ston and Hood. On all occasions, and in every service to which they were assigned, their duty as patriotic volunteers was performed with alacrity and courage, for which they are entitled to and are hereby tendered the national thanks through the governors of their respective states.

The Secretary of War is directed to transmit a copy of this order to the governors of Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin, and to cause a certificate of their honorable services to be delivered to the officers and soldiers of the states above named, who recently served in the military service of the United States as volunteers for one hundred days.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

SPEECH TO THE 148TH OHIO REGIMENT. FALL OF 1864. Soldiers of the 148th Ohio:-I am most happy to meet you on this occasion. I understand that it has been your honorable privilege to stand, for a brief period, in the defense of your country, and that now you are on your way to your homes. I congratulate you, and those who are waiting to bid you welcome home from the war; and permit me in the name of the people to thank you for the part you have taken in this struggle for the life of the nation. You are soldiers of the republic, every-where honored and respected. Whenever I appear before a body of soldiers, I feel tempted to talk to them of the nature of the struggle in which we are engaged. I look upon it as an attempt on the one hand to overwhelm and destroy the national existence, while on our part we are striving to maintain the government and institutions

of our fathers, to enjoy them ourselves, and transmit them to our children and our children's children for

ever.

To do this the constitutional administration of our government must be sustained, and I beg of you not to allow your minds or your hearts to be diverted from the support of all necessary measures for that purpose, by any miserable picayune arguments addressed to your pockets, or inflammatory appeal made to your passions and your prejudices.

It is vain and foolish to arraign this man or that for the part he has taken or has not taken, and to hold the government responsible for his acts. In no administration can there be perfect equality of action and uniform satisfaction rendered by all.

But this government must be preserved, in spite of the acts of any man or set of men. It is worthy your every effort. Nowhere in the world is presented a government of so much liberty and equality. To the humblest and poorest amongst us are held out the highest privileges and positions. The present moment finds me at the White House, yet there is as good a chance for your children as there was for my father's.

Again I admonish you not to be turned from your stern purpose of defending our beloved country and its free institutions by any arguments urged by ambitious and designing men, but stand fast, to the Union and the old flag.

Soldiers, I bid you God-speed to your homes.

THE PRESIDENT'S LAST, SHORTEST, AND BEST SPEECH, IN 1864.

On Thursday of last week two ladies from Tennessee came before the president asking the release of their husbands held as prisoners of war at Johnson's Island. They were put off till Friday, when they came again, and were again put off to Saturday. At each of the interviews, one of the ladies urged that her husband was a religious man. On Saturday the president ordered the release of the prisoners, and then said to the lady: "You say your husband is a religious man; tell him when you meet him, that I say I am not much of a judge of religion, but that, in my opinion, the religion that sets men to rebel and fight against this government, because, as they think, that government does not sufficiently help some men to eat their bread on the sweat of other men's faces, is not the sort of religion upon which people can get to heaven."

To HON. HENRY W. HOFFMAN.

Executive Mansion, Washington, Oct. 18, 1864. My Dear Sir:-A convention of Maryland has formed a new constitution for the state; a public meeting is called for this evening at Baltimore, to aid in securing its ratification, and you ask a word from me for the occasion. I presume the only feature of the instrument about which there is serious controversy, is that which provides for the extinction of slavery.

It needs not to be a secret, and I presume it is no

secret, that I wish success to this provision. I desire it on every consideration.

I wish to see all men free. I wish the national prosperity of the already free, which I feel sure the extinction of slavery would bring. I wish to see in progress of disappearing that only thing which could bring this nation to a civil war. I attempt no argument. Argument upon the question is already exhausted by the abler, better informed, and more immediately interested sons of Maryland herself. I only add, that I shall be gratified exceedingly if the good people of the state shall, by their votes, ratify the new constitution.

Yours truly,

A. LINCOLN.

SPEECH AT A SERENADE, OCTOBER 19, 1864.

I am notified that this is a compliment paid me by the loyal Marylanders resident in this district. I infer that the adoption of the new constitution for that state furnishes the occasion, and that, in your view, the extirpation of slavery constitutes the chief merit of the new constitution. Most heartily do I congratulate you and Maryland, and the nation, and the world upon the event. the event. I regret that it did not occur two years sooner, which, I am sure, would have saved to the nation more money than would have met all the private loss incident to the measure.

But it has come at last, and I sincerely hope its friends may fully realize all their anticipations of good from it, and that its opponents may, by its effects, be agreeably and profitably disappointed.

A word upon another subject: Something said by

the Secretary of State, in his recent speech at Auburn, has been construed by some into a threat that, if I shall be beaten at the election, I will, between then and the end of my constitutional term, do what I may be able to ruin the government. Others regard the fact that the Chicago convention adjourned not sine die, but to meet again, if called to do so by a particular individual, as the intimation of a purpose that if their nominee shall be elected he will at once seize the control of the government. I hope the good people will permit themselves to suffer no uneasiness. on this point.

I am struggling to maintain the government, not to overthrow it. I therefore say that, if I shall live, I shall remain president until the fourth of next March, and that whoever shall be constitutionally elected therefor, in November, shall be duly installed as president on the fourth of March, and that, in the interval, I shall do my utmost that whoever is to hold the helm for the next voyage shall start with the best possible chance to save the ship.

This is due to the people both on principle and under the Constitution. Their will, constitutionally expressed, is the ultimate law for all. If they should deliberately resolve to have immediate peace, even at the loss of their country and their liberties, I have not the power nor the right to resist them. It is their own business, and they must do as they please with their own. I believe, however, they are still resolved to preserve their country and their liberty; and in this office or out I am resolved to stand by them.