Delaware State journal and statesman., 1861-12-27
.IomrmaE anu Atattsmran
Friday Morning, December q, 1851,
Abraham Lincoln.


We clip from the excellent Thanksgiv-
ing sermon of Rev. G.. d. Carrow trl-
butte to the integrity and patriotism of
Mr. Lincoln 1t is hearty and sincere =
1The nation did not know at The time
of the Inauguration its present Federal
executive. Once he had been on the clec-
toral ticket as the friend Of the loved and
lamented Henry Clay. One or two tepnS
his name appeared on the journals as II
member of the House of Representatives
in the national Congress. That was
about all the nation knew of him. But
the people of Illinois knew him better.
Among the trickstcrs and demagogues IN
Aahe politics Of the day they knew him as
y honest Abe Lincoln. Now had he been
in ordinary man that would have been no
Ereat distinction. There were many ordi-
1 ary obscure men in Illinois who were as
onest as the face of day. But he was
I lot an ordinary man. He was distln-
guished lawyer in that State and an inilu-
entiai politician. Being thus both lawyer
and politician, it was a marked dlstlnc-
ton to be an honest man. Besides TINS,
they knew him to be u quiet, ainlable, lun-
loving, STORYTELLING, Woodworking, sue
cessfnI, victorious man. He had started
in the ranks, and nobly fought his way to
the position of great commander OF the
pc)ple. When, therefore, the anti-slavery
extension party of Illinois, wanted
standard-bearer to take the field against
the late Stephen A. Douglas, they placed
their colors in the hand of brave.minded,
honest hearted old Abe Lincoln. In that
great contest Douglas beat him by the
skin of his teeth and at the cost OF his
princeIy fortune. But so greatly did he
distinguish himself in that memorable
State contest that the national anti.sln-
very extension party made him its stand
ard.bearer and he placed that standard
on the top of the White House in wash
ington. Even then the nation had but
lust begun to perceive the stuff of which
God had made him 1t was not till he
had taken the great oath in the midst OF
unparalleled diiliculties-not till he had
begun Ia exercise the functions OF his
great Office with strange lorbearance and
magnanimity toward States armed and in
open rebellion against his authority-not
till he had undertaken the difficult task OF
purging the departments of the public
service of their perjured traitors-not till
he had issued the proclamation for the
seventy-iiye thousand men 10 cover the
Capitol, and the five hundred thousand to
restore the authority Tof the Constitution
and enforce the laws-not till then did
this nation distinguish in honest Abe Lin
g q l.nl % Inv Al
defender of the poor mans right to vote,
with the will of Jackson and the pure,
unselfsh patriotism OF Washington.
"This day upon your hendcd knees You
ought to thank God for the election of
Abraham Lincoln. You might have
elected Northern man with southern
principles, who would have taken the bal
lots of PENNSYLVANIA and given them for
gun. .wadding TO the traitors Of South
Carolina. Yon might have elected a
skilful politician with delicate hands and
white neck-te, an accomplished gentle
man and an inyeterte liar and coward,
who would have stood i'll spccchess Tear
before the bold, triumphant front OF trea-
son. But no, thank God, you d ID no such
thing. You elected man Of the people,
who is in sympathy with the people, who
knows the rights of the people, and who
will live or die, as God may will, to de-
fend and maintain them. In saying this
of him | say no more than did Winfield
Scott. npon whose name be the benedic-
tions of an indebted and grateful country,)
when he placed in his hands his resigna
tioii as Commander-in-chief Of the nation
al armies. And like Winfield Scott in
this, if nothing else, while speaking thus
of Mr. Lincoln, let me say that did not
vote for him. But recognizing in him an
honest man, a skiliul navigator Of the ship
,nnor State, struck by the furious blasts of Il
rreat rebellion, and an exalted patriot l
loull be ashamed Of my own manhood,
md would, in fact, renounce my claims to
manhood could ] not acknowledge his
Eminent virtues, talents and services to
bur imperilled country.
Il "Once for all let me say that, born IN
n the State Of Maryland, the State that gave
the first and brightest example of religious
federation on the shores of the new world
the State that gave brave men to die
on the bloody field Of Camden and heroes
TO immorialize her name Mt Princeton and
Long Island-thc State on whose soil the
undaunted Hicks so lately stood while the
breakers of treason were d0shing ant
foaming at his feet, that threw herself ai
Il bulwark around the national capital
and that so lately gave at her bal
lot-box the noble majority Of thirty-twt
thousand for the Federal Government
born on the soil of that gallant State,
no more belong TO her than l do to New
York or. Ohio, to Massachusetts, or Soutl
Carolina. In this hour of peril 1 Sc
nothing but the nation and the nation
bond, the Federal Government, and upol
the altar of the whole country, on the sa
cred temple of the Constitution offer m
poor sacrifice of prayer and thanksgivin
this day, and if God will, am ready t
pour upon il as lbation to liberty ever
drop of blood in these veins" "