American citizen. [volume] (Butler, Butler County, Pa.) 1863-1872, 1864-04-06
Prom the Pittsburg Gazette.
Union for the Sake of The Union.

WIN vast anu SUN increasing HdllOH-
al debt; with numerous, active and
unscrupulous party, whose sympathies
are with the open enemies OF the
Union; with a currency which is de-
scending lower and lower as compa-
red with the metallic standard of the
world, and with condition of things
in the business world, from the high
est mart of comerce to the stall of the
huckster in the market place, exceed
ingly fevirish, unsettled and unwhole-
some, the friends of the Union can
not afford to divide among themselves
on the question of a Presidentialcan-
didate.
We have aPresident who, notwith-
standing his slowness to come up to
the great demands of the times, and
his unwillingness to shake from his
skirts some men who are almost re-
garded as clogs and hindrances to
the great work of restoring the Union
and vindicating the cause of human
freedom, has fairly won and yet holds
more of the confidence of the country
than any other man in the Republic.
Under his administration a revolution
in opinion on one great and all-ob-
sorbing question-has taken place, such
as the widest and most enthusiastic
never dreamed of; and, with all his
seeming slowness, Abraham Lincoln
has kept abreast with the mighty
movement.
If he has not dashed forward like
Luther, the pioneer and leader in a
just reformation, he has not failed, at
the right moment, to set his seal to
all that has been gained, and thus
made it secure. OF this nature were
his preliminary and final proclama
tions of freedom to the slaves in all
the rebellious States. No timid con
servative, no half-hearted Union men;
indeed no man whose sense Of duty
did not rise infinitely higher than the
mere dictates of expedicncy, would
have done it at all and no man less
wise would have timed it so well.
Gen. Fremont would have given it to
the country permaturcly-and thus,
by putting new wine in old bottles,
would have exploded and spilled the
other; but Mr.. Lincoln, with that
strange, innate sagacity for which he
is distinguished, watched the prog
ress of opinion as it was indicated in
the stern school Of terrsr and disrup-
ton, calamity and war, until he saw
that the process was complete, and
then struck the blow that shivercd
more shackles than any blow ever
struck by mortal man.
We freely admit that the slave
does not owe his deliyerance to Abra-
ham Lincoln, no more than the i'm
potent man in the porch of the temple
of Jerusalem owed his cure, and his
ability to leap and walk, to Peter and
John; yet it is a great thing to be
even the Heaycn-ordained instru-
ment of so great a deliyerance there
fore let us beware how we rcpudiate
a man sohonored.
But the question is not whether we
might find a man more in accordance
with the impetuous spirit of the hour
"a man who would push on the war
against the rebellion with more vigor
"A man who would fling old fogies
from him, and employ only such as
are hearty in the cause of liberty and
Union; but it is that we do not fall
out among ourselves. Either Fremont
or Butler might be that man; but
could either of them unite, as Lin
coin does, the whole loyal people of
the country? Would either of them
be so generally confdcd in as he is?
In this fearful crisis no man living
is strong enough to give direction to
the Ship of State; and it is well that
it is God alone that can do that. He
gave us Lincoln when we little dream
ed Of what lay before us; and He can
guide us to home of safety under
His rule as well as that of any other
man; hence we may accept it as an
index of His will, that amid all the
tossings of the past three years, the
agonizing struggle, the lights and
shadows, the hopes and fears, and the
tremendous sacrifices which have
marked that period, the great heart
of the nation has ever turned towards
that man in confidence and affection;
and none the less so because that heart
felt that, if he was not strong and hon
est. He was trusted and beloved, but
not idolized, as he would have been,
had he been jackson or a Webster.
The American people, with the uni
yersal instinct of humanity, is signing
after an idol; but God in mercy has
refused to give US one, either in the
shape of a great captain Or great
statesman, which we think is an in
dication that He intends to save us
without one, protidedwe keep togeth-
er in heart, in purpose, and in trust.
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BSA- The Richmond Enquirer, of