country into two nations, as designed by the present rebellion, and every man of this great interior region is thereby cut off from some one or more of these outlets, not, perhaps, by a physical barrier, but by embarrassing and onerous trade regulations.

"And this is true, wherever a dividing or boundary line may be fixed. Place it between the now free and slave country, or place it south of Kentucky, or north of Ohio, and still the truth remains that none south of it can trade to any port or place north of it, and none north of it can trade to any port or place south of it, except upon terms dictated by a Government foreign to them. These outlets, east, west and south, are indispensable to the well-being of the people inhabiting and to inhabit this vast interior region. Which of the three may be the best is no proper question. All are better than either, and all of right belong to that people and to their successors for ever. True to themselves, they will not ask where a line of separation shall be, but will vow rather that there shall be no such line. Nor are the marginal regions less interested in these communications to and through them to the great outside world. They too, and each of them, must have access to this Egypt of the West, without paying toll at the crossing of any national boundary.

"Our national strife springs not from our permanent part-not from the land we inhabit-not from our national homestead. There is no possible severing of this but would multiply and not mitigate evils among us. In all its adaptations and aptitudes it demands union and abhors separation. In fact, it would ere long force reunion, however much of blood and treasure the separation might have cost.

66

'Our strife pertains to ourselves-to the passing generations of men, and it can, without convulsion, be hushed for ever with the passing of our generation.

"In this view, I recommend the adoption of the following resolution and articles amendatory to the Constitution of the United States :

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled (two-thirds of both Houses concurring),―That the following articles be proposed to the Legislatures (or Conventions) of the several States as amendments to the Constitution of the United States, all or any of which articles, when ratified by threefourths of the said Legislatures (or Conventions), to be valid as part or parts of the said Constitution, viz. :—

ARTICLE.-Every State, wherein Slavery now exists,

which shall abolish the same therein at any time or times before the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand and nine hundred, shall receive compensation from the United States as follows, to wit:

The President of the United States shall deliver to every such State bonds of the United States, bearing interest at the rate of per cent. per annum, to an amount equal to the aggregate sum of - for each slave shown to have been therein by the eighth census of the United States, said bonds to be delivered to such State by instalments, or in one parcel, at the completion of the abolishment, accordingly as the same shall have been gradual, or at one time, within such State; and interest shall begin to run upon any such bond only from the proper time of its delivery as aforesaid. Any State having received bonds as aforesaid, and afterwards reintroducing or tolerating slavery therein, shall refund to the United States the bonds so received, or the value thereof, and all interest paid thereon.

ARTICLE. All slaves who shall have enjoyed actual freedom by the chances of the war, at any time before the end of the rebellion, shall be for ever free; but all owners of such who shall not have been disloyal shall be compensated for them at the same rates as is provided for States adopting abolishment of slavery, but in such way that no slave shall be twice accounted for.

ARTICLE.-Congress may appropriate money, and otherwise provide for colonizing free-coloured persons, with their own consent, at any place or places without the United States.

Burnside's defeat at Fredericksburg, at the close of 1862, again disheartened the loyal North; but brighter days were near their dawn, although the defeat of Hooker at Chancellorsville in the ensuing April seemed an unpropitious opening of the new year. The Southern army next invaded Maryland and Pennsylvania, and met with the overpowering repulse of Gettysburg, losing nearly fourteen thousand prisoners, and twenty-five thousand small arms.

A piece of ground was afterwards marked off, near Gettysburg, for a national cemetery for depositing the remains of the loyal thousands who fell in this great

battle. To the impressive dedication of this vast graveyard came the President and his Cabinet, attended by an imposing military demonstration, and a vast concourse of visitors. Hon. Edward Everett delivered the formal speech, and President Lincoln delivered the following beautiful address:

"Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth upon this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. to dedicate a portion of it, as the final resting-place of those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

We are met

"But in a larger sense we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us, the living, rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work that they have thus far so nobly carried on. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us-that from these honoured dead we take increased devotion to the cause for which they here gave the last full measure of devotion that we here highly resolve that the dead shall not have died in vain-that the nation shall, under God, have a new birth of freedom; and that the Government of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

The tremendous successes of Vicksburg and Port Hudson followed quickly upon Gettysburg-that of Vicksburg taking place on the 4th of July, thus pro

bably constituting the most glorious and substantial celebration ever before accorded to that national holiday.

The fruits of this year were deemed ample reason for the appointment of a day which should be devoted to thanksgiving; accordingly, President Lincoln issued a proclamation which, for its humility of spirit, beauty of expression and nobility of sentiment, must remain marked even among the remarkable papers which have issued from the President's hands. We quote it :

66 The year that is drawing toward its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever-watchful providence of Almighty God.

"In the midst of a civil war of unequalled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to invite and provoke the aggression of foreign States, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere, except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union.

"The needful diversions of wealth and strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence have not arrested the plough, the shuttle, or the ship. The axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege, and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consequences of augmented strength and vigour, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom.

"No human counsel hath devised, nor hath any

mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.

"It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and voice by the whole American people; I do, therefore, invite my fellow-citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea, and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a Day of Thanksgiving and Prayer to our beneficent Father, who dwelleth in the heavens. And I recommend to them that, while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners, or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty hand, to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it, as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes, to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity, and union."

We must here be permitted to quote the President's acknowledgment to General Grant of the capture of Vicksburg; for, in this communication Mr. Lincoln's character for honesty and candour is agreeably displayed in the modest and unconscious garb of his own language. It is as follows:

"EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, "July 13th, 1863.

"MY DEAR GENERAL,-I do not remember that you and I ever met personally. I write this now as a grateful acknowledgment for the almost inestimable service you have done the country. I write to say a word further. When you reached the vicinity of Vicksburg, I thought you should do what you finally