Governor Dix declined, pleading official engage

ments.

A special messenger, D. L. Phillips, visited ExSecretary of the Navy, Welles, at his home. Mr Welles did not come to an immediate decision, but afterwards declined by letter. Previous to receiving the invitation. Mr. Welles had written some very able and kindly articles on the administration of President Lincoln, in reviewing the Memorial Address on the life, character and public services of William H. Seward, by Hon. Charles Francis Adams, at Albany, N. Y., in April, 1873. We believe that is the only instance where a cabinet officer, who, during the entire struggle for the life of the nation was daily on the most intimate terms with President Lincoln, has so freely commented on the peculiar traits of his character and of the events connected with his administration. This is my apology for digressing here to quote some passages from those articles, which were first published in the Galaxy, and afterwards in book form, entitled "Lincoln and Seward."

On page 32, Mr. Welles says:

"Mr. Lincoln was modest, kind, and unobtrusive, but he had, nevertheless, sturdy intellectual independence, wonderful self-reliance, and, in his unpretending way, great individuality. Though even willing to listen to others, and to avail himself of suggestions from any quarter which he deemed valuable, he never for a moment was unmindful of his position or of proper relf-respect, or felt that he was "dependent" on any one for the faithful and competent discharge of any duty upon which he entered. He could have dispensed with any one of his cabinet, and the administration not been impaired, but it would have been difficult if not impossible to have selected any one who could have filled the office of Chief Magistrate as successfully as Mr. Lincoln in that troublesome period. In administering the government, there were details in each department which the Secretaries respectively discharged. Of these the President had a general knowl

edge, and the executive control of each and all. In this respect the Secretary of State bore the same relation to the President as his colleagues in the other departments."

On page 206, he says:

"When the Republicans, in convention at Chicago, chose their standard bearer, they wisely and properly selected as their representative the sincere and able man who had no great money power in his interest, no disciplined lobby, no host of party followers, but who, like David, confided in the justice of his cause, and, with the simple weapons of truth and right, met the Goliath of slavery aggression before assembled multitudes in many a well contested debate. The popular voice was not in error, nor its confidence misplaced, when it selected and elected Lincoln. Af ter his election, and after the war commenced, events forced upon him the emancipation of the slaves in the rebellious States. It was his own act, a bold step, an executive measure originating with him, and was, as stated in the memorable appeal at the close of the final proclamation, invoking for it the considerate judgment of mankind, warranted alone by military necessity. He and the cabinet were aware that the measure involved high and fearful responsibility, for it would alarm the timid everywhere, and alienate, at least for a time, the bold in the border States, who clung to the Union. * * Results have proved that there was in the measure profound thought, statesmanship, courage and far-seeing sagacity-consummate executive and administrative ability, which was, after some reverses, crowned with success. The nation, emerging from gloom and disaster, and the whole civilized world, united in awarding honor and gratitude to the illustrious man who had the mind to conceive, and the courage and firmness to decree the emancipation of a race."

On page 214, Mr. Welles says:

"Mr. Lincoln was in many respects a remarkable, though I do not mean to say an infallible, man. No true delineation or photograph of his intellectual capacity and attributes has ever been given, nor shall I attempt it. His vigorous and rugged, but com

prehensive mind, his keen and shrewd sagacity, his intellectual strength and mental power, his genial, kindly temperament— with charity for all and malice towards none—his sincerity, unquestioned honesty and homely suavity, made him popular as well as great."

In his letter, dated Hartford, Ct., August 31, 1874, to the Monument Association, through Hon. D. L. Phillips, declining the invitation to deliver the Oration, Mr. Welles says:

"The intellect and capability of Mr. Lincoln, are, I apprehend, not fully understood and appreciated by those who knew him before entering upon his great public career. His vigorous mind was continually expanding, the horizon enlarging, so that, on the day he was murdered, he was better qualified to discharge the duties of Chief Magistrate than any man living. Well may the nation deplore his loss."

