"Ll E> RARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS -0-1096 THE LINCOLN MEMORIAL: ALBUM-IMMORTELLES. ORIGINAL LIFE PICTURES, WITH AUTOGRAPHS, FROM THE HANDS AND HEARTS OF EMINENT AMERICANS AND EUROPEANS, CONTEMPORARIES OF THE GREAT MARTYR TO LIBERTY, Cincoln. TOGETHER WITH EXTRACTS FROM HIS SPEECHES, LETTERS AND SAYINGS, COLLECTED AND EDITED OSBORN H. OLDROYD. WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY MATTHEW SIMPSON, D.D., LL.D., AND A SKETCH OF THE PATRIOTS LIFE BY HON. ISAAC N. ARNOLD. NEW YORK: G. W. Carleton & Co., Publishers. LONDON : S. LOW, SON & CO. MDCCCLXXXIII. ISOLD ONLY BY SUBSCRIPTION.} COPYRIGHT, ^ OSBORN H. OLDROYD. 1882. i Stereotyped by TROW SAMUBii STODDKB, pRiNrmo AND BOOK-BINDINO Co^ flO ANN STREET, H. Y. N. Y. * TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE, THESE LITERARY IMMORTELLES TO ABRAHAM LINCOLN, THE PRESIDENT WHO ROSE FROM THE RANKS OF THE PLAIN PEOPLE; THE PATRIOT WHO GAVE HIS LIFE FOR HIS COUNTRY; AND THE LIBERATOR WHO BOUND UP THE UNION, AND UNBOUND THE SLAVES, ARE U- PREFACE. IN offering this volume to the public a few words from the editor may not seem out of place. On the fifteenth day of April, 1880, I was standing near the monument of Abraham Lincoln, waiting for the Lincoln Guard of Honor to begin their first memorial service on the fifteenth anniversary of the death of Abraham Lincoln. The gathering was a small one, it being only about twenty-two minutes after seven o'clock in the morning. As I gazed on the pinnacle of the towering shaft, that marks the resting-place of him whom I had learned to love in my boyhood's years, when, in the spirited campaign of 1860, " Old Abe" was the watchword of every Republican, I fell to wondering whether it might not be possible for me to contribute my mite toward adding luster to the fame of this great product of American institutions. I had begun as early as 1860 to collect trophies from his campaign, and had ever since then carefully preserved every article I could secure that related in any way to his memory. The first thought that came into my mind, as I stood looking at that noble monument, was that of building a Memorial Hall in which to preserve the memorials I then possessed and those which I might subsequently secure, and I then and there adopted this plan. I have con- tinued up to this time to gather Lincoln mementos, and have now in my possession nearly two thousand books, sermons, eulogies, poems, songs, portraits, badges, autograph letters, pins, medals, envelopes, statuettes, w vi PREFACE, etc., etc. The fact is, I have collected everything I could find sacred to Lincoln's memory, from a newspaper scrap to his large cook-stove and other household articles. I desire here to thank the many friends to whom I am under obligations for valuable contributions. I have the promise of several more, that will be sent me in due time, and I shall always be thankful for any Lincoln relic sent me, no matter how trifling it may seem to the owner. The accumulation of Lincoln relics induced me to collect the opinions of the great men of the world in regard to the noble martyr, in order to demonstrate how universally Mr. Lincoln was beloved and respected. Letters were sent to distinguished persons East and West, North and South in our country, as well as to persons in England, requesting them to express their estimate of Lincoln's public and private character and of his ser- vices ; and the more than two hundred responses to be found in this volume, over the fac-simzles of the writer's names, shows the unexpected success I met with in this effort. Their publication in book form, together with the other reminiscences of Lincoln found in this volume, will, I have no doubt, be approved by the public. It has been my purpose to produce a work the contents of which might in some degree shed luster on the name of the immortal emancipator, and the external appearance of which might be an ornament in any house or library. How far I have succeeded in attaining the goal of my ambition, of this a generous public will have to judge. Surely the gathering of the material for this volume has been the greatest pleasure of my life. It has been a source of profound gratification to me, not only to receive the many tributes of great men's thoughts upon the life and character of Lincoln, but also to visit the old friends of his boyhood and listen to their simple and unvarnished stories illustrating the goodness of his heart. What a noble example was his whole life ! I have often thought what a beautiful book for boys might be made out of the boyhood of Lincoln if the past were collected PREFACE. vii and properly presented. All the friends of his youth whom I have seen give testimony of the purity and nobleness of his character ; they say he always wanted tc see fair play and that he was honest and upright in all things. He found great delight in helping any one in need. An old friend of Mr. Lincoln's, now living in Petersburg, 111., told me how he at one time was build- ing a house and was unable to make a brace fit. Mr. Lincoln happened to come that way, and the former said to him that if he would cut him a brace he would vote for him the first time he ran for President. Lincoln took a slate and pencil, and after getting the distance between the joists, he estimated its dimensions, made a pattern and the brace slipped in, a perfect fit. " I did not vote for Lincoln," added the man who related the story, " as I promised to do, but I have regretted it ever since." Few better examples of industry could be furnished to young men than the life of Lincoln. He was always as busy as a bee. He always carried some good book in his pocket, and when not otherwise engaged he would read, and was usually seen reading when going to and from his work. It is hoped that the sketch of Lincoln given in this work, the many extracts from his speeches, and the numerous thoughts and utterances in reference to his life and character by the foremost men of our time may be made accessible to the youth of our land, in order that thus many a young heart may be stimulated to industry, honesty, goodness and patriotism, and may find encouragement for higher aspirations and good deeds. The names of some persons will be missed in this work by many of the readers. In reference to this I have only to say that the fault is not mine. For some reason or other they did not respond to my urgent solicitations. It now remains to me to express my most hearty thanks to all those persons who have so kindly aided me in the preparation of this volume. I am particularly indebted for their special interest to Rev. Matthew Simpson, Hon. I. N. Arnold, Prof. Rasmus B viii PREFACE. Anderson, Benson J. Lossing. LL.D., Rev. Theo. L. Cuyler, T. W. S. Kidd, Joshua F. Speed, Joseph Gilles- pie and Jesse W. Fell. Their generous assistance has been a great comfort and help to me. All I ask is that with the sale of this book I may realize some funds with which to build a Memorial Hal), where I may display to the public, free of charge, my life work in the collection of memorials and souvenirs of Abraham Lincoln, which will in due time be bequeathed to the public. I am aware that there are many imperfections in all human enterprises, and am not blind to the faults of this work, but I can truly say that it has not been under- taken for the purpose of making money, but solely as an outcome of my enthusiasm and reverence for its great hero. I have spared neither pains nor expense, and, in view of this fact, it may not seem immodest if I bespeak for my effort the generosity of the critic and the liberality of the public. a SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS, JULY, 1882. GENERAL CONTENTS. PAGI AUTHOR'S PREFACE, 5 INDEX TO THE WRITINGS AND SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, . . . 11 LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS, 15 INTRODUCTION BY BISHOP SIMPSON, 23 LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, BY ISAAC N. ARNOLD, . 29 MISCELLANEOUS, 70 INDEX TO THE WRITINGS, SPEECHES AND SAYINGS BY 3lbraf)am Ctncoln. First Political Speech when a Candidate for the Illinois Legislature in 1832 . . . . . . . .76 Extract from a speech delivered December, 1839 ... 78 Resolutions upon slavery in the Illinois Legislature . . 80 An address before the Springfield Washingtonian Temper- ance Society, February 22, 1842 ..... 84 Speech at Peoria, Illinois, October 16, 1854 .... 98 Extract from a speech at Springfield, Illinois, June 26, 1857 100 Letter to Hon. Stephen A. Douglas ..... 102 Extract from a speech at Springfield, Illinois, June 17, 1858 . 106 Extract from a speech at Chicago, Illinois, July 10, 1858 . 108 Extract from a speech delivered at Springfield, Illinois, July 17, 1858 112 Extract from a speech at Ottawa, Illinois, August 21, 1858 . 114 Extract from a speech at Freeport, Illinois, August 27, 1858. 116 Extract from a speech at Galesburg, Illinois, October 7, 1858 i?o Extract from a speech at Quincy, Illinois, October 13, 1858 . 124 Speech at Alton, Illinois, October 15, 1858 . . . 130 Extract from a speech at Columbus, Ohio, September, 1859 132 Extract from a speech at Cincinnati, Ohio, September, 1859 134 [xi] xii INDEX. PAGE Extract from a speech at Jonesboro, Illinois, September 15 1858 : 138 Extract from an address at Cooper Institute, February 27, 1860. 140 Address to the citizens of Springfield, on his departure for Washington, February u, 1861 142 Letter of Acceptance 148 Speech at Toledo, Ohio ... .... 150 Speech at Indianapolis, Indiana 152 Speech to the members of the Legislature of Indiana, who waited upon him at his hotel 158 Speech at Cincinnati, Ohio ....... 160 Speech to the Ohio State Senate 162 Speech at Steubenville, Ohio ...... 164 Speech at Pittsburgh, Pa 166 Speech at Cleveland, Ohio ....... 168 Speech at Buffalo, N. Y. 170 Speech at Syracuse, N. Y. , . . . . . .174 Speech at Utica, N. Y 176 Speech from the steps of the Capitol, Albany, N. Y. . 178 Speech in the Assembly Hall at Albany, N. Y. . . . 180 Speech at Poughkeepsie, N. Y 182 Speech at Peekskill, N. Y 184 Reply to the Mayor of New York ..... 186 Speech to various Republican Associations, New York. . 192 Speech at Newark, New Jersey. . ... 194 Speech in the Senate Chamber, Trenton, New Jersey . . 196 Speech at Trenton, New Jersey, delivered in the House of Assembly. . . 198 Address to the Mayor and Citizens of Philadelphia. .. . 200 Speech in Independence Hall, at Philadelphia. . . . 202 Speech before Independence Hall, Philadelphia, Feb.. 1861 204 Speech at Lancaster, Pennsylvania 206 Speech before the Legislature of Pennsylvania, at Harris- burg, February 22, 1861. . . . . . . . 208 Speech to the Mayor and Common Council of Washington 210 Proclamation, April 15, 1861 . . . . .212 INDEX. xiii PAOB Reply to Governor Hicks and Mayor Brown. . . .216 Message to Congress, in extra session, July 4, 1861 . 222 Personal Conference with the Representatives from the Bor- der States . . . . . . . . .224 Reply to Horace Greeley . . . . . . .226 Reply to a Religious Delegation 228 First Inaugural Address 230 Abolishing Slavery in the District of Columbia . . . 234 First Annual Message to Congress, December 3, 1861 . 236 Proclamation, relative to General Hunter's order declaring slaves within his department free ..... 244 Reading the Emancipation Proclamation to his Cabinet, September 22, 1862 . . . ... . . . 246 Reply to the Resolutions of the East Baltimore Methodist Conference of 1862 . . . . . . . 248 To the Synod of Old School Presbyterians, Baltimore. . 254 Reply to the Committee of the Lutheran Synod of 1862 . 256 Second Annual Message to Congress, December i, 1862 . 258 Emancipation Proclamation, January i, 1863. . . . 262 Reply to an invitation to preside over a meeting of the Christian Commission ....... 266 Reply to address from workingmen, Manchester, England 268 Remarks made to some friends New Year's evening, 1863 . 270 From the letter to Erastus Corning and others . . . 272 Response to a serenade . . 278 The President's Dispatch 280 Proclamation 282 Reply to a Committee of the Presbyterian Church . . 284 Letter to General Grant ,288 A Proclamation, July 15, 1863 . . . . . . 290 Presentation of a Commission as Lieutenant-General to U. S. Grant 292 Letter to James C. Conkling 294 Reply to the letter of Governor Seymour, of New York . 296 Address on the Battle-Field of Gettysburg .... 298 Third Annual Message to Congress .... 300 Speech at a Ladies' Fair in Washington . . . .310 xiv INDEX. PA61 Letter to A. G. Hodges 312 Speech at the opening of a Fair in Baltimore, April, 1864 . 314 Reply to a Committee from the Methodist Conference . . 316 Response to a delegation of the National Union League . 318 Speech at the Philadelphia Fair 320 From his Letter of Acceptance 322 Saving a Life 324 To whom it may concern 324 Speech to a serenading club of Pennsylvanians . . . 326 Address to the Political Clubs 332 Interview with a gentleman ....* 334 Letter to Mrs. Eliza P. Gurney - 338 Reply to a committee of loyal colored people of Baltimore 340 Remarks to the iSQth New York Regiment .... 342 Speech to the i64th Ohio 344 Reply to a company of clergymen 346 Speech to the i48th Ohio regiment 354 Remarks to a serenading party at the White House . . 356 Observance of the Sabbath 358 Letter to Mrs. Bixby, of Boston ...... 360 Remarks to a delegation from Ohio ..... 362 Fourth Annual Message to Congress, December 6th, 1864 . 364 Reply to an Illinois clergyman 366 Instructions to Wrri. H. Seward, at the Meeting of Messrs. Stevens, Hunter and Campbell, at Fortress Monroe, Va. 368 Second Inaugural Address, delivered March 3, 1865 . . 370 Remarks upon the fall of Richmond 372 A Verbal Message given to Hon. Schuyler Colfax . . 374 Remark previous to attending the theater on the night of his assassination 375 Fac-simile of the play-bill at Ford's Theater on the night of April 14, 1865 376 Fac-simile Letter to J. W. Fell, 1859 479 Autobiography of Abraham Lincoln, in Fac-Simile . , 480 ALPHABETICAL LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS PAGH Arnold, Isaac N., Author 29 Anderson, Rasmus B., Author ^ . . 77 Ayres, R. B., Major-General 79 Abbott, Lyman, Author and Divine 81 Adams, Charles Francis, ex-Min. to England . . 83 Arthur, T. S., Author 99 Affleck, W. B., Lecturer 123 Allyn, Robert, Professor . . . . . .139 Andrews, Israel Ward, College President . . . 388 Avery, John, Professor 525 Anthony, Henry B., Statesman 515 Botta, Anna C., Authoress 71 Bennett, H. S., Chaplain Fisk University . . . 105 Blanchard, Rufus, Author 153 Bellows, Henry W., Divine 169 Burnam, C. F., Lawyer 171 Bradley, Joseph P., Justice Sup. Court . . .173 Burnside, Ambrose E., Major-General . . . 175 Bright, John, Member of Parliament . . .179 Bascom, John, College President .... 185 Bennett, Emerson, Editor 249 Boutwell, George S., Statesman 267 Barnum, P. T., Showman ..... 319 Barnes, S. G., Professor 331 Bailey, J. M., Journalist 331 Bancroft, Cecil F. P., Professor 339 Bedell, Gregory T., Divine 341 Bradley, W. O., Lawyer 361 [XT] xvi LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS. PAGB Barrett, Lawrence, Tragedian . . . . . 373 Black, J. C., General 436 Bigney, M. F., Author and Journalist . . . 389 Bishop, R. M., ex-Gov. Ohio . . . . . 511 Barrows, John H., Divine ...... 506 Burk, Thomas, House of Commons .... 443 Bowman, Fred. H. ........ 438 Bennett, John, Merchant ...... 558 Boyd, Andrew, Publisher ...... 568 Cuyler, Theodore L., Author and Divine . . . 103 Clay, Cassius M., Statesman ..... 195 Colfax, Schuyler, ex-Vice-President . . . 199 Collyer, Robert, Author and Divine .... 203 Conkling, Roscoe, Statesman ..... 205 Coxe, Arthur Cleveland, Divine . . . . 261 Clarke, James Freeman, Author .... 345 Cooper, Peter, Philanthropist 387 Chadbourne, P. A., Professor 388 Chase, Thomas, College President .... 464 Cox, S. S., Author and Statesman .... 464 Crosby, Howard, Author and Divine . . . 554 Cooke, Rose Terry, Authoress . . . . . 429 Carpenter, Cyrus Clay, ex-Gov. of Iowa . . . 485 Coriis, Corydon T., Physician 551 Carman, Caleb, Shoemaker . . . .518 De La Matyr, G., Member of Congress . . . .181 Douglass, Frederick, Orator .... 265 Dow, Neal, Lecturer 373 D'Ooge, Martin L., Author and Professor , . 377 Dana, Charles A., Journalist ..... 377 Dawes, Henry L., Statesman 386 Dilke, Charles W., House of Commons . . . 433 Drake, Samuel Adams, Author 398 Davis, David, Statesman 553 Dale, R. W., Divine 432 Edison, Thomas A., Inventor . .... 115 Eastman, Sophie E., Authoress .... 403 LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS. xvii PAGE Eastman, Zebina, ex-Consul ...... 486 Frothingham, O. B., Author and Divine .... 161 Forney, John W., Journalist .... 163 Franklin, William B., Major-General . . . 239 Frye, William P., Statesman .... 293 Foster, Charles, Governor of Ohio .... 355 Fish, Hamilton, ex-Secretary of State . . . 355 Frieze, Henry S., Author and Professor . . . 359 Field, Cyrus W., Inventor 359 Frazer, Virginia A., Authoress 483 Fisk, Clinton B., Major-General .... 446 Fisher, George P., Author and Divine . . . 437 Fell, Jesse W., Lawyer 468 Fee, John G., Professor 411 Gough, John B., Orator 191 Garland, Augustus H., U. S. Senator . . . 235 Grant, Ulysses S., ex-President .... 323 Gray, Asa, Writer and Scientist .... 339 Goodwin, W. W., Professor 409 Grow, Galusha A., Member of Congress . . 409 Godwin, Parke, Author . . . . . . 432 Garfield, James A., ex-President .... 408 Griffith, George Bancroft, Author . . . .411 -Gayarre, Charles, Author . . ... 43 1 Gillespie, Joseph, Lawyer . . . . . 455 Gibbon, John, Major-General 407 Gibson, W. H., Adjutant-General Ohio . '. . 444 Greene, William G., Farmer . . . . . 516 Haven, E. O., Author and Divine 149 Hastings, Hugh J., Journalist 243 Holmes, Oliver Wendell, Poet 243 Hall, Eugene J M Poet 251 Hewitt, Abram S. Statesman 257 Hale, Eugene, Statesman 297 Hart, Charles Henry, Author .... 301 Hubbard, Gurdon S., Merchant .... 305 Higginson, Thomas Wentworth, Author . . . 325 xviii LIST OP CONTRIBUTORS^ FAG* Hazen, William B., Major-General ... . 343 Hancock, Winfield S., Major-General . .311 Hall, Newman, Divine ...... 430 Harrington, C. S., Professor . 435 Hayes, Rutherford B., ex-President s 437 Howells, William D., Author ..... 407 Holland, J. G. Author ...... 465 Howard, O. O., Major-General . .... . . . 392 Hopkins, Louisa Parsons, Authoress . . . 397 Houk, Leonidas C., Member of Congress . . 444 Hatch, Rufus, Banker 514 Herndon, Wm. H., Lawyer 526 Julian, George W., Member of Congress . . . 253 Judd, Mrs. Norman B 520 Kirkwood, Samuel J., ex-Secretary of Interior . . 207 Kautz, August V., Major-General .... 401 Kidd, T. W. S., Editor 448 Lossing, Benson J., Historian 327 Lanman, Charles, Author 151 Lippincott, Charles E., General .... 410 Larcom, Lucy, Authoress 571 Longfellow, Henry W., Poet 466 Meigs, M. C., Quartermaster-General . . . . in M'Culloch^Hugh, ex-Sec'y of Treasury . . .117 Merritt, Wesley, Brevet Major-General . . . 127 Morrill, Lot M., Statesman t 137 Minier, George W., Merchant 187 Maynard, Horace, ex-Postmaster-General . .271 Meyer, Albert J., U. S. Signal Officer . . .297 Martindale, E. B., General 309 Morton, Levi P., Minister to France . . . .311 McLellan, Isaac, Poet 313 Murdoch, James E., Elocutionist .... 347 Morey, William C., Professor 317 Marvin, James, Professor 391 Mead, C. M., Professor 391 Merrick, Frederick, ex-College President . . 428 LIST OP CONTRIBUTORS. xix FAQS McCook, Anson G., Member of Congress . . . 465 Matthews, Stanley, U. S. Senator .... 433 Miller, Samuel F., Justice Supreme Court . . 443 McNeely, William, Farmer 393 Northrop, Cyrus, Professor 229 New, John C., ex-U. S. Treasurer .... 416 Newton, William Wilberforce, Divine . . . 404 Nance, George Washington, Farmer . . . 556 Oglesby, Richard J., ex-Governor of Illinois . . .227 Phelps, Elizabeth Stuart, Authoress . . . .21 Pagliardirri, Tito, 72 Pike, Albert, Author 255 Phillips, Wendell, Author and Orator . . . 281 Porter, Noah, Author and Professor . . . 281 Prime, Samuel Irenaeus, Author, Editor . . . 285 Pratt, C. E., Brigadier-General .... 287 Palmer, Ray, Poet and Divine .... 289 Payne, C. A., College President .... 299 Porter, Robert P., Journalist . . . . .512 Pomeroy, E. C., Teacher ...... 560 Porter, David D., Admiral ...... 399 Rice, Alexander H., ex-Governor of Mass. . . . 378 Ramsey, Alexander, ex-Secretary of War . . 287 Rector, Henry M., ex-Governor of Arkansas . . 505 Ross, Alexander Milton, Physician . . . 418 Rollins, James S., Member of Congress . . . 490 Simpson, M., Author and Divine 23 Speed, Joshua F., Lawyer 143 Stoneman, George, Major-General . . . .221 Stephens, Alexander H., Statesman .... 241 Shuman, Andrew, ex-Lieut. Gov. of Illinois . . 245 Schaff, Philip, Author and Divine . . . 253 Sturtevant, J. M., College President .... 273 Shrigley, James, Divine 335 Spinner, F. E., ex-U. S. Treasurer . . . .363 Sherman, William T., General 367 Schofield, Glenni W., Member of Congress . . 369 xx LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS. PAG a Smith, Richard, Journalist 417 Scott, L., Divine 405 Strong, William, Justice Supreme Court . . . 406 Smyth, Frederick, ex-Governor of N. H. . .412 Sherman, John, ex-Sec'y U. S. Treasury . . . 428 Swisshelm, Jane Gray, Authoress .... 4 J 3 Stoddard, W. O., Author 434 Smith, William F., Major-General . . . -555 Trowbridge, John Townsend, Author . . . .157 Taylor, A. A. E., College President . . . .386 Townsend, E. D., Adjutant-General . . . 504 Townsend, George Alfred, Poet and Novelist . . 513 Volk, Leonard W M Sculptor 217 Whittier, John G., Poet 101 Warner, Charles Dudley, Author . . . .129 Winthrop, Robert C., Statesman . . . .165 Warren, William F., Professor 167 Williams, S. Wells, Author 177 Walker, William, Lawyer 213 Wood, Fernando, Member of Congress . . . 398 Woodford, Stewart L., General .... 445 Warner, Willard, U. S. Senator . . . 439 Waite, Morrison R., Chief Justice . . . 467 Wheildon, William Willder, Author . . . 440 THK angels of your thoughts are climbing still The shining ladder of his fame, And have not reached the top, nor ever will, While this low life pronounces his high name. But yonder, where they dream, or dare, or do, The vincing his judgment of the justice of your cause, if, indeed, that cause really be a just one. On the contrary, assume to dictate to his judgment, or to command his action, or to mark him as one to be shunned and despised, and he will retreat within himself, close all the avenues to his head and his heart, and though your cause be naked truth itself, transformed to the heaviest lance, harder than steel, and sharper than steel can be made, and though you throw it with more than herculean force and precision, you shall be no more able to pierce him, than 88 AN ADDRESS. to penetrate the hard shell of a tortoise with a rye-straw. Such is man, and so must he be understood by those who would lead him, even to his own best interests. On this point, the Washingtonians greatly excel the temperance advocates of former times. Those whom they desire to convince and persuade are their old friends and companions. They know they are not demons, nor even the worst of men ; they know that generally they are kind, generous and charitable, even beyond the example of their more staid and sober neighbors. They are practical philanthropists ; and they glow with a gen- erous and brotherly zeal, that mere theorizers are incap- able of feeling. Benevolence and charity possess their hearts entirely ; and out of the abundance of their hearts their tongues give utterance, " Love through all their actions run, and all their words are mild :" in this spirit they speak and act, and in the same they are heard and regarded. And when such is the temper of the advocate, and such of the audience, no good cause can be unsuc- cessful. But I have said that denunciations against dram- sellers and dram-drinkers are unjust, as well as impolitic. Let us see. I have not inquired at what period of time the use of intoxicating liquors commenced ; nor is it important to know. It is sufficient that to all of us who now inhabit the world, the practice of drinking them is just as old as the world itself that is, we have seen the one, just as long as we have seen the other. When all such of us as have now reached the years of maturity, first opened our eyes upon the stage of existence, we found intoxicating liquors recognized by everybody, used by everybody, repudiated AN ADDRESS. 