C. Edwards Lester, Life and public services of Charles Sumner: Born Jan. 6, 1811. Died March 11, 1874.

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Ii.

The day after the fall of Richmond, Mr. Lincoln visited the Capital of the late Confederacy, so recently and suddenly abandoned by its fugitive chief. Being recognized by the Black population as he entered Richmond, there was a rush which packed the street, and a shout of welcome that rang through the city.

On the day of Lee's surrender he returned to Washington, and the next evening he addressed the vast multitude assembled before the Executive Mansion. In a speech characterized by two qualities so peculiar to himself; turning over to Congress the settlement of all difficulties connected with the representation of the revolted States, and expressing his desire that some participation in government, through right of suffrage, might be accorded to that vast Colored population, who had so recently come out from the house of bondage:—but, above all, without a trace of bitterness or resentment towards the late enemies of the Republic, he expressed an anxious wish that those States should be restored to all the functions of self-government, and equal power in the Union, at the earliest moment that might be consistent with the integrity, safety, and tranquillity of the nation.