abolish, was not evil, but good. Tliey turned 
 on the friends of colonization, and confidently demanded, 
 '* Why take black men from a civilized and Christian country, 
 where their labor is a source of immense gain, and a power to 
 control the markets of the world, and send them to a land of 
 ignorance, idolatry, and indolence, which was the home of 
 their forefathers, but not theirs ? Slavery is a blessing. Were 
 they not, in their ancestral land, naked, scarcely lifted above 
 brutes, ignorant of the course of the sun, controlled by nature ? 
 And in their new abode, have they not been taught to know 
 the difference of the seasons, to plough, and plant, and reap, to 
 drive oxen, to tame the horse, to exchange their scanty dialect 
 for the richest of all the languages among men, and the stupid 
 adoration of follies for the purest religion ? And since slavery 
 is good for the blacks, it is good for their masters, bringing 
 opulence, and the opportunity of educating a race. The slavery 
 of the black is good in itself; he shall serve the white man 
 forever !" And nature, which better understood the quality 
 of fleeting interest and passion, laughed as it caught the echo, 
 " man," and " forever." 
 
 SLAVERY AT HOME. 
 
 A regular development of pretensions followed the new 
 declaration, with logical consistency. Under the old declara- 
 tion, every one of the States had retained, each for itself, the 
 right of manumitting all slaves by an ordinary act of legisla- 
 tion ; now, the power of the people over servitude, through 
 their legislatures, was curtailed, and the privileged class was 
 swift in imposing legal and constitvitional obstructions on the 
 people themselves. The power of emancipation was narrowed 
 or taken away. The slave might not be disquieted by educa- 
 tion. There remained an unconfessed consciousness that the 
 system of bondage was wrong, and a restless memory that it 
 was at variance with the true American tradition ; its safety 
 was therefore to be secured by political organization. The 
 generation that made the Constitution, took care for the pre- 
 dominance of freedom in Congress, by the ordinance of Jeffer- 
 son. The new school aspired to secure for slavery an equality 
 of votes in the Senate ; and while it hinted at an organic act 
 
808 IN MEMORIAM — ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 that should concede to the collective South a veto power on 
 national legislation, it assumed that each State separately had 
 the right to revise and nullily laws of the United States, ac- 
 cording to the discretion of its judgment. 
 
 SLAVERY AND FOREIGN RELATIONS. 
 
 The new theory hung as a bias on the foreign relations of 
 the country. There could be no recognition of Hay ti, nor even 
 of the American colony of Liberia; and the world was given 
 to understand that the establishment of free labor in Cuba 
 would be a reason for wresting tliat island from Spain. Terri- 
 tories were annexed — Louisiana, Florida, Texas, half of Mexico. 
 Slavery must have its share in them all, and it accepted for a 
 time a dividing line between the unquestioned domain of free 
 I'.ibor, and that in which involuntary labor was to be tolerated. 
 A few years passed away, and the new school, strong and arro- 
 gant, demanded and received an apology for applying the Jef 
 ferson Proviso to Oregon. 
 
 SQUATTER SOVEREIGNTY. 
 
 The application of that proviso was interrupted for three 
 administrations; but justice moved steadily onward. In the 
 news that the men of California had chosen freedom, Calhoun 
 heard the knell of parting slavery ; and on his death-bed he 
 counselled secession. Washington, and Jefferson, and Madison 
 had died despairing of the abolition of slavery; Calhoim died 
 in despair at the growth of freedom. His system ruslied irre- 
 sistibly to its natural development. The death-struggle for 
 California was followed by a short truce ; but the new school 
 of politicians, who said that slavery was not evil, but good, 
 soon sought to recover the ground they had lost, and confident 
 of securing Texas, they demanded that the established line in 
 the Territories between freedom and slavery should be blotted 
 out. The country, believing in the strength, and enterprise, 
 and expansive energy of freedom, made answer, though reluc- 
 tantly : " Be it so — let there be no strife between brethren ; let 
 freedom and slavery compete for the territories on equal terms, 
 in a fair field, under an impartial administration." And on this 
 theory, if on any, the contest might have been left to the de- 
 cision of time. 
 
 DRED SCOTT DECISION. 
 
 The South started back in appalment from its victory, for 
 it saw that a fair competition foreboded its defeat. I>ut where 
 could it now find an ally to save it from its own mistake ? 
 "What I have next to say is spoken with no emotion but regret. 
 Our meeting to-day, is, as it were, at the grave, in the presence 
 of Eternity, and the truth must be uttered in soberness and 
 sincerity. In a great republic, as was observed more than two 
 
ORATION BY HON. GEORGE BANCROFT. 309 
 
 tliousand years a,c:o, any attempt to overturn the State owes 
 its strong! h to aid from some branch of the government. Tlie 
 Chiel' Justice of the United States, Avithovit any necessity or 
 occasidu, vuluiiteered to come to the rescue of tlie tlieory of 
 slavery And i'rom this court there lay no appeal, but to the 
 bar of humanity and history. Against tlie Constitution, 
 against the memory of the nation, against a previous decision, 
 against a series of enactments, he decided that the slave is 
 property — that slave property is entitled to no less protection 
 than any other property — that the Constitution upholds it in 
 every 'I'erritory, against any act of a local legislature, and even 
 against Congress itself! Or, as the President tersely promul- 
 gated tlie saying, " Kansas is as much a slave State as South 
 Carolina or (Jeorgia ; slavery, by virtue of the Constitution, 
 exists in every Territory." The municipal character of slavery 
 being thus taken away, and slave property decreed to be 
 " sacred," the authority of the courts was invoked to introduce 
 it, by the comity of law, into States where slavery had been 
 abolished; and in one of the courts of the United States, a 
 Judge pronounced the African slave trade legitimate, and nu- 
 merous and powerful advocates demanded its restoration. 
 
 TANKY AND SLAVE RACES. 
 
 Moreover, the Chief Justice, in his elaborate opinion, an- 
 nounced what had never been heard from any magistrate of 
 Greece or Rome — what was unknown to civil law, and canon 
 law, and feudal law, and common law, and constitutional law ; un 
 known to Jay, to Rut ledge, Ellsworth, and Marshall — that there 
 are "slave races." The spirit of evil is intensely logical. Having 
 the authority of this decision, five States swiftly followed the ear- 
 lier example of a sixth, and opened the way for reducing the free 
 negro to bondage ; the migrating free negro became a slave if 
 he but touched the soil of a seventh ; and an eighth, from its 
 extent, and soil, and mineral resources, destined to incalculable 
 greatness, closed its eyes on its coming prosperity, and en- 
 acted — as by Taney's decision it had the right to do — that 
 every free black man who would live within its limits must ac- 
 cept the condition of slavery for himself and his posterity. 
 
 SECESSION RESOLVED OX. 
 
 Only one step more remained to be taken. Jefferson and 
 the leading statesmen of his day held fast to the idea that the 
 enslavement of the African was, socially, morally, and po- 
 litically, wrong. The new school was founded exactly upon the 
 opposite idea; and they resolved flrst to distract the Democratic 
 party, for which the Stipreme Court had now furnished the 
 means, and then to establish a new government, with negro 
 slavery for its corner-stone, as socially, morally, and politically 
 right. 
 
310 IN MEMORIAM — ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 THE ELECTION. 
 
 As the Presidential election drew on, one of the old tra- 
 ditional parties did not make its appearance. 'J'he oilier reeled 
 as it sought to preserve its old position ; and the candidate who 
 most nearly represented its best opinion, driven by patriotic 
 zeal, roamed the country from end to end to speak for Union, 
 eager at least to confront its enemies, yet not having hope that 
 it would find deliverance through him. The storm rose to a 
 whirlwind. Who would allay its wrath ? The most expe- 
 rienced statesmen of the country had failed ; there was no 
 hope from those who were great, after the flesh ; could relief 
 come from one whose wisdom w^as like the wisdom of little 
 children ? 
 
 EARLY LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 The choice of America fell on a man born west of the Allc- 
 ghanies, in the cabin of poor people of Hardiu Coimty, Ky. — 
 Abraham Lincoln. 
 
 His mother could read, but not write ; his father could do 
 neither ; but his parent sent him, with an old spelling book, to 
 school, and he learned in his childhood to do both. 
 
 When eight years old he floated down the Ohio with his 
 father on a raft which bore the family and all their possessions 
 to the shore of Indiana ; and, child as he was, he gave help as 
 they toiled through dense forests to the interior of Spencer 
 County. There in the land of free labor he grew up in a log 
 cabin, with the solemn solitude for his teacher in his meditative 
 hours. Of Asiatic literature he knew only the Bible ; of (jlreek, 
 Latin, and medieval, no more than the translation of jEsop's 
 Fables ; of English, John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. The 
 traditions of George Fox and William Penn passed to him 
 dimly along the lines of two centuries through his ancestors, 
 who were Quakers. 
 
 HIS EDUCATION. 
 
