return into slavery any person free by the terms of that instrument, or by any of the acts of Congress, saying loftily, 'If the people should, by whatever mode or means, make it an executive duty to re-enslave such persons, another, and not I, must be the instrument to perform it.' "It was sometimes said that the proclamation was of doubtful constitutionality. If this criticism did not proceed from sympathy with slavery, it evidently proceeded from the prevailing superstition with regard to this idol. Future jurists will read with astonishment that once a flagrant wrong could be considered at any time as having any rights which a court was bound to respect, and especially that rebels in arms could be considered as having any title to the services of people whose allegiance was primarily due to the United States. But, turning from these conclusions, it seems to be plain, that slavery, which stood exclusively on local law, without any support in natural law, must have fallen with the local government, both legally and constitutionally: legally, inasmuch as it ceased to have any valid legal support; and constitutionally, inasmuch as it came at once within the exclusive jurisdiction of the Constitution, where liberty is the prevailing law. The President did not act upon these principles; bút, speaking with the voice of authority, he said, 'Let the slaves be free!' What Court and Congress hesitated to declare, he proclaimed, and thus enrolled himself among the world's emancipators."* Little did that gentle mother, long vanished from her dear son's earthly path, imagine, when she so desired that he should learn to read and write, that his pen would ever trace such life-giving, joy-inspiring words. Glad hearts * Hon. Charles Sumner. everywhere among true men and women welcomed the glorious decree. The pencil of the artist * and the pen of the poet+ vied in commemorating the event, and expressing their exultant joy; and human eloquence is powerless to express the blissful gratitude with which it was received by the long-oppressed race whom it lifted from the degradation of slavery to the glorious heights of freedom. No document can tower above the last mentioned; for its altitude will remain unsurpassed, till, in the fulness of God's time, the chains of sin shall be broken, evil shall be overcome with good, and the proclamation of universal freedom from sin and sorrow shall be uttered in the words, "The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ," and "God shall be all and in all." This chapter may fittingly close with a document, than which none more chaste and beautiful in style can be found. It is a proclamation for a day of thanksgiving. One has already been given which proclaimed a day of fasting. A proclamation, recommending that the people in *W. T. Carleton of Boston painted an exquisite picture, entitled "Waiting for the Hour," depicting their anxiety who waited for the time when the chains would fall as the proclamation came in force on the first day of January, 1863. This picture was afterward presented to President Lincoln. † Among other hearty tributes to the President was one entitled "God bless Abraham Lincoln!" It was written by Mrs. Caroline A. Mason, whose touching song, "Do they miss me at home?" has been sung by Union soldiers with tearful eyes beside many a camp-fire and in many a hospital. Her poem closes thus: "God bless him: can we more? In this, The perfectness of human bliss, All joy, all peace, all fulness is. And so God bless him! Once again formally assemble and thank God for victories in East Tennessee, was issued in December, 1863. One to which allusion is here specially made was as follows: “It has pleased Almighty God to hearken to the sup-. plications and prayers of an afflicted people, and to vouchsafe to the army and the navy of the United States, on the land and on the sea, victories so signal and so effective as to furnish reasonable grounds for augmented confidence that the union of these States will be maintained, their constitutions preserved, and their peace. and prosperity permanently preserved. "But these victories have been accorded not without sacrifice of life, limb, and liberty, incurred by the brave, patriotic, and loyal citizens. Domestic affliction in every part of the country follows in the train of these fearful bereavements. It is meet and right to recognize and confess the presence of the Almighty Father, and the power of his hand, equally in these triumphs and these sor rows. "Now, therefore, be it known that I do set apart Thursday, the sixth day of August next, to be observed as a day for national thanksgiving, praise, and prayer: and I invite the people of the United States to assemble on that occasion in their customary places of worship, and, in the forms approved by their own conscience, render the homage due to the Divine Majesty for the wonderful things he has done in the nation's behalf, and invoke the influence of his Holy Spirit to subdue the anger which has produced and so long sustained a needless and cruel rebellion; to change the hearts of the insurgents; to guide the counsels of the Government with wisdom adequate to so great a national emergency; and to visit with tender care and consolation, throughout the length and breadth of our land, all those who, through the vicissitudes of marches, voyages, battles, and sieges, have been brought to suffer in mind, body, or estate, and family; to lead the whole nation through paths of repentance, and submission to the Divine Will, back to the perfect enjoyment of union and fraternal peace. "In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. "Done at the city of Washington, this 15th day of July, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the independence of the United States of America the eighty-eighth. "By the President: "ABRAHAM LINCOLN. "WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State." The documents contained in this chapter form a part of our national history, which no true American will ever ponder but with pride and satisfaction. All of them had immediate results that were glorious and salutary; and one at least of them will exert an influence grand and far-reaching as the march of Time, like to the echo of God's voice of promise and hope amid the bowers of Eden, which will extend till the answering anthem of a redeemed world and a rejoicing universe shall rise "to Him that sitteth upon the throne, and to the Lamb forever." CHAPTER IX. ANECDOTES. "Thereby hangs a tale."-SHAKSPEARE. "A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver.” —PROV. Xxv. 2. Ows. THERE is a time to laugh, as well as a time to weep, if we may credit the wise man; and, of the two, the smile is to be preferred to the tear, since it will help to send more sunshine abroad in a world where needed spiritual discipline, in consequence of sin, must bring many shadJacob Abbott has taught his thousands of readers that "cheerfulness is a duty;" and one may well suspect the long face of covering a bad heart. "Other things being equal," the truest Christian is the most cheerful one; and that man or woman is highly favored who has received that inheritance of mirthfulness which enables him without effort to "look on the bright side." President Lincoln was far from being a mirthful man, in one sense; overflowing with fun and jollity. He had borne too many burdens not to have lost some elasticity of spirit; and the natural buoyancy of youth was, as we know, early lessened by the loss of his almost idolized mother. Moreover, later life had brought those peculiar trials we have mentioned; and one would hardly expect to see in President Lincoln the sportive, careless, mirthful Donatello whom Hawthorne pictured ere he passed away. Nor would we like to see the restless buoyancy of excessive animal spirits in one occupying the position of the nation's head. "Marble Faun." |