[Frontispiece: Abraham Lincoln]

MEMORIAL ADDRESS

ON THE

LIFE AND CHARACTER

OF

ABRAHAM LINCOLN

DELIVERED, AT THE REQUEST OF BOTH HOUSES OF THE

CONGRESS OF AMERICA, BEFORE THEM, IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

AT WASHINGTON, ON THE 12TH OF FEBRUARY, 1866. 

BY GEORGE BANCROFT. 

WASHINGTON:

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 

1866. 

ORATION. 

SENATORS, REPRESENTATIVES OF AMERICA:

That God rules in the affairs of men is as certain as any truth ofphysical science. On the great moving power which is from the beginninghangs the world of the senses and the world of thought and action. Eternal wisdom marshals the great procession of the nations, working inpatient continuity through the ages, never halting and never abrupt, encompassing all events in its oversight, and ever effecting its will, though mortals may slumber in apathy or oppose with madness. Kings arelifted up or thrown down, nations come and go, republics flourish andwither, dynasties pass away like a tale that is told; but nothing is bychance, though men, in their ignorance of causes, may think so. Thedeeds of time are governed, as well as judged, by the decrees ofeternity. The caprice of fleeting existences bends to the immovableomnipotence, which plants its foot on all the centuries and has neitherchange of purpose nor repose. Sometimes, like a messenger through thethick darkness of night, it steps along mysterious ways; but when thehour strikes for a people, or for mankind, to pass into a new form ofbeing, unseen hands draw the bolts from the gates of futurity; anall-subduing influence prepares the minds of men for the comingrevolution; those who plan resistance find themselves in conflict withthe will of Providence rather than with human devices; and all heartsand all understandings, most of all the opinions and influences of theunwilling, are wonderfully attracted and compelled to bear forward thechange, which becomes more an obedience to the law of universal naturethan submission to the arbitrament of man. 

In the fulness of time a republic rose up in the wilderness of America. Thousands of years had passed away before this child of the ages couldbe born. From whatever there was of good in the systems of formercenturies she drew her nourishment; the wrecks of the past were herwarnings. With the deepest sentiment of faith fixed in her inmostnature, she disenthralled religion from bondage to temporal power, thather worship might be worship only in spirit and in truth. The wisdomwhich had passed from India through Greece, with what Greece had addedof her own; the jurisprudence of Rome; the mediaeval municipalities;the Teutonic method of representation; the political experience ofEngland; the benignant wisdom of the expositors of the law of natureand of nations in France and Holland, all shed on her their selectestinfluence. She washed the gold of political wisdom from the sandswherever it was found; she cleft it from the rocks; she gleaned itamong ruins. Out of all the discoveries of statesmen and sages, out ofall the experience of past human life, she compiled a perennialpolitical philosophy, the primordial principles of national ethics. Thewise men of Europe sought the best government in a mixture of monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy; America went behind these names to extractfrom them the vital elements of social forms, and blend themharmoniously in the free commonwealth, which comes nearest to theillustration of the natural equality of all men. She intrusted theguardianship of established rights to law, the movements of reform tothe spirit of the people, and drew her force from the happyreconciliation of both. 

Republics had heretofore been limited to small cantons, or cities andtheir dependencies; America, doing that of which the like had notbefore been known upon the earth, or believed by kings and statesmen tobe possible, extended her republic across a continent. Under herauspices the vine of liberty took deep root and filled the land; thehills were covered with its shadow, its boughs were like the goodlycedars, and reached unto both oceans. The fame of this only daughter offreedom went out into all the lands of the earth; from her the humanrace drew hope. 

Neither hereditary monarchy nor hereditary aristocracy planted itselfon our soil; the only hereditary condition that fastened itself upon uswas servitude. Nature works in sincerity, and is ever true to its law. The bee hives honey; the viper distils poison; the vine stores itsjuices, and so do the poppy and the upas. In like manner every thoughtand every action ripens its seed, each according to its kind. In theindividual man, and still more in a nation, a just idea gives life, andprogress, and glory; a false conception portends disaster, shame, anddeath. A hundred and twenty years ago a West Jersey Quaker wrote: "Thistrade of importing slaves is dark gloominess hanging over the land; theconsequences will be grievous to posterity. " At the north the growth ofslavery was arrested by natural causes; in the region nearest thetropics it throve rankly, and worked itself into the organism of therising States. Virginia stood between the two, with soil, and climate, and resources demanding free labor, yet capable of the profitableemployment of the slave. She was the land of great statesmen, and theysaw the danger of her being whelmed under the rising flood in time tostruggle against the delusions of avarice and pride. Ninety-four yearsago the legislature of Virginia addressed the British king, saying thatthe trade in slaves was "of great inhumanity, " was opposed to the"security and happiness" of their constituents, "would in time have themost destructive influence, " and "endanger their very existence. " Andthe king answered them that, "upon pain of his highest displeasure, theimportation of slaves should not be in any respect obstructed. ""Pharisaical Britain, " wrote Franklin in behalf of Virginia, "to pridethyself in setting free a single slave that happened to land on thycoasts, while thy laws continue a traffic whereby so many hundreds ofthousands are dragged into a slavery that is entailed on theirposterity. " "A serious view of this subject, " said Patrick Henry in1773, "gives a gloomy prospect to future times. " In the same yearGeorge Mason wrote to the legislature of Virginia: "The laws ofimpartial Providence may avenge our injustice upon our posterity. "Conforming his conduct to his convictions, Jefferson, in Virginia, andin the Continental Congress, with the approval of Edmund Pendleton, branded the slave-trade as piracy; and he fixed in the Declaration ofIndependence, as the corner-stone of America: "All men are createdequal, with an unalienable right to liberty. " On the first organizationof temporary governments for the continental domain, Jefferson, but forthe default of New Jersey, would, in 1784, have consecrated every partof that territory to freedom. In the formation of the nationalConstitution, Virginia, opposed by a part of New England, vainlystruggled to abolish the slave-trade at once and forever; and when theordinance of 1787 was introduced by Nathan Dane without the clauseprohibiting slavery, it was through the favorable disposition ofVirginia and the South that the clause of Jefferson was restored, andthe whole northwestern territory--all the territory that then belongedto the nation--was reserved for the labor of freemen. 

The hope prevailed in Virginia that the abolition of the slave-tradewould bring with it the gradual abolition of slavery; but theexpectation was doomed to disappointment. In supporting incipientmeasures for emancipation, Jefferson encountered difficulties greaterthan he could overcome, and, after vain wrestlings, the words thatbroke from him, "I tremble for my country when I reflect that God isjust, that His justice cannot sleep forever, " were words of despair. Itwas the desire of Washington's heart that Virginia should removeslavery by a public act; and as the prospects of a general emancipationgrew more and more dim, he, in utter hopelessness of the action of theState, did all that he could by bequeathing freedom to his own slaves. Good and true men had, from the days of 1776, suggested the colonizingof the negro in the home of his ancestors; but the idea of colonizationwas thought to increase the difficulty of emancipation, and, in spiteof strong support, while it accomplished much good for Africa, itproved impracticable as a remedy at home. Madison, who in early lifedisliked slavery so much that he wished "to depend as little aspossible on the labor of slaves;" Madison, who held that where slaveryexists "the republican theory becomes fallacious;" Madison, who in thelast years of his life would not consent to the annexation of Texas, lest his countrymen should fill it with slaves; Madison, who said, "slavery is the greatest evil under which the nation labors--aportentous evil--an evil, moral, political, and economical--a sad bloton our free country"--went mournfully into old age with the cheerlesswords: "No satisfactory plan has yet been devised for taking out thestain. "

The men of the Revolution passed away; a new generation sprang up, impatient that an institution to which they clung should be condemnedas inhuman, unwise, and unjust. In the throes of discontent at theself-reproach of their fathers, and blinded by the lustre of wealth tobe acquired by the culture of a new staple, they devised the theorythat slavery, which they would not abolish, was not evil, but good. They turned on the friends of colonization, and confidently demanded:"Why take black men from a civilized and Christian country, where theirlabor is a source of immense gain, and a power to control the marketsof the world, and send them to a land of ignorance, idolatry, andindolence, which was the home of their forefathers, but not theirs?Slavery is a blessing. Were they not in their ancestral land naked, scarcely lifted above brutes, ignorant of the course of the sun, controlled by nature? And in their new abode have they not been taughtto know the difference of the seasons, to plough, and plant, and reap, to drive oxen, to tame the horse, to exchange their scanty dialect forthe richest of all the languages among men, and the stupid adoration offollies for the purest religion? And since slavery is good for theblacks, it is good for their masters, bringing opulence and theopportunity of educating a race. The slavery of the black is good initself; he shall serve the white man forever. " And nature, which betterunderstood the quality of fleeting interest and passion, laughed as itcaught the echo, "man" and "forever!"

A regular development of pretensions followed the new declaration withlogical consistency. Under the old declaration every one of the Stateshad retained, each for itself, the right of manumitting all slaves byan ordinary act of legislation; now the power of the people overservitude through their legislatures was curtailed, and the privilegedclass was swift in imposing legal and constitutional obstructions onthe people themselves. The power of emancipation was narrowed or takenaway. The slave might not be disquieted by education. There remained anunconfessed consciousness that the system of bondage was wrong, and arestless memory that it was at variance with the true Americantradition; its safety was therefore to be secured by politicalorganization. The generation that made the Constitution took care forthe predominance of freedom in Congress by the ordinance of Jefferson;the new school aspired to secure for slavery an equality of votes inthe Senate, and, while it hinted at an organic act that should concedeto the collective South a veto power on national legislation, itassumed that each State separately had the right to revise and nullifylaws of the United States, according to the discretion of its judgment. 

