The morning of the fourth of March, 1865, at Washington, was cold and rainy, but by noon the sun shone, and at haft past twelve o'clock, Abraham Lincoln appeared before the vast crowd in front of the Capitol, to take for the second time the oath of office as President of the United States. He passed so near me on his way that I could have laid my hand upon his shoulders. Chief Justice Chase administered with great dignity the oath of office-and Mr. Lincoln began his inaugural address. The paper was very brief; I watched him carefully through its whole delivery. I could not hear his voice, but could see the expression of his countenance. As a piece of masterly eloquence, force and pathos, it has never been surpassed.

Let us recall a part of that wonderful composition. Speaking of the civil war, then raging, he said: "Neither party expected for "the war the magnitude or duration which it has already attained. "Neither anticipated that the cause of the conflict might cease with 66 or before the conflict itself should cease. Each looked for an easier "triumph, and a result less fundamental and astounding.

"Both read the same bible, and pray to the same God, and each "invokes his aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men "should dare to ask a just God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces, but let us judge not, that we be "not judged. The prayer of both could not be answered; that of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has his own purposes. Woe unto the world because of offenses, for it must needs "be that offenses come, but woe to that man by whom the offense "cometh. If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of these "offenses which in the Providence of God must needs come, but which

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"having continued through His appointed time, He now wills to “ remove, and that He gives to both North and South this terrible war, "as the woe to those by whom the offenses came, shall we discern "there any departure from those divine attributes, which the believing in a living God always ascribe to Him? Fondly do we hope, fervently "do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war shall speedily pass away. Yet if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by "the bondsmen, 250 years of unrequited toil shall be sunk; and unti "every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another “drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still "it must be said that the judgment of the Lord are true and righteous "altogether."

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As Mr. Arnold says, “Since the days of Christ's sermon on the Mount, where is the speech of magistrate, prince, or ruler which can compare with this."

On the 9th of April, 1865, at Appomatox Court House, Virginia, General Robert E. Lee, commander of the Confederate forces, surrendered to General Grant the entire army of Virginia, and by this act substantially closed the war of the Rebellion. The North went almost mad with joy. Bells were rung, bonfires blazed, business suspended. guns were fired, the military displayed, flags were flying, men with delight formed processions and went singing, shouting and drinking. The Mayor of Cleveland, at the head of an army of best citizens, went shouting through the streets drinking whiskey from a coarse crockery washbowl. Men lost their heads in this whirlwind of delight, that the cruel war was over. Fathers and mothers and wives, whose children and husbands were at the front, wept tears of thankfulness; and the loyal people of the nation made the air ring with the echoes of their Hallelujahs!

On the 14th of April, just five days afterward, Mr. Lincoln met his son Robert at breakfast. The latter had been an aid-de-camp to General Grant, and was present at the surrender of Lee, and now gave his father some details of this great drama. At 12 o'clock there was a Cabinet meeting at which General Grant was asked to be present. The President remarked in the afternoon to Mrs. Lincoln, "We have had a hard time, wife, together since we came to Washington, but now the war is over, and with God's blessing we may hope for four years of happiness, and then we will go back to Illinois, and pass the remainder of our lives in peace."

On the evening of this day Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln, accompanied by Major Rathburn, went to Ford's Theatre to see the play of "Our American Cousin.” General Grant and Mr. Colfax were both urged by the President to go with them, but both were engaged. Early in the evening while the audience were eagerly watching the play, a pistol shot rang

loudly in the air, and a man was seen with a dagger in his hand, jumping from the President's box upon the stage, crying "Sic semper tyrannis," and escaping by the back door of the theatre. The President had been shot. His head fell upon his bosom, and he made no sign. Major Rathburn seized the assassin, but the murderer attacked him with his dagger, cutting him seriously in the arm. Mr. Stewart, a lawyer of Washington, in person a giant, leaped upon the stage in a instant, and pursued the assassin. In speaking of his failure to seize him, he told me that just as he was about to lay hands on the wretch, a door was suddenly closed between them, which gave the man time enough to reach his horse and fly. It was soon known that the murderer was John Wilkes Booth, an actor of some promise. He had broken his leg jumping upon the stage, and was unable to ride a considerable distance. However, he was found three days afterward in an old barn in Maryland, 30 miles from Washington, and resisting arrest, was shot dead by a private soldier named Boston Corbett.