89 by nobody. It commonly entered into the first draught of the infant, and the last draught of the dying man. From the sideboard of the parson, down to the ragged pocket of the houseless loafer, it was constantly found. Physicians prescribed it, in this, that and the other disease ; Government provided it for soldiers and sailors ; and to have a rolling or raising, a husking or " hoe-down " anywhere about without it, was positively unsufferable. So too, it was everywhere a respectable article of manu- facture and of merchandise. The making of it was regarded as an honorable livelihood, and he could make most, was the most enterprising and respectable. Large and small manufactories of it were everywhere erected, in which all the earthly goods of their owners were, in- vested. Wagons drew it from town to town ; boats bore it from clime to clime, and the winds wafted it from nation to nation ; and merchants bought and sold it, by wholesale arid retail, with precisely the same feelings on the part of the seller, buyer and by-stander as are felt at the selling and buying of plows, beef, bacon, or any other of the real necessaries of life. Universal public opinion not only tolerated, but recognized and adopted its use. It is true, that even then it was known and acknowl- edged that many were greatly injured by it ; but none seemed to think the injury arose from the use of a bad thing, but from the abuse of a very good thing. The victims of it were to be pitied and compassionated, just as are the heirs of consumption, and other hereditary diseases. Their failing was treated as a misfortune, and not as a crime, or even as a disgrace. If then, what I have been saying is true, is it wonder- 9 o AX ADDRESS. ful, that some should think and act now, as all thought and acted twenty years ago, and is it just to assail, con- demn, or despise them for doing so ? The universal sense of mankind, on any subject, is an argument, or at least an influence, not easily overcome. The success of the argument in favor of the existence of an over-ruling Providence, mainly depends upon that sense ; and men ought not, in justice, to be denounced for yielding to it in any case, or giving it up slowly, especially when they are backed by interest, fixed habits, or burning appetites. Another error, as it seems to me, into which the old reformers fell, was the position that all habitual drunk- ards were utterly incorrigible, and therefore, must be turned adrift, and damned without remedy, in order that the grace of temperance might abound, to the temperate then, and to all mankind some hundreds of years there- after. There is in this something so repugnant to humanity, so uncharitable, so cold-blooded and feeling- less, that it never did, nor never can enlist the enthusiasm of a popular cause. We could not love the man who taught it we could not hear him with patience. The heart could not throw open its portals to it, the generous man could not adopt it, it could not mix with his blood. It looked so fiendishly selfish, so like throwing fathers and brothers overboard, to lighten the boat for our se- curity that the noble-minded shrank from the manifest meanness of the thing. And besides this, the benefits of a reformation to be effected by such a system, were tco remote in point of time, to warmly engage many in its behalf. Few can be induced to labor exclusively for pos- terity ; and none will do it enthusiastically. Posterity AN ADDRESS. 91 has done nothing for us ; and theorize on it as we may, practically we shall do very little for it unless we are made to think, we are, at the same time, doing something for ourselves. What an ignorance of human nature does it exhibit, to ask or expect a whole community to rise up and labor for the temporal happiness of others, after themselves shall be consigned to the dust, a majority of which com- munity take no pains whatever to secure their own eternal welfare at no greater distant day. Great distance in either time or space has wonderful power to lull and render quiescent the human mind. Pleasures to be en- joyed, or pains to be endured, after we shall be dead and gone, are but little regarded, even in our own cases, and much less in the cases of others. Still, in addition to this, there is something so ludicrous, in promises of good, or threats of evil, a great way off, as to render the whole subject with which they are con- nected, easily turned into ridicule. " Better lay down that spade you're stealing, Paddy if you don't, you'll pay for it at the day of judgment." " Be the powers, if ye'll credit me so long I'll take another jist." By the Washingtoriians this system of consigning the habitual drunkard to hopeless ruin is repudiated. They adopt a more enlarged philanthropy, they go for present as well as future good. They labor for all now living, as well as hereafter to live. They teach hope to all de- spair to none. As applying to their cause, they deny the doctrine of unpardonable sin ; as in Christianity it is taught, so in this they teach 92 AN ADDRESS. "While the lamp holds out to burn, The vilest sinner may return." And, what is a matter of the most profound congratula- tion, they, by experiment upon experiment, and example upon example, prove the maxim to be no less true in the one case than in the other. On every hand we behold those, who but yesterday were the chief of sinners, now the chief apostles of the cause. Drunken devils are cast out by ones, by sevens, by legions ; and their unfortunate victims, like the poor possessed, who was redeemed from his long and lonely wanderings in the tombs, are publish- ing to the ends of the earth how great things have been done for them. To these new champions, and this new system of tac- tics, our late success is mainly owing ; and to them we must mainly look for the final consummation. The ball is now rolling gloriously on, and none are so able as they to increase its speed, and its bulk to add to its mo- mentum and its magnitude even though unlearned in letters, for this task none are so well educated. To fit them for this work they have been taught in the true school. They have been in that gulf, from which they would teach others the means 6f escape. They have passed that prison wall, which others have long declared impassable ; and who that has not, shall dare to weigh opinions with them as to the mode of passing? But if it be true, as I have insisted, that those who have suffered by intemperance personally, and have re- formed, are the most powerful and efficient instruments to push the reformation to ultimate success, it does not follow that those who have not suffered have no part left AN ADDRESS. 93 them to perform. Whether or not the world would be vastly benefitted by a total and final banishment from it of all intoxicating drinks, seems to me not now an open question. Three-fourths of mankind confess the affirm- ative witli their tongues ; and, I believe, all the rest acknowledge it in their hearts. Ought any, then, to refuse their aid in doing what the good of the whole demands? Shall he who cannot do much, be, for that reason, excused if he do nothing ? "But," says one, "what good can I do by signing the pledge? ' I never drink, even without signing." This question has already been asked and answered more than a million of times. Let it be answered once more. For the man, suddenly or in any other way, to break off from the use of drams, who has indulged in them for a long course of years, and until his appetite for them has grown ten or a hundred fold stronger and more craving than any natural appetite can be, requires a most power- ful moral effort. In such an undertaking he needs every moral support and influence that can possibly be brought to his aid, and thrown around him. And not only so, but every moral prop should be taken from whatever argument might rise in his mind, to lure him to his back- sliding. When he casts his eyes around him, he should be able to see all that he respects, all that he admires, all that he loves, kindly and anxiously pointing him onward, and none beckoning him back to his former misesaule "wallowing in the mire." o But it is said by some, that men will think and act for themselves ; that none will disuse spirits or anything else because his neighbors do ; and that moral influence 94 AN ADDRESS. is not that powerful engine contended for. Let us ex- amine this. Let me ask the man who could maintain this position most stiffly, what compensation he will accept to go to church some Sunday and sit during the sermon with his wife's bonnet upon his head? Not a trifle, I'll venture. And why not ? There would be nothing irreligious in it, nothing immoral, nothing un- comfortable then why not ? Is it not because there would be something egregiously unfashionable in it? Then it is the influence of fashion ; and what is the influence of fashion but the influence that other people's actions have on our own actions the strong inclination each of us feels to do as we see all our neighbors do ? Nor is the influence of fashion confined to any particu- lar thing or class of things. It is just as strong on one subject as another. Let us make it as unfashionable to withhold our names from the temperance pledge, as for husbands to wear their wives' bonnets to church, and instances will be just as rare in the one case as the other. "But," say some, "we are no drunkards, and we shall not acknowledge ourselves such, by joining a reformed drunkards' society, whatever our influence might be." Surely, no Christian will adhere to this objection. If they believe as they profess, that Omnipotence condescended to take on himself the form of sinful man, and, as such, to die an ignominious death for their sakes, surely, they will not refuse submission to the infinitely lesser condescension, for the temporal, and perhaps eternal salvation, of a large, erring, and unfortunate class of their fellow-creatures. Nor is the condescension very great. In my judgment such of us as have never fallen AN ADDRESS. 95 victims, have been spared more from the absence of appe tite, than from any mental or moral superiority over those who have. Indeed, I believe, if we take habitual drunk- ards as a class, their heads and their hearts will bear an advantageous comparison with those of any other class. There seems ever to have been a proneness in the bril- liant and warm-blooded to fall into this vice the demon of intemperance ever seems to have delighted in sucking the blood of genius and generosity. What one of us but can call to mind some relative, more promising in youth than all his fellows, who has fallen a sacrifice to his rapacity ? He ever seems to have gone forth like the Egyptian angel of death, commissioned to slay, if not the first, the fairest born of every family. Shall he now be arrested in his desolating career? In that arrest, all can give aid that will ; and who shall be excused that can, and will not ? Far around as human breath has ever blown, he keeps our fathers, our brothers, our sons, and our friends prostrate in the chains of moral death To all the living, everywhere, we cry, " Come, sound the moral trump, that these may rise and stand up an exceeding great army." " Come from the four winds, O breath ! and breathe upon these slain, that they may live." If the relative grandeur of revolutions shall be estimated by the great amount of human misery they alleviate, and the small amount they inflict, then, indeed, will this be the grandest the world shall ever have seen, Of our political revolution of '76 we are all justly proud. It has given us a degree of political freedom far exceeding that of any other nations of the earth. In it the world has found a solution of the long mooted problem, 96 AN ADDRESS. as to the capability of man to govern himself. In it was the germ which has vegetated, and still is to grow and expand into the universal liberty of mankind, But, with all these glorious results, past, present, and to come, it had its evils too. It breathed forth famine, swam in blood, and rode in fire; and long, long after, the orphans' cry and the widows' wail continued to break the sad silence that ensued. These were the price, the inev itable price, paid for the blessings it bought. Turn now to the temperance revolution. In it we shall find a stronger bondage broken, a viler slavery man- umitted, a greater tyrant deposed in it, more of want supplied, more disease healed, more sorrow assuaged. By it, no orphans starving, no widows weeping. By it, none wounded in feeling, none injured in interest; even the dram-maker and dram-seller will have glided into other occupations so gradually as never to have felt the change, and will stand ready to join all others in the uni- versal song of gladness. And what a noble ally this, to the cause of political freedom, with such an aid, its march cannot fail to be on and on, till every son of earth shall drink in rich fruition the sorrow-quenching draughts of perfect liberty. Happy day, when, all appetites con- trolled, all passions subdued, all matter subjugated, mind, all-conquering mind, shall live and move, the monarch of the world ! Glorious consummation ! Hail, fall of fury ! Reign of reason, all hail ! And when the victory shall be complete when there shall be neither a slave nor a drunkard on the earth how proud the title of that Land, which may truly claim to be the birth-place and the cradle of both those revo- AN ADDRESS. 97 lutions that shall have ended in that victory. How nobly distinguished that people, who shall have planted, and nurtured to maturity, both the political and moral freedom of their species. This is the one hundred and tenth anniversary of the birthday of Washington we are met to celebrate this day. Washington is the mightiest name of earth long since mightiest in the cause of civil liberty, still mightiest in moral reformation. On that name a eulogy is ex- pected. It cannot be. To add brightness to the sun, or glory to the name of Washington is alike impossible. Let none attempt it. In solemn awe pronounce the name, and in its naked, deathless splendor leave it shining on. 7 98 SPEECH DELIVERED AT PEORIA. SPEECH DELIVERED AT PEORIA, ILLINOIS, OCT. 1 6, 1854. Finally I insist that if there is any thing which it is the duty of the whole people to never intrust to any hands but their own, that thing is the preservation and perpe- tuity of their own liberties and institutions. And if they shall think, as I do, that the extension of slavery endan- gers them, more than any or all other causes, how recreant to themselves if they submit the question, and with it the fate of their country, to a mere handful of men, bent only on temporary self-interest. If this question of slavery extension were an insignificant one one having no power to do harm it might be shuffled aside in this way ; but being as it is, the great Behemoth of danger, shall the strong gripe of the nation be loosened upon him, to intrust him to the hands of such feeble keepers ? I have done with this mighty argument of self-government. Go sacred thing ; Go in peace ! Much as I hate slavery, 1 would consent to the extension of it rather than see the Union dissolved, just as I would consent to any great evil to avoid a greater one. But when I go to Union-saving I must believe, at least, that the means I employ have some adaptation to the end. T. S. ARTHUR. 99 AS the years pass, and we look back upon the life and work of Abraham Lincoln, during the time he was President of the United States, our admiration and rever- ence for the man increases. For unselfish devotion to the public welfare, purity of character, freedom from partisan- ship and personal ambition, and ability to comprehend and deal with the momentous questions at issue in our great struggle for national existence, he was first among the ablest statesmen and most loyal men of his time. NEW. YORK, 1880. ioo EXTRACT FROM MR. LINCOLN'S SPEECH. EXTRACT FROM MR. LINCOLN'S SPEECH, DELIVERED IN REPRESENTATIVE'S HALL, SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS, JUNE 26, 1857. In those days, our Declaration of Independence was held sacred by all, and thought to include all ; but now, to aid in making the bondage of the negro universal and eternal, it is assailed and sneered at, and construed, and hawked at, and torn, till, if its framers could rise from their graves, they could not at all recognize it. All the powers of earth seem rapidly combining against him. Mammon is after him, ambition follows, philosophy fol- lows, and the theology of the day is fast joining the cry. They have him in his prison-house ; they have searched his person, and left no prying instrument with him. One after another, they have closed the heavy iron doors upon him ; and now they have him, as it were, bolted in with a lock of a hundred keys, which can never be un- locked without the concurrence of every key ; the keys in the hands of a hundred different men, and they scat- tered to a hundred different and distant places ; and they stand musing as to what invention, in all the dominions of mind and matter, can be produced to make the impos- sibility of his escape more complete than it is. JOHN G. WHITTIER. 101 THE weary form, that rested not f Save in a martyr's grave ; The care-worn face that none forgot, Turned to the kneeling slave. We rest in peace, where his sad eyes Saw peril, strife and pain ; His was the awful sacrifice, And ours, the priceless gain. DANVERS, i88a 102 A. LINCOLN. Chicago July 24, 1858. HON. S. A. DOUGLAS. My Dear Sir : Will it be agreeable to you to make an arrangement to divide time, and address the same audience, during the present canvass, etc.? Mr. Judd is authorized to receive your answer ; and if agreeable to you, to enter into the terms of such agreement, etc. A. LINCOLN. THEO. L. CUYLER. 103 EXTRACT FROM MY SERMON. HE lived to see the rebellion in its last agonies ; he lived to enter Richmond amid the acclamations of the liberated slave ; he lived until Sumter's flag rose again, like a star of Bethlehem, in the southern sky ; and then, with the martyr's crown upon his brow, and with four million broken fetters in his hand, he went up to meet his God. In a moment his life crystallizes into the pure, white fame that belongs only to the martyr for truth and liberty ! Terrible as seems the method of his death to us, it was, after all, the most fitting and glorious. In God's sight, Lincoln was no more precious than the hum- blest drummer-boy, who has bled away his young life on the sod of Gettysburgh or Chattanooga. He had called on two hundred thousand heroes to lay down their lives for their country ; and now he, too, has gone to make his grave beside them. " So sleep the brave, who sink to rest, By all their country's wishes blest." When that grave, on yonder western prairie, shall finally yield up its dead, glorious will be his resurrection ! Methinks that I behold the spirit of the great Liberator, in that judgment scene, before the assembled hosts of heaven. Around him are the tens of thousands from whom he struck the oppressor's chain. Methinks I hear their grateful voices exclaim, " We were an hungered, and IO4 THEO. L. CUYLER. thou gavest us the bread of truth ; we were thirsty for liberty, and thou gavest us drink ; we were strangers, and thou didst take us in ; we were sick with two centuries of sorrow, and thou didst visit us ; we were in the prison- house of bondage, and thou earnest unto us." And the King shall say unto him : " Inasmuch as thou hast done it unto on? of the least of these my brethren, thou hast done it unto me. Well done, good and faithful servant ; enter into the joy of the Lord." BROOKLYN, 1882. H. S. BENNETT. 105 I HAVE been working for thirteen years in Fisk Uni- versity, an institution which is devoted to the eleva- tion of the colored race in the United States. And I am more and more convinced, from year to year, that no one can fully comprehend the magnitude and grandeur of the work achieved by Abraham Lincoln, until he has learned to look upon him as the colored people regard him. To the white Northerner he is preserver of the Union and the martyred President, to the colored people he is their deliverer, their savior. The name of Abraham Lincoln is enshrined forever as sacred in the hearts of a grateful people, whom he has redeemed. FISK UNIVERSITY, 188o. io6 EXTRACT FROM MR. LINCOLN'S SPEECH. EXTRACT FROM MR. LINCOLN'S . SPEECH, AT SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS, JUNE 17, 1858. "A house divided against itself cannot stand." I believe this government cannot endure permanently, half slave, and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved I do not expect the house to fall but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing, or all the other. Either the opponents of slavery will arrest the further spread of it, and place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is in the course of ultimate extinction, or its advocates will push it forward till it shall become alike lawful in all the states, old as well as new, North as well as South. I have always hated slavery, I think, as much as any abolitionist. Our cause, then, must be intrusted to, and conducted by, its own doubted friends those whose hands are free, whose hearts are in the work, who do care for the result. Two years ago, the Republicans of the nation mustered over thirteen hundred thousand strong. We did this under the single impulse of resistance' to a common danger, with every external circumstance against us. Of strange, discordant, and even hostile elements, we gath- ered from the four winds, and formed and fought the bat- tle through, under the constant hot fire of a disciplined, proud, and pampered enemy. Did we brave all, then, to EXTRACT FROM MR. LINCOLN'S SPEECH. 