. The speeches of Abraham Lincoln . me—probably will come—when publicduty shall demand that it be closed; and that in lieumore rigorous measures than heretofore shall beadopted. In presenting the abandonment of armed resistanceto the national authority on the part of the insurgentsas the only indispensable condition to ending the waron the part of the government, I retract nothing hereto-fore said as to slavery. I repeat the declaration madea year ago, that while I remain in my present posi-tion I shall not attempt to retract or modify theEmancipation Proclamation, nor shall I return toslavery
. The speeches of Abraham Lincoln . me—probably will come—when publicduty shall demand that it be closed; and that in lieumore rigorous measures than heretofore shall beadopted. In presenting the abandonment of armed resistanceto the national authority on the part of the insurgentsas the only indispensable condition to ending the waron the part of the government, I retract nothing hereto-fore said as to slavery. I repeat the declaration madea year ago, that while I remain in my present posi-tion I shall not attempt to retract or modify theEmancipation Proclamation, nor shall I return toslavery any person who is free by the terms of thatproclamation, or by any of the acts of Congress. If the people should, by whatever mode or means,make it an executive duty to reenslave such persons,another, and not I, must be their instrument to per-form it. In stating a single condition of peace, I mean simplyto say, that the war will cease on the part of thegovernment whenever it shall have ceased on the partof those who began Assassination of Lincoln SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 409 SECOND INAUGURAL ADDRESS, MARCH 4, 1865. [With this Second Inaugural the great work was nearly donewhich Lincoln was providentially raised up to do, in guiding thenation through the tempestuous scenes of the terrible Civil War,in ridding the land of the blighting curse of slavery, and inrestoring the sorely distracted, dissevered, but now about to bereunited, Union. Precisely two months later, at the cemetery inSpringfield, 111., Lincolns home, the Inaugural was read over themartyred Presidents grave. It is a masterly production, and isperhaps the most characteristic embodiment of Lincolns genius,filled as it is with lofty sentiment, and reaching the highwatermark of the political wisdom of the age. Well may the LondonTimes speak of it at the era as the most sublime State pape*of the century.]. Fellow-countrymen: At this second appearing totake the oath of the presidential office, there is le
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