 Otherwise his education was altogether American. The 
 Declaration of Independence was his compendium of political 
 wisdom, the life of Washington his constant study, and some- 
 thing of JeS'erson and ISIadison reached him through Henry 
 Clay, whom he honored from boyhood. For the rest, from day 
 to day he Hved the life of the American people ; walked in its 
 light; reasoned with its reason; thought w-ith its power (if 
 thought; felt the beatings of its mighty lieart ; and so v.as in 
 every way a child of nature — a chikl of the West — a child of 
 America. 
 
 HIS PROGRESS IN LIFE. 
 
 At nineteen, feeling impulses of ambition to get on in the 
 world, he engaged himself to go down the Mississippi in a flat 
 boat, receiving ten dollars a month for his wages, and after- 
 
ORATION BY HOX. GEORGE BANCROFT. 311 
 
 ward he made the trip once more. At twenty-one he drove his 
 father's cattle as the family migrated to Illinois, and split rails 
 to fence in the new homestead in the wild. At twenty-three 
 he was a captain of volunteers in the Black Hawk war. He 
 kept a shop; he learned something- of surveying; but of Eng- 
 lish literature he added to Bunyan nothing but Shakspeare'a 
 plays At twenty-five he was elected to the Legislature of 
 Illinois, where he served eight years. At twenty-seven he was 
 admitted to the bar. In 1837 he chose his home at Springfield, 
 the beautiful centre of the richest land in the State. In 1847 
 he was a member of the National Congress, where he voted 
 about forty times in favor of the principle of the Jefferson Pro- 
 viso. In 1854 he gave his influence to elect from Illinois to 
 the American Senate a Democrat who would certainly do 
 justice to Kansas. In 1858, as the rival of Douglas, he went 
 before the people of the miglity Prairie State, saying : " This 
 Union cannot permanently endure, half slave and half free ; the 
 Union will not be dissolved, but the house will cease to be 
 divided ;" and now, in 18C0, with no experience whatever as an 
 executive ofiicer, while States were madly flying from their 
 orbit, and wise men knew not where to find counsel, this de- 
 scendant of Quakers, this pupil of Bunyan, this child of the 
 great West was elected President of America. 
 
 He measured the difficulty of the duty that devolved on him, 
 and was resolved to fulfil it. 
 
 HE GOES TO WASHINGTON. 
 
 As on the 11th of February, 1861, he left Springfield, which 
 for a quarter of a century had been his happy home ; to the 
 crowd of his friends and neighbors whom he was never 
 more to meet, he spoke a solemn farewell : " I know not how 
 soon I shall sec you again. A duty has devolved upon mo 
 greater than that which has devolved upon any other man since 
 Washington. He never would have succeeded, except for the 
 aid of Divine Providence, upon which he at all times relied. 
 On the same Almighty Being I place my reliance. Pray that 
 I may receive that Divine assistance, without which I cannot 
 succeed, but with which success is certain." To the men of 
 Indiana, he said : " I am but an accidental, temporary instru- 
 ment ; it is your business to rise up and preserve the Union 
 and hberty." At the capital of Ohio, he said : •' Without a 
 name, without a reason why I should have a name, there has 
 fallen upon me a task such as did not rest even upon the Father 
 of his country." At varioiis places in New York, especially at 
 Albany, before the Legislature, which tendered him the united 
 support of the great Empire State, he said : '' While I hold 
 myself the humblest of all the individuals who have ever been 
 elevated to the Presidency, I have a more difficult task to per- 
 form than any of them. I bring a tiaie heart to the work. I 
 
312 IN MEMOEIAM — ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 must roly upon the people of the whole country for support; 
 ami witli their sustaining aid even I, huml»le as I am, cannot 
 fail to carry the Ship of State safely through tlie storm." To 
 the assembly of New Jersey at Trenton, he explained : " I shall 
 take the ground I deem most just to the North, the East, the 
 West, the South, and the whole country, in good temper, cer- 
 tainly with no malice to any section. 1 am devoted to peace, 
 but it may be necessary to put the foot down firmly." In the 
 old Independence Hall of Philadelphia, he said : "I have never 
 had a feeling politically that did not spring from the sentiments 
 embodied in the Declaration of Independence, which gave lib- 
 erty not alone to the people of this country, but to the world 
 in all future time. If the country cannot be saved without 
 giving up that principle, I would rather be assassinated on the 
 spot than surrender it. I have said nothing but what I am 
 willing to hve and die by." 
 
 IN WHAT STATE HE FOUND THE COUNTRY. 
 
 Travelling in the dead of night to escape assassination, Lin- 
 coln arrived at Washington nine days before his inauguration. 
 The outgoing President, at the opening of the session of Con- 
 gress, had still kept as the majority of his advisers, men en- 
 gaged in treason ; had declared that in case of even an " imagi- 
 nary" apprehension of danger from notions of freedom among 
 the slaves, " disunion would become inevitable." Lincoln and 
 others had questioned the opinion of Taney ; such impugning 
 he ascribed to the " factious temper of the times." Tlie 
 favorite doctrine of the majority of the Democratic party on 
 the power of a Territorial Legislature over Slavery he con- 
 demned as an attack on " the sacred rights of property." Tlie 
 State Legislatures, he insisted, must repeal what lie called 
 " their unconstitutional and obnoxious enactments," and which, 
 if such, were "null and void," or "it would be impossible for 
 any human power to save the Union." Nay ! if these unim- 
 portant acts were not repealed, " the injured States would be 
 justified in revolutionary resistance to the Government of the 
 Union." lie maintained that no State might secede at its sov- 
 ereign will and pleasure ; that the Union was meant for per- 
 petuity, and that (Jongress might attempt to preserve, but only 
 by conciliation ; that " the sword was not placed in their hands 
 to preserve it by force ;" that " the last desperate remedy of a 
 despairing people" would be " an explanatory amendment 
 recogTiiziug the decision of the Supreme Court of the United 
 States." The American Union he called " a confederacy" of 
 States, and he thought it a duty to make the appeal for the 
 amendment " before any of tliese States should separate them 
 selves from the Union." 'i'he views of tlie Lieutcnant-General, 
 containing some patriotic advice, " conceded the right of seces- 
 fcion," pronounced a quadruple rupture of the Union " a smaller 
 
OKATION BY HON. GEORGE BANCROFT. SIS 
 
 evil Ihan the reuniting of the frag-raents by the sword," and 
 " eschewed the idea of invading a seceded State." After clianges 
 in the Cabinet, the President informed Congress that "matters 
 were still worse ;" that '• the South suffered serious grievances," 
 which should be redressed " in peace." The day after this 
 message the flag of the Union was fired upon from Fort Moul- 
 trie, and the insult was not revenged or noticed. Senators in 
 Congress telegraphed to their constituents to seize the national 
 forts, and they were not arrested. 'J'he finances of the country 
 were grievously embarrassed. Its little army was not within 
 reach — the part of it in Texas, with all its stores, was made 
 over by its commander to the seceding insurgents. One State 
 after another voted in convention to go out of the Union. A 
 Peace Congress, so-called, met at the request of Virginia, to 
 concert the terms of a capitulation for the continuance of the 
 Union. Congress in both branches sought to devise concilia- 
 tory expedients ; the territories of the country were organized 
 in a manner not to conflict with any pretensions of the South, 
 or any decision of the Supreme Court ; and, nevertheless, the 
 seceding States formed, at Montgomery, a Provisional (Jovern- 
 ment, and pursued their relentless purposes witli such success 
 that the Lieutenant-General feared the city of Washington 
 niiglit find itself " included in a foreign country," and proposed, 
 among tlie options for the consideration of Lincoln, to bid the 
 seceded States "depart in peace." The great Republic seemed 
 to have its emblem in the vast unfinished capitol, at that mo- 
 ment surrounded by masses of stones and prostrate columns 
 never yet lifted into their places ; seemingly the monument of 
 high but delusive aspirations, the contused wreck of inchoate 
 magnificence, sadder than any ruin of Egyptian Thebes or 
 Athens. 
 
 niS INAUGURATION. 
 
 The fourth of March came. With instinctive wisdom, the 
 new ['resident, speaking to the people on taking tlie oatli of 
 office, put aside every question that divided the country, and 
 gaineil a right to universal support, by planting himself on the 
 single idea of Union. That Union he declared to be unbroken 
 and perpetual; and he announced his determination to fulfil 
 " the simple duly of taking care that the laws be faithfully ex- 
 ecuted in all the States." Seven days later, the Convention 
 of Confederate States imanimously adopted a constitution of 
 their own; and the new Government was authoritatively 
 announced to be founded on the idea that slavery is the natural 
 and normal condition of the negro race. The issue was made 
 up whether the great Republic was to maintain its providen- 
 tial place in the history of mankind, or a rebellion founded on 
 negro slavery gain a recognition of its principles throughout 
 the civilized world. To the disalTecled, Lincoln had said: 
 
31-i I>f MEMORIAM — ABRAHAM LTNCOLN. 
 
