VOLUME 2. ECLO«V ON THE HFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, Delivered Thursday, June 1, 1805, In Christ M. E. Church, Penn St. By Hon. Thos. Williams. We meet in gloom. Hut yesterday our streets were jubilant, and the very Heav ens ablaze with the bright pomp of a re joicing mnltiude. Hut yesterday our (temples were vocal with of raptur ous thanksgiving ■for the great victories that had been vouchsafed to our arms. To-day no jubilee solicits us. No loud huzzas —no 'aves vehement, —-no hurry ing feet—llo hymns of triumph salute ,our ears. It is the hour of darkness, as these sad emblems indicate. A nation mourns. A mighty people throng h wide spread sanctuaries, to lament its martyred Chief, but just returned from the overthrow of the armed array that menaced it-s own life, to die in the very Jhour of his triumph—iu the fancied se ,curity of its own capital—under the (blaze of a thousand lights, and a tlious and admiring eyes —and in the midst of the brave hearts that belte l him around, and would have spilled their life's best blood to shelter him from harm—and to die, oh (ioil id' .Justice! by the stealthy and felonii is blow of nn assassin. In such a presence, an 1 with such surround ings, the chosen Ruler of this great Re public—the kind, the generous, the pa rental magiktrate, who knew no resent ments and had never done aught to de- an enemy—has Imwed bis venera ,ble heuil upon bis bosom, itvd laid down the high commission with which he bad been so lately re invested by the popular acclaim. ".Most sacri'eg.ous mm I. r hath broke ope the temple of the I.ord s anointed, and stolen out the lile ot the building." The pulse of the world ha stood almost suspended by the earth quake jar that shook its continent and isles, as no event of modern times has done. A multitudinous people—'in numbers numberless" almost as the stars of Heaven—thrilled with horror, and smitten dumb by the fearful atrocity which flashed upon them, unheralded by any note of warning over the eelectric j wires, have uncovered their heads and wept, as no people ever wept before, a< the funeral cortege swept by with itsjire cious but unconscious burthen .over 111 tin tain and plain, ami along the rivers and the lakes, n its lunu' and melancholy jour ney to the far Wes'crn Tioiuc, which he was to see in the body no more. The j earth has opened to receive all that the j nation could give hack to that now dosn- | latcd home. and we arc hero to-day, by the appointment of his successor, to bow ! in reverential submission and acknowl edgment before the hand that has smit ten us. and to draw such consolations as are possible, from (lie consideration that the chastisements ol tSod are sometimes mercies in disguise. while we water with .ourtears the fresh gravi of the heroic' martyr, who has enwnc I his meat work by the offering of his own life upon the j same altar where the blood of so many j victims had already smoked to Heaven. Yes! Abraham Lincoln is no more. Alt that could die of him who has del'eu- ; ded and reb.udt the tottering structrue of ojjr fathers,.has passed trouieiithly view, by a transition as abrupt as bis who laid the foundation of the Internal City, and then, according to the legendary epic of the Roman State, was rapt from mortal vision in a chariot of fire. Tho shadow ,of the destroyer has mounted behind the trooper, and the grim sceptre of the gris ly king followed close upon the pageant of the avenue. The wise and prudent ruler who was commissioned of God to i lead this people through the fiery trials from which thov have just emerged— ;the chief who had just been lifted on their bucklers fir a second time -to the supreme command—the idol of tho pop ular heart, who had so recently been crowned anew at th£ Capitol with the symbols of a nations power, the insignia of a nation's trust, and ihe rewards of a nations gratitude, amidst the thundering salvos of artillery, and the responsive voices of an innumerable throng, has .ceased to listen to I lie app auding shout, aud passed from tho regards of men, in to the serener light of an abode beyond the tiuis when: the banner of war is furl ed. and the hoarse summons of the trum pet, and the roll of the stirring drum, no longer awaken cither to the battle or the triumph. On two occasions only in our brief but eveutful history, the hand of death has fallen upon the bead of this great lie public. On both, however, it descend ed in a period of public tranquility, by the quiet and gentle ministration of na ture, without shock and without disturb ance. The fruit fell when it was ripe, and the nation grieved, but not as those who are without hope. It paused but for a moment to cast its tributes of affection on the tomb, and then hurried onward in its high and prosperous career. For the first time now, the v.ery . hurrieaue of civil strife, a bloody tragedy of fearful aspect, and more than mediaeval horror, forestalling the dissolving processes that are interwoven with the law of life has snatched away the man who, above all o hers, was most dear to us almost in the twinkling of ait eye. in high health, aud in the very crisis of Jiis great work, when the regards of the, WH ld were most in teuth tix''.l,ji]>on him, uud the destinies of a nation .were Iretnlding in his hands. It i« as tbou«,!i au apparatiou had stalled, ,in the viidst of our rejoicings, into the -very presence "112 the festal board, and it oliuer the projecting shadow, with AMERICAN CITIZEN Let us have Faith that Right markes Might j and in that Faith let us, to the end, dare to do our tfjty as we understand jj".