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LETTER TO MRS. BIXBY OF BOSTON.

I HAVE been shown on the file of the War Department a statement of the Adjutant-General of Massachusetts, that you are the mother of five sons who have died gloriously on the field of battle. I feel how weak and fruitless must be any word of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming; but I cannot refrain from tendering to you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the republic they died to save. I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavements, and leave only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom.

Abraham Lincoln

NOVEMBER 21, 1864.

W. O. BRADLEY.

361

O man has so happily blended in his character childlike simplicity with true greatness and nobility, and combined so great a degree of tenderness with lofty and unflinching courage, as the lamented Lincoln. The energy and perseverance that enabled him to overcome the poverty and obscurity which enshrouded his youth. eminently qualified him to encounter and surmount the colossal difficulties that environed his administration. His strong common sense, undaunted patriotism, and wise statesmanship have left an impress on our institutions which will never be effaced so long as this is freedom's home; and their influence shall not be felt here alone, but throughout the civilized world, for centuries

to come.

He has taken and will hold rank in history with the purest and most illustrious of mankind. Admiring countrymen have erected a noble shaft to mark his last resting-place, while in their heart of hearts they have builded a mausoleum that will successfully defy the devouring tooth of time; but surpassing these is the monument erected by his philanthropic statesmanship, of manacles torn from the limbs of four million slaves.

LANCASTER, 1882.

1.6. Bradley

REMARKS TO A DELEGATION FROM OHIO.

I AM very much obliged to you for this compliment. I have just been saying, and as I have just said it, I will repeat it: The hardest of all speeches which I have to answer is a serenade. I never knew what to say on such occasions. I suppose that you have done me this kindness in connection with the action of the Baltimore Convention, which has recently taken place, and with which, of course, I am very well satisfied. What we want still more than Baltimore Conventions or Presidential Elections is success under General Grant. I propose that you constantly bear in mind that the support you owe to the brave officers and soldiers in the field is of the very first importance, and we should, therefore, bend all our energies to that point. Now, without detaining you any longer, I propose that you help me to close up what I am now saying with three rousing cheers for General Grant and the officers and soldiers under his command.

F. E. SPINNER.

363

FRO

ROM our official and social relations, for over four years, I had abundant opportunity to know Mr. Lincoln well. I have been a student of human nature and character all my life, and of all the men that have ever challenged my attention, I have never found Mr. Lincoln's equal; possessing the simplicity of a child, and the tenderness of a woman, he combined, in his make-up, all the sterner qualities of a perfect man. A close observer of men, measures and events, and with a discriminating mind that led to a correct judgment, was added a conscientiousness of the right and a moral courage to do it, that enabled him to execute his honest convictions of all the political and social duties that were required of him as a man and a magistrate.

JACKSONVILLE, 1881.

FOURTH ANNUAL MESSAGE

TO CONGRESS, DECEMBER 6TH, 1864.

THE most remarkable feature in the military operations of the year is General Sherman's attempted march of three hundred miles directly through the insurgent region. It tends to show a great increase of our relative strength that our General-in-Chief should feel able to confront and hold in check every active force of the enemy, and yet to detach a well-appointed large army to move on such an expedition. The result not yet being known, conjecture in regard to it is not here indulged.

Important movements have also occurred during the year to the effect of molding society for durability in the Union. Although short of complete success, it is much in the right direction that twelve thousand citizens in each of the States of Arkansas and Louisiana have organized loyal State governments, with free constitutions, and are earnestly struggling to maintain and administer them. The movements in the same directionmore extensive, though less definite-in Missouri, Kentucky, and Tennessee should not be overlooked. But Maryland presents the example of complete success. Maryland is secure to Liberty and Union for all the future. The genius of rebellion will no more claim Maryland. Like another foul spirit, being driven out, it may seek to tear her, but it will woo her no more.

In presenting the abandonment of armed resistance to

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