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A DISCOURSE 
 
 DEATH OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN 
 
 DELIVERED IN 
 
 ST. MARK'S METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, 
 
 AXD P.EPEATED (BY REQUEST) AT THE 
 
 LAFAYETTE ST. PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, 
 Buffalo, April 23, 1S(>.~>. 
 
 By REY. J. B. WENTWORTH, D. I). 
 
 Of the Genesee Conference. 
 
 BUFFALO: 
 PRINTING HOUSE OF MATTHEWS & WARREN, 
 
 Office of the Buffalo Commercial Advertiser. 
 
 1S65. 
 
A DISCOURSE 
 
 DEATH OF PEESIDENT LINCOLN 
 
 DELIVERED IN 
 
 ST. MARK'S METHODIST EPISCOrAL CHURCH, 
 
 AMD REPEATED (BY REQUEST) AT THE 
 
 LAFAYETTE ST. PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, 
 
 Buffalo, April 23, IS 5. 
 
 By REY. J. B. WENTWOETII, D. D. 
 
 Of the Genesee Conference. 
 
 BUFFALO: 
 
 PRINTING HOUSE OF MATTHEWS & WAEEE\, 
 
 Office of the Buffalo Commercial Advertiser. 
 
 1865. 
 
 
■w 
 
j 
 
 DISCOTJKSE. 
 
 Text. — There is a prince and a great man fallen. — 2 Sam. 3 : 38. 
 
 As a church and congregation we dedicate this morning's ser- 
 vices to a commemoration of the Life and Death of Abraham 
 Lincoln, late President of this Republic, who, on the 15th day 
 of this present month, finished a glorious career on earth to en- 
 ter, as we trust, upon a still more glorious one in heaven. 
 
 When bereaved affection has so far recovered from the stupi- 
 fying shock occasioned by the death of its beloved object, as to 
 find vent in tears and words, it naturally gives expression to 
 itself in strains of solemn eulogy. The memory of the dear 
 departed becomes sacred in the estimation of surviving friends; 
 the whole past life of the deceased becomes elevated, purified and 
 ennobled, and no language seems appropriate which is not em- 
 ployed in depicting his virtues. That " nothing but good should 
 be spoken of the dead," is a maxim derived from and sanctioned 
 by the tenderest and holiest instincts of the human heart. 
 
 And were this not prompted by the feelings we have been 
 wont to cherish towards the subject of this funeral discourse, we 
 would yet be practically compelled to adopt and act upon it in 
 what we have to say of his character and career. For, could we 
 speak of our late Chief Magistrate in the exercise of calm, cool, 
 
6 
 
 critical judgments, uninfluenced by our personal grief, and un- 
 swayed by the general sorrow, we should be unable to use any 
 other language than that of eulogy, — we could say nothing of 
 him but good : for his character was compounded of virtues, and 
 his life singularly free from blemishes. 
 
 But who can approach and discourse upon this theme, in this 
 sad hour, with calmness and collectedness of mind, and do exact 
 and impartial justice to the nation's departed chief. I must con- 
 fess this to be impossible to myself, at this time: nor do I now 
 propose to attempt any such impossible task. Though a week 
 and more has passed since the appalling news of his death reached 
 us, we have not yet recovered from the stunning and stupifying 
 blow that intelligence gave us. We have not yet been able to 
 collect our thoughts, and reflect with composure upon this sad 
 event. It came upon us so unexpectedly, that we can hardly as 
 yet realize the fact, or appreciate the magnitude of our own and 
 the nation's loss. We had scarcely anticipated even the possi- 
 bility of Mr. Lincoln's death. It seemed to us that God would 
 protect and preserve the life of him whom the people had chosen, 
 in preference to all others, as our chief ruler in this period of 
 national peril. As we felt confident that God is the friend of 
 our nation, and will bring us safely through all our civil troubles, 
 we believed that He would surely watch over and defend the 
 man upon whom the hopes of the country were centered, and 
 whose life seemed so essential to the well-being of the Republic. 
 And we have not yet rallied from the shock of so sudden and 
 unexpected a bereavement. 
 
 We are, moreover, appalled and horrified at the manner of 
 his " taking off." Had he fallen by the hand of disease, and not 
 by the hand of the assassin, we could sooner bring our minds 
 to think with calmness upon the sad event, and more dispassion- 
 ately consider the probable consequences which will flow here- 
 
from. Horror, indignation, and an apprehensive fear of similar 
 calamities in the immediate future, mingle with our sorrows, fill 
 our minds with perturbations, and add to the perplexity and con- 
 fusion of our thoughts. 
 
 But, were all these exciting and appalling surroundings of the 
 President's death removed, and we permitted with ordinary com- 
 posure of feeling to approach this subject, we could not, even then, 
 do anything like justice to the character and services of Mr. Lin- 
 coln, nor appreciate the nature and extent of the national be- 
 reavement. The deplorable event is too recent to admit of this. 
 Some Bancroft or Macauley, who shall rise up in the coming age, 
 will be alone competent to this great undertaking. Influenced 
 as we must necessarily be by our prejudices, living as we do in 
 the midst of the scenes in which the late President took so dis- 
 tinguished a part, and the effects of the policy and measures 
 which he introduced not having yet fully appeared, how are we 
 prepared to render adequate praise to the memory of the man 
 who, during the terrible four years last past, has stood at the 
 helm of state ? More than one generation must pass away be- 
 fore any just computation can be made of the debt of gratitude 
 the nation owes to Abraham Lincoln. The far-off future can 
 alone furnish the data upon which to base such a computation. 
 
 But even now our grief requires appropriate expression. We 
 must gratify the demands of sorrowing affection and respect for 
 the great departed, by an attempted rehearsal, however imper- 
 fect, of his virtues, and by paying our meed of praise to his 
 memory for the blessings and benefits which we are now able 
 to see that he, under God, was the means of bestowing upon 
 our bleeding and distracted country. 
 
 Even this is a saddening and melancholy gratification. For, 
 hereby, we are made still more conscious of the loss which in 
 his death we and the nation have sustained: and our sense of 
 
8 
 
 this is already overwhelming. As, therefore, we enter upon the 
 performance of this melancholy duty, and undertake to meet 
 the demands of the hour, we look to God, and implore his spe- 
 cial assistance, support and guidance. Our hope and trust, O 
 God, we would place more implicitly in Thee, as we behold the 
 strongest human pillar of the government removed. 
 
