The Rutland daily globe. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1873-1877, 1875-04-24
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
LECTURE OF HON. SCuUyLEit
COLFAN All BURLINGTON.
An Interesting Professionalism
TucntIy Delivered.

A good audience assembled at an carly
hour. The speaker was greeted with much
enthusiasm. The speaker was introduced
to the audience by Hon. Milton II. Tyler,
judge of the city court. Ills delivery is
rapid, but we give report of the material
portion of the lecture
1t has been the dream of my life that |
when should be promoted from being q |
public servant to an American sovereign, |
should enjoy more intensely than ever,
private life. ! am happier now than when
public officer, and haye been gratifcd to
nave so many invitations from my country
men to address them. Ten years have
passed since there was blood upon the
presidential chair Our land is filed with
graves, where sleep those who willingly
died, that the republic might live. When
the end seemed almost at hand, the victim
came from the highest place in the land.
They brought him from his proud position
at the supremcst moment OF his life.
wonld be glad to speak to you, of those
three great commanders, Grant the uncon-
qucrable, Sherman the fearless and daring,
and Sheridan the faithful. My object is
rather from the civil hilltop of history
upon which we stand, to sketch the life Of
the father of the republic which he saved.
The careers of great and good men arc
the bcacons of human progress. Thus
Moses and David, Plato, and Seneca, and
Epictc,us, speak to us with greater force
than when they lived. Thus with the
Jesuitism of Loyola, the Islamism of Mo-
manned, the Presbyteranism of Calvin,
the Methodism of Wesley, and as your
lips will add, the emancipation of Abraham
Lincoln. He never disguised his antago-
nism to slavery. He compressed in
to one clear-cut sentence his convictions
''If slavery is not wrong, then nothing is
wrong" He declared in characteristic
sentences that this union could not endure
half slave, for house divided against IT.
self could not stand. He was warned,
truthfully, that his sentiments were in adj
vance of his party, and his calm reply was:
81 believe those sentiments to be true, aud
l will utter them if they sacrifice every po-
litlcal prospect | have They proved,
however, to be the direct line from Spring
field to the White House. lie advanced to
higher ground in which he demonstrated
that the signers of the constitution antici-
pated the downfall of slavery. At his in
auguration he reiterated over and over
again the same sentiments. Unconscious
ly to himself he had become the great
prophet of future events. Because he did
not believe the opportunity had arrived, he
refused to allow Secretary Cameron to arm
the slaves. His favorltc illustration was
that it was the duty of the physician to
save the life and the limb, even though
they be gangrened. Very thoughtfully,
conscientiously, solemnly, he approached
that great act which shall cause his name
to resound through all the corridors of
time. One hundred days passed. The re-
| bellion became more msolent. The year
| 1868 became the jubilee year. He said,
will strike at the pillar of their strength
| could not destroy the document to which
he had put his hand. There was more
than human wisdom in this act, unparal-
leled in history. 1t was linked to Gods
cause. When he wrote Liberty for all
men," he enfranchised the nation. The
sword of right became the sword of vic
| tory. He gave us n nation where the sun
| does not rise upon master, nor set upon a
slave. When his judgment was grasping
and mastering and deciding some great
| question, the opposing arguments often
seemed to overbear his own. Hence he
often mentioned these arguments in con-
versation, to see if they could be over
thrown. Hence when he made his de-
cision, he often surprised friend aud
foe. The popularity of his own life
was that he always studied the reverse
side of the question with more atten-
ton, more thoroughness and elaboration
than the issue of which he was an advocate
and supporter In this manner he was new
er surprised by the arguments of his oppo-
nents, and was already primed with suita.
BILE retorts for their attack often finding
them weaker than he had expected
| feel how difficult it is to sketch his life
and avoid the Sylla of over praise on the
one handand the Charybdic of criticism
on the other. His individuality was as
marked as the snow-capped summit is, when
compared with the baroness of its base
all through his life, in poverty as in sue
cess in adversely as in prosperity, his pole
star was always right. lie held that no
great principle could be safely and endur-
ingly settled without building it on right.
He closed his Cooper Institute speech,
"Let us have faith that right makes might"
You may search history, ancient and mod
ern, and you shall see that Abraham Lin
coin was the most merciful leader that
ever put down mighty rebellion. In the
west, he had studied government, his poll
teal creed, and had fixed his principles I'M
altcrtbly. He became a radical, not from
passion, nor excitement, nor sensational
ism, but from purest conviction not from
partisanship, for he was born in a slave
state. Rooted and grounded immoyably,
the storms of civil war developed the very
attributes that were necessary for the occa-
sion. He was on the one side criticised for
being too slow, and on the other for being
too last. lie always insisted that he had
not controlled events, but they had con-
trolled him Time was his prime minister.
Whenever he advanced, the hosts of the ma
ton advanced with him against the de-
mands and even threats of his political
friends, he would not act until the supreme
moment of action had come. He was ever
over-cautious to be just to every man.
When he reached Washington to take
the oath of office, can you not recollect
how the very ground shook under his feet I
He was beset by ofiice-seekers, so that he
said he was like the man who was letting
rooms at one end of his house while fire
was burning the other end. Often wearied
he would exclaim, slow willingly would
| exchange places with the soldier who
sleeps upon the banks Of the Potomac !"
have seen him with his tall, sinewy form,
his long hands hanging behind his back,
and in the deepest gloom. ooh, could moi
this bloody war have been prevented !" he
would exclaim but he would add, "Grani
will not fail us, and on his success the
hopes of this republic are founded" Lack
of sternness was supposed to render hin
unfit to be trusted with the pardoning
power, for q touching incident, especially