The Cleveland leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1865-1865, 1865-05-09
OuR LATE PREnIRENf.
Charaeter OF President LIncOI1-Ad-
dre.. by RALPH waldo EmeFsOn.

The following address was delivered by
Ralph Waldo Emerson, in, Concord, Masa-
on occasion of the funeral servi-
ces in honor of Mr.. Lincoln:
We meet under the gloom of calamity |
which dsrkens down over the minds of |
good men In all civilized society, SIS the |
fearful tidings travel over sea, over land,
from country 70 country, like the shadow
of an uncalculated eclipse over the planet. |
Old as history is, and manifold as are its |
tragedies, donbt if any death has caused
so much pain ts mankind as this has caused
or will cause, on its announcement; and
this is not 30 much because nations are, by
modern arts, brought so closely together,
as because of the mysterious hopes aud
fears which, in the present day, are con-
nected with the name and institutions of
America.
In this country, on Saturday, every one
was struck. dumb, and saw, at first, only
deep below deep, ss he meditsted on the
chastity blow. And, perhaps, st this hour,
when the coffin which contains the dust of
the President sets toward on its long march
through mourning States, on its way TO his
home in Illinois, we might well be silent,
and suffer the awful voices Of time to thun-
der to US. Yes, but that first despair was
brief; the man was Eot so to be mourned.
He wss the most active and hopeful Of
men, and his work hiss not perishedi but
scolsmstions Of praise for the tAsk he had
accomplished burst out into song Of tri-
unph. which even tears for his death can
The President stood before US 8 man
of the people he was thoroughly Amer
icsn, had never crossed the sea, hsd never
been spoiled by English insularity or
French dissipation q quiet, native sbOrig-
inal msn-ss the acorn from the oak no
sping of foreigners, no frivolous accom-
plishments, Kentucky born, working on
farm, q fatboatman, q Captain in the
BIsckhawk war, country lawyer, repre-
sentative in the rural Legislature of Illinois
on such modest foundations the broad
structure of his fame was laid. Bow slow
ly, snd yet by happily what prepared steps
he came to his place,
| All Of Us remember-it is only q history
| of five or SIX yesrs-the surprise snd dis
! appointment Of the country at his first
| nomination at Chicago Mr.. Seward then
in the elimination of his good fame, was
the fsVorite of the Eastern States. And
when the new and comparatively un-
kno wn name of Lincoln was announced
notwithstanding the report of the accla-
nations of that Convention) we heard the
result coldly and sadly.
1t seemed too rash, on q purely local
reputation, to build so grsv 9 trust in
snch anxious times; and men naturally
talked OF the chances In politics as incalcu-
liable. But lit turned out not to be chance.
The profound good opinion which the peo-
pie of Illinois and the West had conceived
of him, and which they had impaired to
their colleagues, that they also might justify
themselves to their constituents at heme,
was not rash, though they did not begin 70
know the richness of his worth.
A plain man of the people, an extrsordi-
nary fortune attended him. Lord Bacon
says: "Manifest virtues procure reputation
occult ones, fortune" He offered no shin
ing qualities ct the first encounter: he did
not offend by superiority. He had face
and manner which dissrmed suspicion
which inspired confidence, which confirmed
good will. He was man without vices
He had strong sense of duty which it was
very easy for him TO obey. Then he had
what farmers call a long head; wss excel
lent in working out the sum for himself
in arguing his ease and convincing you
fairly and firmly.
Then it turned out that he was greai
worker; had prodigious faculty of perform
snce; worked easily. A good worker is 81
rare; everybody has some disabling quail
ity. In host of young men thst start to
gether, and promise so many brilliant lead
ers for the next age, each fails on trial one
by bad health, one by conceit or love o
pleasure, or by lethargy, or by hsstJ
temper-each has some disquRlifying fsul
that throws him out of the career. But thi
man was sound to the core, cheerful, per
sistent, all right for labor, and liked nothing
80 we'll.
Then he had q vast good nature, which
made him tolerant and accessible to all
fair minded, leaning TO the claim Of thu
petitioner; sffable, and not sensible of tht
affliction which the innumersble visits paiC
to him when President, would havt
brought to any one else. And how thu
good nature became noble humanity, il
many tragic case which the events o
the war brought to him, every one will re
member, and with what increasing tender
ness he dealt, when whole race wa
thrown on his compassion. The poor ne
gro said of him on an impressive occasion
Mssss Lnkum am eberywhere."
Tnen his broad good humor, running
easily into joculsr talk, in which he de
lighted, and in which ne excelled, was
: rich gift to this wise man. 1t enabled hin
to keep his secret to meet every kind o
man, and every rank in society; to TAKE
off the edge of the seVerest decisions; Il
mask his own purpose and sound his com
panion, and to catch with true instinct thu
temper of every company he addressed
And more than all, it is to aman of severe
labor, in anxious and exhausting crises, the
natural restorative, good as sleep, and il
the protection of the over-driven braiI
against rsncor and insanity.
He is the author of multitude of say.
ings, so disguised as plessantries that it il
certain that they had no reputation at first
but as jests; and only later, by the very
acceptance and adoption they find in the
mouths of millione, turn out to be the wis
dom of the hour. am sure if this man
had ruled in 8 period of less facility Of
printing, he would have become mytho-
logical in a very few years, like Esop OF
Pilpsy, or one of the Seven Wise Masters
by his fables and proverbs.
But the weight and penetration of many
passages in his letters, messages and speech
es, hidden now by the very clOseness Of
their application to the moment, are des-
tined hereafter to a wide famo- What
pregnant definitions; what unerring COM
mon sense; what foresight; and, on great
occasions, what lofty, what national, what
humane tone His brief speech at Gettys-
burg will not easily be surpassed by words
on any recorded occasion. This, and one
other American speech, that of John
Brown to the court that tried him, and q
part of Kossuth's speech at Birmingham,
can only be compared with each other, and
with no fourth.
His occupying the chair of State was a
triumph of the good sense of mankind, and
of the public conscience. This middle
class country had got middle.class Presi-
dent st last Yes, in manners, sympathies,
but not in powers, for his powers were
superior. His mind mastered the problem
of the day; and, as the problem grew, so
did his comprehension of it. Rarely wss
man so fitted 10 the event. In the midst
of fesrs and jeslousies, in the Babel of
eounsels and parties, this man wrought in
cessantly with all his might and all his
honesty, lAboring to find what the people