Notwithstanding that Mr. Lincoln had
proved the righteousness of his course, a great many people in the
North--and many even in his own party--were opposed to his nomination
for a second term. The disaffected nominated Gen. Fremont, upon the
platform of the suppression of the Rebellion, the Monroe doctrine, and
the election of President and Vice-President by the direct vote of the
people, and for one term only. The Democratic party declared the war for
the Union a failure, and very properly nominated McClellan. It required
a long time for the General to make up his mind in regard to accepting
the nomination; and, in conversations upon the subject with a friend,
Lincoln suggested that perhaps he might be _entrenching_. The
election was held, and Lincoln received a majority greater than was ever
before given to a candidate for the presidency. The people this time
were like the Dutch farmer,--they believed that "it was not best to swap
horses when crossing a stream."
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.
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