The new theory hung as a bias on the foreign relations of the country;there could be no recognition of Hayti, nor even of the American colonyof Liberia; and the world was given to understand that theestablishment of free labor in Cuba would be a reason for wresting thatisland from Spain. Territories were annexed--Louisiana, Florida, Texas, half of Mexico; slavery must have its share in them all, and itaccepted for a time a dividing line between the unquestioned domain offree labor and that in which involuntary labor was to be tolerated. Afew years passed away, and the new school, strong and arrogant, demanded and received an apology for applying the Jefferson proviso toOregon. 

The application of that proviso was interrupted for threeadministrations, but justice moved steadily onward. In the news thatthe men of California had chosen freedom, Calhoun heard the knell ofparting slavery, and on his death-bed he counselled secession. Washington, and Jefferson, and Madison had died despairing of theabolition of slavery; Calhoun died in despair at the growth of freedom. His system rushed irresistibly to its natural development. Thedeath-struggle for California was followed by a short truce; but thenew school of politicians, who said that slavery was not evil, butgood, soon sought to recover the ground they had lost, and, confidentof securing Kansas, they demanded that the established line in theTerritories between freedom and slavery should be blotted out. Thecountry, believing in the strength and enterprise and expansive energyof freedom, made answer, though reluctantly: "Be it so; let there be nostrife between brethren; let freedom and slavery compete for theTerritories on equal terms, in a fair field, under an impartialadministration;" and on this theory, if on any, the contest might havebeen left to the decision of time. 

The South started back in appalment from its victory, for it knew thata fair competition foreboded its defeat. But where could it now find anally to save it from its own mistake? What I have next to say is spokenwith no emotion but regret. Our meeting to-day is, as it were, at thegrave, in the presence of eternity, and the truth must be uttered insoberness and sincerity. In a great republic, as was observed more thantwo thousand years ago, any attempt to overturn the state owes itsstrength to aid from some branch of the government. The Chief Justiceof the United States, without any necessity or occasion, volunteered tocome to the rescue of the theory of slavery; and from his court therelay no appeal but to the bar of humanity and history. Against theConstitution, against the memory of the nation, against a previousdecision, against a series of enactments, he decided that the slave isproperty; that slave property is entitled to no less protection thanany other property; that the Constitution upholds it in every Territoryagainst any act of a local legislature, and even against Congressitself; or, as the President for that term tersely promulgated thesaying, "Kansas is as much a slave State as South Carolina or Georgia;slavery, by virtue of the Constitution, exists in every Territory. " Themunicipal character of slavery being thus taken away, and slaveproperty decreed to be "sacred, " the authority of the courts wasinvoked to introduce it by the comity of law into States where slaveryhad been abolished, and in one of the courts of the United States ajudge pronounced the African slave-trade legitimate, and numerous andpowerful advocates demanded its restoration. 

Moreover, the Chief Justice, in his elaborate opinion, announced whathad never been heard from any magistrate of Greece or Rome; what wasunknown to civil law, and canon law, and feudal law, and common law, and constitutional law; unknown to Jay, to Rutledge, Ellsworth, andMarshall--that there are "slave races. " The spirit of evil is intenselylogical. Having the authority of this decision, five States swiftlyfollowed the earlier example of a sixth, and opened the way forreducing the free negro to bondage; the migrating free negro became aslave if he but entered within the jurisdiction of a seventh; and aneighth, from its extent, and soil, and mineral resources, destined toincalculable greatness, closed its eyes on its coming, prosperity, andenacted, as by Taney's dictum it had the right to do, that every freeblack man who would live within its limits must accept the condition ofslavery for himself and his posterity. 

Only one step more remained to be taken. Jefferson and the leadingstatesmen of his day held fast to the idea that the enslavement of theAfrican was socially, morally, and politically wrong. The new schoolwas founded exactly upon the opposite idea; and they resolved, first, to distract the democratic party, for which the Supreme Court had nowfurnished the means, and then to establish a new government, with negroslavery for its corner-stone, as socially, morally, and politicallyright. 

As the Presidential election drew on, one of the great traditionalparties did not make its appearance; the other reeled as it sought topreserve its old position, and the candidate who most nearlyrepresented its best opinion, driven by patriotic zeal, roamed thecountry from end to end to speak for union, eager, at least, toconfront its enemies, yet not having hope that it would find itsdeliverance through him. The storm rose to a whirlwind; who shouldallay its wrath? The most experienced statesmen of the country hadfailed; there was no hope from those who were great after the flesh:could relief come from one whose wisdom was like the wisdom of littlechildren?

The choice of America fell on a man born west of the Alleghanies, inthe cabin of poor people of Hardin county, Kentucky--ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

His mother could read, but not write; his father could do neither; buthis parents sent him, with an old spelling-book, to school, and helearned in his childhood to do both. 

When eight years old he floated down the Ohio with his father on araft, which bore the family and all their possessions to the shore ofIndiana; and, child as he was, he gave help as they toiled throughdense forests to the interior of Spencer county. There, in the land offree labor, he grew up in a log-cabin, with the solemn solitude for histeacher in his meditative hours. Of Asiatic literature he knew only theBible; of Greek, Latin, and mediaeval, no more than the translation ofAesop's Fables; of English, John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. Thetraditions of George Fox and William Penn passed to him dimly alongthe lines of two centuries through his ancestors, who were Quakers. 

Otherwise his education was altogether American. The Declaration ofIndependence was his compendium of political wisdom, the Life ofWashington his constant study, and something of Jefferson and Madisonreached him through Henry Clay, whom he honored from boyhood. For therest, from day to day, he lived the life of the American people, walkedin its light, reasoned with its reason, thought with its power ofthought, felt the beatings of its mighty heart, and so was in every waya child of nature, a child of the West, a child of America. 

At nineteen, feeling impulses of ambition to get on in the world, heengaged himself to go down the Mississippi in a flatboat, receiving tendollars a month for his wages, and afterwards he made the trip oncemore. At twenty-one he drove his father's cattle, as the familymigrated to Illinois, and split rails to fence in the new homestead inthe wild. At twenty-three he was a captain of volunteers in the BlackHawk war. He kept a store. He learned something of surveying, but ofEnglish literature he added to Bunyan nothing but Shakspeare's plays. At twenty-five he was elected to the legislature of Illinois, where heserved eight years. At twenty-seven he was admitted to the bar. In 1837he chose his home at Springfield, the beautiful centre of the richestland in the State. In 1847 he was a member of the national Congress, where he voted about forty times in favor of the principle of theJefferson proviso. In 1849 he sought, eagerly but unsuccessfully, theplace of Commissioner of the Land Office, and he refused an appointmentthat would have transferred his residence to Oregon. In 1854 he gavehis influence to elect from Illinois, to the American Senate, aDemocrat, who would certainly do justice to Kansas. In 1858, as therival of Douglas, he went before the people of the mighty PrairieState, saying, "This Union cannot permanently endure half slave andhalf free; the Union will not be dissolved, but the house will cease tobe divided;" and now, in 1861, with no experience whatever as anexecutive officer, while States were madly flying from their orbit, andwise men knew not where to find counsel, this descendant of Quakers, this pupil of Bunyan, this offspring of the great West, was electedPresident of America. 

He measured the difficulty of the duty that devolved upon him, and wasresolved to fulfil it. As on the eleventh of February, 1861, he leftSpringfield, which for a quarter of a century had been his happy home, to the crowd of his friends and neighbors, whom he was never more tomeet, he spoke a solemn farewell: "I know not how soon I shall see youagain. A duty has devolved upon me, greater than that which hasdevolved upon any other man since Washington. He never would havesucceeded, except for the aid of Divine Providence, upon which he atall times relied. On the same Almighty Being I place my reliance. Praythat I may receive that Divine assistance, without which I cannotsucceed, but with which success is certain. " To the men of Indiana hesaid: "I am but an accidental, temporary instrument; it is yourbusiness to rise up and preserve the Union and liberty. " At the capitalof Ohio he said: "Without a name, without a reason why I should have aname, there has fallen upon me a task such as did not rest even uponthe Father of his country. " At various places in New York, especiallyat Albany, before the legislature, which tendered him the unitedsupport of the great Empire State, he said: "While I hold myself thehumblest of all the individuals who have ever been elevated to thePresidency, I have a more difficult task to perform than any of them. Ibring a true heart to the work. I must rely upon the people of thewhole country for support, and with their sustaining aid even I, humbleas I am, cannot fail to carry the ship of state safely through thestorm. " To the assembly of New Jersey, at Trenton, he explained: "Ishall take the ground I deem most just to the North, the East, theWest, the South, and the whole country, in good temper, certainly withno malice to any section. I am devoted to peace, but it may benecessary to put the foot down firmly. " In the old Independence Hall, of Philadelphia, he said: "I have never had a feeling politically thatdid not spring from the sentiments embodied in the Declaration ofIndependence, which gave liberty, not alone to the people of thiscountry, but to the world in all future time. If the country cannot besaved without giving up that principle, I would rather be assassinatedon the spot than surrender it. I have said nothing but what I amwilling to live and die by. "

