Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1888-02-15

was no peace-though all the compro-
misers might cry 1t in the streets-in the
abandonment of principle. He walked
serenely as his duty was declared to him,
and his farewell address st Springfield
told how profoundly he had been i'm
pressed by the responsibilities that rested
upon him, while his inaugural address
contains an appeal to the people to get
understanding by listening to the better
angels OF their nature, that, in touching
the highest motives with the simple dig
nifty and austere pathos fitting the grayest
human affairs, is worthy to rank By ever
lasting associations with the solemn
pages of the Hebrew prophets.
In discussing the character of men who
have done their work so as to be the rep
resentatiVes of mighty events, we owe to
them and to ourselves the exercise Of the
faculty If earnest and discerning dis
elimination.
Iudiscriminate eulogy is as undutiiul IS
unsparing criticism, but if there is fault
to find others msY do it, my share Of
1t was done long ago.
We lose something of the value of the
memory of Washington by that untutored
idealizstion that exalts him into some
thing almost superhuman, and to place
so cold and lofty that with our conscious
deficiencies we cannot clasp him
with sympathetic confidence. II
the time comes when Lincoln
shall be "hrst In the hearts of his
countrymen," it will not be because he
was commandments of hundreds of
| thousands of armed men, whereas Wash
ipgton only led thousands, or be-
cause he was essentially man OF
the people and 8 poor msD, while
Washington WAS an aristocrat and
rich, but because through the photo
graphy Of the press as well as of the
camera Of the period, we know Lincoln
better far than Washington could be
known, even to his contemporaries; and
We love him because he was q man like
ourselves. It is one of the privileges Of
the time in which we live to know men as
they are. And love thst is stronger thsn
hate seeks knowledge, thrives upon it
and grows and blooms with what it feeds
upou-snd bears the fruit that is purple
and golden.
Lincoln had what we might call "press
facilities" superior to those enjoyed BY
Washington. He wrote q paragraph for
newspaper about himself, and Washing
ton never did that. he was less sensi-
tive about newspapers than Washington,
and the newspapers that assailed Lincoln
we're to those that abused Washington as
hsrnets to gnats. Lincoln never got
swearing mad about the papers that
stung him, and Washington did, and he
had a thousand provocations to Washing
toms one. He used the newspapers.
When he wanted to proclaim that his OBJ
ject was to save the Union with or with.
out slavery, he wrote to Horace Greeley.
His most trusted adviser was an editor
Thurlow Weed-a maker of Presidents,
welding q power Office could neither give
nor take.
Ben Butler has been unsupported, II he
has not said several times that God, and
not the newspapers, made him, but
Butler, fear, had prejudice against
the press, for he told me that in his judg-
ment the wAr should not end without
hanging at least O dozen editors, and
there was sn intimation that there was
chance to save the country by striking
ceremony of the sort then and there.
think General Butler WAS in some de-
gree mistaken in his estimate of the sub
orIinate part Of the newspapers in his
makeup; but the remsrk he made of him
self could with the completest justice be
applied to Abraham Lincoln. The news
paper keeps the record of
deeds that are great-and does
we'll If it doesIfairly. The greatness it
creates Is for day, while the goodness
that 1t blights is tender plant. 1t lends
ten thousand torches to the fierce light
that beats upon high places, but there is
no light 80 burning that it is not whole
some to the greatness that is true, that
does not give fQer temper TO the iron
manhood, that wears not out under the
friction Of hostile contact, but becomes
polished steel, and Is fashioned into
sword that shines forever.
Thirty-tWo years ago, when the Rspub
lican party was rallying for its first Presi-
Dental campaign, the signs of the times
were not propitious. The Democratic
party WAS immensely formidable. 1t was
fortified in slavery, which WAS
a huge despotism, holding IN
challenged sway from Pennsyl-
venia to Mexico, and seemed to be guar
anteed endurance of power through the
vehement preludices Of the people. The
incessant reproach shouted and Kissed at
the Republicans was that their party was
sectional Slavery held section. Lib
erty was not there, and so Liberty was
bCCLlOnhls hO ~ Woo III blO IL
is-but trust we need not add, it ever
shall be. The campaign of 1856 was a
gallant contest on the part Of the Rspub-
licans. 1t was young mans fight for
the freedom of the territories; that slavery
should not be nationalized; that the
government should not make more slave
states. There was purit and joy about
the splendid struggle that the Republi-
cans msde with as fine an enthusiasm as
ever glowed in an honorable cause, and
that still is beautiful in the heavens where
good fame is luminous like the stars.
In 1860, in April, the Democratic ma
tional convention assembled to nominate
candidate for the presidency and to de-
clare the principles Of the party, and the
question could not be evaded, whether
the employment of the government should
be the manufacture OF slave states, and
whether the constitution, as preliminary
step, carried slavery into all the terIitor-
les. On that the Democratic party split;
and 1 heard the voice of Ysncey ring in
the streets of Charleston: "The historian
may now nib his pen to write the story Of
q new revolution" Ah-it WAS q greater
story, 8 grsnder and blooaier revolution,
A.