A salute of one hundred guns soon made the occasion the subject of
comment and congratulation throughout the city. On the following night a
considerable procession marched with music to the Executive Mansion to
carry popular greetings to the President. In response to their calls he
appeared at a window and made a brief speech, of which only an abstract
report was preserved, but which is nevertheless important as showing the
searching analysis of cause and effect this question had undergone in
his mind, the deep interest he felt in it, and the far-reaching
consequences he attached to the measure and its success:
"The occasion was one of congratulation to the country and to the whole
world. But there is a task yet before us--to go forward and have
consummated by the votes of the States that which Congress had so nobly
begun yesterday. He had the honor to inform those present that Illinois
had already to-day done the work. Maryland was about half through, but
he felt proud that Illinois was a little ahead. He thought this measure
was a very fitting, if not an indispensable, adjunct to the winding up
of the great difficulty. He wished the reunion of all the States
perfected, and so effected as to remove all causes of disturbance in the
future; and to attain this end it was necessary that the original
disturbing cause should, if possible, be rooted out.
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