— A.. Lincoln which that ghastly shape lias darkened the whole land as with a general eclipse, that I am asked to discourse to you of the merits and services of the extraordinary man,'who has thus disappeared from amongst us, after having enacted so large a part in the greatest and most import ant era of the world's history. It is a task which is never easy in performance, and cannot be faithfully executed until tne lapse of years shall withdraw the ob server from a proximity which is always unfavorable to the clearest vision, and the work is consigned!!) the pen of im partial history. It is one, however, which I ha,ve not felt at liberty todeeline. Of Abraham Lincoln, there is little tp be said, until the voire of tne people call ed him from the comparative obscurity of a Provincial Town in the remote West, to preside over the destinies of this Re public. The story of his lilS auteccdcut to his appearaoce on that broader stage, where he was destined to command more vf the observation of the world than any other man either of ancient or modern times, is soon told. Horn in a frontier settlement in Kentucky, of humble pa rentage. and with no prospective inheri tance, but that of the coarsest toil, it Was not his hard fate to wear out his life in the hopeless struggle for success, to which that nativity would have consigned hiiu. At the age of six -years, his pa rents. warned by no vision, but by the stern necessities of life, removed from ths bouse of bondage, taking the young child with them, to grow up in the freer air of that great Territory, whose funda nientcl ordnance had insured the respec tability of labor, by forbidding any bonds men from ever setting his foot upon its soil. There, in the vigorous young State of Indiana, without even the aid of a mother's care beyond bis infant years, he shot up—we know not how—into the lofty stature, and robust manhood which have since become so familiar to us all, diversifying his labors, and indulging that spirit of adventure that is so coiy mou to the I'ionecr by cinbarj.ing at the asie of nineteen years, as a wovkhand at the scanty wages of ten dollars a month, on one of those prim itive flat boats, on which the Western Farmer of those times was wont to launch his pro luue on the bosom of the Ohio, to find it- only mark et at New Orleans. At the age of twen ty one years without any better prospects in life, and inheriting apparently the migratory instinct* of his father, who had perhaps grown weary id' his Indi ana home, ho plunged with him into the further West, ami <Oll lit an I t and a new settUmeiit on mi unreclaimed (pi ti ter section .I'ilie Public Lands in i'en tral lllino That he must have shared the ham ic i.i or- of that parefft in win ning h;s new acquisition fioni a elate of nature into a ha itable abode for man, is obyi ii- I oin tin- fact that so limited an area, on the extremest frontier of civili zation, could have afforded no great scope for employment, but with the axe, or plow. and no means whatever for mental culture or development., except those powers ot thought and observation, which tli.%-ilintdes of nature, an 1 the commu nion oftlie forest an I the Geld, have sometimes awaken in those gifted spirits that seem to be immediately inspired of (rod. Within a year or two, however, tho occurrence, of what was called the '• Black Hawk War," drew him from a seclusion which must have bee i extreme ly rksoino to youth of lively tempera ment. and overflowing health, by offering the temptation, which ttie pursuit of arms altno t invaiiably presents to tho young and imbitious spirits of the land. He enlisted in a company of volunteers, who forthwith selected him as their cap tain, but his aspirations for military re nown were soon cut short tiy tho uuex pected termination of the war. His next appearance, is as a candidste for the Leg is ature of the State, to which he was re peatedly elected, and about tho same time he turned his attention to tho study of law, and was duly admitted to the Bar. What preparation he may havo made for this transition to another and a higher field of labor is unknown to us. He has the credit of confessing, with that sim plicity which drew from him the ac knowledgment that ho had never read the W'jrss of the great Master of the drama, that he had enjtiyed the advan tage of butsix month's schooling in the whole course of his life. That he bad read such books as were accessible to him, is not to be doubted, llepoit says That he had picked up iu somo way a little kuowledgc of surveying, which may have .served to train and discipline his leasooiug faculty, and was, as will be re