IN MEMORIAM ALEXANDER GOLDSTEIN outf) Hcafletg. NIL 114. Abraham Lincoln ON War and Peace 1860- 1864 Edited by LAWRENCE V. ROTH. INTRODUCTION. These letters and addresses of Abraham Lincoln relate Imainly to the events and issues of the American Civil War. Inion and slavery, the real significance of the Declaration of [Independence, the purpose of the war, war-time elections, emancipation, labor and the war, women and the war, and the question of compromise and peace, are some of the sub jects touched upon. The same or similar problems, belong ing not .merely to America but to the whole world, are con stantly arising during the great war of the twentieth century. [Our generation, that has to grapple with them anew, can best [appreciate the wisdom, humanity and statesmanship of [Abraham Lincoln. SLAVERY, THE GREAT UNSETTLED PROBLEM. Abstract of speech at Norwich, Conn., March 9, 1860. WHETHER we will or not, the question of slavery is the [question, the all-absorbing topic, of the day. It is true that all of us and by that I mean, not the Republican party [alone, but the whole American people, here and elsewhere jail of us wish the question settled wish it out of the way. It stands in the way and prevents the adjustment and the 773190 giving of necessary attention to other questions of national housekeeping. The people of the whole nation agree that this question ought to be settled, and yet it is not settled. And the reason is that they are not yet agreed how it shall be settled. Again and again it has been fondly hoped that it was settled, but every time it breaks out afresh and more vio lently than ever. It was settled, our fathers hoped, by the Missouri Compromise, but it did not stay settled. Then the compromise of 1850 was declared to be a full and final settle ment of the question. The two great parties, each in national convention, adopted resolutions declaring that the settlement made by the compromise of 1850 was a finality that it vyould. last; fovex r er. Yet how long before it was unsettled again?- iVforoke out again in 1854, and blazed higher and -raged, more ; furiously than ever before, and the agitation rha S -not "tfestfed since. These repeated settlements must have some fault about them. There must be some inadequacy in their very nature to the purpose for which they were designed. We can only speculate as to where that fault that inadequacy is, but we may perhaps profit by past experience. I think that one of the causes of these repeated failures is that our best and greatest men have greatly underestimated the size of this question. They have constantly brought for ward small cures for great sores plasters too small to cover the wound. This is one reason that all settlements have proved so temporary, so evanescent. Look at the magnitude of this subject. About one-sixth of the whole population of the United States are slaves. The owners of the slaves consider them property. The effect upon the minds of the owners is that of property, and nothing else it induces them to insist upon all that will favorably affect its value as property, to demand laws and institutions and a public policy that shall increase and secure its value, and make it durable, lasting, and universal. The effect on the minds of the owners is to persuade them that there is no wrong in it. But here in Connecticut and at the North slavery does not exist, and we see it through no such medium. To us it appears natural to think that slaves are human beings; men, not property; that some of the things, at least, stated about men in the Declaration of Independence apply to them as well as to us. We think slavery a great moral wrong; and while we do not claim the right to touch it where it exists, we wish to treat it as a wrong in the Territories where our votes will reach it. Now these two ideas, the property idea that slavery is right, and the idea that it is wrong, come into collision, and do actually produce that irrepressible con flict which Mr. Seward has been so roundly abused for men tioning. The two ideas conflict, and must conflict. There are but two policies in regard to slavery that can be at all maintained. The first, based upon the property view that slavery is right, conforms to the idea throughout, and demands that we shall do everything for it that we ought to do if it were right. The other policy is one that squares with the idea that slavery is wrong, and it consists in doing every thing that we ought to do if it is wrong. I don t mean that we ought to attack it where it exists. To me it seems that if w r e were to form a government anew, in view of the actual presence of slavery we should find it necessary to frame just such a government as our fathers did giving to the slaveholder the entire control where the system was estab lished, while we possessed the power to restrain it from going outside those limits. Now I have spoken of a policy based upon the idea that slavery is -wrong, and a policy based upon the idea that it is right. But an effort has been made for a policy that shall treat it as neither right nor wrong. Its central idea is in difference. It holds that it makes no more difference to me whether the Territories become free or slave States than whether my neighbor stocks his farm with horned cattle or puts it into tobacco. All recognize this policy, the plausible, sugar-coated name of which is "popular sovereignty." NO COMPROMISE ON SLAVERY