The Arkansaw traveler., 1885-01-03
LiNCCLN'S INAUGURAL AD.
tOla Ne~xpaper.l

l tOld NeNkp1perJ
 The inaugural address of Abraham Lincoln iu 1861 is a model of Enelish compos ition, as II is of American patiios. isna. It can always be studied with proti, by schoiass and by statesmen, but at no time would his woros cf wisdom be more ! worthy of attention than now. Amid the l threats of civil war and the slavery aSita. tion, before people divided into angry factions, c'amoring for irreconcitabie cor oessloss, he said
 This country, with its institutions. be- longs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever the, shalt grow weary of the existing government they can exercise their constitutional nght of amending it, or their revo utionary right to dismem. Der or overthrow it. cannot be ienor- ant of the tact that many worthy and patriotic cit'x ms are desirous of having he constitution amended. While make no oIccommendaiion of amendment, fnl y ,ecogntze the full authority of the people over the whole subject, to be ex- crcised in either of the modes prescribed in the instrument itself; and 1 should, under exis'ing circumstances. favor, rather that oppose, fair opportunity being afforded to the people 10 act u.oa 1t. will ven,ure 10 add that to me the convention mode seems preferable, in that 1t allows amendments to originate with the people themselves. instead Of only permitting them to take or reject propositions orisinated by others not especially chosen for the purpose, and which might not be precisely such as they would wish either to accept or re- fuse. I understand that a proposed amendment 10 the constitution has passed congress, to the effect that the federal government shall never interfere with the domestic institutions of states, including that of persons held to service. To avoid misconstruction of what l h,ve said, 1 depart from my purpose not to speak of particular amendments SO tar as to say that, holding such a provision to be now implied constitutional law, have no ob jection to its being made express and irrevocable. The chief magistrate de- rives all his authority from the people, and they have conferred none upon him to fix the terms for the separation of the states. The people themselves, also. can do this if they choose {; but the executive, as such, has nothing to do with it. His duty is to administer the present govern ment as it came into his hands, and to transmit it, unimpaired by him, to his successor. Why should there not be $ patient confidence in the ultimate justice of the people3 Is there any better or any equal hope in the world ' In our difference, is either party without faith of being in the right2 If the Almighty Ruler of nations. with His eternal truth and justice, be on your side of the north , or on yours of the south, that truth and that justice will surely prevail by the judgment of this great tribunal-the American people. By the frame of the government under which we live, this same people have wisely given their pub lie servants but little power for mischief, and have with equal wisdom provided for the return of that little to their own hands at very short intervals. While the people retain their virtue and wig. ilance, no administration, by any ex- treme wickedness or folly, can very seriously injure the government in the short space of four years. My country men, one and all, think calmly and we'll upon this whole subject. Nothing vau. able can be lost by taking time. If there be an object to hurry any of you, in hot haste, to a step which you would never take deliberately, that object viii be frustrated by taking time but no good object can be frustrated by it. Such of you as are now dissatisfied still have the old constitution unimpaired, and, on the sensitive point, the laws of your own framing under it; while the new admin isration will have no immediate power, if it would, to change either. If it were admitted that you who are dissatisfied hold the right side in the dispute, there is still no single reason for precipitate &C., ton. Intelligence, patriotism, chris tianity, and firm reliance on Him who has never yet forsaken his favored land, are still competent to adjust, in the best way, all our present difficulties. In your hands, my dissatisfied feiiow-countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. The government will not assail you. You can have 10 conflict without being yourselves the aggressors You can have no oath registered in heaven to destroy the government while l shall have the most solemn one to "preserve, protect and defend it." 1 am 10th ;c close. We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretch ing from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living 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.
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 1 A Modern Miles Standish.