His perceptions were keen, his analysis was extraordinarily rapid, his power of expression remarkable.

The compactness and clearness of his statement, the facts and arguments which he could marshal in that brief time, were a constant surprise and delight to his hearers.

Our commerce was suffering greatly by a few armed vessels built upon and furnished from foreign shores, and we were threatened with such additions from the same quarter as would sweep our trade from the sea and raise the blockade.

Tennessee and Arkansas have been substantially cleared of insurgent control, and influential citizens in each,--owners of slaves and advocates of slavery at the beginning of the Rebellion,--now declare openly for emancipation in their…

Full one hundred thousand of them are now in the United-States military service, about one-half of which number actually bear arms in the ranks, thus giving a double advantage,--of taking so much labor from the insurgents' cause, and…

No servile insurrection or tendency to cruelty has marked the measures of emancipation and the arming of the blacks. . . .

Ashley of Ohio is entitled to the credit of having made the first proposition to Congress to amend the Constitution so as to prohibit slavery throughout the United States.

Davis betrayed by this motion his apprehension that freedom to the negro would be followed by the enjoyment of civil rights and the exercise of political power.

He charged the war and all its manifold horrors upon the system of slavery.

Ingersoll of Illinois made a strong and eloquent appeal for the passage of the amendment and the liberation of the slave.

With the accomplishment of that grand end, said he, "our voices will ascend to Heaven over a country re-united, over a people disinthralled, and God will bless us.

He regarded it as the beginning of radical changes in our Constitution, and the forerunner of usurpation.

Arnold of Illinois said, "in view of the long catalogue of wrongs which it has inflicted upon the country, I demand to-day the death of African slavery.

He contended that the power to amend did not carry with it the power to revolutionize and subvert the form and spirit of the government.

This result forced the question into the Presidential canvass of 1864, and upon the decision of that election depended the question of abolishing slavery.

The people of this country want a fighting general to lead their armies, and General Grant is the man upon whom we must depend to fight out this rebellion in the end." Mr.

Lincoln saw the obvious advantage of placing a man of General Grant's ability in command of all the armies.

Lincoln he would retire from the contest, but plainly declared that if the President were renominated there would be no alternative but to organize every element of opposition against him.

The patience, wisdom, and fidelity with which he had guided the government during its unprecedented trials and dangers had won the profound respect and affection of the people.

Besides this deepening sentiment of personal devotion and confidence, there was a wide conviction that, in his own expressive phrase, "it is not wise to swap horses while crossing the stream.

His pointed eloquence was equaled by his indomitable courage.

The aggressive qualities of his staunch Scotch ancestry shone in his own resolute and unyielding character, and he was distinguished both in Church and in State as an able and uncompromising controversialist.

The wisdom, patriotism, and fidelity of President Lincoln, and his measures for the defense of the nation were approved.

Its commanding feature was its explicit demand for the abolition of slavery.

The vigor and boldness with which, though a Southern senator, he had denounced secession at the beginning of the outbreak, had taken strong hold of the popular heart.