Mr. Lincoln's Farewell Address, as given by Mr. Bateman in the foregoing quotation, would appear to have undergone some revision by him after its printing. He says that he furnished it to the press and that it came out in advance of the version taken down by the reporter. On this point his memory appears to be correct. The _Illinois State Journal_ of February 12, 1861, contains a report of Mr. Lincoln's address, which is almost certainly that furnished by Mr. Bateman.
_Lincoln's Farewell Address as Printed in the Illinois State Journal, February 12, 1860, probably from the notes of Hon. Newton Bateman._
"Friends, no one who has never been placed in a like position, can understand my feelings at this hour, nor the oppressive sadness I feel at this parting. For more than a quarter of a century I have lived among you, and during all that time I have received nothing but kindness at your hands. Here I have lived from my youth until now I am an old man. Here the most sacred ties of earth were assumed; here all of my children were born, and here one of them lies buried. To you, dear friends, I owe all that I have, all that I am. All the strange, checkered past seems now to crowd upon my mind. Today I leave you: I go to assume a task more difficult than that which devolved upon General Washington. Unless the great God who assisted him shall be with me and aid me, I must fail. But if the same Omniscient Mind and the same Almighty Arm that directed and protected him shall guide and support me, I shall not fail; I shall succeed. Let us all pray that the God of our fathers may not forsake us now. To Him I commend you all; permit me to ask that with equal sincerity [the word is printed security but corrected with pen] and faith, you all will invoke His wisdom and guidance for me. With these few words I must leave you--for how long I know not. Friends, one and all, I must now bid you an affectionate farewell."
The so-called shorthand report appears on close examination not to be a shorthand report, but is that which appeared in the Chicago and other papers from the Hay and Lincoln revision, more or less garbled in telegraphic transmission.
_The Lincoln-Hay Version of the Farewell Address_