SPEECH AT A LADIES' FAIR IN WASH INGTON, MARCH 21, 1864. LADIES AND GENTLEMEN-I appear to say but a word. 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 use of 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. LEVI P. MORTON-W. S. HANCOCK. 311 I HAD only a slight personal acquaintance with Mr. Lincoln, but yield to no one in veneration for his memory, or admiration for his grand qualities of head and heart. Levi 8. Morton LEGATION DES ETATS-UNIS D'AMERIQUE, PARIS, 1881. MR. R. LINCOLN'S history will be "of all time," and he will be recalled as one of the grandest figures of the world's history. GOVERNOR'S ISLAND, 1881. A LETTER WRITTEN TO A. G. HODGES, I ATTEMPT no compliment to my own sagacity. I claim not to have controlled events, but confess plainly that events have controlled me. Now, at the end of three years' struggle, the nation's condition is not what either party or any man devised or expected. God alone can claim it. Whither it is tending seems plain. If God now wills the removal of a great wrong, and wills, also, that we of the North, as well as you of the South, shall pay fairly for our complicity in that wrong, impartial history will find therein new causes to attest and revere the justice and goodness of God. Abraham Lincoln ISAAC M‘LELLAN. 313 When clos'd years since the fratricidal strife, That plain, good man, who, with life's parting tone, He freed the slave! No chains now bind his hand, That snapt the gyves and fetters of the slave, Have M Lellan SHELTER ISLAND, 1880. SPEECH AT THE OPENING OF A FAIR IN BALTIMORE, FOR THE BENE- SION, APRIL, 1864. CALLING it to mind that we are in Baltimore, we cannot fail to note that the world moves. Looking upon these many people I see assembled here to serve, as they best may, the soldiers of the Union, it at once occurs to me that three years ago the same soldiers could not so much as pass through Baltimore. The change from then till now is both great and gratifying. I would say, blessings upon the men who have wrought the change, and the fair women who strive to reward them for it! Neither did any When the war began, three years ago, neither party nor any man expected it would last till now. Each looked for the end, in some way, long ere to-day. anticipate that domestic slavery would be much affected by the war. But here we are; the war has not ended, and slavery has been much affected-how much need not now be recounted. So true it is that man proposes and God disposes. The world has never had a good definition of the word liberty, and the American people, just now, are much in want of one. We all declare for liberty, but in using the same word we do not all mean the same thing. With some the word liberty may mean for each man to do as he pleases with himself, and the product of his labor; 4 |