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ferred another man for President, and the bullet of the assassin having laid our President prostrate, has there been a mutiny? nas any rival proposed his claim? In an army of nearly a million of men, no officer or soldier has uttered one word of dissent, and in an hour or two after Mr. Lincoln's death, another leader, with constitutional powers, occupied his chair, and the government moved forward without one single jar. The world will learn that republics are the strongest governments on earth. And now, my friends, in the words of the departed, 'with malice towards none, free from all feeling of personal vengeance, yet believing the sword must not be drawn or borne in vain, let us go forward in our painful duty.' Let every man who was a Senator or Representative in Congress, and who aided in beginning this rebellion, and thus led to the slaughter of our sons and daughters, be brought to a speedy and to certain punishment. Let every officer educated at public expense, and who, having been advanced to position, has perjured himself and has turned his sword against the vitals of his country, be doomed to this. I believe in the will of the American people. Men may attempt to compromise, and to restore these traitors and murderers to society again; but the American people will arise in their majesty and sweep all such compromises and compromisers away, and shall declare that there shall be no peace to rebels; but to the deluded masses we shall extend the arms of forgiveness. We will take them to our hearts and walk with them side by side as we go forward to work out a glorious destiny. The time will come when, in the beautiful language of him whose lips are forever closed, 'The mystic cords of memory, which stretch from every battle field and from every patriot's grave, shall yield a sweeter music when touched by the angels of our better nature.' To the ambitious there is the fearful lesson of the four candidates for Presidential honors in 1860. Two of them, Douglas and Lincoln, once competitors, but now sleeping patriots, rest from their labors; Bell perished in poverty and misery, as a traitor might perish, and Breckenridge is a frightened fugitive, with the brand of traitor on his brow. That will be vouched by the angels of our better nature. (Cries of "good, good.")

ABRAHAM

LINCOLN IS MOURNED BY TWENTY-FIVE MILLIONS OF PEOPLE. Thus was laid to his silent rest the most illustrious citizen of the Nineteenth century. No other mortal ever went to his tomb amid such expressions of grief. Twentyfive millions of people mourned him as children mourn the loss of a father. The emancipated blacks felt that they

had parted with their earthly saviour, the man who, under GOD, had been raised up to redeem them from oppression. And now, as we write, the wail of old England, the sorrows of all Europe, the sighs of every breast which contains a heart throbbing with the love of liberty, come borne to us by every burdened breeze from over the Atlantic. The world sympathizes with America in her grief, and the world accords to our cherished dead the meed of praise, the proud height of fame to which Mr. Lincoln's pure life, honest heart, and unsullied private and public character entitled him before the eyes of man and angels.

In his career we have seen how the flat-boatman and rail-splitter of the West climbed step by step until he reached the highest round of political preferment, as well as the loftiest place in the affections of his countrymen. We have seen how honesty of purpose won its way while beset by the wiles of political chicanery and deceit. We have seen how sterling principle lived down fierce opposition until the false and the wrong were forced to yield to the true and the just. We have seen a grand illustration of the practical democratic republicanism of our American system, in elevating a man from the humblest ranks of the people to the loftiest place on earth. And, finally, we have seen how the malignant hate of foiled traitors sped the Parthian arrow to the murdering of the most illustrious citizen of the Republic.

"An eagle, tower'ing in his pride of place,
Was by a mousing owl hawked at and killed."

But the principles enunciated and struggled for by Abraham Lincoln are as imperishable as truth itself, and having performed his great mission upon earth, he has gone to meet his reward in another sphere, leaving to his fellow citizens, and to posterity, the enjoyment of the

great reforms of which he was the instrument in the hands of Providence, and to American youth the influence of his grand example.

THE FIRST PLOT TO ASSASSINATE PRESIDENT LINCOLN.

