The daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1873-1877, 1876-05-03

these incendiaries so rashly invoke. is the
same Abraham Lincoln who said to the
white people of the south, the rebels" in
his second inaugural address:
We ale not enemies, but friends We must not
be enemies. Though passion may have been
strained II must not break our bonds OF affection.
aI ne nSs , cSra ora Of memory stretching from
ing heart and hearth-stone all over this broad
land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union when
again touched as surely they will be- by the better
angels OF our nature.
1t is the Abraham Lincoln who said in
his first message to congress,in 1861:
Whatever concerns the whole should be con-
hded to the whole-to the general government !;
while whatever concerns the state should be left
exclusively TO the state. Lestthere be some
uneasiness in the minds OF candid men as to what
is to be the course OF the government toward the
southern states after the rebellion shall have been
suppressed the executive deems it proper to say 1t
Will be his purpose then, as ever, 10 be guided by
the constitution and the laws; and that he will
probably have no different understanding of the
ativey To the rights OF the states and people under
the constitution than that expressed In the inaugural
address. He desires 10 preserve tse government
that may be ddDsinistsred for ALL as u 1rds Gd-
ntinistered by The men who made IL.
1t is the Abraham Lincoln who wrote to
Horace Greeley, in 1862:
| would save the Union. would save it in the
shortest way under the constitution, The soon
er the national authority can be restored, the
nearer the Union will be-the Union as It was,
IL My paramount objected Is to SAGE the Union
and not either to cave or destroy slavery.
1t is the Abraham Lincoln who, 10 his
Thanksgiving proclamation Of 1868, ex
horted the people to
| fervenlly implore the interposition OF the
| Almighty hand TO heal the wounds OF the nation,
and to restore 1t, as soon as may be consistent
with the divine purposes, to the full enjoyment Of
peace, harmony tranquility and Union.
1t is the Abraham Lincoln who intimat-
ed distinctly in his second inaugural ad
dress that north and south, alike guilty
before God and history for the crime Of
human slavery, were together working ouI
a common expiation, and then added words
forever memorable
With malice toward none with charity for all
with frmness in the right as God gives us to set
the right let us strive on to finish the work VIZ
are In, to bind up the nations mounds, to care fo
him who shall have borne the battle, and for hi
widow and orphans, TO do all which may achieve
and cherish just and lasting peace among our
seLUes and with all nations.
1t is the Abraham Lincoln who wa.
sharply criticised all through the admins
tration for excessive moderation of views
aud policy, for excessive anxiety to abridgt
the strife and arrive at the goal of recon
ciliation-a goal Of which he, for one, new
er for moment lost sight. 1t is tn,
Abraham Lincoln whose eagerness in the
very last year of his life to hasten the res
toration of civil liberty and local self-gov
eminent at the south disturbed and alien
ated section Of his party in congress, as
in the press, and caused more than one
advocate of the thorough" policy to see
in his taking-off a providential interven
ton. 1t is the Abraham Lincoln of whom
Jefferson Davis told the Richmonders il
the winter of 1865; In my correspon
'dence with Mr.. Lincoln, that functionary
has always spoken of the United State
and the confederacy as our afflicted cOun
try but in my replies | have never fail
ED to refer to them as separate and dis
"tinct governments" 1t is the Abraham
Lincoln who, on the very eve of his death
made speech from the portico of tn,
White House, of which Horace Greeley
said, with entire justice, that it "evince(
IAN utter absence of resentment or bitter
mess toward the late rebels, and an anx
''ious wish that the confederate state.
should be restored to all the functions o
'self-government and equal power in tn
union at the earliest day consistent will
the national integrity. tranquility AM
safety
The earliest day That was some
, thing more than eleven years ago.
The apostles and evangelists of the Cos
= pei OF hate are not well advised in drag
6 giug the name of Mr.. Lincoln into the di.
, cussion. 1t is the last name that shout
= be heard on their bps. The mention of
f proyokes the people to remembrance an
:, comparison.