membered, tho youthful employment o! the great Washington himself. Beyond this, however, little was required iu the infant condition of a frontier settlement which would have tew attractions for men of such acquirments as only an old community could afford : although it is not to be questioned that sonic. • the most robust intellects iu the 'and have been nurtured in those primative aud truly republican schools, where no hot-bed cul ture was admissible, and ever sickly plant was doomed to die. Whether he suc ceeded in attaining any great distinction in his new profession, where success is depeudent generally on a peculiarity of taste or meutal structure, and where in dustry is so oftcu an over match for tal ent, is by uo meaus clear. We know how ever, t[iat his abilities and worth v.-ere duly recognized at home by his triumph ant election in to tho Congress of ihe Uuiled States—where he served, however, bu> tor a in-le term —as well as by the .wail t. 11 iu, by common con sent, of ilit; chapionsbip ol the free i State |a ton the occasion of the <■ >n troversy which grew ojgi of the Kanaas- I Nebraska Bill. In 1&.J6 he was pre.seijt | ed by his State, .aud sujiporied largely, as BUTLER. BUTLER COUNTY, PA., WEDNESDAY, JULY 12 1805. a candidate for the office of Vice Presi dent on the Republican ticket of that year, and in the eagvass of as the accepted candidate for Senator, he dis cussed before the people of Illinois, the question of the extension of ela' cry into the territories, iu a series id' debates which rivited the attentiou of tho uation, by the clearness of their statements nod the immense logical power which they disployed. It was perhaps to the public ity of those efforts that bo was mainly indebted for tho great distinction con ferred on him by the Convention of 18Gd in singling him out. above all competitors as the standard Tjearer of the army of freedom, in that memorable campaign. And this brief narrative—oompiled from authenticated sources, and making no pretension to the accuracy of biogra phy—is a summary of his career until called by Providence to enact a part that baa beeu assigned to few uisu in history. How lie performed his duty is perhaps best evidenced by the difficulties he had to meet, and the final result of the war which pervaded his whole administration, lie bargaiped only for a peaceful rule like that of his predecessor. If he could have lorseen the magnitude of the task that was before him, he might well have shrank from the trial, lie would have been a bold man who, wi'li such fore knowledge, would willingly have taken the helm in such a storm as howled around him on bis advent, an 1 straiue-l the tim bers of the ship-of. lain for so many loiiif and weary years. To hi in the place,how ever exalted and honorable, was one ol j anxious and a steeple s care. No man | can tell how much of agony it cost a beaVt bke his. It is to that point of bis yareer however, that our inquiries am to be directed, if we would know the man. The history of the great rebellion, com prehending all or nearly all of bis pub lic life. is emphatically hit history. It be.run and ended with Ins a mini-(ration of the Government, lie succeeded to a divided sceptre. He lived just long enough tore unite the broken fragments —to re plant the starry banner Ol' our fathers on the battlements whence trea son had expelled ii—to i-ee the arch apostate, .vho had selueed a third part of the States from their allegiance, a wau dcrsr and a I'ugative—and to leave his successor a once more-undivided I'nion. With this t-I.aider preparation however and with no previous training iu tho uiyst. lies of 'government, he was transla ted to the Federal Cap tol in the most eventful crisis of our history,lntake upon j bis shoulder.-such a burthen of rosp n- . sibdity as no president bef>re him. hil i ever been called upon to bear. The is sas-in lurked upoti bis path. Ai>ea iy I the Southern h in-.u wa red v Ui ie | tires ot incipient rebellion. Already I State after State encouraged either by j the premeditated troasou, or the helpless p>il it hini mity id the iiiisera le inibeed j who stood pale aud trembling at the I Capital, had shot madly from its orbit.— The strongholds of the I'nion, cms ru t ed at great expense for the protection of tho South, has beeu either seized by vio lence, or basely surrendered by tlnfir gar risons. Tho seat of our Na ional Gov ernment was reeking with disloyal,y,— Wlilo treason was the badge of respecta bility there, ilepublicani*ni was tabooed as something-that was only vulgar and vile 'the llureatrs of the several lit p irtmcnt? were swarming with malign silts who were looking anxiously ill the direc tion of the South for an irruption of the rebel hordes, and ready to surrender the keys of their offices on the first summons of the ptiblic enemy. There was no di lection in which the President could turn for support, in the contingency of any concerted movement to prevent his man guration. The army, inconsiderable in itself, had been detached to distant can ton incuts where it could afford no aid, and was sure to become an easy