Ex. CCVI.—ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT.

Oн, slow to smite and swift to spare,
Gentle and merciful and just!
Who, in the fear of God, didst bear
The sword of power, a nation's trust!

In sorrow by thy bier we stand,
Amid the awe that hushes all,
And speak the anguish of a land
That shook with horror at thy fall.

Thy task is done; the bond are free;
We bear thee to an honored grave,
Whose proudest monument shall be
The broken fetters of the slave.

Pure was thy life; its bloody close

Hath placed thee with the sons of light,
Among the noble host of those

Who perished in the cause of Right.

Ex. CCVII.-COMMEMORATIVE ADDRESS ON THE DEATH OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN.

Delivered before the Athenæum Club, New York, April 18th, 1865.

PARKE GODWIN.

MR. PRESIDENT:-How grand and how glorious, yet how terrible, are the times in which we are permitted to live! How profound and various the emotions that alternately depress and thrill our hearts, like these April skies-now all smiles, and now all tears. Within a week-the Holy Week, as it is called in the rubrics of our churches-we have had our triumphal entries, amid the waving of the palms of Peace; we have had our dread Friday of Crucifixion; we have had, too, in the recently renewed patriotism of the nation, a resurrection of a new and better life!

ADDRESS ON THE DEATH OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN.

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It seems but a day or two since we listened to the music of the glad and festive parade; we saw the banners of our pride waving with beauty in every air, their stars bright as the stars of the morning, and their rays of white and red, like the beams of the rainbow, telling that the tempest was past. We pressed hands and hurrahed, and grew almost delirious with the joy that Peace had come, that Unity was secured, that Liberty and Justice, like the cherubim of the Ark, would stretch their wings over the altars of our country, and stand forever as the guardian angels of her sanctity and glory.

But now these exultant strains are changed into the dull and heavy toll of bells; those flags are folded and draped in the emblems of mourning; and our hearts, giving forth no more the cheering shouts of Victory, are despondent and full of sadness.

The great Captain of our cause-the Commander-in-chief of our armies and navies-the President of our civic councils -the centre and director of movements-this true son of the People-once the poor flat-boatman-the village-lawyer that was the raw, uncouth, yet unsophisticated child of our American society and institutions, whom that society and those institutions had lifted out of his low estate to the foremost dignity of the world-ABRAHAM LINCOLN-smitten by the basest hand ever upraised against human innocence, is gone, gone, gone! He who had borne the heaviest of the brunt in our four long years of war-whose pulse beat livelier, whose eyes danced brighter than any other's, when

"The storm drew off

In scattered thunders groaning round the hills,"

in the supreme hour of his joy and glory was struck down. That genial, kindly heart has ceased to beat; that noble brain has oozed from its mysterious beds; that manly form lies stiff in Death's icy fetters, and all of him that was mortal has sunk "to the portion of weeds and outworn faces."

Yet we sorrow not as those who are without hope. Our Chief has gone, but our cause remains; dearer to our hearts because he has now become its martyr; consecrated by his sacrifice; more widely accepted by all parties; and fragrant and lovely forevermore in the memories of all the great and the good of all lands and for all time. The frenzied hand which slew the head of the government, in the mad hope of paralyz. ing its functions, only drew the hearts of the people together

more closely to strengthen and sustain its power. Oh, foolish and wicked dream, oh, insanity of fanaticism, oh, blindness of black hate to think that this majestic temple of human liberty, with its clustered columns of free and prosperous states, and whose base is as broad as the continent-could be shaken to pieces by striking off the ornaments of its capital! No! this Nation lives, not in one man nor in a hundred men, however able, however eminent, however endeared to us; but in the affections, the virtues, the energies and the will of the whole American people. Our good ship of State, which the tempests assail with their wild fury, which the angry surges lift in their arms, that they may drop her into the yawning gulf, while the treacherous hidden rocks below grind and torture, yet sails on securely to her destined port; and when the very Prince of the power of the air smites her captain at the helm, and the first mate in his berth: she still sails on securely, for her crew is still there; they know her bearings, and will steer right on by the compass of Eternal Justice, and under the celestial light of Liberty.