107 falter now, now, when that same enemy is wavering, dissevered, and belligerent ? The result is not doubtful. We shall not fail, if we stand firm, we shall not fail. Wise counsels may accelerate, or mistakes delay it, but sooner or later, the victory is sure to come. io8 EXTRACT *ROM MR. LINCOLN'S SPEECH. EXTRACT FROM MR. LINCOLN'S SPEECH AT CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, JULY IO, 1858. Now, it happens that we meet together once every year, sometimes about the 4th of July, for some reason or other. These 4th of July gatherings I suppose have their uses. If you will indulge me, I will state what I suppose to be some of them. We are now a mighty nation ; we are thirty, or about thirty millions of people, and we own and inhabit about one-fifteenth part of the dry land of the whole earth. We run our memory back over the pages of history for about eighty-two years, and we con- sider that we were then a very small people in point of numbers, .vastly inferior to what we are now, with a vastly less extent of country, with vastly less of every- thing we deem desirable among men. We look upon the change as exceedingly advantageous to us and to our posterity, and we fix upon something that happened away back, as in some way or other being connected with this rise of prosperity. We find a race of men living in that day, whom we claim as our fathers and grandfathers ; they were iron men ; they fought for the principle that they were contending for ; and we understood that by what they then did it has followed that the degree of prosperity which we now enjoy has come to us. We hold this annual celebration to remind ourselves of all the good done in this process of time, of how it was done and who EXTRACT FROM MR. LINCOLN'S SPEECH. 109 did it, and how we are historically connected with it ; and we go from these meetings in better humor with ourselves ; we feel more attached the one to the other ; and more firmly bound to the country we inhabit. In every way we are better men in the age and race and country in which we live, for these celebrations. But after we have done all this we have not yet reached the whole. There is something else connected with it. We have, besides these men descended by blood from our ancestors, among us, perhaps half our people, who are not descendants at all of these men ; they are men who have come from Europe German, Irish, French, and Scandinavian men that have come from Europe them- selves, or whose ancestors have come hither and settled here, finding themselves our equals in all things. If they look back through this history to trace their connection with those days by blood, they find they have none, they cannot carry themselves back into that glorious epoch and make themselves feel that they are part of us ; and when they look through that old Declaration of Independ- ence, they find that those men say that, " we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal," and then they feel that that moral sentiment taught in that day evidences their relation to those men ; that it is the father of all moral principle in them, and they have a right to claim it as though they were blood of the blood, and flesh of the flesh, of the men who wrote that declara- tion, and so they are. That is the electric cord in that decla- ration that links the hearts of patriotic and liberty-loving men together, that will link those patriotic hearts as long no EXTRACT FROM MR. LINCOLN'S SPEECH. as the love of freedom exists in the minds of men through- out the world. I am a poor hand to quote Scripture. I will try it again, however. It is said in one of the admonitions of our Lord, "As your Father in Heaven is perfect, be ye also perfect." The Savior, I suppose, did not expect that any human creature could be perfect as the Father in Heaven ; but He said, " As your Father in Heaven is perfect, be ye also perfect." He set that up as a stand- ard, and he who did most toward reaching that standard, attained the highest degree of moral perfection. So I say, in relation to the principle that all men are created equal, let it be as nearly reached as we can. If we can- not give freedom to every creature, let us do nothing that will impose slavery upon any other creature. Let us then turn this government back into the channel in which the framers of the Constitution originally placed it. Let us stand firmly by each other. Let us discard all this quibbling about this man and the other man, this race and that race and the other race, being inferior, and therefore they must be placed in an inferior position discarding our standard that we have left us. Let us discard all these things, and unite as one people through- out this land, until we shall once more stand up declaring that all men are created equal. M. C. MEJGS. in MR. LINCOLN, to those who knew him most inti- mately, was greatest. They saw and noted the gentleness, charity, love, and tenderness of his daily life in all his harassing occupa- tions, while the pages of the history of his times record the proofs of his courage and wisdom, and of his fidelity to his country, and to human liberty. He was as eminent for his patience, as for his patriotism and wisdom. ii2 EXTRACT .FROM MR. LINCOLN'S SPEECH. EXTRACT FROM MR. LINCOLN'S SPEECH DELIVERED AT SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS, JULY I/, 1858. Senator Douglas is of world-wide renown. All the anxious politicians of his party, or who have been of his party for years past, have been looking upon him as cer- tainly, at no distant day, to be the President of the United States. They have seen in his round, jolly, fruitful face, post-offices, land offices, marshalships, and cabinet appoint- ments, chargeships, foreign missions, and sprouting out in wonderful exuberance, ready to be laid hold of by their greedy hands. And as they have been gazing upon this attractive picture so long, they cannot, in the little dis- traction that has taken place in the party, bring them- selves to give up the charming hope, but with greedier anxiety they rush about him, sustain him, and give him marches, triumphal entries, and receptions beyond what, even in the days of his highest prosperity, they could have brought about in his favor. On the contrary, nobody has ever expected me to be President. In my poor, lean, lank face, nobody has ever seen that any cabbages were sprouting out. These are disadvantages, all taken together, that the republicans labor under : We have to fight this battle upon principle alone. I am, in a certain sense, made the standard-bearer in behalf of the republicans. So I hope those with whom I arn surrounded have principle enough to nerve them* EXTRACT FROM MR. LINCOLN'S SPEECH. 113 selves for the task, and leave nothing undone that can be fairly done, to bring about the right result. My declarations upon this subject of negro slavery may be misrepresented, but cannot be misunderstood. I have said that I do not understand the Declaration to mean that all men were created equal in all respects. They are not our equal in color ; but I suppose that it does mean to declare that all men are created equal in some respects ; they are equal in their right to " life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." Certainly the negro is not our equal in color, perhaps not in many other respects ; still, in the right to put into his mouth the bread that his own hands have earned, he is the equal of every other man, white or black. In pointing out that more has been given you, you cannot be justified in taking away the little which has been given him. All I ask for the negro is that if you do not like him, let him alone. If God gave him but little that little let him enjoy. 8 H4 EXTRACT FROM MR. LINCOLN'S SPEECH. EXTRACT FROM MR. LINCOLN'S SPEECH AT OTTAWA, ILLINOIS, AUGUST 21, 1858. I hold that there is no reason in the world why the negro is not entitled to all the natural rights enumerated in the Declaration of Independence, the right to life, lib- erty, and the pursuit of happiness. I hold, that he is as much entitled to these, as the white man. I agree with Judge Douglas, that he is not my equal in many respects, certainly not in color perhaps not in moral or intel- lectual endowment. But in the right to eat the bread, without the leave of any body else, which his own hand earns, he is my equal, and the equal of Judge Douglas, and the equal of every living man. THOMAS A. EDISON. r ~ I^HE life and character of Abraham Lincoln, and his JL great services to this country during the war of the rebellion, will stand as a monument long after the granite monuments erected to his memory have crum- bled in the dust. MENU PARK, 1880. n6 EXTRACT FROM MR. LINCOLN'S SPEECH. EXTRACT FROM MR. LINCOLN'S SPEECH AT FREEPORT, ILLINOIS, AUGUST 27, 1858. I have supposed myself, since the organization of the Republican party at Bloomington, in May, 1856, bound as a party man, by the platforms of the party, then, and since. If, in any interrogatories which I shall answer, I go beyond the scope of what is within these platforms, it will be perceived that no one is responsible but myself. ist. I do not now, nor ever did, stand in favor of the unconditional repeal of the Fugitive Slave Law. 2d. I do not now, nor ever did, stand pledged against the admission of any more slave States into the Union. 3d. I do not stand pledged against the admission of a new State into the Union, with such a Constitution as the people of that State may see fit to make. 4th. I do not stand to-day, pledged to the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia. 5th. I do not stand pledged to the prohibition of the slave-trade between the different States. 6th. I am impliedly, if not expressly, pledged to a belief in the right and duty of Congress to prohibit slav- ery in all the United States Territories., 7th. I am not generally opposed to honest acquisi- tion of territory; and, in any given case, I would or would not oppose such acquisition, accordingly as I might think such acquisition would, or would not, aggravate the slaveiy question among ourselves HUGH M'CULLOCH. 117 JUST a. the moment when the people were rejoicing over the fall of Richmond and the surrender of the Confederate armies, the Chief Magistrate of the Na- tion, the most beloved and most trusted of men, fell by the hand of an assassin. For a moment the nation was struck dumb by the atrocity of the act, and the magnitude of the loss that had been sustained. As the report flashed over the wires that the beloved Chief Magistrate of the Nation, in the midst of rejoicing over our victories and the pros- pect of returning peace, had been slain, what heart was there throughout this broad land which was not filled with anguish and apprehension ? what thinking man did not put to himself the questions, Can the Republic stand this unexpected calamity ? Can our popular insti- tutions bear this new trial ? The anguish remained and still remains, but the apprehension existed but for a moment. Scarcely had the announcement been made that Lincoln had fallen, before it was followed by the report that the Vice-President had taken the oath of President, and that the functions of government were being per- formed as regularly and quietly as though nothing had happened. And what followed ? The body of the beloved President was taken from Washington to Illinois through crowded cities, among a grief-stricken and deeply excited people, mourning as no people ever mourned, and moved as no people were ever moved ; and yet there was no popular violence, no outbreak of popular passion ; borne a thousand miles to its last resting-place, hundreds of thousands doing such honor to the remains as were never n8 HUGH M'CULLOCH. paid to those *,f king or conqueror, and the public peace notwithstanding intense indignation was mixed with intense sorrow, was in no instance disturbed. Hereafter there will be no skepticism among us in regard to the wisdom, the excellence and the power of republican insti- tutions. There is no country upon earth that could have passed through the trials to which the United States have been subjected during the four years of civil war with out being broken into fragments. The more I saw of Mr. Lincoln the higher became my admiration of his ability and his character. Before I went to Washington, and for a short period after, I doubted both his nerve and his statesmanship ; but a closer observation relieved me of these doubts, and before his death I had come to the conclusion that he was a man of will, of energy, of well-balanced mind, and wonderful sagacity. His practice of story-telling when the government seemed to be in imminent peril, and the sublimest events were transpiring, surprised, if it did not sometimes disgust, those who did not know him well ; but it indicated on his part no want of a proper appreciation of the terrible responsi- bility which rested upon him as the Chief Magistrate of a great nation engaged in the suppression of a desperate rebellion which threatened its overthrow. Story-telling with him was something more than a habit. He was so accustomed to it in social life and in the practice of his profession, that it became a part of his nature, and so accurate was his recollection, and so great a fund had he at command, that he had always anecdotes and stories to illustrate his arguments and delight those whose tastes were similar to his own ; but those who judged from this HUGH M'CULLOCH. 119 trait that he lacked deep feeling or sound judgment, or a proper sense of the responsibility of his position, had no just appreciation of his character. He possessed all these qualities in an eminent degree. It was true of him, as is true of all really noble and good men, that those who knew him best had the highest admiration of him. He was not a man of genius, but he possessed, in a large degree, what is far more valuable in a public man, excellent common sense. He did not undertake to direct public opinion, but no man understood better the leadings of the popular will or the beatings of the popular heart. He did not seem to gain this knowledge from reading or from observation, for he read very few of our public jour- nals, and was little inclined to call out the opinions of others. He was a representative of the people, and he un- derstood what the people desired rather by a study of him- self than of them. Granting that, although constitution- ally honest himself, he did not put a very high valuation upon honesty in others, and that he sometimes permitted his partiality for his friends to influence his action in a manner that was hardly consistent with an upright administration of his great office, few men have held high position whose conduct would so well bear the severest criticism as Mr. Lincoln's. The people have already passed judg- ment in favor of the nobleness and uprightness of his character and the wisdom of his administration, and the pen of impartial history will confirm the judgment. NEW YORK, 1882. 120 EXTRACT FROM MR. LINCOLN'S SPEECH. EXTRACT FROM MR. LINCOLN'S SPEECH AT GALES BURG, ILLINOIS, OCTOBER 7, 1858. I have all the while maintained, that in so far as it should be insisted that there was an equality between the white and black races that should produce a perfect so- cial and political equality, it w r as an impossibility. This, you have seen in my printed speeches ; and with it, I have said, that in their right to " life, liberty and the pur- suit of happiness," as proclaimed in that old Declaration, the inferior races are our equals. And these declarations I have constantly made in reference to the abstract moral question, to contemplate and consider when we are legislating about any new country, which is not already cursed with the actual presence of the evil slavery. I have never manifested any impatience with the necessities that spring from the actual presence of black people among us, and the actual existence of slav- ery among us, where it does already exist; but I have isisted that, in legislating for new countries, where it does not exist, there is no just rule, other than that of moral and abstract right ! With reference to those new countries, those maxims as to the right of a people to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happi- ness," were the just rules to be constantly referred to. There is no misunderstanding this, except by men inter- ested to misunderstand it. I take it that I have to address an intelligent and reading community, who will pursue what I say, weigh it, and then judge whether I EXTRACT FROM MR. LINCOLN'S SPEECH. 121 % advance improper or unsound views, or whether I advance hypocritical, and deceptive, and contrary views in different portions of the country. I believe myself to be guilty of no such thing as the latter, though, of course, I cannot claim that I am entirely free from all error in the opinions I advance. I have said once before, and I will repeat it now, that Mr. Clay, when he was once answering an objection to the Colonization Society, that it had a tendency to the ultimate emancipation of the slaves, said that " those who would repress all tendencies to liberty and ultimate emancipation, must do more than put down the benevo- lent efforts of the Colonization Society they must go back to the era of our liberty and independence, and muzzle the cannon that thunders its annual joyous return they must .blot out the moral lights around us they must penetrate the human soul, and eradicate the light of reason, and the love of liberty," and I do think I repeat, though I said it on a former occasion, that Judge Douglas, and whoever, like him, teaches that the negro has no share, humble though it may be, in the Declara- tion of Independence, is going back to the era of our liberty and independence, and so far as in him lies, muzzling the cannon that thunders its annual joyous return ; that he is blowing out the moral lights around us, when he contends that whoever wants slaves has a right to hold them : that he is penetrating, so far as lies in his power, the human soul, and eradicating the light of reason and the love of liberty, when he is in every possible way preparing the public m'nd, by his vast influence, for making the institution of slavery perpetual and national. 122 EXTRACT FROM MR. LINCOLN'S SPEECH. And now, it only remains for me to say that it is a very grave question for the people of this Union to consider whether, in view of the fact that this slavery question has been the only one that has ever endangered ,our Republican institutions the only one that has ever threatened or menaced a dissolution of the Union that has ever disturbed us in such a way as to make us fear for the perpetuity of our liberty in view of these facts, I think it is an exceedingly interesting, and important question for this people to consider whether we shall engage in the policy of acquiring additional territory, discarding altogether from our consideration, while obtaining new territory, the question how it may affect us in regard to this, the only endangering element to our liberties and national greatness. The Judge's view has been expressed. I, in my answers to his question, have expressed mine. I think it will become an impor- tant and practical question. Our views are before the public. I am willing and anxious that they should con- sider them fully that they should turn it about, and consider the importance of the question, and arrive at a just conclusion as to whether it is, or is not, wise in the people of this Union, in the acquisition of new territory, to consider whether it will add to the disturb- ance that is existing among us whether it will add to the one only danger that has ever threatened the perpe- tuity of the Union, or of our own liberties. I think it is extremely important that they shall decide, and rightly decide, that question before entering upon that policy. B. AFFLECK. 123 I LOVE Abraham Lincoln so ardently, that I scarcely dare write my opinion of him. His obscure parent- age, his humble birth, his lack of childhood's joys, his exalted attainments, his peculiar talents, his natural gifts, his sympathy for the oppressed, his patriotism for his country, his loyalty to truth, his pure life, and his having had all these excellencies crowned with a martyr's death, renders him beyond doubt, one of the most illustrious men that ever labored to make goodness triumphant, and brotherly charity universal. SPRINGFIELD, 1881. 124 EXTRACT FROM MR. LINCOLN'S SPEECH. EXTRACT FROM MR. LINCOLN'S SPEECH AT QUINCY, ILLINOIS, OCTOBER 13, 1858. I was aware, when it was first agreed that Judge Douglas and I were to have these seven joint discussions, that they were the successive acts of a drama perhaps I should say, to be enacted not mearly in the face of audi- ences like this, but in the face of the nation, and to some extent, by my relation to him, and not from anything in myself, in the face of the world and I am anxious that they should be conducted with dignity and in good temper, which would be befitting the vast audiences before which it was conducted. I was not entirely sure that I should be able to hold my own with him, but I at least had the purpose made to do as well as I could upon him ; and now I say that I will not be the first to cry " hold." I think it orig- inated with the Judge, and when he quits, I probably will. But I shall not ask any favors at all. He asks me, or he asks the audiences, if I wish to push this matter to the point of personal difficulty? I tell him, No. He did not make a mistake, in one of his early speeches, when he called me an amiable man, though perhaps he did when he called me an "intelligent" man. It really hurts me very much to suppose that I have wronged anybody on earth. I again tell him No ! I very much prefer, when this canvass shall be over, however it may result, that we at least part without any bitter recollections of personal difficulties. EXTRACT FROM MR. LINCOLN'S SPEECH. 125 We have in this nation this element of domestic slavery It is a matter of absolute certainty that it is a disturbing element. It is the opinion of all the great men who have expressed an opinion upon it, that it is a dangerous element. We keep up a controversy in regard to it. That controversy necessarily springs from difference of opinion, and if we can learn exactly can reduce to the lowest elements what that difference of opinion is, we perhaps shall be better prepared for discuss- ing the different system of policy that we would propose in regard to that disturbing element. I suggest that the difference of opinion, reduced to its lowest terms, is no other than the difference between the men who think slavery a wrong and those who do not think it wrong. We think it is a wrong not confining itself merely to the persons or the States where it exists, but that it is a wrong in its tendency, to say the least, that extends itself to the ex- istence of the whole nation. Because we think it wrong we propose a course of policy that shall deal with it as a wrong. We deal with it as with any other wrong, in so far as we can prevent its growing any larger, and so deal with it that in the run of time there may be some promise of an end to it. We have a due regard to the actual presence of it among us and the difficulties of getting rid of it in any satisfactory way, and all the constitutional obligations thrown about it. I suppose that in reference both to its actual existence in the nation, and to our con- stitutional obligations, we have no right at all to disturb it in the States where it exists, and we profess that we have no more inclination to disturb it than we have the right to do it. We go farther than that ; we don't pro- 126 EXTRACT FROM MR. LINCOLN'S SPEECH. pose to disturb it where, in one instance, we think the Constitution would permit us. We think the constitution would permit us to disturb it in the District of Columbia. Still, we do not propose to do that, unless it should be in terms which I don't suppose the nations is very likely soon to agree to the terms of making the emancipation gradual and compensating the unwilling owners. Where we suppose we have the constitutional right, we restrain our- selves in reference to the actual existence of the institu- tion and the difficulties thrown about it. We also oppose it as an evil so far as it seeks to spread itself. We in- sist on the policy that shall restrict it to its present limits. We don't suppose that in doing this we violate anything due to the actual presence of the institution, or anything due to the constitutional guaranties thrown around it W. MERRITT. 