free society is such that when he knows he can better his condition, he knows that there is no fixed condition of labour for his whole life. I am not ashamed to confess that twenty-five years ago I was a hired labourer, mauling rails, at work on a flat-boat-just what might happen to any poor man's son. I want every man to have the chance —and I believe a black man is entitled to it— in which he can better his condition; when he may look forward and hope to be a hired labourer this year, and the next work for himself afterward, and finally to hire men to work for him. That is the true system. Up here in New England you have a soil that scarcely sprouts black-eyed beans, and yet where will you find wealthy men so wealthy, and poverty so rarely in extremity? There is not another such place on earth! I desire that if you get too thick here, and find it hard to better your condition on this soil, you may have a chance to strike and go somewhere else, where you may not be degraded, nor have your family corrupted by forced rivalry with negro slaves. I want you to have a clean bed and no snakes in it. Then you can better your condition, and so it may go on and on in one ceaseless round so long as man exists on the face of the earth.

"Now to come back to this shoe strike. If,

as the senator from Illinois asserts, this is caused by the withdrawal of Southern votes, consider briefly how you will meet the difficulty. You have done nothing, and have protested that you have done nothing, to injure the South; and yet to get back the shoe trade you must leave off doing something that you are now doing. What is it? You must stop thinking slavery wrong. Let your institutions be wholly changed; let your State constitutions be subverted; glorify slavery; and so you will get back the shoe trade for what? You have brought owned labour with it to compete with your own labour, to underwork you and to degrade you. Are you ready to get back the trade on those terms?

now.

"But the statement is not correct. You have not lost that trade; orders were never better than Senator Mason, a Democrat, comes into the Senate in homespun: a proof that the dissolution of the Union has actually begun. But orders are the same. Your factories have not struck work, neither those where they make anything for coats, nor for pants, nor for shirts, nor for ladies' dresses. Mr. Mason has not reached the manufacturers who ought to have made him a coat and pants. To make his proof good for anything, he should have come into the Senate barefoot.

"Another bushwhacking contrivance, - simply that, nothing else! I find a good many people who are very much concerned about the loss of Southern trade. Now, either these people are sincere or they are not. I will speculate a little about that. If they are sincere, and are moved by any real danger of the loss of Southern trade, they will simply get their names on the white list, and then instead of persuading Republicans to do likewise, they will be glad to keep you away. Don't you see they are thus shutting off competition? They would not be whispering around to Republicans to come in and share the profits with them. But if they are not sincere, and are merely trying to fool Republicans out of their votes, they will grow very anxious about your pecuniary prospects; they are afraid you are going to get broken up and ruined; they did not care about Democratic votes-oh no, no, no! You must judge which class those belong to whom you meet. I leave it to you to determins from the facts."

HIS LETTER TO HON. GEO. ASHMUN, PRESIDENT, ACCEPTING HIS NOMINATION FOR THE PRESI

DENCY.

May 23, 1860.

I accept the nomination tendered me by the Convention over which you presided, and of which I am formally apprised in the letter of yourself and others, acting as a committee of the Convention for that purpose.

The declaration of principles and sentiments which accompanies your letter, meets my approval; and it shall be my care not to violate or disregard it in any part.

Imploring the assistance of Divine Providence, and with due regard to the views and feelings of all who were represented in the Convention; to the rights of all the States and Territories and people of the nation; to the inviolability of the Constitution; and the perpetual union, harmony, and prosperity of all, I am most happy to cooperate for the practical success of the principles declared by the Convention.

Your obliged friend and fellow-citizen,

A. LINCOLN.

TO THE CITIZENS OF SPRINGFIELD, ON HIS DEPARTURE FOR WASHINGTON.

February 11, 1861.

MY FRIENDS: No one, not in my position, can appreciate the sadness I feel at this parting. To this people I owe all that I am. Here I have lived more than a quarter of a century; here my children were born, and here one of them lies buried. I know not how soon I shall see you again. A duty devolves upon me which is, perhaps, greater than that which has devolved upon any other man since the days of Washington. He never would have succeeded except by the aid of Divine Providence, upon which he at all times relied. I feel that I cannot succeed without the same Divine aid which sustained him, and on the same Almighty Being I place my reliance for support; and I hope you, my friends, will all pray that I may receive that Divine assistance, without which I cannot succeed, but with which success is certain. Again I bid you an affectionate farewell.