must and would, sooner or later, take place. He believed that this immoral institution was, and would continue to be, a bone of contention and a disturbing factor as long as it existed, and in all this most Southerners are now able to see that he was absolutely right. In the same speech he delivered himself in these words: "I leave it to you to say whether in the history of our government this question of slavery has not always failed to be a bond of union, and, on the contrary, been an apple of discord and an element of division to the house. I ask you to consider whether so long as the moral constitution of men's minds shall continue to be the same, after this generation and assemblage shall sink into the grave, and another race shall arise with the same moral and mental development we have-whether, if that institution is standing in the same irritating position in which it now is, it will not continue an element of division?"

Again and also in the same speech he says: "What is popular sovereignty? Is it the right of the people to have slavery or not have it, as they see fit, in the territories? I will state-and I have an able man to watch me (referring to Douglas)—my understanding is that popular sovereignty, now applied to the question of slavery, does allow the people of a territory to have slavery if they want to, but does not allow them not to have it if they do not want it. I do not mean that if this vast concourse of people were in a territory of the United States, any one of them would be obliged to have a slave if he did not want one; but I do say that, as I understand the Dred Scott decision, if any one man wants slaves, all the rest have no way of keeping that one man from holding them."

It was Lincoln's sincere desire and earnest aim to

settle the slave question peaceably, and in the interests of unity and good will among all the people of the different sections. He greatly desired that slavery should not be extended into new territory, and, -although he was morally opposed to the institution-he deplored and disdained any suggestion of interference with the institution in the Southern states. But, on the other hand, he was firmly convinced that it was the purpose of the Democratic party, both North and South, to extend slavery and make it national. This he was ever ready to resist, and fully determined that it should never come to pass, if it were possible for him to prevent it.

"Now, my friends," said Lincoln in this same address, "I wish you to attend for a little while to one or two other things in that Springfield speech. My main object was to show, so far as my humble ability was capable of showing to the people of this country, what I believe was the truth-that there was a tendency if not a conspiracy, among those who have engineered this slavery question for the last four or five years, to make slavery perpetual and universal in this nation."

Lincoln often refers to the fact that the great names so intimately associated with the Declaration of Independence and the National Constitution, represent men who thought substantially as he did upon this mighty question of slavery. But of all the great men of national fame who had preceded him Henry Clay was his decided favorite. His great admiration of Clay was continually cropping out in his public addresses. This high regard for Clay is well illustrated in this passage, which also throws more light upon his attitude towards slavery under the Constitution.

"Henry Clay, my beau ideal of a statesman, the

man for whom I fought all my humble life-Henry Clay once said of a class of men who would repress all tendencies to liberty and ultimate emancipation, that they must, if they would do this, go back to the era of our independence and muzzle the cannon which thunders its annual joyous return; they must blow out the moral lights around us; they must penetrate the human soul, and eradicate there the love of liberty; and then, and not till then, could they perpetuate slavery in this country! To my thinking, Judge Douglas is by his example and vast influence doing that very thing in this community when he says that the Negro has nothing in the Declaration of Independence. Henry Clay plainly understood the contrary. Judge Douglas is going back to the era of our Revolution, and to the extent of his ability muzzling the cannon which thunders its annual joyous return. When he invites any people willing to have slavery, to establish it, he is blowing out the moral lights around us. When he says he cares not whether slavery is voted down or voted up-that it is a sacred right of self-government—he is in my judgment penetrating the human soul and eradicating the light of reason and the love of liberty in this American people.'

In these views of this unique American statesman we can but concur. He was honest, conservative and right. If he had been told at this time that conditions would so shape themselves that he would emancipate all the Southern slaves by a single brief edict, he would have believed his informant beside himself. Lincoln greatly deplored the necessity for his Emancipation Proclamation, and used every honorable means to avoid it. It at length, in 1862, became absolutely unavoidable as a war measure, and his famous Emancipation Proclamation was issued

to take effect on the first day of January, 1863.

When Lincoln came into the Presidential office on the 4th of March, 1861, he found certain portions of the country in a state of actual rebellion. For a time he refused to recognize the appalling fact. He tried to persuade the South to listen to reason—but with no avail.

Most of the Southern people believed that any state had the right to retire from the Union at will. Many went so far as to regard the election of Mr. Lincoln as sufficient cause for the exercise of that right. South Carolina had taken the lead in this movement. That state called together a Constitutional Convention, and on the 20th day of December, 1860, an ordinance was passed, setting forth that South Carolina was no longer a state in the Union, but had resumed her independence. Conventions were called and similar Ordinances of Secession were adopted in January, 1861, by Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia and Louisiana. Texas took the same action in February of that year; Virginia hesitated, and the rest waited for her decision. As a matter of fact Virginia voted overwhelmingly against secession.

The six states which had seceded during December and January sent delegates to a convention held at Montgomery, Alabama, on February 4th, and there organized themselves into a new Republic, which they called the "Confederate States of America." This new Republic seized upon certain forts, arsenals, and other property of the United States Government. Fort Sumter was one of the few Southern strongholds remaining in possession of the United States. The North could not at first believe that all this was to be taken seriously. Major Anderson, who had retired from Fort Moultrie, be

cause it could not be defended from the land side, was in command of Fort Sumter. He notified President Buchanan-a Democrat and Southern sympathizer-that that fort could not be held without reenforcements of men and ammunition. At first the President would not act, fearing that such re-enforcements would precipitate a collision; but when Major Anderson informed him that batteries were building which threatened the fort's reduction, the re-enforcements were forwarded in an unarmed vessel, which was fired upon when she entered Charleston Harbor, and forced to return.

When Lincoln came into office-on the 4th of March, 1861-he took several weeks to decide what to do about Fort Sumter. Finally he determined to send a small fleet to Charleston with soldiers and provisions. At the same time he notified the Governor of South Carolina that the fleet would land no soldiers or ammunition unless attack was made-but would supply the fort with provisions only. The Confederates accepted this as a challenge and opened their batteries on the fort on the 12th of April. After a heavy bombardment it was surrendered on the following day. Lincoln had exhausted his resources for a peaceful solution, he had done all in his power to avert the contest. None deplored civil war more than he, but he was confronted with the stern reality of an actual state of war existing between the sections, precipitated by the notoriously hot-headed citizens of South Carolina. Under the solemn oath as Chief Executive of the United States he had no alternative, nothing was left to him but to accept the arbitrament of war with all its horrors.

In this situation he bravely addressed himself to the prosecution of the war, and the saving of the Union.