The murder of Mr. Lincoln, more than four years after his induction into the office of President of the United States, is not the fulfilment of a recent intention, nor is the guilt of it confined to the actual murderer and his present active accomplices. Soon after the first election of Mr. Lincoln, a plot was matured for his assassination, which was vaguely rumored at the time of its intended execution, but which was never exposed in any formal manner, and hence never obtained general credence. As we are in possession of its outlines, and the means by which it was defeated, the mention of the circumstances may now be received with a degree of interest which they could not heretofore have excited. It is proper to say that we state them substantially as they were reported some time ago, by a gentleman who was chiefly instrumental in defeating the conspiracy. In the month of January, 1861, a gentleman, holding a position in this city, which made him a proper agent to act on the information, was waited upon by a lady, who stated to him her suspicions or knowledge-whence derived we are not able to say-of a plot to assassinate Mr. Lincoln when on his way from his home, in Illinois to Washington, to be inaugurated as President. The active parties, or some of them, in the business, were understood to be in Baltimore. At all events, the gentleman considered that the intelligence had sufficient foundation to make it his duty to satisfy himself whether it might be correct. He accordingly employed a detective officer, a man who had in his profession become notable for his sagacity and success, to

go to Baltimore and adopt his own course to detect the parties to and plan of the conspiracy. The officer went to Baltimore, and opened an office as some sort of broker or agent, under an assumed name. Being supplied with needful funds, he made occasions to become acquainted with certain classes of secessionists, and by degrees was on free and easy terms with them. He took each man in his humor, dined and supped with some, gambled with others, “treated" and seconded dissipations in more ways than need be expressly stated, until he had secured enough of their confidence to be familiar with the particulars of their schemes. Meanwhile it had been ascertained that on the line of the Baltimore Railroad there were men engaged in military drilling. Several other detectives were employed by the chief to discover the purpose of those organizations; and, disguised as laborers or farm hands, they got themselves mustered in. One of the military companies proved to be loyal in its purpose; another, under pretence of being prepared to guard one or more of the bridges north of Baltimore, was designed for quite an opposite purpose. It will be remembered that some time before Mr. Lincoln set out from his home for Washington, his intended route thither was published. A part of the programme was that he should visit Harrisburg and Philadelphia. We believe that Mr. Lincoln was not advised especially of any personal danger until he was about to go to Harrisburg, and then, at the instance of the gentleman referred to, he was urged to proceed without delay to Washington. He replied, however, that he had promised the people of Harrisburg to answer their invitation, and he would do so if it cost him his life. He accordingly visited Harrisburg on the 22d of February, 1861. It was intended he should rest there that evening. But under the management of the gentleman," another arrangement was effected.

The night train from Philadel

phia to Baltimore and Washington left at half past ten o'clock in the evening. It was determined that Mr. Lincoln should go secretly by that train on the evening of the 23d; and to enable him to do so, a special train was provided to bring him secretly from Harrisburg to Philadelphia. After dark, in the former city, when it was presumed he had retired to his hotel, he accordingly took the special train, and came to Philadelphia. Meanwhile, in anticipation of his coming, "the gentleman" had insured the detention of the Philadelphia and Baltimore train, under the pretence that a parcel of important documents for one of the departments in Washington must be dispatched by it, but which might not be ready until after the regular time of the starting of that train. By a similar representation, the connecting train from Baltimore to Washington was also detained. Owing to the late hour at which the special train left Harrisburg with Mr. Lincoln, it did not, as was anticipated, reach this city until after the usual Philadelphia and Baltimore time. Mr. Lincoln was accompanied by the officer who had been employed in Baltimore. A formidable bundle of old railroad reports had been made up in the office of the Philadelphia and Baltimore Company, which the officer, duly instructed, had charge of. On the arrival of the Harrisburg train, Mr. Lincoln took a carriage in waiting, and with his escort was driven to the depot at Broad and Prime streets. The officer made some ostentatious bustle, arriving with his parcel for which the train was detained, and passing through the depot entered the cars, Mr. Lincoln in his company. As Mr. Lincoln passed through the gate, the man attending it remarked: "Old fellow, it's well for you the train was detained to-night, or you wouldn't have gone in it." No one aboard the train but the agent of the company and the officer knew of Mr. Lincoln's being in it. He was

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