do, and passed no law excluding slavery from any one of them. It had severely censured the legislation of some of the Northern States intended to hinder the recovery of fugitives from labor; and in response to its expressed wishes, Rhode Island repealed its laws of that character, and Vermont, Maine, Massachusetts, and Wisconsin had the subject under consideration, and were ready to take similar action. Yet all this had no effect whatever in changing or checking the secession movement in the Southern States.

CHAPTER V.

FROM SPRINGFIELD TO WASHINGTON.

SPEECH AT INDIANAPOLIS.—ARRIval and Speech at Cincinnati.-Speeon AT COLUMBUS.-SPEECH AT PITTSBURG.-ARRIVAL AND SPEECH AT CLEVELAND.-ARFIVAL AT BUFFALO.-AT ROCHESTER AND SYRACUSE. - AT ALBANY.-SPEECH AT POUGHKEEPSIE.-IN NEW YORK.-REPLY TO THE MAYOR OF NEW YORK.-IN NEW JERSEY.-ARRIVAL AT PHiladelphia.— SPEECH IN PHILADELPHIA.—AT HARRISBURG.—ARRIVAL AND RECEPTION AT WASHINGTON.

FROM the date of his election, Mr. LINCOLN maintained silence on the affairs of the country. The Government was to remain for three months longer in the hands of Mr. Buchanan, and the new President did not deem it becoming or proper for him to interfere, in any way, with the regular discharge of its duties and responsibilities. On the 11th of February, 1861, he left his home in Springfield, Illinois, accompanied to the railroad dépôt by a large concourse of his friends and neighbors, whom he bade farewell in the following words :

MY FRIENDS :-No one not in my position can appreciate the sadness I feel at this parting. To this people I owe all that I am. Here I have lived more than a quarter of a century; here my children were born, and hero one of them lies buried. I know not how soon I shall see you again. A duty devolves upon me which is, perhaps, greater than that which has devolved upon any other man since the days of WASHINGTON. He never would have succeeded except for the aid of Divine Providence, upon which he at all times relied. I feel that I cannot succeed without the same Divine aid which sustained him, and on the same Almighty Being I place my reliance for support; and I hope you, my friends, will all pray that I may receive that Divine assistance, without which I cannot succeed, but with which success is certain. Again I bid you all an affectionate farewell.

As the train passed through the country, the President was greeted with hearty cheers and good wishes by the thousands who assembled at the railway stations along

the route. Party spirit seemed to have been forgotten, and the cheers were always given for "Lincoln and the Constitution." At Tolono he appeared upon the platform, and in response to the applause which hailed his appearance, he said :

I am leaving you on an errand of national importance, attended, as you are aware, with considerable difficulties. Let us believe, as some poet has expressed it, "Behind the cloud the sun is still shining." I bid you an affectionate farewell.

At Indianapolis the party was welcomed by a salute of thirty-four guns, and the President-elect was received by the Governor of the State in person, and escorted to a carriage in waiting, which proceeded-followed by a procession of the members of both houses of the legislature, the municipal authorities, the military, and firemen—to the Bates House. Appearing on the balcony of this hotel, Mr. Lincoln was greeted by the hearty applause of the large crowd which had assembled in the street, to which he addressed the following remarks :

GOVERNOR MORTON AND FELLOW-CITIZENS of the State of INDIANA :

Most heartily do 1 thank you for this magnificent reception, and while I cannot take to myself any share of the compliment thus paid, more than that which pertains to a mere instrument, an accidental instrument, perhaps I should say, of a great cause, I yet must look upon it as a most magnificent reception, and as such most heartily do thank you for it. You have been pleased to address yourself to me chiefly in behalf of this glorious Union in which we live, in all of which you have my hearty sympathy, and, as far as may be within my power, will have, one and inseparably, my hearty consideration. While I do not expect, upon this occasion, or until I get to Washington, to attempt any lengthy speech, I will only say to the salvation of the Union there needs but one single thing-the hearts of a people like yours. [Applause.]

The people, when they rise in mass in behalf of the Union and the liberties of their country, truly may it be said, "The gates of hell cannot prevail against them." [Renewed applause.] In all trying positions in which I shall be placed—and, doubtless, I shall be placed in many suchmy reliance will be placed upon you and the people of the United States; and I wish you to remember, now and forever, that it is your business, and not mine; that if the union of these States, and the liberties of this people shall be lost, it is but little to any one man of fifty-two years of age, but a great deal to the thirty millions of people who inhabit these

United States, and to their posterity in all coming time. It is your business to rise up and preserve the Union and liberty for yourselves, and not for me.