 In the remarks I have on this occasion to offer, I shall not 
 speak of Mr. Lincoln as he was or might have been independ- 
 ently of his official character and relations. Though it might 
 be proper, and even instructive, to begin with his early life and 
 trace up his history to the time when he Avas called by the 
 People to occupy the Presidential chair, and note the influences 
 brought to bear upon him and the formative processes through 
 which he passed to fit him for that high seat of honor, neither 
 present circumstances, nor the feelings of our hearts, make such 
 biographical research necessary. We do not wish to consider 
 him apart from the executive office which he filled and honored. 
 It was only as President that he became fully known to the na- 
 tion and beloved by the People. Prior to the commencement 
 of his presidential career, there were many of our public men 
 who filled a larger place in the popular vision. We learned to 
 appreciate and admire him especially as our Chief Magistrate; 
 and, as such, we now especially mourn his untimely end. Should 
 we leave out of account the record of his official career, scarce 
 any data would remain from which to make up an estimate of 
 his personal qualities. To undertake to discriminate between 
 Abraham Lincoln the man and Abraham Lincoln the President, 
 while under present circumstances^ would be an uncalled-for and 
 useless task ; » would, at the best, be almost hopeless and impos- 
 sible. The two are indissolubly blended, and are now wedded 
 together forever by the martyr-death visited upon the man be- 
 cause he was President. Henceforth we shall never think or 
 
9 
 
 speak of Mm but as the nation's murdered chief, — the Saviour 
 and second Father of his country. He gave all there was of 
 himself to the nation ; and the nation has already accepted the 
 entire gift, and will forever claim his whole being and nature as 
 its own. He now, in the entirety of his character, lies enshrined 
 in the nation's heart. The nation's matchless history during the 
 last four years will evermore remain as his biography and epi- 
 taph; and the Republic saved, and the Union restored, shall, 
 through all time, be his monument. 
 
 Though we may not separate Abraham Lincoln the man from 
 Abraham Lincoln the President, yet we do lose sight of the man 
 in the President. No man, in the whole list of his predecessors, 
 brought to that office so much individuality of character, nor ex- 
 ercised its functions with so complete a -maintenance of his indi- 
 viduality, as he. All his state papers, all his official utterances, 
 the whole policy of his administration and the manner of its ex- 
 ecution, bear the xtnmistakable stamp of his own original genius 
 and unique character. His personal character shone forth in all 
 that he said and did in the discharge of his executive duties; 
 and he succeeded in more fully infusing himself into the national 
 mind and consciousness, than any of the great men who preceded 
 him in the chair of State. The people never enjoyed so clear a 
 view of the personal character of any of our Presidents, as of his. 
 He stood before the eyes of the nation in the full length of his 
 towering form, and every one Avas permitted to look at him as he 
 was. He did not wrap himself in his official robes to conceal him- 
 self from the public scrutiny, nor restrain his personal freedom of 
 action or of speech by allowing the red-tape of precedent and rou- 
 tine to be wound around him. If it shall be alleged that his 
 administration was without consistency and unity, from lack of 
 any preconceived political theory upon which it was moulded, it 
 must be acknowledged that it finds a more glorious unity, a 
 
10 
 
 grander consistency in his own majestic personality which per- 
 meates through it and binds all its parts in one. 
 
 Nor did the strongly marked and determined individuality of 
 his character at all disqualify him for the grave responsibilities 
 of his high position. Rather did the idiosyncracies of his noble 
 nature qualify him to meet and discharge those responsibilities 
 all the more successfully. The choice of the people, which fell on 
 him, seems to have been directed by the inspiration of God. If 
 not born a President, he was at least trained up and disciplined 
 and fitted for the pilotage of the Republic during the stormy 
 period through which we have passed. God, we may believe, 
 had raised him up and been preparing him for this very thing. 
 His very peculiarities made him the more completely adapted to 
 the work to which he was called. He was precisely the man 
 for the crisis. His broad, many-sided and luxuriant nature com- 
 pletely filled the office, and made him equal to all its duties. 
 The crisis found the man; and the man proved himself perfect 
 master of the situation. He entered upon his duties as President, 
 and continued to discharge them, as though in the fulfillment of 
 a mission for which he had been all his life preparing. 
 
 Abraham Lincoln was a man of colossal proportions, mentally 
 as well as physically. A truly great man; a man to enrich a 
 century ; a tall, commanding figure, around whom the historian 
 may group the other personages of this era, in giving harmony 
 and unity to his descriptions. The crises is great ; but he was 
 as great as the crisis. Few men of his breadth and largeness of 
 soul have appeared on the stage of the world. His was a na- 
 ture so broad, so full, so many-sided, that we could all find in 
 it some ground of contact, some point of attraction, by which 
 Ave might attach ourselves to him and claim him as our own. 
 
 And this is evidenced by the peculiar grief, the sincere sor- 
 row, with which all our hearts are affected in view of his death. 
 
11 
 
 The public manifestation of grief is not elicited by his assassina- 
 tion; nor is it merely ceremonial and decorous — as being actu- 
 ated by sentiments of propriety in paying respect to a departed 
 President. The people do not put badges of mourning upon their 
 persons, their residences, and their churches, as a mere matter 
 of ceremony fitting and appropriate to the occasion. All loyal 
 and right-minded citizens are moved with profound grief, with 
 deep and heartfelt sorrow at his loss. Somehow we all felt that 
 he was a brother and friend to us all. Unconsciously to our- 
 selves, we felt a deep personal interest in him, and affection for 
 him. His great soul had drawn us to him; and now we mourn 
 for him as though a Father or a Brother had been taken away 
 from us. Only great and noble natures have the power to awaken 
 this general personal interest and attachment in the minds of all 
 good men. — But it is their prerogative. And herein do we find 
 the grand proof and touchstone of genuine greatness. Little na- 
 tures, stinted souls, do not gain a strong hold even upon the 
 hearts of their associates and familiars. A community will part 
 with some of its members, whom accident has lifted up and made 
 conspicuous, with but little regret or sense of loss. A nation 
 sometimes sees with indifference the passing away of many of its 
 public men and chief rulers, and deems itself to have paid due 
 respect to their memory by cold words of formal eulogy pro- 
 nounced over their graves, in which the heart pays no tribute. 
 But when a great man, — one whom God has made great, and 
 has commissioned to bless the world by his presence and labors 
 among men, — is stricken down by death, the good and true of 
 all lands in spirit attend his funeral as mourners, and weep over 
 his grave as that of a brother. For, truly great men belong to 
 the i*ace: they 'live and labor for humanity, and the whole world 
 claims them as its own. And so it is with Abraham Lincoln. 
 Not only we, — but the good and virtuous of all nations, will 
 
