Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1866-02-23

LIldl u6Nolftu OH MIN. Atld Nds fcsDlfcu W
fulfil it, @
HE GOES TO WASHINGTON
! As on the eleventh of February, 1861, he
left Springfield, which for a quarter Of
century hau been bis happy home, to the
i crowd of his friends and neighbors whom
i he was never more to meet, he spoke a sol
emn farewell Iknow not how soon shall
Il see you again. a. duty has degolved upon
me greater than that which has deyolved
upon any other man since Washington He
never would haYe succeeded, except for the
aid of Divine Providence, upon which he at
all times relied. On the same Almighty
: Being place my reliance. Pray that / may
receive that Divine assistance. without
which Icannet succeed, but with which sue
cess is certain To the men of Indiana he
said: i am but an accidental, temporary
Instrument; it is your business to rise up
aud preserve the Union and liberty AT
the capital of Ohio he said Without
name, there has fallen upon me task such
as did not rest even upon the Father OF his
Country. Atyarious places in New York,
especially at Albany, before the legislature.
which rendered him the united support of
the great Empire State, he said: WI lille |
hold myself the hunlblest of all the indiyid-
: uals who have ever been elevated to the
/
to perform than any OF them. | bring ture
heart to the work [ must rely upon the
people of the whole bountry for support:
and with their sustaining ali even |, hum
bic as am, cannot fail to carry the ship of
state safely through the storm. " To the
Assembly of New Jersey, at Trenton he
explained u shall take the ground deem
r most just to the North, the East, the West,
, the South, and the whole country, In good
, temper certainly with no malice to any sec
; ton. am devoted TO peace, but it may be
necessary to putthe foot down irmly. In
t the old independence Hall of Philadelphia
| be said II have never had feeling politi-
7 cally that did not spring from the sentiment
embodied in the Declaration of lndepen-
dence, which gave liberty not alone to the
people of this country, but to the world IN
all future time If the country cannot be
saved without giving up that principle, /
| would rather be assassinated on the spot than
surrender it, have said nothing but what
/ am willing to live by and die by.
IN WHAT STATE HE FOUND THE COUNTRY.
Travelling in the dead Of night TO escape
assassination, Lincoln arrived at Washing
ton nine days before his Inauguration. The
outgoing President, at the opening OF the
session of Congress had still kept as the
4
5 son; had declared that IN case of even an
imaginary apprehension of danger from
notions of freedom among the slaves, idlsu-
s Mon would become inevitable. Lincoln and
others had questioned the opinion of fancy;
c such impugning he ascribed to the factlous
! temper of the times The fayorlte doc
: trine of the majority of the democratic party
Y ON the power of "a territorial legislature over
4 slavery he condemned as an attack on the
sacred rights of property, The state
legislatures, he insisted, must repeal what
q he called their unconstitutional and ,obnox-
: | i0IIs .enactnentS, and which, 1T such, were
: null and void, 2 or Hit would be impossible
for any human power to save the Union. =
Nay if these unimpertant acts were not re-
: pealed, s'the injured states would be justified
! in revolutionary resistance to the govern
. ment of the Union He maintained that
no state might secede at its sovereign will
and pleasure; that the Union was meant for
, perpetuity; and that Congress might attempt
TO preserve, but only by Cancellation, that
! the sword was not placed In their hands to
g preserve it By force" that the last desper-
q ate remedy of despairing people would
be ian explanatory amendment recognising
the decision of the Supreme Court OF the
United States The AMERICAN Union he
n called "a confederacy of states, and he
r thought it dnty to make the appeal Tor the
: amendment before any Of these states
should separate themselves from the Union.
: The views of the Lieutenant General, con
it tanning some patriotic advice, conceded the
u right of secession" pronounced quadruple
rupture of the Union "a smaller evil than
e the reuniting of the fragments by the sword.
e and 'seschewed the idea of invading a sece-
e ded state" After changes in the Cabinet
e the President informed Congress that mat
e ters were still worse;" that ''the South sui
:. fered serious grievances, which should be
. redresse ''in peace. /" The day after this
II message the flag of the Union was fired upon
u from Fort Moultrie, and the insult was not
IT revenged or noticed Senators in Congress
n telegraphed to their constituents to seize the
n national forts, and they were not arrested
e The finances of the country were grlevously
n embarrassed Its little army was not within
o reach-the part of it in Texas, with all ItS
e stores, was made over by it's commander tc
the seeding insurgents. One state aftel
another voted in convention to go out OF the
~ Union A Peace Congress so called, met a
!, the reaucst of Virginia, to concert the terms
= of capitulation for the continuance OF th'
II Union. Congress in both branches sough
1 to devise conciliatory expedlents; the terri
m tories of the country were organized IN ;
| manner not to conflict with any pretension
% | of the South, or any decision OF the Suprem'
: Court; and nevertheless the seeding state
y formed at Montgomery provisional govern
j. ment, and pursued their relentless purpos
ofl with such success that the Lieutenant Gener
ofl al feared the city of Washington might fint
itself Included in foreign country, ant
proposed, among the options for the eonsid
GRAFTON Of Lincoln, to bid the seeded state
m ''depart in peace. The great republl
If seemed to have its emblem in the vast ln
t, finished Capitol, at that moment rurrounde'
s, bv masses of stone and prostrate columns
e. never vet lifted into their places; seemingl
as the monument of high but .delusive aspira
lit tiuns the confused wreck of inchoate magni
ne fcence, saddef than any ruin of Egyptian
in Thebes or Athens
lie MS INAUGURATION, a3asa
a The fourth of March came With instinc
: tive wisdom the new President, speaking
4. to the people on taking the oath OF office
: put aside every question that divided tn
+ country, and gained a right to universe
4 support, by planting himself on the sinlgl
1e idea of Union That Union he declared t
A. be unbroken and perpetual; and he announ
tv ced his determination to fulfil the ampl
10 dutvof taking care that the laws be talth
- fuuy executed in all the states Seye
an days later the convention OF contederat
II states unanimously adopted Constitute
of of their own; aud the new government wa
= ,,,bor;totivelv announced to be founded o.