Ex. CCVIII.-ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

WITH earnest heart, unshrinkingly upholding
The awful cause God raised him to protect:
With patient heart, the mighty scheme unfolding,
Looking to Him to counsel and direct.

Steadfast and calm, through hopes deferred, defeated;
Saddened by many cares, oppressed by none,
Thank God! he lived to see that work completed,
Then passed away from earth-his work was done.

Not so it seemeth to our darkened vision-
Still do the shadows veil the dawning light;
But hope like his failed never of fruition,
Since God is on the throne and judgeth right.

Pure, humble heart, unstained by selfish quarrel,
Amid the strife of party ever calm,

He gladly twined our heroes' brows with laurel,
Then bowed his own to wear the martyr's palm.

FUTURE OF THE FREEDMEN.

Kind, tender heart, through all its pulses thrilling
With pity for a captive brother's woe!
No rest for him, while steadfastly fulfilling

God's solemn mandate, "Let my people go."

No rest for him, who felt each slave's oppression,
Who knew their blood for blood must loudly call;
No rest till he effaced the foul transgression;
own, the dearest blood of all.

Then gave

his

And now, around his bier a weeping nation
Their ardent love and gratitude express;
Not with a mournful dirge of lamentation,
But with a solemn, thrilling tenderness.

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His was the courage and the strength that bore them
Through the lone wilderness and sea of blood;
Who, when the promised land stretched fair before them,
Upon the towering summit meekly stood;

Saw them, ere long, that peaceful land possessing,
Above all nations prosperous and blest,-
Then, lifting up his voice in solemn blessing,
He passed unto his everlasting rest.

And on each heart his words of benediction, With sad, prophetic meaning, now must fall: "Patience and faith in every dark afflictionMalice to none, but charity for all.”

Mourn then, but not for him; he died victorious;
A memory more cherished none could crave;
God took his spirit to a rest most glorious;
We lay his body in an honored grave.

Ex. CCIX.-FUTURE OF THE FREEDMEN.*

ANDREW JOHNSON.

WHILE I have no doubt that now, after the close of the war, it is not competent for the General Government to *From the first annual message from President Johnson to Congress, Dec. 4, 1865.

extend the elective franchise in the several States, it is equally clear that good faith requires the security of the freedmen in their liberty and their property, their right to labor, and their right to claim the just return of their labor. I can not too strongly urge a dispassionate treatment of this subject which should be carefully kept aloof from all party strife. We must equally avoid hasty assumptions of any natural impossibility for the two races to live side by side in a state of mutual benefit and good will. The experiment involves us in no inconsistency; let us, then, go on and make that experiment in good faith, and not be too easily disheartened. The country is in need of labor, and the freedmen are in need of employment, culture, and protection. While their right of voluntary migration and expatriation is not to be questioned, I would not advise their forced removal and colonization. Let us rather encourage them to honorable and useful industry, where it may be beneficial to themselves and to the country; and, instead of hasty anticipations of the certainty of failure, let there be nothing wanting to the fair trial of the experiment. The change in their condition is the substitution of labor by contract for the status of slavery.. The freedman can not fairly be accused of unwillingness to work, so long as a doubt remains about his freedom of choice in his pursuits, and the certainty of his recovering his stipulated wages. In this the interest of the employer and the employed coincide. The employer desires in his workmen spirit and alacrity, and these can be permanently secured in no other way. And if the one ought to be able to enforce the contract, so ought the other. The public interest will be best promoted, if the several States will provide adequate protection and remedies for the freedmen. Until this is in some way accomplished, there is no chance for the advantageous use of their labor; and the blame of ill-success will not rest on them.

I know that sincere philanthropy is earnest for the immediate realization of its remotest aims; but time is always an element in reform. It is one of the greatest acts on record to have brought four millions of people into freedom. The career of free industry must be fairly opened to them; and then their future prosperity and condition must, after all, rest mainly on themselves. If they fail, and so perish away, let us be careful that the failure shall not be attributable to any denial of justice. In all that relates to the destiny of the freedmen, we need not be too anxious to read the future;