Travelling in the dead of night to escape assassination, LINCOLNarrived at Washington nine days before his inauguration. The outgoingPresident, at the opening of the session of Congress, had still kept asthe majority of his advisers men engaged in treason; had declared thatin case of even an "imaginary" apprehension of danger from notions offreedom among the slaves, "disunion would become inevitable. " LINCOLNand others had questioned the opinion of Taney; such impugning heascribed to the "factious temper of the times. " The favorite doctrineof the majority of the Democratic party on the power of a territoriallegislature over slavery he condemned as an attack on "the sacredrights of property. " The State legislatures, he insisted, must repealwhat he called "their unconstitutional and obnoxious enactments, " andwhich, if such, were "null and void, " or "it would be impossible forany human power to save the Union. " Nay! if these unimportant acts werenot repealed, "the injured States would be justified in revolutionaryresistance to the government of the Union. " He maintained that no Statemight secede at its sovereign will and pleasure; that the Union wasmeant for perpetuity, and that Congress might attempt to preserve it, but only by conciliation; that "the sword was not placed in their handsto preserve it by force;" that "the last desperate remedy of adespairing people" would be "an explanatory amendment recognising thedecision of the Supreme Court of the United States. " The American Unionhe called "a confederacy" of States, and he thought it a duty to makethe appeal for the amendment "before any of these States shouldseparate themselves from the Union. " The views of the LieutenantGeneral, containing some patriotic advice, "conceded the right ofsecession, " pronounced a quadruple rupture of the Union "a smaller evilthan the reuniting of the fragments by the sword, " and "eschewed theidea of invading a seceded State. " After changes in the Cabinet, thePresident informed Congress that "matters were still worse;" that "theSouth suffered serious grievances, " which should be redressed "inpeace. " The day after this message the flag of the Union was fired uponfrom Fort Morris, and the insult was not revenged or noticed. Senatorsin Congress telegraphed to their constituents to seize the nationalforts, and they were not arrested. The finances of the country weregrievously embarrassed. Its little army was not within reach; the partof it in Texas, with all its stores, was made over by its commander torebels. One State after another voted in convention to secede. A peacecongress, so called, met at the request of Virginia, to concert theterms of a capitulation which should secure permission for thecontinuance of the Union. Congress, in both branches, sought to deviseconciliatory expedients; the Territories of the country were organizedin a manner not to conflict with any pretensions of the South, or anydecision of the Supreme Court; and, nevertheless, the representativesof the rebellion formed at Montgomery a provisional government, andpursued their relentless purpose with such success that the LieutenantGeneral feared the city of Washington might find itself "included in aforeign country, " and proposed, among the options for the considerationof LINCOLN, to bid the wayward States "depart in peace. " The greatrepublic appeared to have its emblem in the vast unfinished Capitol, atthat moment surrounded by masses of stone and prostrate columns neveryet lifted into their places, seemingly the monument of high butdelusive aspirations, the confused wreck of inchoate magnificence, sadder than any ruin of Egyptian Thebes or Athens. 

The fourth of March came. With instinctive wisdom the new President, speaking to the people on taking the oath of office, put aside everyquestion that divided the country, and gained a right to universalsupport by planting himself on the single idea of Union. The Union hedeclared to be unbroken and perpetual, and he announced hisdetermination to fulfil "the simple duty of taking care that the lawsbe faithfully executed in all the States. " Seven days later, theconvention of Confederate States unanimously adopted a constitution oftheir own, and the new government was authoritatively announced to befounded on the idea that the negro race is a slave race; that slaveryis its natural and normal condition. The issue was made up, whether thegreat republic was to maintain its providential place in the history ofmankind, or a rebellion founded on negro slavery gain a recognition ofits principle throughout the civilized world. To the disaffectedLINCOLN had said, "You can have no conflict without being yourselvesthe aggressors. " To fire the passions of the southern portion of thepeople, the confederate government chose to become aggressors, and, onthe morning of the twelfth of April, began the bombardment of FortSumter, and compelled its evacuation. 

It is the glory of the late President that he had perfect faith in theperpetuity of the Union. Supported in advance by Douglas, who spoke aswith the voice of a million, he instantly called a meeting of Congress, and summoned the people to come up and repossess the forts, places, andproperty which had been seized from the Union. The men of the northwere trained in schools; industrious and frugal; many of themdelicately bred, their minds teeming with ideas and fertile in plans ofenterprise; given to the culture of the arts; eager in the pursuit ofwealth, yet employing wealth less for ostentation than for developingthe resources of their country; seeking happiness in the calm ofdomestic life; and such lovers of peace, that for generations they hadbeen reputed unwarlike. Now, at the cry of their country in itsdistress, they rose up with unappeasable patriotism; not hirelings--thepurest and of the best blood in the land. Sons of a pious ancestry, with a clear perception of duty, unclouded faith and fixed resolve tosucceed, they thronged around the President, to support the wronged, the beautiful flag of the nation. The halls of theological seminariessent forth their young men, whose lips were touched with eloquence, whose hearts kindled with devotion, to serve in the ranks, and maketheir way to command only as they learned the art of war. Striplings inthe colleges, as well the most gentle and the most studious, those ofsweetest temper and loveliest character and brightest genius, passedfrom their classes to the camp. The lumbermen from the forests, themechanics from their benches, where they had been trained, by theexercise of political rights, to share the life and hope of therepublic, to feel their responsibility to their forefathers, theirposterity and mankind, went to the front, resolved that their dignity, as a constituent part of this republic, should not be impaired. Farmersand sons of farmers left the land but half ploughed, the grain but halfplanted, and, taking up the musket, learned to face without fear thepresence of peril and the corning of death in the shocks of war, whiletheir hearts were still attracted to their herds and fields, and allthe tender affections of home. Whatever there was of truth and faithand public love in the common heart, broke out with one expression. Themighty winds blew from every quarter, to fan the flame of the sacredand unquenchable fire. 

For a time the war was thought to be confined to our own domesticaffairs, but it was soon seen that it involved the destinies ofmankind; its principles and causes shook the politics of Europe to thecentre, and from Lisbon to Pekin divided the governments of the world. 

There was a kingdom whose people had in an eminent degree attained tofreedom of industry and the security of person and property. Its middleclass rose to greatness. Out of that class sprung the noblest poets andphilosophers, whose words built up the intellect of its people; skilfulnavigators, to find out for its merchants the many paths of the oceans;discoverers in natural science, whose inventions guided its industry towealth, till it equalled any nation of the world in letters, andexcelled all in trade and commerce. But its government was become agovernment of land, and not of men; every blade of grass wasrepresented, but only a small minority of the people. In the transitionfrom the feudal forms the heads of the social organization freedthemselves from the military services which were the conditions oftheir tenure, and, throwing the burden on the industrial classes, keptall the soil to themselves. Vast estates that had been managed bymonasteries as endowments for religion and charity were impropriated toswell the wealth of courtiers and favorites; and the commons, where thepoor man once had his right of pasture, were taken away, and, underforms of law, enclosed distributively within the domains of theadjacent landholders. Although no law forbade any inhabitant frompurchasing land, the costliness of the transfer constituted aprohibition; so that it was the rule of the country that the ploughshould not be in the hands of its owner. The church was rested on acontradiction; claiming to be an embodiment of absolute truth, it was acreature of the statute-book. 

The progress of time increased the terrible contrast between wealth andpoverty. In their years of strength the laboring people, cut off fromall share in governing the state, derived a scant support from theseverest toil, and had no hope for old age but in public charity ordeath. A grasping ambition had dotted the world with military posts, kept watch over our borders on the northeast, at the Bermudas, in theWest Indies, appropriated the gates of the Pacific, of the Southern andof the Indian ocean, hovered on our northwest at Vancouver, held thewhole of the newest continent, and the entrances to the oldMediterranean and Red Sea, and garrisoned forts all the way from Madrasto China. That aristocracy had gazed with terror on the growth of acommonwealth where freeholders existed by the million, and religion wasnot in bondage to the state, and now they could not repress their joyat its perils. They had not one word of sympathy for the kind-heartedpoor man's son whom America had chosen for her chief; they jeered athis large hands, and long feet, and ungainly stature; and the Britishsecretary of state for foreign affairs made haste to send word throughthe palaces of Europe that the great republic was in its agony; thatthe republic was no more; that a headstone was all that remained due bythe law of nations to "the late Union. " But it is written, "Let thedead bury their dead;" they may not bury the living. Let the dead burytheir dead; let a bill of reform remove the worn-out government of aclass, and infuse new life into the British constitution by confidingrightful power to the people. 

But while the vitality of America is indestructible, the Britishgovernment hurried to do what never before had been done by Christianpowers; what was in direct conflict with its own exposition of publiclaw in the time of our struggle for independence. Though the insurgentStates had not a ship in an open harbor, it invested them with all therights of a belligerent, even on the ocean; and this, too, when therebellion was not only directed against the gentlest and mostbeneficent government on earth, without a shadow of justifiable cause, but when the rebellion was directed against human nature itself for theperpetual enslavement of a race. And the effect of this recognitionwas, that acts in themselves piratical found shelter in British courtsof law. The resources of British capitalists, their workshops, theirarmories, their private arsenals, their ship-yards, were in league withthe insurgents, and every British harbor in the wide world became asafe port for British ships, manned by British sailors, and armed withBritish guns, to prey on our peaceful commerce; even on our shipscoming from British ports, freighted with British products, or that hadcarried gifts of grain to the English poor. The prime minister, in theHouse of Commons, sustained by cheers, scoffed at the thought thattheir laws could be amended at our request, so as to preserve realneutrality; and to remonstrances, now owned to have been just, theirsecretary of state answered that they could not change their laws _adinfinitum_. 

