sage he assured the South the laws, including the most odious of all the law for the return of fugitive slaveswould be enforced. The South would not hear. Afterward he proposed to purchase the slaves of the border States, but the proposition was hardly discussed—hardly heard. Events came thick and fast; theories gave way to facts, and everything was left to force.

The fact is that he tried to discharge the obligations of his great office, knowing from the first that slavery must perish. The course pursued by Lincoln was so gentle, so kind and persistent, so wise and logical that millions of Northern Democrats sprang to the defense not only of the Union, but of his administration. Lincoln refused to be led or hurried by Freemont or Hunter, by Greeley or Sumner. From first to last he was leader, and he

kept step with events.

On the 22nd of July, 1862, Lincoln called together his Cabinet for the purpose of showing the draft of a proclamation of emancipation, stating to them that he did not wish their advice, as he had made up his mind.

This proclamation was held until some great victory might be acheived, so that it would not appear to be the effect of weakness, but the child of strength.

This was on the 22nd of July, 1862. On the 22nd of August the same Lincoln wrote his celebrated letter to Horace Greely, in which he stated that it was to save the Union; that he would save it with slavery if he could; that if it was necessary to destroy slavery in order to save the Union he would; in other words, he would do what was necessary to save the Union.

This letter disheartened to a great degree thousands and millions of the friends of freedom. They thought

that Mr. Lincoln had not attained the moral height upon which they supposed he stood. And yet when this letter was written the emancipation proclamation was in his hands and had been for thirty days, waiting only an opportunity to give it to the world.

Some two weeks after the letter to Greeley Lincoln was waited on by a committee of clergymen, and was by them informed that it was God's will that he should issue a proclamation of emancipation. He replied to them, in substance, that the day of miracles had passed. He also kindly and mildly suggested that if it were God's will that this proclamation be issued, certainly God would have made known that will to him-to the person whose duty it was to issue it.

On the 22nd day of September, 1862, the most glorious date in the history of the Republic, the Proclamation of Emancipation was issued.

The Extreme Democrat of the North was fearful that slavery might be destroyed, that the Constitution might be broken; and that Lincoln, after all, could not be trusted; and at the same time the radical Republican feared that he loved the Union more than he did liberty.

Lincoln had reached the generlization of all argument upon the question of slavery and freedom- a generalization that never will be excelled:

"In giving freedom to the slave, we assure freedom to the free."

Liberty can be retained, can be enjoyed, only by giving it to others. The spendthrift saves, the miser is the prodigal. He who puts chains upon the body of another shackles his own soul.

In what is now LaRue Co., Kentucky, one and a half miles from Hodgenville, and seven miles from Elizabethtown. The three pear trees were planted by Lincoln's father, and mark the spot near where the house stood. Abraham Lincoln was born February 12, 1809. He resided here only a few years.

The moment the proclamation was issued, the cause of the Republic became sacred. From that moment the North fought for the human race. From that moment the North stood under the blue and stars, the flag of nature-sublime and free.

We were surrounded by enemies. Many of the socalled great in Europe and England were against us. They hated the Republic, despised our institutions, and sought in many ways to aid the South.

Mr. Gladstone announced that Jefferson Davis had made a nation, and that he did not believe the restoration of the American Union by force attainable. It was also declared that the North was fighting for empire and the South for independence.

The Marquis of Salisbury said: "The people of the South are the natural allies of England. The North keeps an opposition shop in the same department of trade as ourselves." Some of their statesmen declared that the subjugation of the South by the North would be a calamity to the world. Louis Napoleon was another enemy, and he endeavored to establish a monarchy in Mexico, to the end that the great North might be destroyed. But the patience, the uncommon sense, the statesmanship of Lincoln-in spite of foreign hate and Northern division-triumphed over all.

LINCOLN WAS, BY NATURE, A DIPLOMAT.

He un

He knew the art of sailing a gainst the wind. derstood, not only the rights of individuals, but of nations. In all his correspondence with other governments he neither wrote nor sanctioned a line which afterward was

used to tie his hands. In the use of perfect English he easily rose above all his advisers and all his fellows.

No one claims that Lincoln did all. He could have done nothing without the great and splendid generals in the field; and the generals could have done nothing without their armies. The praise is due to all-to the private as much as to the officer; to the lowest who did his duty, as much as to the highest. But Lincoln stood at the center and directed all.

Slavery was the cause of the war, and slavery was the perpetual stumbling-block. As the war went on, question after question arose-questions that could not be answered by theories. Should we hand back the slave to his master, when the master was using his slave to destroy the Union? If the South was right, slaves were property, and by the laws of war anything that might be used to the advantage of the enemy might be confiscated by us. Events did not wait for discussion, General Butler denominated the negro as "a contraband." Congress provided that the property of the rebels might be confiscated.

Lincoln moved along this line. Each step was delayed by Northern division, but every step was taken in the same direction.

First, Lincoln offered to execute every law, including the most infamous of all; second, to buy the slaves of the border States; third, to confiscate the property of rebels; fourth, to treat slaves as contraband of war; fifth, to use slaves for the putting down the rebellion; sixth, to arm these slaves and clothe them in the uniform of the Republic; seventh, to make them citizens and allow