“Such alone can meet and cover all cavils. I now perceive its importance, and embrace it. In the joint name of Liberty and Union let us labor to give it legal form and practical effect.” On the following day, in reply to a congratulatory address from a deputation of the National Union League, the President said: “GENTLEMEN:--I can only say in response to the remarks of your Chairman, I suppose, that I am very grateful for the renewed confidence which has been accorded to me, both by the Convention and by the National League. I am not insensible at all to the personal compliment there is in this; yet I do not allow myself to believe that any but a small portion of it is to be appropriated as a personal compliment to me. “The Convention and the Nation, I am assured, are alike animated by a higher view of the interests of the country for the present and the great future, and that part I am entitled to appropriate as a compliment is only that which I may lay hold of, as being the opinion of the Convention and the League, that I am not entirely unworthy to be entrusted with the place I have occupied for the last three years. “I have not permitted myself, gentlemen, to conclude that I am the best man in the country; but I am reminded in this connection, of the story of an old Dutch farmer, who remarked to a companion once, that ‘it was not best to swop horses when crossing streams.’” Prolonged and tumultuous laughter followed this last characteristic remark, given with that telling force which only those who had the privilege of meeting Mr. Lincoln in his moments of relaxation and semi-_abandon_ can appreciate. Having been serenaded, on the 9th, by the delegation from Ohio, he addressed the assemblage as follows: “GENTLEMEN:--I am very much obliged to you for this compliment. I have just been saying, and will repeat it, that the hardest of all speeches I have to answer is a serenade. I never knew what to say on such occasions. “I suppose you have done me this kindness in connection with the action of the Baltimore Convention, which has recently taken place, and with which, of course, I am very well satisfied. What we want still more than Baltimore Conventions or Presidential elections, is success under General Grant. “I propose that you constantly bear in mind that the support you owe to the brave officers and soldiers in the field is of the very first importance, and we should therefore lend all our energies to that point. “Now, without detaining you any longer, I propose that you help me to close up what I am now saying with three rousing cheers for General Grant and the officers and soldiers under his command.” And the cheers were given with a will, the President leading off and waving his hat with as much earnestness as the most enthusiastic individual present.