objects, there will be no
invasion, no using of force against or among the people anywhere----"

Again and again Douglas nodded his approval and spoke it in low tones:

"Good! Good! That means no coercion."

And then, followed in solemn tones, the fateful sentences:

"In _your_ hands, my dissatisfied fellow countrymen, and not in _mine_
is the momentous issue of civil war. The Government will not assail
_you_ unless you _first_ assail _it_. You can have no conflict without
yourselves being the aggressors. _You_ have no oath registered in Heaven
to destroy the Government, while _I_ shall have the most solemn one to
'preserve, protect and defend' it. _You_ can forbear the _assault_ upon
it; _I_ can _not_ shrink from the _defense_ of it----"

Again he paused, and the crowd hung spellbound as he began his closing
paragraph in tender persuasive accents throbbing with emotion, his clear
voice breaking for the first time:

"I am loath to close. We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be
enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds
of affection. The mystic chords of memory stretching from every
battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all
over this broad land will yet swell the chorus of the Union when again
touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature."

The closing words fell from his sensitive lips with the sad dreamy eyes
blinded by tears.

At last he had touched the hearts of all. The sincerity and beauty of
the simple appeal for the moment hushed bitterness and passion and the
cheer was universal.

The black-robed figure of the venerable Chief Justice stepped forward
with extended open Bible. His bony, trembling fingers and cadaverous
intellectual face gave the last touch of dramatic contrast between the
old and new regimes.

The tall, dark man reverently laid his left hand on the open Book,
raised his right arm, and slowly repeated the words of the oath:

"I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of
President of the United States, and will, to the best of my ability,
preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, so
help me God!"

The words had scarcely died on his lips when the distant boom of cannon
proclaimed the new President. The crowd on the platform rose and stood
with uncovered heads, while the procession formed in the same order as
at its entrance and returned to the White Hou