EXTENSION. Private letter to E. B. Washburne, Springfield, III., December 13, 1860* My dear Sir: Your long letter received. Prevent, as far as possible, any of our friends from demoralizing themselves and our cause by entertaining propositions for compromise *Written during the "conciliation conference" at Washington that tried to prevent the irrepressible conflict at the eleventh hour. of any sort on "slavery extension." There is no possible compromise upon it but which puts us under again, and leaves all our work to do over again. Whether it be a Mis souri line or Eli Thayer s popular sovereignty, it is all the same. Let either be done, and immediately filibustering and extending slavery recommences. On that point hold firm, as with a chain of steel. Yours as ever, A. LINCOLN. THE SENTIMENT OF LIBERTY HAS HELD THE UNION TOGETHER. Address In Independence Hall, Philadelphia, February 22, 1861. Mr. Cuyler: I am filled with deep emotion at finding my self standing in this place, where were collected together the wisdom, the patriotism, the devotion to principle, from which sprang the institutions under which we live. You have kindly suggested to me that in my hands is the task of restoring peace to our distracted 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. I have pondered over the toils that were endured by the officers and soldiers of the army who 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 separation of the colonies from the motherland, but that sentiment in the Declaration of Independence which gave liberty not alone to the people of this country, but hope to all the world, for all future time. It was that which gave promise that in due time the weights would be lifted from the shoulders of all men, and that all should have an equal chance. This is the sentiment embodied in the Declaration of Independence. Now, my friends, can this country be saved on that basis? If it can, I will consider myself one of 5 the happiest men in the world if I can help to save it. If it cannot be saved upon that principle, it will 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. Now, in my view of the pres ent aspect of affairs, there is no need of bloodshed and war. There is no necessity for it. I am not in favor of such a course; and I may say in advance that there will be no bloodshed unless it is forced upon the government. The government will not use force, unless force is used against it. My friends, this is wholly an unprepared speech. I did not expect to be called on to say a word when I came here. I supposed I was merely to do something toward raising a flag. I may, therefore, have said something indiscreet. (Cries of "No, no.") But I have said nothing but what I am willing to live by, and, if it be the pleasure of Almighty God, to die by. "MY PARAMOUNT OBJECT IN THIS STRUGGLE IS TO SAVE THE Letter to Horace Greeley * Executive Mansion, Washington, AugUSt 22, 1862. Dear Sir: I have just read yours of the I9th addressed to myself through the New York Tribune. If there be in it any statements or assumptions of fact which I may know to be erroneous, I do not, now and here, controvert them. If there be in it any inferences which I may believe to be falsely drawn, I do not, now and here, argue against them. If there be perceptible in it an impatient and dictatorial tone, I waive it in deference to an old friend whose heart I have always supposed to be right. As to the policy I "seem to be pursuing," as you say, I have not meant to leave any one in doubt. I would save the Union. I would save it the shortest way under the Constitution. The sooner the national authority can be restored, the nearer the Union will be "the Union as it was." If there be those who would not save the Union *Reply to Horace Greeley s open letter to Lincoln published in the New York Tribune of August 20, under the title, "The Prayer of Twenty Millions." Greeley and other radicals believed the question of slavery to be the only issue of the war. unless they could at the same time save slavery, I do not agree with them. If there be those who would not save the Union unless they could at the same time destroy slavery, I do not agree with them. My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves, I would do it; and if I could save it by free ing some and leaving others alone, I would also do that. What I do about slavery and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union; and what I forbear, I forbear because I do not believe it would help to save the Union. I shall do less whenever I shall believe what I am doing hurts the cause, and I shall do more whenever I shall believe doing more will help the cause. I shall try to correct errors when shown to be errors, and I shall adopt new views so fast as they shall appear to be true views. I have here stated my purpose according to my view of official duty; and I intend no modification of my oft-ex pressed personal wish that all men everywhere could be free. Yours, A. LINCOLN. GOD CANNOT BE FOR AND AGAINST. Meditation on the divine will, September, 1862. The will of God prevails. In great contests each party claims to act in accordance with the will of God. Both may be, and one must be, wrong. God cannot be for and against the same thing at the same time. In the present civil war it is quite possible that God s purpose is something different from the purpose of either party; and yet the human in strumentalities, working just as