 " You can liave no conflict without being yourselves the afrgres- 
 sors." To fire the passions of the Southern portion of the 
 people, the Confederate Government chose to become aggres- 
 sors : and on the morning of the 121h of April began the bom- 
 bardment of Fort Sumter, and compelled its evacuation. 
 
 UPRISING OF THE PEOPLE. 
 
 It is the glory of the late President that he had perfect faith 
 in the peri)etuity of the Union. Supported, in advance, by 
 Douglas, who spoke as with the voice of a million, he instantly 
 called a meeting of Congress, and summoned the people to 
 come and repossess the forts, places, and property which had 
 l)cen seized from the Union. The men of the North were 
 trained in schools ; industrious and frugal ; many of them deli- 
 cately bred, their minds teeming with ideas, and fertile in plans 
 of enterprise ; given to the culture of the arts ; eager in the pur- 
 suit of wealth, yet employing wealth less for ostentation than 
 for developing the resources of their country ; seeking happi- 
 ness in the cahu of domestic Ufe ; and such lovers of peace that 
 for generations they had been reputed unwarlike. Now, at tho 
 cry of their country in its distress, they rose up with unap- 
 peasable patriotism; not hirelings — the purest and of the best 
 blood in the land ; sons of a pious ancestry, with a clear percep- 
 tion of duty, unclouded faith, and fixed resolve to succeed, they 
 thronged round the President to support the wronged, the 
 beautiful flag of the nation. The halls of theological seminaries 
 sent forth their young men, whose lips were touched with 
 eloquence, whose hearts kindled with devotion to serve in the 
 ranks, and make their way to command only as they learned 
 the art of war. Striplings in the colleges, as well as the most 
 gentle and the most studious ; those of sweetest temper and 
 loveliest character and brightest genius passed from their 
 classes to the camp. The lumberman sprang forward from the 
 forest, the mechanics from their benches, where they had been 
 trained by the exercise of political rights to share the life and 
 hope of the Republic, to feel their responsibility to their fore- 
 fathers, their posterity, and mankind, went forth resolved tliat 
 their dignity as a constituent part of this Republic should not 
 be impaired. Farmers and sons of farmers left the land but 
 half ploughed, the grain but half planted, and, taking up the 
 musket, learned to face without fear the presence of peril and 
 the coming of death in the shocks of war, while their hearts 
 were still attracted to the charms of their rural life, and all the 
 tender affections of home. Whatever there was of truth and 
 faith and public love in the common heart broke out with one 
 expression. 'J'he mighty winds blew from every quarter to fun 
 tlie flame of the sacred and unquenchable fire. 
 
ORATIOX BY HON. GEORGE BANCROFT. 815 
 
 THE WA.R A WORI,D-WIDR WAR. 
 
 For a time the war was thonglit to be confined to our own 
 domestic aifairs ; but it was soon seen that it involved the 
 destinies of mankind, and its principles and causes shook the 
 politics of Europe to the centre, and from Lisbon to Pekin 
 divided the Governments of the world. 
 
 GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 There was a kingdom whose people had in an eminent degree 
 attained to freedom of industry and the security of person and 
 property. Its middle class rose to greatness. Out of that 
 class sprang the noblest poets and philosophers, whose words 
 built up the intellect of its people : skilful navigators to find out 
 the many paths of the oceans ; discoverers in natural science, 
 whose inventions guided its industry to wealth, till it equaled 
 any nation of the world in letters, and excelled all in trade and 
 commerce. But its government was become a government of 
 land, and not of men ; every blade of grass was represented, 
 but only a small minority of the people. In the transition from 
 the feudal forms the heads of the social organization freed them- 
 selves from the military services which were the conditions of 
 their tenure, and throwing the burden on the industrial classes, 
 kept all the soil to themselves. Vast estates that had been 
 managed by monasteries as endownnents for religion and charity 
 were appropriated to swell the wealth of courtiers and favorites ; 
 and the commons, where the poor man once had his right of 
 pasture, were taken away, and, under forms of law, enclosed dis- 
 tributively within their own domains. Although no law for- 
 bade any inhabitant from purchasing land, the costliness of the 
 transfer constituted a prohibition, so that it was the rule of that 
 country that the plough should not be in the liands of its owner. 
 The church was rested on a contradiction, claiming to be an 
 embodiment of absolute truth, and yet was a creature of the 
 statute book. 
 
 HER SENTIMENTS. 
 
 The progress of time increased the terrible contrast between 
 wealth and poverty ; in their years of strength, the laboring 
 people, cut off from all share in governing the State, derived 
 a scanty support from the severest toil, and had no hope for old 
 age but in puljlic charity or death. A grasping ambition had 
 dotted the world with military posts, kept Avatch over our 
 borders on the northeast, at the Bermudas, in the West Indies, 
 held the gates of the Pacific, of the Southern and of the Indian 
 Oceans, hovered on our northwest at Vancouver, held the 
 whole of the newest continent, and the entrances to the old 
 Mediterranean and Red Sea, and garrisoned forts all the way 
 from Madras to China. That aristocracy had gazed with 
 terror on the growth of a commonwealth where freeholds 
 
816 IN MEMORIAM — ABRAHAM LINCOLN". 
 
 existed by the million, and religion was not in bondnge to llio 
 .Slate; and now they could not repress their joy at its perils. 
 'I'hey had not a word of sympathy for the kind-hearted poor 
 man's son whom America had chosen for her chief ; they jeered 
 at his large hands, and long feet, and migainly stature ; and 
 the British Secretary of State for Foreign Afl'airs, made haste 
 to send word through the palaces of Europe that the (irent 
 Itepublic was in its agony, that the Republic was no more, that 
 a headstone was all that remained due by the law of nations 
 to '• the late Union." But it is written : " Let the dead bury 
 their dead:" they may not bury the living. Let the dead bury 
 their dead : let a bill of reform remove the worn-out Govern- 
 ment of a class, and infuse new life into the British Constitu- 
 tion by confiding rightful power to the people. 
 
 HER POLICY. 
 
 But while the vitality of America is indestructible, the 
 British Uovernment hurried to do what never before had been 
 done by Christian Powers — what was in direct conflict witli its 
 own exposition of public law in the time of oiir struggle for in- 
 dependence. Though the insurgent States had not a ship or 
 an open harbor, it invested them with all the rigiits of a bel- 
 ligerent, even on the ocean ; and this, too, when the rebellion 
 was not only directed against the gentlest and most beneficent 
 government on earth, without a shadow of justifiable cause, 
 but when the rebellion was directed against human nature 
 itself for the perpetual enslavement of a race. And the eflect 
 of this recognition was that acts in themselves piratical found 
 shelter in British courts of law. The resources of British cap- 
 italists, their workshops, their armories, their private arsenals, 
 their shipyards, were in league with the insurgents, and every 
 British harbor in the wide world became a safe port for British 
 ships, manned by British sailors, and armed with British guns, 
 to prey on our peaceful commerce; even on our ships coming 
 from British ports, freighted with British products, or that had 
 carried gifts of grain to the English poor. The Prime Minister 
 in the House of Commons, sustained by cheers, scoffed at the 
 thought that their laws could be amended at our request, so as 
 to preserve real neutrality; and to remonstrances, now owned 
 to have been just, their Secretary answered that they could not 
 change their laws ad infinitum. 
 
 KKLATIONS WITU ENGLAND. 
 
 The people of America then wished, as they always have 
 wished, as they still wish, friendly relations with Kngland ; and no 
 man in England or America can desire it more strongly than \. 
 'I'liis country has ahv.ays yearned for good relations with I'liig- 
 land. 'I'hrice only in all its history has that yearning been 
 fairly met ; in the days of llainpden and Cromwell, again in the 
 
ORATION BY HON. GEORGE BANCROFT. 317 
 
 first ministry of the elder Pitt, and once again in the ministry 
 of Shelbnrne. Not that there have not at all times been just 
 men among the peers of Great Britain — Uke Halifax, in the 
 days of James the II., or a Granville, an Argyle, or a Houghton 
 in ours ; and we cannot be indifferent to a country that pro- 
 duces statesmen like Cobden and Bright ; but the best bower 
 anchor of peace was the working class of England, who suf- 
 fered most from our civil war, but who, while they broke their 
 diminished bread in sorrow, always encouraged us to persevere. 
 
 FRANCE AND THE MONROE DOCTRINE. 
 
 The act of recognizing the rebel belligerents was concerted 
 with France ; France, so beloved in America, on which she had 
 conferred the greatest benefits that one people ever conferred 
 on another; France, which stands foremost on the continent 
 of Europe for the solidity of her culture, as well as for the 
 bravery and generous impulses of lier sons ; France, which for 
 centuries had been moving steadily in its own way toward in- 
 tellectual and political freedom. The policy regarding further 
 colonization of America by European Powers, known commonly 
 as the doctrine of Monroe, had its origin in France ; and if it 
 takes any man's name should bear the name of Turgot. It was 
 adopted by Louis XVI., in the Cabinet of which Vergennes 
 was the most important member. It is emphatically the policy 
 of France; to which, with transient deviations, the Bourbons, 
 the First Napoleon, the House of Orleans, have ever adhered. 
 
 THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON AND MEXICO. 
 
 The late President was perpetually harassed by rumors that 
 the Emperor Napoleon III. desired formally to recognize the 
 States in rebellion as an independent power, and that England 
 held him back by her reluctance, or France by her traditions 
 of freedom, or he himself by his own better judgment and clear 
 perception of events. But the Republic of Mexico, on our 
 borders, was, like ourselves, distracted by a rebellion, and from 
 a similar cause. 'J'he monarchy of England had fastened upon 
 us slavery, which did not disappear with independence ; in like 
 manner, the ecclesiastical policy established by the Spanish 
 Council of the Indies, in the day of Charles V., and Philip II., 
 retained its vigor in the Mexican Republic. The fifty years of 
 civil war under which she had languished was due to the big- 
 oted system which was the legacy of monarchy, just as here 
 the inheritance of Slavery kept alive political strife, and culmi- 
 nated in civil war. As with us there could be no quiet but 
 through the end of slavery, so in Mexico there could be no 
 prosperity until the crushing tyranny of intolerance should 
 cease. The party of slavery "in the United States sent their 
 emissaries to Europe to solicit aid ; and so did the party of the 
 Church in Mexico, as organized by the old Spanish Council of 
 20 
 
818 IN MEMORIAM— ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 the Indies, but with a different result. Just as the Repubh'oan 
 party had made an end of the rebellion, and was estal)lishing 
 the best government ever known in that region, and jjiving 
 promise to the nation of order, peace, and prosperity, word was 
 brought us, in the moment of our deepest affiiction, that the 
 French P^mperor, moved by a desire to erect in North America 
 a buttress for hnperialism, would transform the Republic of 
 Mexico into a secixndo-geniture for the House of llapsburg. 
 America might complain ; she could not then interpose, and 
 delay seemed justifiable. It was seen that Mexico could not, 
 with all its wealtli of land, compete in cereal products with our 
 Northwest, nor in tropical products with Cuba ; nor could it, 
 under a disputed dynasty, attract capital, or create public 
 works, or develop mines, or borrow money ; so that the impe- 
 rial system of Mexico, which was forced at once to recognize 
 the wisdom of the policy of the Republic by adopting it, could 
 prove only an unremunerating drain on the French Treasury 
 for the support of an Austrian adventurer. 
 
 THE PERPETUITY OF REPUBLICAN INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 Meantime, a new series of momentous questions grows up, 
 and force themselves on the consideration of the thoughtful. 
 Republicanism has learned hov/ to introduce into its constitu- 
 tion every element of order, as well as every element of free- 
 dom ; but thus far the continuity of its government has seemed 
 to depend on the continuity of elections. It is now to be con- 
 sidered how perpetuity is to be secured against foreign occupa- 
 tion. The successor of Charles I. of England dated his reign 
 from the death of his father; the Bourbons, coming back after 
 a long series of revolutions, claimed that the Louis who became 
 king was the eighteenth of that name. The present Emperor 
 of the French, disdaining a title from election alone, is called 
 the third of his name. Shall a Republic have less power of 
 continuance when invading armies prevent a peaceful resort to 
 the ballot-box ? What force shall it attach to intervening 
 legislation ? AVhat validity to debts contracted for its over- 
 throw ? 'J'hese momentous questions are, by the invasion of 
 Mexico, thrown up for solution. A free State once constituted 
 should be as undying as its people ; the Republic of Mexico 
 must rise again. 
 
 THE POPE OF ROME AND THE REBELLION. 
 
 It was the condition of affairs in Mexico that involved the 
 Pope of Rome in our difficulties so far that he alone among 
 temporal sovereigns recognized the chief of the Confederate 
 States as a President, and his supporters as a people ; and in 
 letters to two great prelates of the Catholic Church in the 
 United States, gave counsels for peace at a time when peace 
 
ORATION BY HON. GEORGE BANCROFT. 819 
 
 meant the victory of secession. Yet events move as they are 
 ordered. The blessing of the Pope at Rome on the head of 
 Duke Maximilian, could not revive in the ninoteentli century 
 the ecclesiastical policy of the sixteenth ; and the result is only 
 a new proof that there can be no prosperity in the state -with- 
 out religious freedom. 
 
 THE PEOPLE OF AMERICA. 
 
 When it came home to the consciousness of the Americans 
 that the war which they were waging was a war for the liberty 
 of all the nations of the world — for freedom itself — they thanked 
 Ood for the severity of the trial to which He put Iheir sin- 
 cerity, and nerved themselves for their duty with an inexorable 
 will. The President was led along by the greatness of their 
 self-sacrificing example ; and as a child, in a dark night on a 
 rugged way, catches hold of the hand of its father for guidance 
 and support, he chmg fast to the hand of the people, and moved 
 calmly through the gloom. While the statesmansliip of Eu- 
 rope was scoffing at the hopeless vanity of their efforts, they 
 put forth such miracles of energy as the history of the world 
 had never known. The navy of the United States, drawing 
 into the public service the willing militia of the seas, doiibled 
 its tonnage in eight months, and established an actual blockade 
 from Cape Ilatteras to the Eio Grande. In the course of the 
 war it Vv^as increased fivefold in men and in tonnage, while the 
 inventive genius of the country devised more efiTective kinds of 
 ordnance, and new forms of naval architecture in wood and 
 iron. There went into the field, for various terms of service, 
 about two million men ; and in March last the men in service 
 exceeded a million — that is to say, one of every two able-bodied 
 men took some part in the war. And at one time every fourth 
 able-bodied man was in the field. In one single month, one 
 hundred and sixty-five thousand were recruited into service. 
 Once, within four weeks, Ohio organized and placed in the field 
 forty-two regiments of infantry — nearly thirty-six thousand 
 men — and Ohio was like other States in the East and in the 
 West. The well mounted cavalry numbered eighty-four thou- 
 sand. Of horses, there were bought, first and last, two thirds 
 of a million. In the movements of troops, science came in 
 aid of patriotism ; so that, to choose a single instance out of 
 many, an army twenty -three thousand strong, with its artillery, 
 trains, baggage, and animals, were moved by rail from the Po- 
 tomac to the Tennessee, twelve hundred miles, in seven days. 
 In the long marches, wonders of military construction bridged 
 the rivers ; and whenever an army halted, ample supplies 
 awaited them at their ever-changing base. The vile thought 
 that life is the greatest of blessings, did not rise up. In six 
 hundred and twenty-five battles and severe skirmishes, blood 
 flowed like water. It streamed over the grassy plains j it 
 
320 IN MEMORIAM — ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 stained the rocks ; the undergrowth of the forests was red with 
 it; and the arjnies marched on, with majestic conra'je, from 
 one conflict to another, Ivnowing that they were lighting for 
 God and liberty. The organization of the Medical Department 
 met its infinitely multiplied duties with exactness and despatch. 
 At the news of a battle, the best surgeons of our cities has- 
 tened to the field, to offer the zealous aid of the greatest ex- 
 f)erience and skill. The gentlest and most refined of women 
 eft homes of luxury and ease, to build hospital tents near the 
 armies, and serve as nurse to the sick and dying. Besides the 
 large supply of religious teachers by the public, the congrega- 
 tions spared to their brothers in the field the ablest ministers. 
 The Christian Commission, which expended five and a half 
 millions, sent four thousand clergymen, chosen out of the best, 
 to keep unsoiled the religious character of the men, and made 
 gifts of clothes, and food, and medicine. The organization of 
 private charity assumed unheard of dimensions. The Sanitary 
 Commission, which had seven thousand societies, distributed, 
 imder the direction of an unpaid board, spontaneous contribu- 
 tions to the amount of fifteen millions, in supplies or money — 
 a million and a half in money from California alone — and dot- 
 ted the scene of war from Paducah to Port Royal, from Belle 
 Plain, Virginia, to Brownsville, Texas, with homes and lodges. 
 
 THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION. 
 
