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pleasant mode of presentation, and the General Assembly for their patriotic support in these

resolutions.

Remarks on Notable Fourths of July, in Response to a Serenade.

On July 7, 1863, President Lincoln made the following response to a serenade:

Fellow-citizens: I am very glad indeed to see you to-night, and yet I will not say I thank you for this call; but I do most sincerely thank Almighty God for the occasion on which you have called. How long ago is it?-eighty-odd years since, on the Fourth of July, for the first time in the history of the world, a nation, by its representatives, assembled and declared, as a selfevident truth, "that all men are created equal.” That was the birthday of the United States of America. Since then the Fourth of July has had several very peculiar recognitions. The two men most distinguished in the framing and support of the Declaration were Thomas Jefferson and John Adams-the one having penned it and the other sustained it the most forcibly in debate-the only two of the fifty-five who signed it that were elected Presidents of the United States. Precisely fifty years after they put their hands to the paper, it pleased Almighty God to take both from this stage of action. This was indeed an extraordinary and remarkable event in our history. Another President, five years after, was called from this stage of existence on the same day and month of the year; and now on this last Fourth of July just passed, when we have a gigantic rebellion, at the bottom of which is an

effort to overthrow the principle that all men are created equal, we have the surrender of a most powerful position and army on that very day. And not only so, but in a succession of battles in Pennsylvania, near to us, through three days, so rapidly fought that they might be called one great battle, on the first, second, and third of the month of July; and on the fourth the cohorts of those who opposed the Declaration that all men are created equal "turned tail" and run. Gentlemen, this is a glorious theme, and the occasion for a speech, but I am not prepared to make one worthy of the occasion. I would like to speak in terms of praise due to the many brave officers and soldiers who have fought in the cause of the Union and liberties of their country from the beginning of the war. These are trying occasions, not only in success, but for the want of success. I dislike to mention the name of one single officer, lest I might do wrong to those I might forget. Recent events bring up glorious names, and particularly prominent ones; but these I will not mention. Having said this much, I will now take the music.

Remarks on Temperance in the Army to a Delegation of the Sons of Temperance.

On September 29, 1863, a delegation of the Sons of Temperance presented suggestions to President Lincoln looking to the decrease of drunkenness in the army. The President replied as follows:

As a matter of course, it will not be possible for me to make a response coextensive with the address which you have presented to me. If I were better known than I am, you would not

need to be told that in the advocacy of the cause of temperance you have a friend and sympathizer

in me.

When I was a young man-long ago-before the Sons of Temperance as an organization had an existence-I, in a humble way, made temperance speeches, and I think I may say that to this day I have never, by my example, belied what I then said.

In regard to the suggestions which you make for the purpose of the advancement of the cause of temperance in the army, I cannot make particular responses to them at this time. To prevent intemperance in the army is even a part of the articles of war. It is part of the law of the land, and was so, I presume, long ago, to dismiss officers for drunkenness. I am not sure that, consistently with the public service, more can be done than has been done. All, therefore, that I can promise you is-if you will be pleased to furnish me with a copy of your address-to have it submitted to the proper department, and have it considered whether it contains any suggestions which will improve the cause of temperance and repress the cause of drunkenness in the army any better than it is already done. I can promise no more than that.

I think that the reasonable men of the world have long since agreed that intemperance is one of the greatest, if not the very greatest, of all evils among mankind. That is not a matter of dispute, I believe. That the disease exists, and that it is a very great one, is agreed upon by all.

The mode of cure is one about which there may be differences of opinion. You have suggested that in an army-our army-drunkenness is a

great evil, and one which, while it exists to a very great extent, we cannot expect to overcome so entirely as to have such successes in our arms as we might have without it. This undoubtedly is true, and while it is perhaps rather a bad source to derive comfort from, nevertheless, in a hard struggle, I do not know but what it is some conIsolation to be aware that there is some intemperance on the other side, too; and that they have no right to beat us in physical combat on that ground.

But I have already said more than I expected to be able to say when I began, and if you please to hand me a copy of your address, it shall be considered. I thank you very heartily, gentlemen, for this call, and for bringing with you these very many pretty ladies.

Speech at the Dedication of the National Cemetery at Gettysburg.

On November 19, 1863, the National Cemetery of Union Soldiers killed at the battle of Gettysburg was dedicated in the presence of a vast array of people assembled from all parts of the Union upon the battlefield. The orator of the day was Edward Everett. At the close of his long address, composed in the finished periods of that "classic" order of American oratory of which he was the greatest living master, when the thunders of applause that it evoked had ceased, President Lincoln rose and spoke a few heartfelt words which so moved the deeps of emotion in his hearers that many sat spell-bound and silent after the speaker had finished. As the President's letter to Mr. Everett, written on the following day, indicates (see LETTERS in present edition), Mr. Lincoln inferred from this reception that the speech was a "failure," but he was quickly disabused of that idea by evidences coming from every part of the Union of the deep impression it had made on the hearts of his countrymen.

Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting-place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate— we cannot consecrate-we cannot hallow-this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us, the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us-that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion; that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom; and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

Address to General Grant on Commissioning Him Lieutenant-General.

On March 9, 1864, President Lincoln appointed Ulysses S. Grant Lieutenant-General of the Army of

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