The people of America then wished, as they always have wished, as theystill wish, friendly relations with England, and no man in England orAmerica can desire it more strongly than I. This country has alwaysyearned for good relations with England. Thrice only in all its historyhas that yearning been fairly met: in the days of Hampden and Cromwell, again in the first ministry of the elder Pitt, and once again in theministry of Shelburne. Not that there have not at all times been justmen among the peers of Britain--like Halifax in the days of James theSecond, or a Granville, an Argyll, or a Houghton in ours; and we cannotbe indifferent to a country that produces statesmen like Cobden andBright; but the best bower anchor of peace was the working class ofEngland, who suffered most from our civil war, but who, while theybroke their diminished bread in sorrow, always encouraged us topersevere. 

The act of recognising the rebel belligerents was concerted withFrance--France, so beloved in America, on which she had conferred thegreatest benefits that one people ever conferred on another; France, which stands foremost on the continent of Europe for the solidity ofher culture, as well as for the bravery and generous impulses of hersons; France, which for centuries had been moving steadily in her ownway towards intellectual and political freedom. The policy regardingfurther colonization of America by European powers, known commonly asthe doctrine of Monroe, had its origin in France, and if it takes anyman's name, should bear the name of Turgot. It was adopted by Louis theSixteenth, in the cabinet of which Vergennes was the most importantmember. It is emphatically the policy of France, to which, withtransient deviations, the Bourbons, the First Napoleon, the House ofOrleans have adhered. 

The late President was perpetually harassed by rumors that the EmperorNapoleon the Third desired formally to recognise the States inrebellion as an independent power, and that England held him back byher reluctance, or France by her traditions of freedom, or he himselfby his own better judgment and clear perception of events. But therepublic of Mexico, on our borders, was, like ourselves, distracted bya rebellion, and from a similar cause. The monarchy of England hadfastened upon us slavery which did not disappear with independence; inlike manner, the ecclesiastical policy established by the Spanishcouncil of the Indies, in the days of Charles the Fifth and Philip theSecond, retained its vigor in the Mexican republic. The fifty years ofcivil war under which she had languished was due to the bigoted systemwhich was the legacy of monarchy, just as here the inheritance ofslavery kept alive political strife, and culminated in civil war. Aswith us there could be no quiet but through the end of slavery, so inMexico there could be no prosperity until the crushing tyranny ofintolerance should cease. The party of slavery in the United Statessent their emissaries to Europe to solicit aid; and so did the party ofthe church in Mexico, as organized by the old Spanish council of theIndies, but with a different result. Just as the Republican party hadmade an end of the rebellion, and was establishing the best governmentever known in that region, and giving promise to the nation of order, peace, and prosperity, word was brought us, in the moment of ourdeepest affliction, that the French Emperor, moved by a desire to erectin North America a buttress for imperialism, would transform therepublic of Mexico into a secundo-geniture for the house of Hapsburg. America might complain; she could not then interpose, and delay seemedjustifiable. It was seen that Mexico could not, with all its wealth ofland, compete in cereal products with our northwest, nor in tropicalproducts with Cuba, nor could it, under a disputed dynasty, attractcapital, or create public works, or develop mines, or borrow money; sothat the imperial system of Mexico, which was forced at once torecognise the wisdom of the policy of the republic by adopting it, could prove only an unremunerating drain on the French treasury for thesupport of an Austrian adventurer. 

Meantime a new series of momentous questions grows up, and forcesitself on the consideration of the thoughtful. Republicanism haslearned how to introduce into its constitution every element of order, as well as every element of freedom; but thus far the continuity of itsgovernment has seemed to depend on the continuity of elections. It isnow to be considered how perpetuity is to be secured against foreignoccupation. The successor of Charles the First of England dated hisreign from the death of his father; the Bourbons, coming back after along series of revolutions, claimed that the Louis who became king wasthe eighteenth of that name. The present Emperor of the French, disdaining a title from election alone, calls himself Napoleon theThird. Shall a republic have less power of continuance when invadingarmies prevent a peaceful resort to the ballot-box? What force shall itattach to intervening legislation? What validity to debts contractedfor its overthrow? These momentous questions are, by the invasion ofMexico, thrown up for solution. A free state once truly constitutedshould be as undying as its people: the republic of Mexico must riseagain. 

It was the condition of affairs in Mexico that involved the Pope ofRome in our difficulties so far that he alone among sovereignsrecognised the chief of the Confederate States as a president, and hissupporters as a people; and in letters to two great prelates of theCatholic church in the United States gave counsels for peace at a timewhen peace meant the victory of secession. Yet events move as they areordered. The blessing of the Pope at Rome on the head of DukeMaximilian could not revive in the nineteenth century theecclesiastical policy of the sixteenth, and the result is only a newproof that there can be no prosperity in the state without religiousfreedom. 

When it came home to the consciousness of the Americans that the warwhich they were waging was a war for the liberty of all the nations ofthe world, for freedom itself, they thanked God for giving themstrength to endure the severity of the trial to which He put theirsincerity, and nerved themselves for their duty with an inexorablewill. The President was led along by the greatness of theirself-sacrificing example; and as a child, in a dark night, on a ruggedway, catches hold of the hand of its father for guidance and support, he clung fast to the hand of the people, and moved calmly through thegloom. While the statesmanship of Europe was mocking at the hopelessvanity of their efforts, they put forth such miracles of energy as thehistory of the world had never known. The contributions to the popularloans amounted in four years to twenty-seven and a half hundredmillions of dollars; the revenue of the country from taxation wasincreased seven-fold. The navy of the United States, drawing into thepublic service the willing militia of the seas, doubled its tonnage ineight months, and established an actual blockade from Cape Hatteras tothe Rio Grande; in the course of the war it was increased five-fold inmen and in tonnage, while the inventive genius of the country devisedmore effective kinds of ordnance, and new forms of naval architecturein wood and iron. There went into the field, for various terms ofenlistment, about two million men, and in March last the men in thearmy exceeded a million: that is to say, nine of every twentyable-bodied men in the free Territories and States took some part inthe war; and at one time every fifth of their able-bodied men was inservice. In one single month one hundred and sixty-five thousand menwere recruited into service. Once, within four weeks, Ohio organizedand placed in the field forty-two regiments of infantry--nearlythirty-six thousand men; and Ohio was like other States in the east andin the west. The well-mounted cavalry numbered eighty-four thousand; ofhorses and mules there were bought, from first to last, two-thirds of amillion. In the movements of troops science came in aid of patriotism, so that, to choose a single instance out of many, an army twenty-threethousand strong, with its artillery, trains, baggage, and animals, weremoved by rail from the Potomac to the Tennessee, twelve hundred miles, in seven days. On the long marches, wonders of military constructionbridged the rivers, and wherever an army halted, ample supplies awaitedthem at their ever-changing base. The vile thought that life is thegreatest of blessings did not rise up. In six hundred and twenty-fivebattles and severe skirmishes blood flowed like water. It streamed overthe grassy plains; it stained the rocks; the undergrowth of the forestswas red with it; and the armies marched on with majestic courage fromone conflict to another, knowing that they were fighting for God andliberty. The organization of the medical department met its infinitelymultiplied duties with exactness and despatch. At the news of a battle;the best surgeons of our cities hastened to the field, to offer theuntiring aid of the greatest experience and skill. The gentlest andmost refined of women left homes of luxury and ease to build hospitaltents near the armies, and serve as nurses to the sick and dying. Beside the large supply of religious teachers by the public, thecongregations spared to their brothers in the field the ablestministers. The Christian Commission, which expended more than six and aquarter millions, sent nearly five thousand clergymen, chosen out ofthe best, to keep unsoiled the religious character of the men, and madegifts of clothes and food and medicine. The organization of privatecharity assumed unheard-of dimensions. The Sanitary Commission, whichhad seven thousand societies, distributed, under the direction of anunpaid board, spontaneous contributions to the amount of fifteenmillions in supplies or money--a million and a half in money fromCalifornia alone--and dotted the scene of war, from Paducah to PortRoyal, from Belle Plain, Virginia, to Brownsville, Texas, with homesand lodges. 

The country had for its allies the river Mississippi, which would notbe divided, and the range of mountains which carried the stronghold ofthe free through Western Virginia and Kentucky and Tennessee to thehighlands of Alabama. But it invoked the still higher power of immortaljustice. In ancient Greece, where servitude was the universal custom, it was held that if a child were to strike its parent, the slave shoulddefend the parent, and by that act recover his freedom. After vainresistance, LINCOLN, who had tried to solve the question by gradualemancipation, by colonization, and by compensation, at last saw thatslavery must be abolished, or the republic must die; and on the firstday of January, 1863, he wrote liberty on the banners of the armies. When this proclamation, which struck the fetters from three millions ofslaves, reached Europe, Lord Russell, a countryman of Milton andWilberforce, eagerly put himself forward to speak of it in the name ofmankind, saying: "It is of a very strange nature;" "a measure of war ofa very questionable kind;" an act "of vengeance on the slave owner, "that does no more than "profess to emancipate slaves where the UnitedStates authorities cannot make emancipation a reality. " Now there wasno part of the country embraced in the proclamation where the UnitedStates could not and did not make emancipation a reality. 