After the Secretary of the Navy declined, Gov. Oglesby waited on Gov. O. P. Morton in person, at Indianapolis, who declined on account of the state of his health. At a meeting of the Monument Association, September 5, on motion of Col. D. L. Phillips, it was

Resolved, That the Association adhere to its original resolution of August 10th, that Hon. R. J. Oglesby, at the unanimous request and hearty concurrence of the Association, will deliver the Oration.

At a later period it was decided by the Association to relieve Gov. Oglesby of the work of preparing a history of the Monument, and Hon. Jesse K. Dubois, Vice President of the Association, was invited to discharge that duty. Both accepted the positions assigned them.

A committee of invitation and arrangements was appointed, consisting of Ex-Governor John M. Pal

mer, Dr. S. H. Melvin and Col. John Williams. One thousand invitations were sent out to all parts of the Union. Much the largest number of those invited responded in person on the day of dedication, and those who, from any cause, were unable to be present, they very generally answered by letter, expressing their sympathy with the object of the meeting, and regrets at their inability to attend. Among these were letters from Hon. L. F. S. Foster of Norwich, Ct.; R. H. Dana, Jr., of Boston, Mass.; Judge G. L. Cranmers, of Wheeling, W. Va.; Prof. Noah Porter, of Yale College; Hon. John G. Palfrey, Cambridge, Mass.; Hon. Reverdy Johnson, of Baltimore, Md.; Gov. W. P. Kellogg, of Louisana; Maj.-Gen. George D. Ramsey, Washington, D. C.; Gen. James Longstreet, New Orleans; Gov. Thos. A. Hendricks, of Indiana; Governor J. A. Campbell, of Wyoming Ter.; George Wm. Curtis, Editor of Harpers' Weekly; Rear Admiral Th. Rogers Taylor, Newport, R. I.; Adjutant General E. D. Townsend, Washington, D. C.; Hon. James T. Fields, Boston, Mass.; Maj.-Gen. Andrew B. Eaton, Washington, D. C.; Gov. Thomas Talbott, Boston, Mass.; Ex-Gov. J. D. Cox, Toledo, Ohio; Henry C. Bowen, of the New York Independent; Hon. Cassius M. Clay, of Whitehall, Ky.; Q. M. General M. C. Meigs, Washington, D. C.; Alexander T. Stewart, New York; General A. E. Burnside; General George Cadwallader, Philadelphia; Mrs. Madeline Vireton Dahlgren, widow of Rear Admiral Dahlgren. Andrew Johnson, the only living ex-President of the United States, was invited, but neither came nor responded to the invitation in any way.

The work of preparation for the grand event was every where visible in Springfield for weeks before. The telegraphic reports in the morning papers began to announce the approach of distinguished personages and delegations from every point of the compass, for

thousands of miles distant in our own country, and some of the English nobility who were traveling in this country, so timed their movements as to be present at the unveiling also. By Monday evening, October 12, the number of strangers began to increase in the city. The earliest arrivals were of distinguished ex-soldiers and army commanders, in attendance on the meetings of the Society of the Army of the Tennessee. Every train on Wednesday came loaded with strangers, and on that night and Thursday morning it seemed as though the entire adult population of central Illinois came pouring into the streets of the Capital. The hotels were crowded to overflowing, and private houses were everywhere thrown open to receive the throng of visitors.

In addition to the grand arches, the Capitol building, Court House and Postoffice building, and other public buildings and business houses and private residences were decorated most tastefully with drapery, evergreens and flowers. The old home of Abraham Lincoln, now the residence of Col. Geo. H. Harlow, Secretary of State, was one among those most tastefully decorated.

On the morning of October 15, the streets of the city presented the appearance of a moving mass of human beings, and as the hour approached for the procession to form, strains of music from the various bands in attendance began to swell out on the breeze.

THE PROCESSION.

The Grand Marshal of the day, Gov. John L. Beveridge, with his aids, appeared on north Sixth street at ten o'clock A. M. on Thursday, Oct. 15, 1874, and commenced forming the procession in the following order:

FIRST DIVISION-Gen. John Cook, Marshal, with aids. This division was composed of Elwood com