Martinsburg independent. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1875-1900, 1889-03-16
Abraham Lincoln in 1899.

nation bowed In grief.
Temporal mutdntur. A generation
of voters has arisen which knows not
Lincoln save by the traditions of q
venerated name. New issues have
superseded the momentous ques-
tions which tried the souls ofLincohn
and bis coadjutors. Now men have
come forward or been pushed for
ward to fill the places Of the patriot-
10 men OF 1865, and the political sue
cessor of James Buchanan occupied
the Executive chair.
1t may be an interesting, and per-
haps not an entirely idle and profit
less speculation, to ask what would
be the position Of Abraham Lincoln
among the statesmen and politicians
of to-day but for the murderous bull
let. Would he be a Republican, a
Democrat, or, as an irreverent coun-
try journal has suggested. Mug
wumpY Was he upon the threshold
of a still more brilliant and useful
career, or is it true that his work
was finished, his usefulness ended,
and that che died in the fulness of
fame''?
1t requires no stretch of the mag
nation to conceive Lincoln moving
among the living, active figures Of
to-day. With his iron frame and
vigorous constitution, he would, in
all human probability, have sur
vived most of his contemporaries Of
equal years. He would be but rs
years of age, He was ten years
younger than his Secretary of War,
Simon Cameron nine years Young
er than his historian Bancroft, two
years younger than John G. Whit
tier, and one year younger than JEFF
ferson Davis. He was born in the
same year with Gladstone, Tenny-
son, DR.. Holmes, Hannibal Hamlin,
who was elected with him, and two
of our own ex-Governors, Hamilton
Fish and Iiucius Robinson, all Of
whom survive in health and vigor.
Sherman and Sheridan, who with
Grant upheld the hands of the Presi-
dent through the long struggle, are
with us still.
In 1865, as in 1888, there sat in
the Senate John Sherman and Geo.
f. Edmunds. In the House sat the
two Conklings, one now battling
with q giants strength against
the grim destroyer, and the other
daily visiting his brothers bedside.
There too, were Judge Kelley,
Allison, Dawes, Boutwell,, Banks,
Rutherford b. Hayes and James G..
Blaine. All these are still living,
all were trusSed supporters of Lin
coins administration and of the Re-
publican party. They are Of that
party still. Would Lincoln be with
them, were he alive to-day, or would
he be arrayed against the party
which he helped create, whose issues
he formulated and which he led to
its first victory?
We can imagine Lincoln SUCCESS
fully completing, in 1869, the term
for which he had been selected, and
retiring to Springfield, as did Wash
ington to Mount Vernon, amid the
acclaims of a grateful and reunited
people. He would have seen the Re-
publican party filling his own mag
unanimously policy toward the South;
carrying the country safely through
the dangerous Reconstruction peri
cd; elevating and educating the race
which he had emancipated rehabili-
tating the national credit, and placing
it on firm financial basis; steadily
reducing the fearful national debt
upholding protection to American
industries /; providing for the dis
obled veterans who had risked their
lives for the country they aided in
saving; reforming the civil service.
and legislating against and restrict
ing the two greatest remaining evils,
after slavery, which threaten our
Observation-Disclosures and Rum.
He would have seen his loyal sup
porters, Grant, Hayes, Garfield and
Arthur, successfully occupying the
seat he had honored, and his first
born in the seat of Staunton.
On the other hand, lincoln would
have seen the Democracy, who in
1864 and solemnly declared war q
failure, consistently obstructing st.
every step the legislation necessary
to secure the results of the war, OPP
posing the resumption of specie pay
ments and demanding the repeal OF
the Resumption act almost on the
eve Of its successful execution. He
would have seen that party sailing
under false colors, by an accident Of
ALTERATION restored to the control
Of the government thew had BETRAYED