 The coimtry had for its allies the river Mississippi, which 
 would not be divided, and the range of mountains which car- 
 ried the stronghold of the free through Western Virginia, and 
 Kentucky, and Tennessee, to the highlands of Alabama. But 
 it invoked the still higher power of immortal justice. In 
 ancient Greece, where servitude was the universal custom, it 
 was held that if a child were to strike its parent, the slave 
 should defend the parent, and by that act recover his freedom. 
 After vain resistance, Lincoln, who had tried to solve the ques- 
 tion by gradual emancipation, by colonization, and by compen- 
 sation, at last saw that slavery must be abolished, or the 
 Republic must die ; and on the first day of January, 1863, ho 
 wrote liberty on the banners of the armies. When this proc- 
 lamation, which struck the fetters from three millions of slaves, 
 reached Europe, Lord Russell, a countryman of Milton and 
 Wilberforce, eagerly put himself forward to speak of it in the 
 name of mankind, saying: "It is of a very strange nature;" 
 " a measure of war of a very questionable kind ;" an act of 
 " vengeance on the slave owner," that docs no more than " pro- 
 fess to emancipate slaves, where the United States authorities 
 cannot make emancipation a reality." Now there was no part 
 of the country embraced in the proclamation where the United 
 States could not and did not make emancipation a reality 
 Those who saw Lincoln most frequently, liad never bel'oro 
 
ORATION BY IIOX. GEORGE BANCROFT. 321 
 
 heard him speak with bitterness of any human being ; but he 
 did not conceal how keenly he felt that he had been wronged 
 by Lord Russell. And he wrote, in reply to another caviller — 
 " The emancipation policy, and the use of colored troops, Avere 
 the greatest blows yet dealt to the rebellion. The job was a 
 great national one ; and let none be slighted who bore an 
 honorable part in it. I hope peace will come soon, and come 
 to stay — then will there be some black men who can remcmljer 
 that they have helped mankind to this great consummation." 
 
 RUSSIA AND CHINA. 
 
 The proclamation accomplished its end, for, during the war, 
 our armies came into military possession of every State in 
 rebellion. Then, too, was called forth the new power that 
 comes from the simultaneous diffusion of thought and feeling 
 among the nations of mankind. The mysterious sympathy of 
 the millions throughout the world was given spontaneously. 
 The best winters of Europe waked the conscience of the thought- 
 ful, till the intelligent moral sentiment of the Old "World was 
 drawn to the side of the unlettered statesman of the West. 
 Russia, whose Emperor had just accomplished one of the 
 grandest acts in the coiu-se of time, by raising twenty millions 
 of bondmen into freeholders, and thus assuring the growth and 
 culture of a Russian people, remained our unwavering friend. 
 From the oldest abode of civilization, which gave the first ex- 
 ample of an imperial Government M'ith equality among the 
 people. Prince Kung, the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, 
 remembered the saying of Confucius, that we should not do 
 to others what we would not that others should do to us, and 
 in the name of the Emperor of China closed its ports against 
 the war ships and privateers of "the seditious." 
 
 CONTINUANCE OF THE WAR. 
 
 The war continued, with all the peoples of the world for 
 anxious spectators. Its cares weighed heavily on Lincoln, and 
 liis face was ploughed with the fur'rows of thought and sadness. 
 "With malice toward none, free from the spirit of revenge, vic- 
 tory made him importunate for peace ; and his enemies never 
 doubted his word, or despaired of his abounding clemency, lie 
 longed to utter pardon as the word for all, but not unless the 
 freedom of the negro should be assured. The grand battles of 
 Mill Spring, which gave us Nashville, of Fort Donelson, Malveiu 
 Hill, Antietam, Gettysburg, the AVilderness of Virginia, Win- 
 chester, Nashville, the capture of New Orleans, Vicksburg, 
 Mobile, Fort Fisher, the nuvrch from Atlanta, and the capture 
 of Savannah and Charleston, all foretold the issue. Still more, 
 the self-regeneration of Missouri, the heart of the continent; of 
 Maryland, whose sons never heard the midnight bells chime so 
 sweetly as when they rang out to earth and heaven that, by 
 
322 IN MEMORIAM— ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 the voice of her own people, slie took licr place aiunng llie free; 
 of Tennessee, which passed through fire and blood, through 
 sorrows and the shadow of death, to work out her own deliver- 
 ance, and by the faithfulness of her own sons to renew her 
 youth like the eagle— proved that victory was deserved and 
 would be worth all that it cost. If words of mercy, uttered as 
 they were by Lincoln on the waters of Virginia, were defiantly 
 repelled, the armies of the country, moving with one will, went 
 as the arrow to its mark, and without a feeling of revenge struck 
 a death-blow at rebellion. 
 
 ijncoln's assassination. 
 
 Where, In the history of nations, had a chief magistrate pos- 
 sessed more sources of consolation and joy than Lincoln ? His 
 countrymen had shown their love by choosing him to a second 
 term of service. The raging war thatluid divided the country 
 had failed, and private grief was Imshed by the grandeur of its 
 results. 'J'he nation had its new birth of freedom, soon to be 
 secured forever by an amendment of the Constitution. His 
 persistent gentleness had concjuered for him a kindlier feeling 
 on the part of the South. His scotfers among the grandees of 
 ]*'iur(>pe began to do him honor. The laboring classes every- 
 where saw in his advancement their own. All people sent him 
 their benedictions. And at the moment of the height of his 
 fame, to which his humility and modesty added charms, he fell 
 by the hand of the assassin ; and the only triumph awarded him 
 was the march to the grave. 
 
 THE GREATNESS OF MAN. 
 
 This is no time to say that human glory is but dust and 
 ashes, that we mortals are no more than shadows in pursuit of 
 shadows. How mean a thing were man, if there were not that 
 within him which is higher than himself — if lie could not 
 master the illusions of sense, and discern the connections of 
 events by a superior light wliich comes from Cod. He so 
 shares the divine impulses that he has power to subject inter- 
 ested passions to love of country, and personal amliitioii to the 
 ennoblement of man. Not in vain has Lincoln lived, for he has 
 lielped to make this republic an exami)le of justice, witli no caste 
 but tlie caste of humanity, 'i'he heroes who led our armies and 
 ships into battle — Lyon, ISIcriierson, lleynulds, Sedgwick, 
 Wadsworth, Foote, Ward, with their compeers— and fell in the 
 service, did not die in vain; they and the myriads of nameless 
 martyrs, and he, the chief martyr, died willingly "that govern- 
 ment of tlie people, by the people, and for the people, shall not 
 perish from the earth." 
 
ORATION BY HON. GEORGE BANCROFT. 323 
 
 THE JUST DIED FOR THE UNJUST. 
 
 The assassination of Lincoln, who was so free from malice, 
 has by some mysterious influence struck the country with sol- 
 emn awe, and hushed, instead of exciting, the passion for re- 
 venge. It seems as if the just had died for the unjust. When 
 I think of the friends I have lost in this war — and every one 
 who hears me has, like myself, lost those whom he most loved 
 — there is no consolation to be derived from victims on the 
 scaffold, or from any thing but the established union of the re- 
 generated nation. 
 
 CHARACTER OF LINCOLN. 
 
 In his character, Lincoln was through and through an 
 American. He is the first native of the region west of the 
 AUeghanies to attain to the highest station ; and how happy it 
 is that the man who was brought forward as the natural out- 
 growth and first fruits of that region should have been of un- 
 blemished purity in private life, a good son, a kind husband, a 
 most affectionate father, and, as a man, so gentle to all. As to 
 integrity, Douglas, his rival, said of him, " Lincoln is the hon- 
 estest man I ever knew." 
 
 The habits of his mind were those of meditation and inward 
 thought, rather than of action. He excelled in logical state- 
 ment more than in executive ability. He reasoned clearly, his 
 reflective judgment was good, and his purposes were fixed ; but, 
 hke the Hamlet of his only poet, his will was tardy in action ; 
 and for this reason, and not from humility or tenderness of 
 feeling, he sometimes deplored that the duty which devolved 
 on him had not fallen to the lot of another. He was skilful in 
 analysis ; discerned with precision the central ideas on which a 
 question turned, and knew how to disengage it and present it 
 by itself in a few homely, strong old English words that would 
 be intelligible to all. He delighted to express his opinions by 
 apothegm, illustrate them by a parable, or drive them home by 
 a story. 
 
 Lincoln gained a name by discussing questions which, of all 
 others, most easily lead to fanaticism ; but he was never carried 
 away by enthusiastic zeal ; never indulged in extravagant lan- 
 guage ; never hurried to support extreme measures ; never 
 allowed himself to be controlled by sudden impulses. During 
 the progress of the election at which he was chosen President, 
 he expressed no opinion that went beyond the Jefferson proviso 
 of 1784. Like .rctl'erson and Lafayette, he had faith in the in- 
 tuitions of the people, and read those intuitions with rare sagac- 
 ity. He knew how to bide his time, and was less apt to be in 
 advance of public opinion than to lag behind. He never sought 
 to electrify the public by taking an advanced position with a 
 banner of opinion; but rather studied to move forward com- 
 
824 IN MEMORIAM — ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 pactly, exposing no detachment in front or rear ; so that the 
 course of his administration might have been explained as the 
 calculating policy of a shrewd and watchful politician, had there 
 not been seen behind it a fixedness of principle which from the 
 first determined his purpose and grew more intense with every 
 year, consuming his life by its energy, Yet his sensibilities 
 ■were not acute ; he had no vividness of imagination to picture 
 to his mind the horrors of the battle field or the sufferings in 
 hospitals ; his conscience was more tender than his feelings. 
 
