citizen of the section of the State in which General Logan resided, and because of our personal knowledge of all his movements at that time, and because, as yet, no historian has given the charges the denial their gravity demands; and because, further, it is due him and his family, and his children who are to live after him.

CHAPTER XX.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

An account of his early manhood as written by himself-Speech at Philadelphia-First Inaugural-Speech at Gettysburg-Kentucky Letter-Second Inaugural-Last Speech-Assassination-How Lincoln came to Challenge Douglas-Never an Abolitionist-"I have never kept liquor in my house and will not begin now"-A One-Idea Court.

The subject of this chapter was, perhaps, the most remarkable man of the age in which he lived, and while his life has been written times without number, yet we feel that this volume is the place in which should be preserved some of his most gifted official utterances, together with a brief statement of his early life and tragic death.

We begin with an account of his birth and early manhood, as written by himself to his personal friend, Jesse W. Fell, of Normal. It is a literal copy, being taken from the original.

My

"I was born February 12, 1809, in Hardin county, Ky. My parents were both born in Virginia of undistinguished families-second families, perhaps I should say. mother, who died in my tenth year, was of a family of the name of Hanks, some of whom now reside in Adams, and others in Macon counties, Illinois. My paternal grandfather, Abraham Lincoln, emigrated from Rockingham

county, Virginia, to Kentucky, about 1781 or 1782, where, a year or two later, he was killed by Indians-not in battle, but by stealth-when he was laboring to open a farm in the forest. His ancestors, who were Quakers, went to Virginia from Berks county, Pennsylvania. An effort to identify them with the New England family of the same name ended in nothing more definite than a similarity of Christian names in both families, such as Enoch, Levi, Mordecai, Solomon, Abraham, and the like. My father, at the death of his father, was but 6 years of age, and he grew up literally without any education. He removed from Kentucky to what is now Spencer county, Indiana, in my 8th year. We reached our new home about the

time the State came into the Union. It was a wild region, with many bears and other wild animals still in the woods. There I grew up. There were some schools, socalled, but no qualification was ever required of a teacher beyond 'readin', writin,' and cipherin' to the rule of three. If a straggler, supposed to understand Latin, happened to sojourn in the neighborhood, he was looked upon as a wizard. There was absolutely nothing to excite ambition for education. Of course, when I came of age, I did not know much, Still, somehow, I could read, write, and cipher to the rule of three, but that was all. I have not been to school since. The little advance I now have upon this store of education I have picked up from time to time under the pressure of necessity. I was raised to farm work, which I continued till I was 22. At 21 I came to Illinois, and passed the first year in Macon county. Then I got to New Salem, at that time in Sangamon, now in Menard, county, where I remained a year as a sort of clerk in a store. Then came the Black Hawk war, and I was elected a captain of volunteers-a success which gave me more pleasure than any I have had since. I went into the campaign, was elected; ran for the Legislature the same year (1832) and was beaten-the only time I ever have been beaten by the people. The next and three succeeding biennial elections I was elected to the Legislature. I was not a candidate afterwards. During this Legislative period I had studied law and removed to Springfield to practice it. In 1846, I was elected to the lower house of Congress. Was not a candidate for re-election. From 1849 to 1854, both inclusive, practiced law more assiduously than before. Always a Whig in politics, and generally on the Whig electoral ticket, making active canvasses. I was losing interest in politics, when the repeal of the Missouri

Compromise aroused me again. What I have done since then is pretty well known. If any personal description of me is thought desirable, it may be said I am in height 6 feet, 4 inches nearly, lean in flesh, weighing, on an average, 180 pounds, dark complexion, with coarse black hair and gray eyes. No other marks or brands recollected." "Yours very truly,

"Hon. J. W. FELL."

SPEECH AT PHILADELPHIA.

"A. LINCOLN."

On his way to Washington to assume the office of President, Mr. Lincoln stopped a day at Philadelphia, and, in response to an address of welcome by the Mayor, he spoke as follows:

"Mr. Mayor and Fellow-citizens of Philadelphia: I appear before you to make no lengthy speech, but to thank you for this reception. The reception you have given me to-night is not to me, the man, the individual, but to the man who temporarily represents, or should represent, the majesty of the Nation. It is true, as your worthy Mayor has said, that there is anxiety amongst the citizens of the United States at this time. I deem it a happy circumstance that this dissatisfied position of our fellowcitizens does not point us to anything in which they are being injured, or about to be injured, for which reason 1 have felt all the while justified in concluding that the crisis, the panic, the anxiety of the country at this time is artificial. If there be those who differ with me upon this subject, they have not pointed out the substantial difficulty that exists. I do not mean to say that an artificial panic may not do considerable harm; that it has done such I do not deny. The hope that has been expressed by your Mayor, that I may be able to restore peace, harmony, and prosperity to the country, is most worthy of him; and happy, indeed, will I be if I shall be able to verify and fulfill that hope. I promise you, in all sincerity, that I bring to the work a sincere heart. Whether I will bring a head equal to that heart will be for future times to determine. It were useless for me to speak of details of plans now; I shall speak officially next Monday week, if ever. If I should not speak then it were useless for me to do so now. 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 expressed 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, 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 inconsistent with the teachings of these holy and most sacred walls. I never asked anything that does not breathe from these 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 cunning, and my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth,' if ever I prove false to those teachings. Fellow-citizens, I have addressed you longer than I expected to do, and now allow me to bid you good night."

EXTRACT FROM HIS FIRST INAUGURAL ADDRESS.

"Fellow Citizens of the United States: In compliance with a custom as old as the Government itself, I appear before you to address you briefly, and to take, in your presence, the oath prescribed by the Constitution of the United States to be taken by the President 'before he enters the execution of his office.'

"I do not consider it necessary at present for me to discuss those matters of administration about which there is no special anxiety or excitement.

"Apprehension seems to exist among the people of the Southern States that by the accession of a Republican Administration their property and their peace and personal security are to be endangered. There has never been any reasonable cause for such apprehension. Indeed, the most ample evidence to the contrary has all the while existed and been open to their inspection. It is found in nearly all the public speeches of him who now addresses

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. And more than this, they placed in the platform for my acceptance, and as a law to themselves and to me, the clear and emphatic resolution which I now read:

"Resolved, That the maintenance inviolate of the rights of the States, and especially the right of each State to order and control its own domestic institutions according to its own judgment exclusively, is essential to the balance of power on which the perfection and endurance of our political fabric depend, and we denounce the lawless invasion by armed force of the soil of any State or Territory, no matter under what pretext, as among the gravest of crimes.'

"I now reiterate those sentiments; and, in doing so, I only press upon the public attention the most conclusive evidence of which the case is susceptible, that the property, peace, and security of no section are to be in any wise endangered by the now incoming Administration. I add, too, that all the protection which, consistent with the Constitution and laws, can be given, will be cheerfully given to all the States, when lawfully demanded, for whatever cause as cheerfully to one section as to another.

"I therefore consider that, in view of the Constitution and the laws, the Union is unbroken, and to the extent of my ability I shall take care, as the Constitution itself expressly enjoins upon me, that the laws of the Union be faithfully executed in all the States. Doing this I deem to be only a simple duty on my part; and I shall perform it, so far as practicable, unless my rightful masters, the American people, shall withhold the requisite means, or in some authoritative manner direct the contrary.

"My countrymen, one and all, think calmly and well upon this whole subject. Nothing valuable can be lost by taking time. If there can be an object to hurry any of you in hot haste to a step which you would never take deliberately, that object will be frustrated by taking time; but no good object can be 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 uuder it, while the new Administration will have