they do, are of the best adaptation to effect his purpose. I am almost ready to say that this is probably true; that God wills this contest, and wills that it shall not end yet. By his mere great power on the minds of the now contestants, he could have either saved or destroyed the Union without a human contest. Yet the contest began. And, having begun, he could give the final victory to either side any day. Yet the contest proceeds, WANT ONLY MEN WHOSE HEARTS ARE IN THE STRUGGLE. Letter to General Carl Schurz, Executive Mansion, Washing ton, November 24, 1862. My dear Sir: I have just received and read your letter of the 2Oth. The purport of it is that we lost the late elections and the Administration is failing because the war is unsuccessful, and that I must not flatter myself that I am not justly to blame for it. I certainly know that if the war fails, the Administration fails, and that I will be blamed for it, whether I deserve it or not. And I ought to be blamed if I could do better. You think I could do better; therefore you blame me already. I think I could not do better; therefore I blame you for blaming me. I under stand you now to be willing to accept the help of men who are not Republicans, provided they have "heart in it." Agreed. I want no others. But who is to be the judge of hearts, or of "heart in it"? If I must discard my own judg ment and take yours, I must also take that of others; and by the time I should reject all I should be advised to reject, I should have none left, Republicans or others not even yourself. For be assured, my dear sir, there are men who have "heart in it" that think you are performing your part as poorly as you think I am performing mine. . . . Very truly your friend, A. LINCOLN. THE ENGLISH WORKINGMEN SUPPORT THE CAUSE OF FREEDOM. Executive Mansion, Washington, January 19, 1863. To the Working-men of Manchester: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the address and resolutions which you sent me on the eve of the new year. When I came, on the 4th of March, 1861, through a free and constitutional election to preside in the Government of the United States, the country was found at the verge of civil war. What ever might have been the cause, or whosesoever the fault, one duty, paramount to all others, was before me, namely, to maintain and preserve at once the Constitution and the in tegrity of the Federal Republic. A conscientious purpose to perform this duty is the key to all the measures of adminis tration which have been and to all which will hereafter be pursued. Under our frame of government and my official 8 oath, I could not depart from this purpose if I would. It is not always in the power of governments to enlarge or restrict the scope of moral results which follow the policies that they may deem it necessary for the public safety from time to time to adopt. I have understood well that the duty of self-preservation rests solely with the American people; but I have at the same time been aware that favor or disfavor of foreign nations might have a material influence in enlarging or prolonging the struggle with disloyal men in which the country is engaged. A fair examination of history has served to authorize a belief that the past actions and influences of the United States were generally regarded as having been beneficial toward mankind. I have, therefore, reckoned upon the forbearance of nations. Circumstances to some of which you kindly allude induce me especially to expect that if justice and good faith should be practised by the United States, they would encounter no hostile influence on the part of Great Britain. It is now a pleasant duty to acknowledge the demonstration you have given of your desire that a spirit of amity and peace toward this country may prevail in the councils of your Queen, who is respected and esteemed in your own country only more than she is by the kindred nation which has its home on this side of the Atlantic. I know and deeply deplore the sufferings which the work ing-men at Manchester, and in all Europe, are called to endure in this crisis. It has been often and studiously rep resented that the attempt to overthrow this government, which was built upon the foundation of human rights, and to substitute for it one which should rest exclusively on the basis of human slavery, was likely to obtain the favor of Europe. Through the action of our disloyal citizens, the working-men of Europe have been subjected to severe trials, for the purpose of forcing their sanction to that attempt. Under the circumstances, I cannot but regard your decisive utterances upon the question as an instance of sublime Christian heroism which has not been surpassed in any age or in any country. It is indeed an energetic and reinspiring assurance of the inherent power of truth, and of the ultimate and universal triumph of justice, hu- manitv and freedom. I do not doubt that the sentiments you have expressed will be sustained by your great nation; and, on the other hand, I have no hesitation in assuring you that they will excite admiration, esteem and the most reciprocal feelings of friendship among the American people. I hail this interchange of sentiment, therefore, as an augury that whatever else may happen, whatever misfortune may befall your country or my own, the peace and friendship which now exist between the two nations will be, as it shall be my desire to make them, perpetual. ABRAHAM