American citizen. [volume] (Butler, Butler County, Pa.) 1863-1872, 1865-07-12


by policy of mercy that would have
brought no peace. The suppression of
the rebellion was but the first step in the
process of restoration With the odds
so largely in our favor, there could not
at any time have existed any rational
doubt o. to the contest, under any rational
direction 1t was not so much the wdf,
as the peace, which was to follew, that
was dreaded by the wise. To suppress
an armed rebellion was one thing: to re
construct government, resting not on
force, but on cooperative wills, was another
and a higher task The one called only
for material agents: the other deamnded
the ripest wisdom of the statesman. The
sword was the instrument of the former !:
a keener, subtler, and mightier instrument
was required for the latter. 1t is not
impossible that President Lincoln, with
all his great qualities, might have failed
at this point If stern rigor and exem'
plary Justice, if the con6scation OF the
property, or the exile or disfranchisement
of the leaders of this wicked revolt, the
dark assassins of our peace-if an abso'
lutte refusal to treat with those miscreants
at all-were essential to the permanent
restoration of peace and harmony in the
land-as they are believed by many men
to be-there was at least room for appre
hension that the kind and gentle spirit,
the broad, Catholic charity of our dead
President would have untitled him for the
task 1t was remark of one of the
Greeks. tha no man was happy, or sure #
posthumous renown, until the grave had
closed upon him. Abraham Lincoln S
work was done, and done successfully
He had disappointed nobody in the
Free States, except the enemies who had
hoped to rob Inn, Of the glory, and the
c,untrv Of the pdvantage of finishing up
task which they now beyond the reach
of censure, pr untriendly criticism, with
his r,cor1made up for history-honored
and lorented as no man was ever before
him embalmed in the heart of nation
tI,N has followed him to his tomb; doub'
= endeared to them by the cause in
which he died-by his death as well as
by his life; and surrounded by halo
that has invested him with worldwide
fame. Grieve not then for him. The
blow that took him from our arms was but
his passport for immortality. The patton
has lost President, but Abraham Lin
coin has won an imperishable crown.
The time is now to subject the minute
details of his administration to searching
criticism. That men should differ in re
gard to this. or the other measures of his
policy. is not unreasonable. 1t was his
fortune, as might have been expected of
a cautious man, in a revolutionary era, Ia
find himself occasionally at variance with
his friends, as well as with his enemies
If he was sometimes too conservative for
the former he was always too radical foI
the latter, and was sure therefore to Sc.
cure the good will OF neither; but he
yielded slowly to the indications of pub.
lie opinion, which he .fotloucR only, and
did not tend, and was generally sure in
the end to bring the extremes into har,
mony, by disappointing both, and to find
the public mind prepared to approve his
acts. He explored his ground with care
and having reached his conclusion at last
by long and patient thought, he stood up
on it with a frmness that nothing could
shake. With him there was no step
backward Having once planted him.
self on the ground Of emancipation, as a
necessity Of State, by a process of labor
ious induction, he never afterward lost
sight of that object, and never faltcred
in the execution of his plans Adopted
only as means, because the restoration
of the Union was his only end, it became
at last so far an end, that he refused even
to treat for that restoration upon any 9th
er condition than the absolute extinction
of slavery, towhich he now stood pledged
before the world. 1t was partly because
he then occup el a stand point that opened
TO him a wider and more com lrehansive
field of vision, and enabled him to see
thar the Union could really be saved upon
no other terms, than those of absolute
justice to the black man. The public
mind had ripened with his own under
the torrid atmosphere of revolution. The
acts of his administration are, however
to be estimated in the light of the ex.
ceeding novelty, and the great response
biities of his position. 1t is no fault of
his, even if a bolIer policy might have
resulted in earlier success Men are al.
ways wise after the fact, but in his posi-.
ton, with the fate of a nation in his
hgnds, there Vhs no place for rash exper-
iments, and he might well decline to take
the risks, which others, without respousi.
biity themselves, might have insisted on
in opposition to the opinions of advisers,
who were supposed to be better schooled
in the affairs of nations than himself.
And yet few men have understood the
people better than Abraham Lincoln.
With no advantages of education what
ever, his associations had been more with
men than books. His thought and style
of expression all bear the impress of that
early school. His ideas flowed in the
same channel as theirs No man was
more at home with them, or better under
stood the art of winning their confidence,
just because the recognized the relation
ship. and felt that his heart pulsated in
unison with their own His mind and
character were indeed the natural growth
of our free institutions. and he was so
emlnently representative of them that