Those who saw LINCOLN most frequently had never before heard him speakwith bitterness of any human being, but he did not conceal how keenlyhe felt that he had been wronged by Lord Russell. And he wrote, inreply to other cavils: "The emancipation policy and the use of coloredtroops were the greatest blows yet dealt to the rebellion; the job wasa great national one, and let none be slighted who bore an honorablepart in it. I hope peace will come soon, and come to stay; then willthere be some black men who can remember that they have helped mankindto this great consummation. "

The proclamation accomplished its end, for, during the war, our armiescame into military possession of every State in rebellion. Then, too, was called forth the new power that comes from the simultaneousdiffusion of thought and feeling among the nations of mankind. Themysterious sympathy of the millions throughout the world was givenspontaneously. The best writers of Europe waked the conscience of thethoughtful, till the intelligent moral sentiment of the Old World wasdrawn to the side of the unlettered statesman of the West. Russia, whose emperor had just accomplished one of the grandest acts in thecourse of time, by raising twenty millions of bondmen into freeholders, and thus assuring the growth and culture of a Russian people, remainedour unwavering friend. From the oldest abode of civilization, whichgave the first example of an imperial government with equality amongthe people, Prince Kung, the secretary of state for foreign affairs, remembered the saying of Confucius, that we should not do to otherswhat we would not that others should do to us, and, in the name of hisemperor, read a lesson to European diplomatists by closing the ports ofChina against the war-ships and privateers of "the seditious. "

The war continued, with all the peoples of the world for anxiousspectators. Its cares weighed heavily on LINCOLN, and his face wasploughed with the furrows of thought and sadness. With malice towardsnone, free from the spirit of revenge, victory made him importunate forpeace, and his enemies never doubted his word, or despaired of hisabounding clemency. He longed to utter pardon as the word for all, butnot unless the freedom of the negro should be assured. The grandbattles of Fort Donelson, Chattanooga, Malvern Hill, Antietam, Gettysburg, the Wilderness of Virginia, Winchester, Nashville, thecapture of New Orleans, Vicksburg, Mobile, Fort Fisher, the march fromAtlanta, and the capture of Savannah and Charleston, all foretold theissue. Still more, the self-regeneration of Missouri, the heart of thecontinent; of Maryland, whose sons never heard the midnight bells chimeso sweetly as when they rang out to earth and heaven that, by the voiceof her own people, she took her place among the free; of Tennessee, which passed through fire and blood, through sorrows and the shadow ofdeath, to work out her own deliverance, and by the faithfulness of herown sons to renew her youth like the eagle--proved that victory wasdeserved, and would be worth all that it cost. If words of mercy, uttered as they were by LINCOLN on the waters of Virginia, weredefiantly repelled, the armies of the country, moving with one will, went as the arrow to its mark, and, without a feeling of revenge, struck a deathblow at rebellion. 

Where, in the history of nations, had a Chief Magistrate possessed moresources of consolation and joy than LINCOLN? His countrymen had showntheir love by choosing him to a second term of service. The raging warthat had divided the country had lulled, and private grief was hushedby the grandeur of the result. The nation had its new birth of freedom, soon to be secured forever by an amendment of the Constitution. Hispersistent gentleness had conquered for him a kindlier feeling on thepart of the South. His scoffers among the grandees of Europe began todo him honor. The laboring classes everywhere saw in his advancementtheir own. All peoples sent him their benedictions. And at this momentof the height of his fame, to which his humility and modesty addedcharms, he fell by the hand of the assassin, and the only triumphawarded him was the march to the grave. 

This is no time to say that human glory is but dust and ashes; that wemortals are no more than shadows in pursuit of shadows. How mean athing were man if there were not that within him which is higher thanhimself; if he could not master the illusions of sense, and discern theconnexions of events by a superior light which comes from God! He soshares the divine impulses that he has power to subject interestedpassions to love of country, and personal ambition to the ennoblementof his kind. Not in vain has LINCOLN lived, for he has helped to makethis republic an example of justice, with no caste but the caste ofhumanity. The heroes who led our armies and ships into battle and fellin the service--Lyon, McPherson, Reynolds, Sedgwick, Wadsworth, Foote, Ward, with their compeers--did not die in vain; they and the myriads ofnameless martyrs, and he, the chief martyr, gave up their liveswillingly "that government of the people, by the people, and for thepeople, shall not perish from the earth. "

The assassination of LINCOLN, who was so free from malice, has, by somemysterious influence, struck the country with solemn awe, and hushed, instead of exciting, the passion for revenge. It seems as if the justhad died for the unjust. When I think of the friends I have lost inthis war--and every one who hears me has, like myself, lost some ofthose whom he most loved--there is no consolation to be derived fromvictims on the scaffold, or from anything but the established union ofthe regenerated nation. 

In his character LINCOLN was through and through an American. He is thefirst native of the region west of the Alleghanies to attain to thehighest station; and how happy it is that the man who was broughtforward as the natural outgrowth and first fruits of that region shouldhave been of unblemished purity in private life, a good son, a kindhusband, a most affectionate father, and, as a man, so gentle to all. As to integrity, Douglas, his rival, said of him: "Lincoln is thehonestest man I ever knew. "

The habits of his mind were those of meditation and inward thought, rather than of action. He delighted to express his opinions by anapothegm, illustrate them by a parable, or drive them home by a story. He was skilful in analysis, discerned with precision the central ideaon which a question turned, and knew how to disengage it and present itby itself in a few homely, strong old English words that would beintelligible to all. He excelled in logical statement more than inexecutive ability. He reasoned clearly, his reflective judgment wasgood, and his purposes were fixed; but, like the Hamlet of his onlypoet, his will was tardy in action, and, for this reason, and not fromhumility or tenderness of feeling, he sometimes deplored that the dutywhich devolved on him had not fallen to the lot of another. 

LINCOLN gained a name by discussing questions which, of all others, most easily lead to fanaticism; but he was never carried away byenthusiastic zeal, never indulged in extravagant language, neverhurried to support extreme measures, never allowed himself to becontrolled by sudden impulses. During the progress of the election atwhich he was chosen President he expressed no opinion that went beyondthe Jefferson proviso of 1784. Like Jefferson and Lafayette, he hadfaith in the intuitions of the people, and read those intuitions withrare sagacity. He knew how to bide time, and was less apt to run aheadof public thought than to lag behind. He never sought to electrify thecommunity by taking an advanced position with a banner of opinion, butrather studied to move forward compactly, exposing no detachment infront or rear; so that the course of his administration might have beenexplained as the calculating policy of a shrewd and watchfulpolitician, had there not been seen behind it a fixedness of principlewhich from the first determined his purpose, and grew more intense withevery year, consuming his life by its energy. Yet his sensibilitieswere not acute; he had no vividness of imagination to picture to hismind the horrors of the battle-field or the sufferings in hospitals;his conscience was more tender than his feelings. 

LINCOLN was one of the most unassuming of men. In time of success, hegave credit for it to those whom he employed, to the people, and to theProvidence of God. He did not know what ostentation is; when he becamePresident he was rather saddened than elated, and his conduct andmanners showed more than ever his belief that all men are born equal. He was no respecter of persons, and neither rank, nor reputation, norservices overawed him. In judging of character he failed indiscrimination, and his appointments were sometimes bad; but he readilydeferred to public opinion, and in appointing the head of the armies hefollowed the manifest preference of Congress. 

A good President will secure unity to his administration by his ownsupervision of the various departments. LINCOLN, who accepted advicereadily, was never governed by any member of his cabinet, and could notbe moved from a purpose deliberately formed; but his supervision ofaffairs was unsteady and incomplete, and sometimes, by a suddeninterference transcending the usual forms, he rather confused thanadvanced the public business. If he ever failed in the scrupulousregard due to the relative rights of Congress, it was so evidentlywithout design that no conflict could ensue, or evil precedent beestablished. Truth he would receive from any one, but when impressed byothers, he did not use their opinions till, by reflection, he had madethem thoroughly his own. 

It was the nature of LINCOLN to forgive. When hostilities ceased, he, who had always sent forth the flag with every one of its stars in thefield, was eager to receive back his returning countrymen, andmeditated "some new announcement to the South. " The amendment of theConstitution abolishing slavery had his most earnest and unweariedsupport. During the rage of war we get a glimpse into his soul from hisprivately suggesting to Louisiana, that "in defining the franchise someof the colored people might be let in, " saying: "They would probablyhelp, in some trying time to come, to keep the jewel of liberty in thefamily of freedom. " In 1857 he avowed himself "not in favor of" what heimproperly called "negro citizenship, " for the Constitutiondiscriminates between citizens and electors. Three days before hisdeath he declared his preference that "the elective franchise were nowconferred on the very intelligent of the colored men, and on those ofthem who served our cause as soldiers;" but he wished it done by theStates themselves, and he never harbored the thought of exacting itfrom a new government, as a condition of its recognition. 

The last day of his life beamed with sunshine, as he sent, by theSpeaker of this House, his friendly greetings to the men of the Rockymountains and the Pacific slope; as he contemplated the return ofhundreds of thousands of soldiers to fruitful industry; as he welcomedin advance hundreds of thousands of emigrants from Europe; as his eyekindled with enthusiasm at the coming wealth of the nation. And so, with these thoughts for his country, he was removed from the toils andtemptations of this life, and was at peace. 

