YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY f mmmK^i^imm f$ ¦ COLL.-ECTION PRESIDENT LINCOLN. THE LIFE, AND MARTYRDOM or ABRAHAM LINCOLN. SIXTEENTH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES; AND COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF OF THE ARMY AND NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. ¦Wi*> a full history of his Life; Assassination; Death, and Puncrftl. His career as a Lawyer and Politician ; his services in Cmgress ; with a fuU account of his Speeches, Proclama tions, Acts, and services as President of the United States, and ConL/nander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy, from the time of i « first Inauguration as President of the United States, imtti the night of his Assassination, PHILADELPHIA: r. B. PETERSON & BROTHERS, 306 CHESTNUT STREET. Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1864, by T. B. PETERSON & BROTHERS, In the Clerk's OflBce of the Di^itrict Court of the United States, in and for the Eastern District of PennsylTania. CONTENTS. Txn 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 Xi-vv Orleans — Becomes a miller and salesman — His services in the Black Hawk war.... 29 Is nominated for the Lepishiture and is defeated — Becomes a merchant and surveyor — Is elected to the Legislature — Studies law 30 A thrilling incident 111 his legal career 31 A protest against slavery — Is a candidate for Presidential Elector — Mr. Lincoln is elected to Congress — His votes and speeches daring his Congressinniil term 32 Becomes a delegate to the National Convention of 1848 — He is nominated for United Slates Senator, but with draws 40 He is again noinimtted tor the Senate — His speeches in the celebrated Lincoln-Douglas campaigti — His tribute to the De< laration of Independence 41 Pnn Portraits of Abraham Lincoln 43 Mr. Lincoln is defeated by Mr. Douglas — Is then named for the Presidency — Evidence of his skill as a Bail- splitter 47 Uis great speech at the Cooper Institute, New York 48 Is nominated for President of the United Statei by the B^nblican OonTention. M riT) 18 CONTENTS. PAsa He is 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 at 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 He 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 Eeturns 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 g3 President Lincoln's interview with the Virginia Commis- Bioners, with his Address to them on that occasion 95 CONTENTS. Ig PAoa 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 99 Blockading of Virginia and North Carolina 101 A call for additional troops 102 Has an interview with the Maryland Legislature 103 A special order for Florida — President Lincoln's flrst 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 Tlmiiksgiving for signal victories— Slavery abol ished in the Disti-ict of Columbia 123 Rt-opening of some of the Southern Port.s — Repudiates an tmaiicipatioii oider of Alajor-General Hunter 124 'i'he President's confereiice with the Loyal Governors — His interview with the Border Congressmen — He reads to them a powerful Appeal 125 Instructions to Military and Naval Uonimaiiders 128 A draft for 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, 18C3.... 133 Suspension of the Writ of Habeas Corpns 135 Ue issues an Order for the observance of the Sabbath.... 136 His Annua! Message of December, 1862 — Important recom mendations to Congress 137 Receives a Complimentary Address from Manchester, Eng land 138 The President visits the Army of the Potomac — Reviews the troops, etc ^^^ 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 146 20 ffOX TEXTS. FAOl Suspension of the Writ of Habeas Corpus in certain casns 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 lie 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 15S 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 187 Mr. Lincoln is Re-elected 187 Mr. Lincoln makes a Speech upon his Election 188 Last Annual Message of Mr. Lincoln 188 More Troops wanted 189 Mr. Lincoln has an Interview with Rebel Commissioners.. 189 President Lincoln goes to " the Front" 191 General Lee Surrenders 192 The President returns to Washington 192 Mr. Lincoln's Last Speech 193 President Lincoln Assassinated 19S What became of Booth 198 The Fourteenth of April, 1865 199 The effect of Mr. Lincoln's Death 201 A Svmmary 202 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. HIS BIRTH AND ANCESTORS. Abraham Lincoln, the sixteenth President of th» 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- foln, 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 1780, the grandfather removed his family to Kentucky, where, taking possession of a Email tract of land 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 SEBYICBS 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 weajion was placed in a convenient cor ner, where it could be quickly grasped iu 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 sons 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. DESCBIPTION OP HIS PABENTS. Thomas also left home before he was twelve years old, but subsequently returned to Kentucky, and in the year 1806, married Miss Nancy Hanks, 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 friends could decipher. He, however, appreciated the adraa- lilPE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 23 tages of eduQation, and honored and respected the Superior learning of others. His kindness of heart was proverbial, ftnd he was always -industrious and persevering. His wife, although uneducated, was blessed with much natural talent, excellent judgment, and good sense, and these qualifications, with her great piety, made her a suitable partner for a man of Thomas Lincoln's attributes, and a mother whose precepts 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 BEMOVE 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 m.ade 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 his 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 thebaic was effected, Mr. Lin coln, with such slight assistance as little Abe could 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. He 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 home 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 days' 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, he did 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, which 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, was very apt to suffer from a scarcity of comestibles. 26 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. DEATH OF MRS. LINCOLN— « ABE" LEAENS TO WEITE. A little more than a year after removing to Spencer county, 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 lettei*. HIS FATHER MARRIES AGAIN— ABE i'lNISHES HIS EDUCATION. During the next year Mr. Lincoln 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. Aft)ut 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 soon 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 was retentive, and as he took an un usual pride in 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 which 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 Landsome 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 were 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 ig 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 ing, writing, grammar, and arithmetic. LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 29 HE TAKES ANOTHER TRIP TO- NEW OBLEANS— BECOMES MILLER AND SALESMAN. Early in the following spring he was hired by a man named 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 wh^ce, 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 now 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 of 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- ihained with his regiment until the war ended. 30 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 zealous 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 New Salem, who asked his consent to nominate him for the Legislature. He had only been a resident of the county for nine months, but as a thorough-going "Henry Clay man" was 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 legisl?itive 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 also for a time Postmaster of New Salem. IS ELECTED TO THE LEGISLATURE— STUDIES LAW In August, 1834, he was again nominated for the Legis lature, and was elected by a large majority ; and in 1836 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, 1837, 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 meeting 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 befo?e 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^air 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 case 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 hour 2 82 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 PROTEST 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 we 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 extrepie South- em view of slavery, for which Mr. Lincoln refused to vote, and 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 his 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 — the 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 1846, Mr. Lincoln was elected to Congress from the LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 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, 1847, 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 seat 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 ' wa 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 redress into our own hands until Mexico herself became the aggressor 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 whereas. 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 Bouse 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. " 2nd. Whether that spot is or is not within the territory which was wrested from Spain by the revolutionary Govern ment of Mexico. " Brd. Whether that spot is or is not within a settlement of people, which settlement has existed ever since long before the 'J'exas revolution, and until its inhabitadts fled before the ap proach of the United States Army. "ith. 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 Texas 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 served upon them, or in any other way. ' " 6th. Whether the people of that settlement did or did not flee 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, so shed, was or was not shed within the enclosure of one of the people who had thus fled from it. " Ith. 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 LINCOLN, 35 and soldiers, sent iuto 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 his 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 iu 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 relation to the question whether the reserved sections, which, by 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 improvements. and enhancing the prices of the section reserved, and the geu. 36 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, tleman from Indiana took ground against that policy. He did not make any special argument in favor of Wisconsin ; but he took ground generally against the policy of giving alternate sec tions of land, and enhancing the price of the reserved sections. Now, he (Mr. L.) did not at this time, take the floor for the purpose of attempting to make an argument on the general sub ject. He rose simply to protest against the doctrine which the gentleman from Indiana had avowed in the course of what he (Mr. 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 alternata sections were to be given for the purpose of constructing roads, and the reserved sections were to be enhanced in value in consequence. When the bill came here for the action of this House, it had been received, and was now before the Committee on Pubhc 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 Uliuois. 