Lincoln. f William Artistrong died recently at Ashland, Cass county, Ill. His claim to fame lies in the fact that in 1858 Abraham Lincoln defended him on a charge of murder and secured, his acquittal. Lincoln took the case without fee and to discharge a debt of gratitude. This was the case which Lincoln won with an almanac. He discredited the testimony of the chief witness, who swore that he saw Armstrong do the deed by the bright light of the moon. Lincoln showed by the almanac that the moon was not shining at the time.

то

ALL LOYAL MEN AND WOMEN,

NORTH AND SOUTH, EAST AND WEST,

TO

THE UNION AK MY AND NA V Y,

AND ESPECIALLY

TO THE LONG-OPPRESSED RACE FOR WHOM

President Lincoln

WROTE

THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION,

THIS RECORD OF HIS STAINLESS LIFE AND

MARTYR'S DEATH IS NOW

INSCRIBED.

PREFACE.

It has been thought that a biography of our martyred President, brief, yet comprehensive, ought to be published. Of this remarkable man it can be said, as it was of our Lord Jesus Christ, "The common people heard him gladly; and therefore a memoir expressly designed for the mass of readers in our country cannot fail to be warmly welcomed. Every new book finds new readers and meets some unsupplied demand. If a volume like this now offered be indeed. as it is supposed to be a desideratum, its own readers for whom it is designed, will cluster about it, and the hopes of its author and publisher be realized.

The special aim of this volume is twofold: First, To present a truthful picture of the character of the great and good man who has fallen among us, delineating, as far as possible in narrating the events of his life, the growth and development of those grand and heroic virtues which stamp him with the unmistakable seal of Heaven's approval, and make his name

"One of the few, the immortal names

That were not born to die."

And secondly, To show that "the course of human events' was such, during his earthly existence, and his relation to them so peculiar in the providence of God, as to indicate that he was specially commissioned for his day and work, -a man of the times, and a man for the times; that he lived long enough to be able to say, like his Lord, "It is finished,"

and then passed on to hear from divine lips the unrivalled words of welcome, "Well done, good and faithful servant! enter thou into the joy of thy Lord!"

Should this volume deepen the convictions of its readers in the grand truths of God's sovereignty on earth as well as in heaven, and of his love to all the family of man, shown especially in his care for the outcast and oppressed; and should it make them love freedom and righteousness more and more as they contemplate the character and life of the Martyr-President, the labor spent in its preparation will not have been in vain, and to God will be ascribed the glory. P. A. H.