Hardly had the late President been consigned to the grave when theprime minister of England died, full of years and honors. Palmerstontraced his lineage to the time of the conqueror; LINCOLN went back onlyto his grandfather. Palmerston received his education from the bestscholars of Harrow, Edinburg, and Cambridge; LINCOLN'S early teacherswere the silent forest, the prairie, the river, and the stars. Palmerston was in public life for sixty years; LINCOLN for but a tenthof that time. Palmerston was a skilful guide of an establishedaristocracy; LINCOLN a leader, or rather a companion, of the people. Palmerston was exclusively an Englishman, and made his boast in theHouse of Commons that the interest of England was his Shibboleth;LINCOLN thought always of mankind, as well as his own country, andserved human nature itself. Palmerston, from his narrowness as anEnglishman, did not endear his country to any one court or to any onenation, but rather caused general uneasiness and dislike; LINCOLN leftAmerica more beloved than ever by all the peoples of Europe. Palmerstonwas self-possessed and adroit in reconciling the conflicting factionsof the aristocracy; LINCOLN, frank and ingenuous, knew how to poisehimself on the ever-moving opinions of the masses. Palmerston wascapable of insolence towards the weak, quick to the sense of honor, notheedful of right;

LINCOLN rejected counsel given only as a matter of policy, and was notcapable of being wilfully unjust. Palmerston, essentially superficial, delighted in banter, and knew how to divert grave opposition by playfullevity; LINCOLN was a man of infinite jest on his lips, with saddestearnestness at his heart. Palmerston was a fair representative of thearistocratic liberality of the day, choosing for his tribunal, not theconscience of humanity, but the House of Commons; LINCOLN took to heartthe eternal truths of liberty, obeyed them as the commands ofProvidence, and accepted the human race as the judge of his fidelity. Palmerston did nothing that will endure; LINCOLN finished a work whichall time cannot overthrow. Palmerston is a shining example of theablest of a cultivated aristocracy; LINCOLN is the genuine fruit ofinstitutions where the laboring man shares and assists to form thegreat ideas and designs of his country. Palmerston was buried inWestminster Abbey by the order of his Queen, and was attended by theBritish aristocracy to his grave, which, after a few years, will hardlybe noticed by the side of the graves of Fox and Chatham; LINCOLN wasfollowed by tho sorrow of his country across the continent to hisresting place in the heart of the Mississippi valley, to be rememberedthrough all time by his countrymen, and by all the peoples of the world. 

As the sum of all, the hand of LINCOLN raised the flag; the Americanpeople was the hero of the war; and, therefore, the result is a new eraof republicanism. The disturbances in the country grew not out ofanything republican, but out of slavery, which is a part of the systemof hereditary wrong; and the expulsion of this domestic anomaly opensto the renovated nation a career of unthought-of dignity and glory. Henceforth our country has a moral unity as the land of free labor. Theparty for slavery and the party against slavery are no more, and aremerged in the party of Union and freedom. The States which would haveleft us are not brought back as subjugated States, for then we shouldhold them only so long as that conquest could be maintained; they cometo their rightful place under the Constitution as original, necessary, and inseparable members of the Union. 

We build monuments to the dead, but no monuments of victory. We respectthe example of the Romans, who never, even in conquered lands, raisedemblems of triumph. And our generals are not to be classed in the herdof vulgar warriors, but are of the school of Timoleon, and William ofNassau, and Washington. They have used the sword only to give peace totheir country and restore her to her place in the great assembly of thenations. 

SENATORS AND REPRESENTATIVES of America: as I bid you farewell, my lastwords shall be words of hope and confidence; for now slavery is nomore, the Union is restored, a people begins to live according to thelaws of reason, and republicanism is intrenched in a continent. 

APPENDIX. 

ABRAHAM LINCOLN was assassinated at 10. 30 p. M. On the 14th of April, 1865, and died at 7. 20 a. M. The next day. Congress was not in session, but a large number of members hastened to the Capitol on the receipt ofthe startling intelligence, and on the 17th a card was published bySenator Foot, inviting those Senators and Representatives who might bein the city the next day to meet at the Capitol, to consider whataction they would take in relation to the funeral ceremonies. 

The members of the 39th Congress then in Washington met in the Senatereception room, at the Capitol, on the 17th of April, 1865, at noon. Hon. LAFAYETTE S. FOSTER of Connecticut, President _pro tem. _ of theSenate, was called to the chair, and the Hon. SCHUYLER COLFAX ofIndiana, Speaker of the House in the 38th Congress, was chosensecretary. 

Senator FOOT, of Vermont, who was visibly affected, stated that theobject of the meeting was to make arrangements relative to the funeralof the deceased President of the United States. 

On motion of Senator SUMNER, of Massachusetts, a committee of fourmembers from each house was ordered to report at 4 p. M. , what actionwould be fitting for the meeting to take. The Chairman appointedSenators Sumner of Massachusetts, Harris of New York, Johnson ofMaryland, Ramsey of Minnesota, and Conness of California, andRepresentatives Washburne of Illinois, Smith of Kentucky, Schenck ofOhio, Pike of Maine, and Coffroth of Pennsylvania; and on motion of Mr. Schenck, the Chairman and Secretary of the meeting were added to theCommittee, and then the meeting adjourned until 4 p. M. 

The meeting re-assembled at 4 p. M. , pursuant to adjournment. 

Mr. SUMNER, from the Committee heretofore appointed, reported that theyhad selected as pall-bearers on the part of the Senate: Mr. Foster ofConnecticut; Mr. Morgan of New York; Mr. Johnson of Maryland; Mr. Yatesof Illinois; Mr. Wade of Ohio, and Mr. Conness of California. On thepart of the House: Mr. Dawes of Massachusetts; Mr. Coffroth ofPennsylvania; Mr. Smith of Kentucky; Mr. Colfax of Indiana; Mr. Worthington of Nevada, and Mr. Washburne of Illinois. They alsorecommended the appointment of one member of Congress from each Stateand Territory to act as a Congressional Committee to accompany theremains of the late President to Illinois, and presented the followingnames as such Committee, the Chairman of the meeting to have theauthority of appointing hereafter for the States and Territories notrepresented to-day from which members may be present at the Capitol bythe day of the funeral:

Maine, Mr. Pike; New Hampshire, Mr. E. H. Rollins; Vermont, Mr. Foot;Massachusetts, Mr. Sumner; Rhode Island, Mr. Anthony; Connecticut, Mr. Dixon; New York, Mr. Harris Pennsylvania, Mr. Cowan; Ohio, Mr. Schenck; Kentucky, Mr. Smith; Indiana, Mr. Julian; Illinois, thedelegation; Michigan, Mr. Chandler; Iowa, Mr. Harlan; California, Mr. Shannon; Minnesota, Mr. Ramsey; Oregon, Mr. Williams; Kansas, Mr. S. Clarke; West Virginia, Mr. Whaley; Nevada, Mr. Nye; Nebraska, Mr. Hitchcock; Colorado, Mr. Bradford; Dakota, Mr. Todd; Idaho, Mr. Wallace. 

The Committee also recommended the adoption of the following resolution:

_Resolved, _ That the Sergeants-at-Arms of the Senate and Housewith their necessary assistants be requested to attend the Committeeaccompanying the remains of the late President, and to make all thenecessary arrangements. 

All of which was concurred in unanimously. 

Mr. SUMNER from the same Committee also reported the following, whichwas unanimously agreed to:

The members of the Senate and House of Representatives now assembled inWashington, humbly confessing their dependence upon Almighty God whorules all that is done for human good, make haste, at this informalmeeting, to express the emotions with which they have been filled bythe appalling tragedy which has deprived the Nation of its head andcovered the land with mourning; and in further declaration of theirsentiments unanimously resolve:

1. That in testimony of their veneration and affection for theillustrious dead, who has been permitted under Providence to do so muchfor his country and for liberty, they will unite in the funeralservices, and by an appropriate Committee will accompany his remains totheir place of burial in the State from which he was taken for thenational service. 

2. That in the life of Abraham Lincoln, who, by the benignant favor ofRepublican institutions, rose from humble beginnings to the heights ofpower and fame, they recognize an example of purity, simplicity andvirtue, which should be a lesson, to mankind; while in his death theyrecognize a martyr, whose memory will become more precious as men learnto prize those principles of constitutional order and those rights, civil, political, and human, for which he was made a sacrifice. 

3. That they invite the President of the United States, by solemnproclamation, to recommend to the people of the United States toassemble on a day to be appointed by him, publicly to testify theirgrief, and to dwell on the good which has been done on earth by himwhom we now mourn. 

4. That a copy of these resolutions be communicated to the President ofthe United States; and also, that a copy be communicated to theafflicted widow of the late President, as an expression of sympathy inher great bereavement. 

The meeting then adjourned. 

 * * *

The funeral ceremonies took place in the East room of the ExecutiveMansion, at noon, on the 19th of April, and the remains were thenescorted to the Capitol, where they lay in state in the rotundo. 

On the morning of April 21, the remains were taken from the Capitol andplaced in a funeral car, in which they were taken to Springfield, Illinois, accompanied by the Congressional Committee. Halting at theprincipal cities along the route, that appropriate honors might be paidto the deceased, the funeral cortege arrived on the 3d of May atSpringfield, Illinois, and the next day the remains were deposited inOak Ridge cemetery near that city. 