I desire they should be constitutionally performed. I, as already intimated, am but an accidental instrument, temporary, and to serve but for a limited time; and I appeal to you again to constantly bear in mind that with you, and not with politicians, not with Presidents, not with officeseekers, but with you is the question, Shall the Union and shall the liberties of this country be preserved to the latest generations? [Cheers.]

In the evening the members of the legislature waited upon him in a body at his hotel, where one of their number, on behalf of the whole, and in presence of a very large assemblage of the citizens of the place, made a brief address of welcome and congratulation, which Mr. Lincoln acknowledged in the following terms :

FELLOW-CITIZENS OF THE STATE OF INDIANA:-I am here to thank you much for this magnificent welcome, and still more for the generous support given by your State to that political cause which I think is the true and just cause of the whole country and the whole world.

Solomon says there is "a time to keep silence," and when men wrangle by the mouth with no certainty that they mean the same thing, while using the same word, it perhaps were as well if they would keep silence. The words "coercion" and "invasion are much used in these days, and often with some temper and hot blood. Let us make sure, if we can, that we do not misunderstand the meaning of those who use them. Let us get exact definitions of these words, not from dictionaries, but from the men themselves, who certainly depreciate the things they would represent by the use of words. What, then, is "Coercion ?" What is "Invasion?" Would the marching of an army into South Carolina, without the consent of her people, and with hostile intent towards them, be "invasion?" I certainly think it would; and it would be "coercion " also if the South Carolinians were forced to submit. But if the United States should merely hold and retake its own forts and other property, and collect the duties on foreign importations, or even withhold the mails from places where they were habitually violated, would any or all these things be "invasion" or "coercion ?" Do our professed lovers of the Union, but who spitefully resolve that they will resist coercion and invasion, understand that such things as these on the part of the United States would be coercion or invasion of a State? If so, their idea of means to preserve the object of their affection would seem exceedingly thin and airy. If sick, the little pills of the homeopathists would bo nich too large for it to swallow. In their view, the Union, as a family

relation, would seem to be no regular marriage, but a sort of "free-love" Arrangement, to be maintained only on "passional attraction."

By-the-way, in what consists the special sacredness of a State? I speak not of the position assigned to a State in the Union, by the Constitution; for that, by the bond, we all recognize. That position, however, a State cannot carry out of the Union with it. I speak of that assumed primary right of a State to rule all which is less than itself, and ruin all which is larger than itself. If a State and a county, in a given case, should be equal in extent of territory, and equal in nuinber of inhabitants, in what, as a matter of principle, is the State better than the county? Would an exchange of names be an exchange of rights upon principle? On what rightful principle may a State, being not more than one-fiftieth part of the nation, in soil and population, break up the nation and then coerce a proportionally larger subdivision of itself, in the most arbitrary way? What mysterious right to play tyrant is conferred on a district of country, with its people, by merely calling it a State?

Fellow-citizens, I am not asserting any thing; I am merely asking questions for you to consider. And now allow me to bid you farewell.

On the morning of the 12th, Mr. Lincoln took his departure and arrived at Cincinnati at about noon, having been greeted along the route by the hearty applause of the thousands assembled at the successive stations. His reception at Cincinnati was overwhelming. The streets were so densely crowded that it was with the utmost difficulty the procession could secure a passage. Mr. Lincoln was escorted to the Burnett House, which had been handsomely decorated in honor of his visit. He was welcomed by the Mayor of the city in a few remarks, in response to which he said :

MR. MAYOR AND FELLOW-CITIZENS :-I have spoken but once before this in Cincinnati. That was a year previous to the late Presidential election. On that occasion, in a playful manner, but with sincere words, I addressed much of what I said to the Kentuckians. I gave my opinion that we, as Republicans, would ultimately beat them, as Democrats, but that they could postpone that result longer by nominating Senator Douglas for the Presidency than they could in any other way. They did not, in any true sense of the word, nominate Mr. Douglas, and the result has come certainly as soon as ever I expected. I also told them how I expected they would be treated after they should have been beaten; and I now wish to call their attention to what I then said upon that subject. I then said, “When we do as we say, beat you, you perhaps want to know what we will do with you. I will tell you, as far as I am authorized to speak for the oppo