Smyrna times., 1865-04-27
President Lincnln,s Forte.

As Premier of a Government like the British,
where the position requires skill and tact in de-
bate while the duties of administration are
divided, Mr.. Lincoln would have been far more
happily placed and would have done better
service than in our Presidential chair, whereof
the incumbent must mainly speak and act
through others. His forte lay mainly in de-
bate, or rather in the elucidation of profound
TRUTHS SO that they can hardly evade the dull
est apprehension. No other man ever so sue
cesatully confronted, before preiudiced, negro
despising audience, the plausible tallacics Of
Senator Douglas vaunted 'Popular Sovcr-
eighty" His familiar exposition of that doc
trine in his Springfield speech opening the
Senatorial canvass Of 1855" If A wants to
make b slave, c shall not interfere was
only parallcled in that passage Of ono Of his
replies to his great antagonist which reads:
My distinguished friend says it is an insult
to the emigrants of Kansas and Ncbaska to
suppose thar they cannot govern themselves
We must not Slur over an article Of this kind
because it happens to tickle the ear. | admit
that the emigrant to Kansas or Nebraska is
competent to govern himself: bit ! deny his
right to g0cern auy other person acthoW Mdt
person consent.
Men Of greater talent have made Republican
speeches i'll this city, but Mr. Lincoln Cooper
Institute address OF March, 1860. remains to
| this day the most lucid, cogent, convincing ar
gumcnt of them all. So at the conservation of
the Gettysburg National Cemetery (Nov. 18th,
| lS63l where Edward Everett made an elabo-
rate and graceful oration, and others spoke
fifty and well, the only address which the world
will remember was that of the President, who
| simply said:
Forescore and seven years ago our fathers
| brought forth upon this continent new ma
| vn1 IN nd lodi aH fO h..
/ proposition that all men are created equal
! Now we are engaged i'll great civil war, test
! ing whether that nation, or any nation so con
! celved and SO dedicated can long endure. We
are met on a great battlefield Of the war. We
| have come to dedicate a portion Of that field
as final resting place for those who here gave
! their lives that the nation might live 1t Is
| altogether fitting and proper that We should
| do this. But in larger SENSE We cannot ded
! lcate, we cannot COnSecratc, we cannot hallOW
] this ground. The brave men. living and dead.
who struggled here have consecrated it far
above our power to add or detract. The world
will little note, nor long remember, what we
| say here, but it can never forget what they did
here. 1t is for us, the living, rather to be de-
dicated here to the unfinished work which
they who fought here have thus far so nobly
advanced. 1t is rather for US to be here dedi-
Gated to the great task remaining before us,
| tnat from tncSG lOnOreu dead we take lncreaS-
! ed devotion to that cause for which they gave
the last full measure of devotion; that We here
/ highly resolve that these dead shall not have
/ died IN vain; that this nation, under God, shall
| have a new birth of freedom, and that govern
ment Of the people, by the people, and for the
people, shall hot perish from the earth.
9 have not assumed to control events
events have controlled me, said Mr.. Lincoln
in answer to a Kentucky complaint that he was
more radical in l864-5 than he had been il
lSGl-2. That was the simple truth, naively
and terScly expressed; and in that truth is ex-
hibted both the weakness and the strength o1
the utterer. He was not the man Of transcen-
dent genius, OF rare insight, Of resistless force
of character, who bends everything to his will
On the contrary. he was one OF those who hav,
awaited opportunity, and thought long ant
patiently, before yenturing on an importan
step, hcarkening intently for that voice o
the people" which was to him, in most cases
"the voice Of God" He hesitated to pu
down his foot, feeling the ground carefully de
liberatcly; but once down, it was hard to make
him take it up again. A striking and honoreC
cxampler Of some Of the best points in our Ma
tional character, he sleeps the sleep of th
hOnOred and just, and there are few grave
which will be more extensively, persistent,
visited or bedewed with the tears ola people
prOuder, tonder affection, than that Of Abra
ham Lincoln.--Nelc York Tribune.