of the Proclamation. These were sold in large
numbers, and thus many thousands of dollars were added to the receipts
of the fair.

The managers of the Soldiers' Home were offered twenty-five thousand
dollars for the original Proclamation.* The offer came from a
showman who expected to reimburse himself by the exhibition of the
paper.

The original now on the files of the State Department is not in the
handwriting of Mr. Lincoln and it has therefore no value derived from
Mr. Lincoln's personality.

When I entered upon this inquiry, which has resulted in the preparation
of this paper, I was ignorant of the fact that the original
Proclamation had been destroyed, and it was my purpose to secure its
return to the archives of the Department of State. That is now
impossible. Its destruction has given value to the _fac simile_
copies. Many thousands of them are in the possession of citizens of
the United States, and they will be preserved and transmitted as
souvenirs of the greatest act of the most illustrious American of this
century.

In the early autumn of 1864 a meeting was held in Faneuil Hall in
honor of the capture of Atlanta by the army under General Sherman, and
the battle in Mobile Bay under the lead of Admiral Farragut. Strange
as the fact may now appear, those historical events were not accepted
with satisfaction by all the citizens of Boston. The leading
Democratic papers gave that kind of advice that may be found, usually,
in the columns of hostile journals, when passing events are unfriendly,
or when there is an adverse trend of public opinion. Hard words should
not be used and nothing should be said of a partisan character. Such
was the advice, and a large body of men assembled who were opposed to
partisan speeches. They were known as the McClellan Club of the
North End of Boston and they were sufficient in numbers, when standing,
to fill the main floor in front of the rostrum, which at that time was
not provided with seats. The meeting was called by Republicans and it
was conducted under the auspices of Republicans. Governor Andrew was
to preside and Governor Everett, with others, had been invited to
speak. Governor Andrew was not blessed with a commanding voice and it
was drowned or smothered by the hisses, cheers and cat-call cries of
the hostile audience in front of him. The efforts of the sympathetic
audience in the galleries were of no avail. Mr. Everett's letter was
then read, but not