ebruary, 1861, he left
Springfield, which for a quarter of a century had been his happy home,
to the crowd of his friends and neighbors, whom he was never more to
meet, he spoke a solemn farewell: "I know not how soon I shall see you
again. A duty has devolved upon me, greater than that which has
devolved upon any other man since Washington. He never would have
succeeded, except for the aid of Divine Providence, upon which he at
all times relied. On the same Almighty Being I place my reliance. Pray
that I may receive that Divine assistance, without which I cannot
succeed, but with which success is certain." To the men of Indiana he
said: "I am but an accidental, temporary instrument; it is your
business to rise up and preserve the Union and liberty." At the capital
of Ohio he said: "Without a name, without a reason why I should have a
name, there has fallen upon me a task such as did not rest even upon
the Father of his country." At various places in New York, especially
at Albany, before the legislature, which tendered him the united
support of the great Empire State, he said: "While I hold myself the
humblest of all the individuals who have ever been elevated to the
Presidency, I have a more difficult task to perform than any of them. I
bring a true heart to the work. I must rely upon the people of the
whole country for support, and with their sustaining aid even I, humble
as I am, cannot fail to carry the ship of state safely through the
storm." To the assembly of New Jersey, at Trenton, he explained: "I
shall take the ground I deem most just to the North, the East, the
West, the South, and the whole country, in good temper, certainly with
no malice to any section. I am devoted to peace, but it may be
necessary to put the foot down firmly." In the old Independence Hall,
of Philadelphia, he said: "I have never had a feeling politically that
did not spring from the sentiments embodied in the Declaration of
Independence, which gave liberty, not alone to the people of this
country, but to the world in all future time. If the country cannot be
saved without giving up that principle, I would rather be assassinated
on the spot than surrender it. I have said nothing but what I am
willing to live and die by."

Travelling in the dead of night to escape assassination, LINCOLN
arrived at Washington nine days before his inauguration. The outgoing
President, at the opening of the session of Congress, had still kept as
the majorit