and Mr. Arnold states that there were "sober but hearty cheers." The president continued:

In doing this there need be no bloodshed nor violence; and there shall be none, unless it is forced upon the national authority. The power confided to me will be used to hold, and occupy, and possess the property and places belonging to the government, and to collect the duties and imposts; but beyond what may be necessary for these objects there will be no invasion, no using of force against or among the people anywhere. . . .

Physically speaking, we cannot separate. We cannot remove our respective sections from each other, nor build an impassable wall between them. A husband and wife may be divorced, and go out of the presence, and beyond the reach of each other, but the different parts of the country cannot do this. . . .

This country with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing government, they can exercise the constitutional right of amending, or their revolutionary right to dismember or overthrow

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 not 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. 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 dispute, there still is no single good 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.

The day was bleak and windy, and the inaugural service partook of its chill. Chief Justice Taney was old and feeble, and his words were scarcely audible. The retiring President Buchanan was visibly uncomfortable. General Scott was old and anxious. Lincoln was pale and nervous. Every one was glad

when the formal service was over and Abraham Lincoln rode back along Pennsylvania Avenue with ex-President Buchanan and arrived at the White House without getting shot.

Lincoln's inaugural was addressed particularly to the South. He had used a similar form of direct address on his visit to Cincinnati in 1856, saying that Kentucky was almost within hearing, and he therefore spoke directly to the Kentuckians reminding them that no act of theirs could move Kentucky away from the borders of Ohio and Illinois. So in his inaugural address he spoke directly to the people of the states that had already withdrawn from the Union, and those that were on the verge of withdrawal.

His address excited less discussion in the South than might have been expected. Secession was then considered an accomplished fact, and the inauguration address containing the flat declaration of the president, that secession ordinances were void, was considered only as emphasizing the hopelessness of the situation. Although the tone of the address was nothing if not pacific, it was accepted in the Cotton States as a certain indication that now there must be war.

Comment in the North was not wholly favorable. The literary form of the address was criticized by many. The Atlas and Argus of Albany characterized it as "weak, rambling, loosejointed, and inviting civil war."

Other northern papers treated it as a commonplace production.

Some newspapers spoke rather well of it, commenting on its directness, its simplicity and its kindliness. Foremost among these was the New York Tribune.

It is marked by no feeble expression. "He who runs may read" it; and to twenty millions of people it will carry tidings, good or not, as the case may be, that the federal Government of the United States is still in existence, with a Man at the head of

it.

The Boston Transcript also gave to the address some guarded words of commendation:

The style of the address is as characteristic as its temper. It has not one fawning expression in the whole course of its firm and explicit statements. The language is level to the popular mind-the plain, homespun language of a man accustomed to talk with "the folks" and "the neighbors"; the language of a man of vital common-sense, whose words exactly fit his facts and thoughts.

The New York Herald made the following comment:

It would have been almost as instructive if President Lincoln had contented himself with telling his audience yesterday a funny story and letting them go. . . . The inaugural is not a crude performance; it abounds in traits of craft and cunning. It bears marks of indecision, and yet of strong coercion proclivities, with serious doubt whether the government will be able to gratify them. It is neither candid nor statesmanlike, nor does it possess any essential of dignity or patriotism. It would have caused a Washington to mourn, and would have inspired Jefferson, Madison, or Jackson with contempt. . . . With regard to the ultimate projects of Mr. Lincoln, the public is no wiser than before. It is sincerely to be trusted that he is not ignorant of them himself.

It

The same newspaper a few days previous had quoted the inaugural of Jefferson Davis with interest and appreciation. did not in so many words commend the subject-matter of that address, portions of which Davis himself afterward virtually apologized for, but said that it was "an address that indicates the man of experience, and a cultivated mind of high order."

In the evening occurred that dreary event, the inauguration ball. Mr. Lincoln now and then attended a formal ball at Springfield, where he enjoyed sitting with the men and telling stories while other people danced. Mrs. Lincoln enjoyed those cccasions, and looked forward to the inauguration ball as a great event in her life. High society in Washington looked in at the ball and reckoned the number of the missing; the tawdry ballroom was not more than half full, and those who constituted the