 Lincoln was one of the most unassuming of men. In time 
 of success, he gave credit for it to those whom he employed, to 
 the people, and to the providence of God. He did not know 
 what ostentation is ; wlien he became President he was rather 
 saddened than elated, and his conduct and manners sliowcd 
 more than ever his belief that all men are born equal. He was 
 no respecter of persons ; and neither rank, nor reputation, nor 
 services overawed him. In judging of character he failed in 
 discrimination, and his appointments were sometimes bad; but 
 he readily deferred to public opinion, and in appointing the 
 head of the armies he followed the manifest preference of Con- 
 gress. 
 
 A good President will secure unity to his administration by 
 his own supervision of the various departments. Lincoln, who 
 accepted advice readily, was never governed by any memlier 
 of his Cabinet, and could not be moved from a purpose delib- 
 erately formed ; but his supervision of affairs was unsteady and 
 incomplete ; and sometimes, by a sudden inference transcending 
 the usual forms, he rather confused than advanc.ed the public 
 business. If he ever failed in the scrupulous regard due to the 
 relative rights of Congress, it was so evidently without design 
 that no conflict could ensue, or evil precedent be establislied. 
 Truth he would receive from any one ; but when impressed by 
 others, he did not use their opinions till by I'eflection he had 
 made them thoroughly his own. 
 
 It was the nature of Lincoln to forgive. When hostilities 
 ceased, he who had always sent forth the flag with every one 
 of its stars in the field, Avas eager to receive back his returning 
 countrymen, and meditated " some new armouncement to the 
 South." The Amendment to the Constitution abolisliing 
 Slavery had his most earnest and unwearied support. During 
 the rage of war we get a glimpse into his soul from his privately 
 suggesting to Louisiana that " in defining the franchise some 
 of the colored people might be let in," saying: "'i'hey would 
 probably help, in some trying time to come, to keep the jewel 
 of liberty in the family of freedom." In 1857 he avowed him- 
 self "not in favor of" what he improperly called " negro citizen- 
 ship ;" for the Constitution discriinniates between citizens and 
 electors. Three days before his death he declared liis ])refer- 
 ence that " the elective franchise were now conferred on the 
 
ORATION BY HON. GEORGE BANCROFT, 325 
 
 very intelligent of the colored men, and on those of them who 
 served our cause as soldiers ;" but he wished it done by the 
 States themselves, and he never harbored the thought of exact- 
 ing it from a new government as a condition of its recognition. 
 The last day of his life beamed with sunshine, as he sent by 
 the Speaker of the House his friendly greetings to the men of 
 the Rocky moimtains and the Pacific slope ; as he contem- 
 plated the return of hundreds of thousands of soldiers to fruit- 
 ful industry ; as he welcomed in advance hundreds of thousands 
 of emigrants from Europe ; as his eye kindled with enthusiasm 
 at the coming wealth of the nation. And so, with these 
 thoughts for his country, he was removed from the toils and 
 temptations of this life, and was at peace. 
 
 PALMERSTON AND LINCOLN. 
 
 Hardly had the late President been consigned to the grave, 
 when the Prime Minister of England died, full of years and 
 honors. Palmerston traced his lineage to the time of the Con- 
 queror ; Lincoln went back only to his grandfather. Palmerston 
 received his education from the best scholars of Harrow, Edin- 
 burgh, and Cambridge ; Lincoln's early teachers were the silent 
 forest, the prairie, the river, and the stars. Palmerston wa? in 
 public lif« for sixty years ; Lincoln but for a tenth of that timv., 
 Palmerston was a skilful guide of an established aristocracy ; 
 liincoln a leader, or rather a companion of the people. Palmer- 
 ston was exclusively an Englishman, and made his boast in the 
 House of Commons, that tlie hiterest of England was his shib- 
 boleth ; Lincoln thouglit always of mankind as well as his own 
 country, and served human nature itself. Palmerston from 
 his narrowness as an Englishman, did not endear his country to 
 any one court or any one people, but rather caused uneasiness 
 and dislike ; Lincoln left America more beloved than ever by 
 all the peoples of Europe. Palmerston was self-possessed and 
 adroit in reconciling the conflicting claims of the factions of the 
 aristocracy; Lincoln, frank and ingenuous, knew how to poise 
 himself on the conflicting opinions of the people. Palmerston 
 was capable of insolence toward the weak, quick to the sense of 
 honor, not heedful of right ; Lincoln rejected counsel given only 
 as a matter of policy, and was not capable of being wilfully un- 
 just. Palmerston, essentially superficial, delighted in banter, 
 and knew how to divert grave opposition by playful levity; 
 Lincoln was a man of infinite jest on his lips, with saddest 
 earnestness at his heart. Palmerston was a fair representative 
 of the aristocratic liberality of the day, choosing for his tribu- 
 nal, not the conscience of humanity, but the House of Com- 
 mons ; Lincoln took to heart the eternal truths of liberty, 
 obeyed thenr as the commands of Providence, and accepted the 
 human race as the judge of his fidelity. Palmerston did notliing 
 that will endure ; his great achievement, the separation of Bel- 
 
326 IN MEMORIAM — ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 ginm, placed that little kingdom -where it must gravitate to 
 France ; Lincoln finished a work wliicli all time cannot over- 
 throw. Palmerston is a shining example of the ablest of a cul- 
 tivated aristocracy ; Lincoln shows the genuine fruits of institu- 
 tions where the laboring man shares and assists to form the 
 great ideas and designs of his country. Palmerston was buried 
 in Westminster Abbey by the order of his Queen, and was 
 followed by the British aristocracy to his grave, which, after a 
 few years, will hardly be noticed by the side of the graves of 
 Fox and Chatham; Lincoln was followed by the sorrow of his 
 country across the continent, to his resting-place in the heart 
 of the Mississippi Valley, to be remembered through all time 
 oy his countrymen, and by all the people of the world. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 As the sum of all, the hand of Lincoln raised the flag ; the 
 American people was the hero of the war; and therefore the re- 
 Bult is a new era of republicanism. The disturbances in the 
 country, grew not out of any thing republican, but out of 
 Slavery, which is a part of the system of hereditary wrong ; and 
 the expulsion of this domestic anomaly, opens to the renovated 
 nation, a career of unthought of dignity and glory. Henceforth 
 our country has a moral unity as the land of free labor. The 
 party for Slavery, and the party against Slavery, are no more, 
 and are merged in the party of union and freedom. The States 
 which would have left us, are not brought back as conquered 
 States, for then we should hold them only so long as that con- 
 quest could be maintained; they come to their rightful place 
 under the Constitution as original, necessary and inseparable 
 members of the State. 
 
 We build monuments to the dead, but no monuments of 
 victory. We respect the examples of the Romans, who never, 
 even in concpiered lands, raised emblems of triumph. And our 
 generals are not to be classed in the herd of vulgar conquerors, 
 but are of the school of Timolecm, and William of Orange, and 
 Washington. They have used the sword only to give peace to 
 their country, and restore her to her place in the great assembly 
 of nations. Our meeting closes in hope, now that a people be- 
 gin to live according to the laws of reason, and republicanism 
 is intrenched in a continent. 
 
 RECEPTION OF THE O RATION. 
 
 'I'he orator was frequently interrupted by applause, especially 
 in those parts which he emphasized, and in which, ^\hile speak- 
 ing of Creat Britain he said : "Let a bill of reform remove 
 the worn-out Government of a class and infuse new life into 
 
ORATION BY HON. GEORGE BANCROFT. 827 
 
 the British Constitution, by confiding rightful powers to the 
 people ; and we cannot be indifTerent to a country that pro- 
 duces statesmen like Cobden and Bright. But the best bower 
 anchor of peace was the working class of England, who suffered 
 most from the civil war, but who, while they broke their 
 diminished bread in sorrow, always encouraged us to perse- 
 vere." The orator's contrast of Palmerston with Lincoln — 
 " the former, after a few years, hardly to be noticed by the 
 side of the graves of Fox and Chatham ; but the latter to be 
 remembered through all time by his countrymen and by all 
 the people of the world," — was received with manifestations of 
 delight, Sir Frederick Bruce being an attentive listener. But 
 the apjilause was more extended and emphatic when Mr. Ban- 
 croft exclaimed, " The Republic of Mexico must rise again !" 
 Those parts of the address referring to the Emancipation Pro- 
 clamation and the utterances of President Lincoln in that con- 
 nection in favor of freedom, were received with earnest re- 
 sponses by the vast assembly ; as was the clause referring to 
 the unswerving friendship of Eussia and the act of China in 
 closing her ports against the war ships and privateers of the 
 seditious. Mr. Stoeckcl, the Russian Minister; was evidently 
 pleased by the compliment to his own Government. The 
 other foreign ministers preserved an appearance of stern grav- 
 ity. The allusion to Mr. Lincoln's wish only three days be 
 fore his death that " the elective franchise were conferred on 
 the very intelligent of the colored men, and on those of them 
 who served our cause as soldiers ; but that this should be done 
 by the States themselves, and that he never harbored the 
 thought of exacting it from a new government as a condition 
 of its recognition," was greeted with applause; as was also the 
 remark that in appointing the head of the armies he followed 
 the manifest preference of Congress. Many eyes were at this 
 point directed toward General Grant. 
 
