Apart from the prospect of being involved in war with some foreign. nation was the opposition offered by members of the President's own party to the policy pursued by him.

Lincoln displayed heroic greatness in his dealings with men and problems, and while frequently compelled, by force of circumstances, to yield and make concessions, his was the victory in the end.

Had he been faced only by foes who carried on an honest, open warfare, his path would have been a much easier one to travel; with enemies all about him; with dissensions in the ranks of his party and bickerings among the officers of the armies; with no relief from anxiety and toil—it is a marvel he did not sink under the load.

But he was patient and self-reliant, and saw far into the future.

Coming from the West, comparatively unknown to the leading men of the East, derided and held up to scorn and ridicule by the press of the seaboard states, maligned as no man had ever been, he assumed the duties of his high office the least understood man who ever occupied the Presidential chair.

He delivered several speeches in the East during the national campaign of 1860; drew from many of his bitterest detractors the confession that they were models in the way of logic, argument, eloquence, succinct and clear statement of fact, completeness and finish; but his enemies refused to believe he was otherwise than he had been pictured-an awkward, non-representative, freaky product of a section of the country scarcely amenable to the influences of civilization.

Lincoln almost crept into Washington when he went there to be inaugurated; he was compared to a frightened fugitive seeking a hiding place; his assassination was openly suggested, the wish being father to the thought that it would be better for the Republic should the seating of the one chosen for the Vice-Presidency be brought about.

The Vice-President was an Eastern man.

BELIEVED THERE WAS A PLOT TO KILL HIM.

Lincoln really believed a plot existed to kill him while on his way to Washington, but, physically and morally courageous, he insisted upon passing through Baltimore should a delegation from there meet his train at Harrisburg, regardless of the number of assassins lying in wait.

No Baltimore delegation appeared, and he did not go by way of that

"I do not believe I would have been assassinated had I gone through Baltimore as at first contemplated,” he said afterwards, "but I thought it was best to run no risk, where no risk was necessary."

Millions of people in the United States hated the President-elect with a hatred unutterable; among his foes were many who would have regarded his assassination as a heroic and noble act.

During his long journey to the National Capital he was in constant peril, and, so far as safeguards went, was not better protected than any other traveler.

His position was most unfortunate, his every act and word being subjected to the keenest and most malicious criticism. The most grotesque and ridiculous cartoons were published in the Eastern newspapers; had he been a Caliban he could not have been caricatured to a greater extent.

He was not credited with even one good quality; his motives were misconstrued, his words and sentiments distorted, and hundreds of thousands who had voted for him for President were doubtful, as the day of inauguration approached, if their choice had been a wise one.

But Lincoln knew how to wait. He comprehended the situation thoroughly; understood the sentiments entertained toward him by the people of both North and South; appreciated the possibility of the latter going to the extremest limit; and while he knew civil war was inevitable, he never gave expression to opinions calculated to complicate the situation.

On the day of his inauguration-thanks to the precautions taken by General Scott, commanding the Army of the United States-there was no outbreak. Two field batteries had been so placed as to control the plateau which extends before the east front of the capitol, and a few companies of infantry, regulars and marines kept perfect order.

LINCOLN CHEERED BY THE GREAT CROWDS.

As Mr. Lincoln, seated in an open carriage with President Buchanan, rode from the hotel to the inaugural stand, the crowds cheered and exhibited quite a degree of enthusiasm.

The oath of office was administered to the new President by the venerable Chief Justice Taney of the United States Supreme Court, the jurist who, in the Dred Scott case, said "a negro has no rights a white man is bound to respect."

As to Mr. Lincoln's inaugural address, the effect it produced upon the mighty gathering in front of the capitol was wonderful. Lincoln spoke in

a strong, clear voice, his words reaching to the very limit of the vast throng, and his simple, earnest and direct eloquence carried unexpected conviction with it.

The general feeling was one of satisfaction, although the Southerners present bore a look of anxiety upon their faces when they heard Mr. Lincoln say:

*

"The union of the States is perpetual, mere motion can lawfully get out of the Union.

no State upon its own

"I shall take care, as the Constitution expressly enjoins upon me, that the laws of the Union be faithfully executed in all the States."

There was no mistaking the fact that these sentences, together with others uttered by Mr. Lincoln in the course of his address, constituted an issue so far as secession was concerned, and the leading men of the Southern States realized that, if the States of the North were ready to stand by the new President, war would surely come in the near future.

Lincoln's words, generous and patriotic as they were, had no appreciable effect upon those who had already made preparations to take their States out of the Union.

Said he in his address: "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 majority of the Union men who read his address in the newspapers were delighted. There was an almost radical change of opinion regarding the new Chief Executive.

It was apparent he had been underrated, although, as was natural, they did not estimate him at his true worth.

LINCOLN'S PLEA TO SECESSIONISTS.

The outlook was, indeed, dark and gloomy. The secessionists had just about brought their conspiracy to a head.

They were merely waiting and watching for the most favorable time to strike the first blow at the Union.

Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederate Government, and his Cabinet, were at Montgomery, waiting word from Virginia, which had not yet seceded from the Union.

Roger A. Pryor, of Virginia, present as a representative of his State,

"Do you know what will put Virginia in the Confederacy in less than an hour?

"Sprinkle blood in their faces!"

President Lincoln said, in his first inaugural, among other things: "The power confided to me will be used to hold, occupy and possess the property and places belonging to the government, and to collect the duties and imposts; but beyond what may be but necessary for these objects there will be no invasion, no using of force against or among the people anywhere. "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.

"It is impossible, 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.

"My countrymen, one and all, think calmly and well upon this whole subject. Nothing valuable can be lost by taking time.

"If there be an object to hurry any of you in hot haste to a step which you would never take deliberately, that object will be frustrated by taking time; but no good 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 in the dispute, there still is no good single reason for precipitate 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 destroy the government, while I shall have the most solemn one to 'preserve, protect and defend' it. "I am loath 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 battle-field and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature."

Lincoln's great and generous heart was filled to overflowing with love of his country and all the people therein, and while he was aware that any appeal to the excited Southerners would be in vain, he put himself on record before the world as having done, as President of the United States, everything in his power to avert the breaking out of hostilities.

There were many among the most uncompromising of the Union war party, who thought, and openly expressed their sentiments, that the time for inaction had passed; that the National Government had better be up and doing, in the way of preparing for war, and that all time spent in attempts at conciliation was utterly wasted and thrown away.

However, Lincoln knew what was best to be done. To put another in the wrong is half the battle won, and the new President was not the one to overlook any of the mistakes of the other side.

When war really came, it was discovered, to the astonishment of many, that the mild-mannered man in the White House was not the one to lay down his tools "until the job," as he himself put it, "was finished."

Lincoln was placid, but firm; amenable, but determined.