without distinction of party. I could not for a moment suppose that this has been done in any considerable degree with any reference to my personal self. It is very much more grateful to me that this reception and the invitation preceding it were given to me, as the representative of a free people, than it could possibly have been were it but the evidence of devoIt is true that, while

tion to me or to any one man. I hold myself, without mock modesty, the humblest of all the individuals who have ever been elected President of the United States, I yet have a more difficult task to perform than any of them has ever encountered."

At Trenton, the historic capital of New Jersey, he was also tendered a reception by the Legislature. The memories of the dangerous passage of the Delaware and the great victory which followed were intimately associated in his mind with his childhood's days, when he eagerly read and re-read Weem's attractive but unreliable "Life of Washington,” by the light of a pine knot, long after the rest of the family had retired for the night. He alluded modestly, but impressively, to the toils and privations of those early days, proving once more that he was not ashamed of his lowly origin, but that he rather gloried in the fact that he was one of the masses and thus in deepest sympathy with them.

At Philadelphia he unfurled a splendid flag in the presence of a great concourse, and made an elaborate address, in which he spoke of his political life and feelings more freely than at any other time on the journey, and when, for a moment, he admitted his apprehensions of the future in almost prophetic

words.

The whole speech, which was delivered in Independence Hall, is too long to be quoted, but a single passage will well illustrate its character.

"You have kindly suggested to me that in my hands is the task of restoring peace to the present distracted condition of our country. I can say in return, sir, that all the political sentiments I entertain have been drawn, so far as I have been able to draw them, from the sentiments which originated in, and were given to the world from this hall. I have never had a feeling, politically, that did not spring from the sentiments embodied in the Declaration of Independence. I have often pondered over the dangers which were incurred by the men who assembled here and framed and adopted that Declaration of Independence. I have pondered over the toils that were endured by the officers and soldiers of the army that achieved that Independence. I have often inquired of myself what great principle or idea it was that kept this Confederacy so long together. It was not the mere matter of the separation of the Colonies from the mother country, but that sentiment in the Declaration of Independence which gave liberty, not alone to the people of this country but, I hope, to the world for all future time. It was that which gave promise that, in due time, the weight would be lifted. from the shoulders of all men. This is a sentiment embodied in the Declaration of Independence. Now, my friends, can this country be saved on this basis? If it can, I shall consider myself one of the happiest men in the world if I can help save it. If it cannot be saved on that principle, it would be truly awful. But if this country cannot be saved without giving

up that principle, I was about to say, I would rather be assassinated on this spot than surrender it.”

This was not the first time that he had declared his veneration for and allegiance to the principles of the immortal Declaration. Again and again had he reiterated it in the Douglas debates and other political speeches. In it he found his political creed and upon the permanence of its principles he based all his hope for the future welfare of the country.

On the next day he visited Harrisburg and addressed the Pennsylvania Legislature there assembled, and here his public journey ended. There had been many vague rumors afloat in regard to conspiracies formed by Southern sympathizers to prevent his inauguration. Baltimore was intensely disloyal and numerous threats had been made that the Presidentelect should never pass through the city alive. Much alarm was felt by his friends and everything possible had been done to unearth the conspiracy, if one existed. Detectives had been engaged and evidence of the existence of such a plot was apparently secured. Mr. Lamon, who accompanied Mr. Lincoln, criticises the evidence and casts grave doubts upon its reliability. But that there was good reason to apprehend danger, even if none existed, was excuse enough for more than ordinary caution. His friends had advised Mr. Lincoln to cancel his engagements in Philadelphia and Harrisburg and hastily and secretly make the journey to Washington. This he refused to do, but, after his address at Harrisburg, he secretly boarded a special car, and without the knowledge of any one, save two or three of his most aptimate friends, he went to Philadelphia, where he

boarded the night train, passed through Baltimore in safety and reached the Capital in the morning, before it was generally known that he had left Harrisburg.

This hurried journey to Washington was sharply criticised and mercilessly ridiculed and caricatured in the papers of the day. Some went so far as to impute its motive to cowardice. It must be admitted that there are at least grave doubts that any such conspiracy existed or that there was any danger to be apprehended from the passage through Baltimore. The suspicions, however, were strong enough and the condition of the country sufficiently critical to justify the most extraordinary precautions to protect the person of the President-elect from all possible danger.

CHAPTER XIV.

LINCOLN had practically constructed his Cabinet before he left Springfield. It was a task of unusual difficulty, yet he executed it with judgment and moderation. The Republican party had been formed in large part, by recruits from the Whig and Democratic parties, the latter being in the majority. Something of the old-time antagonism existed between the quondam political foes and the great difficulty presented itself, in the formation of the Cabinet, of recognizing both wings in such a manner that satisfaction would be given to both and cause for jealousy to neither.

Here, at the very outset, Lincoln gave intimations of the fixed principle that was to guide him in his political appointments during his administration. He would recognize true patriotism as a standard for political preferment and not party affiliations. Other things being equal he made but little distinction between Democrats and Republicans, provided that the loyalty of the candidate was unquestioned. Never since Washington had a President placed so high a premium upon patriotism, and paid so little attention to politics. It made him many political enemies but brought him multitudes of friends from the masses of the people who recognized his earnest desire to administer the affairs of the Government for the gen