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horror. But the secret plot and the published appeal were both the product of a state of society familiarized with violence and disregard of human life through familiarity with slave institutions. The acts of Preston Brooks and Wilkes Booth were inspired by the same social and political ideas.

The dreadful purpose, then, of assassinating Mr. Lincoln, has borne more than a four years' waiting. And now, in its actual execution, it has horrified the world. Four years ago, Mr. Lincoln was, comparatively, an untried man, — untried, I mean, in the great responsibilities which devolved upon him as President of the United States, during the most critical period in the history of the country. The weight of those responsibilities we can but dimly understand. How they pressed by night and by day, amid the divided councils of friends and the constant obloquy of enemies, we can but poorly imagine. Amid the varying fortunes of the four years' war, and the complications of foreign diplomacy, this hitherto untried man met the daily exigencies of the occasion in such manner as to strengthen general confidence in him from day to day, and from year to year. The secret of his success lay in the simplicity and sincerity of his purpose. The honesty of his intention was so clear, that it could not be even suspected. And this honesty of purpose was sustained by a practical sagacity truly wonderful. His integrity and wisdom, rooted and grounded as they were in a generous nature, quickened and moved by religious faith, supported and directed Mr. Lincoln throughout his whole administration of public affairs, and won for him that always increasing confidence which resulted so decisively in his second election. His predominating qualities of character designated him as the providentially appointed man for the time. He was a self-made man, as the phrase goes. His name indicates his English ancestry; and his great perseverance and practical qualities of character indicate fidelity to his Anglo-Saxon lineage.

One of the most critical problems to be solved in his presidential career related to the enslaved men at the South, and the treatment thereof. As Abraham Lincoln, his honest instincts would strike the fetters from the slave. As President of the United States, he was restrained by constitutional limitations. For these limitations he had a due regard, as he was bound to have; but as from time to time they became clearly weakened and broken, in law and fact, by insurgent action, then the honest instincts of the man found their justifiable expression in the acts of the President, who was always ready to give the slave the benefit of the breach. Step by step, with an honest and pure wisdom, he walked the straight and trying path of emancipation. And one thing specially noteworthy here is, that he never took a backward step on this path. New circumstances might arise, out of which a cry would come to reverse the order and withdraw the promise. In such cases President Lincoln had only one answer, and that was an emphatic refusal. His word was, that no slave set free in the inevitable progress of events, by authority of the United States, should ever be returned to bondage. His maxim was, "In giving freedom to the slave, we assure freedom to the free." No man deplored the war more than he. But the action of the slaveholding States in challenging arbitrament by the sword left him without choice in the matter. If defeat in a fair election justifies armed revolt by the defeated party, then there is clearly an end to all political order on this continent. If any question of abstract right is raised, whether in relation to the individual or the State, and if one party in the matter challenges the arbitrament of the sword in advance of discussion in the constitutional assemblies and tribunals of the land, then there is nothing left for the other party but to accept the challenge, and allow the sword to settle the question. President Lincoln's heart was for peace, for peace on a permanent basis. But, like all thoughtful observers,

he saw that no permanent peace could be had while the institution of slavery remained. His second inaugural address is a faithful transcript of himself. It contains no shadow of boasting, no personal reference, no vanity of prediction. It is the writing of one who felt himself as in the hollow of God's hand, to be used for God's purposes. It is eminently solemn and humane, tender and trustful. Here are the two closing paragraphs:

"Both parties to the war read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes his aid against the other. It may seem strange that any man should dare to ask a just God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces; but let us judge not, that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered. That of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has his own purposes. Woe unto the world be

cause of offences, for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh.' If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of these offences, which in the providence of God must needs come, but which, having continued through his appointed time, he now wills to remove, and that he gives to both North and South this terrible war, as the woes due to those by whom the offence came, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a living God always ascribe to him? Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may soon pass away. Yet if God wills that it continue, until all the wealth piled by the bondman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid with another drawn with the sword, said three thousand years ago, so, still it must be said, 'The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.'

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"With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to

finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and his orphans; to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves, and with all nations."

This last paragraph ought to be engraven on his monument. In the midst of life, brethren, we are in death. Death meets man at every turn,—a surprise and a mystery. In the high places of the nations men fall sometimes by violence, and sometimes in peace; and the more private circle of the home is visited by death's call, and our friends are borne away to the tomb. That same morning which witnessed the departure of the spirit of President Lincoln from the earth witnessed also the departure from this life of a venerable life connected with this congregation. No man living could be in more ardent sympathy with the cause of emancipation than he was. He had passed through a lengthened public life, honored with various high public trusts, and had reached an advanced age which demanded repose. But with fourscore years upon him, he had a heart tender as a child for the wrongs of the slave. Any reference to these wrongs stirred his whole nature with profound and visible motion. You know I refer here to the late Mr. Justice Gale.

Yes; in the midst of life we are in death. Men fall at conspicuous posts, and in the full bustle of active public life. While the tidings of President Lincoln's death were yet fresh upon us, ships from beyond the sea came with further tidings of sadness and death. We heard that Richard Cobden, one of England's foremost men, had suddenly ceased to be. He had come up to

London to take part in a debate concerning Canada; but sickness seized him, and soon cut short his life. He, too, like President Lincoln, was a self-made man, rising gradually from humble birth and social obscurity, until, by dint of perseverance, attainments, and character, he became one of the most influential men

of the nation. He was a representative man of the bone and sinew of England, - her intelligent middle and industrial classes. These are the classes who have built up Britain's material power and greatness. These are the men who plant her colonies, carry her wide-stretching commerce, and her traditions of liberty, all over the earth: here bearing fruit in one form; in another place, bearing fruit in another form. Canada and the United States are both the products of the energy and enterprise of the middle and industrial classes of our common mother-country. Mr. Cobden, like Mr. Lincoln, was a man of marked sincerity of purpose and integrity of character. Like Mr. Lincoln, he had to bear his share of obloquy from flippant and reckless partisan opponents; but like Mr. Lincoln, too, he triumphed over these, and has bequeathed a name to his country, which his country will not willingly let die. His name is intimately identified with some of the most important political and economic reforms of the present century. He cheapened the food of the operative masses in England, after a hard and tedious conflict with the ignorance and selfishness of the agricultural interests and landed aristocracy. He lived to see the nation a grateful convert to his enlightened principles of commerce. He was invited to join Lord Palmerston as Cabinet Minister; but he declined. He was offered rank and title; but he declined. He wanted neither office nor title. His desire was that of a sincere and noble mind, to serve his countrymen -the great mass of his toiling countrymen — with an honest and disinterested service. And, when the calamity of civil war befel the United States, his intelligent acquaintance with American affairs, and his clear moral vision, preserved him from that lamentable delusion on this matter in which certain classes of English society became almost hopelessly involved. President Lincoln had in him an enlightened and faithful friend. He was the consistent supporter of the cause of free labor and of

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