12 
 
 feel, as the tidings of his sad end shall reach them, that they 
 have lost in him a brother and a friend; and, with us, they will 
 see to it that the memory of his name and nobleness " shall grow 
 green with years, and blossom in the flight of ages." 
 
 He sprang from lowly parentage, — the source whence the 
 world's great men have usually traced their origin. It requires 
 a deep, strong soil to sustain and nourish large growths, — the 
 rich alluvium of the valley. The tallest and most stately trees 
 strike their roots deepest down into the subsoil. For a human 
 soul to be nursed and nurtured into greatness, it must draw its 
 nourishment from the breast of our common humanity. One 
 must be brought in contact with the common people, and from 
 his youth up feel the pidsations of the great popular heart, in 
 order to the education of those broad sympathies and love of all 
 things human which characterize all great and noble natures. 
 They who are nurtured in aristocratic circles, are usually but hot- 
 house productions. Though beautiful, they are not massive; 
 though straight and supple, they are not strong and majestic. 
 Mr. Lincoln was happily not nurtured amid such surroundings. 
 His origin was lowly; and his massive nature found free expan- 
 sion and development as he grew up among the common people, 
 — sharing in their toils, mingling in their gatherings, sympathiz- 
 ing with them in their interests and convictions, and loving them 
 for their honest and homely virtues. Thus coming up from the 
 humblest social condition, and, in his upward course, making his 
 way successively through each stratum into which society is di- 
 vided until he reached the summit of human power and glory, — 
 not forgetting in his upward career anything that he had learned, 
 nor relaxing his hold upon, or affection for, any class of society 
 with which he had previously been connected, he at length be- 
 came the man of the whole people: for he had belonged to each 
 class; and while he thus understood the views and feelings of 
 
13 
 
 each, he loved them all. We have had Presidents before who 
 worked their way up from humble life through all grades of 
 social distinction to the highest ; but not one of them had that 
 breadth and compass of large heartedness which enabled him to 
 take into his sympathies and enter into the views and feelings of 
 each and every class of American society with winch he had thus 
 been successively brought into practical contact and connection, 
 to the extent that was true of Mr. Lincoln. And hence did he 
 draw to himself, and secure the hearty esteem and affection of 
 the masses of the loyal people of every grade, occupation, and 
 profession. And the instincts of the masses were truer and more 
 sagacious, in this instance, than the sharpened intellects of poli- 
 ticians. The masses trusted him, while the politicians shook their 
 heads ominously, and talked of his inexperience and incompe- 
 tency. But never, in all history, have the masses given their 
 adhesion to, and confided in, a weak man. When left to them- 
 selves, they instinctively and unconsciously, but infallibly, rally 
 around and repose their faith in those who are strong in native 
 endowments, and equal to the given emergency. 
 
 And when, in 1860, the elements of secession and discord were 
 gathering and crystalizing into organized form, and the great 
 crisis of our history had well nigh arrived, as if they had pre- 
 monitions of the coming storm and whirlwind, with, a sagacity 
 all the more infallible for being instinctive, they turned away 
 from the crowd of politicians and statesmen who had for long 
 years engaged the eye and ear of the public, and selected Abra- 
 ham Lincoln as the nation's chief. The results have justified the 
 choice, and furnished another illustration of the wisdom of popu- 
 lar elections as a means of designating men for high public 
 stations. 
 
 And when about to take the reins of power which the people 
 had elected him to hold, all inexperienced as he was, and though 
 
14 
 
 the clouds of secession fury were already rolling up and covering 
 our political heavens, he shows no trepidation, no fear. Calmly 
 he steps forth from his quiet Western home, makes the modest 
 and touching request of his neighbors and townsmen who gather 
 about him to bid him good-by and God-speed, to remember him 
 in their prayers and implore for him divine help to guide the na- 
 tion safely through the perils which lie clearly saw impending, and 
 with an unfaltering step and unblanched countenance proceeds to 
 the national capitol and assumes the dread responsibilities of his 
 office. Never before did a human being take upon him such a 
 load of trying and complicated duties, the settlement of such mo- 
 mentous questions, the bearing such heavy burdens and cares of 
 state. — An ordinary man would have been overwhelmed and 
 crushed at the outset. But so far from being crushed or appalled, 
 he is cheerful, hopeful and buoyant in spirit, and bears himself 
 as one who is conscious of his strength for the work before him, 
 and of his ability to succeed. He speaks words of conciliation 
 and kindness to the malcontents, and seeks to dissuade them 
 from their desperate undertaking, and with dispassionate calm- 
 ness, such as no one but a man of the most marvellous personal 
 power and greatness could, in such an hour, have displayed, de- 
 clares to them and the whole country, that he shall keep his 
 oath of office, — support the constitution and enforce the laws, 
 and repossess and hold all forts, arsenals and public property be- 
 longing to the Federal Government which the insurgents had 
 then seized. The Southern traitors did not then appreciate, as 
 they have since, the nature of that inflexible resolve so simply 
 uttered and in so unimpassioned a style. They were not the 
 least shaken in their diabolical purpose, and the war began. You 
 know the dreadful story of the last four years of blood and car- 
 nage. You can call to mind the dark days through which we have 
 passed; those seasons of awful peril during this rebellion when 
 
15 
 
 it seemed that the ship of state was well nigh foundered, and 
 about to be engulfed by the yawning waves. There is no need 
 that I should recount and describe them: they will never be for- 
 gotten by you. And do we not remember, also, when, at those 
 times, Ave turned our anxious eyes to the man at the helm, how 
 calm and unmoved he always stood; — with no cloud upon his 
 brow, no pallor on his cheek ? He seemed not to regard the 
 angry waters which others feared would prove our ruin: his 
 longer sight and clearer vision enabled him to descry in the dis- 
 tance the cheerful sunlight and a quiet sea. In all the trying 
 exigencies through which we have passed, he was never over- 
 whelmed, never confused ; never did he once yield to the weak- 
 ness of despair. Cool and collected in every emergency, he in 
 no instance indulged in any angry or ill-judged utterance; never 
 counseled any unwise or violent measure; never adopted any rash 
 or hasty expedient. Many times and oft, during this war, have 
 our great men and state counsellors been confounded and almost 
 given up all for lost. But he never faltered : at such times, like 
 another Atlas, he took the Republic upon his own broad should- 
 ers, and carried it safely through. 
 
