been fulfilled, the duties of office had been laid aside, and in a simple and unostentatious manner he was filling the position of a citizen, "first in the hearts of his countrymen," the most loved and revered of all. His death overwhelmed the nation in profoundest grief, but it came in the usual order of Divine providence. The country was at peace, the government was stable, and every department of it was in healthful and successful operation.

The excellent and patriotic HARRISON was called away soon after he assumed the duties of the Presidential office; but his death was also in a time of profoundest peace, and when order and law reigned supreme throughout the land. He had served his country well in other public stations, and at an age considerably advanced, and with physical health not a little enfeebled, he entered upon the duties of his high place. But the burden was too heavy: nature was overtaxed and gave way. The nation mourned this first loss of its executive head, and as for a good man and a true patriot. But there was nothing in the event to shock particularly the national sensibilities.

Similarly did the sturdy and honest TAYLOR pass from the executive chair to the grave. Called unexpectedly by a people who had admired his heroic. valor in leading armies and winning battles, and who had unbounded trust in his sterling integrity to assume the cares and responsibilities of the chief

magistracy, and to meet the excitements incident to such a position, the change from the simple manner of life which had characterized him in the camp and his own quiet home, proved too great even for him, and he passed away in the first months of his presidential career. The nation was sadly disappointed, and again deeply wounded; but the event was not out of the ordinary course of nature, and was submitted to as such. The country had just passed victoriously through a brief foreign war, was reposing in a secured peace, and pursuing its path of unbounded prosperity.

How different in all the elements and circumstances attending it, the event, that has now startled and shocked the nation, and plunged it in deepest gloom and profoundest sorrow! We were suffering from the most causeless, atrocious, and gigantic rebellion, that had ever been sprung upon a people, and were in the midst of the collisions, struggles and desolations of a vast civil war. After four weary years of campaigns, battles, and victories mingled with reverses, we had reached a point, where the successful and speedy issue of the struggle was manifest. The power of the rebellion was completely broken, its strongholds were in our possession, its resources of men and material were exhausted, its capital had fallen, its pretended government was a fugitive, its principal army broken and defeated had surrendered, its leading generals were prisoners in our hands, and the dawnings of

approaching peace were illuminating the land. The nation was hopeful, confident and rejoicing. Its Executive Chief was calm and vigorous, firm and strong in body and mind. Around him was a united and able cabinet, and in him centred the hope, confidence and affections of the people, as they had not at any previous period of his difficult yet successful administration. All hearts turned to him, much in feeling and manner, as in the nation's infancy they had turned to the illustrious and noble WASHINGTON.

In an hour of relaxation from official care and labor, surrounded by members of his family and personal friends, in a place of peaceful amusement, unarmed, unguarded, unsuspecting, a brutal assassin, the agent of a band of conspirators, and the impersonation of the demoniacal spirit and damnable hate which had so animated the rebellion, stole upon him, and with a suddenness that prevented the intervention of any averting human hand, by one fatal shot laid him low in death, and then brandishing a dagger and crying "sic semper tyrannis," amid the awful shock and terrible confusion, fled from the scene. It was a fearful tragedy, darker, fouler, more hellish than any which had before occurred in human history. And it seems to have been one of a series of acts, which were intended to strike down the several chief officers of the government, one other of whom, at about the same hour and by another hand, was well nigh butchered to death, upon a sick bed and in his own peaceful home.

The nation was struck dumb at the suddenness and indescribable atrocity of the deed. Its great heart almost ceased to beat, and it bowed itself in tears and an agony of sorrow, and cried unto God for help. And now it rises up with the stern demand for vengeance upon the perpetrators, instigators, and abettors of the horrid crime. Had ABRAHAM LINCOLN died in the ordinary course of disease, or even, as the commander in chief of our military forces, fallen upon the field of battle, great and terrible as the nation would have felt the calamity to be, it would have calmly and submissively bowed to the appointment of Providence, and under its great loss, patiently pursued the path divinely marked out for it. It seeks, it strives, and we believe it will be helped to do so now. But oh, it is so hard. So deep is the darkness that enshrouds the event, it has in it such elements of human agency and demoniacal passion and hate, that it becomes the sorest trial ever laid upon the nation's faith and trust. But still we must, we will bow and trust. We will see in it the hand of God, and hear in it the voice of God. We will sadly bear away and lay in the grave the mutilated and lifeless. form of our great and good President. We will commit to Him "who ruleth over all" and to future developments, the explanation of this great sorrow, too dark for us now to understand and comprehend, and then, leaning upon His arm and seeking His guidance, we will with one mind, one heart, and one

purpose, arise to give the finishing blow to this unholy rebellion, to consolidate our government and country in peace, and to pursue the path of national prosperity and greatness.

Let us now for a moment consider the questions, what have we lost? who was ABRAHAM LINCOLN ? Born in Kentucky in 1809, a poor boy, destitute of the ordinary means of education and culture, by honest industry and indomitable energy, he at length placed himself in the front rank of one of the most honored and cultivated professions in our country, and took a high position among the men of his time. He served several years in the legislature of his adopted state, Illinois, was elected a member of the national congress in 1847, was twice the candidate of his party for the United States senate, and was nominated for the presidency in May, 1860, and elected to that office on the 6th of November following. He was inaugurated on the 4th of March, in 1861. So well did he perform the duties of that high office, that he was reëlected on the 8th of November, 1864, by one of the largest majorities ever given to a candidate for that office.

When first he entered upon the duties of President, the country was in a most deplorable condition. Several of the states had seceded from the Union, others were threatening to do so; a large number of the forts, arsenals, custom houses, and military posts, had been wrested from the government; the southern