Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume X.djvu/501

 ABRAHAM LINCOLN 495 But Mr. Lincoln's natural tender-heartedness prevented him from ever ordering such an exe- cution. In July serious riots occurred in the city of New York in opposition to the draft, and Gov. Seymour addressed a letter to the president, complaining of unjust apportion- ments, and asking that the draft be suspended until the constitutionality of the law could be tested in the courts. The president replied that he would take measures to remedy un- just apportionments, but refused to waste time by waiting the slow process of judicial de- cisions, and the draft was continued. Gen. Burnside had lost the battle of Fredericksburg in December, 1862, and in January was suc- ceeded by Gen. Hooker, who met with a se- vere check at Chancellorsville in May, and in June was succeeded by Gen. Meade, who won the battle of Gettysburg, July 1-3, which de- stroyed the last hope of invading the north, and proved to be the turning point of the war. At the dedication of the cemetery in which the slain of this battle were buried (Nov. 19, 1863) President Lincoln made a brief address which is perhaps the finest ever delivered on a similar occasion, and has become familiar to the entire English-reading world : " fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth upon this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But in a larger sense we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here ; but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us, the living, rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us ; that from these honored dead we take increased de- votion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion; that we here highly re solve that these dead shall not have died in vain ; that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom ; and that government of the people by the people and for the people shall not perish from the earth." The surrender of Vicksburg and Port Hudson early in July restored the Mississippi to federal control, and divided the confederacy in twain. The president appointed the 6th of August for a day of national thanksgiving. In the autumn elections of 1862 many states had given majori- ties for the party opposed to the administra- tion ; in those of 1863 every state except New Jersey was carried by its friends. On Dec. 8 the president by proclamation offered full par- don to all then in arms against the government (except civil and diplomatic officers of the con- federate government, soldiers above the rank of colonel, those who had resigned seats in congress or commands in the national service, and a few others), on condition of their taking a prescribed oath to defend the constitution and the Union and all acts of congress and proclamations of the president respecting sla- very, so far as not modified or declared void 499 VOL. x. 32 by the supreme court. A new peril was seen in the entrance of a French army into Mexico, ostensibly to enforce the rights of French citi- zens there, but really to enthrone the arch- duke Maximilian as its emperor. In Septem- ber, 1863, Mr. Dayton, United States minister at Paris, was directed to call the attention of the French government to the apparent devia- tions of the forces in Mexico from the assu- rances that permanent occupation was not in tended; and in a despatch dated a few days later the position of the administration was set forth at length : " The United States have neither the right nor the disposi- tion to intervene by force on either side in the lamentable war which is going on between France and Mexico. On the contrary, they practise in regard to Mexico, in every phase of that war, the non-intervention which they require all foreign powers to observe in regard to the United States. But not- withstanding this self-restraint, this government knows full well that the inherent normal opinion of Mexico favors a gov- ernment there republican in form and domestic in its organi- zation, in preference to any monarchical institutions to be imposed from abroad. This government knows also that this normal opinion of the people of Mexico resulted largely from the influence of popular opinion in this country, and is con- tinually invigorated by it. The president believes, moreover, that this popular opinion of the United States is just in itself and eminently essential to the progress of civilization on the American continent, which civilization, it believes, can and will, if left free from European resistance, work harmoniously together with advancing refinement on the other continents. . . . Nor is it necessary to practise reserve upon the point that if France should, upon due consideration, determine to adopt a policy in Mexico adverse to the American opinion and sentiments which I have described, that policy would probably scatter seeds which would be fruitful of jealousies which might ultimately ripen into collision between France and the United States and other American republics." The request of the French government that the United States would recognize the govern- ment of Maximilian was steadily refused, and the action of the administration was approved by the house of representatives in a resolution of April 4, 1864. On Oct. 16, 1863, the presi- dent had called for 300,000 volunteers, to take the place of those whose term was about to expire; and on March 15, 1864, he called for 200,000 more, to supply the navy and provide a reserve for contingencies. The grade of lieutenant general was revived, and on March 9 the president gave the commission to Gen. Grant, who thus became commander-in-chief of all the armies (a post previously held by Gen. Halleck), and took personal command of the army of the Potomac. In April the governors of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin offered the government a force of 100,000 men for 100 days' service, which was accepted. When Gen. Grant was about to launch out on the campaign of 1864, the president wrote to him, under date of April 30: k 'Not expecting to see you before the spring campaign opens, I wish to express in this way my entire satisfac- tion with what you have done up to this time, so far as I understand it. The particulars of your plans I neither know nor seek to know. You are vigilant and self-reliant ; and, pleased with this, I wish not to obtrude any restraints or constraints upon you. If there be anything wanting which is within my power to give, do not fail to let me know it." For the general