Abraham Lincoln's Pen and Voice, being a complete compilation of his Letters ... also his Public Addresses, Messages to Congress ... by G. M. Van Buren, etc

Front matter

6^#^W ABRAHAM LINCOLN'S PEN AND VOICE BEING A COMPLETE COMPILATION OF HIS LETTEE8 CIVIL, POLITICAL, A.ND "MILITARY ALSO HIS PUBLIC ADDRESSES, MESSAGES TO CONGRESS INAUGURALS AND OTHERS AS WELL AS PROCLAMATIONS UPON VARIOUS PUBLIC CONCERNS, SHOWING HIM TO HAVE BEEN THE GREATEST CONSTITUTIONAL STUDENT OF THE AGE, AND THE NOBLEST PATTERN FOE FUTURE GENERATIONS. AMERICA HAS EVER KNOWN BY G. M. VAX BUREN Late Colonel U. S. Vols. K WITH A FINE STEEL PORTRAIT CINCINNATI ROBERT CLARKE & CO Copyright, 1890, By Q. M. VAN BUREN. ©sMcafed so Ilk ffietr-orp OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, GRANDSON OF THE JjBtartuv'*'-) *|iH-c»i&tnt. By his lamented death the ancestral name becomes extinct.

Introduction

. The author feels that no one man can say what ought to be said of that great statesman, renowned president, and noble martyr — Abraham Lincoln — and therefore begs leave to present as a preface what has been said of him by the greatest men of our times. [From Lincoln's Memorial. 1 Sprung from the people, with no ancestral renown or services, with none of the auxiliaries which wealth, social position, or academic honors afford the mass of aspirants to great public honors, Abraham Lincoln rose step by step to the highest station in the gift of his fellow-countrymen And although party virulence, which in our press has no check, persistently coupled his name with odious epithets, there has never been the slightest charge of any thing to detract from a liigh moral character. He was too great 'to stoop to vile means to accomplish his ends No Cæsar he, whom we lament, A man without a precedent, Sent, it would seem, to do His work, and perish too ! [From a Speech by General B. F. Butler, in New York City.]

Fellow Citizens : — But a day or two since we assem bled throughout the nation in joy, gladness, and triumph, at the success of the armies of the republic, w VI