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 -(vished it, then, to be understood, that he did not join in the warfare against the principle which had engaged 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 sectiois 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 an 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 gentleman 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 unsonod. He alluded to the statement that the General Government was interested in these internal improve ments being made, inasmuch as they increased the value cff 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 hn had men tioned had been laid hold of and considered favorably, and as there were some gentlemen who had constitutional scruple'] 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 OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. On the 28th of July, 1848, the celebrated bill estab lishing Territorial governments for Oregon, California and New Mexico, the peculiar feature of which was a provi sion prohibiting the Legislatures of California and New 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 offered the following substitute for a resolution which he had voted against, not being satisfied with all its provisions : " Resolved, That the Committee on the District of Columbia be 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, 'fhat no per son not now within the District of Columbia, nor now owned by any person or persons now resident within it, nor hereafter boru within it, shall ever be held in slavery within said District. Sec. 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 tho 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 aud out of said District, and while there, by the necessary servants of themselves aud their families, with out their right to hold such servants in service being impaired. " Sec. 3. That all children 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 representatives, and shall serve reasonable service as apprentices to such owners, heirs, or representatives, until they respectively arrive at the age of years, wheu they shall be entirely free: And the municipal authorities of Washington and Georgetown, within their respective jurisdictional limits, are hereby empowered and required to make all suitable and necessary provision for enforcing obedience to this section on the part of both masters and apprentices. " Sec. 4. That all persons now within this District, lawfully LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 39 hold 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- tided 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, upon which such slave shall be forthwith and forever free : And provided further, That the President of the United States, the Secretary of State, and the Secretary of the Treasury, shall be a board for determining the value of such slave-s as their owners desire to emancipate under this section, and whose duty it shall' be to hold a session for the purpose on the first Monday of each calendar mouth, to receive all applications, and, on satisfactory evidence in each case that the person presented for valuation 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 be 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 are 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 hia 40 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. numerous votes and remarks upon the slavery question, be 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 NATIONAL 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 Legislature, 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 discussions, that was held on the fourth of October, 1854, during the progress of the annual State Fair, being particularly remarkable as the great discussion of the campaign. LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, 41 At the election of United States Senator, nine-tenths 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 ineffectually, 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 equivalent to an indorsement of his acts and 42 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. views by his Commonwealth, and at the same time would have promoted his prospects for the Presidential nomination. The Republicans, therefore, determined to defeat him if possible, and to increase the probabilities of success in the movement, selected Mr. LinecJln as the man who was most certain of securing the election. Illi nois was stumped throughout its length and breadth by 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 men, ' We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are born equal ; that they are endowed by their Creator with in alienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pur suit of happiness.' This was their majestic interpretation of tbs economy of the universe. This was their lofty, aud wise aud 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 likeness was sent into the world to be trodden on, and degraded, and imbvuted by its fellows Thev grasped not only the race of men then living, but they reached forward and seized upon the furthest posterity. They created a beacon to guide their children and their children's children and the countless myriads who should inhabit the earth in other ages. Wise statesmen as they were, they knew the tendencv of prosperity to breed tyrants, and so they established these o-reat 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 none but white men, or none but An"-lo-8axon LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 4'i white 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; so 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 Vhich 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 thosB inalienable rights enumerated by our chart of liberty, let me entreat you to come back — return to the fountain whose waters spring close by the blood of the Be- volution. Think nothing of me. take no thought for the politi cal fate of any man whomsoever, but come back to the truths that are in the Declaration of Independence. " You may do any thing with me you choose, if you will but heed these sacred principles. You may not only defeat me for the Senate, but you may take me and put me to death. While pretending no indifference to earthly honors, I do claim to be actuated iu this contest by something higher than an anxiety for office. I charge you to drop every paltry and insignificant thought for any man's success. It is nothing ; I am nothing ; Judge Douglas is nothing. But do not destroy that immortal emblem of humanity — the Declaratimi of American Independ ence." PEN-PORTRAITS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. As we have stated, the exciting struggle was watched with intense 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 appeared in the leading magazines and newspapers. Prom some of the latter we select the following, for 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 opportunity to see Mr. Lincoln, an idea of his personal appearance : One writer gives the following pen-portrait: 4 " Mr. Lincoln stands six feet and four inches high in his stockings. 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 disproportioned to his 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, he 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 choseu from among a crowd as one who had in him not only the kindly sentiments 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 either. It is very large, and, phrenologically, well proportioned, betokening power in all its developments. A slightly 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. He 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 'em!' but beyond an expression of that kind, his bitterest feeling's 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. 45 about incurring pecuniary obligations for any purpose whatever, and in debt, he is never content until the score is discharged. We presume he owes no man a dollar. He never speculates. The rage for the sudden acquisition of wealth never took hold of him. His gains from his profession have been moderate, but sufficient for his purposes. While others have dreamed of gold, he has 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 -ASraham 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 Eepublican 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 lives, 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 aud 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 liked 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 of 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. He 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 46 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. depression of his mouth, and a general malformation 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 a merriment his words could not produce." A third says : * " In perhaps the severest test ^that could have been applied to any man's temper — his political contest with Senator Dong- 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/)pponent 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 his temperate habits, his self-reliance, and his mental and intellectual power." And a fourth, 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 does not a little to inspire h's supporters with hope. Mr. Lincoln is a tall, lank man, awkward, apparently diffident, and when not speaking has neither firijiness in his countenance nor fire 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 a 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 desei>ved 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 fixed 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 no 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 hope of securing Mr. Lincoln as their representative in the United States Senate, the Republicans were not discouraged, and from that time de termined that their favorite leader should be rewarded with even more exalted honors. IS NAMED FOR THE PRESIDENCY— EVIDENCE OF HIS SKILL AS A RAIL-SPLITTER. He was immediately mentioned prominently for the Presidency, and at a meeting of the Illinois State Repub- licaft Convention, where he was present as a spectator, a 3 48 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 EAIL CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT IN 1860. 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^ears 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 induced the members of that party in other States to se cure his voice and influence in their behalf, and in the 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, 1860, he made the following forcible speech at the Cooper Institute, New York, before an immense audience : " Mk. President and Fellow-citizens of New York : The facts with which I shall deal this evening are mainly old LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 49 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 The New York Times, Senator Douglas said : " ' Our fathers, when they framed the Government under which we live, understood this question just as well, and even 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 which we live? " The answer must be : ' The Constitution of the United States.' That Constitution consists of the original, framed in 1787 (and under which the present Government first went into 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 fathers 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 ' our 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 npon 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 that 50 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. Congress, and voted on that question. Of these, 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 McHenry — voted against the prohibition, showing that, for some cause, he thought it improper to vote for it. " In 1787, 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 in 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 WiUiam Blount, William Few and Abraham Baldwin ; and they all voted for the prohibition — thus showing that, in their ' understanding, no 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 hibition 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 Pitzsimmons, 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 Laugdon, Nicholas Gilraan. Wm. S. Johnson, Roger Sherman, Robert