 Like others of that select class of men of the highest order 
 of greatness, to which Mr. Lincoln belonged, he was endowed 
 with a most marvellous power of Faith. Many of the world's 
 heroes believed in Fate, and were strengthened and sustained by 
 the conviction that Fate had marked out for them the achieve- 
 ment of a glorious destiny. But Mr. Lincoln's faith was in God 
 and his country. And here was the great secret of his strength, 
 the hiding of his power. Here we find the explanation of his 
 calmness in the midst of dangers before which others quailed. 
 Here the reason of the unimpassioned style of his messages and 
 proclamations, with which we were so often perplexed, and some- 
 times dissatisfied. He seems to have been agitated by no doubts 
 
16 
 
 himself, and could hardly sympathize with those whose fears in- 
 duced despair of the Republic. In all history there is not another 
 such example of sublime faith and trust. He confided more fully 
 in the immutable principles which underlie our government than 
 any of our statesmen. He rested more firmly than any other 
 man among us upon divine providence and promise. He showed 
 no emotion ; for he felt no fear. He made no threats, nor sought 
 to awaken any temporary feelings of hope and joy; for lie be- 
 lieved that God had taken the work in hand, and would bring 
 all things out right in the end. 
 
 And his Wisdom was equal to his Faith. As we look back 
 now over his administration, Ave can hardly see how any thing 
 could be changed for the better. And the wisdom of his admin- 
 istration is displayed not so much in a settled and inflexible 
 policy which he himself had reasoned out and was resolved to 
 maintain for the sake of consistency, but in that he watched 
 with wonderful sagacity the progress of events, and allowed 
 emergencies as they arose to dictate his policy and measures. 
 The wisdom of his statesmanship consists in his dutiful waiting 
 upon Providence. Some of us complained that he was too fast, 
 some that he was too slow. But the results show that he never 
 hurried, and never loitered. He waited always for the right 
 time and occasion; and his almost faultless practical sagacity 
 enabled him to detect them with the utmost precision. Thus 
 waiting constantly upon Providence, his own course was almost as 
 unerring as that of Providence itself. The measures he proposed 
 appeared absolutely demanded by the circumstances, and when 
 adopted they became fixed and established beyond all contro- 
 versy. In what he did, he seemed to have been the executor of 
 Divine purposes; and thus the great acts of his administration 
 have already passed into the permanent policy of the govern- 
 ment, and will stand forever. Had he been more of an experi- 
 
17 
 
 enced statesman, with his mind pre-occupied with theories and 
 precedents, he would probably have depended less upon his prac- 
 tical sagacity, — would have been a less faithful and obedient 
 servant of Providence; and might have managed our affairs with 
 far less skill and success. But, as it was, he had no darling- 
 theories with which to make experiments, — no pet plans to make 
 doubtful trial of. His one great, earnest purpose was to save 
 the nation and restore the Union, and, for the accomplishment 
 of this, he humbly invoked the assistance of Almighty God, and 
 then, in a spirit of childlike obedience and trust, he went as fast 
 and as far as God opened the way. A less than a transcend- 
 ently great man would not have done thus. He would have 
 been eager to bring forward his own personal specifics to cure 
 the ills of the State; would have been for trying some remedy 
 which he himself had devised ; would have sat down at the be- 
 ginning and marked out some neat and beautiful and consistent 
 theory, according to which the rebellion must be put down and 
 peace restored. But our departed President was too true a man 
 to try any such quackery; too great a man to permit himself to 
 be hampered by small and fine-spun theories; too earnest and 
 good a man to dare trust himself, in such times of danger and 
 trial, to any other measures than such as the providence of God 
 might suggest. 
 
 Some have thought, or pretended to think, that Mr. Lincoln 
 was wanting in fixedness of purpose; that he manifested hesita- 
 tion and vacillation; but such persons, it is sure, do not under- 
 stand the man, nor the principles by which he was governed: 
 nor have they watched and carefully studied the course of events 
 which mark his administration. It is true, he was ready to listen 
 to advice from every quarter; was always open to conviction; 
 was never so strongly in favor of any one plan as to prevent 
 his careful examination of any other that might be presented. 
 
18 
 
 But when lie came to a conclusion, after he became satisfied of 
 the expediency or necessity of a measure, his adhesion to it was 
 invincible, — his determination to carry it into effect was as fixed 
 and immovable as the decrees of Fate. He was as great in his 
 volitive power as in his wisdom and his faith. What amount 
 of pressure was brought to bear upon him to dissuade him from 
 issuing the Emancipation Proclamation, to dissuade him from en- 
 listing and organizing Negro troops, and to persuade him to 
 offer some terms of compromise and conciliation to the traitor 
 chiefs. But he stood as firm as the everlasting hills against it 
 all. Mr. Lincoln's volitive power was of the massive and pon- 
 derous order. His will did not act quickly, — did not exhibit 
 itself in the form of forceful and fiery energy and impetuous re- 
 solve, as is the case with men of smaller calibre; but, in its 
 action, it took on the form of steadiness, persistence and firm- 
 ness. It was presided over by prudence, and attended by cau- 
 tion; and, therefore, while it did not burst forth in flashes of fiery 
 energy, it put on a far nobler and grander manifestation in the 
 calm and steady and irresistible force with which it moved on 
 to the accomplishment of its purposes. 
 