pray. — Its officers—the ckve* of our military school—the most of Southern birtb, but some of Northern origin, debauched by their associations, or with naturally sla vish instincts aud unbounded admiration for Southern institutions aud Southern men, were generally disaffected to the Union, whose bread they ate, and whose flag they were sworn to defend. Mot a ship of war was to be found upon our coast; not a soldier at the Capital to de fend the person of the Chief .Magistrate of the country, except, perhaps, a slen der escort, of more than doubtful loyalty, improvised for the urgent importunity of men who realized the danger of a coup d'etat, as the Dew President himself did not. There was nothing, in fact, but the mere prestige of the office, the habitual respect f<»r ihe person of the Chief Magis trate. ana the probable re action that would ensue upou any demonstration of violence, and, above all, the well under stood determination of the thousands of brave men who were assembled there from tho freo States, secretely armed and ready for such emergency, to prevent or punish any attempt that might be made on the life of the President. And yet he did not shrink from the ordeal, but there, ou the steps of the Capitol, under the Ida zing sun-light, in the presence of all that innumerable concourse, aud iu the hear ing of a listening world, in terms of kindness, aud not of menace, but wilh a seriousness aud solemnity that were not to be mistaken, he proclaimed his firm aud unalterable determination to employ all the powers vested iu him by the Con stitution. in maintaining the integrity and inviolability of the Union, f'roui sea to sea, and from the lakes to the gulf, and restoring to its authority every State and fortress that had been wrested from it by the hands of treason. Rebellion already organized and armed, and confident of it - superior powers, received the 'announce ment with derisive laughter.as but an idle vaunt ou the part of a President who was without a soldier or a ship to batter down the vory feeblest of its strongholds. lh knew that there was an army iu the fields and Work shops of the north, which on ly awaited his call to do this woik. A million of stalwart men sprang to their arms upon his summons, and ttie pledge was redeemed. The boastful chivalry went dowu before the sturdy arms and stormy valor of the lifen they had so fool ishly despised : and where are they now who laughed to scorn the admonitions of that day, and arrogantly proclaimed to thc r deluded followers, that the capital of the nation, and Ihe rich spoils of the opulent and crowded cities of the North should be given to their victorious arms? 1 hey have found only a grave, where they meditated an easy conquest. Hut Abra ham Lin-iln lived to see his pledge-i'ul ti led. II is Work was done, aud he too sleeps with bis Fathers. It had cost many priceless lives to do that, work. It was to be consummated by the saci ificc of bis own—tho mo- t priceless perhaps of all. ! demon which lie exorcised was to collect al\ Ins remaining streugth into one expiring bluw at tin head of his destroy er its he fled howling, all 1 in despair, from the seat of bis long cherished, but now forever lost don.;u'iju upon earth.— Ibe final caia-trophc \i j n precise keep ing with tho whole spirt, 0 p t |, e bloody drama which it .concluded llcgintiiii"' in treason, with pt»rjury and -obbery. and starvation anil murder, as its maids it could not have ended more than in ihe cruel, aud ciwardly. uh| ~J voi g f'ul as-assin of the lioroio wli i bad stricken down tho sacrilegioV, hand that was lifted against tho nation's life. iMisreublo and short sighted re venge ! Ihe blow which prostrated our honored chief, while it made no interreg num. and paralyzed no norvo of the (Jov crument, has been his apotheosis. Tho ban 1 of the assassin is already cold. A swift retribution has overtaken Ihe mis creant who was put upon this work, while tho hands of justice are already laid upon the highest of its guilty authors, ami the avenger of bio d is tracking his aceoiu plicS to their retreal. Hut they oj will not altogether die. The obscurity that. t ,v ey might well pray for, is no! for sueh its iheui. There can bo no oblivion for sin 11 a parjicido. 1 lio fla-.li <>i' 111 at I:•*- lal pistol in tlio Xiicatre at Washington, which j-ent its loviltm content.-) crushing through the brains of our honore I magis trate, will blaze around them like the of I lie a-as lis' il t._ jers that soitjthl | In' great bents >1 Henry of Navarre. ..ml the heroic Prince of Orange, and :i in luir hi urories dow i, from »ga to ! - j'-, I iir 'U r ',b i i.e lon ; com.lons oi bis it was a .1 .-ailvant.ioe. too, of no small i moment to an untried man, to find Itiin i .