LINCOLN. LINCOLN ACKNOWLEDGES GRANT S SUPERIOR MILITARY JUDGMENT. Letter to General Grant, Executive Mansion, July 13, 1863. My Dear General: I do not remember that you and I ever met personally. I write this now as a grateful acknowledgment for the almost inestimable service you have done the country. I wish to say a word further. When you first reached the vicinity of Vicksburg, I thought you should do what you finally did march the troops across the neck, run the batteries with the transports, and thus go below; and I never had any faith, except a general hope that you knew better than I, that the Yazoo Pass expedi tion and the like could succeed. When you got below and took Port Gibson, Grand Gulf, and vicinity, I thought you should go down the river and join General Banks, and when you turned northward, east of the Big Black, I feared it was a mistake. I now wish to make the personal ac knowledgment that you were right and I was wrong. Yours very truly, A. LINCOLN. HOW THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION WAS ISSUED. Account related to F. B. Carpenter, February 6, 1864* "It had got to be," said he [Lincoln], in midsummer, 1862. "Things had gone on from bad to worse, until I felt that we had reached the end of our rope on the plan of opera- *Six Months at the White House with Abraham Lincoln, by F. B. Car penter. New York, 1866, pp. 20-23. 10 tions we had been pursuing; that we had about played our last card, and must change our tactics, or lose the game. I now determined upon the adoption of the emancipation policy; and without consultation with, or the knowledge of, the Cabinet, I prepared the original draft of the procla mation, and, after much anxious thought, called a Cabinet meeting upon the subject. [The exact date was July 22, 1862.] All were present excepting Mr. Blair, the Post master-General, who was absent at the opening of the dis cussion, but came in subsequently. I said to the Cabinet that I had resolved upon this step, and had not called them together to ask their advice, but to lay the subject-matter of a proclamation before them, suggestions as to which would be in order after they had heard it read. Mr. Love- joy was in error when he informed you that it excited no comment excepting on the part of Secretary Seward. Vari ous suggestions were offered. Secretary Chase wished the language stronger in reference to the arming of the blacks. "Mr. Blair, after he came in, deprecated the policy on the ground that it would cost the administration the fall elections. Nothing, however, was offered that I had not already fully anticipated and settled in my own mind, until Secretary Seward spoke. He said in substance, Mr. Presi dent, I approve of the proclamation, but I question the ex pediency of its issue at this juncture. The depression of the public mind, consequent upon our repeated reverses, is so great that I fear the effect of so important a step. It may be viewed as the last measure of an exhausted gov ernment, a cry for help; the government stretching forth its hands to Ethiopia, instead of Ethiopia stretching forth her hands to the government. His idea," said the Presi dent, "was that it would be considered our last shriek on .the retreat." (This was his precise expression.) " Now, con tinued Mr. Seward, while I approve the measure, I sug gest, sir, that you postpone its issue until you can give it to the country supported by military success, instead of issuing it, as would be the case now, upon the greatest disasters of the war. " Mr. Lincoln continued: "The wis dom of the view of the Secretary of State struck me with very great force. It was an aspect of the case that, in all my thought upon the subject, I had entirely overlooked. The result was that I put the draft of the proclamation II aside, as you do your sketch for a picture, waiting for a victory. "From time to time I added or changed a line, touching it up here and there, anxiously watching the progress of events. Well, the next news we had was of Pope s disaster at Bull Run. Things looked darker than ever. Finally came the week of the battle of Antietam. I determined to wait no longer. The news came, I think, on Wednesday, that the advantage was on our side. I was then staying at the Soldiers Home (three miles out of Washington). Here I finished writing the second draft of the preliminary proclamation; came up on Sunday; called the Cabinet to gether to hear it and it was published on the following Monday." Remarks on closing a sanitary fair in Washington, March 18, 1864. Ladies and Gentlemen: I appear to say but a word. This extraordinary war in which we are engaged falls heavily upon all classes of people, but the most heavily upon the soldier. For it has been said, all that a man hath will he give for his life; and while all contribute of their substance, the soldier puts his life at stake, and often yields it up in his country s cause. The highest merit, then, is due to the soldier. In this extraordinary war, extraordinary developments have manifested themselves, such as have not been seen in former wars; and amongst these manifestations nothmg has been more remarkable than these fairs for the reTTeTot suffering soldiers and their families. And the chief agents in these fairs are the women of America. I am not accustomed to the use of language of eulogy; I have never studied the art of paying compliments to women; but I must say, that if all that has been said by orators and poets since the creation of the world in praise of women were applied to the women of America, it would not do them justice for their conduct during this war. I will close by saying, God bless the women of America. 