 Honesty was a trait in his character which everybody be- 
 held and admired. His enemies never called it in question. Nor 
 was his honesty of that ordinary type which the common accep- 
 tation of the word honesty is taken to represent. It was a grand 
 and rugged honesty, befitting his great and manly soul. It dif- 
 fused itself through his whole nature, and impressed itself upon 
 the action of all his mental faculties. It imparted that noble sim- 
 plicity of character for which he was so justly distinguished. He 
 used no artifice, by which to appear better or greater than he 
 was: he gave full license to all to look into his heart, and to 
 read his motives and his principles. His honesty gave frankness 
 to his manners. He sought to impose on no one by pompous 
 
19 
 
 airs, and artificial loftiness of bearing. It imparted directness, clear- 
 ness and precision to his thoughts, caused him to despise all sophis- 
 try, and to go directly to the heart of every subject or question 
 he was called to examine. It shone forth in his style of speech 
 and writing, — inducing him always to say just what he meant, 
 in the use of the fewest possible words, and those the most sim- 
 ple and intelligible. Mr. Lincoln never deceived anybody, — save 
 those who prated of his incapacity and prophesied failure to his 
 administration. He was honest with himself, honest towards the 
 people, and even towards his enemies and the enemies of the 
 country. He dared be honest even in diplomacy, where conceal- 
 ment and deception are customary, and are deemed indispensible 
 to success. He kept faith with all the world, and fulfilled all 
 his promises — even to the rebels. In the midst of peculation, 
 fraud, aud knavery, which great civil commotions always stimu- 
 late to the highest pitch, he stood forth to relieve the scene, — 
 an example of rugged, incorruptible honesty, inviting the public 
 confidence and challenging the faith of the people. 
 
 And his heart was as tender as it was incorruptible. His great 
 soul was full of all charitable emotions, of all loving and kindly 
 aifections. He loved everything human. His charity embraced 
 all mankind. His genial benevolence was always bubbling up 
 and running over in kindly words and acts and cheerful humor. 
 It thus became contagious, and diffused its benign influence 
 through the social atmosphere of Washington, where secession 
 hate and spleen have had unwonted license of expression; and 
 where, as being the capital of the nation, the fierce and angry 
 passions which war excites have seethed and boiled with intens- 
 est fury. We may suppose it to be attributable, in good part, 
 to the influence of the late President's great generosity of feel- 
 ing, that the Northern temper, notwithstanding the weighty and 
 multiplied provocations, has not heretofore burst the bounds of 
 2 
 
20 
 
 self-control, and blazed forth in vengeful and consuming wrath 
 against the Southern people and all the aiders and abettors of 
 the vile Southern Treason. He set us an example of great good- 
 nature which, it may be, we have been carrying to the extreme 
 of weakness. It may be that his good-nature was the weak side 
 of his own character. — If so, it was a virtuous weakness, and 
 does not diminish at all our love and respect for him. Certain 
 it is, that his kindliness of disposition rendered him incapable of 
 any vindictive feelings, — any hatred towards a rival, or of re- 
 venge towards an enemy. After the late Presidential election, 
 when called on by citizens who came to congratulate him upon 
 his grand popular triumph, he gave utterance to feelings which, 
 in almost any other man, would have been regarded as ridicu- 
 lous pretence, when he said that he could rejoice over no man's 
 defeat, and was sorry that his election should be the occasion of 
 pain and disappointment to any. — But no one doubted the truth 
 of this declaration as made by him. Whoever came to him with 
 a complaint of injustice, or a plea for mercy, was sure to re- 
 ceive an attentive and interested hearing, and went away with 
 the conviction that his case would be candidly considered, and 
 his request would be granted — if it were at all consistent ox- 
 feasible. 
 
 But all these great and amiable qualities of Mr. Lincoln did 
 not secure him against vituperation and malignant abuse, — did 
 not save him from the dastardly assault of the rebel assassin. 
 Almost from the beginning of the contest, have the leading 
 traitors and journals of the South delighted in maligning his 
 character and traducing his name. They have spoken of this 
 mildest and gentlest of men as an usurper and tyrant, — cruel, 
 blood-thirsty, and implacable; a monster in human shape, — an 
 ogre revelling in scenes of blood and fattening upon human gore. 
 And thus have they sought to excite the disgust and hate of the 
 
21 
 
 Southern people against him personally. And in this labor of 
 love, they have been wonderfully aided by a class of journalists 
 and politicians at the North, well and truly known as copper- 
 heads. Do we not remember how these villians have continually 
 charged him with violating the constitution, called him despot, 
 and accused him of having designs upon the liberties of the peo- 
 ple ? Some of them, even in our midst, have been wont to paint 
 his personal character in the darkest and most loathsome colors, 
 — describing him as an inhuman monster, who called for ribald 
 songs to be sung among the dead and wounded on the battle- 
 field of Antietam, and held an Irish wake over the glorious dead 
 who fell at the battle of Gettysburg. That this base and cause- 
 less malignity manifested towards him by Northern men, encour- 
 aged and intensified Southern hatred of his person and character, 
 can not for a moment be doubted. And who shall say that cop- 
 perheads, North, are not as responsible for his murder, as rebels, 
 South ? Would not the Southern traitors be naturally led to 
 suppose, that the death of a President so despotic, and so in- 
 tensely hated by men in the loyal States, was " a consummation 
 devoutly to be wished," and would be hailed with joy, by them? 
 The blood of our departed President does not rest on the souls 
 of Southern traitors alone. 
 