127 THERE is not, to my mind, outside of Divine Writ, so convincing an evidence of the immortality of the soul, as is furnished by the growth and development of the mind and character of this greatest of American Pres- idents to meet the exigencies of the direction and control of a great revolution, on the successful issue of which depended the happiness of one-fifth of the world. From a poor country boy, uneducated and untrained, we find him advancing through the grades of a commonplace law practice, to the government of a great nation in one of the most perplexing political epochs that history records, controlling and directing events to a successful issue to the most successful issue possible, as retrospec- tion after a lapse of years proves. History furnishes scarcely a parallel to the character of this greatest of reformers. The love of power has produced wise despots, who have endured a life of earnest labor, full of privations, for the sake of innovation and improvement ; Icabots have lived miserable lives, or suffered infamous deaths for an idea involving improvement, but the motive in both cases is rather personal than general. The rule with mankind as practical in politics or religion, is conservation. In the face of opposition and struggle, we shrink from responsibilities, and content ourselves with contracting the sphere of intended reforms, to our immediate surroundings. 128 IV. MERRITT. As his career differed from that of the other heroes of history, in that he lived and strove for reforms that would benefit mankind, though his own life should be the price, in so far is Abraham Lincoln the greatest of Reformers the noblest of Patriots the ablest of men. U. S. ARMY, 1882. CHARLES DUDLEY WARNER. 129 A BRAHAM LINCOLN was the genius of common xV sense. In his daily life he was a representative of the American people, and probably the best leader we could have had in the crisis of our national life. He was a great leader, because to his common sense was added the gift of imagination. HARTFORD, 1880. 9 j 3 o SPEECH AT ALTON, SPEECH AT ALTON, ILLINOIS, OCTOBER 15, 1858. On this subject of treating slavery as a wrong, and limiting its spread, let me say a word. Has anything ever threatened the existence of this Union save and ex- cept this very institution of slavery ? What is it that we hold most dear among us ? Our own liberty and pros- perity. What has ever threatened our liberty and prosperity, save and except this institution of slavery ? If this is true, how do you propose to improve the con- dition of things by enlarging slavery? by spreading it out, and making it bigger? You may have a wen or cancer upon your person, and not be able to cut it out lest you bleed to death : but surely, it is no way to cure it, to ingraft it and spread it over your whole body that is no proper way of treating what you regard a wrong. You see, this peaceful way of dealing with it as a wrong restricting the spread of it, and not allowing it to go into new countries where it has not already existed that is the peaceful way, the old-fashioned way, the way in which the fathers themselves set us the example. " Is slavery wrong?" That is the real issue. That is the issue that will continue in this country, when these poor tongues of Judge Douglas and myself shall be silent. It is the eternal struggle between these two principles right and wrong throughout the world. They are two principles SPEECH AT ALTON. 131 that have stood face to face from the beginning of time ; and will ever continue to struggle. The one is the com- mon right of humanity, and the other, the divine right of kings. It is the same principle in whatever shape it develops itself. It is the same spirit that says, "You work, and toil, and earn bread, and I'll eat it." No matter in what shapes it comes, whether from the mouth of a king, who seeks to bestride the people of his own nation, and live by the fruit of their labor, or from one race of men as an apology for enslaving another race, it is the same tyrannical principle. I do not claim, gentlemen, to be unselfish ; I do not pretend that I would not like to go to the United States Senate ; I make no such hypocritical pretense ; but I do say to you, that in this mighty issue it is nothing to the mass of the people of the nation, whether or not Judge Douglas or myself shall ever be heard of after this night ; it may be a trifle to either of us, but in connection with this mighty question, upon which hangs the destinies of the nation, perhaps, it is absolutely nothing. EXTRACT FROM MR. LINCOLN'S SPEECH. EXTRACT FROM MR. LINCOLN'S SPEECH AT COLUMBUS, OHIO, SEPTEMBER, 1859. Public opinion in this country is everything. In a nation like ours this popular sovereignty and squatter Sovereignty have already wrought a change in the public mind to the extent I have stated. There is no man in this crowd who can contradict it. Now, if you are op- posed to slavery honestly, as much as anybody, I ask you to note that fact, and the like of which is to follow, to be plastered on, layer after layer, until very soon you are prepared to deal with the negro everywhere as with the brute. If public sentiment has not been debauched al- ready to 'this point, a new turn of the screw in that direc- tion is all that is wanting ; and this is constantly being done by the teachers of this insidious popular sovereignty. You need but one or two turns further until your minds, now ripening under these teachings, will be ready for all these things, and you will receive and support or submit to, the slave trade, revived with all its horrors, a slave code enforced in our territories, and a new Dred Scott decision to bring slavery up into the very heart of the free North. This, I must say, is but carrying out those words prophetically spoken by Mr. Clay, many, many years ago I believe more than thirty years when he told his audience that if they would repress all tenden- cies to liberty and ultimate emancipation, they must go EXTRACT FROM MR. LINCOLN'S SPEECH. 133 back to the era of our independence and muzzle the cannon which thundered its annual joyous return on the Fourth of July ; they must blow out the moral lights around us , they must penetrate the human soul and eradicate the love of liberty ; but until they did these things, and others eloquently enumerated by him, they could not repress all tendencies to ultimate emancipation. I ask attention to the fact that in a pre-eminent degree these popular sov- ereigns are at this work ; blowing out the moral lights around us ; teaching that the negro is no longer a man, but a brute ; that the Declaration has nothing to do with him ; that he ranks with the crocodile and the reptile ; that man with body and soul, is a matter of dollars and cents. 134 EXTRACT FROM MR. LINCOLN'S SPEECH. EXTRACT FROM MR. LINCOLN'S SPEECH AT CINCINNATI, OHIO, SEPTEMBER, 1859. It has occurred to me here, to-night, that if I ever do shoot over the line, at the people on the other side of the line, into a slave State, and purpose to do so, keeping my skin safe, that I have now about the best chance I shall ever have. I should not wonder that there are some Kentuckians about this audience ; we are close to Kentucky ; and whether that be so or not, we are on ele- vated ground, and by speaking distinctly, I should not wonder if some of the Kentuckians would hear me on the other side of the river. For that reason, I propose to address a portion of what I have to say, to the Kentuck- ians. I say, then, in the first place, to the Kentuckians, that I am what they call, as I understand it, a " Black Republican." I think slavery is wrong, morally and politically. I desire that it should be no further spread in these United States, and I should not object, if it should gradually terminate in the whole Union. While I say this for myse 1 ^ I say to you, Kentuckians, that I understand you differ radically with me upon this propo- sition ; that you believe slavery is a good thing ; that slavery is right ; that it ought to be extended and perpet- uated in this Union. Now, there being this broad differ- EXTRACT FROM MR. LINCOLN'S SPEECH. 135 ence between us, I do not pretend, in addressing myself to you, Kentuckians, to attempt proselyting you ; that would be a vain effort. I do not enter upon it. I will tell you, so 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 institu- tion ; to abide by all and every compromise of the Constitution, and, in a word, coming back to the original proposition, to treat you, so far as degenerated men (if we have degenerated) may, according to the examples of those noble fathers Washington, Jefferson, and Madi- son. We mean to remember that you are as good as we ; that there is no difference between us, other than the difference of circumstances. We mean to recognize and bear in mind always, that you have as good hearts in your bosoms as other people, or as we claim to have, and treat you accordingly. We mean to marry your girls, when we have a chance the white ones, I mean and I have the honor to inform you that I once did have a chance in that way. I have told you what we mean to do. I want to know, now, when that thing takes place, what you mean to do. I often hear it intimated that you mean to divide the Union whenever a Republican, or anything like it, is elected President of the United States. If that is so, I want to know what you are going to do with your half of it ? Are you going to split the Ohio down through, and push your half off a piece? Or are you going to keep it right alongside of us outrageous fellows? Or 136 EXTRACT FROM MR. LINCOLN'S SPEECH. are you going to build up a wall some way, between your country and ours, by which that movable property of yours can't come over here any more, to the danger of your losing it ? Do you think you can better yourselves on that subject, by leaving us here, under no obligation whatever to return those specimens of your movable property that come hither? You have divided the Union, because we would not do right with you, as you think, upon that subject ; when we cease to be under obligations to do anything for you, how much better off do you think you will be ? Will you make war upon us, and kill us all ? Why, gentlemen, I think you are as gal- lant and as brave men as live ; that you can fight as bravely in a good cause, man for man, as any other peo- ple living ; that you have shown yourselves capable of this, upon various occasions ; but, man for man, you are not better than we are, and there are not so many of you as there are of us. You will never make much of a hand at whipping us. If we were fewer in numbers than you, I think that you could whip us ; if we were equal, it would likely be a drawn battle ; but being inferior in numbers, you will make nothing by attempting to master us. LOT M. MORRILL. 137 ABRAHAM LINCOLN, with George Washington, JL\. will stand out in the pages of American history in exalted pre-eminence. Mr. Lincoln was suited to the epoch which rightly anticipated his advent to the Presi- dency ; the quality of the man was the equivalent of the perils of the Chief Magistrate. Throughout his career, he displayed a character of perfect integrity, sincerity, undeviating rectitude and courage, while he exhibited, in rare combination, wisdom, gentleness and conciliation. His " firmness in the right, as God gave him to see," was, to him, faith, courage, patience and boundless endur ance in the cause of the right to the American people, nationality restored, liberty and union vindicated, the dark stain of slavery erased, and free institutions pre- served. AUGUSTA, 1880. i 3 3 EXTRACT FROM MR. LINCOLN'S SPEECH. EXTRACT FROM MR. LINCOLN'S SPEECH AT JONESBORO, ILL., SEPTEMBER 15, 1858. In so far as Judge Douglas has insisted that all the States have the right to do exactly as they please about all their domestic relations, including that of slavery, I agree entirely with him. I hold myself under constitu- tional obligations to allow the people in all the states, without interference, direct or indirect, to do exactly as they please ; and I deny that I have any inclination to interfere with them, even if there were no such constitu- tional obligation. I say, in the way our fathers originally left the Slav- ery question, the institution was in the course of ulti- mate extinction, and the public mind rested in the belief that it was in the course of ultimate extinction. I say, when this Government was first established, it was the policy of its founders to prohibit the spread of slavery into the new Territories of the United States, where it had not existed. All I have asked, or desired, any- where, is that it should be placed back again upon the basis that the fathers of our govern-ment origin- ally placed it upon. I have no doubt that it would become extinct, for all time to come, if we but re- adopted the policy of the fathers by restricting it to the limits it has already covered restricting it from the new Territories. ROBERT ALLYN. 139 IN the Autifmn of 1859, I was residing in Cincin* nati, and heard the late Stephen A. Douglas speak twice in that city or vicinity, and Mr. Lincoln speak once, from the steps of the Burnet House, I believe. I was impressed greatly with the contrast between them. Mr. Douglas was aggressive, confident in himself, and evidently bent on crushing his opponents. Mr. Lincoln seemed at first too modest and undemonstrative. But as he went on and forgot himself, and apparently his party, in his interest in grand principles, he rose in dig- nity, till he seemed more the embodiment of Justice, Freedom and Love of Humanity, than a mere man. He was lost in the grandeur of the cause, and stood un- selfishly for the rights of ail men, in all ages. And I have often thought that this idea of him then, gathered by me, best expresses the essence of his character, and inspired disregard of personal interests, and a complete self-surrender of everything to the welfare of all men, especially the humblest CARBONDALE, 1880. i 4 o ADDRESS A 2" COOPER INSTITUTE. EXTRACT FROM MR. LINCOLN'S ADDRESS DELIVERED AT COOPER INSTITUTE, FEBRUARY 27, i860. 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, and act as they acted upon it. This is all Republicans 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 toleration and protection a necessity. Let all the guaranties those fathers gave it be, not grudgingly, but fully and fairly maintained. It is exceedingly desirable that all parts of this great Confederacy shall be at peace, and in harmony, one with another. Even though much provoked, let us do noth- ing 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. 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 "ADDRESS AT COOPER INSTITUTE. 141 tin's, then let us stand by our duty, fearlessly and effectively. Let us be diverted by none of those sophistical contriv- ances wherewith we are so industriously plied and bela- bored 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 ques- tion about which all true men do care such as Union appeals beseeching true Union men to yield to Disunion- ists reversing the divine rule, and calling, not the sinners, but the righteous to repentance such as invocations to Washington, imploring men to unsay what Washington said, and undo what Washington did. Neither let us be slandered from our duty by false accusations against us, nor frightened from it by menaces of destruction to the Government nor dungeons to ourselves. Let us have faith, that right makes might, and in that faith let us, 10 the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it. i 4 2 ADDRESS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. ADDRESS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN TO THE CITIZENS OF SPRINGFIELD, ON HIS DEPARTURE FOR WASHINGTON, FEBRUARY IITH, 1 86 1. My Friends: No one, not in my position,, can appreciate the sad- ness I feel at this parting: To this people I owe all that I am., Here I have lived more than a quarter of a cen- tury ; here my children were born, and here one of them lies buried. I know not how soon I shall see you again. A duty devolves upon me which is, perhaps, greater than that which has devolved upon any other man since the days of Washington., He never would have suc- ceeded except by the aid of Divine Providence, upon which he at all times relied. I feel that I cannot suc- ceed without the same Divine aid which sustained him, and on the same Almighty Being I place my reliance for support ; and I hope you, my friends, will all pray that I may receive that Divine assistance, without which I can- not succeed, but with which success is certain. Again I bid you an affectionate farewelL JOSHUA F. SPEED. 143 IN 1834, I was a citizen of Springfield, Sangamon Co., Illinois. Mr. Lincoln lived in the country, fourteen miles from the town. He was a laborer, and a deputy surveyor, and at the same time a member of the legislature, elected the year previous. In 1835, he was a candidate for re-election.. I had not seen him for the first six months of my residence there, but had heard him spoken of as a man of wonderful ability on the stump. He was a long, gawky, ugly, shapeless man. He had never spok- en, as far as I know of, at the county seat, during his first candidacy. The second time he was a candidate, he had already made,, in the legislature, considerable repu- tation ; and on his renomination to the legislature, adver- tised to meet his opponents, and speak in Springfield, on a given day. I believe that that was the first public speech he ever made at the court-house. He was never ashamed, so far as I know, to admit his ignorance upon any subject,, or of the meaning of any word, no matter how ridiculous it might make him appear. As he was riding into town the evening before the speech, he passed the handsomest house in the village, which had just been built by Geo. Farquer; upon it he had placed a lightning-rod, the only one in the town or county. Some ten or twelve young men were riding with Lincoln. He asked them what that rod was for. They told him it was to keep off the lightning. " How does it do it ? " he asked ; none of them could tell. He rode into 144 JOSHUA F. SPEED. town, bought a book on the properties of lightning, and before morning knew all about it. When he was igno- rant on any subject, he addressed himself to the task of being ignorant no longer. On this occasion, a large number of citizens came from a distance to hear him speak. He had very able opponents. I stood near him and heard the speech. I was fresh from Kentucky then, and had heard most of her great orators. It struck me then, as it seems to me now, that I never heard a more effective speaker. All the party weapons of offense and defense seemed to be entirely under his control. The large crowd seemed to be swayed by him as he pleased. He was a Whig, and quite a number of candidates were associated with him on the Whig ticket ; seven, I think, in number ; there were seven Democrats opposed to them. The debate was a joint one, and Lin- coln was appointed to close it, which he did as I have heretofore described, in a most masterly style. The people commenced leaving the court-house, when Geo. Farquer, a man of much celebrity in the State, rose, and asked the people to hear him. He was not a candidate, but was a man of talents, and of great State notoriety. as a speaker. He commenced his speech by turning to Lincoln and saying, " This young man will have to be taken down; and I am truly sorry that the task devolves upon me." He then proceeded in a vein of irony, sarcasm, and wit, to ridicule Lincoln in every way that he could. Lincoln stood, not more than ten feet from him, with folded arms, and an eye flashing fire, and listened attentively to him, without ever interrupting him Lincoln then took the stand for reply. He was pale and JOSHUA F. SPEED. 145 his spirits seemed deeply moved. His opponent was one worthy of his steel. He answered him fully and completely. The conclusion of his speech I remember even now, so deep an impression did it make on me then. He said, " The gentleman commenced his speech by saying that this young man would have to be taken down, alluding to me ; I am not so young in years as I am in the tricks and trades of a politician ; but live long, or die young, I would rather die now, than, like the gentleman, change my politics, and simultaneous with the change re- ceive an office worth three thousand dollars per year, and then have to erect a lightning-rod over my house, to protect a guilty conscience from an offended God." He used the lightning-rod against Farquer as he did every- thing in after life. In 1837, after his return from the legislature, Mr. Lin- coln obtained a license to practice law. He lived four- teen miles in the country, and had ridden into town on a borrowed horse, with no earthly goods but a pair of saddle- bags, two or three law books, and some clothing which he had in the saddle-bags. He took an office, and engaged from the only cabinet-maker then in the village, a single bedstead. He came into my store (I was a merchant then), set his saddle-bags on the counter and asked me " what the furniture for a single bedstead would cost." I took slate and pencil and made calculation, and found the sum for furniture complete would amount to seventeen dollars in all. Said he, " It is probably cheap enough : but I want to say that, cheap as it is, I have not the money to pay. But if you will credit me until Christmas, and my experiment here as a lawyer is a success, I will pay you then. 10 146 JOSHUA F. SPEED. If I fail in that I will probably never be able to pay you at all." The tone of his voice was so melancholy that I felt for him. I looked up at him, and I thought then, as I think now, that I never saw so gloomy and melancholy a face. I said to him, " The contraction of so small a debt seems to affect you so deeply, I think I can suggest a plan by which you will be able to attain your end, without incurring any debt. I have a very large room, and a very large double-bed in it ; which you are per- fectly welcome to share with me if you choose." "Where is your room?" asked he. " Up stairs," said I, pointing to the stairs leading from the store to my room. Without saying a word, he took his saddle-bags on his arm, went up stairs, set them down on the floor, came down again, and with a face beaming with pleasure and smiles, exclaimed: "Well, Speed, I'm moved." Mr. Lincoln was then twenty-seven years old, almost without friends, and with no property except the saddle-bags with the clothes mentioned, within. Now, for me to have lived to see such a man rise from point to point, and from place to place, filling all the places to which he was called with honor and distinction, until he reached the presidency, filling the presidential chair in the most trying time that any ruler ever had, seems to me more like fiction than fact. None but a genius like his could have accomplished so much ; and none but a government like ours could produce such a man. It gave the young eagle scope for his wings ; he tried it, and soared to the top! In 1839 M r Lincoln, being then a lawyer in full prac- tice, attended all the courts adjacent to Springfield. He JOSHUA F. SPEED. 