12 LABOR AND THE WAR. From Lincoln s letter accepting honorary membership in the Workingmen s Association of New York, March 21, 1864. None are so deeply interested to resist the present re bellion as the working people. Let them beware of preju dice, working division and hostility among themselves. The most notable feature of a disturbance in your city last sum mer was the hanging of some working people by other working people. It should never be so. The strongest bond of human sympathy, outside of the family relation, should be one uniting all working people, of all nations, and tongues, and kindreds. Nor should this lead to a war upon property, or the owners of property. Property is the fruit of labor; property is desirable; is a positive good in the world. That some should be rich shows that others may become rich, and hence is just encouragement to industry and enterprise. Let not him who is houseless pull down the house of another, but let him work dili gently and build one for himself, thus by example assur ing that his own shall be safe from violence when built. EMANCIPATION/ AND COLORED TROOPS. Letter to A. G. Hodges, Executive Mansion, April 4, 1864. My dear Sir: You ask me to put in writing the substance of what I verbally said the other day in your presence, to Governor Bramlette and Senator Dixon. It was about as follows: "I am naturally antislavery. If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong. I cannot remember when I did not so think and feel, and yet I have never understood that the presidency conferred upon me an unrestricted right to act officially upon this judgment and feeling. It was in the oath I took that I would, to the best of my ability, pre serve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States. I could not take the office without taking the oath. Nor was it my view that I might take an oath to get power, and break the oath in using the power. I under stood, too, that in ordinary civil administration this oath even forbade me to practically indulge my primary abstract 13 judgment on the moral question of slavery. I had publicly declared this many times, and in many ways. And I aver that, to this day, I have done no official act in mere defer ence to my abstract judgment and feeling on slavery. I did understand, however, that my oath to preserve the Con stitution to the best of my ability imposed upon me the duty of preserving, by every indispensable means, that government that nation, of which that Constitution was the organic law. Was it possible to lose the nation and yet preserve the Constitution? By general law, life and limb must be protected, yet often a limb must be ampu tated to save a life; but a life is never wisely given to save a limb. I felt that measures otherwise unconstitutional might become lawful by becoming indispensable to the pres ervation of the Constitution through the preservation of the nation. Right or wrong, I assumed this ground, and now avow it. I could not feel that, to the best of my ability, I had even tried to preserve the Constitution, if, to save slavery or any minor matter, I should permit the wreck of government, country, and Constitution all together. When, early in the war, General Fremont attempted mili tary emancipation, I forbade it, because I did not then think it an indispensable necessity. When, a little later, General Cameron, then Secretary of War, suggested the arming of the blacks, I objected because I did not yet think it an indispensable necessity. When, still later, General Hunter attempted military emancipation, I again forbade it, because I did not yet think the indispensable necessity had come. When in March and May and July, 1862, I made earnest and successive appeals to the border States to favor compensated emancipation, I believed the indis pensable necessity for military emancipation and arming the blacks would come unless averted by that measure. They declined the proposition, and I was, in my best judg ment, driven to the alternative of either surrendering the Union, and with it the Constitution, or of laying strong hand upon the colored element. I chose the latter. In choosing it, I hoped for greater gain than loss; but of this, I was not entirely confident. More than a year of trial now shows no loss by it in our foreign relations, none in our home popular sentiment, none in our white military force no loss by it anyhow or anywhere. On the con- 14 trary it shows a gain of quite a hundred and thirty thousand soldiers, seamen, and laborers. These are palpable facts, about which, as facts, there can be no caviling. We have the men; and we could not have had them without the measure. "And now let any Union man who complains of the measure test himself by writing down in one line that he is for subduing the rebellion by force of arms; and in the next, that he is for taking these hundred and thirty thousand men from the Union side, and placing them where they would be but for the measure he condemns. If he cannot face his case so stated, it is only because he cannot face the truth." I add a word which was not in the verbal conversation. In telling this tale I attempt no compliment to my own sagacity. I claim not to have