Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1869-02-09
Abraham Lincoln.

Mr.. l. acoln is sometimes elaine,
as an example Of a ready made ruler
But no case could we'll be less i
point for, besides that he was
man of such fairmindedness as is al
ways the raw material of wisdom
ne had N his profession a training
precisely the opposite of that K
which partisan is subjected. Hi
experience as lawyer compelled
him not only to see that there is {
principle underlying every phenom,
enon IN human affairs, but that there
are always two sides to everq question
both Of which must be fully under
stand either, and that it is Of greater
advantage to an advocate to apprer
ciate the strength than the weak
ness OF his antagonists position. No
thing is more remarkable than the
unerring tact with which, IN his de-
bate with Douglass, be went straight
to the reason of the question ;. nor
have we ever had a more striking
lesson II political tactics than the
fact, thai, opposed TO a man excep>
tlonally adroit in using popular pref
udice and bigotry to bis purpose,
exceptionally unscrupulously in APP
peallng TO those baser motives than
turn a meeting Of citizens into a mob
OF barbarians, he should yet have
won bis case before jury of the
people,
Mr. Lincoln was as far as possible
from an impromptu politician. His
wisdom was made up of a knowledge
OF things as well as of men; bis sa-
gaclty resulted from a clear percep-
ton and honest acknowledgment of
difficulties, which enabled him to see
that the only durable triumph of po-
lltical opinion is based, not on any
abstract right, but upon SO much Of
justice, the highest attainable at any
given moment in human affairs, as
may be had in the balance of mutual
concession. Doubtless he bad an
ideal, but it was tile ideal OF "a prac
teal statesman--to aim at the best,
and to take the next best if he is
lucky enough to get even that. His
slow, but singularly masculine intel
Ilgence taught MIN that precedent is
only another name for embodied ex>
perience, and that it counts for even
more in the guidance Of communities
OF men than in that Of the individual
lie. lie was not man W held it
good public economy to pull down
on the mere chance of rebuilding
better. Mr.. Lincoln's faith in God
was qualified by very well found,
ed distrust of the wisdom Of man.
Perhaps i. was the want OF self.con>
tidence that more than anything else
won him the unlimited confidence of
the people, for they felt that there
would be no need Of retreat from
any position he had deliberately ia
ken. The cautious, but steady, adj
vance Of his policy during the war
was like that of Roman army He
left behind him a firm road on which
public confidence could follow he
took America with him where he
went what be gained be occupied,
and his advanced posts became colo
MES. The very homeiiness Of his
genius was It's distinction. His king
ship was conspicuous by its workday
homcspun. Never was ruler so abb
solute as he, nor SO little conscious of
1t tor he was the incarnate com.
mon sense of the people. With all
that tenderness Of nature whose
sweet sadness touched whoever saw
him with something of its own pa.
thos, there was no trace of sentimen>
talism in his speech or action. He
seems to have had but one rule of
conduct, always that of practical
and successful politics, to let him
self be guided by events, when they
were sure to bring him ouo where he
wished to go, though by what SEEM
ed to impractical minds, which let
so the possible to grasp at the desi-
rable, a longer road-Prof. Loo0ell.