ON PARTY QUESTIONS.

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shifting its scenes. . . . it was peculiarly fitting that I should see it all, up to the last minute, before I should take ground, that I might be disposed, by the shifting of the scenes afterwards, also to shift. I have said several times upon this journey, and I now repeat it to you, that when the time does come, I shall then take the ground that I think is right-right for the North, for the South, for the East, for the West, for the whole country."

But while thus acting in obedience to the promptings of his own sense of duty, we now see that Mr. Lincoln was in fact doing precisely that which was best for his country, displaying the most practical and consummate wisdom. By his every speech, at every stage of his journey, he was lifting men above the sphere of party politics and personal preferences into that of political duty, and of the broadest statesmanship; compelling them to forget himself, his predecessor yet in office, his late competitors, in the one great question, "How shall our country be saved?" And thus-tearing away as it were

28

MR. LINCOLN'S SPEECH

by armfuls at every step the thick undergrowth of selfishness and mutual prejudice, which was at once choking the good qualities of the American people, and obscuring the massive foundations of the American polity, its pledges of equal right, and freedom, and justice, through mutual help, to all,-he hewed his way, so to speak, like a true backwoodsman, to the national capital at Washington, and to that "White House" or Presidential mansion, from which his murdered body was one day to issue forth amidst the sorrow of the civilized world.* Here indeed the series of his unofficial speeches closes (Feb. 28), with expressions of the friendliest nature towards the South :

"I have reached this city of Washington under circumstances considerably differing from those under which any other man has ever reached it. I am here for the purpose of taking an official

* It should not be forgotten that there was a plot to murder him on his way through Baltimore to Washington, to take up his Presidential duties, which he baffled by taking an earlier train than the one fixed on.

AT WASHINGTON.

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position among the people, almost all of whom were politically opposed to me, and are yet opposed, as I suppose. Much of the ill

feeling that has existed between you and the people of your surroundings, and that people from among whom I came, has depended, and now depends, upon a misunderstanding. I hope that I may have it in my power to remove something of this misunderstanding, that I may be enabled to convince you, and the people of your section of the country, that we regard you as in all things our equals, and in all things entitled to the same respect and the same treatment that we claim for ourselves; that we are in nowise disposed, if it were in our power, to oppress you, to deprive you of any of your rights under the Constitution of the United States, or even narrowly to split hairs with you in regard to those rights, but are determined to give you, as far as lies in our hands, all your rights under the Constitution-not grudgingly, but fully and fairly. I hope that, by thus dealing with you, we will become better acquainted and better friends."

In the first of his state papers, his “Inaugural Address" (March 4, 1861), Mr. Lincoln begins by disclaiming the purpose and the right "to interfere with slavery in the States where it exists." He admits the constitutional obligation of rendering up fugitive slaves; but he asks whether, in any law upon the giving up of slaves, "all the safeguards of liberty known in civilized and humane jurisprudence" ought not to be introduced, "so that a free man be not in any case surrendered as a slaye?" And with an implied censure of that absolute denial of United States' citizenship to the coloured man, which had been shamefully practised of late years, he asks equally, whether it might not be well "to provide by law for the enforcement of that clause in the Constitution which guarantees that the citizens of each state shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of citizens in the several States ?" The slave-power, in other words, shall have its pound of flesh, but not a drop of blood besides. Whatever legal privileges stand written to its credit, let it enjoy; but the spirit of slavery shall not penetrate into

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the law itself. The fugitive shall be presumed free until proved a slave; the coloured citizen of free Massachusetts or free New York, shall stand on the same legal footing as the white citizen in slave Georgia or slave Mississippi. But it is the preservation of the Union, of the national life, which above all engrosses him, since disruption is now "formidably attempted:"

"I hold that in contemplation of universal law, and of the Constitution, the union of these States is perpetual. Perpetuity is implied, if not expressed, in the fundamental law of all national governments. It is safe to assert that no government proper ever had a provision in its organic law for its own termination.

No State, upon its own mere motion, can lawfully get out of the Union. 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