LETTER TO JAMES C. CONKLING, SPRINGFIELD, ILL., AUG. 26, 1863. "Peace does not appear so distant as it did. I hope it will come soon, and come to stay, and so come as to be worth the keeping in all future time. It will then have been proved that among freemen there can be no successful appeal from the ballot to the bullet, and that they who take such appeal are sure to lose their case and pay the cost." "SOME KINDS OF POWDER CAN'T BE BURNT BUT ONCE." "I do the very best I know how, the very best I can; and I mean to keep doing so until the end. If the end brings me out all right, what is said against me won't amount to anything. If the end brings me out wrong, ten angels swearing I was right would make no difference." ADDRESS AT THE FAIR HELD AT THE PATENT OFfice, waSHINGTON, MARCH 16, 1864. "This extraordinary war in which we are engaged falls heavily upon all classes of people, but the most heavily upon the soldiers. For it has been said, all that a man hath will he give for his life; and while. all contribute of their substance, the soldier puts his life at stake, and often yields it up in his country's cause. The highest merit, then, is due to the soldier. In this extraordinary war, extraordinary developments have manifested themselves, such as have not been seen in former wars; and among these manifestations nothing has been more remarkable than these fairs for the relief of suffering soldiers and their families. And the chief agents in these fairs are the women of America. I am not accustomed to the language of eulogy; I have never studied the art of paying compliments to women; but I must say, that if all that has been said by orators and poets since the creation of the world in praise of women were applied to the women of America, it would not do them justice for their conduct during the war. I will close by saying, God bless the women of America!" FOURTH ANNUAL MESSAGE TO CONGRESS, DEC. 6, 1864. "For myself, I have no doubt of the power and duty of the executive, under the law of nations, to exclude enemies of the human race from an asylum in the United States." LETTER ΤΟ F. A. CONKLING AND OTHERS, NEW YORK, JUNE 3, 1864, REPLYING TO INVITATION TO ATTEND A MASS MEETING IN HONOR OF GENERAL GRANT. "While the magnitude and difficulty of the task before him (Gen. Grant) do not prove less than I expected, he and his brave soldiers are now in the midst of their great trial, and I trust at your meeting you will so shape your words that they may turn to men and guns moving to his and their support." SPEECH AT PHILADELPHIA, "War, at the best, is terrible, and this war of ours, in its magnitude and in its duration, is one of the most terrible. It has deranged business, totally in many localities, and partially in all localities. It has destroyed property and ruined. homes; it has produced a national debt and taxation unprecedented, at least in this country; it has carried mourning to almost every home, until it can almost be said that 'the heavens are hung in black.'" TO LADIES AT A PRESENTATION OF LEAVES FROM THE GETTYSBURG BATTLE-FIELD, JAN. 24, 1865. "I wish you to read, if you have not already done so, the eloquent and truthful words which he (Edward Everett) then spoke of the women of America. Truly, the services they have rendered to the defenders of our country in this perilous time, and are yet rendering, can never be estimated as they ought to be." INAUGURAL ADDRESS, MARCH 5, 1865. "With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the |