On the 4th of March, 1865, he delivered that memorable inaugural address which is truly accounted one of the ablest state papers to be found in the archives of America.  It concludes with these words:—­

“With malice towards none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us finish the work we are in,—­to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and his orphans, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.”

Read and reread this whole address.  Since the days of Christ’s Sermon on the Mount, where is the speech of ruler that can compare with it?  No other in American annals has so impressed the people.  Said a distinguished statesman from New York, on the day of its delivery, “A century from to-day that inaugural will be read as one of the most sublime utterances ever spoken by man.  Washington is the great man of the era of the Revolution.  So will Lincoln be of this; but Lincoln will reach the higher position in history.”

Four years before, Mr. Lincoln, an untried man, had assumed the reins of government; now, he was the faithful and beloved servant of the people.  Then, he was ridiculed and caricatured; and some persons even found fault with his dress, just as the British ambassador found fault with the dress of the author of the Declaration of Independence.  The ambassador is forgotten, but Jefferson will live as long as a government of the people, by the people, and for the people, endures.  While he lived Lincoln was shamefully abused by the people and press of the land of his forefathers; and not until the shot was fired—­not until the blood of the just—­the ransom of the slave—­was spilled, did England throw off the cloak of prejudice, and acknowledge—­

  “This king of princes-peer,
  This rail-splitter, a true-born king of men.”

It is well known that not all of Mr. Lincoln’s friends invariably harmonized with his views.  Of the number of these Horace Greeley stood foremost, and undoubtedly caused the President great anxiety upon several occasions.  He never did things by halves; and, whenever he undertook to do a thing, the whole country, believing in the honesty and purity of his motives, gave to him a willing ear.  From the editorial sanctum of the “Tribune” many a sharp and soul-stirring letter went forth addressed to the executive of the nation.  Mr. Lincoln read them, oftentimes replied to them, but very rarely heeded the counsel which they contained.  When the President was struck down, Mr. Greeley, who differed so widely from him, mourned the loss of a very dear friend.