Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1870-10-18
CASTELAR, ON LINCOLN.

from the translated report of Castel
lars great speech on Emancipation
before the Spanish Cortes
wish to present you another ex
ample Of decided purpose to accom-
pIish gradual abolition, which was
forced to conclude by immediate alb
clifton. | refer to the example o.
America i The Puritan,
are the patriarchs Of liberty they
opened a new world on the earth
they opened new path for the hui
man conscience they created a new
society. Yet, when England tried
to subdue them and they conquered
the republic triumphed, and Slavery
remained. Washington could only
emancipato his slaves. Franklin
sal i that the Virginians could not in
woke the name of God, retaining
Slavery Jay said that all prayers
America sent up TO Heaven for the
preservation Of liberty, while Slavery
continued, were mtre blasphemies.
Mason mourned over the payment
his descendants must make for this
great crime Of their fathers. Jeffcr-
son traced the line where the black
wave of Slavery should be stayed.
Nevertheless, Slavery increased
continually. | beg that you will
pause moment to consider the man
who cleansed this terrible stain which
obscured the stars of the American
banner | beg that you will pause
a moment, for his immortal name has
here been invoked for the perpetual
ton Of Slavery. All the past CEN
fury has not, the century to come
will not have, figure so grand, be-
cause as evil disappears, so disappears
heroism also.
l have often contemplated and de-
scribed his life. Born in CABIN of
Kentucky, of parents who could
hardly read born n new Moses in
the solitude Of the desert, where are
forged all great and obstinate
thoughts, monotonous like the des-
crt, and, like the desert, sublime
up among those primeval
forests, which, with their fragrance.
send a cloud Of incense, and, with
their murmurs, Il cloud Of prayers to
heaven a boatman at s yeats in the
impetuous current of the Ohio, and
at IL in the vast and tranquil waters
of the Mississippi F.; later, woodman,
with ak and arm telling the immemo-
rial trees to open a way to unexplor-
ed regions for his tribe of wandering
workers readibg no other book than
the Bible, the book of great sorrows
and great hopes, dictated often to the
prophets by tho sound of letters they
dragged through Nincveh aud Baby
lon a child OF Nature, in a word, by
one Of those miracles only comprehen-
sible among free people, he fought for
the country, and was raised by his fell
Iow-citizcns to the Congress at Wash
ington, and by the nation to the
Presidency of the Republic and when
the evil grew more viiulent, when
those States were dissolved, when
the shareholders uttered their war
cry and the slaves their groans of
despsir-the woOdcutter, the boat
man, the son Of the great West, the
descendant of Quakers, humblest of
the humble before his conscience,
greatest Of the great before history,
the Capitol, the greatest
moral hight oil our time, and strong
and serene with his conscience and
his thought; before him q veteran
army, hostile Europe behind him,
England favoring the South, France
encouraging reaction in Mexico, in
his hands the riven country ; he arms
two millions Of men, gathers half
million of horses, sends his artillery
1900 miles in q week from the banks
of the Potomac to the shores of the
Tennessee fights more than 600 bat
ties renews before Richmond the
deeds Of Alexander, Of Caesar; and,
after having emancipated 100000
slaves, that nothing might be want
ing, he dies in the very moment of
victory-like Christ, like Socrates,
like all redeemers, at the foot of his
work. His work Sublime achieve
mont over which humanity shall
eternally shed it's tears, and God his
benedictions Great applause.
But Lincoln, you will tell me, at
tempted gradual emancipation. This
is true; | never evade the truth.
But the privileged classes shut their
eyes and opposed it, as they shut
their eyes here and oppose every
profound and radical reform. And
immediate abolition came. When q
man of the wisdom and political pru-
dence of Abraham Lincoln appealed
to supreme measures, it was because
he was convinced that all hope of
compromise was gone, that gradual
steps are impracticable in reforms de-
manded by justice and humanity.
Since then, the United States, hav-
ing turned their slaves into men,
have devoted themselves to convert
ing these men into citizens.
And to-day, gentlemen, those be-
ings who were formerly not even
men, are trecr than the first of the
sons of Europe. Those men who
could not learn to read, because the
Southern gentlemen murdered any
one who dared to give them a book,
have to-day innumerable schools
Those men who were like beasts OF
burden, wretched ~ the reptiles that
cIawled among the cotton and the
cane, are free men, are American cit
liens they sit in the Congress anC
the Senate of Washington. Tn,
United States have refused TO recog
nize as members of the Federation
those States which have not in thei
turn recognized the liberty and tn,
equality of the negroes.
You talk to me of exceptional laws
Many have you given to sustain tn
influence of priests and the tyranny
of kings. | admit your exception
if you will present me 4,000,00
beasts converted into 100000 men
sR- According TO the State law il
Maryland, potatoes must be sold b,