the path of national safety and of honor. None the less was the
act of the President one of justice, one that will abide the
sure test of time. Upon the real ground that the seizure of the
envoys was in violation of the Law of Nations, they were eventually
surrendered, and war with England, as well as the immediate danger
of recognition of the Confederacy, averted. Let it not be forgotten
that this very act of President Lincoln was a triumphant vindication
of our Government in its second war with Great Britain--a war waged
as a protest on our part against British seizure and impressment
of American citizens upon the high seas.

"The other incident, to which I briefly refer, was the proclamation
of emancipation. As a war measure of stupendous significance in
the national defence, as well as of justice to the enslaved,
such proclamation, immediate in time and radical in terms, had
to greater or less degree been urged upon the President from the
outbreak of the Rebellion. That slavery was to perish amid the
great upheaval became in time the solemn conviction of all thoughtful
men. Meanwhile there were divided counsels among the earnest
supporters of the President as to the time the masterful act 'that
could know no backward steps' should be taken. Unmoved amid divided
counsels, and at times fierce dissensions, the calm, far-seeing
executive, upon whom was cast the tremendous responsibility,
patiently bided his time. Events that are now the masterful theme
of history crowded in rapid succession, the opportune moment arrived,
the hour struck, the proclamation that has no counterpart fell upon
the ears of the startled world, and, as by the interposition of a
mightier hand, a race was lifted out of the depths of bondage.

"To the one man at the helm it seemed to have been given to know
the day and the hour. At the crucial moment, in one of the exalted
days of human history,

"'He sounded forth the trumpet that has never called
retreat.'

"The men who knew Abraham Lincoln, who saw him face to face, who
heard his voice in public assemblage, have with few exceptions
passed to the grave. Another generation is upon the busy stage.
The book has forever closed upon the dreadful pageant of civil
strife. Sectional animosities, thank God, belong now only to
the past. The mantle of Peace is over our entire land, and prosperity
within our borders.

"'The war-drum throbs no longer,
And the battle flags are furle