« 'f s.i ».mm cd by c.iuu ell it's oi' iia r re j pate, who had either nothing to propose, I o, doubled the power or rightfulness of J coercion in a Uovernmeii' like this, or nought that even separation itself was oeiter than war, or Imped to'patch up an ignoble irace, by compromising the ques i."ii in i-i ire, in. J.iiii hing addition ii and |ci I'l tu d ga ii.intc ' to (be insen jihie ill.ere whiell ha t (Mm t to lospise even I lie priviieg' i iu in:; ih.s nation, a-.i lit i done bcl . It will cane.y l-e believed hi In.iin 'iiii. .i■ ■ w many there wens, enjoy i;.e rcpo ns of States men, who w re coliiui t ■ I t • onu or other of these opinion. IJiit while the ipies tion hung suspeinle I he; ween these eou dieting views, although every concession had been proposed, and every effort to ward compromise hid failed, ami while tne nation was sweatiu mortal agony, with seven States defying its autnority, and formidable batteries rising from day hi day under the shadow of our own guns, ar mi I our l-'oi tiesess iu ( ha leston bar bor, the knot was happily united by the imia'icnt hands of the conspirators them selves. To secure the cooperation of the States that still stoi.il hesitating, it was deemed necessary "to fire the South ern heart by some tufttplous act of vio lence, that should dig an iiupMaibk gulf between them and ns; and their gnus wore accordingly trained amid the sounds of revelry, and the exultant huzzas of an intoxicated populace, upon the old that was still floating over the ieebie gar rison of Sumpter. It was a gay tourney for tair lailies and gallant knights—an easy victory, but a .short lived truiuph.— the waits ot Sumpter crumbled under the terrific storm lhat burst upon them from the hundred iroui throats that gir dled them around as with a cataract of fire, and its garrison gnccuml ed. But the echoes of those guns lighted up a flame in the colder North that melted down all party ties with more than furnace heat, aud was only to be extinguished in the blood of the fuoLs aud madmen who hud* been taught by their Northern auxiliaries to look for no such answer to their defi ant challenge. Tlwj President could hesi tate no longer. .Menace aud iusult had developed into open war, and the time had uow come to redeem the pledge that he had made, by summoning the free meu of America to defend their flag.— lie called, and such an answer was re turned as no people had ever bofore given to the summons of its Chief, t rinii town aud country, from the lumbermen of the pine woods of the Madawaska to the trappers of the upper Missouri, and the gold huuters of the more distant Sierras, as the revei beiatious of that trumpet bla*t leaped from mountain to mountaiu, and pealed over the great plaius and along the uughty rivers of the laod, the old, the middle agetf, and the young, with one common impulse, ajid without distinction ol party or of creed, wilh but a hurried farewell to wife and children and home, Were seen thronging the iron highways to j their respective capitals and Legging for the- privilege of enrolling themselves i amount he del'euders <j their country, and dying, if need be, under the shadow of its flag. It was no monarch's battle. It was their own honored and glorious ban ner, the symbol alike to their power and their privileges,.that had beeu insulted and defied. Away with tho idea of cau tion aud slow resolve, when such huge iuterestsare at stake. That is for diplo matists and strategists. Men do not stop to calculate the odds, the chances, or the tiaugers. when it is a question of resent ing contumely, or defending the object of their love. They did not wait to be schooled top souse of their interests, or duties, or the necessities of the times any more than to the knowledge or the use of arms. fo affirm, as has not been unusual in high places, that they require to be educated by I heir rulers up io tin level ol such an occasion, is tore the whole experience of (hit mem arable di \. whose manifestations too., the doubling ijy surprise, and so utterly confomide i all the calculations of the few amongst ourselvis who looked for, aud hail promised i ait'i ded North, The call itself wis bu: a re spouse to the popular desire, which hi I anticipated it. Tho answer wi au as;u ranee to the Government that it would be sustained in every measure of severity that the crisis might demand. Hut it was a still greater disadvantage to the ui'tf I xecutive :liat the full import ol this rebellion was jjot even eouipre bended by many of those to whom he was expected to look for advice, in a crisis where ihe ordiuary responsibilities ol the oiiiee were so much enlarge 1. Althouoii its causes, its history, ind its objects were obviously sucii as to render a compromise impossible—although tiio le;iiieis of the olt had voluntarily abdie ite 1 their pla \ the Government, an 1 gone out fr iui " ' «\u they might have dictate I then- OA n tery^—--.inii although they had eon temptu 11 \. spurue I eve -y overture for n ( g" t 'at">'i\ 1 ,,|( affocte Ino en raiment their deefr ae d an I im .cade b,- t red not only o|V, u . (>iilnii (j . lorm of governX h ~.c w ■sanguine and -re positji ns, who believX h;lt ~, . r(; „ t ,|| M|l could be stipprosse I i.V, l0 , war, but by diplomacy—, strikflllt a- its causes, bul, by igiioriN. | | U . IM uo' bv punishing its autlurs, indul ging thom*—not by a changeVj. UICH . ores, but by a persistence in the Vi icy that had brought it on. In of men like these, every forward stefC