 On the conclusion of the oration, which occupied more than 
 two hours and a half in the delivery, there was a spontaneous 
 outburst of applause, clapping of hands, and the waving of 
 hats and handkerchiefs. Every sentence of it seemed to find 
 a prompt response on the part of the auditory. 
 
 Mr. Bancroft was soon surrounded by a large number of dis- 
 
328 IX MEMORIAM — A.BRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 tinguished personages, and received their congratulations. The 
 ceremonies were closed by a brief prayer by the Rev. Dr. Gray, 
 Chaplain of the Senate, who pronounced the benediction. 
 
 The company withdrew, when the Speaker called the House 
 to order. 
 
 PROCEEDINGS OF CONGRESS. 
 
 Mr. Washburne, of Illinois, offered a joint resolution, which 
 was unanimously adopted, tendering the thanks of Congress to 
 the Hon. George Bancroft, for the appropriate address de- 
 livered by him on the life and services of Abraham Lincoln, 
 and requesting him to furnish a copy of the same for publica- 
 tion. 
 
 The Chairman of the Joint Committee on the Memorial ex- 
 ercises were directed to communicate to Mr. Bancroft the fore- 
 going resolution and receive an answer thereto, and present the 
 fiame to both branches of Congress. 
 
 The House then adjourned. 
 
 The Senate, after returning to their chamber, unanimously 
 passed a resolution, on motion of Mr. Foot, that ten thousand 
 copies of the memorial address on the life and character of 
 Abraham Lincoln, delivered at the request of both houses of 
 Congress to-day, by the Hon. George Bancroft, be printed for 
 the use of the Senate. 
 
 The Senate also unanimously passed the concurrent resolu- 
 tion of the House with reference to the same subject. 
 
 The Senate then adjourned. 
 
 THE END. 
 
CHEAPEST BOOK HOUSE IN THE WORLD. 
 
 T. B, PETERSON ano BROTHERS, 
 
 306 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, Penna., 
 
 Publish the most Salt-able Books in the World, and Supply all 
 Books at the Lowest Rales, 
 
 New Books issued every week, comprising the most entertaiain<» and 
 Absorbing works published, suiUble for the Parlor, Library, Steamboat, 
 And Railroad Reading, by the best writers in the world. 
 
 Any person wanting any books at all, in any quantity, from a single 
 book, to a dozen, hundred, thousand, or larger quantity, had better send 
 on their orders to the "PUBLISHING AND BOOKSELLING HOUSE 
 of T. B. PETERSON & BROTHERS," No. 306 Chestnut Stioct, Phil- 
 adelphia, who publish over One Thousand Books, and have the largest 
 stock in the country, and will sell them at very favorable prices for 
 net cash. We have just is.-ued a new and complete descriptive Cata- 
 logue, as well as Whulesiile Price Litts, which we will send to any 
 Bookseller or Library on application. 
 
 Enclose five, ten, twenty, fifty or a hundred dollars, or more, to us in 
 a letter, and write what kind of books you wish, and on its receipt, they 
 will be packed and sent to you, per first express or mail, or in any other 
 way you may direct, with circulars, show-bills, etc., gratis. 
 
 Orders solicited from Libraries, Booksellers, Private Families, etc. 
 Address all Cash orders, retail and wholesale, to 
 
 T. B. PETERSON & BROTHERS, 306 Chestnut Street, Philada, 
 
 CHARLES DICKENS' WORKS. 
 
 Cheap edition, paper cover. 
 This edition is published complete in twenty-six large octavo vol-, 
 umos, in paper cover, as follows : 
 
 Our Mutual Friend, $1.00 
 
 Great Expectations 75 
 
 Lamplighter's Story, 75 
 
 David Copperfield, 75 
 
 Dorabey and Son, 75 
 
 Nicholas Nickleby, 75 
 
 Pickwick Papers, 75 
 
 Christmas Stories, 75 
 
 Martin Chuzzlewit, 75 
 
 Old Curiosity Shop, 75 
 
 Birnaby Rudge 75 
 
 Diekens' Now Stories, 75 
 
 Bleak House, 75 
 
 Sketches by"Boz,*' 75 
 
 Oliver Twist 75 
 
 Little Dorrit, 75 
 
 Tale of Two Cities, 75 
 
 New Years' Stories, 75 
 
 Dickens' Short Stories 75 
 
 Message from the Sea, 75 
 
 Holiday Stories, 75 
 
 American Notes, 75 
 
 Pic Nie Papi^rs, 75 
 
 SoniebMdy's Luf;gage 25 
 
 Tom Tiddler's Ground, 25 
 
 The Haunted House 25 
 
 Books sent, postage paid, on receipt of the Retail Pries, 
 T. B. Peterson & Brothers, Philadelphia, Pa. 
 
 1 
 
2 T. B. PETERSON & BROTHERS' PUBLICATIONS. 
 
 CHARLES DICKENS' WORKS. 
 
 ILLUSTRATED OCTAVO EDITION. 
 
 E<ich Ijiiak bciiuj coinplc/c in one volume. 
 
 DaviJ C<Kiperfield, ♦CloLli, $2.50 
 
 ISarnaby Rudge, Cloth, 2.50 
 
 Martin Chuzzlewit, Cioth, 
 
 Old Curiosity Shop, Cloth, 
 
 Christmas Stories, Cloth, 
 
 Dickens' New Stories,. ..Cloth, 
 
 A Tale of Twe Cities,. ..Cloth, 
 
 American Notes and Pic-Nio 
 
 Papers, Cloth, 
 
 2.6a 
 
 2.50 
 2.60 
 2.50 
 2.6* 
 
 2.50 
 
 Our Mutual Fiiead, Cloth, $2.50 
 
 Pickwick Papers, Cloth, 2.50 
 
 Nicholas Nickleby, Cloth, 2.50 
 
 Groat Expectations, Cloth, 2.50 
 
 Lamplighter's Story,.. ..Cloth, 2.50 
 
 Oliver Twist, Cloth, 2.50 
 
 Bleak House, Cloth, 2.50 
 
 Little Dorrit, Cloth, 2.50 
 
 Douiboy and Son, Cloth, 2.50 
 
 Sketches by"Bi)Z," Cloth, 2.50 
 
 Price of a set, in Black cloth, in eighteen volumes $44.00 
 
 " " Full Law Library style 53.00 
 
 " " Half calf, sprinkled edges 63.00 
 
 " '• Half calf, marbled edges 68.00 
 
 " " Half calf, antique 78.00 
 
 " " Half calf, full gilt backs, etc 78.00 
 
 PEOPLE'S DUODECIMO EDITION. 
 Each book heincj complete in one volume. 
 
 Little Dorrit, Cloth, $2.50 
 
 Dombey and Son, Cloth, 2.50 
 
 Christmas Stories, Cloth, 2.50 
 
 Sketches by "Boz," Cloth, 2.50 
 
 Barnaby Rudge, Cloth, 2.50 
 
 Martin Chuzzlewit, Cloth, 2.50 
 
 Old Curiosity Shop, Cloth, 2.50 
 
 Dickens' Short Stories,.Cloth, 2.50 
 
 Message from the Sea.,..Cloth, 2.50 
 
 Our Mutual Friend, Cloth, $2.50 
 
 Pickwick Papery Cloth, 2.50 
 
 Nicholas Nicklohy Cloth, 2.60 
 
 Groat Expectations, Cloth, 2.50 
 
 Lamplighter's Story,. ..Cloth, 2.50 
 
 David Copperfield, Cloth, 2.60 
 
 Oliver Twist, Cloth, 2.50 
 
 Bleak House, Cloth, 2.60 
 
 A Tale of Two Cities. ..Cloth, 2.50 
 
 Dickons' New Storie8,..Cloth, 2.50 
 
 Price of a set, in Black cloth, in eighteen volumes $44.00 
 
 " " Full Law Libr.ary stylo 60.00 
 
 " " Half calf, sprinkled edges 60.00 
 
 " " Half calf, marbled edges 65.00 
 
 " •' H.alf calf, antique 72.00 
 
 " " ILalf calf, full gilt backs, etc 72.00 
 
 ILLUSTRATED DUODECIMO EDITION. 
 Each book being complete in two volumes. 
 
 Our Mutual Friend, Cloth, $4.00 ! Bleak House Cloth, $4.00 
 
 Pickwick Papers, Cloth, 4.00 Sketches by "Boz," Cloth, 4.00 
 
 Tale of Two Cities, Cloth, 
 
 Nicholas Nickleby, Cloth, 
 
 David Copperfield, Cloth, 
 
 Oliver Twist, Cloth, 
 
 Christmas Stories, Cloth, 
 
 4.00 
 4.00 
 4.00 
 4.00 
 4.00 
 
 Barnaby Rudge, Cloth, 
 
 Martin Chuzzlewit, Cloth, 
 
 Old Curiosity Shop, Cloth, 
 
 Little Dorrit, Cloth, 
 
 Dombey and Son, Cloth, 
 
 The foUoiDing are each complete in one volume. 
 
