LINCOLN, ABRAHAM. 



417 



of the future policy of the Government. It 

 was as follows : 



" Sir : In behalf of the Councils of Philadel- 

 phia and of its citizens, who, with common re- 

 spect for their Chief Magistrate-elect, have 

 greeted your arrival, I tender you the hospital- 

 ity of this city. I do this as the official repre- 

 sentative of ninety thousand hearths, around 

 which dwell six hundred thousand people, firm 

 and ardent in their devotion to the Union; and 

 yet it may not be withheld, that there are but 

 few of these firesides whose cheer is not 

 straitened and darkened by the calamitous con- 

 dition of our country. The great mass of 

 this people are heartily weary and sick of the 

 selfish schemes and wily plots of mere politi- 

 cians, who bear no more relation to true states- 

 manship than do the barnacles which incrust 

 the ship to the master who stands by the helm. 

 Your fello w-countrymen look to you in the 

 earnest hope that true statesmanship and unal- 

 loyed patriotism may, with God's blessing, re- 

 store peace and prosperity to this distracted 

 land. It is to be regretted that your short stay 

 precludes that intercourse with the merchants, 

 manufacturers, mechanics, and other citizens 

 of Philadelphia, which might afford you a clear 

 discernment of their great interests. And, sir, 

 it could not be other than grateful to yourself 

 to have the opportunity of communicating with 

 the memories of the past, in those historic walls 

 where were displayed the comprehensive intel- 

 lects, and the liberal, disinterested virtues of 

 our fathers, who framed the Constitution of the 

 Federal States, over which you have been called 

 upon to preside." 



Mr. Lincoln replied : 



" Mr. Mayor and Fellow-citizens of Phila- 

 delphia: I appear before you to make no 

 lengthy speech but to thank you for this re- 

 ception. The reception you have given me 

 to-night is not to me, the man, the individ- 

 ual, but to the man who temporarily repre- 

 sents, or should represent, the majesty of the 

 nation. It is true, as your worthy Mayor has 

 said, that there is anxiety among the citizens 

 of the United States at this time. I deem it a 

 happy circumstance that this dissatisfied por- 

 tion of our fellow-citizens do not point us to 

 any thing in which they are being injured, or 

 are about to be injured ; for which reason I 

 have felt all the while justified in concluding 

 that the crisis, the panic, the anxiety of the 

 country at this time, is, artificial. If there be 

 those who differ with me upon this subject, 

 they have not pointed out the substantial diffi- 

 culty that exists. I do not mean to say that 

 an artificial panic may not do considerable 

 harm ; that it has done such I do not deny. 

 The hope that has been expressed by your 

 Mayor, that I may be able to restore peace, 

 harmony, and prosperity to the country, is 

 most worthy of him ; and happy indeed will I 

 be if I shall be able to verify and fulfil that 

 hope. I promise you, in all sincerity, that I 

 bring to the work a sincere heart. Whether I 

 27 



will bring a head equal to that heart, will b 

 for future times to determine. It were useless 

 for me to speak of details of plans now ; I shall 

 speak officially next Monday week, if ever. If 

 I should not speak then, it were useless for me 

 to do so now. If I do speak then, it is useless 

 for me to do so now. When I do speak, I shall 

 take such ground as I deem best calculated to 

 restore peace, harmony, and prosperity to the 

 country, and tend to the perpetuity of the na- 

 tion, and the liberty of these States and these 

 people. Your worthy Mayor has expressed 

 the wish, in which I join with him, that it were 

 convenient for me to remain with your city 

 long enough to consult your merchants and 

 manufacturers ; or, as it were, to listen to those 

 breathings rising within the consecrated walls 

 wherein the Constitution of the United States, 

 and, I will add, the Declaration of Independ- 

 ence, were originally framed and adopted. I 

 assure you and your Mayor, that I had hoped 

 on this occasion, and upon all occasions during 

 my life, that I shall do nothing inconsistent 

 with the teachings of these holy and most 

 sacred walls. I never asked any thing that 

 does not breathe from those walls. All my 

 political warfare has been in favor of the 

 teachings that come forth from these sacred 

 walls. May my right hand forget its cunning, 

 and my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, 

 if ever I prove false to those teachings. Fellow- 

 citizens, now allow me to bid you good-night."' 



On the next morning, which was Friday, Mr. 

 Lincoln visited the old " Independence Hall," 

 (so called because within its walls was held the 

 session of that Congress which issued the Dec- 

 laration of Independence in 1776,) for the pur- 

 pose of raising the national flag over it. Here 

 he was received with a warm welcome by one of 

 the prominent citizens, to whom he thus replied : 



" Mr. Cuyler : I am filled with deep emotion 

 at finding myself standing here, in this place, 

 where were collected the wisdom, the patriot- 

 ism, the devotion to principle, from which sprang 

 the institutions under which we live. You 

 have kindly suggested to me that in my hands 

 is the task of restoring peace to the present dis- 

 tracted condition of the country. I can say in 

 return, sir, that all the political sentiments I 

 entertain have been drawn, so far as I have 

 been able to draw them, from the sentiments 

 which originated and were given to the world 

 from this hall. I have never had a feeling po- 

 litically that did not spring from the sentiments 

 embodied in the Declaration of Independence. 

 I have often pondered over the dangers which 

 were incurred by the men who assembled here, 

 and framed and adopted that Declaration of 

 Independence. I have pondered over the toils 

 that were endured by the officers and soldiers 

 of the army who achieved that independence. 

 I have often inquired of myself what great 

 principle or idea it was that "kept this Confed- 

 eracy so long together. It was not the mere 

 matter of the separation of the colonies from 

 the mother-land, but that sentiment in the 



