The National tribune., 1900-03-29
EVERYDAY LIFE OF
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
CONTINUED from first page.)

then. to make that intercourse more adj
yantageouS or more satisfactory after
separation than before. Can aliens make
treaties easier than friends can make law;
Can treaties be more faithfully enforced
between aliens than laws can 2mong
friends? Suppose you go to war. you can
not fight always; and when, after much
loss on both sides and no gain on either,
YOU cease fighting, the identical old queS-
lions. as to terms of intercourse, are again
upon YOU. This country, with
its institutions. belongs TO the people who
Iinhabit it. Whenever they shall grow
weary of the existing Government. they
can exercise their constitutional right OF
amending it, or their revolutionary right to
dismember or overthrow it. | cannot he
ignorant Cf the fact that many worthy ana
patriotic citizens are desirous of having the
| National Constitution amended. W hile l
make no recommendation of amendments.
| | fully recognize the rightfui autnorlty OF
| the people over the whole subject, TO be eX-
crciscd in either of the modes prescribed in
| the instrument itself: and | should, under
| existing circumstances, favor rather than
| OPPOSE a fair opportunity being afforded the
people to act upon Ii. 1he
Chief Magistrate derives all his authority
from the people, and they have conferred
| none upon him 10 fix terms Tor the Sepa-
ration of the States. The people them
selves can do this also if they choose but
! the Executive, as such, has nothing TODD
with if. His duty is to administer the
present Government as 1t came TO ms
hands. and to transmit it, unimpalred by
HIM, 10 his successor. by tne
frame of the Government under which we
live. the same people have wisely gwen
| their public servants but little power Tor
mischief: and have, with equal wisdom, pro
vided for the return of that little to their
| own hands at very short intervals. Whlle
| the people retain their virtue and vigilance,
| no Administration, by any extreme oil WICK
edness or folly, can very seriously inlure
the Government in the short space oil four
years.
"My counrtymen, one and all, think
calmly and well upon this whole SubJec1.
Nothing valuable can be lost by taking
time If there be an object to hurry any OF
you in hot haste to step which you would
never take deliberately, that object will be
frustrated by taking time; but no good can
he frustrated by it. Such of you as arc
now dissatisfied still have the old Con-
stitution unimpaired, and, on the s@msi-
tive point the laws of your own framing
underit; while the new Administration viii
have no immediate power. if it would, to
change either. If it were admitted that YOU
who are dissatisfied hold the right side
of the dispute, there is still no single
reason for precipitatc action. Intelligence,
patriotism, Christianity, and firm re-
lance on Him who has never yetforsaken
this favored land, are still competent 10
ADJUST in the best way, all our present
difficulty.
an your hands. my dissatisfied fellow
counHymen, and not in mine, is the mo-
mcntousS issue of civil war. The Govern
ment will not as3ail YOU. You can have no
conflict without being yourselves the ag-
grcssors. You have no oath registered in
heaven to destroy the Government; while
shall have the most solemn one to preserve,
protect and defend il.
81 am 10Th 10 close. We are not enemies,
but friends. We must not be enemies.
Though passion may have strained, 1t
must not break, Our bonds of affection.
The mystic chords of memory, str itching
from every battlefield and patriot grave to
every living heart and hearthStone all over
this broad land, will yet swell the chorus OF
the Union, when again touched, as surely
they will be, by the better angels
OF our nature"
NEW ERA BEGUN.
AT the close of the address, which was
delivered with the utmost earneStness and
Solemnity, Mr.. Lincoln, with revcrent
look and impressive emphasis, repeated
the oath TO preserve, protect and defend
the Constitution of his country. Douglas,
who knew from his personal familiarity
with the conspirators, better than Lincoln,
the dangers that surrounded and were
before him, who knew the .conspiratOrs
and their plots, with patriotic magnanimity
then graSped the hand of the President,
gracefully extended his congratulations,
and the assurance that in the dark future
he would stand by him. and. give to him
his utmost aid in upholding the Constitu-
ton and enforcing the laws of lis country"
AT the Inauguration" says Congress
man Riddle. | stood within yard of Mr..
Lincoln when he pronounced his famous
address. How full of life and power it
then was, with the JUNCTION of his utter
ance, Surely, VIC thought, the South.
which rejected the concessions Of Congress,
would accept him. How dry and quaint,
yet ingenious, much of that inaugural
appears 10 me now, when the life and soul
seems TO have gone out Of it, A sad thing
"a spcctcr of the day-will forever baint
my memory: Poor old President Bucl-
auan, snort, stout, pale, waite-hairra,
vet bearing himself reSolmcIy throughout,
linked by the arm TO the new President, into
whom from himself was passing the qIlali7
fying JUNCTION Of the Constitution, joStled
hither and thithcr, as already out of mems
sight. vet bravely maintaining the shadow
of dignity and place. How glad he>rn,fst
have been to take leave of his successor at
the White House. when all was endedr'
LINCOLN IN THE WHITE HOUSE.
The forrnalities Of the, inauguration
concluded, Mr.. -LIncOln passed back
through the Senate Chamber, and, again
escorted by Mr.. Buchanan. was conducted
to the White House, where tie cares and
vicissitudcs Of his position Immediately
descended upon him.
Strange indeed" says Gen. Logan.
must have been the thoughts that crowded
through the brain and oppressed the heart
Of Abraham Lincoln that nigit-hiS first
at the White House. The City of Wash
inpt1n SWarmed with rehaIs and rebel
sympathzcrs, and all the Departments of
Government were honrycombcd with
treason and shadowcd with treachcry and
espionage. Every step proposed or con
tempated by the Government would be
known TO the So-cailcd Government of the
Confederate States almost as soon as
thought Of. All means to thwart and
delay the carrying out Of the Governments
purposes that the excuses of routine and
red tape admitted of would be used bv tho
traitors within the camp TO aid th9 traitors
without.
NO one knew all this better than Mr..
Lincoln. With no army, no navy, not
even q revenue cutter left-with forts and
arscnals. ammunition and arms in posses
sion of the rebels, with no money in the
National Treasury, and the National
credit blaSind-the position must, even to
his hopeful nature. have seemed AT this
| time desperate. To he sure. despite threats,
neither few nor secret, which had been
made, that he should not live to he inaug-
uratcd. he had passed the first critical
point-hc had taken the inaugural oath,