fraught with danger. Kven tha s ui\ and obvKius proposition lo repeal tin: li\ iliat made the capital of a free nation the home and market of the slave, and the fruitful nursery of the rebellion itself, was represouted as so full of mischief, at such a time, (hat tho President hiuis.oi was almost staggered by the shadowy forms of tenor that were evoked to May his band. If lie had yielded to them, we should not have read el tho great measure of tiic proclamation lor at least another year, if ever. It met tho same resistance as the other, but the practical good sense of the President, backeiL up aud foitifieil by the hii:li courage and nil answerable logic of a" leist one member of bis < abinet. at length ovei mastered all t ie-e iitlu lues ijid * Li■ eit ciurtor of the lil ick tn i.i \v;,.- iVrodui e I befo'e tlicin an tt tne;', lire iron which he hi lal'ealy pr vaooy detei m 'ue l, u.ioli bis own re s|.'nisi I). oiy to iho II itioii. It is >luo to the jo-. lai no of Abraham Lincoln that die world, instead of d.viding the hfmor ol the act with other possible claimants in future times, should know how little hew. s aided in the task —how much ol opposition be was called upon to nn-el— and how much of moral heroism that ic. involved. It was no tiilliirjt lisadv.intaj ceitainly to a new and unprncticed stall--- man. iu a [xwitionof such unusii il respon nihility to be siirrruudeil with men >1 weak nerves, who had not the courage to face the exigency, which their owe no se.s hinl p. ei ipi I.i ted. 'I he occasion cail ed for mtrepi'i statesmen. I.S well an ;fii erals, who, with a just confidence m h people, instead of stopping to calculate tin possible odds, and betraying a hesitation lha 1-44 ieast resembled fear, an i iherel>y throwiliy away nil the advantages which the possession of the Government gave them, would have struck at mice, and with lightning like rapidity at the very heart ol :lie rebellion, ihe sublime re-pone wnic i lie people bait already made. w. - an .insurance that they conla l>e mi ted. It was a sore trial too for them to see their fiery legions condemned to stagnate iu inglorious repose until, in some inst m oes, their terms of service weie about ex piring, while their very capitol was be leagured by au insolent banditti, whom they could have swept like chaff hetore them. Nogoverumeut in the world could have survived it but our own. audit is no marvel therefore that some of the most eulighteued statesmen of Europe, educa ted io the traditional notion that the dem ocratic idea Was a delusion, and tint a government like ours, though formidable iu external w.ir, was helpless for self-eon servation, and must fall a prey to the first intestine convulsion, aud reasoning from tile abject condition aud low intelligence ol the people around them, should have hurried to recognize the rebels as bedig ereuts, aud staked their reputations on the ppiuion that the great American Repub lic, the wonder and terror of the world, and the standing reproach of all its mon archies, was reut irreparably iu twain.— 1 do not speak of this now as a thing to be regretted. It seems as though, iu the rovideuce rovideuce ot God, it had been intended not ouly to cleause this laud of its great sin, but to confound the unbelievers in the high capabilities aud lofty destinies of our race, by passing us through the iier cest lire, aud coutriviug every possible ; test, even to the final catastrophe of the i assassination of our Federal II ad-Jnr | establish„the great fact of the i man to fcovoru himself, and to uisj',cuse, under all circumstances, with themachin ery of hereditary rule. A differeut pfll icy, by rendering the fci-k an easier and » speedier one, would have left the world aid ourgelves, much to learn of our re sources and capabilities, and much of the barbarism of that institution which il would have left substantially intact, ti breed now rebellions, antl exact new sue lifices from our posterity. It was uuder these influences, strength ened as they were, by an apprehension not apparently removed by tiio enthusi asm with which they responded t<>the call ol the President, that the people were not yet tip to the leal level of tho crisis, ami not prepared for tho adoption of sucli earnest measures if repression as u state of war demanded, that the armies of the Union were brought into the field. Ji was not for tho Chief Magistrate of eourst to direct their operations i,i person, liui his Generals were uiifnrtuua'ely e-ilioi men of Southern birth, or men who ban leen educated in a feeling of prntVun i H'vertii'u Jiir iSoUthern institutions.— With n'in it wasyjm -si pr if. nation t> invade the saered soil of a sovereign ."