Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1865-03-04
aAIUeDAY. MARCn {. Ises.
&c. nnIre selehrate.p p

To-day tbs VIII of the people, as ex-
pressed By them at the ballot-box on the
ssh Of November last, is contaminated BY
the re. inauguration of Abraham Lincoln
as President of the United ststes. -Four
yesB Sgo today he took his seat. His po-
aition was surrounded by difficulties and
emharrassments fer which the history Of
the world furnishes no parallel An arm
ed and orgsnizsd insurrection had already
assumed sway over more than half the ter
ritory Of tie States Of the Unicn; it had
elected q government; it had equipped an
army; it had seized by force of arms
upon the forts, custom houses, mintA ar
ssnSIi, and government buildings through
out The South. By the treachery of the
preceding administration the nation was
left with . depleted treasury, with An
army to q considerable extent oficered by
traitors, with Its arsenAls stripped OF muui-
tons of war, and sent South, by Secretary
Of War in completely with the rebellion,
with navy scattered to the furthest seas.
President Lincoln reached the capital in
disguise. and seemed after his arrival there
almost a prisoner in the hands of the reb-
els. Thus, seemingly pOwerless, his ad-
uainiEtrstion commenced. It has been
harSssed, throughout, bysimilar troubles =
by mighty insurrection in the South, by
threats Of foreign intervention from abroad,
by McClellsnism in the army, and by
copperhesdism at home. The whole Rd-
ministrstion hiss been marked by most
singular tact, prudence, foresight and
wisdom. Looking back upon 1t, we
find hardly an act of our Chief Msgis-
trsss, which we could wish, in the light of
subsequent events, to have been different.
His policy has singularly succeeded in uni
ting all truly loyal men in the support of
The Administration. Radical and conser-
vstiVe have coalesced in his support, and
though both factions have found some
what to grumble at, both have been united
In the grand contest for Union and Liber-
ty. Now, IS Lincoln is q second time in
sugursted, the national authority Is ress-
serted over three-fourths of the territory
which four years ago was in insurrection.
The vital force of the rebellion is cooped
up il Richmond, and in the army of Beau
regard, which is daily drawing nearer and
nearer to ;he rebel capital. The forts and
the places for the retaking of which the
President called out the armies of the Re-
public, are, almost without exception,
again in Federal hands, The days of the
rebellion are numbered. Meantime, the
nation hss had q new birth to freedom.
The emancipation proclamation and the
enlistment of negroes in the army wore
two steps IN the grand onward career, and
now the elimination is reached by the
passage of the Constitutional Amendment
sbOlishing slavery throughout the United
States.
Is not this grand four-yesrs' work 2
Z In gratitude for the wise ststesmAnship
which, under Providence, has accomplish
ed 1t, the people have honored Abraham
Lincoln with q reelection. he is tbs first
President, since jackson, to whom this
has been accorded.
We celebrate to-day not only the grand
victories over rebellion which our armies
have gained in the field, but the victory
over treason and eowErdice at home which
the loyal people of the North achieved in
the reelection of Abraham Lincoln
Without this victory, those of our armies
would have been impossible. Let US re-
joice over the successes of the past which
the ssgscity and skill of our President have
secured to US, and over those of the future
which his Inauguration to-day insures US.