President JOHNSON, in his annual message to Congress at thecommencement of the session of 1865-'66, thus announced the death ofhis predecessor:

"To express gratitude to God, in the name of the people, for thepreservation of the United States, is my first duty in addressing you. Our thoughts next revert to the death of the late President by an actof parricidal treason. The grief of the nation is still fresh; it findssome solace in the consideration that-he lived to enjoy the highestproof of its confidence by entering on the renewed term of the ChiefMagistracy to which he had been elected that he brought the civil warsubstantially to a close; that his loss was deplored in all parts ofthe Union; and that foreign nations have rendered justice to hismemory. "

Hon. E. B. WASHBURNE, of Illinois, immediately after the President'smessage had been read in the House of Representatives, offered thefollowing wing joint resolution, which was unanimously adopted:

_Resolved, _ That a committee of one member from each State representedin this House be appointed on the part of this House, to join suchcommittee as may be appointed on the part of the Senate, to considerand report by what token of respect and affection it may be proper forthe Congress of the United States to express tho deep sensibility ofthe nation to the event of the decease of their late President, AbrahamLincoln, and that so much of the message of the President as refers tothat melancholy event be referred to said committee. 

On motion of Hon. SOLOMON FOOT, the Senate unanimously concurred in thepassage of the resolution, and the following joint committee wasappointed--thirteen on the part of the Senate and one for every Staterepresented (twenty-four) on the part of the House of Representatives:

SENATE. 

 Hon. Solomon Foot, Vt. Hon. Richard Yates, Ill. Hon. Benj. F. Wade, Ohio. Hon. Wm. Pitt Fessenden, Me. Hon. Henry Wilson, Mass. Hon. James R. Doolittle, Wis. Hon. Jas. H. Lane, Ka. Hon. Ira Harris, N. Y. Hon. Jas. W. Nesmith, Oregon. Hon. Henry S. Lane, Ind. Hon. Waitman T. Willey, W. Va. Hon. Chas. R. Buckalew, Pa. Hon. John B. Henderson, Mo. 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. 

 Hon. Ellihu B. Washburne, Ill. Hon. James G. Blaine, Me. Hon. James W. Patterson, N. H. Hon. Justin S. Morrill, Vt. Hon. Nathaniel P. Banks, Mass. Hon. Thomas A. Jenckes, R. I. Hon. Henry C. Deming, Ct. Hon. John A. Griswold, N. Y. Hon. Edwin R. V. Wright, N. J. Hon. Thaddeus Stevens, Pa. Hon. John A. Nicholson, Del. Hon. Francis Thomas, Md. Hon. Robert C. Schenck, Ohio. Hon. George S. Shanklin, Ky. Hon. Godlove S. Orth, Ind. Hon. Joseph W. McClurg, Mo. Hon. Fernando C. Beaman, Mich. Hon. John A. Kasson, Iowa. Hon. Ithamar C. Sloan, Wis. Hon. William Higby, Cal. Hon. William Windom, Minn. Hon. J. H. D. Henderson, Oregon. Hon. Sidney Clarke, Kansas. Hon. Kellian V. Whaley, W. Va. 

That committee, by Hon. Mr. FOOT, made the following report, which wasconcurred in by both Houses _nem. Con. _

Whereas the melancholy event of the violent and tragic death of AbrahamLincoln, late President of the United States, having occurred duringthe recess of Congress, and the two Houses sharing in the general griefand desiring to manifest their sensibility upon the occasion of thepublic bereavement: Therefore, _Be it resolved by the Senate, _ (the House of Representativesconcurring, ) That the two Houses of Congress will assemble in the Hallof the House of Representatives, on Monday, the 12th day of Februarynext, that being his anniversary birthday, at the hour of twelvemeridian, and that, in the presence of the two Houses there assembled, an address upon the life and character of Abraham Lincoln, latePresident of the United States, be pronounced by Hon. Edwin M. Stanton;and that the President of the Senate _pro tempore_ and the Speaker ofthe House of Representatives be requested to invite the President ofthe United States, the heads of the several Departments, the judges ofthe Supreme Court, the representatives of the foreign governments nearthis Government, and such officers of the army and navy as havereceived the thanks of Congress who may then be at the seat ofGovernment, to be present on the occasion. 

_And be it further resolved, _ That the President of the United Statesbe requested to transmit a copy of these resolutions to Mrs. Lincoln, and to assure her of the profound sympathy of the two Houses ofCongress for her deep personal affliction, and of their sincerecondolence for the late national bereavement. 

The Hon. GEORGE BANCROFT of New York, in response to an invitation fromthe joint committee, consented to deliver the address, (Mr. Stantonhaving previously declined. )

 * * *

On the morning of the 12th of February, 1865, the Capitol was closed toall except the members of Congress. At ten o'clock the doors leading tothe rotundo were opened to those to whom tickets of admission had beenextended, and the spacious galleries of the House of Representativeswere soon crowded. The Speaker's desk was draped in mourning, andchairs were placed upon the floor for the invited guests. 

At 12. 30 p. M. , the members of the Senate, following their President_pro tempore_ and their Secretary, and preceded by theirSergeant-at-Arms, entered the Hall of the House of Representatives andoccupied the seats reserved for them on the right and left of the mainaisle. 

The President _pro tempore_ occupied the Speaker's chair, the Speakerof the House sitting at his left. The Chaplains of the Senate and ofthe House were seated on the right and left of the Presiding Officersof their respective Houses. 

Shortly afterward the President of the United States, with the membersof his Cabinet, entered the Hall and occupied seats, the President infront of the Speaker's table, and his Cabinet immediately on his right. 

Immediately after the entrance of the President, the Chief Justice andthe Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United Statesentered the Hall and occupied seats next to the President, on the rightof the Speaker's table. 

The others present were seated as follows:

The Heads of Departments, with the Diplomatic Corps, next to thePresident, on the left of the Speaker's table;

Officers of the Army and Navy, who, by name, have received the thanksof Congress, next to the Supreme Court, on the right of the Speaker'stable;

Assistant Heads of Departments, Governors of States and Territories, and the Mayors of Washington and Georgetown, directly in the rear ofthe Heads of Departments;

The Chief Justice and Judges of the Court of Claims, and the ChiefJustice and Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the District ofColumbia, directly in the rear of the Supreme Court;

The Heads of Bureaus in the Departments, directly in the rear of theofficers of the Army and Navy;

Representatives on either side of the Hall, in the rear of thoseinvited, four rows of seats on either side of the main aisles beingreserved for Senators;

The Orator of the day, Hon. George Bancroft, at the table of the Clerkof the House;

The Chairmen of the Joint Committee of Arrangements, at the right andleft of the orator, and next to them the Secretary of the Senate andthe Clerk of the House;

The other officers of the Senate and of the House, on the floor at theright and the left of the Speaker's platform. 

When order was restored, at twelve o'clock and twenty minutes p. M. , theMarine band, stationed in the vestibule, played appropriate dirges. 

Hon. LAFAYETE S. FOSTER, President _pro tempore_ of the Senate, calledthe two Houses of Congress to order at 12. 30. 

Rev. DR. BOYNTON, Chaplain of the House, offered the following prayer:

Almighty God, who dost inhabit eternity, while we appear but for alittle moment and then vanish away, we adore The Eternal Name. Infinitein power and majesty, and greatly to be feared art Thou. All earthlydistinctions disappear in Thy presence, and we come before Thy thronesimply as men, fallen men, condemned alike by Thy law, and justly cutoff through sin from communion with Thee. But through Thy infinitemercy, a new way of access has been opened through Thy Son, andconsecrated by His blood. We come, in that all-worthy Name, and pleadthe promise of pardon and acceptance through Him. By the imposingsolemnities of this scene we are carried back to the hour when thenation heard, and shuddered at the hearing, that Abraham Lincoln wasdead--was murdered. We would bow ourselves submissively to Him by whomthat awful hour was appointed. We bow to the stroke that fell on thecountry in the very hour of its triumph, and hushed all its shouts ofvictory to one voiceless sorrow. "The Lord gave and the Lord hath takenaway. Blessed be the name of the Lord. " The shadow of that death hasnot yet passed from the heart of the nation, as this nationaltestimonial bears witness to-day. The gloom thrown from thesesurrounding emblems of death is fringed, we know, with the glory of agreat triumph, and the light of a great and good man's memory. Still, OLord, may this hour bring to us the proper warning! "Be ye also ready;for in such an hour as ye think not, the Son of Man cometh. " Any one ofus may be called as suddenly as he whom we mourn. 

We worship Thee as the God of our fathers. Thou didst trace for them apath over the trackless sea, and bring them to these shores, bearingwith them the seed of a great dominion. We thank Thee that thelife-power of the young nation they planted, received from Thee suchenergy, guidance, and protection, that it spread rapidly over thebreadth of the continent, carrying with it Christian liberty, churches, schools, and all the blessings of a Christian civilization. We thankThee that the progress of the true American life has been irresistible, because sustained by Thy eternal counsels and Thy almighty power, andbecause the might of God was in this national life. We have seen itsweeping all opposition away, grinding great systems and parties topowder, and breaking in pieces the devices of men; and Thou hast raisedup for it heroic defenders in every hour of peril. We thank Thee, OStrong Defender! And when treason was hatching its plot and massing itsarmies, then, O God of Israel, who didst bring David from thesheepfold, Thou gavest one reared in the humble cabin to become thehope and stay of this great people in their most perilous hour, toshield them in disaster and lead them to final victory. 

