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ready for action at a concerted signal.1 They were not needed.
The pro, cession passed on without interruption, excepting by the enormous crowd.
At half-past 1 the two Presidents left the carriage, went into the Capitol, and, preceded by Major French, entered the Senate Chamber arm in arm. Mr. Buchanan was pale and nervous; Mr. Lincoln's face was slightly flushed with emotion, but he was a model of self-possession.
They sat waiting a few minutes before the desk of the President of the Senate.
“Mr. Buchanan,” an eye-witness said, “sighed audibly and frequently.
Mr. Lincoln was grave and impassive as an Indian martyr.”
The party soon proceeded to the platform over the ascent to the eastern portico, where the Supreme Court, the Senate and House of Representatives, Foreign Ministers, and other privileged persons were assembled, while an immense congregation of citizens filled the space below.
Mr. Lincoln was introduced to the people by Senator Baker, of Oregon; and as he stepped forward, his head towering above most of those around him (for his hight was six feet and four inches),2 he was greeted with vehement applause.
Then, with a clear, strong voice, be read his Inaugural Address, during which service Senator Douglas, lately his competitor for the honors and duties he was now assuming, held the hat of the new President.3 At the close of the reading, the late Chief-Justice Taney
1 “I caused to be organized,” says General Scott, “the élite of the Washington Volunteers, and called from a distance two batteries of horse artillery, with small detachments of cavalry and infantry, all regulars.” --Autobiography of General Scott, III. 611. The General says, that during the two months preceding the inauguration, he received more than fifty letters from various points, some earnestly dissuading him from being present at the ceremony, and others threatening him with assassination if he dared to protect the ceremony by a military force.
2 The best description of the personal appearance of Mr. Lincoln, according to the author's own vivid recollection of him in January, 1865, is the following:--
“ Conceive a tall and gaunt figure, more than six feet in hight, not only unencumbered with superfluous flesh, but reduced to the minimum working standard of cord, and sinew, and muscle, strong and indurated by exposure and toil, with legs and arms long and attenuated, but not disproportionately so to the long and attenuated trunk. In posture and carriage not ungraceful, but with the grace of unstudied and careless ease, rather than of cultivated airs and high-bred pretensions. His dress is universally of black throughout, and would attract but little attention in a well-dressed circle, if it hung less loosely upon him, and the ample white shirt collar was not turned over his cravat in the Western style. The face that surmounts this figure is half Roman and half Indian, bronzed by climate, furrowed by life-struggles, seamed with humor; the head is massive, and covered with dark, thick, and unmanageable hair; the brow is wide and well developed; the nose large and fleshy; the lips full; cheeks thin, and drawn down in strong corded lines, which, but for the wiry whiskers, would disclose the machinery which moves the broad jaw. The eyes are dark gray, sunk in deep sockets, but bright, soft, and beautiful in expression, and sometimes lost and half abstracted, as if their glance was reversed and turned inward, or as if the soul which lighted them was far away. The teeth are white and regular, and it is only when a smile, radiant, captivating, and winning, as was ever given to mortal, transfigures the plain countenance, that you begin to realize that it is not impossible for artists to admire and woman to love it.” --Eulogy on Abraham Lincoln: by Henry Champe Deming, before the General Assembly of Connecticut, at Hartford, June 8, 1865.3 On that day the veteran journalist, Thurlow Weed, wrote as follows for the editorial column of his paper, the Albany Evening Journal:--
The throng in front of the Capitol was immense, and yet the President's voice was so strong and clear that he was heard distinctly. The cheers went up loud and long. After he commenced delivering his Inaugural I withdrew, and passing north on Capitol Hill, saw Generals Scott and Wool, in full uniform, standing by their battery — the battery memorable for its prowess in Mexico. I could not resist the impulse to present myself to those distinguished veterans, the heroes of so many battles and so many victories. They received me cordially, General Scott inquiring how the inauguration was going on. I replied, “ It is a success.” Upon which the old hero raised his arms and exclaimed, “God be praised!” “God in his goodness be praised!” In leaving these scarred and seamed veterans, my mind went back to the long interval and striking events which have occurred since 1812, when first saw them-General Scott a major of artillery, and General Wool a captain in the Thirteenth Infantry, both alert, active, buoyant young men--General Scott tall and erect, but remarkably slender in form, with flowing flaxen hair. Nearly half a century has passed. They have fought through all the wars of their country, terminating them all gloriously. They are spared for a severer trial of courage and patriotism, unless Heaven, in its wisdom and mercy, averts the threatened dangers.
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