New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1885-04-22

Sound of their cannon were heard from
the national capital, amid all this he,
stood firm at his post, listened patiently
to the complaints and suggestions of ali.
but relied upon his own Judgment and
submitted to the dictation of none.
No amount Of pressure could induce
him to yield one principle of right or
submit to one rash act that did not
commend itself to his Judgment, but
with watchful eye and unclouded mind
he guided the ship Of state with as lit
tie excitement, with as cool a Judgment
and as unwavering a purpose as when,
in patched clothes, with brawny arm,
he guided his flat-boat down the placid
waters of the Mississippi.
His course was not always satisfacto-
ry to the extreme anti-slaverv men of
the north. At the same. time that he was
called black abolitionist by the Re-
bells, he was called slave-hound by
the abolitionists because he could not
acceed to all their demands. but time
proved the accuracy of MS judgment in
dealing with the slavery question. He
saw that the necessity of emancipation
must be made apparent to the union
men of the northern and border states
before the experiment could be tried
with safety, and on the 22d day of Sep
TENDER, 1862, he became satisfied that
the fitting moment had arrived for tax
ing the first step, and. on that day, he
issued his proclamation giving formal
notice that on the first day of January,
| 1868, all slaves held in the states then
in rebellion would be free. This pro-
clamation did not meet the approval
of the country that Mr.. Lincoln had
hoped for, and there is strong reason to
believe that had it been issued at an
earlier date, as its advocates desired, it
would have produced disastrous re-
suits. The ensuing elections showed
clearly that the policy of emancipation
was disapproved, and especially morti-
flying to him was the crushing defeat of
his party in the great State of New York
and his own State of Illinois.
But when he had once taken posi-
ton approved by his conscience and
his judgment no encouragement could
turn him from his course. He had full
" considered the question of emancipa-
ton. He realized that the hesitatino
and wavering policy that had been pur-
sued in regard to the colored refugees
must come to an end; that slavery or
the country must perish; and, on the
first day of January, 1868, came the
final proclamation of freedom which
will perpetuate the name of Abraham
Lincoln in the grateful recollection of
mankind to the end of time.
The proclamation did not end the
war. Battles were fought and defeats
suffered. New commanders entered
upon the field with new plans and in
spired new hopes, only to meet new
disaster and deepen the gloom resting
upon the land.
Amid all the opposition which he en-
countered, amid all tho reverses of the
union forces, Mr.. Lincoln's confidence
in success never waivered, the thought
of retracing his steps never entered his
mind, and at last he secured a COM
mander for the army whose course was
as steady and unyielding in the field, as
was his own in the cabinet, that stern
and silent warrior now wrestling in the
grasp of death, and with him came vic-
tory and when the smoke of battle had
rolled away not slave was to be seen
in all the land, but the sunlight of ap-
preaching peace cast its bright rays
over land undivided and in the en-
ioyment of universal freedom.
Then came the popular approval of
his course; then the voice of every
grumbler in the north was silenced;
then his open enemies acknowledged
the wisdom of his persistent and I'M
wavering course; then the zenith of his
glory was reached, then his life end
ed.
In the slow march of time from day
to day and year to year it is difficult to
distinguish the progress of the institu-
tions of our country, it is not always
apparent whether we are progressing
or retrograding, and fears are some
times expressed that the rights and IL
berries of the people are gradually pas
sing from their hands, that wealth and
power rather than right and patriotism
are the controlling influences that guide
our country's rulers; but the records of
the quarter of a century whose history
has received the impress of the life and
character of Abraham Lincoln ought to
dispel all fears and satisfy the national
| PAAUS Va SvSAv 1AAOAAS1A. LII CtIC 1dSt
annual message of James Buchanan, he
censured the people of the free states
because, by their constant agitation of
the slavery question, they had produce
ed malign influence upon the slaves
and inspired them with a vague notion
of freedom; to-day the president elected
by the same party and principally by
the voters of the states formerly in re-
bellion, assures the former slaves that
they shall be protected in all the rights
of American freemen.
Has not the resolve Of the great au-
thor of emancipation made upon the
field of Gettysburg been realized, that
this nation, under God, should have
new birth of freedom, and that the GOV
eminent of the people, by the people
and for the people should not perish
from this earth?
Portland, Oregon, reports that in
Wasco county, beginning Dec. 10, snow
| fell almost constantly for % deys dur