We thank Thee that Thou gavest us an honest man, simple-hearted andloving as a child, but with a rugged strength that needed only cultureand discipline. Thanks be to God that this discipline was granted himthrough stern public trial, domestic sorrow, and Thy solemnprovidences, till the mere politician was overshadowed by the noblergrowth of his moral and spiritual nature, till he came, as we believe, into sympathy with Christ, and saw that we could succeed only by doingjustice. Then, inspired by Thee, he uttered those words of power whichchanged three millions of slaves into men--the great act which hasrendered his name forever illustrious and secured the triumph of ourcause. We think of him almost as the prophet of his era. Thou didstmake that honest, great-hearted man the central figure of his age, setting upon goodness, upon moral grandeur, the seal of Thine approvaland the crown of victory. We bless Thee that he did not die untilassured of victory, until he knew that his great work was done, and hehad received all the honor that earth could bestow, and then we believeThou didst give him a martyr's crown. We thank Thee that we have thishope for the illustrious dead. 

Great reason have we also to thank Thee that such was the enduringstrength of our institutions that they received no perceptible shockfrom the death of even such a man and in such an hour, and that Thoudidst provide for that perilous moment one whose strength wassufficient to receive and bear the weight of government, and who, wetrust, will work out the great problem of Christian freedom to itsfinal solution, and by equal law and equal rights bind this greatpeople into one inseparable whole. 

We thank Thee that the representatives of the nation have come to sitto-day in the shadow of Abraham Lincoln's tomb, to express once moretheir now chastened sorrow. May they all reconsecrate themselves tothose principles which made him worthy to be remembered thus, and thena redeemed and transfigured land will be a fitting monument for him andfor them. 

Endow the President with wisdom equal to his great responsibilities, that the blessings of a whole nation may also be given to him. May hisadvisers, our judges, and our legislators, be constantly instructed byThee. 

May Thy blessing rest on the officers of the army and navy, by whoseskill and courage our triumph was won; upon our soldiers and sailors;upon our people, and on those who are struggling on toward a perfectmanhood. 

Bless these eminent men the honored representatives of Foreign Powers. Remember the sovereigns and people they represent. We thank Thee thatpeace reigns with them as with us. May it continue until the nationsshall learn war no more. 

Remember Abraham Lincoln's widow and family. Comfort them in their sorebereavement. May they be consoled to know how much the father andhusband is loved and honored still. 

Give Divine support to the distinguished orator of the day. May he sospeak as to impress the whole nation's mind. Prepare us to live as menin this age should, that we may be received into Thy Heavenly Kingdom, and to Thy name shall be the praise and the glory forevermore. Amen. 

Hon. LAFAYETTE S. FOSTER, President _pro tempore_ of the Senate, inintroducing the orator of the day, said:

No ordinary occasion could have convened this august assemblage. Forfour weary years, the storm of war, of civil war, raged fiercely overour country. The blood of the best and bravest of her sons was freelyshed to preserve her name and place among the nations of the earth. InApril last, the dark clouds which had so long hung heavily and gloomilyover our heads, were all dispersed, and the light of peace, morewelcome even than the vernal sunshine, gladdened the eyes and thehearts of our people. Shouts of joy and songs of triumph echoed throughthe land. The hearts of the devout poured themselves in orisons andthanksgivings to the God of battles and of nations that the most wickedand most formidable rebellion ever known in human history had beeneffectually crashed, and our country saved. 

In the midst of all this abounding joy, suddenly and swiftly as thelightning's flash came the fearful tidings that the Chief Magistrate ofthe Republic--our President--loved and honored as few men ever were--sohonest, so faithful, so true to his duty and his country, had beenfoully murdered--had fallen by the bullet of an assassin. All heartswere stricken with horror. The transition from extreme joy to profoundsorrow was never more sudden and universal. Had it been possible for astranger, ignorant of the truth, to look over our land, he would havesupposed that there had come upon us some visitation of the Almightynot less dreadful than that which once fell on ancient Egypt on thatfearful night when there was not a house where there was not one dead. 

The nation wept for him. 

After being gazed upon by myriads of loving eyes, under the dome ofthis magnificent Capitol, the remains of our President were borne insolemn procession through our cities, towns, and villages, all drapedin the habilaments of sorrow, the symbols and tokens of profound andheartfelt grief, to their final resting-place in the capital of his ownState. There he sleeps, peacefully, embalmed in his country's tears. 

The Senate and House of Representatives of the United States havedeemed it proper to commemorate this tragic event by appropriateservices. This day, the birth-day of him whom we mourn, has properlybeen selected. An eminent citizen, distinguished by his labors andservices in high and responsible public positions at home andabroad--whose pen has instructed the present age in the history of hiscountry, and done much to transmit the fame and renown of that countryto future ages--Hon. George Bancroft--will now deliver a discourse. 

Hon. GEORGE BANCROFT (who on coming forward to the Clerk's desk wasgreeted with warm demonstrations of applause) then proceeded to deliverthe Memorial Address. 

The exercises of the day were closed by the following prayer andbenediction by the Rev. Dr. GRAY, Chaplain of the Senate:

God of a bereaved nation, from Thy high and holy Habitation look downupon us and suitably impress us to-day, with a sense that God only isgreat. Kings and Presidents die; but Thou, the Universal Ruler, livestto roll on thine undisturbed affairs forever, from Thy Throne. A wailhas gone up from the heart of the nation to heaven--O, hear, and pity, and assuage, and save. We pray that Thou wilt command thy blessing now, which is life forevermore, upon the family of the President dead; uponthe President living upon the Ministers of state; upon the unitedHouses of Congress; upon the Judges of our Courts; upon the officers ofthe Army and the Navy; upon the broken families and desolated homes allover the laud; and especially upon the nation. And grant that grace andpeace and mercy from the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God theFather, and the fellowship of God the Spirit, may rest upon and abidewith us all, forever and ever. Amen. 

The Senators then returned to the Senate Chamber, and the President ofthe United States, the orator of the day, and the invited guestswithdrew, the Marine Band, stationed in the amphitheater, performingnational airs. 

Hon. E. B. WASHBURNE, of Illinois, after the House had resumed thetransaction of business, by unanimous consent, introduced the followingconcurrent resolutions; which were read, considered, and agreed to:

_Resolved, _ (the Senate concurring, ) That the thanks of Congress bepresented to Hon. George Bancroft for the appropriate memorial addressdelivered by him on the life and services of Abraham Lincoln, latePresident of the United States, in the Representatives Hall before bothHouses of Congress and their invited guests, on the 12th day ofFebruary, 1866, and that he be requested to furnish a copy forpublication. 

_Resolved, _ That the chairmen of the joint committee appointed to makethe necessary arrangements to carry into effect the resolution of thisCongress in relation to the memorial exercises in honor of AbrahamLincoln be requested to communicate to Mr. Bancroft the aforegoingresolution, receive his answer thereto, and present the same to bothHouses of Congress. 

These resolutions were transmitted to the Senate, where, on motion ofthe Hon. Solomon Foot, of Vermont, they were considered by unanimousconsent, and concurred in. 

 * * *

In the Senate, on the 16th of February, Hon. Mr. FOOT stated that inpursuance of the concurrent resolutions of the two Houses of Congressadopted on the 12th instant, the chairmen of the joint committee ofarrangements on the memorial exercises of the late President of theUnited States, Abraham Lincoln, had placed a certified copy of saidconcurrent resolutions in the hands of Hon. George Bancroft, and hadrequested of him a copy of his address on the occasion referred to forpublication, as would appear from the following correspondence, whichhe moved be read, laid upon the table, and printed. 

As no objection was made, the Secretary read as follows:

THE CAPITOL, WASHINGTON, _February_ 13, 1866. 

SIR: We have the honor to present to you an official copy of the twoconcurrent resolutions adopted by the Senate and House ofRepresentatives on the 12th instant, expressing the thanks of Congressfor the appropriate memorial address delivered by you on the life andservices of Abraham Lincoln, late President of the United States, andinstructing us to request from you a copy of the address forpublication. 

Having shared the high gratification of hearing the address, we takepleasure, in accordance with the second of the concurrent resolutions, in requesting you to furnish a copy of the address for publication. 

We have the honor to be, with very great respect, your obedientservants, SOLOMON FOOT, _Chairman on the part of the Senate_

E B. WASHBURNE, _Chairman on the part of the House. _

Hon. GEORGE BANCROFT. 

WASHINGTON, D. C. , _February_ 14, 1866. 

GENTLEMEN: I have received your letter of yesterday and a copy of thetwo concurrent resolutions of Congress to which you refer. The thanksof the Senate and House of Representatives, for the performance of theduty assigned me, I value as a very distinguished honor, and I shallcheerfully furnish a copy of the address for publication. 

I remain, gentlemen, very sincerely yours, GEORGE BANCROFT. 

Hon. SOLOMON FOOT, _Chairman on the part of the Senate. _

Hon. E B. WASHBURNE, _Chairman on the part of the House. _

In the House of Representatives, Hon. E. B. WASHBURNE, of Illinois, made the same statement, and, after the correspondence submitted hadbeen read, the House ordered an edition of twenty thousand extra copies.