the dispute to its real issue-a fight for or against Slavery.

This most important step was heralded, in September 1862, by a declaration, that in the event of the Confederates refusing to return to their allegiance, by the 1st of January, 1863, a Proclamation would be issued, by the terms of which, all the Slaves in the rebel States would be for ever released from bondage.

The Proclamation was duly published, and the effect of it was to set free four millions of Slaves, many of whom entered the Federal army to take part against their former masters, and contributed not a little to the ability of the North to carry on the war with greater vigour than ever.

Mr. Lincoln had considered that before informing the people of his intentions, it would be better to await news of a victory; otherwise—especially if the declaration at once followed the reverses which had attended the Federal arms-the South might interpret his action as a bid for the support of the negroes and a sign of weakness. The announcement had therefore been delayed till September 1862, when the news arrived that the Southern army had received a severe check. It is on record that the President had made a solemn vow, that if the Confederates were driven back in Pennsylvania, he would crown the result by the declaration of freedom to the Slaves. And when, on the 1st of January 1863, he signed the famous Proclamation of Emancipation-after hours of hand

shaking during the morning when there had been many callers at the White House-Mr. Lincoln remarked, "The signature looks a little tremulous, for my hand is tired. But my resolution is firm. I told the rebels in September that if they did not return to their allegiance and cease murdering our soldiers, I would strike at this pillar of their strength. The promise shall now be kept, and not one word will I ever recall." Mr. Leland states that "the excitement caused by the appearance of the Proclamation was very great. The anti-Slavery men rejoiced as at the end of a dreadful struggle; those who had doubted, became at once strong and confident; whatever trials and troubles might be in store, all felt assured that Slavery was virtually at an end." Another American writer says "Human eloquence is powerless to express the blissful gratitude with which the Proclamation was received by the long-oppressed race, whom it lifted up from the degradation of Slavery to the glorious heights of Freedom;" and the following lines, from a stirring poem which appeared at the time in The Continental Magazine, gave expression to the feelings excited by the Proclamation :

"Now who has done the greatest deed

Which History has ever known?
And who in Freedom's direst need,

Became her bravest champion ?

Who a whole Continent set free?

Who killed the curse and broke the ban

Which made a lie of Liberty?

You, Father Abraham, are the man!”

The year 1863 saw the war being still bitterly carried on; and owing to repeated checks which they were at this time meeting with, and the troubles and doubts that overwhelmed them, the North were beginning to feel somewhat disheartened. They were buoyed up with hope, however, by Mr. Lincoln, in whose ability to steer the ship of State in its hour of peril they had implicit confidence; and not many months passed before the dawn of brighter days came to them. On the 3rd of July, 1863, when the Confederate forces had invaded Maryland and Pennsylvania, they were overpowered at Gettysburg, with very heavy loss; and this battle destroyed the last hope of the South being able to overcome the North, and was in reality the turning-point of the war.

A piece of ground about seventeen acres in area, and forming a part of the battle-field, was, in the following season, purchased by the State of Pennsylvania for the purpose of making it a burial-ground for those who had fallen in this fight. A solemn dedicatory ceremony was performed on the 19th of November, at which the President and many other State officials were present; and it was on this occasion that a significant and striking address was delivered by Mr. Lincoln:

"Four score and seven years ago," said he, "our fathers brought forth upon this Continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we

are engaged in a great Civil War, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great

battle-field of that war.

"We are met to dedicate a portion of it as the final resting-place of those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our power to add or detract.

"The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here; but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us, the living, rather to be dedicated to the great task remaining before us-that from these honoured dead we take increased devotion to the cause for which they here gave the last full measure of devotion-that we here highly resolve that the dead shall not have died in vain; that the nation shall, under God, have a new birth of Freedom; and that the Government of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

Following the Northern victory at Gettysburg, came further successes at Vicksburg and Port Hudson during the same month; at which juncture Mr. Lincoln appointed a day to be devoted to general thanksgiving.

96

CHAPTER VIII.

EPISODES AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

THE life of the President during all this time was, it need hardly be said, full of most harassing anxieties. At no previous period of its history had the country been placed in circumstances so difficult and embarrassing; and more than ordinary statesmanship was needed to successfully undertake the direction of national affairs during such a crisis. In the midst, however, of all the cares of State, there is ample evidence that Mr. Lincoln was still the same good, kind, "honest Abe," whom we have seen during the earlier stages of his career; and many anecdotes are recorded concerning his life at the White House, which alike illustrate the nobility of his character and the breadth of his sympathies.*

At one of the public receptions, which were frequently held by the President at the White House, a small pale, delicate-looking boy, about thirteen years old, was seen to be waiting about. Mr. Lincoln saw

*For some of the anecdotes here given I am indebted to F. B. Carpenter's "Six Months at the White House." For others, as well as for many of the facts and incidents narrated in this volume, acknowledgment is made to the excellent biographies of Abraham Lincoln by W. H. Lamon, Dr. Holland, H. J. Raymond, and Charles G. Leland, and to Sterne's "Constitutional History and Political Development of the United States."