• ale \\ itli them the treas »n of theii ancient comrades, it nit a chivalrous vir tue, was only tho inflimity of a nubk wind. I'erjury and ingratitude, the black est .and must damning rebellion an' t . achery, the must Wanton and unprovo voke I—implied iii stain upon the person at honor of their enemy, Loiigstn xt and Jackson were models of christian virtu l ljC'i at'l tieanregarit uubletnished spec 111 'tis of elegant and well bred gentle men—every Migrate especially, who had betrayed tho (iovermneot that reared him an honorable man. No "Kind regard' was forfeited by their base defection ; n> hand refused in friendly greeting, though red with a brothers blo.d; no fervorr " (rod Idoss you," left unutteied, because the recipient bad blackened his soul will the fullest mid basest crime that history records. To have opened their camps t'i a loyal negro would have be»n n vinl itioi ot the constitutional rights of bis rebe mister. Knigli ly cour ■<y required hi return, 'lo have be irkene l to the evi donee ho brought of the strength and pi sitioii of the onemy, w mid have boon :i violation of tho rule which disqualified liini as a witness against his master. Iteli exaggerations for purposes of effect, wore more acceptable thari the simple, tin varnished truth from tho lips of a run a way contraband. What success waste S")ho|iel for, with such instrument-;'!—. resident himself both saw and felt 'ficuhy. His patience was severely dcreiil Ut wh lt Wilß 1,0 te ( l° ' W ho or " ci advance, tho weath .Njer too old or too hot—tho mud was ax e\ 112 intolerable. 11 made, it \X , , 4 . , < • 7v one reluctantly, or with a protest H;.''\ ri ,spo„sib,lit/„f a failure was with him.X,. ' , ', , , i . r i \ refused, and be thraat eiieo 11 „. i , \3 officer it was per haps suggested tV ~ , 1 the people would r >, the army or actually chalin witX w . •>>«>' i *| * , Vitience thore i) :iliiinL'rowin'' hi Htrenlk. . , . ' . . . \and the friend •« •>I the tfoveruinODt i in this dilemma, it hcotiiiK' ' ''V 5 *' 1 "- niin r«» 'akt; uj» the otie-ti upy 1 "^ ar 3 112 " , i . vin entire (iiin .c ot iMiiey. I tie -truV i . ~ , , V was a long an Ipalii thi OIK. Il lie #f liberty to c ui-u.t ilie prompt,. nAL , | own niiii I and heart, in i ca-e whX , life of a nation was depending uti h\ eis! hi. il W ;uii( have ell le I as soon lie.niii l iitl his lii i n ■ I caution. iuiH allied by a just cow of his great respoi -iliilily as mi officer, held hi judgniei in abeyaiiQjL ills own good sense, liovt it. triumphed af fast. Unaided bu by ihe'cMtuisels o a faithful \< />. he tool up the casi calculated a'l the elew->nt ihat entcrci into ii, and arrived, by i sirioiy logical process, of winch the step a..- ntw ob»i< us, at the C <ni-!ilsiun tlia tiie icoeil mi eouid only be c nqueriid : ' llie emancipation ut (he slave We pu that result n the shape of a I'roclania tion. and then summoned his Cabino uether, not to mfoi* ••, but to hear whal he had determined. The picture of tin tm.iu/rati'jn over this important doeunien is the merest fancy-piece. The point wa decided by him before met, and then was'do demur, because there was no fur tber room tor objection. Nothing; howcAer, is clearer than th( taotthat it was not the original p'uipose 01 Mr. liiucoiii to interfere with slavery .11 the States. With all his stron. convictions that it was a ciimo that, ii his own terse language, "'if slavery waf not wrong, there was nothing wrong" - his respect for the constitutional right.- of the South was such as to over-iidt his own private sympathies for the bonds man. With him, tiie leading, over-rul ing thought—the idea nearest to hi.- heart —was the preservation of our g!o rious Union, as God's chosen instrument on earth, and the one best fitted, with al its defects, to secure the peace and hap piness of man. The ether question wa; entirely subordinate to (his. He w;r willing— to quote from him c^ain —' t< save the Union, with slavery if he could or i cithnut it, >f he could." His -firs idea encouraged, if not inspired by thi men who had then his confidence, was that it could only be so.ved by teuder ness to that inteaest whose extreme scus ibility to danger—to say no worse of it had brought all these troubels—thes< almost apocalyptic wwis upon the land Under these impressions the, war wa 1 waged for eighteen months in such a wir as to do as little iiarju as possible to that institution, in the hope that the might be conciliated—us they had nevei iieen before —by tffc forbearance of tin (iovernmeot It Was only the current o: eveuts— the failure of this policy —th< tu«l turnished by the great expense, tin tardy progress, and the inadequate resell of the war to the growing discontent oi the friuu^s /if 1 th«s UoveiotiienW ia th< NUMBER 30. North—and the conviction that rite pol icy of saving the Union with slavery, must give way to the oppsite policy, if it was to bo saved at all—that drifted him into tho position assumed for the first tinio in the Proclamation, «Ad maintain ed with unwavering constancy until tho last hour of his life. That he should over have beeu persuaded to believe it possible to conciliate the man who had voluntarily abdicated their places in the Government, only because it was obvi ous that they could no louger,|iope tOvi»l<f it permanently, is to be self down more to theaccauntot his habitual caution, his strong conservative temperament, his del', erenoo to older heads, and his dpsiro to give full scope to HU experiment of an up parently iuconcuous character, enforced by the coun.