The wonderful eloquence of Abraham Lincoln--clear, sincere,
natural--found grand expression in his first inaugural address, in which
he not only outlined his policy toward the States in rebellion, but made
that beautiful and eloquent plea for conciliation. The closing sentences
of Mr. Lincoln’s first inaugural address deservedly take rank with his
Gettysburg speech:
“In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen,” he said, “and not
in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. The Government will not
assail you.
“You can have no conflict without being yourselves the aggressors. You
have no oath registered in heaven to destroy the Government, while I
shall have the most solemn one to ‘preserve, protect and defend’ it.
“I am loath to close. We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be
enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds
of affection.
“The mystic cord of memory, stretching from every battle-field 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.”