Hall, in London,
and no such peroration and eloquence has been heard since Demosthenes'
philippic against the tyrant of Macedon. But Beecher's criticisms of
Lincoln in the New York _Independent_ during April and May of 1862 led
Lincoln to exclaim after reading one of them, "Is Thy servant a dog that
he should do this thing?" If these great men did not appreciate the
national crisis, Lincoln understood it perfectly. Now, over against the
editorials of Beecher and Horace Greeley and the lectures of Phillips,
stands Lincoln, and to these three men he sent words addressed only to
Horace Greeley, explaining to them why the time had not come for the
Emancipation Proclamation. And although a part of this we have quoted in
defense of Webster's position in 1850, that and yet more of the famous
letter may well be repeated here:--

"I would save the Union.

"If there be those who would not save the Union unless they could
at the same time save slavery, I do not agree with them.

"My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and not
either to save or destroy slavery.

"If I could save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do
it.

"If I could save it by freeing all the slaves, I would do it.

"And if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone, I
would also do that.

"What I do about slavery and the coloured race I do because I
believe it helps to save the Union; and what I forbear, I forbear
because I do not believe it would help to save the Union.

"I shall do less whenever I believe that what I am doing hurts the
cause.

"And I shall do more whenever I believe that doing more will help
the Union."

How wonderfully does this publish the supremacy of Abraham Lincoln!
Lincoln saw clearly, where others had an indistinct vision. As to
gravity, Isaac Newton's vote outweighs all the other millions of men,
and from the hour that Lincoln published this letter to Horace Greeley
the people saw that Abraham Lincoln had the last fact in the case, saw
the whole truth, saw it through and through. By sheer power, clarity of
thought, strength of statement and fairness, Abraham Lincoln finally won
over not only a lukewarm North, but a bitter South, until to-day he
belongs to the ninety millions. If every Northerner should die, the
brave and patriotic men of the South living now would defend everything
for which Abrah