-els of almost every wait aroun.l hire, than tTT tho convictions of his own unbiased judgment. 'JfliV case w is one ot conflicting sy-'sms and ideas, that might admit of a truce , but of no compr imiso. It would have been but an adjournment of the tjuestiou nntTl tho ant:igmi"tic feces ha: tak n breato for •' I'tsli struggle, -vh.lu tho rebel clement wis stiengt honing itself in tho mean wbile for new aggressions. Tho onforff ed ei iinexion between Liberty and was worse than incestuous. God and nature had decreed an eternal divorco between tlicm. Our father, it is 'tpme hail made the experiment of reconciling tlie-c hostile elements—not, however, un der the modern hallucination that thoy would permanently combine, or coalesce, but only to keep the peace betwoen them, until t lie weaker should disappear. The President had aprehended this, when ho declared that this Government could not be ''halt frir and half slave." Mr. .Se ward himself had comprehended it, when he characterized tho war between the two systemes, as an "irrepressablo confiiot." As well attempt to burn darkness with }ight. Ihe intermingled elements would produce only a disastrous twilight witTi perpetual jars, or as tho one »r other in terest predominated, either deepen into chaotic glooin where the lost spirits are supposed to dwell, or flinh into tho rosy light of liberty. 'lhc Union could ,not li ive been saved ic'th slavery, any more than a man could be made immortal with the seeds of death in his constitution. 1 ho inherent vices of the system were sure to bring about a conflict at last, bu engendering fostering the spirit that in augurated it here, as they were equally sure to give to the Contest itself a charac ter of fierceness and atrocity which has appertained to no modern wjr. It was but a new phase of the old quarrol—as ■II as Government itself—which has diaken the kingdoms and the "h'teny-ar shies of the world, and wes destineo to I'O fought out hero/ upon a wider arena ha.i iiny that the old world could offer, Hit >v.m not comprehende 1, however, by niselves, the governing Classes in huropc,and the advocates of unliiuitod power everywhere, had not failed to un Jerstand it from tlie begiriing. • > The proclamation of freedom was the list decisive measure of tho war It in mgurated a new era, and pr iolaimcd tho purpose of tho government to wrest from he rebels their most effective weapon., if "112. to turn it against thai* r~l • i i , Ihe men... ■- «s f at urst derided »» i mere hrutam fulmni, by those who knew vh it was to be its effect, and dreaded it ice >r lingly. As soon as it be ■ one obvi »us that this mode of attack w>s about k> faii, tho poti'-y of the auxiliary rebel \ -'cs of tho north was changed. One iheir denunciations then, of a maus resented to be fraught with Woe t« hell\ s w ,,manhood and feeble inlancy, and w ith the unutterable horrors of a se; vileV ir Its promulgation wis soon liter foiPyp.j i,y the elections of IHG-', wVi >« an\-ori.hlo results—attribute mi'.y to i'jo pii.'liivfe.'.rihess of the inaction of our ! ■!,, were adroitly placed to the account ~ this thr«: ( teued measure. By those who<iiii not uudcioUnd the tamper of the fres.leut, or lie priJcai# of reas oning by whicil he had reached that point it was gieitiy fe.red that be Would' tatter when the hi.urof tr'.al came- Hut alike regardless of the gloomy uusuries of the timid, and the storm of obloquy and d.e nilnciation th it burst upon hiui from the sympathherS with t,bo rebellion he r e, Tie stood unmoved, and the bolt sped at tho appointed hour and shook tho rebel capi tal to its foundations, as it lodged in tne very heart of the Conlo 'efacy. Dismay sat on every face at Richmond. If a shell had exploded in that paudemoniuuijwliere those dark conspirators against the rights of man were then assembled, a greater consternation could not have followed.— In the midst of "a universal hubbub wild of stunning sounds, and voices all confu sed," like that of ohoas, which "assailed the ear with the loudest vehemence," a dozen members were on their feet at once, with retaliatory propositions of tho wildest and most atrocious character.— Bnt ! f there was gloom thee, thore was joy elsewhere. The great heart of Jb\l nianity dilated at tho tidings. Tho wea ried soldier, stretched by his camp-Sre, and joined till then, in unequal battle, was lifted up and comforted. Four ,-jniJ lious of bondsmen raised their hands to Heaven to call down blessipgo on the head of tho deliverer who V? broken their chains. The .patriot ,fslt that the arm of the country -,va» strength ened at home and abroad »y tho act that had at last vindicated tho solemn triitjj of our immortal Declaration, and placed our < JovjjrnmCnt .puce more in harmony with its own fundamental principles.—. instead of any further necessity of biiin-, bling ourselves, by hnJdiDg out to Fofylgflj powers a ins aoe of emancipation, fca tne signal for a servile war, in order to them from an intervention which ,thqy. never yrould have ventured <?n, and -ifc ■>■s#/ could, without the risk of ruin thetp
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