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to go no faster in the direction of emancipation than he felt sure public opinion would warrant. There was for Lincoln every provocation to anger at the injustice of Greeley's letter; every incitement to reveal in detail his own plan for emancipation, and to make a promise on the subject. But Lincoln refused to yield to impulses of that kind. With rare magnanimity he overlooked the personal injustice, with rare dignity he denied himself the justification that a word might have afforded, refused to enter a controversy, refused to discomfit his accuser, and prepared the public mind for the proclamation which was published September 23d.

THE SPEECH AT GETTYSBURG.

This brief speech should be memorized and made a permanent possession. Of the same quality in tone, spirit, and perfect expression, is the following letter to Mrs. Bixby, of Boston:

Dear Madam:-I have been shown in the files of the War Department a statement of the adjutant general of Massachusetts, that you are the mother of five sons who have died gloriously on the field of battle. I feel how weak and fruitless must be any words of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I cannot refrain from tendering to you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the republic they died to save. I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom. Very respectfully yours,

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

THE SECOND INAUGURAL.

By the time of the second inaugural the military success of the Federal arms was assured, the Union was probably saved, and slavery was being destroyed by the victorious advance of the Union armies. For those now defeated, who had brought on the war, the great heart of Lincoln contained nothing but forgiveness. His fear was that the spirit of revenge which had begun to appear in Congress would dictate too harsh terms to the conquered and would perpetuate hatred and make real reconciliation impossible between the two sections of the country. The second inaugural address is the most magnanimous of American state papers. Its final sentence might stand as the epitaph of its writer. "This speech," says Morse, has taken its place among the most famous of all the

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written or spoken compositions in the English language. parts it has often been compared with the lofty portions of the Old Testament. Mr. Lincoln's own contemporaneous criticism is interesting. "I expect it," he said, "to wear as well as, perhaps better than, anything I have produced; but I believe it is not immediately popular. Men are not flattered by being shown that there has been a difference of purpose between the Almighty and them. To deny it, however, in this case, is to deny that there is a God governing the world. It is the truth which I thought needed to be told; and as whatever of humiliation there is in it falls most directly on myself, I thought others might afford for me to tell it." The address puts on the war an interpretation (p. 119, 1. 16— p. 120, 1. 15) at once the highest, the profoundest, and the most magnanimous, rising above all controversies as to the relative blame of the North and the South for bringing on the scourge; it is divine retribution upon the whole nation for permitting a great wrong to continue for so many years. In this interpretation Lincoln anticipated the best judgment which history has pronounced in explanation of this and other similar conflicts of the world, notably the French Revolution. The deeply religious tone, the awe and the mystery of it, indicate the humble spirit in which Lincoln would have the nation proceed to the work of restoration and reconciliation that remained to be accomplished. In connection with p. 119, 1. 19 read Genesis 3:19; with 1. 20, Matthew 7:1; with 11. 23-25, Matthew 18:7; with p. 120, 1. 7, Psalm 19:9; with 1. 11, Isaiah 61:1 and Isaiah 30:26; with 1. 12, Matthew 20:12; with 1. 13, Psalm 146:9.

LAST PUBLIC ADDRESS.

For the various theories of reconstruction, the restoration or presidential theory, conquered territory theory, state suicide theory, etc., see Lalor's Cyclopedia of Political Science and United States History, article on Reconstruction. Reconstruction brought greater embarrassments than secession had brought, and aroused passions quite as fierce. The President was attacked for exercising powers that were claimed for Congress alone and for offering terms too lenient to the Southern States. The spirit of revenge, which Lincoln had feared, gained headway in Congress. The speech was delivered to a multitude that had gathered in the evening of April 11, before the White House, to express enthusiasm over the fall of Petersburg and Richmond and the surrender of Lee. If begins by generously attributing to Grant and the army all of the honor of the victory and then calmly, without the slight

est hint of irritation at unjust criticism, appeals by argument and explanation for support of the humane and liberal policy in Louisiana, which was already bitterly assailed by politicians of his own party. Reasonableness, benignity, honesty of intention, greatness of heart, characterize the utterance. But so do practical sagacity, homely wisdom, and simplicity. Lincoln touched no difficult subject in his life without simplifying it by his statement. He brushes aside the fine spun theories of reconstruction with which men had befogged their minds and calls attention to the one purpose for which all should work (p. 124, ll. 6-21). Two weeks after this speech Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth, who, in the words of Morse, slew the only sincere and powerful friend whom the Southerners had among their conquerors.

THE LONDON SPECTATOR ON LINCOLN.

Of the countless tributes to the greatness of Abraham Lincoln, none are more instructive to the American than those coming from foreign sources. That quoted in the text is especially noteworthy for its analysis of Lincoln's literary power, as well as for its true insight into his character. Cite from the speeches of Lincoln in this volume passages that verify the points made by the London Spectator. Cite an example of persuasion arising from the order in which Lincoln arranges the topics of his discourse. Cite from Lincoln a case of refutation; a case of persuasion arising from logic alone; several memorable maxims of government. Later

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