Page:Reminiscences of Sixty Years in Public Affairs (Volume Two).djvu/30

Rh the act upon a legal basis, thus justifying it in law and in history. The sentence is what we might have expected from the head and heart of the man who wrote the final sentence of the first inaugural address: “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.” Mr. Lincoln had genius for the work of composition, and in him the poetic quality was strong and it was often exhibited in his speeches and writings. The omission of the sentence in question would so mar the Proclamation that it would cease to represent Mr. Lincoln. Thus he became under great obligations to Mr. Chase.

It was not in the nature of Mr. Lincoln to close a state paper, which he could not but have realized was to take a place by the side of the Declaration of Independence, with a bald statement that the freedmen would be received “into the armed service of the United States to garrison forts, positions, stations, and other places, and to man vessels of all sorts in said service.”

In the month of October, 1863, the ladies of Chicago made a request of Mr. Lincoln for “the original” of his “proclamation of freedom,” the same to be disposed of “for the benefit of the soldiers.” The letter in their behalf was written by Mr. Arnold, who was then a member of Congress. Improvidently, I think we may say, Mr. Lincoln yielded to their request for the original draft of the Proclamation to be sold for the benefit of the fair. Its transmission was accompanied by a letter, written by Mr. Lincoln.