147 was then attending court at Christiansburg, about thirty miles distant. I was there when the court broke up ; quite a number of lawyers were coming from court to Spring- field. We were riding along a country road, two and two together, some distance apart, Lincoln and Jno. J. Hardin being behind (Hardin was afterward made colonel and was killed at Buena Vista). We were pass- ing through a thicket of wild plum and crab-apple trees, where we stopped to water our horses. After waiting some time Hardin came up and we asked him where Lin- coln was. " Oh," said he, " when I saw him last" (there had been a severe wind storm) "he had caught two little birds in his hand, which the wind had blown from their nest, and he was hunting for the nest." Hardin left him be- fore he found it. He finally found the nest, and placed the birds, to use his own words, " in the home provided for them by their mother." When he came up with the party they laughed at him ; said he, earnestly : " I could not have slept to-night if I had not given those two little birds to their mother." This was the flower that bloomed so beautifully in his nature, on his native prairies. He never lost the nobility of his nature, nor the kindness of his heart, by being removed to a higher sphere of action. On the contrary, both were increased. The enlarged sphere of his action developed the natural promptings of his heart LOUISVILLE, 1882. i 4 S LETTER OF ACCEPTANCE. LETTER OF ACCEPTANCE. SPRINGFIELD, ILL., May 23, 1860. "Hon. Geo. Ashmun, " President of the Republican National Convention. " Sir I accept the nomination tendered me by the Convention over which you presided, and of which I am formally apprised in the letter of yourself and others, acting as a committee of the Convention foi that pur- pose. " The declaration of principles and sentiments which accompanies your letter meets my approval ; and it shall be my care not to violate nor disregard it in any part. " Imploring the assistance of Divine Providence, and with due regard to the views and feelings of all who were represented in the Convention ; to the rights of all States and Territories, and the people of the nation ; to the inviolability of the Constitution, and to the per- petual union, harmony and prosperity of all, I am most happy to co-operate for the practical success of the prin- ciples declared by the Convention. " Your obliged friend and fellow-citizen, E. O. HAVEN. 149 IN times of great trouble, men and nations, unless doomed to perish, recognize and call upon God. So did this nation in the terrible struggle produced by slav- ery. It now seems that any man, however highly endowed, much unlike Abraham Lincoln, could not have so well filled the demand as President. Certainly, he did meet the demand, and well. To God be all the glory ! SYRACUSE, 1880. i5o SPEECH AT TOLEDO, OHIO. SPEECH AT TOLEDO, OHIO. I am leaving you on an errand of national importance, attended, 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 aftec tionate farewell CHARLES LAN MAN. 151 I FULLY concur with all that has ever been uttered calculated to show that Abraham Lincoln was a pure and honest man, and possessor of very superior abilities. Among those to whom I applied for biographical facts, while preparing the first edition of my Dictionary of Congress, was Mr. Lincoln ; and his reply was so characteristic of the man, that I send the following : "Born in Hardin County, Kentucky, February 12, 1809 > received a limited education ; adopted the profession of law ; was captain of volunteers in the Black Hawk war ; was post-master of a small village ; four times elected to the Illinois Legislature, and a Representative in Con- gress from 1847 to 1849." The several letters which he wrote to me, and two or three very pleasant interviews that I had with him, can never be forgotten ; but what I cherish \vith peculiar pleasure, is the fact that he once suggested my appointment as Librarian of Congress; and when, through a distinguished friend, I suggested that Mr. A. R. Spofford was an applicant for the place, and better fitted for it than myself, the manner in which he commented on my suggestion was exceedingly gratifying. ^rr sf Sp ^^^^^^^^i^ *** WASHINGTON, 1882. 152 SPEECH DELIVERED AT INDIANAPOLIS. SPEECH DELIVERED AT INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA. In all trying positions in which I shall be placed, and, doubtless I shall be placed in many such, my reliance will be placed upon you and the people of the United States ; and I wish you to remember, now and forever, that it is your business, and not mine ; that if the Union of these States, and the liberties of this people shall be lost, it is but little to any one man of fifty-two years of age, but a great deal to the thirty millions of people who inhabit these United States, and to their posterity in all coming time. It is your business to rise up and preserve the Union and liberty for yourselves, and not for me. I desire they should be constitutionally preserved. I, as already intimated, am but an accidental instrument, tem- porary, and to serve but for a limited time, and I appeal to you again to constantly bear in mind that with you, and not with politicians, not with Presidents, not with office-seekers, but with you, is the question, Shall the Union and shall the liberties of this country be pre- served to the latest generations ? BLANCHARD. 153 ABRAHAM LINCOLN AND THE CONVEN- TION OF 1860. NATIONS, like individuals, have turning-points in their lives. The United States has passed through one of them her first crisis since she be- came a nation by the adoption of a constitution in 1789. No small amount of eloquent advocacy, as well as charitable compromise, were required to unite the different States together in one common bond in that early day, even though the glories of her Revolution were fresh in the minds of all. The only cause of this re- luctance on the part of some of the States to enter into this compact grew out of a fear, that slavery might not be sustained after the national Union of the States had been consummated. And it is not improbable that some mental reservation existed as to the binding force of the constitution, on the part of some of the States at the time of signing it. When this union of all the States under one bond was accomplished we became, in the eyes of the world, a nation ; and our patriotic pride and fidelity to a common interest seemed to give an assurance of perpetual harmony. This kindred feeling was not disturbed till slavery had assumed rights, which were con- i 5 4 RUFUS BLANCHARD. sidered hostile to the honor of the North, and dangerous to the best interests of the nation. At this eventful epoch, when everybody was intent on his calling, loath to turn aside from his daily routine, the great issue was forced upon the nation in no equivocal form at the con- vention of 1860. For the first time in the history of presidential conventions, this issue completely trans- cended all others ; that of 1856 having been somewhat vacillating. A suspense now hung over the whole country. Prophets harangued and everybody partook of the general excitement. When the convention met it was observable through a conviction that seemed to fill the very air, that a new order of things was at hand ; that new men and new measures would soon be brought to the front by an irresistible influence that was gathering force like the whirlwind. And while (as is always the case at such popular councils), noisy and thoughtless demonstrations, like the froth that floats on deep waters, were uppermost at times, yet the profound convictions of political economists transcended them, whenever the true issue came up for debate. It was the substance, not the shadow, that this element of candor demanded ; it asked no favors through a reciprocity of interest, but challenged men to support principles according to their merits. Political prestige weighed nothing. In vain, it had oft been tried to bridge over the chasm ; heroic treatment was demanded, and who should be the hero to administer it, who could buffet the storm of indignation ready to burst upon the head of htm who accepted the nomination of the anti-slavery party ? Who could step into this arena impervious to the corruption of partisans ? XUFUS BLANCHARD. 155 Who could become the political gladiator, in hand-to- hand conflict with the disciples of Calhoun, and the neophytes of the oligarchy of which he was father? Who could become the animated target at whose feet the shafts of malice should fall harmless ? Who could be compromising without a letting down of principles? Who had firmness without arrogance, eloquence without pretension, charity without cupidity ? Who had the virtues of the statesman without the vices of the partisan ? He who had seen every phase of American life, and shared its wants, and felt its anxieties, and been taught in its school ; and whose spotless record now beckoned to the lovers of justice to follow whither he might lead. Abraham Lincoln. He was nominated, elected once, and again. His services wrung from the reluctant lips of his adversaries praise that they dared not refuse. The stickler for " blue blood " stood aghast, before the charm of his words simple and potent, and fortified by the force of events ; and last of all, the autocrats of the world obsequiously bowed before the bier which held the genius of America a corpse, around which a halo of glory shone to the uttermost parts of the earth. Other rulers of nations had been assassinated, but none before had won such acknowledgments of that kind of grandeur which died in him to live again. Our country, in her youthful fecundity, stimulated into activity by the vast- ness of her wild domain, through which genius became the handmaiden of creative power, produced a Lincoln. It is not essential that heraldry or even conventionalism should accompany merit, it is a positive principle. All the more lustrous if unshackled with forms. Lincoln 156 UFUS BLANCHARD. was its simple model the child of our training and own maturity. He became our father, and his tomb is our shrine. WHEATON, 1882. /. T. TROWBRIDGE. LINCOLN. HEROIC soul, in homely garb half hid, Sincere, sagacious, melancholy, quaint ; What he endured, no less than what he did, Has reared his monument, and crowned him saint. ARLINGTON, 1880. 158 SPEECH. SPEECH TO THE MEMBERS OF THE LEGISLATURE OF INDIANA WHO WAITED UPON HIM AT HIS HOTEL. " 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 word, 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 misunder- stand the meaning of those who use them. Let us get the exact definitions of these words, not from dictiona- ries, but from the men themselves, who certainly depre- cate the things they would represent by the use of the word. What then, is ' coercion '? What is ' invasion '? Would the marching of an army into South Carolina, without the consent of her people, and with hostile intent towards them, be invasion ? I certainly think it would, and it would be 'coercion' also if 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, or even withhold the mails from places where they were habitu- ally violated, would any or all these things be ' invasion ' or 'coercion? Do our professed lovers of the Union, but who spitefully resolve that they will resist coercion SPEECH. 159 and invasion, understand 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 affection would seem exceedingly thin and airy. If sick, the little pills of the homceopathists would be much too large for it to swallow. In their view, the Union, as a family relation, would seem to be no regu- lar marriage, but a sort of ' free love ' arrangement, to be maintained only 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, by 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 it- self, and ruin all which is larger than itself. If a State and a county, in a given case, should be equal in extent of territory, and equal in number of inhabitants in what, as a matter of principle, is the State better than a county ? Would an exchange of names be an exchange of rights upon principle ? On what rightful principle may a State, being not more than one-fiftieth part of the nation in soil and population, break up the nation, and then coerce a proportionally 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 ? I am not asserting anything; I am merely asking questions for you to con- sider." SPEECH AT CINCINNATI, OHIO. SPEECH AT CINCINNATI, OHIO. I have spoken but once before this in Cincinnati, t hat was a year previous to the late Presidential election. On that occasion, in a playful manner, but with sincere words, I addressed much of what I said to the Ken- tuckians. 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 institution, and, in a word, coming back to the original proposition, to treat you, so far as degenerated men (if we have degenerated) may, according to the examples of those noble fathers Washington, Jefferson, and Madison. We mean to remember that you are as good as we ; that there is no difference between us other than the difference of circumstances. We mean to rec- ognize and bear in mind always that you have as good hearts in your bosoms as other people, or as we claim to have, and treat you accordingly. Fellow-citizens of Kentucky ! friends ! brethren, may I call you in my new position ? I see no occasion, and feel no inclination to retract a word of this. If it shall not be made good, be assured the fault shall not be mine. B. FROTHINGHAM. 161 TOO much cannot be done to preserve the memory and deepen the moral impression of a man like Mr. Lincoln. So humble, simple, disinterested, imper- sonal, the peer of Washington. Even as idealized, the superior of any other statesman the country has pro- duced. BOSTON, 1882. n 162 TO THE OHIO SENATE. TO THE OHIO STATE. It is true, as has been said by the President of the Senate, that very great responsibility rests upon me in the position to which the votes of the American people have called me. I am deeply sensible of that weighty responsibility. I cannot but know, what you all know, that without a name, perhaps without a reason why I should have a name, there has fallen upon me a task such as did not rest upon the " Father of his Country ;" and so feeling, I cannot but turn, then, and look to the American people, and to that God who has never forsaken them. /. W. FORNEY. 163 I AM sure, as millions have said, that take him for all in all, we never shall look upon his like again. PHILADELPHIA. 1880. 164 SPEECH AT STEUBENV1LLE, OHIO. SPEECH AT STEUBENVILLE, OHIO. I fear that the great confidence placed in my ability is unfounded. Indeed, I am sure it is. Encompassed by vast difficulties as I am, nothing shall be wanting 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 under- standing of that instrument that causes difficulty. The only dispute on both sides 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. I reiterate that the majority should rule. If I adopt a wrong policy, the opportunity for condemnation will occur in four years' time. Then I can be turned out and a better man with better views put in my place. ROBERT C. WINTHROP. 165 HIS only term in Congress was while I was Speaker of the House of Representatives. Thirty-four years have elapsed since that Congress assembled, but I recall vividly the impressions I then formed, both as to his ability and his amiability. We were old Whigs to- gether, and agreed entirely on all questions of public interest. I could not always concur in the policy of the party which made him President, but I never lost my personal regard for him. For shrewdness, sagacity and keen, practical sense, he has had no superior in our day and generation. His patience, perseverance, imper- turbable good-nature and devoted patriotism, during the trying times of the civil war, were of inestimable value to the Union cause. Meantime, the forbearing and con- ciliatory spirit, which he manifested so signally in the last months of his presidency, rendered his death quite apart from the abhorrent and atrocious manner in which it occurred an inexpressible shock, even to those who had differed from his earlier views. His life, even at the moment it was taken away, as I said publicly at the time, was the most important and precious life in our whole land, I heartily wish success to the memorials of a ca- reer associated so prominently with the greatest event of our age, and which must ever have so exalted a place in American history. BOSTON, 1 88 1. i6'j SPEECH AT PITTSBURGH. SPEECH AT PITTSBURGH. The condition of the country, fellow-citizens, is an extraordinary one and fills the mind of every patriot with anxiety and solicitude. My intention is to give this sub- ject all the consideration 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 oppo- sition to the spirit of the constitution, contrary to the integrity of the Union, or which will in any way prove inimical to the liberties of the people or to the peace of the whole country. And, furthermore, when the time arrives for me to speak on this great subject, I hope to say nothing which will disappoint the reasonable expecta- tions of any man, or disappoint the people generally throughout the country, especially if their expectations have been based upon anything which I may have here- tofore said. WILLIAM F. WARREN. 167 " '"T^HEY who believe and clothe not their faith with injustice, JL they shall enjoy security, and they are rightly directed. And this is our argument wherewith we furnished Abraham that he might make use of it against his people." The Koran, Sura VI. BOSTON UNIVERSITY, 1880. i68 SPEECH AT CLEVELAND, OHIO. SPEECH AT CLEVELAND, OHIO. It is with you, the people, to advance the great cause of the Union and the Constitution, and not with any one man. It rests with you, alone. This fact is strongly impressed on my mind at present. In a com- munity like this, whose appearance testifies to their intel- ligence, I am convinced that the cause of liberty and the Union can never be in danger. ff. W. BELLOWS. 169 FOR singleness and simplicity of purpose, vigor of intellect, and sweetness of nature; for a humor matched with a pathos, that won the popular sympathy and was most rare and wise ; for a homely, hearty Americanism, that represented our new world and young nation ; for a profound and passionate love of his country ; for undeviating rectitude and an unworldliness which was not want of ability to lead other men, or any lack of skill to make his own way Lincoln was the ideal of a President, when the nation most wanted the right man in the right place. BROOKLYN, 1880. 170 SPEECH AT BUFFALO N. Y. SPEECH AT BUFFALO, N. Y. I AM sure I bring a heart true to the work. For the ability to perform it, I must 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 shall surely fail ; with it, I cannot fail. When we speak of threatened difficulties to the country, it is natural that it should be expected that something should be said by myself, with regard to particular measures. Upon more mature reflections, 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, sit- uated 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 pos- sible. C. F. BURN AM. 171 PRIOR to his elevation to the Presidency of the United States I had never met Mr. Lincoln, although I was acquainted with the splendid reputation he had achieved in Illinois as a lawyer and statesman. His venerable father-in-law, Robert S. Todd, of Lex- ington, was one of my earliest friends, and his more distinguished relative, Hon. Daniel Breck, of this town, was my first law preceptor. From these gentlemen I had learned to admire his great character, and was not surprised, when, in 1860, the. nomination for the chief magistracy of the republic was given him by the conven- tion at Chicago over rivals so illustrious as Chase and Seward. After his election, I met Mr. Lincoln often in Wash- ington, and it will be always one of the pleasant memo- ries of my life that I had this privilege and shared somewhat his regard and confidence. Great as were the men who constituted his cabinet and in no admin- istration were ever found three greater men than Chase, Seward and Stanton I always thought, and still think, he was greater than any of them. Calm, courageous, generous, just ; he was the impersonation of patriotism, and his labors to restore the Union by suppressing the rebel Confederacy, and by striking off the fetters from four million slaves, followed by his untimely death by the hand of an assassin, gave to him of all the men of this century the first place in the eyes of all mankind. 172 C. F. BURN AM. Nothing which can be done to perpetuate his fame, to keep him ever before the coming generations of his countrymen, should be omitted. RICHMOND, 1882. JOSEPH P. Bit AD LEY. 173 THE greatness of his figure in our history stands so near and towers so high that it cannot be taken in at a glance in this generation. WASHINGTON, 1880. 174 SPEECH AT SYRACUSE* N. Y. SPEECH AT SYRACUSE, N. Y. I see you have erected a very fine and handsome platform here, for me, and I presume you expect me to speak from it. If I should go upon it, you would imag- ine that I was about to deliver you a much longer speech than I am. I wish you to understand that I mean no discourtesy to you by thus dealing. I intend discourtesy to no one. But I wish you to understand that, though I am unwilling to go upon this platform, you are not at liberty to draw any inference concerning any other plat- form with which my name has been, or is, connected. I wish you long life and prosperity, individually, and pray that with the perpetuity of those institutions under which we have all so long lived and prospered, our hap- piness may be secured, our future made brilliant, and the glorious destiny of our country established forever. A. E. BURNS1DS. 175 T HE greatest man of this age. PROVIDENCE, 1881. i 7 6 SPEECH AT UTICA, N. Y. SPEECH AT UTICA, N. Y. LADIES AND GENTLEMEN I have no speech to make to you, and no time to speak it I appear before you that I may see you, and that you may see me ; and I am willing to admit, that so far as the ladies are concerned, I have the best of the bargain; though I wish it to be understood that I do not make the same acknowledg- ment concerning the men. S. WELLS WILLIAMS. 177 WHEN President Lincoln was killed, I was the acting United States Minister at Peking, and re- ported the assassination to His Imperial Highness, Prince Kung, then at the head of the government, from whom a suitable reply was received on the 8th of July, 1865. I sent the correspondence to the Secretary of State, with the following remarks : " The limits of a dispatch will hardly allow me more than to add my tribute of admira- tion to the character of Mr. Lincoln. His firm and consistent maintenance of the national cause, his clear understanding of the great questions at issue, and his unwearied efforts, while enforcing the laws, to deprive the conflict of all bitterness, were all so happily blended with a reliance on Divine guidance, as to elevate him to a high rank among successful statesmen. His name is hereafter identified with the cause of Emancipation, while his patriotism, integrity, and other virtues, and his untimely death, render him not unworthy of mention with William of Orange and Washington." This was written seventeen years ago, since which time I have learned more of the inimitable blending in his character of mercy and firmness, and estimate him higher. He was tested in every way throughout the long struggle, and his rare virtues will endear him to the American people the more they study his life. J fy YALE COLLEGE, 1882. 12 178 SPEECH. SPEECH FROM THE STEPS OF THE CAPITOL, ALBANY, N. Y. I AM notified by your Governor that this reception is given without distinction of party. I accept it the more gladly, because it is so. Almost all men in this country, and in any country where freedom of thought is toler- ated, attach themselves to political parties. It is but ordinary charity to attribute this to the fact that in so attaching himself to the party which his judgment prefers, the citizen believes he thereby promotes the best interests of the whole country ; but when an election is past, it is altogether befitting a free people that, until the next election, they should be as one people. The recep- tion you have extended to me to-day, is not given to me personally. It should not be so, but as the representa- tive, for the time being, of the majority of the nation. If the election had resulted in the selection of either of the other candidates, the same cordiality should have been extended to him, as is extended to me this day, in testimony of the devotion of the whole people to the Constitution and the whole Union, and of their desire to perpetuate our institutions, and to hand them down in their perfection, to succeeding generations. fOHN BRIGHT. 179 THE life of President Lincoln is written in im perishable characters in the history of the great American Republic. LONDON, 1880. i8o SPEECH IN THE ASSEMBLY HALL. SPEECH IN THE ASSEMBLY HALL AT AL BANY, N. Y. I DO not propose to enter into an explanation of any particular line of policy as to our present difficulties, to be adopted by the incoming Administration. I deem it just to you, to myself, and to all, that I should see every- thing, that I should hear everything, that I should have every light that can be brought within my reach, in order that when I do so speak, I shall have enjoyed every opportunity to take correct and true grounds ; and for this reason I don't propose to speak, at this time, of the policy of the Government. But when the time comes, I shall speak, as well as I am able, for the good of the present and future of this country for the good both of the North and the South of this country for the good of the one and the other ; and of all sections of the country. In the meantime, if we have patience, if we restrain ourselves, if we allow ourselves^not to run off in a passion, I still have confidence that the Almighty, the Maker of the Universe, will, through the instrumen- tality of this great and intelligent people, bring us through this, as he has through all the other difficulties of our country. G. DE LA MATYR. 181 MORE fully than any other man, not excepting Washington, Abraham Lincoln embodied and exhibited our distinctive civilization. "From the people, of the people, and for the people," he inspired and di- rected them through the most trying ordeal that this government has passed, or ever can pass. Geologists tell us, the lower stratum of the earth's crust is granite, and that the highest mountains are the upheaval of this granite, so granite is both base and crown. Mr. Lincoln was lifted by the force of his un- rivaled genius from the mass of the people, the im- mutable basis, the granite of our civilization, to an ele- vation of solitary grandeur. Embracing all phases, from the humblest to the highest, his life bears all to a higher altitude where its influence falls in perpetual bene- diction. INDIANAPOLIS, 1882. 1 82 SPEECH AT POUGHKEEPSIE. SPEECH AT POUGHKEEPSIE, N. Y. I CANNOT refrain from saying that I am highly grati- fied, as much here indeed, under the circumstances, as I have been anywhere on my route, to witness this noble demonstration made, not in honor of an individual, but of the man who at this time humbly, but earnestly, repre- sents the majesty of the Nation. This reception, like all others that have been tendered to me, doubtless ema- nates from all the political parties, and not from one alone. As such, I accept it the more gratefully, since it indicates an earnest desire on the part of the whole people, without regard to political differences, to save not the country, because the country will save itself but to save the institutions of the country those insti- tutions under which, in the last three quarters of a cen- tury, we have grown to be a great, an intelligent, and a happy people the greatest, the most intelligent, and the happiest people in the world. These noble manifesta- tions indicate, with unerring certainty, that the whole people are willing to make common cause for this object ; that if, as it ever must be, some have been successful in the recent election, and some have been beaten if some are satisfied, and some are dissatisfied the defeated party are not in favor of sinking the ship, but are desirous of running it through the tempest in safety, and willing, if they think the people have committed an error in their verdict now, to wait in the hope of reversing it, and set- SPEECH AT POUGHKEEPSIE. 183 ting it right next time. I do not say that in the recent election the people did the wisest thing that could have been done ; indeed, I do not think they did ; but I do say, that in accepting the great trust committed to me, which I do with a determination to endeavor to prove worthy of it, I must rely upon you, upon the people of the whole country, for support ; and with their sustaining aid, even I, humble as I am, cannot fail to carry the ship of state safely through the storm. 1 84. SPEECH AT PEEKSKILL, N. Y. SPEECH AT PEEKSKILL, N. Y. I WILL say in a single sentence, in regard to the diffi- culties that lie before me and our beloved country, that if I can only be as generously and unanimously sustained, as the demonstrations I have witnessed indicate I shall be, I shall not fail ; but without your sustaining hands I am sure that neither I, nor any other man, can hope to surmount these difficulties. I trust that in the course I shall pursue, I shall be sustained not only by the party that elected me, but by the patriotic people of the whole country. JOHN BASCOM. 185 I LOOK upon A. Lincoln as a remarkable illustra- tion of the important part which a sound social and moral character may play in a political career. While, in a lower sense, he opened up his own way to fortune by his own industry, in a higher sense, it was opened up for him by the moral forces at play about him. The ice-floe parts before the skillful sea-captain. Not by his own force chiefly, Lincoln threaded his narrow strip of open way, till at length he reached, and a great nation with him, the high-seas, by a shrewd intellect, and far more, by an honestly sympathetic heart. He was not a great man in intellect only, he was not a moral hero ; but he pos- sessed in an unusual degree, in an active, mobile form, humane sympathies ; and these saved him and us. Abra- ham Lincoln was one of those few men, at the sight of whom, we trust God and take courage. MADISON, 1880. 1 86 REPLY TO THE MAYOR OF NEW YORK. REPLY TO THE MAYOR OF NEW YORK. IN my devotion to the Union I hope I am behind no man in the nation. As to my wisdom in conducting affairs so as to tend to the preservation of the Union, I fear too great confidence may have been placed in me. I am sure I bring a heart devoted to the work. There is nothing that could ever bring me to consent willingly to consent to the destruction of this Union, unless it would be that thing for which the Union itself was made. I understand that the ship is made for carrying and pres- ervation of the cargo ; and so long as the ship is safe with the cargo it shall not be abandoned. This Union shall never be abandoned, unless the possibility of its existence shall cease to exist, without the necessity of throwing passengers and cargo overboard. So long, then, as it is possible that the prosperity and liberties of the people can be preserved within the Union, it shall be my purpose at all times to preserve it. GEO. W. MINIER. 187 MR. LINCOLN was great in goodness, as well as good in greatness. Like the silent potent forces in nature, he was most powerful in the calm. He never shunned storms and tempests, but never courted them. His love of honesty and fair dealing was one of his most prominent characteristics ; he never stooped to trickery. Let the following incident illustrate this trait in his character : In the spring term of the Tazewell County Court, in 1847, which, at that time, was held in the village of Tre- mont, I was detained as witness an entire week. Lin- coln was employed in several suits, and among them was one of Case vs. Snow Bros. The Snow Bros., as appeared in evidence (who were both minors), had pur- chased from an old Mr. Chase what was then called a " prairie team," consisting of two or three yoke of oxen and prairie plow, giving therefor their joint note for some two hundred dollars, but when pay-day came, refused to pay, pleading the minor act. The note was placed in Lincoln's hands for collection. The suit was called, a jury impaneled. The Snow Bros, did not deny the note, but pleaded, through their counsel, that they were minors, and that Mr. Case knew they were, at the time of the contract and conveyance. All this was admitted by Mr. Lincoln, with his peculiar phrase, " Yes, gentle- men, I guess that's so." The minor act was read, and its validity admitted, in the same manner. The counsel of the Snow Bros, were permitted, without question, to 1 88 GEO. W. M INTER. state all these things to the jury, and to show by the stat- ute that these minors could not be held responsible for their contract. By this time, you may well suppose that I began to be uneasy. " What ! " thought I, " this good old man, who confided in these boys, to be wronged in this way, and even his counsel, Mr. Lincoln, to submit in silence !" I looked at the court, Judge Treat, but could read nothing in his calm and dignified demeanor. Just then, Mr. Lincoln slowly got up, and in his strange, half erect attitude, and clear, quiet accent began, " Gentlemen of the jury, are you willing to allow these boys to begin life with this shg.me and disgrace attached to their charac- ter? If you are, / am not. The best judge of human character that ever wrote, has left these immortal words for all of us to ponder : " ' Good name in man or woman, dear my lord, Is the immediate jewel of their souls. Who steals my purse, steals trash ; 'tis something, nothing : 'Twas* mine, 'tis his ; and has been slave to thousands. But he that filches from me my good name, Robs me of that which not enriches him, And leaves me poor, indeed.' " Then rising to his full height, and looking upon the Snow Bros, with the compassion of a brother, his long right arm extended toward the opposing counsel, he continued : " Gentlemen of the Jury, these poor, innocent boys would never have attempted this low villainy, had. it not been for the advice of these lawyers." Then, for a few minutes, he showed how even the noble science of law may be prostituted ; with a scathing rebuke to those who thus CEO. W. MINIER. 189 belittle their profession, and concluded: "And now, gentlemen, you have it in your power to set these boys right before the world." He plead for the young men only ; I think he did not mention his client's name. The jury, without leaving their seats, decided that Snow Bros, must pay that debt ; and they, after hearing Lincoln, were as willing to pay it as the jury were determined they should. I think the entire argument lasted not above five minutes. I once heard Mr. Lincoln speak on the Tariff, and he illustrated it in this way ; " I confess that I have not any very decided views on the question. A revenue we must have. In order to keep house, we must have breakfast, dinner and supper ; and this tariff business seems to be necessary to bring them. But yet, there is something obscure about it It reminds me of the fel- low that came into a grocery down here in Menard County, at Salem, where I once lived, and called for a picayune's worth of crackers ; so the clerk laid them out on the counter. After sitting awhile, he said to the clerk, ' I don't want these crackers, take them, and give me a glass of cider.' So the clerk put the crackers back into the box, and handed the fellow the cider. After drinking, he started for the door. ' Here, Bill,' called out the clerk, ' pay me for your cider.' ' Why,' said Bill, l I gave you the crackers for it.' 'Well, then, pay me for the crackers.' ' But I haint had any ; ' responded Bill. ' That's so,' said the clerk. ' Well, clear out ! It seems to me that I've lost a picayune somehow, but I can't make it out exactly.' " So," said Lincoln, after the 1 9 o GEO. W. MINIER. laugh had subsided, "it is with the tariff ; somebody gets the picayune, but I don't exactly understand how." I am glad to assist in embalming in the minds of his countrymen, the true history and eminent character of the greatest American President, before they are over- run with the weeds of fable. ^a^2j' " - ^t. ' - ' ~" MlNIER, 1882. JOHN B. GO UGH. 1QI ABRAHAM LINCOLN, one of the grandest men JLJL this country or the world has ever produced, pure in life and motive, inflexible in his purpose to do right as he understood it, of undaunted courage in car- rying out the principles he believed to be true, large- hearted, and tender in his sympathy with human suffer- ing- Bold as a lion and gentle as a child He lived to bless the world. He broke no promise, served no private end, He gained no title, and he lost no friend. WORCESTER, 1880. j 9 2 SPEECH TO VARIOUS ASSOCIATIONS. SPEECH TO VARIOUS REPUBLICAN ASSO- CIATIONS, NEW YORK. IT was not intimated to me that I was brought into the room where Daniel Webster and Henry Clay had made speeches, and where, in my position, I might be expected to do something like those men, or do some- thing worthy of myself or my audience. I have been occupying a position since the Presidential election, of silence, of avoiding public speaking, of avoiding public writing ; I have been doing so, because I thought upon ful) consideration that was the proper course for me to take. I have not kept silence since the Presidential election from any party wantonness, or from any indiffer- ence to the anxiety that pervades the minds of men about the aspect of the political affairs of this country. I have kept silence for the reason that I supposed it was pecu- liarly proper that I should do so until the time came when, according to the custom of the country, I could speak officially. I alluded to the custom of the Presi- dential-elect, at the time of taking the oath of office ; that is what I meant by the custom of the country. I do suppose that, while the political drama being enacted in this country, at this time, is rapidly shifting its scenes- forbidding an anticipation, with any degree of certainty, to-day, what we shall see to-morrow it was peculiarly fitting that I should see it all, up to the last minute, SPEECH TO VARIOUS ASSOCIATIONS. 193 before I should take ground that I might be disposed (by the shifting of the scenes afterwards) also to shift. I have said several times, upon this journey, and I now repeat it to you, that when the time does come I shall then take the ground that I think is right, right for the North, for the South, for the East, for the West, for the whole country. And in doing so, I hope to feel no necessity pressing upon me to say anything in conflict with the Constitution ; in conflict with the continued Union of these States, in conflict with the perpetuation of the liberties of this people, or anything in conflict with anything whatever that I have ever given you reason to expect from me. 18 194 SPEECH AT NEWARK, N. /. SPEECH AT NEWARK, NEW JERSEY. I AM sure, however, that I have not the ability to do anything unaided of God, and that without his sup- port, and that of this free, happy, prosperous, and intelli- gent people, no man can succeed in doing that the im- portance of which we all comprehend. C. M. CLAY. 195 E^COLN was the truest friend I ever had and therefore my estimate of his character must be taken "cum grano salis." He was the most conscien- tious man I ever knew, and ranks with Washington in genius, public service, and patriotism. They will go down to posterity in equal love, admiration, and grati- tude. After this I need not say that he was the man of his times : and such is the verdict of his contemporaries, WHITE HALL, 1880. 196 SPEECH IN THE SENATE CHAMBER. SPEECH IN THE SENATE CHAMBER. TRENTON, 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 seen, " Weem's Life of Washington." I remember all the accounts there given of the battle-fields and struggles for 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 endured 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 these early impressions last longer than any others. I recollect thinking then, boy even though I was, that there must have been some- thing more than common that these men struggled for. I am exceedingly anxious that that thing which they struggled for ; that something even more than National Independence ; that something that held out a great promise to all the people of the world to all time to come I am exceedingly anxious that this Union, the Consti- tution, and the liberties of the people shall be perpetu- ated in accordance with the original idea for which that struggle was made, and I shall be most happy indeed if SPEECH IN THE SENATE CHAMBER. 197 I shall be an humble instrument in the hands of the Almighty and of this, his most chosen people, as the chosen instrument also in the hands of the Almighty for perpetuating the object of that great struggle. 198 SPEECH AT TRENTON, N. f. SPEECH AT TRENTON, NEW JERSEY. DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY. I SHALL endeavor to take the ground I deem most just to the North, the East, the West, the South, and the whole country. I take it, I hope, in good temper, certainly with no malice towards any section. I shall do all that may be in my power to promote a peaceful settle- ment of all our difficulties. The man does not live who is more devoted to peace than I am, none who would do, more to preserve it, but it may be necessary to put the foot down firmly. And if I do my duty and do right you will sustain me, will you not ? Received, as I am, by the members of 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 wreck now, there will be no pilot ever needed for another voyage. SCHUYLER COLFAX. 199 HIS freedom from passion and bitterness in his acute sense of justice in his courageous faith in the right, and his inextinguishable hatred of wrong in warm and heartfelt sympathy and mercy, in his coolness of judgment, in his unquestioned rectitude of intention in a word, in his ability to lift himself for his country's sake above all mere partizanship, in all the marked traits of his character combined, he has had no parallel since Washington, and, while our republic endures he will live with him in the grateful hearts of his grateful countrymen. SOUTH BEND, 1880. 200 ADDRESS TO THE MAYOR AND CITIZENS ADDRESS TO THE MAYOR AND CITIZENS OF PHILADELPHIA I DEEM it a happy circumstance that this dissatisfied position of our fellow-citizens does not point us to any- thing in which they are being injured, or about to be injured ; for which reason I have felt all the while jus- tified 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. 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 deter- mine. 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 liberty of these States and these people. Your worthy Mayor has ex- pressed the wish, in which I join with him, that it were convenient for me to remain in your city long enough to consult your merchants and manufacturers ; or ADDRESS TO THE MAYOR AND CITIZENS. 201 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 Declaration 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 in- consistent with the teachings of these holy and most sacred walls. I never asked anything that does not breathe from these sacred walls. All my political warfare has been in favor of the teachings that came forth from these sacred walls. May my right hand forget its cun- ning, and my tongue cleave to the roof my mouth, if ever I prove false to those teachings. 202 SPEECH IN INDEPENDENCE HALL. SPEECH IN INDEPENDENCE HALL AT PHILADELPHIA. 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. I have pondered over the toils that were endured by the officers and soldiers of the army who achieved that independ- ence. I have often inquired of myself what great prin- ciple or idea it was that kept this Confederacy so long together. It was net the mere matter of the separation of the colonies from the mother-land, but that sentiment in the Declaration of Independence 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 the sentiment embodied in the Declaration of Independence. Now, my friends, can this country be saved on that basis? If it can, I shall 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 without giving up that principle, I was about to say / would rather be assassinated on this spot than surrender it. ROBERT COLLYER. 203 A BRAHAM LINCOLN'S greatness and worth lay jT\. in his simple manhood. So that the excuse we offer for the faults and failings of some great men, " They were only human," was the very crown of his ex- cellence. He was a whole man, human to the core of his heart. NEW YORK, 1880. 204 SPEECH BEFORE INDEPENDENCE HALL. SPEECH BEFORE INDEPENDENCE HALL, PHILADELPHIA, FEB., 1 86 1 WHILE HOISTING A NEW FLAG. EACH additional star added to that flag has given additional prosperity and happiness to this country, until it has advanced to its present condition ; and its welfare in the future, as well as in the past, is in your hands. Cultivating the spirit that animated our fathers, who gave renown and celebrity to this hall ; cherishing that fraternal feeling which has so long* characterized us as a nation ; excluding passion, ill-temper, and precipitate action on all occasions, I think we may promise our- selves that additional stars shall from time to time be placed upon that flag, until we shall number, as was anticipated by the great historian, five hundred millions of happy and prosperous people. ROSCOE CONKLING. 205 IT would be difficult, in many words, and perhaps not more difficult in a few, to state my estimate of the " Life and Services of Abraham Lincoln." It was a hard life, a busy life, an American life, and a great life ; and it rendered services to the country which can hardly be over-estimated, and which it has been the fortune of, perhaps, only two other men to equal. UTICA, 1880. 206 SPEECH AT LANCASTER. SPEECH AT LANCASTER, PENNSYLVANIA. I APPEAR not to make a speech. I have not time tc make a speech at length, and not strength to make them on every occasion ; and worse than all, I have none to make. There is plenty of matter to speak about in these times, but it is well known that the more a man -speaks the less he is understood the more he says one thing, the more his adversaries contend he meant something else. I shall soon have occasion to speak officially, and then I will endeavor to put my thoughts just as plain as I can express myself true to the Constitution and Union of all the States, and to the perpetual liberty of all the people. S. J. KIRK WOOD. 207 IT is not probable that the memory of Abraham Lin- coln will perish from the earth, so long as " a gov- ernment of the people, by the people, and for the people " shall stand. Nevertheless, I believe that anything which tends to bring the honest, true life of so grand a man nearer to the thoughts and hearts of each generation, is a worthy* work. IOWA CITY, 1882. 2o8 SPEECH BEFORE THE LEGISLATURE. SPEECH BEFORE THE LEGISLATURE OF PENNSYLVANIA AT HARRIS- BURG, FEBRUARY 22, 1 86 1. I HAVE already gone through one exceedingly inter- esting scene this morning, in the ceremonies at Philadel- phia. 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 ex- pressing, 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 mag- nificent flag of our country ; they had arranged 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 arrangement, the cord was pulled, and it floated gloriously to the wind, without an accident, in the light, glowing sunshine of the morning. I could not help hoping that there was, in the entire success of that beau- tiful ceremony, at least something of an omen of what is to come. How could I help feeling, then, as I often have felt ? In the whole of that proceeding, I was a very humble instrument. I had not provided the flag. I had SPEECH BEFORE THE LEGISLATURE. 209 not made the arrangements for elevating it to its place ; I had applied but a very small portion of my feeble strength in raising it. In the whole transac- tion, I was in the hands of the people who had arranged it, and, if I can have the same generous co- operation of the people of the nation, I think the flag of our country may yet be kept flaunting gloriously. 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 I am exceedingly gratified to see the manifestation, upon your streets, of your mili- tary 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 wise be brought about, it shall be through no fault of mine. 14 210 SPEECH TO THE MAYOR. SPEECH TO THE MAYOR AND COMMON COUNCIL OF WASHINGTON. MR. MAYOR: I thank you, and through you the municipal authori ties of this city who accompany you, for this welcome. And as it is the first time in my life, since the present phase in politics has presented itself in this country, that I have said anything publicly within a region of country where the institution of slavery exists, I will take this occasion to say, that I think very much of the ill-feeling that has existed and still exists between the people in the sections from which I came and the people here, is dependent upon a misunderstanding of one another. I therefore -avail myself of this opportunity to assure you, Mr. Mayor, and all the gentlemen present, that I have not now, and never have had, any other than as kindly 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 con- strained to withhold from my own 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 have reached this city of Washington under cir- SPEECH Tu THE MAYOR. 211 cumstances considerably differing from those under which any other man has ever reached it. 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 remove something of this misunderstanding ; that I may be enabled to convince you, and the people of your section of the country, that we regard you as in all things our equals, and in all things entitled to the same respect and the same treatment that we claim for ourselves ; that we are in no wise 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 these rights, but are determined to give you, as far as lies in our hands, all your rights under the Constitution not grudgingly, but fully and fairly. I hope that, by thus dealing with you, we will become better acquainted, and be better friends. 212 PROCLAMATION. PROCLAMATION, APRIL 15, l86l. Now, Therefore, I, ABRAHAM LINCOLN, President of the United States, by 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 number of 75,000, in order to suppress said combination and to cause the laws to be duly executed. The details for this object will be immediately communicated to the State authori- ties through the War Department. I appeal to the loyal citizens to favor, facilitate and aid this effort to maintain the honor, the integrity, and the existence of our National 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 force hereby called forth, will probably be to re- possess the forts, places and property which have been seized from the Union, and in every event the utmost care will be observed, consistent with the objects afore- said, to avoid any devastation, any destruction of, or in- terference with property, or any disturbance of peaceful citizens in any part of the country ; and I hereby com- mand the persons composing the combination aforesaid, to disperse and retire peaceably to their respective abodes within twenty days from this date, WILLIAM WALKER. 213 MY personal recollection of Mr. Lincoln, and what I have seen of him, in and about Springfield, dates from about the year 1842, and was almost continuous until he left for Washington, in February, 1861 ; and, of course, I can say of, or concerning him, nothing but what might be said by hundreds of others who knew him as well, and much better, than I did. There was one trait in Mr. Lincoln's character that I can never forget ; that was his great kindness and generous sympathy for the young men, who were struggling night and day, to reach a place at the bar, as lawyers. I well remember his coming in the office of Col. Baker, where I studied and read law, almost every afternoon ; and with his cheerful face, and hearty greeting, to myself and other students, " How are you this afternoon, boys ?" seat himself, and take up some text-book, that some of us were reading, and give us a close and rigid examination, laughing heartily at our an- swers, at times ; and always made the hour he spent with us interesting and instructive ; occasionally relating, to the great amusement of all present,, an anecdote ; and, after the hour so spent, he could go to a back yard, used by the students, and join them in a game of ball, with as much zest as any of us. But, when his watch told him the hour was out, he would at once quit the game, and bid us good-evening. Many years after, years that the writer had spent in the active practice of law, I met Mr. Lincoln, and was associated with him in about the last case he had any connection with. This, I think, was in 214 WILLIAM WALKER. the year 1859, and after his name had become a house- hold word in all the land after he had won imperishable renown as a political debater, with Senator Douglas ; and while his great mind was full of the momentous ques- tions then agitating the public mind : he could not, and did not, forget an old widow lady who had been, long years before, kind to him, while he was struggling, alone and unaided, in a new country, for the means to enable him to qualify himself for the high position afterward called upon, by his countrymen, to fill. This old widow lady, named Armstrong, known by almost every one in Menard Co. as Aunt Hannah, had a son a wild boy of about twenty years of age who, with others, became in- volved in a difficulty at a camp meeting, held in Mason Co., near Salt Creek, resulting in the killing of a man named Metzker. Young Armstrong, and another young man, were indicted for murder in the first degree. Aunt Hannah, young Armstrong's mother, employed the writer, and a lawyer named Dillworth, to defend her son. We obtained an order of court, allowing separate trials, and took a change of venue, on the part of Armstrong, to Cass Co., Illinois, in the spring of '59. Upon the writer reaching Beardstown, and while in consultation with my associate, at the hotel, Mr. Lincoln was an- nounced. Upon entering, he gave us the gratifying information that he would, at the request of Aunt Han- nah, assist us in the case of her son. This was agree- able news to us. We furnished Mr. Lincoln such facts as had come to our knowledge ; he walked across the room two or three times, was again seated, and asked us for our line of defense, and the kind of jury we thought WILLIAM WALKER. 215 of taking. We were in favor of young men. He asked our reasons. We replied, the defendant being a young man, we thought the sympathies of young men could be more easily aroused in his behalf. Mr. Lincoln differed with us, and requested the privilege of making the chal- lenges, which we accorded to him, and to me. The most remarkable-looking twelve men were sworn, that I had ever seen in a jury-box. All were past middle life, and the more strict the men were in enforcing obedience to the law, and the good order of society, the better pleased IVft. Lincoln was with them. The trial progressed, evi- dence heard and instructions given, and the State was heard from through its attorney. Mr. Lincoln made the closing argument for the defense. A grander, or a more powerful and eloquent speech, never, in my opinion, fell from the lips of man ; and when he closed, there was not a dry eye in the court-room. The young man was acquitted, for which Mr. Lincoln would not receive a cent. I have made this mention of some of my recol- lections of Mr. Lincoln, longer, perhaps, than I ought but I could not well avoid it for, taking him all in all, I think him one of the greatest men America has ever produced. LEXINGTON, 1882. 2i6 REPLY TO GOVERNOR HICKS REPLY TO GOVERNOR HICKS AND MAYOR BROWN. FOR the future, troops must be brought here, but I make no point of bringing them through Baltimore. Without any military knowledge myself, of course I must leave details to General Scott. He hastily said this morning, in the presence of these gentlemen, " March them around Baltimore and not through it." I sincerely hope the General, on fuller reflection, will consider this practical and proper, and that you will not object to it. By this, a collision of the people of Balti- more with the troops will be avoided, unless they go out of their way to seek it. I hope you will exert your in- fluence to prevent this. Now and ever I shall do all in my power for peace, consistently with the maintenance of the government. APRIL 20, 1861. LEONARD W. VOLK. 217 r I ^HE public services of Mr. Lincoln are well known JL to the world. But there is much of the man, the inner man and his real characteristics familiar only to his neighbors and intimate friends, as they knew him, before he was so suddenly called to the Presidency of the United States, from a country village, where, and near which most of his life had been spent, to assume the " cares of state," and carry, Atlas-like, the destinies of the Western Continent upon his brawny and hercu- lean shoulders. The world at large will never know as do those living neighbors and friends the real greatness of the man. Personally, I had but little intimate acquaintance with Mr. Lincoln, compared to what many others had, and what I observed of his character was mainly while sitting to me, prior to his nomination in 1860, for the clay model of his bust. But he impressed me, before I ever spoke with him, with a feeling akin to reverence a feeling of affection. He was just the man to strike with favor every person who knew toil and pri- vation and what could be more natural ? for he himself had been a toiler at every drudgery, and experienced the severest privations from earliest boyhood to mature man- hood. Its effect was plainly visible in his figure, in the form of the bones, muscle and sinew, in his motion and in his speech. He was a plebeian in the truest sense, and his prototype cannot be found among the great men of ancient or modern times. He has been compared with King Servius Tullius, but might with more propriety be 218 LEONARD W. VOLK. compared with the Czar Alexander II. of Russia, who by his own personal will freed so many millions of serfs, in opposition to the wishes of his nobles ; while the former freed no slaves, but granted some elective privileges to the plebeian claims, subject always to the approval of the patrician senators, and built a five-mile wall around Rome. But neither of these despots (one a King and the other an Emperor) possessed the characteristics of Abraham Lincoln. The fact that all three were assas- sinated does not signify much in making them resem- blances of each other. In studying the marble and bronze portraits of the rulers and great men of ancient medieval and modern times, the writer has found none possessing any decided resemblance to Mr. Lincoln, whose features are distinctly in contrast with European types and may properly be designated as purely Amer- ican, Our own brief history gives us the names of five distinctly remarkable men who were Presidents of the United States, greater than all others, more remarkable because they carved out and achieved their own immor- tality, and none but one of these five referred to was a college graduate, and he, by his own indomitable will, perseverance and industry, through extreme poverty, alone obtained a collegiate education. None of these five men were sons of presidents, nor did they possess wealthy and distinguished relatives (except, perhaps, the first) to advance and place them in high stations. No ! they all earned their honors and promotion from stage to stage, from young boyhood, in the rough, rugged school of experience, toil and hardship, which ripened and fitted them for every station to which they were successively LEONARD W. VOLK. 219 advanced up to the highest and proudest positions in the land. Nature had endowed these favorite sons with a wealth of ideas, a wealth of self-reliance, industry, hon- esty, patience and patriotism, far greater and more valu- able than inherited riches, titles, or class privileges. Imagine Abraham Lincoln, as a sturdy youth in the depths of the primeval forests of the west, alone with his axe, felling the giant trees, lopping off the limbs, dividing the trunks in regular lengths, then, with beetle and wedges splitting them into rails, now and then wearily sitting on a stump or log, or lying on the ground to rest himself, and snatching a few moments to study a book, or perhaps contemplating the solitude of the forest, while watching the birds and listening to their wild songs. Then, in the grand moon-lit night, while floating silently down the mighty Mississippi on his flat-boat, he doubt- less thought, planned and dreamed of his ambitious desire to rise in the world and get above his present lowly condition. Noble and ambitious resolves were weaving in his young brain. He, like the others of the immortal five, believed in himself to be able to grapple with the difficulties of life and take the responsibilities thrust upon him by the people. It was fortunate for the fame of these men that events of sufficient magnitude occurred, affording the opportunities to prove to the world their real fitness, talent and greatness to be imperishably engraved upon history's tablets among the immortal men of all ages. If the ambitious young men of the present and future generations will earnestly study and imitate these sublime characters, relying as they did upon their own honest, patient toil and privation of lux- 22O LEONARD W. VOLK. uries, instead of leaning upon others or watching chances to be placed high by those temporarily in power to sud- denly tumble from unearned stations some of them may reap the reward and honors of Washington, Jack- son, Lincoln, Grant and Garfield. CHICAGO, 1882. GEORGE STONEMAN. 221 is and can be but one opinion regarding the life and work performed by that great man Lincoln. He did more to perpetuate the existence of free institutions and a republican form of government than any man that has ever lived, and the debt mankind owes his memory can never be repaid. He had but one fault. He was too sympathetic and tender-hearted. I well recollect one night about two o'clock A. M. in the early days of the war, that I was with him in the telegraph office at General McClellan's head- quarters. He arose from his chair to leave, straightened himself up and remarked, " To-morrow night I shall have a terrible headache." When asked the cause he replied, " To-morrow is hangman's day and I shall have to act upon death sentences," and I shall never forget the sad and sorrowful expression that came over his face. It is well known that Congress relieved him from the consid- eration of death sentences for desertion and other capital offenses, and conferred it upon army commanders. SAN GABRIEL, 1881. 222 MESSAGE TO CONGRESS. MESSAGE TO CONGRESS ASSEMBLED IN EXTRA SESSION, JULY 4, 1 86 1. I AM most happy to believe that the plain people un- derstand and appreciate this. It is worthy of note that while in this, the Government's hour of trial, large num- bers of those in the army and navy who have been favored with the offices, have resigned and proved false to the hand which pampered them, not one common soldier or common sailor is known to have deserted his flag. Great honor is due to those officers who have re- mained true despite the example of their treacherous associates, but the greatest honor and most important fact of all, is the unanimous firmness of the common soldiers and common sailors. To the last man, so far as known, they have successfully resisted the traitorous efforts of those whose commands but an hour before they obeyed as absolute law. This is the patriotic instinct of plain people. They understand without an argument that the destroying the Government which was made by Washington means no good to them. Our popular Government has often been called an experiment. Two points in it our people have settled : the successful estab- lishing and the successful administering of it. One still remains: its successful maintenance against a formidable internal attempt to overthrow it. It is now for them to demonstrate to the world that those who can fairly carry an election, can also suppress a rebellion ; that MESSAGE TO CONGRESS. 223 ballots are the rightful and peaceful successors of bullets, and that when ballots have fairly and constitutionally decided, there can be no successful appeal back to bullets ; that there can be no successful appeal except to ballots themselves at succeeding elec- tions. Such will be a great lesson of peace, teaching men that what they cannot take by an election, neither can they take by a war, teaching all the folly of being the beginners of a war, As a private citizen the Executive could not have consented that these institutions shall perish, much less could he, in betrayal of so vast and so sacred a trust as these free people had confided to him. He felt that he had no moral right to shrink, nor even to count the chances of his own life in what might follow. In full view of his great responsibility, he has so far done what he has deemed his duty. You will now, ac- cording to your own judgment, perform yours. He sin- cerely hopes that your views and your actions may so accord with his as to assure all faithful citizens who have been disturbed in their rights, of a certain and speedy restoration to them, under the Constitution and laws, and having thus chosen our cause without guile, and with pure purpose, let us renew our trust in God, and go for- ward without fear and with manly hearts. 224 PERSONAL CONFERENCE. PERSONAL CONFERENCE WITH THE REPRESENTATIVES FROM THE BORDER STATES, JULY 12, l86l. AFTER the adjournment of Congress, now near, I shall have no opportunity of seeing you for several months. Believing that you of the Border States hold more power for good than any other equal number of members, I feel it a duty which I cannot justifiably waive to make this appeal to you. I intend no reproach or complaint when I assure you that, in my opinion, if you all had voted for the resolution in the gradual emancipation message of last March, the war would now be substantially ended. And the plan therein proposed is yet one of the most potent and swift means of ending it. Let the states which are in rebellion see definitely and certainly that in no event will the states you repre- sent ever join their proposed Confederacy, and they can- not much longer maintain the contest. But you cannot divest them of their hope to ultimately have you with them so long as you show a determination to perpetuate the institution within your own states. If the war continues long, as it must if the object be not sooner attained, the institution in your states will be extinguished by mere friction and abrasion by the mere incidents of the war. It will be gone, and you will have nothing valuable in lieu of it. Much of its value is gone already. How much better for you and for your people i PERSONAL CONFERENCE. 225 to take the step which at once shortens the war, and secures substantial compensation for that which is sure to be wholly lost in any other event ! How much better to thus save the money which else we sink forever in the war ! How much better to do it while we can, lest the war, ere long, render us pecuniarily unable to do it ! How much better for you as sellers, and the nation as buyer, to sell out and buy out that without which the war could never have been, than to sink both the thing to be sold and the price of it, in cutting one another's throats ? I do not speak of emancipation at once, but of a decision at once to emancipate gradually. Upon these considerations, I have again begged your attention to the message of March last. Before leaving the Capitol, consider and discuss it among yourselves. You are patriots and statesmen, and as such, I pray you to consider this proposition, and, at the least, commend it to the consideration of your states and people. As you would perpetuate popular government for the best people in the world, I beseech you that you do in no wise omit this. Our common country is in great peril, demanding the loftiest views and boldest action to bring a speedy relief. Once relieved, its form of government is saved to the world ; its beloved history and cherished memories are vindicated, and its happy future fully as- sured and rendered inconceivably grand. To you, more than to any others, the privilege is given to assure that happiness, and swell that grandeur, and to link your own names therewith forever. 15 226 REPLY TC HORACE GREELY. REPLY TO HORACE GREELEY. My paramount object is to save the Union, and neither to save or destroy slavery. If there be those who would not save the Union un- less they could at the same time save slavery, I do not agree with them. If there be those who would not save the Union unless they could at the same time destroy slavery, I do not agree with them. My paramount object is to save the Union, and not either to save or destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do it. If I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it ; and if I could do it by freeing some and leaving others alone, I would also do that. What I do about slavery and the colored race I do because I be- lieve it helps to save the Union, and what I forbear, I forbear because I do not believe it helps to save the Union. I shall do less whenever I shall believe that what I am doing hurts the cause, and I shall do more whenever I believe doing more will help the cause. /. OGLESBY. 227 I ^HERE is but one opinion of the character of JL Abraham Lincoln, throughout the world. No living man can add anything to his fame. It will be polished by the wear of time, to a luster which will eclipse the glory of all men, not born as he was, to the boon of immortality. DECATUR, 1880. 