Life of Abraham Lincoln, Sixteenth President of the United States — John Shaqi
Life of Abraham Lincoln, Sixteenth President of the United StatesCrosby, Frank
History
Life of Abraham Lincoln, Sixteenth President of the United States
Crosby, Frank
Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865
to your sober convictions of right, to your obligations to the
Constitution, and act in accordance with those sober convictions,
and the clouds which now arise in the horizon will be dispelled,
and we shall have a bright and glorious future; and, when this
generation shall have passed away, tens of thousands shall inhabit
this country where only thousands inhabit it now. I do not propose
to address you at length. I have no voice for it. Allow me again to
thank you for this magnificent reception, and bid you farewell.”
Mr. Lincoln then proceeded from Buffalo to Albany. Here he was met by
the Mayor, the City Councils, and the Legislative Committees, and was
conducted to the Capitol, where he was welcomed by Governor Morgan, and
responded briefly, as follows:
“GOVERNOR MORGAN:--I was pleased to receive an invitation to visit
the capital of the great Empire State of this nation, while on my
way to the Federal capital. I now thank you, and you, the people
of the capital of the State of New York, for this most hearty
and magnificent welcome. If I am not at fault, the great Empire
State at this time contains a larger population than did the whole
of the United States of America at the time they achieved their
national independence; and I was proud to be invited to visit its
capital, to meet its citizens as I now have the honor to do. I
am notified by your governor that this reception is tendered by
citizens without distinction of party. Because of this, I accept it
the more gladly. In this country, and in any country where freedom
of thought is tolerated, citizens attach themselves to political
parties. It is but an ordinary degree of charity to attribute this
act to the supposition that, in thus attaching themselves to the
various parties, each man, in his own judgment, supposes he thereby
best advances the interests of the whole country. And when an
election is passed, it is altogether befitting a free people that,
until the next election, they should be one people. The reception
you have extended me to-day is not given to me personally. It
should not be so, but as the representative, for the time being, of
the majority of the nation. If the election had fallen to any of
the more distinguished citizens, who received the support of the
people, this same honor should have greeted him that greets me this
day, in testimony of the unanimous devotion of the whole people
to the Constitution, the Union, and to the perpetual liberties of
succeeding generations in this country. I have neither the voice
nor the strength to address you at any greater length. I beg you
will, therefore, accept my most grateful thanks for this manifest
devotion--not to me but to the institutions of this great and
glorious country.”
He was then conducted to the Legislative halls, where, in reply to an
address of welcome, he again adverted to the troubles of the country in
the following terms:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account