As these sentiments are manifestly the enduring support of the free institutions of England, so I am sure also that they constitute the only reliable basis for free institutions throughout the world.
The resources, advantages, and powers of the American people are very great, and they have consequently succeeded to equally great responsibilities. It seems to have devolved upon them to test whether a government established on the principles of human freedom can be maintained against an effort to build one upon the exclusive foundation of human bondage. They will rejoice with me in the new evidences which your proceedings furnish that the magnanimity they are exhibiting is justly estimated by the true friends of freedom and humanity in foreign countries.
Accept my best wishes for your individual welfare, and for the welfare and happiness of the whole British people.
A. LINCOLN. [ [!-- H2 anchor --] ]
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL SCHENCK. [Cipher.] WAR DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON, D. C.,
February 4, 1863.
MAJOR-GENERAL SCHENCK, Baltimore, Md.:
I hear of some difficulty in the streets of Baltimore yesterday. What is the amount of it?
A. LINCOLN. [ [!-- H2 anchor --] ]