He who has to refuse every hour requests from those whom a private person would have been glad to indulge, he who has to punish those whom a private person would pity and pardon, can seldom retain either tenderness or patience. But Lincoln's tenderness and patience were inexhaustible. To preserve truthfulness and conscientousness appears scarcly possible in the stress of life where immense issues seem to make it necessary and, therefore, make it right to toss aside the ordinary rules of conduct in order to secure the end desired. To Abraham Lincolm, however, truthfulness and conscientiousness remained the rule of his life. He felt that he owed his responsibility not only to the people, but to a higher power.
Few men have so stainless a record.
To you, men of Illinois, Lincoln is the most famous and worthy of all those who have adorned your commonwealth. To you, citizens of the United States, he is the president who carried you through a terrific conflict and saved the union. To us in England he is one of the heroes of the race whence you and I spring. Great men are the noblest possession of a nation and are potent forces in the moulding of national character. Their influence lives after them, and if they be good as well as great, they remain as beacons lighting the course of all who follow them.