 That his murder was inspired by political animosity, and is 
 justly chargeable upon those who inaugurated the rebellion and 
 have given it aid and comfort, is evident enough. That a polit- 
 ical motive led to this deed of horror, is clearly made known by 
 the words of the assassin, sic semper tyrannis, as he leaped forth 
 before the astonished assembly at the theatre with the theatrical 
 flourish of his dagger. And there is proof conclusive that the 
 plot included the assassination of all the heads of the govern- 
 ment and the incomparable chief of our army. And surely no 
 motive of private and personal revenge could adequately account 
 
22 
 
 for so extensive a scheme of murder. "We are, then, shut up to 
 the conclusion that rebel malignity inspired the deed. And this 
 conclusion is strengthened by many other tacts and proofs. It 
 was proposed to assassinate Mr. Lincoln immediately before his 
 first inauguration, while on his way to the capital; and the skill 
 and precaution of Gen. Scott alone prevented. Southern organs 
 of treason have threatened and recommended the assassination of 
 the President and his chief advisers, time and again, since the 
 war began; and rewards have been offered by them to those 
 who would carry it into execution. Since Richmond was cap- 
 tured, papers have been discovered belonging to the archives of 
 the rebel government containing the organization of a Secret Ser- 
 vice Bureau, and a new and secret method of carrying on the 
 war: and we may properly regard the murder of the President 
 and the attempted murder of the chief men of the State, together 
 with the raids upon the towns and villages of our Northern 
 frontier and the plots that have been discovered for burning our 
 principal cities, as the outcropping and development of this New 
 Method of rebel warfare. We trace, then, this horrible crime 
 back to the traitor leaders and their coadjutors, and hold them 
 responsible for it. Doubtless, as soon as it may conveniently be 
 done, those Northern journalists who used to vie with their 
 " Southern brethren " in abusing and aspersing Mr. Lincoln when 
 living, will hasten to the rescue of their Confederate brothers, 
 and seek to shield them from the storm of righteous indignation 
 now gathering from every point of the compass, by endeavoring 
 to show that this crime was committed by irresponsible parties 
 who had no connection with, or encouragement from, the traitor 
 chiefs. — In consistency, they are bound to do their Southern 
 confreres this favor. We shall look for it, and shall know pre- 
 cisely what construction to put upon it. 
 
 Dark as is this crime, and disastrous as it now seems to us, 
 
23 
 
 God is able to turn it to good account and cause such conse- 
 quences to flow from it as shall contribute to the advantage of 
 the national cause. Though we may esteem the death of our 
 beloved Chief Magistrate, who managed our affairs with such 
 consummate skill during the past period of greatest peril, a great 
 calamity, an irreparable loss, in the Providence of God it may 
 be made to bring upon us untold and unlooked for blessings. 
 Even now, with all our blindness and short-sightedness, we can 
 see and anticipate certain beneficial results, to lighten our bur- 
 den of grief and reconcile us to the ways and dealings of Prov- 
 idence. 
 
 In this fiendish murder, is revealed to all eyes the nature of 
 that spirit which is the animus of the Rebellion, — that dark, 
 fell spirit of hate, revenge, cruelty and savagery, which gave rise 
 to secession and has actuated those engaged in it. We now un- 
 derstand the temper, principles and motives of the men who have 
 risen up and made war upon the government, better than ever 
 before. The thin covering of chivalric pretension is now entirely 
 removed from the Southern slaveholders' character, and we get 
 a fair, full view of the brutality and barbarism which is engen- 
 dered by the ownership and traffic in the bodies and souls of 
 men. It is true, we had enough to open our eyes to all this 
 before: but Ave were slow to learn. The savagery of Southern 
 slaveholding society had displayed itself for long years, in the 
 maltreatment and murder of Northern citizens traveling in the 
 slave States; in brutal assaults upon Northern statesmen in Con- 
 gressional Halls; and in the hunting and hanging of clergymen 
 who belonged to churches that did not endorse the divinity of 
 slavery. What, indeed, could we look for but savagery in an 
 aristocracy founded upon man-ownership, — that grew rich by 
 the exposure and sale of its own offspring in the market, and 
 had full license to gratify its vilest passions on defenceless women ? 
 
24 
 
 Look, too, at instances of Southern fiendishness and cruelty to 
 be found in the history of this war: the mutilation of our dead; 
 the systematic and cold-blooded murder of our soldiers taken 
 prisoners, by confinement in loathsome prisons, by slow starva- 
 tion and their wanton exposure to heat and cold ; and the whole- 
 sale massacre of our Negro troops taken in arms ! Surely, we 
 have had enough all along to give us an insight into Southern 
 slaveholding character, and have received insult and injury enough 
 from it heretofore to " stir a fever in the blood of age." But it 
 took this crowning act of infamy fully to open our eyes, and en- 
 able us thoroughly to understand the men with whom Ave have 
 to deal. — And this is a great thing gained. We shall now know 
 precisely what measures to adopt, and what terms of " reconcil- 
 iation " and " compromise " to propose in the pending settlement 
 of the controversy. 
 
 And this opening of our eyes must tend to a more comjuete 
 union of our hearts in opposing treason and sustaining the gov- 
 ernment. As Ave abominate murder ; as Ave hate the cruelty and 
 brutal passions which characterize savage life, Ave must all rally 
 iioav more closely around the standard of the Republic, which, 
 in this contest, represents not only civil liberty, but Christian 
 culture and civilization. From this time forth to the close 
 of the Avar, all Christian, moral, upright, decent men will consti- 
 tute one party, — the party of the goA'ernment and the Union. 
 No divisions will longer exist among the People. The murder of 
 the President will bring all patriotic citizens upon the same plat- 
 form, — the platform of his principles and policy. It would have 
 been better had we all been united from the first, and together 
 given our hearty support to the government and the war. But 
 I am ready to concede that many honest and well-meaning citi- 
 zens have hitherto been misled by the influence of party names, 
 the prestige of partizan leaders, and the persistent misrepresenta- 
 
25 
 
 tions and falsehoods of party journals. It is a pity that their 
 disenthralment and conversion should have been so long deferred, 
 and should now be effected by so deplorable a cause; but we 
 will receive them with open arms; and henceforth, to the con- 
 clusion of the war, the 2)eople of the loyal States will be one. 
 But there is a certain class of politicians among us whom we 
 hope the loyal citizens of the country will never take into fel- 
 lowship, whatever may be their professions of faith or pretended 
 reformation of life. Their views and feelings will remain un- 
 changed, however they may now for a time veer their course to 
 adjust themselves to the changed condition of the public mind. 
 It is impossible for intelligent and influential men, who have from 
 the beginning of our troubles taken sides with the enemies of 
 the Republic, — villified the administration; cried out against co- 
 ercion; opposed volunteering and drafting; demanded compro- 
 mise and virtual surrender to the rebels in arms; described in 
 glowing terms the prowess, resources and military strength of 
 the Confederacy, and expatiated upon the weakness, bankruptcy 
 and demoralization of the government; magnified rebel victories, 
 and mimified Union triumphs; and in every way possible — ex- 
 cept by explicit declaration — have manifested their sympathy for 
 the traitors and their wish that they might succeed; — it is im- 
 possible, I say, for such men ever to become genuine patriots 
 and entitled to the confidence and countenance of honest, loyal 
 citizens. They may take up the strains of eulogy and unite with 
 the rest of us in praising the virtues of the departed Patriot and 
 Leader, whom they have hitherto been constantly employed in 
 abusing: this will cost them nothing; and, besides, by now prais- 
 ing the dead President, they will gain a stand-point from whence 
 hereafter they can assail the living one to greater advantage. In 
 deference to the general sorrow, they also may profess to deplore 
 his death and execrate the villainy of his "taking off;" but in 
 
