have told them that 'a house divided against itself cannot stand,' and Christ and Reason say the same; and they will find it so. Douglas doesn't care whether Slavery is voted up or down, but God cares, and Humanity cares, and I care; and, with God's help, I shall not fail. I may not see the end, but it will come, and I shall be vindicated, and then men will find that they have not read their Bibles right."

Soon after his nomination, Lincoln, feeling a great desire to see his stepmother, then living with her daughter in a distant part of the State, paid her a visit.

This meeting is described as being of the most affectionate character. "Mrs. Lincoln fondled him as 'her own Abe,' and he her as his own mother," says one of his biographers; “and when the time arrived that he must go, the leave-taking between the two was very touching. Mrs. Lincoln seems to have been most reluctant to part from him, and as he was on the point of departing, she said, as with deep emotion she embraced him, that she was sure she would never behold him again, for 'she felt that his enemies would assassinate him -a fear which was shared at this

time by others of his relatives and friends.

The 11th of February had been fixed for starting on his journey to the White House, and on that morning he left Springfield for Washington, never to return alive, having bidden "farewell" to those who

had gathered around him at the railway-station in these words :

Here my children were

"My Friends,-No one not in my position can appreciate the sadness I feel at this parting. To this people I owe all that I am. Here I have lived more than a quarter of a century. 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 greater perhaps than that which has devolved upon any other man since the days of Washington. He would never have succeeded except for the aid of Divine Providence, upon which he at all times relied. I feel that I cannot succeed 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 pray that I may receive that Divine assistance, without which I cannot succeed, but with which success is certain. Again I bid you an affectionate 'Farewell.""

CHAPTER VII.

AT THE HELM OF STATE.

THE curtain rises on what is to be the darkest period in the history of the United States-a period during which the whole country-now, as Mr. Lincoln had said, "divided against itself"-is engaged in that most

terrible and most melancholy of all wars-a Civil War.

Hardly had Mr. Lincoln been nominated for the Presidency when the smouldering fire, which, little by little, had been spreading itself over the Southern States, burst out into furious flame; for victory by the North in the Presidential contest had been agreed upon by the South as a signal for immediate action.

In the election of Abraham Lincoln the South saw the destruction of their hopes. They felt that the extension and, perhaps, the very existence of the Slave trade were threatened, and they determined to resist with all their might interference with what they considered to be their rights. In a little while, therefore, after the election, the South Carolina Legislature summoned a State Convention, which met at Charleston, and almost unanimously declared that "the Union now subsisting between South Carolina and other States under the name of the United States of America, is hereby dissolved;" the alleged reason being the hostility on the part of the successful party to the institution of Slavery. This declaration was followed by the appointment of Commissioners to treat with other Slave States for a withdrawal from the Union, and with the United States Government for a division of national property and of the public debt. By the end of February, 1861, six additional Southern States had decided to secede from the Union; and before long, these seven, having raised

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the standard of revolt, organised a Government of their own, known as the Confederate States of America.

Then they elected Mr. Jefferson Davis as their President, and made preparations for fighting the Northern, or Federal States, as they were termed; having first seized all the arsenals, forts, custom houses, post offices, ordnance, material of war, and ships, within the seceding States.

As already explained, the Southern party had been very influential in the country; and several of their Representatives had held high offices in the preceding Administration. That these had not scrupled to abuse their positions in order to help the cause of the South was now only too clear. Not only had the late Secretary of War-a prominent Southerner -caused immense quantities of arms and ammunition of every kind to be manufactured in Northern arsenals at the expense of the United States Government, and had them removed to the South, where they could be conveniently seized by the Confederates, but the Navy had been scattered in distant seas, the Union Army had been distributed in remote parts of the country, and even the Treasury was empty!

Thus, on entering upon his duties as President at the White House at. Washington-in March, 1861 -Mr. Lincoln found himself face to face with a gigantic difficulty; and the task before him was rendered the more perplexing through the reluctance which, in spite of the threatening attitude of the

South, certain sections of the North felt to employ force in dealing with this open rebellion against the Union. Indeed, so great was the dread of Civil War, that some even would have been willing to allow the South to permanently withdraw, if, by such a course, peace could have been preserved. In his inaugural speech, as President, Mr. Lincoln appealed to the latter in a most pathetic manner not to leave the Union; and on this occasion, he not only told them that he had no intention to invade or oppress the rebellious States, but-though he declared that their secession was void because it was not in accordance with the Constitution of the country, by which the Union must be perpetual-yet, he distinctly intimated to them that "there would be no conflict without being themselves the aggressors," concluding his address with the following words:

"You have no oath registered in heaven to destroy the Government; while I 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 strain, 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."

But his appeal was in vain: the South did not in