controlled events, but confess plainly that events have controlled me. Now, at the end of three years struggle, the nation s condition is not what either party, or any man, devised or expected. God alone, can claim it. Whither it is tending seems plain. If God now wills the removal of a great wrong, and wills also that we of the North, as well as you of the South, shall pay fairly for our complicity in that wrong, impartial history will find therein new cause to attest and revere the justice and goodness of God. Yours truly, A. LINCOLN. LETTER TO GENERAL U. S. GRANT. Executive Mansion, April 30, 1864* Lieutenant-General Grant: Not expecting to see you again before the spring campaign opens, I wish to express in this way my entire satisfaction with what you have done up to this time, so far as I understand it. The particulars of your plans I neither know nor seek to know. You are vigilant and self-reliant; and, pleased with this, I wish not to obtrude any constraints or restraints upon you. While I am very anxious that any great disaster or capture of our men in great numbers shall be avoided, I know these points are Lincoln reflects the spirit of confidence in Grant. He was given the command of all the armies of the North in March, 1864. 5 less likely to escape your attention than they would be mine. If there is anything wanting which is within my power to give, do not fail to let me know it. And now, with a brave army and a just cause, may God sustain you. Yours very truly, A. LINCOLN. From speech at a sanitary fair in Philadelphia, Pa., June 16, 1864. War, at the best, is terrible, and this war of ours, in its magnitude and in its duration, is one of the most terrible. It has deranged business, totally in many localities, and partially in all localities. It has destroyed property and ruined homes; it has produced a national debt and taxation unprecedented, at least in this country; it has carried mourn ing to almost every home, until it can almost be said that the "heavens are hung in black." It is a pertinent question, often asked in the mind pri vately, and from one to the other, when is the war to end? Surely I feel as deep an interest in this question as any other can; but I do not wish to name a day, a month, or year, when it is to end. I do not wish to run any risk of seeing the time come without our being ready for the end, for fear of disappointment because the time had come and not the end. We accepted this war for an object, a worthy object, and the war will end when that object is attained. Under God, I hope it never will end until that time. Speaking of the present campaign, General Grant is reported to have said, "I am going through on this line if it takes all summer." This war has taken three years; it was begun or accepted upon the line of restoring the national authority over the whole national domain, and for the American people, as far as my knowledge enables me to speak, I say we are going through on this line if it takes three years more. My friends, I did not know but that I might be called upon to say a few words before I got away from here, but I did not know it was coming just here. I have never been in the habit of making predictions in regard to the war, i6 but I am almost tempted to make one. If I were to hazard it, it is this: That Grant is this evening, with General Meade and General Hancock, and the brave officers and soldiers with him, in a position from whence he will never be dislodged until Richmond is taken; and I have but one single proposition to put now, and perhaps I can best put it in the form of an interrogative. If I shall discover that General Grant and the noble officers and men under him can be greatly facilitated in their work by a sudden pouring forward of men and assistance, will you give them to me? Are you ready to march? (Cries of "Yes.") Then I say, Stand ready, for I am watching for the chance. I thank you, gentlemen. PEACE PROPOSITIONS. Letter to Horace Greeley, Washington, D.C., July p, 1864.. Dear Sir: Your letter of the 7th, with inclosures, received. If you can find any person, anywhere, professing to have any proposition of Jefferson Davis in writing, for peace, embracing the restoration of the Union and abandon ment of slavery, whatever else It embraces, say to him he may come to me with you; and that if he really brings such proposition, he shall at the least have safe conduct with the paper (and without publicity, if he chooses) to the point where you shall have met him. The same if there be two or more persons. Yours truly, A. LINCOLN. TELEGRAM TO GENERAL U. S. GRANT. Executive Mansion, Washington, D.C., August 17, 1864, 10.30 a.m. Lieutenant-General Grant, City Point, Fa.: I have seen your despatch expressing your unwillingness to break your hold where you are. Neither am I willing. Hold on with a bulldog grip, and chew and choke as much as possible. "NO SMALL MATTER SHOULD DIVERT US FROM OUR GREAT PURPOSE." Address to the i6^.th Ohio Regiment, August 18, 1864. Soldiers: You are about to return to your homes and your friends, after having, as I learn, performed in camp 17 a comparatively short term of duty in this great contest. I am greatly obliged to you, and to all who have come forward at the call of their country. I wish it might be more generally and universally understood what the country is now engaged in. We have, as all will agree, a free gov ernment, where every man has a right to be