Morris, Thos. Pitzsimmons, 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 from federal authority, nor any thing in the Constitution, property forbade Congress to prohibit slavery in the federal territory; else both their fidelity to correct principle, and their oath to support the Constitution, would have 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 Constitu 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 179S, 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. They 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 understanding, 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. "In 1803, the Federal Government purchased the Louisiana country. Our former territorial acquisitions 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 Louisiana. New Orleans, lying within that part, was an old and comparatively large city. There were other considerable towns and settlements, and slavery was 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. That 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 by 52 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. the owner, and for his own use as a settler ; 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 the Congress which passed it, there were two of the ' thirty-nine.' They were Abraham Baldwin and Jonathan Dayton. As stated in the case of Mississippi, it is probable they both voted for it. They would not have allowed it to pass without record ing their opposition to it, if, in their understanding, it violated either the line proper dividing local from Federal authority or any provision of the Constitution. "In 1819-20, came and passed the Missouri question. Many votes were taken, by yeas and nays, in both branches of Con gress, upon 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 com promises. By this Mr. King showed that, in his understanding, no line dividing local from Federal authority, nor any thing in the Constitution, was violated b}' Congress prohibiting slavery in federal territory ; while Mr. Pinckney, by his votes, showed that in his understanding there was some sufficient reason for opposing such prohibition in that case. "The cases I 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 in 1784, three in 1787, seventeen in 1789, three in 1798, two in 1804, and two in 1819-20 — there would be thirty-one of them. But this would be counting John Langdon, Roger Sherman, William Pew, Rufus King, and George Read, each twice, and Abraham Baldwin four times. The true number of those of the 'thirty-nine' whom I haye 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 better than we do now •' and twenty-one of them — a clear majority of the ' thirty-nine' so acting 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 any thing iu the Constitution they had made themselves, and gworn to support forbade the Federal government to control as to slavery in the Federal territories. Thus the twenty-9ne acted ; and, as actions LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 53 speak louder than words, so actions under such responsibility speak 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 60 voted is not known. They may have done so because they thought a proper division of local from Federal authority, or some provision or principle of the Constitution, stood in the way ; or they may, without any such question, have voted against the pro hibition, on what appeared to them to be sufficient grounds of ex pediency. No one who has sworn to support the Constitution, can conscientiously vote for what he understands to be an unfconsti- 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 whatever 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 now knowp 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-one — a clear ma jority of the whole — certainly understood thatt no proper division of local from Federal authority nor any part of the Constitution, forbade the Federal government to control slavery in the Fed- 54 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. era! territories, while all the rest probably had the same under standing. Such, unquestionably, 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 for amending it; and, as I have already stated, the present frame of government under which we hve 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 in these amendatory articles, and uot in the original instrument. The Supreme Court, in the Dred Scott case, (ilant 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 in all the territory the nation then owned. Tho Constitutional amendments were introduced before, and passed after the act enforcing the Ordinance of '87; so that during the whole pendeucy of the act to enforce the Ordinance, the Constitutional amendments were also pendiug. " That Congress, consisting in all of seventy-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 that Congress deliberately framed, and carried to maturity at the same time, are absolutely inconsistent with each other? And does not such affirmation become impudently absurd when coupled with the other affirmor tion, from the same mouth, that 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 they are inconsistent ? LIFE 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 certainly 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 the 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 wo 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 thein. " 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 false 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 so. But he should, at the same time, brave the responsibility of declaring that, in his opinion, he understands their principles 56 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. better than they did themselves ; and especially should he not shirk that responsibility by asserting that they ' understood the question just 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 they spoke, aud act as they acted upon it. This is all Republi cans ask, all Republicans 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 tained. For this Republicans contend, aud with this, so far as I 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 aud justice, you are not inferior to any other people. Still, when you speak of us Republicans, you do 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 perimtted to speak at all. f "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 specifications, and then be patient long enough to hear us deny or justify. " You say we are sectional. We deny it. That makes an issue ; aud the burden of proof is upon yon. 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 get 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 get 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. The 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 repel you by any wrong principle or practice, the fault is ours ; but 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, aud we with it, are sectional, and are justly opposed and denounced as such. Meet us, then, on the question of whether our principle, put in 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 npon this same subject, is that warning a weapon in your hands against ns, 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 ujion you, who repudiate it? We respect that warning of Washington, and we commend it to yon, 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 pohcy, and insist upon substituting some thing new. True, you disagree among yourselves as to what that substitute shall be. You have considerable variety of new propositions and plans, but you are unanimous in 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 ;' some for Congress forbidding 58 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. the Territories to prohibit slavery 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 slave 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 destructivenesa 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 you, 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 will 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 np insurrections among your slaves. We deny it. And what is your proof? Harper's Ferry ! John Brown ! 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, you 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 to make the proof. You need not be told that persisting in a charge which one does uot know to be true is simply 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. We 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 affair. When it occurred, some important State elections were near at hand, aud you were in evident glee with the belief that, by charging the blame upon us, you could get au advantage of us in those elections. The elections came, aud 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 decla rations are accompanied with a continual protest agaiast any LIFE AND SERVICES OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 59 Interference whatever with your slaves, or with you about your slaves. Surely, this does not encourage them to revolt. True, we do, in common with our fathers, who framed the government under which we live, declare our belief that slavery is wrong; but 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 not, in fact, generally know it but for your misrepresentations of us in their hearing. In your political contests among yourselves, each faction charges the other with sympathy with Black Republicanism; 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 Southampton 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. The 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 con necting trains. " Much is said by southern people about the affection 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 them, in his anxiety to save a friend, betrayed the plot to that friend, and, by consequence, averted the calamity. Occasional poisonings from the 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. Jefferson, 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 off insensibly ; and their place be, pari passu, filled np by free white laborers. If, on the contrary, it is left to 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 power of emancipation is in the Federal Government. He spoke of Tirginia ; and, as to the power of emancipation, I speak of the slaveholding States only. " The Federal Government, however, as we insist, has 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, saw plainly enough it could not succeed. That affair, in its philosophy, corresponds with the many attempts, r.elated 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 Perry 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- publicau 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 feeling — 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 iu 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 chan nel ? What would that other channel prolsably be ? Would the number of John Browns be lessened or enlarged by the operation. " But you will break up the Union rather than submit to a denial of your Constitutional rights. " That has a somewhat reckless sound ; but it would be 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 no 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 there as property. But no such right is specifically written in the Constitution. That instrument is literally silent about any such right. We, on the contrary, deny that such a right has any existence in the Constitution, even by implication. " Your purpose, then, plainly stated, is, that you will destroy the Government, unless you be allowed to construe and enforce the Constitutiop 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 you will say the Supreme Court has decided the disputed Constitu tional question in your favor. Not quite so. But waiving the lawyer's distinction between dictum and decision, the Courts have decided the question for you in 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 as property. " When I say the decision was made in a sort of way, I mean it was made in a divided Court by a bare majority of the Judges, aud they not quite agreeing with one another in the reasons for making 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 in 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 iu a slave is not distinctly and expressly affirmed 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, in 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 ' service 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 A.SD SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 'And then it is to be remembered that 'our fathers, who framed the Government under which we live'— the men who made the Constitution— decided this same Constitutional question in our favor, long ago — decided it without a division among them selves, when making the decision ; without division among 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 these 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 final 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, you 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 be a murderer !' "To be sure, what the robber demanded of me — -ray money — was ray own ; and I had a' clear right to keep it ; but it was no more my own than my vote is my own ; 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 iu 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 the 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 to do with invasions 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 will satisfy them ? Simply this : We must not only let them alone, but we must, somehow, con vince them that we do let them alone. This, we know by experience, is no easy task. We have been so trying to cohvince them from the very beginning of our organization. LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 6'6 but with no success. 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 that 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 them ? This, and this only ¦ cease to call slavery wrong, and join them iu 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 Edition law must be enacted and en forced, suppressing all declarations that slavery is wrong, whetner 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 us 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 Qonstitutioug" 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 words, acts, laws, and constitutions against it, are themselves wrong, and should be silenced, and swept away. If it is right, we cannot 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 wo 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 thu 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 wa cast our votes with their view, and against our own ? In view of our moral, social, and political responsibilities, can we do this ? " Wrong as we think slavery is, we can yet afford to let it 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 induftriously phed aud belabored — contrivances such as groping for some middle 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 wiat 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, 173^ votes, and the balance being divided between the other candidates. On the second ballot, the vote stood : Lincoln, 181 ; Seward, 184^ ; and on the third, Mr. Lincoln received 230^ votes, LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLNT 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 %he 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 floorless* log-cabin, in a Kentucky 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 grealt 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 without delay, and upon arriving at his resi^epce 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 OP 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 tho 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 ho,ud, 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 pifserit to you the letter which has been prepared, and which informs you of tho nomination, and with it the platform, resolutions and sentiments, which the Convention adopted. Sir, at your convenience, wu shall be glad to receive from you such a response as it may be your pleasure to give us." REPLY 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 Convention, aud all the people represented in it, my profoundest thanks for the high honor done me, which you now formally announce. Deeply, and even painfully sensible of the great responsibility which is inseparable from this 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, aud without unnecessary or unrea sonable delay, respond to you, Mr. Chairman, in writing, not doubting that the platform will be found satisfactory, and the nomination gratefully accepted. And now I will not longer defer the pleaoure 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 AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 67 the President of the Convention, and a committee ap pointed for that purpose : " Chicago, May \i,th, 1860. " To THE Hon. Abraham Lincoln, of Illinois. " Sib :^ 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 appj'ise 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 dnty we take leave to add our confident assurance that the nomination of the Chicago Convention will be ratified 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 : " Speingfield, Illinois, May 23rd, 1860. "Hon. George Ashman, President of the Republican 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 Tyho 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 Con stitution, and the perpetual union, harmony and prosperity of all, I am most happy to co-operate for the practical success of the 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 1,275,821 over Mr. Bell ; and the vote was subsequently proclaimed by Congress to be as follows : For Abraham Lincoln, of Illinois 180 For John 0. Breokenridge, of Kentucky 72 For John Bell, of Tennessee 39 For Stephen A. Douglas, of Illinois 12 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 vindictiveness 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 : It '; My friends : 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 centurv 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 1 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 69 npon me which is perhaps greater 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 certaiu. 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 sun 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 mean 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 ns 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 ?' 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' also 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. 70 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, or even withhold the mails from places where they were habit ually violated, would any or all of these things be ' invasion' or ' coercion ?' Do our professed lovers of the Union, but who spitefully resolve that they will resist coercion and invasion, un derstand that such things as these, on the part of the United 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 homceopathist would be much too large for it to swallow. In their view, the Union, as a family relation, would seem to bo no regular marriage, but rather a sort of ' free-love' arrangement, to be maintained on passional attraction. By the way, in what consists the special sacredness of a State ? I 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, iu a given case, should be equal in extent of territory and equal iu number of inhabitants, iu 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 what riffhtful 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 itself in the most arbitrary way ? What mysterious right to play tyrant is conferred on a district of country with its people, by merely 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, he 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 : _ " Fellow-citizens : I have spoken but once before this in Cin cinnati. That was a year previous to the late Presidential elec tion, (fa that occasion, in a playful manner, but with sincere words, I addressed much of what I said to the Kentuokians. I 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 exnected. LIFE AND 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. We 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, Jefterson, 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 claiin to have, aud 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 iuclination 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 npon 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 felt 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 depreciation. I still think I w.is 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 rights ?' 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 years' time. " Then 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 in every crowd through which I have passed of late, some allusion has beenmade 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 questions 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 npon matters which have not yet fully developed themselves. "The condition of the country, fellow-Citizens, isan extra ordinary one, and fills the mind of every patriot with anxiety and solicitude. My intention is to give this subject all the con sideration 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 hberties of the people or to the peace of the whole country. And, furthermore, wheu the time arrives for me to speak ou 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 ?s 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 as 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 this, and this 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 7-i LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, subject thoroughly, as I intend to do myself, looking to all the varied interests of the common country, so that, when the time for action arrives, adequate protection shall be extended to the coal and iron of Pennsylvania and the corn of Illinois. Permit me to express the hope that this important subject may receive such 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 his 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, aud not with any one man. It rests with you alone. This fact is strongly impressed on my inind at present. In a community like this, wnose 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. There are differences of opinion eveu here. You did uot 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 ? 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, where 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 -.—J am here to thank you briefly 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 iu 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, iu truth, to congrat ulate myself and company on that fact. It is true, \ye 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 the country 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 are tendered to me personally. They are tendered to the country, to the iustitutions of 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 difficulties. 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 individual 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 me 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 he was met by the Mayor, the City Councils, and the Legislative Committees, and was conducted to the Capitol, where he was welcomed by Governor Morgan, and responded briefly, as follows : "Governor Morgan: — I was pleased to receive an invitation to visit the capital of the great Empire 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 aud 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 notified 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, each mftn, in his own judgment, supposes he thereby best advances the interests of the whole country. And when 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 the 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 the LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 77 State of New York : — It is with feehngs of great diffidence, and, 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 stood in this chamber, and have spoken their thoughts, all crowd around my fancy, 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 yon 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 tho 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 difficult 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 State. For this, in behalf of the nation- — in behalf of the President and of the future of the nation — in behalf of the cause of civil liberty in 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. I deem that it is just to the country, to myself, to you, that I should see every thing, hear every thing, and 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 aud of the other, and of all sections of it. Jn 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 Ruler of the Universe, through the 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 upon this, and again thanking you, as I forever shall, in_my heart, for thia generous reception you have given me, I bid you farewell." Jit Albany, he was met by a delegation from the city authorities of New York, and on 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. Lincoln, in reply, said : " I am grateful for this cordial welcome, aud I am gratified that this immense multitude has come together, not to meet the individual man, but 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 other places, and, as here, by men of different parties, and not by one party alone. It shows an earnest effort on the part of all to save, not tho 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 happiest 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 sinking the ship iu consequence of defeat, but ai-e 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 the next time. That course is entirely right. 1 am not sure — Ido" not pretend to be sure — that in the selection of the individual who jias been elected this term, the 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 uot 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 great commercial city of New York. I cannot but remember that this is done by a people who do not, by a majority, agree with me in political sentiment. It is the more grateful, because in this I see that, for the great principles of our Government, the people are almost unanimous. In regard to the difficulties that confront us at this time, and of which your Honor has thought fit to speak so becomingly and so justly, as 1 suppose, I can only say that I agree in the sentiments expressed. In iny 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 lingly 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 which the Union itself was formed. I understand the ship to be made for the carrying and the preservation of the cargo, and so 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 tho 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 yon for the honorable recep tion of which I have been the object. I 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 Thirteen had more of the battle-fields of the country within 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, such a one as few of the younger members have ever seen, ' Weems' Life of Washington.' I remember all the accounts there giveu 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 Trenton, New Jersey. The crossing of the river — the contest with the Hessians — the great hardships en dured at that time^all fixed themselves on my memory more than any single revolutionary event; and you all know, for you have all been boys, how the^e early impressions last longer than any others. I recollect thinking then, boy even though I was, that there must have been something more than common that those men struggled for. \ 1 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 tim,e to come — I ajii S 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 the 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 this, His almost chosen people, for perpetuating the object of that great struggle You. give me this reception, as I understand, without distinction of party. I learn that this body is composed of a majority of gentlernen who, in the exercise of their best judgment in the choice ot 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 by 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 I have been greeted. I think little should be given to any man, but that it should be a manifestation of adherence to the Union 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. You, Mr. Speaker, have well said, that this is the time when the bravest and wisest look 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 ende.avor to take the ground I deem most just to the North, the East, the West, the South, and the whole country. I take it, I 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 ties. The man does not live who is more devoted to peace than 1 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 a Legislature, the majority of whom do not agree 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 Mayor 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 aftbrd you a clear discernment of their great interests. And, sir, it could not be other than grateful 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 been called upon to preside." Mr. Lincoln replied : " Mr. Mayor and Fellow-citizens qf 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 hot point us to any thing 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 your Mayor, that I may be able to restore peace, harmony, and pros perity to the country, is most worthy of him ; 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. Whether I will bring a head equal to that heart, will be for future times to determine. It were useless for me 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 hberty " 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 nlace. where were nnllnr-tprl flia nrio/lnn. ti,„ a.-:.? 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 hands is the task of restoring peace to the present distracted I condition of the country. I can say in return, sir, that all the political sentiments I entertain have been drawn, so far as I have been able to draw them, from the sentiments whfch 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 often pondered over the dangers which were incurred by the men who assembled here, and framed and adopted that Declaration of In dependence. I have pondered over the toils that were 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 be lifted from the shoulders of all men. This is a sentiment em bodied in the Declaration of Independence. Now, my friends, can this 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 was about to say I would rather be 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 the 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 t'o raise the flag. Mr. Lincoln responded in a brief speech, stating 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 happy 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 has 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. I thauk your great commonwealth for the overwhelming 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, perhaps we should say — that I, for the flrst 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 ceremonies at Philadelphia. Under the high conduct of gentlemen there, I was, for the first time, allowed the privilege of standing in Old Independence Hall, 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 this, our friends there had provided 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 AND 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 there 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 military 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 I 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 sincerely hope 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 vrise be brought about, it shall be through no fault of mine. Allusion has also been made by one of your honored speakers to some remafkrecently 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 that 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 Conmouwealth of Pennsylvania, allow me to return you again my most sincere thanks." PLOT TO ASSASSINATE HIM— HOW IT WAS THWARTED. Arrangements had been made for his departure from 86 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. Harrisburg on the following morning, but the discovery of a plot to assassinate him as he passed through Balti more — a plot in 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 exasperated at the failure of their nefarious designs, and pronouncing the movement an act of cowardice, solemnly declared that he should never 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, and to whom he made the following reply : ''Mr. Mayor: 1 thauk you, and through you the municipal authorities of this city who accompany you, for this welcome. And as It IS the first time m my life since the present phase of politics has presented Itself in this country, that I have said any thing publicly withm a region of country where the institu tion of slavery exists, I will take this occasion to say that I think very much of the ill-feeling that has existed, and still ex ists, between the people in the sections from whence I came and the people here, is dependent upon a misunderstanding- of one anotfier I therefore avail myself of this opportunitf to Zv^.T'.!'- ^'^°'"' "°1 ^" '^' ?«°«enian p^rLent, that I have not now, and never have had, any other than as kindly LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 87 feelings towards you as the people of my own section. I have not now, 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 constrained to withhold from my neighbors ; and I hope, in a word, that, when we shall become better acquainted, and I say it with great confidence, we shall like each other the more. I thank you for the kiudneps 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 wero 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 tho 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 disposed, if it were in our power, to oppress you, to deprive 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 yon, 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 this compliment, and expressing my desire to hear a little more of your good music, I bid you good-^ight." 88 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. IS INAUGURATED PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. On the fourth of March, 1861, Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated the Sixteenth President of the United Stales, 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 their friends might make to prevent the choice of a majority of the voters of the 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 ten thousand persons, Mr. Lincoln delivered the following Inaugural Address : INAUGURAL ADDRESS OF AERAHAM LINCOLN, "Fellow-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 Ee publican Administration, their property and their peace and personal security are to be endangered. There has never been any reasonable cause for 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, the;^ placed in the platform, for my acceptance, and as a law to themselves and to me, the clear and emphatic resolution which I now read : " 'Resolved, That the maintenance inviolate of the rights of LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 89 the States, and especially the right of each State to order and control its own domestic institutions according to its own judg ment exclusively, is essential to that balauce of power on which the perfection and endurance of our political fabric depend ; and we denounce the lawless invasion by armed force of the soil of aify State or Territory, no matter under what pretext, as among the gravest of crimes.' " I now reiterate these sentiments ; and in doing so I only press upon the 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 whatever cause, as cheerfully to one section as to another. " There is much contro^rsy 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, sh-all, in consequence of any law or regulation therein, be discharged from such service or labor, but shall 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 oue, 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 the several States?' 