228 R&PLY TO A RELIGIOUS DELEGATION. REPLY TO A RELIGIOUS DELEGATION WHO PRESENTED A MEMORIAL REQUESTING MR. LINCOLN TO ISSUE A PROCLAMATION OF UNIVERSAL EMANCIPATION. I AM approached with the most opposite opinions and advice, and that by religious men, who are equally certain that they represent the divine will. I am sure that either the one or the other class is mistaken in that belief, and perhaps in some respects, both. I hope it will not be irreverent for me to say that if it is probable that God would reveal his will to others, on a point so con- nected with my duty, it might be supposed he would re- veal it directly to me ; for, unless I am more deceived in myself than I often am, it is my earnest desire to know the will of Providence in this matter, and if I can learn what it is I will do it ! These are not, however, the days of miracles, and I suppose it will be granted that I am not to expect a direct revelation. I must study the plain physical facts of the case, ascertain what is possible and learn what appears to be wise and right. , The subject is difficult, and good men do not agree. For instance, the other day four gentlemen of standing and intelligence from New York, called as a delegation on business connected with the war ; but before leaving two of them earnestly besought me to proclaim general emancipation, upon which the other two at once attacked them. I can assure you that the subject is on my mind, by day and night, more than any other. Whatever shall appear to be God's will I will do. CYRUS NORTHROP. 229 HIS wisdom, his accurate perceptions, his vigor of intellect, his humor and his unselfish patriotism are known to all. But what impressed me even more than these was the sweetness of his whole nature his great loving heart. It was this, glorifying his other great qualities, that so endeared him to the people and caused his death to be mourned with such an unequaled depth of sorrow and abundance of tears. No man can take his place in the hearts of the American people. YALE COLLEGE, 1882. INAUGURAL ADDRESS. INAUGURAL ADDRESS, DELIVERED ON THE FOURTH DAY OF MARCH, 1 86 1. APPREHENSION seems to exist among the people of the Southern States that by the accession of a Republican administration their property and their peace and per- sonal 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 published speeches of him who now addresses you. I do but quote from one of those speeches when I declare, that " I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States 'where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so." Those who nominated and elected me did so with full knowledge that I had made this and many similar declarations, and had never recanted them. Before entering upon so grave a matter as the destruction of our national fabric, with all its benefits, its memories and its hopes, would it not be wise to ascertain precisely why we do it ? Will you hazard so desperate a step while there is any possibility that 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 ? IN A UG URAL ADDRESS. 231 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 each other, but the different parts of our country cannot do this. They cannot but remain face to face ; and intercourse, either amicable or hostile, must continue between them. Is it possible, then, to make that intercourse more advantageous or more satisfactory after separation than before ? Can aliens make treaties easier than friends can make laws ? Can treaties be more faithfully enforced between aliens than laws can among friends ? Suppose you go to war, you cannot fight always ; and when, after much loss on both sides, and no gain on either, you cease fighting, the identical old questions, as to terms of intercourse, are again upon you. The Chief Magistrate derives all his authority from the people, and they have conferred none upon him to fix terms for the separation of the States. The people themselves can do this also if they choose ; but the Exec- utive, 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 suc- cessor. Why should there not be a patient confidence 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 Ruler of nations, with his eternal truth and justice, be on your side of the North, or yours of the 232 IN A UG URAL ADDRESS. South, that truth and that justice will surely prevail, by the judgment of this great tribunal of the American people. By the frame of the government under which we live, |the same people have wisely given their public servants but little power for mischief ; and have, with equal wisdom, provided for the return of that little to their own hands at very short intervals. While the people retain their virtue and vigilance, no administration, by any extreme of wickedness or folly, can very seriously injure the gov- ernment in the short space of four years. My countrymen, one and all, think calmly and well upon this whole subject. Nothing valuable can be lost by taking time. If there be an object to hurry any of you in hot haste to a step which you would never take deliber- ately, that object will be frustrated by taking time; but no good can be frustrated by it. Such of you as are now dissatisfied still have the old Constitution 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 still is no single good 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 difficulty. In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. The Government will not assail you. You can have no conflict without being yourselves the aggressors. You have no oath registered in Heaven to INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 233 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 chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield 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. 234 ABOLISHING SLA VER Y. ABOLISHING SLAVERY IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. I HAVE never doubted the constitutional authority of Congress to abolish slavery in this District, and I have ever desired to see the national capital freed from the institution in some satisfactory way. Hence there has never been, in my mind, any question upon the subject ex- cept the one of expediency, arising in view of all the cir- cumstances. If there be matters within and about this act which might have taken a course or shape more sat- isfactory to my judgment, I do not attempt to specify them. I am gratified that the two principles of com- pensation and colonization are both recognized and practically applied in the act. APRIL 1 6, 1862. A. H. GARLAND. 235 I NEVER had personally an opportunity to know or study Mr. Lincoln, and my ideas of him are made up altogether from reading, and from conversations with prominent gentlemen who knew him well. From these sources, I have the impression firmly fixed, that Mr. Lin- coln possessed great native good sense and a well- balanced head, what is generally called "common sense." He had an intuitive judgment of men, and he studied men closely ; with these he combined a liberal and charita- ble judgment, and viewed the shortcomings of his fellows with leniency, mercy and goodness of heart. His inten- tions were good, and, as I think, on the side of his coun- try at large, and I am of the opinion but few, very few, men would have passed through the ordeal of war, and such a war, as successfully as he did. The blow that struck him down inflicted a wound upon the whole coun- try. His loss to the country was severe indeed, for I believe, had he lived, the work of pacification, or quieting the Southern States to practical relations with the Union to use his own language would have progressed more smoothly, and been consummated in less time, and with less expense, less bitterness and less loss to all parties. In Mr. Lincoln's history there is as much profound stimulus to the young men of the country who desire to secure it, as in that of any man who has figured in our annals. LITTLE ROCK, 1882. 236 FIJtST ANNUAL MESSAGE. FIRST ANNUAL MESSAGE TO CONGRESS, DECEMBER 3, 1 86 1, THE war continues. In considering the policy to be adopted for suppressing the insurrection, I have been anxious and careful that the inevitable conflict for this purpose shall not degenerate into a violent and remorse- less revolutionary struggle. I have, therefore, in every case thought it proper to keep the integrity of the Union prominent as the primary object of the contest on our part, leaving all questions which are not of vital military importance to the more deliberate action of the legis- lature. In my present position, I could scarcely be justified were I to omit raising a warning voice against this approach of returning despotism. It is not needed nor fitting here, that a general argu- ment should be made in favor of popular institutions ; but there is one point, with its connections, not so hackneyed as most others, to which I ask a brief attention. It is the effort to place capital on an equal footing with, if not above labor, in the structure of government. It is assumed that labor is available only in connection with capital ; that nobody labors unless somebody else, owning capital, somehow, by the use of it, induces him to labor. This assumed, it is next considered whether it is best that capital shall hire laborers, and thus induce them to work by their own consent, or buy them, and drive them F1KST ANNUAL MESSAGE. 237 to it without their consent. Having proceeded so far, it is naturally concluded that all laborers are either hired laborers or what we call slaves. And further, it is assumed that whoever is once a hired laborer is fixed in that condition for life. Now, there is no such relation between capital and labor as assumed ; nor is there any such thing as a free man being fixed for life in the condition of a hired laborer. Both these assumptions are false, and all infer- ences from them are groundless. Labor is prior to, and independent of capital. Capi- tal is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration. Capital has its rights, which are as worthy of protection as any other rights. Nor is it denied that there is, and probably always will be, a relation between labor and capital, producing mutual benefits. The error is in assum- ing that the whole labor of a community exists within that relation. A few men own capital, and that few avoid labor themselves, and, with their capital, hire or buy another few to labor for them. A large majority belong to neither class neither work for others, nor have others working for them. In most of the Southern States a majority of the whole people, of all colors, are neither slaves n )r masters ; while in the Northern a large major- ity are neither hirers nor hired. Men with their families wives, sons, and daughters work for themselves on their farms, in their houses, and in their shops, taking the whole product to themselves, and ask- ing no favors of capital on the one hand, nor of hired 238 FIRST ANNUAL MESSAGE. laborers or slaves on the other. It is not forgotten that a considerable number of persons mingle their own labor with capital that is, they labor with their own hands, and also buy or hire others to labor for them ; but this is only a mixed, not a distinct, class. No principle stated is disturbed by the existence of this mixed class. Again, as has already been said, there is not, of necessity, any such thing as the free hired laborer being fixed to that condition for life. Many independent men everywhere in these States, a few years back in their lives, were hired laborers. The prudent, penniless be- ginner in the world labors for wages awhile, saves a sui plus with which to buy tools or land for himself ; theu labors on his own account another while, and at length hires another new beginner to help him. This is the just and generous, and prosperous system, which opens the way to all, gives hope to all, and consequent energy and progress, and improvement of condition to all. No men living are more worthy to be trusted than those who toil up from poverty none less inclined to take, or touch, aught which they have not honestly earned. Let them beware of surrendering a politicial power which they already possess, and which, if surrendered, will surely be used to close the door of advancement against such as they, and to fix new disabilities and burdens upon them till all of liberty shall be lost. The struggle of to-day is not altogether/V ADDRESS. 269 may happen, whatever misfortune may befall your coun- try or my own, the peace and friendship which now exists between the two nations will be, as it shall be my desire to make them, perpetual JANUARY 19, 1863. 2 ;o &EMA&XS. REMARKS MADE TO SOME FRIENDS NEW YEARS EVENING, 1863, CON- CERNING THE PROCLAMATION. THE signature looks a little tremulous, for my hand was tired, but my resolution was firm. I told them in September, if they did not return to their allegiance, and cease murdering our soldiers, I would strike at this pillar of their strength. And now the promise shall be kept, and not one word of it will I ever recall. HORACE MAYNARD. 271 I AM glad there is to be laid another block, perhaps I should say another course, upon the monument which the American people, year by year, are erecting to the memory of Abraham Lincoln. Every effort to per- petuate his name and make known his character engages my sympathy. My personal acquaintance with Mr. Lincoln began shortly after his first inauguration as President of the United States. The perturbed condition of public affairs soon brought me much into his presence, and I saw more of him, by far, than is usual in the case of persons occu- pying places so widely apart. I have seen most of the great men of our country, my contemporaries, and have known them, more or less, it has so happened. It was easy to say Mr. Lincoln was the greatest of them all, but this would imperfectly express my conception of the truth. He was great in a different way from any other. He impressed me as no other man ever did. Never was the title Honest so expressive of character honest not only in action and word, but also in thought and feeling and purpose. When he gave a reason for what he did, you felt instinctively that it was the real reason and not a mere attempt at justification. It was this profound truth- fulness which gained for his words and actions the un- questioning confidence and support of the country. KNOXVILLE, 1881. 272 THE LETTER TO ERASTUS CORNING. FROM THE LETTER TO ERASTUS CORN- ING AND OTHERS, JUNE 12, 1863. MUST I shoot a simple-minded soldier boy who de- serts while I must not touch a hair of a wily agitator who induces him to desert ? This is none the less injuri- ous when effected by getting a father, or brother, or friend, into a public meeting, and there work- ing upon his feelings till he is persuaded to write the soldier boy that he is fighting in a bad cause, fora wicked administration of a contemptible government, too weak to arrest and punish him if he shall desert. I think that in such a case, to silence the agitator and save the boy is not only constitutional, but withal a great mercy. /. M. STURTEVANT. 273 I KNEW Mr. Lincoln very well, I may say somewhat intimately, before he was ever thought of in con- nection with the exalted station to which he was after- wards elected. In those years of his comparative ob- scurity, I knew him as preeminently a truthful man. His love of truth was conspicious in all his thinking. The object of his pursuit was truth, and not victory in argu- ment or the triumph of his party, or the success of his own cause. This was always conspicuous in his conver- sation. It constituted the charm of his conversation. In his society one plainly saw, that his aim was so to use words as to express and not conceal his real thoughts. This characteristic had formed his style, both of conversation and of writing. His habitual love of truth had led him successfully to cultivate such a use of language as would most clearly and accurately express his thoughts. His words were a perfectly transparent medium through which his thought always shone out with unclouded distinct- ness. No matter on what subject he was speaking, any- person could understand him. This characteristic of his mind and heart gave a peculiar complexion to his speeches, whether at the bar, or in discussing the great political issues of the time. He always preferred to do more than justice rather than less to an opponent. It was often noticed, that he stated his opponent's argument with more force than his opponent himself had done. In the opening of his argument, his friends would often feel for the moment that he was surrendering the whole ground 18 274 / M- STURTEVANT. in debate. They had no need to concern themselves on that subject, it would always turn out that he had only surrendered fallacious grounds, on which it was unsafe to rely, while the solid foundation on which his own faith rested was left intact, as the enduring basis on which he would build his argument. He was a very conscientious man ; his anti-slavery opinions had their seat in no mere political expediency, but in the very depths of his moral nature. In the summer of 1856 he delivered a speech to a very large audience assembled on the public square in this city ; the population of this county were at that time very largely of Southern origin, and had those views of slavery which prevailed in the States from which they came. His audience on that occasion were very largely of that character. Yet Mr. Lincoln made a very frank and explicit avowal of his opposition to slavery on moral grounds, and drew his argument against it from the deepest roots of natural justice ; yet he presented the case with such irresistible eloquence that his speech was re- ceived with the greatest favor, and often with outbursts of very hearty applause. That speech went far in all this region to establish his reputation as a popular orator. In a conversation I once had with him, at what was then his dingy office in Springfield, where I had gone for no other purpose than to enjoy the luxury of an hour's conversation with him, I spoke of the then recent anti- slavery excitement in St. Louis as proceeding entirely upon the ground of expediency for the white man. " I," said Mr. Lincoln, " must take into account the rights of the poor negro." That conscientious element is appar- ent in the whole course of his public policy. Conscience /. M. ZTURTEVANT. 275 constrained him to regard his oath to respect the consti- tution of the United States; and yet always to remember the rights of the negro, and to do all for him which his con- stitutional powers permitted him to do. Had he not been conscientious in both these directions, he would, in all probability, have plunged his country in last anarchy. Most admirably did his statesmanship combine in itself the true conservative and the true radical. He was just such a statesman as every nation needs in the great crisis of its history. It is eminently an American phenomenon, that a man was born in a log-cabin in the backwoods of Ken- tucky, who had precisely the intellectual endowments and moral characteristics which his country would need in its chief magistrate, in its hour of supreme necessity. Verily there is a God in history ! Mr. Lincoln's emotional char- acter was one of the most kindly I have ever known. The tenderness of his affections was almost womanly. I confess I sometimes thought this trait in his character was rather in excess, certainly, for the ruler of a great na- tion. He was not only incapable of malice, but I some- times thought he was too much afraid of hurting any- body's feelings. If it was a fault, it was a fault of a great and magnanimous soul, of which few men are capable. If he had any vices they always leaned to virtue's side. The wail of sorrow with which his foul taking-off was re- ceived throughout the civilized world was a spontaneous tribute to the exalted and unique virtues of his character, pointing him out as the man who, of all the great historic names, had least deserved so sad a fate. There are re- markable analogies and equally remarkable contrasts be- tween the careers of Mr. Lincoln and Gen. Garfield. 276 /. M. STURTEVANT. Both originated in obscurity and in the midst of the pri- vations of frontier life ; both were great in the natural en- dowments of the intellect, and greater still in the exalted moral characteristics in which they shone above most others of our statesmen. Both were cut off in the midst of their high career and in the very prime of life, by the hand of the merciless assassin. At the untimely and violent death of both, the civilized world put on mourning to an extent never before seen in history. The contrast appears chiefly in this. Mr. Lincoln was born and reared in a community in which the advantages of education had been little enjoyed, and consequently the spirit of liberal learning had been little diffused. He had none to encourage and help him. He must find his way out into the light of knowledge by his own unassisted efforts. As a consequence, he did not acquire the first rudiments of an education till he had reached mature manhood. Mr. Garfield was born in a community in which education had been universal from its very origin, and where men built the school-house in every neighborhood simultaneously with their own log cabins. The whole people was, as the consequence, imbued with the spirit of liberal learning, and as soon as young Garfield began to show the superiority of his talents in the common school, the suggestion came from every quarter, you should have a collegiate education. An educated community bore him. onward towards his great destiny from his very boyhood. This made the task a comparatively easy one. At the time of life when Mr. Lincoln was just beginning to acquire the first rudiments, Mr. Garfield was already a graduate of one of our most renowned colleges. Such is /. M. STURTEVANT. 277 the advantage of being born in a community in which the first rudiments of knowledge are universally diffused by the ubiquitous common school. That Mr. Lincoln succeeded in surmounting the ob- stacles which hemmed him in on every side, is wonderful indeed. Few men, certainly, have ever risen to greatness, purely by the force of intellectual and moral excellence, by a road so hard as that by which he traveled ; yet he accomplished the mighty task without one of the arts of the demagogue, or one of the vices of the corrupt poli- tician ; and transferred his residence from the obscure log- cabin in the wilderness, to the executive mansion of a mighty nation, in his fifty-third year. Dying by violence in his fifty-seventh year, he left a name behind to be forever spoken with honor and reverence in the halls of the great and in the palaces of kings, and to be cherished with im- perishable affection in the humble dwellings of the poor and lowly. JACKSONVILLE, 1882. 278 RESPONSE TO A SERENADE. RESPONSE TO A SERENADE, JULY, 1863. I AM very glad indeed to see you to-night, and yet I will not say I thank you for this call ; but I do most sin- cerely thank Almighty God for the occasion on which you have called. How long ago is it ? eighty odd years since, on the Fourth of July, for the first time in the his- tory of the world, a nation, by its representatives, assem- bled and declared as a self-evident truth, " that all men are created equal." That was the birthday of the United States of America. Since then the Fourth of July has had several very peculiar recognitions. The two men most distinguished in