plainly enough how enthusiastically
the Portuguese nobleman had admired the antique simplicity and
strength of Mr. Lincoln's character.
Dr. Merle d'Aubigne, the historian of the Reformation, writing to Mr.
Fogg, U. S. Minister to Switzerland, said: "While not venturing to
compare him to the great sacrifice of Golgotha, which gave liberty to
the captives, is it not just, in this hour, to recall the word of an
apostle (I John iii, 16): 'Hereby perceive we the love of God, because
he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for
the brethren?' Who can say that the President did not lay down his
life by the firmness of his devotion to a great duty? The name of
Lincoln will remain one of the greatest that history has to inscribe
on its annals.... Among the legacies which Lincoln leaves to us, we
shall all regard as the most precious, his spirit of equity, of
moderation, and of peace, according to which he will still preside, if
I may so speak, over the restoration of your great nation."
The "Democratic Association" of Florence, addressed "to the Free
People of the United States," a letter, in which they term Mr. Lincoln
"the honest, the magnanimous citizen, the most worthy chief
magistrate of your glorious Federation."
The eminent French liberal, M. Edouard Laboulaye, in a speech showing
a remarkably just understanding and extremely broad views with respect
to the affairs and the men of the United States, said: "Mr. Lincoln
was one of those heroes who are ignorant of themselves; his thoughts
will reign after him. The name of Washington has already been
pronounced, and I think with reason. Doubtless Mr. Lincoln resembled
Franklin more than Washington. By his origin, his arch good nature,
his ironical good sense, and his love of anecdotes and jesting, he was
of the same blood as the printer of Philadelphia. But it is
nevertheless true that in less than a century, America has passed
through two crises in which its liberty might have been lost, if it
had not had honest men at its head; and that each time it has had the
happiness to meet the man best fitted to serve it. If Washington
founded the Union, Lincoln has saved it. History will draw together
and unite those two names. A single word explains Mr. Lincoln's whole
life: it was Duty. Never did he put himself forward; never did he
think of himself; never did he seek one of those ingenious
combinations which puts the head of a state in bold relief, an
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