The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1856-12-31

sEnARxs Or nox. ABRAHAM MUCOUS.

The following i The conaludins pertion Of
Mr.. Lincoln's able speech = the Rspsblisaa
Banquet, atChisago, on Wednesday svsniag.
We have another annual Prssidsnt's Mo-
sage. Like = rejected lover, making merry
At the wedding Of HE rival, the President
felicitates hugely over the late Presidential
election. He eonsiders the result signal
triumph Of good principles and good msn,
and very pointed rsbuks Of bad onae. He
says the people did Il. He forgsts that the
people, - he complacsntly calls only
those who voted for Buchanan, are h mi
nority Of the whole people, By shout four
hundred thousand votsrS--one full tsnth Of
all the voters. Remembering this, be might
perceive that the srebuke" may not be quite
~ durable - he seems TO think-that the
maj ority may not choose to remain perna-
nently rcbukei by that minority.
The President thinks the great body Of 40
srty, in the abstract, were dupsd By few
wicked and designing men. There 10 .
slight difference Of opinion on this. We
think no, being ardently attached to the hope
Of = secood term, in the concrete, vas duped
BY men who had liberty every way. He
10 the cats paw. BY much dfaggins Of
chestnuts from the ERE for others to ess, his
claws are burnt OF TO the gristls, and he il
thrown aside a. unit for furtAsr uss. Az
tho fool said TO King Lear, when his daugh-
tiers had turned him out Of doors, ssHs's .
shelled pea's cod"
So far ~ the President charges 40 "with
desire 70 change the domestic institutions
Of existing States" and Of "doing every
thing in our power TO deprive The Oonstitu-
ton and the laws Of moral a1fhosity," for
the whole party 90 belief, and for myself on
knowledge, pronounce the charge On un-
mixed and unnitigated fslsehood.
Our government rests in public opinion
Whoever can change public opinion, osn
change the government, practically just 90
much. Public opinion, or any subject, al
ways has sscentral idea," from which al
its minor thoughts radists. That ssoensrsl
idea'' in our political public opinion, ct the
beginning was, and until recently has con-
tinued to be, ssshe equality Of men," And
although il hes always submitted patiently
to whatsver Of inequality there seemed to BE-
as matter Of actual necessity, il CONSTANT
working has been . steady progress towards
the practical equality Of Ill men. The late
Presidential election wAs . struggle BY one
party, to discard that central idea, and to
substitute for II the opposite idea that slave
~ is right, in the abstract, the working Of
which, ~ central idea, may Be the psrpet-
usy OF human slavery, and its EXTENSION TO
all countries and colors. Less than year
ago, the Richmond Enquirss, an avowed ad-
vocate OF slavery, regardless of color, In or
der to favor his views, invented the phlase,
estate equality" and now the President in
bic Message, adopts the Enquirer's catch
phrase, telling ne the people shave asserted
the constitutional equality Of each and al Of
the States Of The Union - States" The
Presideat Aatters himself that the new GEN.
tral idea 10 completely inaugurated; and 90,
indeed, Il 10, 90 far ~ the mere fact OF
Presidential election can inaugurate Il. To
~ it is left TO know that the majority Of the
people have not yet declared for it, and 10
hope that they never will.
All Of as Who did not vote for Mr.. b.
chanan taken together, are majority Of four
hundred thousand. But in the late contest
we we're divided between Fremont and Fill
more. Can We not como together for the
future. Let every one who really believes
and is resolved, that free society Is mot, SD
shall not be failure, and Who can eonsci.
entioasly declare that in the past contest, he
has done only what be thought best-let
every such one have charity to believe that
every other one can say ~ much. Thus let
bygones be bygones. Let past diGsrsnees ~
nothing be; and with steady eye on the real
issue let Us reinaugurate the good old Seem
trail ideas' Of the Repablic. We oAn DO it.
The human heart 10 with us-God 10 with ~.
We shall again be able not 70 declare that
call States ~ States are equal" but to re-
new the broader, better declaration, iuclu-
ding both these and much more, that call
men are created Sqaal."