26 
 
 their secret heart they rejoice; and when time shall have reduced 
 the keenness and poignancy of the public grief, so that they shall 
 think it safe to disclose their feelings, they will express their 
 satisfaction by hint and inuendo, and the citation of historic in- 
 stances as parallels in which retribution has been visited, in a 
 similar manner, upon wicked and oppressive rulers. But as the 
 Rebel Commissioner of exchange remarked, when the assassina- 
 tion of the President was announced to him, " That is the hard- 
 est blow the Confederacy has yet had," so these Northern trait- 
 ors will find that it is the hardest blow they have yet received. 
 It deprives them of influence over any respectable portion of the 
 American people, and will prevent them hereafter from plying 
 their villainous occupation with any degree of success. 
 
 Another result to be desired and hoped for from this murder 
 of the President, is an awakening and stimulation of the moral 
 sense, the conscience, the sense of righteousness, of the nation. 
 The leading feature of this shocking transaction, is its extreme 
 wickedness. It strikes every one as an awful and unmitigated 
 crime. It appeals directly to the moral sensibilities of the popu- 
 lar heart, and, like an electric shock, quickens them into activity 
 and causes them to feel how clearly just and right it is that 
 punishment should be meted out to the perpetrators of it. And, 
 with our moral feelings thus quickened into activity, as we trace 
 back this crime to its inspiring cause, we and the whole people 
 are better prepared to realize the transcendent criminality of the 
 rebellion, the diabolical Avickedness of the traitors who urged 
 and have carried it on, and the full measure of punishment which 
 they deserve. 
 
 The people of this nation needed some such quickening of 
 their moral instincts and sensibilities. From the beginning of 
 the Rebellion, we had too lightly regarded, too much overlooked, 
 the criminality of its authors and abettors. We had too exclu- 
 
27 
 
 sively contemplated the war upon the government in its politi- 
 cal aspects, and had too generally lost sight of its moral charac- 
 ter and bearings. The war, as begun by the slaveholders, had 
 assumed in our thoughts the appearance of a contest for great 
 ideas and principles, rather than a causeless and wicked insur- 
 rection, a conspiracy of abandoned and desperate men, actuated 
 by devilish ambition, to overthrow the government and seat 
 themselves in places of power. Treason we had regarded too 
 much as a mere difference of political opinion, and not enough as 
 an enormous crime against society. And since our recent great 
 victories, which indicate a virtual end of the war and the speedy 
 incoming of settlement and pacification, justice and judgment 
 seemed still further to be lost sight of by the people. Exhilara- 
 ted by the splendid triumphs of our arms, and overjoyed with 
 the prospects of a wished -for peace, we were ready to shake 
 hands with the world all around; almost disposed to forgive the 
 vile and perjured and bloodstained traitors who had brought 
 all our calamities upon us, and take them to our loving embrace 
 as erring prodigals and misguided brethren. And this reckless 
 generosity, this criminal magnanimity, was being stimulated and 
 applauded by many influential loyal men who were connected 
 with the press and thus enjoyed superior facilities for reaching 
 the public ear and affecting popular opinion. Many such men 
 were advocating an indiscriminate forgiveness of the Rebels, high 
 and low. We can hardly conceive how any truly loyal men 
 could be betrayed into tendering such advice and counsel as this, 
 however much their kindly feelings might have been excited by 
 the prospects of immediate peace. That those among us who have 
 always sympathized with the traitors, have argued for them and 
 defended them from the unyid, should now plead for mercy to - ' ■ 
 be shown them, is natural and what we might expect. In their 
 estimation, the Southern Treason is no crime, and therefore 
 
28 
 
 should not be punished. They have always claimed that the 
 slaveholders were in the right; and they can now consistently 
 claim for them exemption from the penalties of the law. But 
 that any earnest, sincere patriot could jdead for mercy to be 
 shown them, is a marvel past our comprehension. 
 
 Political society is organized on the idea of Justice, not Mer- 
 cy. It is the grand function of civil government to execute the 
 immutable principles of moral righteousness among men. — God 
 has ordained it for this end, and empowered it with this prero- 
 gative. It is intended by Him to be "a terror to evil-doers, 
 and a praise to them that do well." When the sovereign power 
 of a state is not directed by justice, it ceases to exercise the 
 proper functions of government ; — it is no longer a legitimate 
 power, and does not afford real protection to society. That 
 ruler " bears the sword in vain " who interposes his prerogative 
 to screen the guilty. Mercy is well, in its place; but, in the 
 realm of Law, mercy must be held in abeyance, and Justice 
 must bear sway. God himself does not show mercy to hardened 
 and unrepenting criminals: and shall we be required to be more 
 merciful than He ? " Justice and judgment are the habitation 
 of His throne." And, in the administration of his government 
 among the children of men, He overlooks not the claims of 
 Justice any more than of mercy. In the redemptive scheme He 
 devised for fillen man, he required satisfaction to be made to 
 the demands of the violated law ; and, even with the gift of his 
 Son, he only pardons on the condition of repentance and works 
 meet for repentance. He has never set us an examine of indis- 
 criminate forgiveness. To those who rebelled in heaven, and 
 sought to overthrow the foundations of his righteous govern- 
 ment, he never granted any pardon at all, on any terms. — And 
 the crime of the Southern leaders is similar, and its punishment 
 ought to be alike inexorable. These traitors are guilty of the 
 
