The Buchanan County guardian. (Independence, Buchanan County, Iowa) 1858-1864, 1864-04-05

; eyes of princes, mobiles, aristocrats, ol
dukes, earls. scholars, statesmen, war
riors, ali turned on the plain backwoods.
man, with his simple sense. his imper.
turable simplicity, his determine self.
reliance, his imprac,icable and incor
ruptible honesty. as be sat amid the war
OF conflicting elements with unpretend.
ing steadiness striving to drive the ma.
tional ship through a channel at whose
perils the worlds oldest states stood
aghast The brilliant courts of Europe
levelled their opera glasses at the phen.
omenon. Fair ladies saw that he had
horny hand sand disdained white gloves.
Dapper diplomalistss were shocked at
his system Of etiquette, but old statesmen,
who know the ,errors Of that passage,
were wiser than court ladies and dandy
diploma,sts, and watched him with
fearful curiosity, simply asking "Will
that awkward old backwoods really
get that ship through ? II he does j,
will be time for us to look about u.s."
Sooth to say, our own politicians were
somewhat shocked with his State papers
at first. Wky not let US make them
little more conventional, and file them to
a classical patent? "No," was bis reply.
Il shall write them myself. The people
,o,N understand them" But thi, or that
form of expression is not elegant, not
classical" "The people understand it,"
has been his invariable reply. And
whatever may be said of his State papers
as compared with the classic standards,
il has been fact that they have always
been wonderfully well underst TODD by the
people, and that since the time OF Wash.
ing ton, the State papers Of no President
nave more controlled the popular mind.
And one reason for this is. that they
have been informal and undiplomatic.
They have more resembled a fathers |
talk 10 his children than a State paper.
They have had that relish and smack of
the soil, that appeal to the simple human
heart and head which is greater power
in writing than the most artful devices
of rhetoric. Lincoln might well say,
with the apostle, But though be rude |
in speech yet not in ki owledge, but We
have been thoroughly made manifest
among you in all things" His rejection
oil what is called fine writing was as de- |
liberale as ST. Paul's, and for the same
he felt that he was
speaking on subject which must be
made clear 10 the lowest intellect, though |
il shoald fail to captiya,e the highest.
But we say of Lincoln's writing. there
are passages in his State papers could
that no, be better put-they are absol
ulely perfect. They are briei, condensed,
intense, and with a power of insigh, and
expression Which make tnem worthy 10 |
be inscribed in letters of gold. Such
are some passages Of the celebrated
Springd Id letter, especially that master
ly one where hs compares the conduct
OF the patriotic and loyal blacks with
that Of the treacherous and disloya
whites. No one can read this letter
without feeling the influence OF a mind
both strong and generous.
Lincoln is a strong man, but bis
strength is Of peculiar kind il is not
aggressive 50 much as passive. and
among the passive things il is like the
strength not so much Of a stone bu,tress.
as OF wire cable. 1t is strength sway,
ing TO every influence. yielding on this
side and on that to popular needs, yet
ienaciously and infexlbly bound TO car
ry its great end; and probably by no 9th
er kind of strength could our national
ship have been drawn safely thus far
during the lossings and ,emptests which
besst her way.
Surrounded by all sorts OF conflicting
claims, BY traitors. by half-hearted, ii.
mid men. by border State men and free
State men. by radical abolitionists and
conservatives. be has listened to all.
waited. observed, yielding now here and
now there, but in the main kept one in.
flexible. honest purpose. and drawn the
national ship through.
In times Of our trouble Abraham Lin.
coin has had his turn Of being the best
abused man OF our nation. Like Moses
leading his Israel through the wilder
ness, he has seen tie day when every |
man seemed ready to stone him. and yet,
with simple wiry steady perseverance,
he has held on. conscious Of hanss, in
tentions. and looking TO God for help.
All the nation have felt. in the increasing |
solsmnity Of his Proclsmalions and pa.
pers. how deep an education was being