Sturgis advertiser. (Sturgis, Dakota [S.D.]) 1887-1???, 1888-07-04
AN HISTORICAL EVENT.

In accordance with President Lincoln's
call, congress convened on July 4, 1861.
The president called the congress to-
gether to take some radical action in re-
gard to the carrying on to successful
termination the civil war at that time
raging. His message to the congress
may be of interest to those of tho old
veterans who remember those trying
times. Speaking Of the Union army,
and the necessity Of maintaining our
free government, Mr.. Lincoln said:
y
1T may be affirmed, without extrava-
gance, that the free institutions we en-
Joy have developed the powers and i'm
proved the condition of our whole peo-
pie beyond any example in the world.
OF this we now have q striking and i'm
pressive illustration. So large an army
as the government has now on foot was
never before known, without soldier in
it but who has taken his place there of
his own free choice. But more than
this, there are many single regiments
whose members, one and another, pos
sess full practical knowledge of ell the
arts, sciences and professions, and what
ever else, whether useful or elegant, is
known in the whole world, and there is
scarcely one from which there could not
be selected president, cabinet, con-
gress, and perhaps a court, abundantly
competent to administer the government
itself. Nor do I say this is not true also
in the army Of our late friends, now adj
versaries, in this contest. But it is SO
much better the reason why the govern
ment which has conferred such benefits
on both them and us should not be
broken up. Whoever in any section
proposes to abandon such government,
would do well to consider in Difference
to what principle it is that he does it.
What better is he likely to get in it's
stead, whether the substitute will give,
or be intended to give SO much of good
to the people. There are some fore
shadowings on this subject. Our iad-
versaries have adopted some declara-
tions Of Independence in which, unlike
our good old one penned by Jefferson,
they omit the words, call men are Gre
ated equal" Why? They have adopt
ed temporary national constitution, in
the preamble of which, unlike our good
old one signed by Washington, they
omit 'We, the people, and substitute
I'VE, the deputies of the sovereign and
independent states Why? Why this
deliberate pressing out of view the
rights of men and the authority Of the
people? This is essentially peoples
contest. On the side of the Union it is
struggle for maintaining in the world
that form and substance Of government
whose leading object is to elevate the
condition of men, to lift artificial weights
from all shoulders, to clear the.paths OF
laudable pursuit for all, to afford all an
unfettered start and fair chance in the
race of life, yielding to partial and tssn-
porary departures from necessity. This
is the leading object of the government,
for whose existence we contend.
II am most happy to believe that the
plain people understand and appreciate
this. 1t is worthy of note that while in
this, the governments hour of trial,
large numbers Of those in the army and
navy who have been favored with the
offices, have resigned and proved false to
the hand which pampered them, not one
common soldier or common sailor is
known to have deserted his flag. Great
honor is due to- those officers who re-
manned true despite the example of their
treacherous associates, but the greatest
honor and the most important fact Of all,
is the unanimous frmness of the COM
mon soldiers and common sailors. To
the last man, SO far as known, they have
successfully resisted the traitorous eff
forts of those whose commands but an
hour before they obeyed as absolute law.
This is the patriotic instinct of plain
people. They understand without an
argument that the destroying of the
government which was made by Wash
ington means no good to them. Our
popular government has often been
called an experiment.. Two points in it
our people have settled: the successful
establishing and the successful admins
tering of it. One still remains. Its sue
cessful maintenance against formida-
BILE internal attempt to overthrow it, Tt
is now for them to demonstrate to the
world that those who can fairly carry an
election, can also suppress a rebellion;
that ballots are the rightful and peace
full successors of bullets, and that when
ballots have fairly and constitutionally
decided, there can be no successful APP
peal back to bullets; that there can be
no successful appeal except to ballots