At the time the President was shot Secretary Seward was lying ill in his bed from injuries received from being thrown from his carriage. He was an old man, and some apprehension was felt about his condition. While thus helpless he was attacked by a huge brute of a man, who repeatedly stabbed at him with a dagger. Mr. Seward was seriously cut and injured, and finally saved his life by rolling upon the floor. Mr. Frederick Seward who tried to keep the assassin out of his father's room, was struck by a pistol on the head and his skull fractured. His daughter and the nurse by their heroic efforts prevented Mr. Seward from being killed. The name of the would-be murderer was Lewis Payne, the accomplice of Booth, an ex-Confederate soldier, and formerly a boarder at the house of Mrs. Surratt.

The President died on the morning of the 15th of April and the entire country was plunged into grief. The joy of the people had been turned into mourning. In every city business was suspended. There was no house, however humble, that did not display some black signal of sorrow at the death of the great, the noble, the beloved Lincoln.

On the 19th of April the funeral of the President took place in the East room of the White House. There were present an imposing body of mourners, comprising the Chief Justice and Associate Justices of the Supreme Court, General Grant, Admiral Farragut, Members of the Cabinet, Judges, Senators and Members of Congress, members of the Army and Navy, the Governors of States, the Diplomatic Corps and distinguished men from all parts of the land. During the time those ceremonies were taking place at Washington, funeral services were being held in every city in the loyal states. Business ceased, and every citizen seemed bowed with grief and filled with indignation.

The remains of Mr. Lincoln were embalmed, placed under a military bodyguard in charge of Major Generals, who were instructed not to lose sight of the coffin until it should be buried at Springfield, the home of the President.

The funeral train left Washington on the 21st. It was to visit Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, Albany, Buffalo, Cleveland, Columbus, Indianapolis, Chicago, Springfield, passing through the States of Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. At Baltimore the city was draped in mourning and the grief universal. The blacks were stricken with their loss, and cried as if they had lost their nearest and dearest.

It is idle to attempt to follow the funeral train as it swept over half a continent. The body of Alexander was sent to Egypt upon a car of silver and gold; decked with precious stones; surrounded with stately troops and magnificent manifestations of sorrow. Abraham Lincoln was borne to his tomb upon the hearts of his people. They witnessed the funeral journey by millions. Minute guns were fired, cities were robed in black, bells were tolled, churches draped in mourning, funeral dirges sung, and every possible honor paid to the memory of the illustrious dead. At Cleveland the body was placed in the Public Square with reverential care. The care-worn face, so tranquil and serene, was exposed to view amid the sobbing and tears of a countless mass of human beings.

The funeral train reached the capitol of Illinois on the third of May, and the body of Mr. Lincoln was deposited in the rotunda of the State House, among his neighbors and friends. Over one door was inscribed, "The altar of freedom has borne no nobler sacrifice." Above the other, "Illinois clasps to her bosom her slain but glorified son." The remains of this best loved of all our Presidents, were laid to rest in Oak Ridge cemetery among his kindred and former associates.

The murder of Mr. Lincoln was claimed to be the result of a conspiracy between Jacob Thompson, C. C. Clay, Beverly Tucker, and other prominent rebels, who had been living in Toronto and Montreal since 1864. These men it was said advised the assassination of the President, General Grant, Stanton and others, as a blessing to the people of the South. They also arranged for raids upon our northern borders; the burning of New York; the shipping of diseased and infected clothing to northern cities; and the poisoning the water in the reservoir in New York, so as to kill at one blow the old and the young, by a crime more stupendous than ever was known in history. They were richly provided with funds, and had bank accounts with various institutions in Canada. They did execute one raid into St. Albans, Vermont, where one or two banks were robbed, and some private citizens killed.