90 LIFE AKD SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. " I take the official oath to-day with no mental reservations, and with no purpose to construe the Constitution or laws by any hypercritical rules ; and 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. I hold that in the contemplation of universal law and of the Constitution, the Union of these States is perpetual. Perpetuity is implied, if not expi^ssed, 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? Oue party to a contract may violate it — break it, so to speak ; but does it not require all to lawfully rescind it? Descending from 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. " 'I'he Union is much older than the Constitution. It was formed, iu fact, by the Articles of Association in 1774. It waa 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 1787, one of the declared objects for ordaining and establishing the Constitution was to form a more perfect Union. But if the destruction of the Union by one or by a part only of the States be lawfully possible, the Uniou is less than before, the Constitution having lost the vital element of perpptuity. " It follows from these views that no State, upon its own me-e motion, can lawfully get out of the Union ; that resolves and ordinances to that effect are legally void ;¦ 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 circumstances. "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 expressly enjoins upon me, that the laws of the Uuion 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. " The power confided to me will be used to hold, occupy, and possess 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 offices, 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 tho 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 uses 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. " The 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 such, I need address no word to them. "To those, however, who really love the Union, may I not speak, 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 memories, and its hopes? Would it uot 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 couteat in the Union if all constitutional rights can 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 ot 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-writteu 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 and 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 administration. 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 iu 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 and 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 iu such a case will secede rather than acquiesce, they make a precedent which in turn will ruin 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, arbitarily secede again, precisely as portions of the present Union now claim to secede from it? All who cherish disunion sentiments 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 anarchy. "A majority held in restraint by constitutional check and limitations, and always changing easily with deliberate changes of popular opinions and sentiments, is the only true sovereign of LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 93 a free people. Whoever reject it, does, of necessity, fly to an archy oi»to despotism. Unanimity 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 instant 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 ; aud 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, after the separation of the sections, thau 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 remove our respective sections from each other, nor build an impassable wall between them. A husband and wife 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 lace to face j and intercourse, either amicable or 94 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. ^ostile, 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 fight always ; and when, after much loss on both sides, and no gain on 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 inhabit 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. I 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 full authority of the people over the whole subject, to be exercised in either of the modes pre scribed in the instrument itself, and I should, under existing circumstances, favor, rather than oppose, a fair opportunity being afforded 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 upou him to fix the terms for the separation of the States. The people themselves, also, can do 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 coufidencf in the ultimate justice of the people ? Is there any better or equal hope in the world ? In our present differences, is either party without faith of being in the right ? If the Almighty Jluler of nations, with his eternal truth and justice, be ou 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 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 95 the American people. By the frame of the government under which we live, this same people have wisely given their public servants but little power for mischief, and have, with equal wis dom, provided for the return of that Uttle 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 npon 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 dissatisfied 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 difficulties. " In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. The government will not assail yon. " 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 affection. " 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 angels of our nature." Chief Justice Taney then . administered the oath of Poffice, and President Lincoln left the Capitol for the White House, where he held a public reception. PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S INTERVIEW WITH THE VIRGINIA COMMISSIONERS. On the 13th of April, 1861, Messrs. Preston Stuart and 9& 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 aud 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 interests 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, " 'Resolved, That a committee of three delegates bf 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 tho Federal Executive intends to pursue iu 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 u.5ed to hold, occupy, and possess property and places belonging to the Gov ernment, aud 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, !)e 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 me, an* in any event I shall, to the best of my ability, repel force by force. In case it proves true that Fort Sumter has been assaulted, as is reported, I shall, perhaps, cause the United States mails to be withdrawn from all the States which claim to have seceded, beheving 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 much as they did before the supposed secession. Whatever 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 the 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 now say of the mails may be regarded as a modification." Two days later the following proclamation was issued : THE FIRST CALL FOR TROOPS.— CONGRESS 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, Louisiana, 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 States, 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 Union to the aggregate num ber of 75,000, in order to suppress said combinations and to cause the laws to be duly executed. " The 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, aud existence of our na tional Union, and the perpetuity of popular government, and to redress wrongs already long enough endured. I deem it proper to say that the first service assigned to the forces hereby called forth, will probably be to repossess the forts, places, and property which have been seized from the Union ; and in every event tha utmost care will be observed, consistently with the objects afore said, to avoid any devastation, any destruction of, or interference with property, or any dislmrbance of peaceful citizens of any part of the country; and I hereby command the persons com 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 public affairs presents an extraordinary occasion, I do hereby, in virtue of the power in me vested by the Constitution, convene both Houses of Con- 98 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. gress. The Senators and Representatives are, therefore, sum moned to assemble at their respective chambers at twelve o'clock, 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. " Done at the City of Washington, this fifteenth 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 eighy- flfth. " 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 were placed in position. The excite ment was 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 indifferent to the scenes which were in progress im mediately around him, the President issued the following Proclamation, ordering a blockade of the Southern ports : A BLOCKADE OF SOUTHERN PORTS ORDERED. " Whereas, An insurrection against the Government of the 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 uniform throughout the United States. "And whereas, A combination of persons, engaged in such insurrection, have threatened to grant pretended letters of marque to authorize the bearers thereof to commit assaults on the lives, vessels, and property of good citizens of the country lawfully engaged in commerce on the high seas, and in waters of the United States. LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 99 "And whereas, An Executive Proclamation has been already issued, requiring the persons engaged in these 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, 1, Abraham Lincoln, President of tha United States, with a view to the same purpose before men tioned, and to the protection of the public peace, and the lives and property of quiet and orderly citizens pursuing their 1-iwful occupations, until Congress shall have assembled and de liberated on tlie 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 tha 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 again attempt to enter or leave the blockaded port, she will be cap tured 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 State. "Washington, April Idth, 1861." THE PRESIDENT'S COMMUNICATION WITH THE MARYLAND AUTHORITIES. 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 : " Gentlemen :— 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 mu.st be brought here, but I make no point of bringing them through Baltimore. 100 -tlFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. " Without any military knowledge 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 sider this practical and proper, and that you will not object to it. By this a collision of the people of Baltimore with the troops will be avoided, unless they go out of the way to seek it. I hope you will exert your 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. He admitted the excited state of feeling in Baltimore, and his desire and duty to avoid the fatal consequences of a collision with the people. He 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 purposes hostile to the State, or aggressive as against the Southern States. Being now unable to bring them up the Potomac in secc suppression of the Rebellion, in full reliance upon the self-sacrifice. Ihe patriotism, the heroic valor, and the undying devotion of tiio American people to their country and its free in?titutii)iis. "Resolved, That, as Slavery was the canse. and now constitutes the strength, of this rebellion, and as it must be always and everywhere ho=:tilc 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 deatti-blow at this gigan tic evil. We are in favor, furthermore, of snch 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, aud unswerving fidefity to the Constitution and the principles of American liberty, with which Abraham Lincoln has discharged, under circumstances of un paralleled difficulty, the great duties and responsibilities of the presidential office ; 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 Emancipation, and the employment as Union soldiers of men 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." ist LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABR.VHAM LINCOLN. On the 29th of August of the same year, the Democratic Convention met at Chicago, and nominated George B. MeClellau and George H. Pendleton as its banner bearers. General McClellaQ being named for the Presidency and Mr. Pendleton for tho Vice-presidency. The platform of tlie 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 the 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 p:irt. and publ,--, liberty and private right alike trodden down, and the material prosperity of the country essentially impaired ; justice, humanity, liberty, and tho public welfare, demand that immediate efforts be made for a cess'iliou of hostilities, with a view to au 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, iu 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 pro.aecution 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 a*? 