cannot do better than to finish our sketch of Mr. Lincoln by quoting the following admirable song of one of America's most gifted sons, William Henry Burleigh, of New-York:

Up, again for the conflict! our banner fling out,

And rally around it with song and with shout!

Stout of heart, firm of hand, should the gallant boys be,

Who bear to the battle the Flag of the Free!

Like our fathers, when Liberty called to the strife,

They should pledge to her cause fortune, honor, and life!

And follow wherever she beckons them on,

Till Freedom exults in a victory won!

Then fling out the banner, the old starry banner,
The battle-torn banner that beckons us on!

They come from the hillside, they come from the glen—
From the streets thronged with traffic, and surging with men
From loom and from ledger, from workshop and farm,

The fearless of heart, and the mighty of arm.

As the mountain-born torrents exultingly leap,
When their ice-fetters melt, to the breast of the deep;
As the winds of the prairie, the waves of the sea,
They are coming-are coming-the Sons of the Free!

Then fling out the banner, the old starry banner,
The war-tattered banner, the flag of the Free!

Our Leader is one who, with conquerless will,
Has climbed from the base to the brow of the hill;
Undaunted in peril, unwavering in strife,

He has fought a good fight in the Battle of Life
And we trust him as one who, come woe or come weal,
Is as firm as the rock, and as true as the steel,

Right loyal and brave, with no stain on his crest,
Then, hurrah, boys, for honest "Old Abe of the West!"
And fling out your banner, the old starry banner,
The signal of triumph for "Abe of the West!"

The West, whose broad acres, from lake-shore to sea,
Now wait for the harvest and homes of the free!
Shall the dark tide of Slavery roll o'er the sod,
That Freedom makes bloom like the garden of God?
The bread of our children be torn from their mouth,
To feed the fierce dragon that preys on the South?
No, never! the trust which our Washington laid
On us, for the Future, shall ne'er be betrayed!

Then fling out the banner, the old starry banner,
And on to the conflict with hearts undismayed!

SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

PART FIFTH.

SPEECH OF MR. LINCOLN,

AT SPRINGFIELD, June 17, 1858.

[The following speech was delivered at Springfield, Ill., at the close of the Republican State Convention, held at that time and place, and by which Convention Mr. Lincoln had been named as their candidate for United States Senator. Mr. Douglas was not present.]

MR. PRESIDENT, AND GENTLEMEN OF THE CONVENTION: If we could first know where we are, and whither we are tending, we could better judge what to do, and how to do it. We are now far into the fifth year, since a policy was initiated with the avowed object, and confident promise, of putting an end to slavery agitation. Under the operation of that policy, that agitation has not only not ceased, but has constantly augmented. In my opinion, it will not cease, until a crisis shall have been reached and passed. "A house divided against itself cannot stand." I believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved-I do not expect the house to fall-but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing, or all the other. Either the opponents of slavery will arrest the further spread of it, and place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is in the course of ultimate extinction; or its advocates will push it forward, till it shall become alike lawful in all the States, old as well as new-North as well as South.

Have we no tendency to the latter condition?

Let any one who doubts, carefully contemplate that now

almost complete legal combination--piece of machinery, so to speak--compounded of the Nebraska doctrine, and the Dred Scott decision. Let him consider not only what work the machinery is adapted to do, and how well adapted; but also, let him study the history of its construction, and trace, if he can, or rather fail, if he can, to trace, the evidences of design, and concert of action, among its chief architects, from the beginning.

The new year of 1854 found slavery excluded from more than half the States by State constitutions, and from most of the national territory by Congressional prohibition. Four days later, commenced the struggle which ended in repealing that Congressional prohibition. This opened all the national territory to slavery, and was the first point gained.

But, so far, Congress only had acted; and an endorsement by the people, real or apparent, was indispensable, to save the point already gained, and give chance for more,

This necessity had not been overlooked; but had been provided for, as well as might be, in the notable argument of "squatter sovereignty," otherwise called "sacred right of selfgovernment" which latter phrase, though expressive of the only rightful basis of any government, was so perverted in this attempted use of it as to amount to just this: That if any one man choose to enslave another, no third man shall be allowed to object. That argument was incorporated into the Nebraska bill itself, in the language which follows: "It being the true intent and meaning of this act not to legislate slavery into any territory or State, nor to exclude it therefrom; but to leave the people thereof perfectly free to form and regulate their domestic institutions in their own way, subject only to the Constitution of the United States." Then opened the roar of loose declamation in favor of " squatter sovereignty," and "sacred rights of self-government." "But," said opposition members, "let us amend the bill so as to expressly declare that the people of the territory may exclude slavery." "Not we," said the friends of the measure; and down they voted the amendment.

While the Nebrask a bill was passing through Congress, a law case involving the question of a negro's freedom, by reason of his owner having voluntarily taken him first into a free State and then into a territory covered by the Congressional