29 
 
 highest crime known to human law. They undertook to destroy 
 the life of the nation, to overthrow the government itself, in 
 which the interests, the property and lives of us all are hound 
 up. The Republic is the embodiment of the will, the intelligence, 
 the heart and soul of the people; it is a colossal man, made up 
 of and including in itself all the citizens of the country : and, by 
 seeking to slay the Republic, the Southern traitors have struck 
 at the liberty and life of every citizen. And their guilt is pro- 
 portionate to the reach and comprehension of the intended mur- 
 der. They who cry mercy for them, are, wittingly or otherwise, 
 enemies to the state. To pardon their crime would he treason 
 to civil justice; to remit their penalty, would be a gross outrage 
 on public law ; to let them go free, would be to give license to 
 every species of disorder, and to unsettle the very foundations 
 of political society. Expediency, no less than legal righteous- 
 ness, demands their punishment. The People, as says President 
 Johnson, need to he taught that Treason is a crime, the highest 
 of crimes. It is necessary that these great vidians should be 
 executed according to law, in order to impress upon the public, 
 consciousness the idea that Justice is the basis of the state, — not 
 mere popular opinion, or the platforms of parties, — and that 
 none can lay their sacrilegious hands on the ark of our safety 
 and liberty with impunity. 
 
 Shall they, who participate in the murder of a single indi- 
 vidual, he punished without mercy, and these Southern leaders, 
 who are responsible for the murder of every man who has fallen 
 in battle on either side since the war began, be allowed to es- 
 cape? Must the wretched Bead and the miserable Kennedy, who 
 were commissioned by Jeff. Davis, and but executed his com- 
 mands, be tried and hung, and Jeff". Davis himself have the 
 sceptre of forgiveness held out to him in advance ? Submit this 
 question of clemency to the hosts of ghostly men who, in the 
 
30 
 
 wreck of their manhood, have been recently returned to their 
 friends after long months of confinement in Southern pens and 
 dungeons, where they were being slowly and surely starved to 
 death ; submit it to the widows and orphans of our slain soldiers ; 
 submit it to the hunted, persecuted, destitute, and homeless 
 Union refugees from the revolted States; and what would be the 
 response ? And shall the wrongs and outrages endured by these 
 be forgotten ? Shall the government refuse to redress their 
 wrongs upon the guilty perpetrators, moved by a false philan- 
 thropy, a spurious sentiment of charity and mercy? 
 
 Some good people have professed a degree of sympathy for 
 Gen. Lee, and expressed a hope that he at least might be ex- 
 empted from punishment. Can they tell why ? Has he not been 
 as great a traitor as the worst of them? Was he not bound to 
 the government by the most sacred obligations, — having been 
 educated at the public expense, and honored and trusted by the 
 government all his days ? Was he not, at the outbreak of Re- 
 bellion, an officer in our army, and sworn to uphold the Con- 
 stitution and laws of the country ? And has he not been the 
 chief support and stay of confederate Treason for more than two 
 years past ? Why, then, should he be excepted ? Is it because 
 he has displayed great skill and abilities as a military chieftain ? 
 — All the worse for him, and for the country he had sworn to 
 defend. The greater his talents, the greater his guilt. 
 
 Some have thought Stevens to be a proper subject of 
 executive pardon. For myself, I must say that my hatred of 
 his treason is hightened by my contempt for his cowardice 
 and hypocrisy. Though he disapproved of secession, he had 
 not the courage to hold to his convictions and breast the 
 tide of fire-eating phrensy. Against the dictates of his own 
 judgment and conscienee, he yielded to the clamors of the 
 mob; and consented to give in his adhesion to the Confederacy 
 
31 
 
 — bought up by the offer of the rebel Vice-presidency. A more 
 despicable traitor than he is not to be found in the whole South. 
 He ought to be hung for his meanness and perfidy — if for noth- 
 ing else. 
 
 It is due to history, and to civilized society throughout the 
 world, that we should, in dealing with this whole pack of guilty 
 leaders, set an example of even-handed and impartial justice. It 
 has usually been the case in all the past and under other gov- 
 ernments, that the greatest villians have escaj)ed, and that retri- 
 bution has fallen upon the less conspicuous and hardly responsi- 
 ble offenders. Let our free and Christian Republic reverse this 
 order, by visiting condign punishment upon the traitor chiefs, 
 while generously extending forgiveness to the common people of 
 the South who have been at once their dupes and victims. 
 
 And while insisting upon punishment being meted out to the 
 guilty, let us not forget the leading copperheads of the North, 
 These men, who, without any of the motives that were brought 
 to bear upon the minds of Southern people, and impelled by 
 sheer love of wickedness, have turned against their country in 
 her peril and given all the support to the rebellion which their 
 dastardly natures would permit, deserve to be driven from the 
 land, which they disgrace by their presence, and whose institu- 
 tions they are morally incapable of appreciating. If they are al- 
 lowed to remain, the least exaction that can in justice be laid 
 upon them, is, retraction of their treasonable and malignant ut- 
 terances, humble confession before the people of their secret col- 
 lusion with the authors of the great conspiracy, and silence and 
 circumspection forever after. 
 
 Already are there evidences that the assassination of Mr. Lin- 
 coln has awakened the public mind to a juster appreciation of 
 the great crime of rebellion which induced his assassination, and 
 aroused the popular resolve to the determination to visit punish- 
 
32 
 
 ment upon the traitors, both North and South. And if this, to- 
 gether with the other benefits to which we have adverted, shall 
 follow as the providential result of the murder of our beloved 
 President, then will he be happy in having been permitted to 
 serve his country as much by his death as by his life. 
 
 While, therefore, we grieve for his loss, we sorrow not as 
 those without hope. The Republic still lives; and, by the guid- 
 ing hand of Providence, the calamity Ave deplore shall bring it 
 more speedily into the enjoyment of permanent and righteous 
 peace. Having deposited the honored ashes of our dead Presi- 
 dent in their last resting-place, — having shed our tears and said 
 our requiem over his grave, with more steady resolve, with more 
 inflexible purpose, with more reliant faith in God, will we return 
 to engage in the work of reconstructing the Union, and to aid 
 our brave and patriotic living President in carrying out his 
 already expressed design to rid the country of Treason and 
 Traitors. 
 
LEJe 7 (3