 Great Expectations, Cloth, $2.50 I Dickens' New Stories,..Clotli, 
 
 Lamplighter's Story,. ...Cloth, 2.60 I Message from the Sea,.Cloth, 
 
 Price c'a set, in thirty-two volumes, bound in cloth, , 
 
 " " Full Law Library style 
 
 Half calf, nnticpie. 
 
 Half calf, full gilt backs, etc. 
 
 4.00 
 4.00 
 4.00 
 4.00 
 4.00 
 
 $2.60 
 2.50 
 
 $54.00 
 80.00 
 125.00 
 125.00 
 
 Books sent, postage paid, on receipt of the Bet&il Price, by 
 T. B. Potorson & Brothers, Philadelphia, Pa. 
 
PETERSOfrSMASAZIIE. 
 
 DOUBLE-SIZE COLORED STEEL FfiSKION PLfiTES! 
 
 For many yeiirs " IVtcr<oii".-i MiK.iziue" hiw h:x'\ a l:ir.mT circiilitioii 'liau 
 Wj other iiKiiiililv ir. t!ic Unitr.l Si.iU-s. In isct; it will be t;rf:itly improved: 
 :'w readinri mutter will be inn;'.,i.~e,l, ami kach mimrkk wii.i, i-ontain a Uohule-Sizb 
 *-EBl, KashijN I't.ate, ei.k<j\mlv r.iijiRtii. wifli fruiii f-'iii- til <ix fi^;iircs: jiaking 
 A'tei-Hoii'' iii:.re ilcsiral.h- tlian .■v,-\ \ Tliu Iitium will n-iuaii! twinlollars a yeojr, 
 witli liliiTal il.Mln. tiuiiH lo cliil.-;. (.'(.ntiHiiiiii.' n.-arlv nw tK ii-^Mn.l pa-eRaiiiinally. 
 <jurtcfn slei-i eii-raviu,-s, tw.-lvf (l.nl.l.-^i/c lU.;liioii plat.-s, ami eight liuu.ln-»I 
 ivood-cuts, it wi\l III', ill 1M>1, l"'vi,'tiil all iiiiL'siinri, 
 
 TME GIHEAPtST iyCAQAZTi?^je TNI THE WQPXP, 
 
 Tlie uovelefs ami talcs art; ail<iio\vKili;e(l to l.u tlie very la-;t. Mnre monef 
 is paid for oriyimU st'triin than I'l) any iilliir Ma(/ii:iiii' < if the l.ind. lii 1S06, iu 
 aiKlitioii to thi) usual array of shorter sturies, Folk Oul-v-iuiiiiTKi) Novelets wili 
 HE GIVEN, viz: 
 THE SOLDIER'S ORPHANS, by Mrs. Ann St. Stephens. 
 
 THE STOLEN BOND, by the Author of "The Second Life.' 
 THE OLD MILL OF AWOSKEAG, by tLe Author of " Susy L's Diary " 
 
 iVIrs. SHODDY'S SKELETON, by Frank Lee Benedict 
 In its Tllustrationa also, " Pctersou" iu uiirivallL-d. Tlie I'ublislier clialluugei 
 a conipariann between its 
 
 SUPISRB MEZZOTINTS & oilier STEEL. EXGKAVINGS 
 AijJ tliose iu other Maj^aziues, and oiio at least is given in each niinihur. 
 
 DOUBLE-SIZE COLORED FASHION PLATES 
 
 Each numher will contain a double-si/e Fashion plate, engraved on steel 
 and handsomely colored. These plates will be twice the size of those hnrrtofure 
 gian: and will excel anything of the kind yet seen. In adilition. wood-cuts of 
 the newest bonnets, hats,"caiis, head-dresses, cloaks jackets, ball dresses, walking 
 dresses, house dresses, &c., &c , will appear in .-aeh nninbrr. Also, the greatest 
 variety of children's dresses. Also, a dingrani. by aid nf which a cloak, dress, or 
 child's costume can be cut out, without ihe aid of a luantna-niaker, so that 
 each number iu this way alone, will save a year's suljscn'ptinn. 
 
 COLOItED I'ATTERXS TN llERLZX WORK, Ac. 
 
 No other Magazine gives the beautiful and expensive patterns for Berlin 
 Work, Ac, printed in cidors, for which •' I'eterson" is celebrated. Many of these, 
 at a retail store, would cost fifty cents These will be ke)it up. Each number 
 will also give patterns iu Crochet. Embroidery, Knitting, \c., ic. 
 
 EE€EIPTS FOR •GOOSBRT, THB TOILET, &-G.. <tfl. 
 
 Carefully testoii receipts will appear mouthly. for the Table, the Toilet, the 
 Sick Room, tbo Nursery, &c. Also, hints On Horticulture, Furnishing, *c. 
 The.se alone, at the end of the year, will be worth the price of the Magazine 
 A PIECE OF New and Fashionaule Music; in each number. 
 
 TERMS-ALV/AYS IN ADVANCE. 
 1 Copy, for one year. $i."0 | 5 Copies, (and 1 to getter upClub.l $ 8.00 
 
 8 Copies, " ■l.f>i^ 8 " (audi to getter up Club.) 1200 
 
 4 »i «< 6.un I 14 " (and 1 to getter up Club.) 20.00 
 
 A CHOICE OF PH"EM1TJMS. Where a person i.s entitled to an 
 extra cjpy for getting up a Club, thei e w ill be sent, if preferred, instead of the 
 extra copy, a superb premium mezzotint for framing, (size 27 inches by 20.) 
 '•Wasuinqton parting from his G£.vkr\ls," or a Lady's Illustrated ALnuM, 
 Handsomely bound and gilt. Always itale whether an extra copy, or one of thest 
 oilier premiums, is preferred: and notice that for Clubs of three or four, no 
 premium'? are given. In remittino, get a post-office ordoi or a draft ou Phil.v 
 delphiaoi New York: if neither of these can be had, send green-backs or bank 
 notes. Adtlre^^s, postpaid, 
 
 CHARLES J. PETESSOlSr, 
 No. 306 ChesLuut btveot, Philadelphia, Pft, 
 0"Specii»'«n3 Bent, if written for. 
 
.., ^ CiUPfST BOOK Mm II THE ifORlD. 
 
 To Sutlers! Pedlars! Booksellers! NewsAjicnts! etc. 
 
 T. B. PETERSOfy 8l BROTHERS, 
 
 No. 306 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, 
 
 PUBLISH THE iViOST SALEABLE BOOKS IN THE WORLD 
 
 AND SUPPLY ALL BOOKS AT VERY LOW RATES. * 
 
 The oieapest place in the world to Ituy or send for a stock of all 
 kinds of Books, suitttble for all persons whatever, for Soldiers, and for 
 tlie Army, and for all othor reading, is at the Bookselling and Pub- 
 lishing House of T. B. PETERSON & BROTHERS, Philadelphia. 
 
 Any person wanting any books at all, in any quantity, from a single 
 book to a dozen, a linnored, thousand, ten thousand, or larger quantity 
 of books, had better send on th*!^r orders at once to the "CHEAP- 
 FST BOOKSELLTNa AND PUBLISHING HOUSE IN THE 
 WOULD," which is at T. B. PETERSON & BROTHERS, No. 306 
 chestnut Street, Philadelphia, who have the largest stock in the coau 
 fry. and will supply them and eeli them cheaper ihan any other houses 
 m the world. We publish a large variety of Military Novels, with 
 Illustrated Military covsrs, in colors, besides thousands of others, all 
 of which are the best selling and most popular books in the world. 
 We have just issued a new aiid complete Catalogue, copies of which 
 we will send gratuitously to all on their sending for one. 
 
 Enclose one, two, five, ten, twenty, fifty, a hundred, or a thousand 
 dollars, or more, to us in a letter, or per express, and write what kind 
 i)f books you wish, and they will be packed and sent to you at once, per 
 first expiess or mail, or in any other way you may direct, just as well 
 assorted, and the same as if you were on the spot, with circulars, show 
 bills, <&c., gratis. All we ask is to give us a trial. 
 
 Address all orders for any books you may want at all, no matter b' 
 whom published, or how small or how large your order may bo, to the 
 Cheapest PuUinhing and Bookselling Rouse in (he tvorld, ivhich i» ai 
 
 T. B. PETERSON & BROTHERS, 
 
 No. 306 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, 
 And ihoy will be packed and sent to yoa within an hour after receipil 
 >f tho order, per express or railroad, or in any other way you may direct. 
 
 ^" Agents, Sutlers, and Pedlars wanted everywhere, to engage in the 
 •ale of our popular selling Books, all of which will be sold at verj low ratea