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 democrucy denounced the platform in unmeasured terms. To use an expression of General McClellan's, the cam paign was " short, sharp, aud decisive," and the candidates of both parties came iu for a liberal share of abuse and ridicule. LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 185 PRESIDENT LINCOLN VISITS PHILADELPHIA. A series of monster fairs was held, iu 1864, in the prin cipal cities of the Union, for the purpose of aiding the funds of the United States Sanitary Commission. Philadelphia held her great fair in .lune, and on the sixteenth of the month, 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 fe.itures 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 : " AVar. at the best, is terrible, and this war of ours, in its magnitude aud its duration, is one of the most terrible. It has deranged bu.siness, 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, 3 worthy object, and the war will end when that object is attained. Under God, I hope it never will until that time. [Great cheering.] Speaking of the present campaign. Gen. Grant is reported to have said, ' I am go ing through on this fine if it takes all summer 1' [Che'ers.] This war has taken three years ; it was begun, or accepted, upou the line of restoring the national authority over the whole na tional domain — and for the American people, as far as my know ledge enables me to speak, I say, we are going through on this line if it takes three years more. [Cheers.] My friends, I did not know 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. [Laughter.] 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 Grant is this evening, with Gen. Meade and Gen. Hancock, of Pennsylvania, and the brave officers and soldiers with him, in a position froxu 186 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. whence he will never be dislodged until Richmond is taken, [loud cheering], and I have but one single proposition to put now, and perhaps I can best put it in the form of an interroga tory. If 1 shall discover that Gen. Grant, and the noble officers 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, I say, stand ready, for 1 am waiting for the chance. [Laughter and cheers.] I thank you, gentlemen." The hint given by the President in his speech, was un derstood when a call was made the following month for 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 his plans. But the following manifesto issued by him overturned all those hopes : LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 187 "Executive Masion, Washington, July 18, 1864. — To whom it may concern,: Any proposition which embraces the restora tion of peace, the integrity of the Union, and the abandonment of slavery, and which comes by and with authority that can control the armies now at war against the United States, will be received and considered by the Executive Government of the United States, and will be met by liberal terms on other substantial and collateral points, and the bearers thereof shall have safe conduct both ways. Abraham Lincoln." Mr. Clay and Mr. Holcombe, 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 PALL 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. BIR. 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 endorsement of the 188 LIFE AND SERVICiSS OF 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 Presi dent was serenaded by a club of Pennsylvanians, who notified him of the fact of bis being the choice of the people for a second term. He responded as follows : "Friends anb Fellow- Citizens : Even before I had been in formed by you that this compliment was paid me by loyal citizens of Pennsylvania friendly to me, I had inferred that you were of that portion of my countrymen who think that the best 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 has 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 behalf 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 while deeply grateful for this mark of their confidence in me, if I know 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 people's resolution to stand by free government and the rights of hmnanity LAST ANNUAL MESSAGE OP MR. LINCOLN. On the sixth of December, 1864, Mr. Lincoln 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 strated the strength of the people and their devotion to the cause of the Union, he said : LIFE AND SKHVICICS OT ABilAHAM LINCOLN. ISO " 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. He would accept nothing short of severance of the Union — precisely \Ahat 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 re- accept the Union. ^Ve 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-acccpt the Union, they can. * * * * In presenting the abandonment of armed resistance to the National authority, en the part of the insurgents, as the only indispensable condition to ending the war on the part of tho 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 atteinjit 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. If the people should, by whatever mode or means, make it an Executive duty to re- enslave such persons, another, and not I, must be 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 those who began it." MORE TROOPS WANTED. On the 19th of December, 1864, a call was made for 300,000 more men to finish up the great work on hand in the field. MR. LINCOLN HAS AN INTERVIEW WITH REBEL COMMISSIONERS. In the early part of February, 1865, application was made to the National Government for permission for Messrs. A. H. Stephens of Georgia, R. M. T. Hunter of Virginia, and J. A. Campbell of Alabama, to pass through the Union lines as quasi commissioners from the rebel 190 LIFE AND 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 laud. This determination upon the part of the Federal authorities caused much annoyance to the rebel agents, as they made no isccret of their desire {¦> 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 Ihei-r 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 or wishes, but as the condition which their government had made absolutely indispensable to any negotiations or dis cussions whatever concerning peace. LIFE AND SERVICES 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 tho 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 difference. 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. PRESIDENT LINCOLN GOES TO "THE FRONT." On the 24th of March, 1865, Mr. Lincoln went to "the front," just as the lines of General Grant were being drawn tighter and tighter around Richmond. He witnessed a part of the assault upon Petersburg, and was at City Point when Richmond fell into the possession of the Federal forces 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 192 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABR.VH.AM LINCOLN. GENERAL LEE SURRENDERS. The fall of Richmond 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 G. S. — ^In accordance with the substance of my letter to you of the Sth inst., I propose to receive the surrender of the army of Northern Virginia on the following terras, 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 until 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 wiU 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 tlieir parole and the laws in force were they may reside. " Very Respectfully, " U. S. Grant, " Lieutenant-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 11th of April, 1865, there was high rejoicing at the National Capital. The public buildings were illuminated at night, in honor of the great victories of the Unioa arras, 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 OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 193 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 surrender 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 take 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 I 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, every 12 194 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 vevbal, and not a single objection to it, from any professed emancipationist, came to my knowledge until after the news reached Washington that the people of Louis iana had begun to move in accordance with it. From about July, 1862, 1 had corresponded with different persons supposed to be interested in seeking a reconstruction of a State Govern 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 them 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 the 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 without 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. 1 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 govermnent, as it stands, is quite all that is desirable. The C|uestion 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 ? bome twelve thousand voters in tlie heretofore slave State of Louisiana have sworn allegiance to the Union, assumed to be the rightful political power of the State, held LIFE AND SERVICF.S OF .ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 195 elections, organized a State government, adopted a Free State constitution, giving the benefit of public schools equally to bl-.ick and white, and empowering the legislature to confer the elective franchise upon the I'.oloredman. This Legislature has already voted to ratify the constitutional amendment recently passed by Congress, abolishing slavery throughout the nation. These twelve thousand persnis are thus fully committed to the Union and to perpetuate freedom in the State ; committed to the very things, and nearly uU 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 unable 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 running backward over them ? Concede that the new government of Louisiana is to what it should be as the egg is to the fowl, we shall sooner have the fowl by hatching the egg than by smashing it. rLaughter.l"¦s* * * * * * * "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 tho 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 portant principles may and must be inflexible. In the present situation, as the phrase goes, it may be my duty to make some 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." 196 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. PRESIDENT LINCOLN ASSASSINATED. The Fourteenth of April, 1865, will ever be a memorable day in the annals of Amt"ica. It was the anniversary of the evacuation of Fort Sumter, in Charles ton harbor, by Major (now General) Anderson, four years before, and uj-on that day the old flag was formally re stored. The masterly combinations of General Grant had circumscribed the territory of rebellion to very contracted limits. Sherman's wonderful march through Georgia, from Atlanta to the sea-board, and then north through South Carolina, had given us possession of the most im portant poinis inland ; while Savannah, Charleston, Col umbia, Wilmington, Petersburg and, finally, Richmond itself, were added to the acquisitions resulting from the splendid generalship of Grant, Sherman, and Sheridan. Lee had surrendered. Jefferson Davis and his bogus government were fugitives, and even Mobile had succumbed to. the national authority, although intelligence of the fact had not . yet reached the seat of government. There were rejoicings every where in the loyal North. The Federal authorities had put a sudden stop to the draft and to re cruiting, and the war was considered virtually at an end ; only the dying embers of rebellion remaining to be trampled out by the victorious generals of the republic. President Lincoln had returned home to Washington from his visit to the subjugated capital of rebellion, and he had dated a dispatch from the residence of the fugitive arch- traitor Davis. All was joy and happiness, which was demonstrated by illuminations, displays of flags, addresses, etc. But a terrible blow was in store for the nation, and it came like a tliunder-clap from a clear sky upon the ears of the astounded people The President and ' meral Grant had been invited to attend Ford's theatre i Washington, on the evening of LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 197 the fourteenth, and both had accepted the invitation. General Grant was called off North, and left Washington during the evening. The President good-naturedly attended the theatre lest the audience might be entirely (li.siippointed, in consequence of General Grant's absence, and Mrs. Lincoln acconipi;uied her illustrious husbaiul. About ten o'clock in the evening, while the play, "Our Americiiu Cou.sin," was progressing, a stranger worked his way iuto ilio proscenium box occupied by the presi dential iiarty, and leveling a pistol close behind the head of .Mr. Lincoln, he fired, and the ball was lodged deep in tb.e brain of the President. The assassin then drew a dirk, aud cutting right and loft with it, he sprang from the box, fiourij^hiug the weupon aloft, and shouted as he reached the stage the moito upon the escutcheon of the Stale of "^'irgiiiia, " Sic Semper Tijranni.s!" The miscreant dashed across the stage, and before the audience or the actors could recover from their amazement and bewilder ment, or realize the real position of afiairs, the murderer had mounted a fleet horse iu waiting in an alley in the rear of the theatre, and galloping oft', he escaped for a time. The excitement growing out of the tragic event may be imagined. In the midst of the uproar and confusion, the wounded President was borne to a dwelling in the vicinity, where he lingered in an unconscious condition until twenty-two minutes past seven o'clock on the morn ing of the I5th, when he died. Vice-President Andrew Johnson, of Tennessee, became President of the United States upon the death of Mr. Lincoln, by the provisions of the Constitution. At about the same time that the fatal bullet was sped at the life of the foremost man of the nation, an attempt was made to murder Mr. William H. Seward, Secretary of State, and his son Frederick, the Assistant Secretary of State. The Secretary had been seriously hurt by 198 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. leaping from his carriage while being ran away with by his frightened horses, and he was lying in a precarious condition at his home, when a ruffiau, who had obtained access to the house by fraud, burst into the sick chamber, stabbing the Secretary in the throat, and infiicting severe wounds upon his son Frederick and others of his attend ants. The assassin escaped at the time, riding off upon a horse, like the murderer of the President, but he was subsequently secured. 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 the tragic and dramatic manner described. He was of course acting in collusion with the assassin who attempted the lives of the Seward family. WHAT BECAME OP BOOTH. 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 that he was in this locality, and parties of cavalry finally closed in around him, so as to compel him to beat a retreat. He worked his way across the Potomac and Rappahannock rivers into Virginia, and on the morning of the 26th of April, 1865, a parly of Colonel Baker's cavalry, under command of Lieutenant Dougherty, traced him to a barn on the farm of Henry Garrett, between Bowling Green and Port Royal, and near Fredericksburg, where, with an accomplice named David C. Harrold, he was concealed. The cavalry surrounded the barn, and called upon the lar J AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 199 fugitives to surrender. Upon their refusing to do so, the barn was set on fire, in the rear, and Harrold, coming out, gave himself up as a prisoner. Booth refused to surrender, and after theatrically challenging the lieutenant and the entire party of cavalrymen to combat, he prepared to fire among them. Sergeant Boston Corbett immediately leveled his piece and fired, shooting the wretched asssassin in the head, and causing much such a wound as Booth had inflicted upon the President less than two weeks before. Booth lived for two or three hours after receiving his wound. The body of the murderer, with the person of Harrold, was at once removed to Washington. THE FOURTEENTH OP APRIL, 1865. As everything pertaining to the last hours of the late President must be interesting to the public, the following incidents of the last day of his life will not be deficient in interest. His son, Capt. Robert Lincoln, breakfasted with him on Friday morning, having just returned from the capitu lation of Lee, and the President passed a happy hour listening to all the details. While at breakfast he heard that Speaker Colfax was in the house, and sent word that he wished to see him immediately in the reception-room. He conversed with him nearly an hour about his future policy as to the rebellion, which he was about to submit to the Cabinet. Afterwards he had an interview with Mr. Hale, Minister to Spain, and several Senators and Representatives. At eleven o'clock, the Cabinet and Gen. Grant met with bim, and in one of the most satis factory and important Cabinet meetings held since his first inauguration, the future policy of the administration was harmoniously and unanimously agreed on. When it adjourned. Secretary Stanton said he felt that the govern ment was stronger than at any previous period since the rebellion commenced. In the afternoon the President had 200 LIFE AND SERVICK,3 OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. a long and pleasant interview with Gen. Oglesby, Senator Yates, and other leading citizens of his State. In the evening, Mr. Colfax called again, at his request, and Mr. Ashmun, of Massachusetts, who presided over the Chicago Convention of I860, was present. To them he spoke of his visit to Richmond; and when they stated that there was much uneasiness at the North while he was at the rebel capital, for fear that some traitor might shoot him, he replied, jocularly, that he would have been alarmed himself if any other person had been President and gone there, but that he did not feel any danger what ever. Conversing on a matter of business with Mr. Ashmun, he made a remark that he saw Mr. Ashmun was surprised at, and immediately, with his well-known kindness of heart, said — "You did not understand me, Ashmun, I did not mean what you inferred, and I will take it all back and apologize for it." He afterward gave Mr. Ashmun a card to admit himself and friend early the next morning, to converse further about it. Turning to Mr. Colfax, he said — " You are going with Mrs. Lincoln and me to the theatre, I hope ?" But Mr. Colfax had other engagements, expecting to leave the city the next morning. He then said to Mr. Colfax — " Mr. Sumner has the gavel of the Confederate Congress,- which he got at Richmond to hand to the Secretary of War. But I insisted then that he must give it to you ; and you tell him for me to baud it over." Mr. Ashmun alluded to the gavel which he still had, and which he bad u.sed at the Chicago Convention ; and the President and Mrs. Lincoln, •who was also in the parlor, rose to go to the theatre. It was half an hour after the time they had intended to start, and they spoke about waiting half an hour longer, for the President went with reluctance. At the door he stopped, and said — "Colfax, do not forget to tell the people in the mining regions, as you pass through them, LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 201 what I told you this morning, about the development when peace comes, and I will telegraph you at San Francisco." He shook hands with both gentlemen, with a pleasant good-bye, and left the Executive mansion never to return to it alive. THE EFFECT OF MR. LINCOLN'S DEATH. Never, since the demise of Washington, was there so profound a sensation as that caused by the murder of President Lincoln. The telegraph conveyed the sad tidings to the remotest part of the continent, and before noon of the fifteenth, the nation was in tears from the Potomac to the Aroostook, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific. By common consent all business was suspended, and while the merchants of Philadelphia, New York and Boston, were closing their stores and draping their dwell ings in the habiliments of mourning, the people of San Francisco were discussing the sad tidings and doing funeral honors to the Martyr-President. The people and authorities of the British Provinces of Canada, also signified their deep regret at the tragic event that had thrown the loyal States in tears ; while, in the rebel States, the act of tho assassin was spoken of by many with horror and detestation. The funeral of Mr. Lincoln took place at Washington, on Wednesday, the I9th of April, 1865. It was attended by the highest civil and military dignitaries, and by the representatives of foreign governments. The remains were placed in'the rotunda of the capitol, where they lay in state until the 21st, when they were started upon their inoarnful journey to Springfield, Illinois. They were taken to the western home of the deceased President by the route he pursued while on his way from the West to Washington. Baltimore, Harrisburg, Philadelphia, New York, Albany, Buffalo, Cleveland, Columbus, Indianapolis and Chicago were visited, in the order named, and at each 202 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. place there were extraordinary demonstrations of respect and sorrow, reaching Springfield on May 3d, where the remains laid in state in the hall of the House of Repre sentatives, until May 4th, when the final funeral took place. At each place there were magnificent obsequies, the body lay in state, and scores of thousands of citizen.s crowded to see the remains of their beloved Chief Mag istrate, upon whom treason had done its worst. A SUMMARY. We have now traced the life of Abraham Lincoln from the time he first saw the light in the humble cabin of his father in the wilds of Kentucky, in 1809, down to the hour that he gasped his last breath in the dwelling in Washington city, to which he was conveyed after the assassin Booth had struck his murderous blow. We have seen how the flat-boatman and the 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 opposition until the false and the wrong were forced to yield to the true and the just. We have seen a grand illustration of the prac tical 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 Par thian arrow to the murdering of the most illustrious citizen of the republic. " An eagle, tow'ring in his pride of place. Was by a mousing owl hawked at and killed." But the principles ennunciated and struggled for by Abraham Lincoln are as imperishable as truth itself, and LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 203 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 great reforms, of which he was the instrument in the hands of Providence, and to American youth the influencce of his grand example. THE END. YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY Gift of STUART W. JACKSON Yale 1898 t . f (1 * -^ f¥ i \ i k 1 1 , ' ;l '^ s 'II i 1 ',4 I it', fl'.'i;-'! ' i 'I'll! ';[.^:;!'J5TH ?-':-'! 'ill I 'llill ^i