the one thing needful was his regular, constitutional
inauguration as President of the United States. Policies both
general and in detail would come after that. He could not afford
by imprudent forwardness of speech or premature declaration of
measures to increase the embarrassment which already surrounded
him. "Let us do one thing at a time and the big things first" was
his homely but expressive way of indicating the wisdom of his
course.

A man of ordinary courage would have been overwhelmed by the task
before him. But Mr. Lincoln possessed a certain calmness, firmness,
and faith that enabled him to meet any responsibility, and to stand
unappalled in any peril. He reached Washington by a night journey,
taken secretly much against his own will and to his subsequent
chagrin and mortification, but urged upon him by the advice of
those in whose judgment and wisdom he was forced to confide. It
is the only instance in Mr. Lincoln's public career in which he
did not patiently face danger, and to the end of his life he
regretted that he had not, according to his own desire, gone through
Baltimore in open day, trusting to the hospitality of the city, to
the loyalty of its people, to the rightfulness of his cause and
the righteousness of his aims and ends. He came as one appointed
to a great duty, not with rashness, not with weakness, not with
bravado, not with shrinking, but in the perfect confidence of a
just cause and with the stainless conscience of a good man. Threats
that he never should be inaugurated had been numerous and serious,
and it must be credited to the administration of Mr. Buchanan, that
ample provision had been made for the protection of the rightful
ruler of the nation.

PATRIOTIC CONDUCT OF JOSEPH HOLT.

The active and practical loyalty of Joseph Holt in this crisis
deserves honorable mention. When, at the close of December, 1860,
he succeeded Mr. Floyd as Secretary of War, no troops were stationed
in Washington or its neighborhood. After consultation with General
Scott, then in command of the army, and with the full approval of
President Buchanan, Secretary Holt thought it wise to make precautions
for the safety of the National Capital. Seven companies of artillery
and one company of sappers and miners were accordingly brought to
Washington. This movement gave offense to the Southern men who
still remained in Congress, and Mr. Branch of North Caroli