of prisoners taken in war, the concerted attempt to burn the hotels of a large city, filled with women and children, the brutal assault upon a senator at his seat in the Capitol, and finally the assassination of the Chief Magistrate of the country, and the attempted murder of the principal executive officer, with every circumstance of cowardice and atrocity, are so many kindred evidences of a state of ignorance, brutality, and wickedness which have no parallel in the history of a civilized people.

Resolved, That we now and here avow our determination, on this solemn occasion, to preserve the Union of our fathers, to maintain the Constitution of these United States, to enforce the laws of the country, to remove every vestige of barbarism from our borders, to the end that universal freedom, enlightened civilization, pure morality, and the sublime principles of the Christian religion may everywhere prevail; and to this we do here, in this temple of liberty where our fathers for generations have assembled, pledge our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor, invoking the aid and guidance of Him in whose hands are the destinies of nations.

Hon. Charles G. Loring spoke as follows:

FELLOW-CITIZENS: You can suspect no one of assuming, uninvited, the responsibility of addressing you upon this sad and solemn occasion, nor could you hold otherwise than in light esteem any one who would shrink from obedience to the call to take part in these solemnities.

It is indeed good for us to be here. We should derive

comfort and strength, in this hour of deep affliction, by thus meeting together, though no words were uttered, and we only stood side by side with bowed heads and full hearts in consciousness of the sympathy which unites us to-day as one stricken family of mourners. But a few simple words may be ventured expressive of our grief,- a few words of counsel and resolve in view of the appalling event which has summoned us here.

A brief time only has elapsed since we assembled in this place to lay our tribute of love and grateful remembrance upon the bier of a scholar, an orator, and a statesman, upon whom we had been accustomed to lean for guidance and support in the dark hours of our country's peril. Oh! that he were now here with his matchless eloquence to thrill our hearts and move our souls as none but he could do.

Not many days afterwards your willing footsteps sought this consecrated hall in jubilee and congratulation upon our national triumphs, — and these walls rocked with the thunders of your applause at every mention of the name of the then loved and revered head of the nation.

To-day that head is laid low in the dust, and a nation's exultation and joy are turned into the profoundest sorrow and apprehension. The father of his country is stricken down, the Minister of State, who has conducted the foreign diplomacy of the nation with such unrivalled skill and lofty patriotism, has been laid low, perhaps never to rise again, both have fallen by the hands of rebel assassins, -one in the place of the public assembly, and the other in the privacy of his sick-chamber, and perhaps then

on his dying bed. The nation stands aghast at the unexampled atrocity of the crime; the civilized world will tremble and grow pale as it listens to the story. A blow has been stricken upon law, humanity, civilization, and every sacred sentiment of the human heart, which causes the whole moral world to tremble to its foundations.

It is in the midst of this tumultuous emotion, my friends, when every one is asking of each other, what shall we say, or what shall we do, - what are to be the consequences of these stupendous atrocities, — what do they teach, and what responsibilities do they involve, that we are assembled in this venerated hall, so redolent of profound humanity, obedience to the law, and self-sacrificing patriotism, to give vent to our grief and take counsel together upon our duties.

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When the first shock given by the ghastly news was over, and the mind recovered from the paralysis it had caused, the immediate emotion in all hearts was that of poignant grief as for the death of one personally beloved. Connected as we felt ourselves to be with Abraham Lincoln as the head of our national family, accustomed as we were to the displays of his cheerful, genial, generous, humane, and loving nature amid the bewildering perplexities and embarrassments, the boundless responsibilities and vexing cares of his official life; to his magnanimity, forbearance, and self-forgetfulness amid the cruel slanders and persecutions heaped upon him both at home and abroad, we felt, each of us could not but feel, that his death, besides being a calamity to the nation and the world, was to us in the nature of a domestic loss, touching the

finest and tenderest chords of our hearts. It is surely hazarding nothing to assert that no head of a great nation was ever so tenderly and heartily loved as was Abraham Lincoln by the great bulk of the American people. That love is to-day more vehement and active than ever before, and will long continue a vital agent of terrible energy in completing the great work for devotion to which he was sacrificed. Let no man be ashamed that he shed tears upon news of the death of Abraham Lincoln. It were far better to be accounted among those who did so than among those who had none to shed on Saturday morning.

It is, however, the consciousness of the seemingly irreparable loss to our country, in this removal of her trusted ruler and guide, that sinks deeper in our hearts, awakens our most painful solicitude, and casts the darkest shadow upon our future.

If there be anything marvellous in personal history,if there be anything in the history of nations betokening Divine intervention in the appointment of their rulers,if it be manifest that an especial Providence raised up George Washington to be the founder of the Union and the father of his country, - I hold it to be no less marvellous and a no less signal proof of such interposition, that Abraham Lincoln was appointed to be the ruler and guide of this nation through the perils of this gigantic Rebellion; to be the father of his country in her new birth to a Union founded on still broader principles of law, freedom, and humanity, — that she may henceforth take her place among the chief of nations with no blot upon

her pure escutcheon, and no stain upon her name indeed the land of the brave and the home of the free." The reckless wish has sometimes been uttered, and in the darker hours of the struggle perhaps not unfrequently, that we had some leader of transcendent genius or influence at the head of the nation to guide its counsels and lead its armies, -a Cæsar, a Cromwell, or a Napoleon.

But nothing could have been more fatal, if not to our present success, at least to our permanent safety, than the granting of any such wish. Our Government, my friends, from its very nature, must depend upon the people, and upon them alone. If they are not willing nor able to sustain it, and assert its just authority, it has failed, it has become worthless; and the sooner it passes into the hands of a wise or generous despot the better. The moment the salvation of a republic rests upon the genius, power, influence, or life of any individual or number of individuals in authority, that moment its days are numbered, its substance has vanished. It is the crowning glory of the American people at this hour, that, in this desperate struggle for national life, amid reverses that at times seemed overwhelming, and financial perils that might well daunt the stoutest statesman, and without a leader of marked genius in council or in the field, unless recent events have revealed them, the people have carried on this great war with unflinching courage and persistent energy, and with voluntary sacrifices of blood and treasure, such as no mere governmental authority could have exacted, nor any military chieftain, however feared or admired, could have induced.