equal with every other man. In this great struggle, this_ form of gov ernment and every form of human right is endangered if our enemies succeed. There is more involved in this contest than is realized by every one. There is involved in this struggle the question whether your children and my children shall enjoy the privileges we have enjoyed. I say this in order to impress upon you, if you are not already so impressed, that no small matter should divert us from our great purpose. There may be some inequalities in the practical appli cation of our system. It is fair that each man shall pay taxes in exact proportion to the value of his property; but if we should wait before collecting a tax, to adjust the taxes upon each man in exact proportion with every other man, we should never collect any tax at all. There may be mistakes made sometimes; things may be done w r rong, while the officers of the government do all they can to prevent mistakes. But I beg of you, as citizens of this great republic, not to let your minds be carried off from the great work we have before us. This struggle is too large for you to be diverted from it by any small matter. When you return to your homes, rise up to the height of a generation of men worthy of a free government, and we will carry out the great work we have commenced. I re turn to you my sincere thanks, soldiers, for the honor you have done me this afternoon. ELECTIONS IN TIME OF WAR. Response to a serenade, November io } 1864.. It has long been a grave question whether any govern ment not too strong for the liberties of its people, can be strong enough to maintain its existence in great emergencies. On this point the present rebellion brought our republic to a severe test, and a presidential election occurring in i8 regular course during the rebellion, added not a little to the strain. If the loyal people united were put to the utmost of their strength by the rebellion, must they not fail when divided and partially paralyzed by a political war among themselves? But the election was a necessity. We cannot have free government without elections; and if the re bellion could force us to forego or postpone a national election, it might fairly claim to have already conquered and ruined us. The strife of the election is but human nature practically applied to the facts of the case. What has occurred in this case must ever recur in similar cases. Human nature will not change. In any future great national trial, compared with the men of this, we shall have as weak and as strong, as silly and as wise, as bad and as good. Let us, therefore, study the incidents of this as philosophy to learn wisdom from, and none of them as wrongs to be revenged. But the election, along with its incidental and undesirable strife, has done good too. It has demon strated that a people s government can sustain a national election in the midst of a great civil war. Until now, it has not been known to the world that this was a possi bility. It shows, also, how sound and how strong we still are. It shows that, even among candidates of the same party, he who is most devoted to the Union and most opposed to treason can receive most of the people s votes. It shows, also, to the extent yet known, that we have more men now than we had when the war began. Gold is good in its place, but living, brave, patriotic men are better than gold. ( A N Oto 5 ^ LETTER TO MRS. BIXBY OF BOSTON. * Executive Mansion, November 21, 1864.. Dear Madam : I have been shown in the files of the War Department a statement of the Adjutant-General of Massa chusetts 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 19 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. Y<>urs very sincerely and respectfully, ABRAHAM LINCOLN. OTHER OLD SOUTH LEAFLETS on Abraham Lincoln are as follows: No. n, Lincoln s Inaugurals, Emancipation Procla mation and Gettysburg Address; No. 85, The First Lincoln and Douglas Debate, 1858, and Lincoln s Farewell Address at Springfield, 1861; No. 107, Lincoln s Cooper Institute Address, 1860; No. 189, Lincoln s First Message to Con gress, July 4, 1861; No. 213, Charles de Montalembert, The Triumph of the Union, 1865. The best edition of Lincoln s works, and the most detailed biography, .is by his secretaries, J. G. Nicolay and John Hay. There are several volumes of additional letters by various editors. Lord Charnwood s Life of Lincoln (1916) is the best brief biography of Abraham Lincoln and one of the best biographies of any American. THE OLD SOUTH LEAFLETS are a series of reprints of his torical narratives, speeches, documents and other writings relating to the history of America, and of Liberty. They are published under the editorial supervision of S. E. Mori- son, Ph.D., by THE OLD SOUTH ASSOCIATION, Old South Meeting-house, Boston, Massachusetts, where they may be obtained at five cents the copy, four dollars the hundred, or in bound volumes, twenty-five numbers in each, one dollar and a half. A catalogue of the series will be for warded upon request. UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY BERKELEY Return to desk from which borrowed. This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. 2 r < LIBRARY USE JAN 3 1964 70ct 56CB REC D LD REC D LD 13*63 -6PM LD 21-100m-9, 47(A5702sl6)476 Photomount Pamphlet Binder Gaylord Bros. Makers Syracuse, N. Y. PAT. JAM 21,1908 YB 773190 .H- f UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY