Semi Weekly Standard

A Speech from Abraham Lincoln.

Lincoln was serenaded by Marylanders Wednesday night in honor of that State now being "free." In the course of his speech he said something about himself and the Presidency. Here it is:

Something said by the Secretary of State in his recent speech at Auburn has been construed by some into a threat that, if I shall be beaten at the election, I will between then and the end of my constitutional term do what I may be able to ruin the government. Others regard the fact that the Chicago Convention adjourned not sine die, but to meet again if called to do so by a particular individual, as the intimation of a purpose that if the nominee shall be elected he will at once seize control of the government. I hope the good people will permit themselves to suffer no uneasiness on either point. I am struggling to maintain the government—not to overthrow it. I therefore say that if I shall live, I shall remain President until the 4th of next March, and that whoever shall be constitutionally elected, therefore, in November, shall be duly installed as President on the 4th of March, and that in the interval I shall do my utmost, that whoever is to hold the helm for the next voyage shall start with the best chance to save the ship. This is due to the people, both on principle and under the Constitution. Their will, constitutionally expressed, is the ultimate law for all. If they should deliberately resolve to have immediate peace, even at the loss of their country and their liberties, I know not the power or the right to resist them. It is their own business, and they must do as they please with their own. I believe, however, they are still resolved to preserve their country and their liberty, and in this, in office or out of it, I am resolved to stand by them.