confidence in the ultimate justice of the people? Is there any better or equal hope in the world? In our present differences, is either party without faith of being in the right? If the Almighty Ruler of nations, with his eternal truth and justice, be on your side of the North, or on yours of the South, that truth and that justice will surely prevail by the judgment of this great tribunal,— the American people.

"By the frame of the Government under which we live, this same people have wisely given their public servants but little power for mischief, and have, with equal wisdom, provided for the return of that little to their own hands at very short intervals. While the people retain their virtue and vigilance, no administration, by any extreme wickedness or folly, can very seriously injure the Government in the short space of four years.

"My countrymen, one and all, think calmly and well upon this whole subject. Nothing valuable can be lost by taking time.

"If there be an object to hurry any of you, in hot haste, to a step which you would never take deliberately, that object will be frustrated by taking time; but no good object can be frustrated by it.

"Such of you as are now dissatisfied still have the old Constitution unimpaired, and on the sensitive point, the laws of your own framing under it; while the new administration will have no immediate power, if it would, to change either.

"If it were admitted that you who are dissatisfied hold the right side in the dispute, there is still no single reason for precipitate action. Intelligence, patriotism, Christianity, and a firm reliance on Him who has never yet forsaken this favored land, are still competent to adjust in the best way all our present difficulties.

"In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. The Government will not assail you.

"You can have no conflict without being yourselves the aggressors. You have no oath registered in heaven. to destroy the Government, while I shall 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 have strained, it must not break, our bonds of affection.

"The mystic cords 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."

Inaugural addresses had been written by all his predecessors; but, in scarcely a month from the time when he delivered that address, the President had occasion to write a paper differing from any they had ever written. It was a call for troops, and summoned Congress to assemble; for civil war had begun. How many tears greeted that paper, as hearts that shrank from scenes of carnage pictured to themselves, as they read it, the horrors of a war which seemed inevitable!

PROCLAMATION.

Whereas the laws of the United States have been for some time past, and now are, opposed, and the execution thereof obstructed, in the States of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, by combinations too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings, or by the power vested in the marshals by law: now therefore, I,

ABRAHAM LINCOLN, President of the United States, in virtue of the power in me vested by the Constitution and the laws, have thought fit to call forth, and hereby do call forth, the militia of the several States of the Union, to the aggregate number of 75,000, in order to suppress said combinations, and to cause the laws to be duly executed.

The details for this object will be immediately communicated to the State authorities through the War Department. I appeal to all loyal citizens to favor, facilitate, and aid this effort to maintain the honor, the integ rity, and existence of our National Union, and the perpetuity of popular government, and to redress wrongs already long enough endured. I deem it proper to say that the first service assigned to the forces hereby called forth will probably be to repossess the forts, places, and property which have been seized from the Union; and in every event the utmost care will be observed, consistently with the objects aforesaid, to avoid any devastation, any destruction of or interference with property, or any disturbance of peaceful citizens of any part of the country; and I hereby command the persons composing the combinations aforesaid to disperse and retire peaceably to their respective abodes within twenty days from this date.

Deeming that the present condition of public affairs presents an extraordinary occasion, I do hereby, in virtue of the power in me vested by the Constitution, convene both Houses of Congress. The senators and representatives are, therefore, summoned to assemble at their respective chambers at twelve o'clock noon, on Thursday, the fourth day of July next, then and there to consider and determine such measures as, in their wisdom, the public safety and interest seem to demand.

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 fifteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, and of the independence of the United States the eighty-fifth.

By the President:

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.

This proclamation was followed by one ordering the blockade of the Southern ports, and issued on the day when the first blood was shed for Liberty and Union.

Subsequently, the President sent the following letter (interesting particularly as showing his modesty ́and peace-loving spirit) to the Governor of Maryland and the Mayor of Baltimore:

WASHINGTON, April 20, 1861.

GOVERNOR HICKS AND MAYOR BROWN. Gentlemen, Your letter by Messrs. Bond, Dobbin, and Brome, is received. I tender you both my sincere thanks for your efforts to keep the peace in the trying situation in which you are placed. For the future, troops must be brought here; but I make no point of bringing them through Baltimore.

Without any military knowledge myself, of course I must leave details to Gen. Scott. He hastily said this morning, in presence of those gentlemen, March them around Baltimore, and not through it.'

I sincerely hope the general, on fuller reflection, will consider this practical and proper, and that you will not object to it. By this a collision of the people of Baltimore with the troops will be avoided, unless they go out

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of the way to seek it. I hope you will exert your influ ence to prevent this. Now and ever, I shall do all in my power for peace, consistently with the maintenance of government. Your obedient servant,

A. LINCOLN.

In July, the President sent his first message to Congress, an interesting document, but too long to be inserted here. In it he remarked forcibly, "The Union must be preserved, and hence all indispensable means must be employed." It may be, that, even then, he was looking forward to a day when he might pronounce slavery at an end in the United States; for "there yet remains in the minds of men who were acquainted with Mr. Lincoln in the spring and summer of 1861 the recollection of expressions made by him, which indicate that there were then vague thoughts in his mind that it might be his lot under Providence to bring the slaves of the country out of their bondage."*

On the 12th of August, the President issued a proclamation, eminently appropriate in expression, and Christian in tone, for a day of fasting and prayer, as follows:

"Whereas a joint committee of both Houses of Congress has waited on the President of the United States, and requested him to 'recommend a day of public humiliation, prayer, and fasting, to be observed by the people of the United States with religious solemnities, and the offering of fervent supplications to Almighty God for the safety and welfare of these States, his blessing on their arms, and a speedy restoration of peace; '

"And whereas it is fit and becoming in all people, at

* Ex-Governor Boutwell's Eulogy.