Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen : Two events in the history of our country take a foremost place among the great deeds of the world. The signing of the Declaration of Independence is one, and the promulgation of the Emancipation Proclamation is the other. In political importance both are unrivaled, and in moral grandeur both unsurpassed. The courage and patriotism of the men who wrote their names on the immortal document that brought on the Revolutionary War will always occupy as bright a pa