ognition of the real position of the address less than a decade after its delivery, is the following account, occurring in J. W. Draper's History of the American Civil War:

"When the appointed funeral oration was completed, a low murmur ran through the audience, and the care-worn President, rising, bent reverently forward, and unpremeditatedly and solemnly said: 'It is intimated to me that this assemblage expects me to say something on this occasion. We are met here to dedicate a portion of this field.'"

Now, if a man of the intelligence and insight of the author of this work could assume at that late date that the "Gettysburg Address" was an extempore effort and could quote it so carelessly and with so little regard to the facts in the case, it is safe to assume that the address had not yet been generally accepted as an American classic, however much it may have excited the admiration of discriminating individuals. Like so many other

great works of literature, the "Gettysburg Address" won universal acceptance only after many years. Few if any of those who were impressed by its beauty of thought and felicity of expression when they first heard or read it realized that it would ever receive the praise later accorded it by the London Spectator, as one of the four greatest memorial addresses of the world's literature. We believe now that that is the correct estimate of the "Gettysburg Address," but if the writer in Harper's Weekly, for December 5, 1863, had allowed his enthusiasm to express itself in such a eulogy his readers would undoubtedly have entertained serious doubts of his critical judgment if not of his sanity.

X

To sum up, we are justified in assuming the X following facts: that it was very carefully prepared in Washington and that only slight changes were made in it after the arrival at Gettysburg, that there is no reason to believe that any part of it was written on the train, that the claim that Lincoln wrote the whole

address on the back of an envelope at Gettysburg is absolutely false. The theory that the address was wholly extempore deserves no serious attention. The story that Mr. Everett, on the conclusion of the address, grasped the President's hand and expressed his willingness to exchange his hundred pages for Lincoln's twenty lines, undoubtedly owes its origin to the note of congratulation written by Everett the following day.

CHAPTER VI

MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS

THE messages to Congress are as different in literary merit from the ordinary run of presidential messages as the two inaugurals are superior to most of their predecessors. While they deal in the main with sober facts and recommendations, like the speeches and forma addresses, they often contain passages of surpassing beauty and distinction. I believe that only one President since Lincoln has shown in this class of writings anything like the same claim to literary distinction. It seems a pity that Lincoln did not revive the excellent practice of the earlier Presidents of delivering his messages to Congress in person.

The messages are of two main classes. First, brief communications on special sub

jects, such as appointments in the army or navy, international questions, such as the Trent Affair or the demand for indemnity by foreign countries, etc. These messages often consist of a single sentence and none of them show any literary qualities. They are as impersonal as a business communication. The second class, smaller in number but very much larger in bulk, contains five messages, the Message to Congress in Special Session, of July 4, 1861, and the four Annual Messages. The first of these, in turn, differs from the other four in being limited to a single subject, the military situation and the best method of meeting it. This message may be regarded as a sort of corollary to the "First Inaugural Address." But, like the "First Inaugural Address," this message is not confined to the practical consideration of the immediate problem, but it considers this problem in its relation to representative government throughout the world. The same may be said of all of the messages, for, in spite of their practical pur

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