SPEECH ON INAUGURATION DAY.

Mr. Seward's senatorial office expired with the third day of March, 1861. On the fourth, a delegation from the State of New York, several hundred in number, who were in Washington to witness Mr. Lincoln's inauguration, called upon Mr. Seward. The visit was a token of respect and affection. After a few introductory remarks by James Kelly, Esq., Mr. Sewaid spoke as follows:

FRIENDS, FELLOW CITIZENS AND NEIGHBORS:-I am very deeply affected by this unexpected demonstration of affection on the part of the people of the state of New York. So many familiar faces, seen at this distance from home, and under the circumstances which surround me, awaken memories and sympathies that I should find it difficult to describe. It is just twelve years since I came, a stranger and alone, to this Capital, to represent, in the councils of the Union, the great state from which you have come. This day closes that service of twelve years-a period which now in retrospect seems so short, and yet it has filled up the one-sixth part of the constitutional duration of this great empire. At this hour I appear before you a voluntary citizen, but, God be thanked! a citizen now as always, of the state of New York-one of yourselves-your equal-no longer bearing the responsibilities of a representative. My public acts throughout that long, and to me trying period, are all upon record in the journals and debates of congress. It is almost fearful to think that they are imperishable. Looking backward upon them, I will say and maintain here, and now, that I claim for them all the merit of good motives and honest intentions. Here in this presence, before you, a fair delegation of the constituency I have served; and in the presence of the God who is to be our common judge, I declare that there is not one word of that record which I desire should be obliterated. Although a representative of one state only, I have been all the while conscious that I was also a legislator for all the states-for the whole republic-and I am not ashamed to appeal to every citizen of New York and ask him to say what I have neglected. I am not afraid to appeal to every section-to the east, to the west, to the north, and to the south, equally—and to every state in every section, and to every man, to every woman, to every human being, freeman or bondsman, to say whether, in any word or deed of mine, I have done him wrong. And in labors which demanded abilities I could not claim, and trials which exacted some equanimity of temper, I have here in this Capital neither received nor given personal offense. I have not one enemy in this section to forgive. I know of no one who will utter a personal complaint against I have done little good, indeed-far less than I have wished-but I have been sustained and supported by the people of New York with a generosity that is unparalleled. I know why this is so. The people of New York are habitually constant, and faithful to conscience, to truth, to liberty, to their country, and to their God. They have thought that I endeavored to be likewise faithful. I know their character well, and I know that in the new emergency which our country is now entering upon, they will be equally faithful. I rely on their intelligence, and their patriotism, as I do on the intelligence and patriotism of the whole people of the United States. They will preserve the inestimable legacy of civil and religious liberty which they have received from their heroic fathers. The administration which you have come here to inaugurate comes into power under circumstances of embarrassment and peril; but I believe I know the character and purposes of the Chief Magistrate: I believe that, while he will be firm, he will be also just to every state and every section, and every citizen; that he will defend and protect the rights and interests, the peace and the prosperity of all the states equally and alike, while he will practise the moderation. that springs from virtue, and the affection that arises from patriotism in confederated states. Under his guidance, and with the blessing of God, I believe and trust, and confidently expect, that an administration that is inaugurated amid some distrust and painful apprehensions, will close upon a reunited, restored, prosperous, free and happy republic. The state of New York, the greatest and most powerful of the states, will lead all other states in the way of conciliation; and as the path of wisdom is always the path of peace, so I am sure that now we shall find that the way of conciliation is the way of wisdom.

me.