The record-union., 1891-05-10
THIRTY YEARS AGO.
Grand Sentiments by Lincoln In His
Younger Days.
Excitement Over War News-Ineor-
porators of the Central Pa
cif1c Railroad.


garded as one of the grandest orations
ever uttered; and, as evidence that it was
no mere accident of speech or occasion,
but that Lincoln was one of the pro-
foundest thinkers and philosophers of
his time, the following extract from one
of the speeches of his younger days-de-
Gvered away back in 1S40-is reproduced.
1t was found in the Union of April 26,
1861, just after Lincoln had taken his office
as President. The sentiments therein ex-
pressed, and the manner of their ex-
preston, serve to rank side by side with
his immortal address at Gettysburg,
twenty years later:
MANY free countries have lost their
liberty, and ours may lose hers; but If
she shall, be 1t my proudest plume-not
that was the last TO desert, but that |
never deserted her. / know that the
great volcano at Washington, aroused
and directed by the evil spirit that reigns
there, Is belching forth the lava of politi-
cal corruption in a current broad and
deep, which is sweeping with frightful
velocity over the whole length and
breadth Of the land, bidding fair to leave
unscathed no green spot or living thing,
while on its bosom are riding, like
demons on the waves of hell, the ifnps
all those who dare to resist its de-
stroying course with the hOpelessness of
their efforts; and knowing this, I cannot
deny that all may be swept away. Broken
by it too may be; bow to it l never will.
The possibility that we may fall in the
struggle ought not TO deter us from the
support OF cause which we believe to be
just. 1t shall not deter me. If ever l
feel the soul within me elevate and ex-
pand to those dimensions not wholly un-
worthy of its Almighty Architect, it is
when l contemplate the cause of my
country, deserted by all the world beside,
and standing up boldly, alone, and
hurting defiance at her victorious OPP
pressOrs.
Here, without contemplating conse-
quences-betore Heaven, and in the face
of the world swear eternal fidelity to
the just cause, as l deem it, of the land of
my life, my liberty, and my love! And
who that thinks with me will not fear
lessiy adopt the oath that | take? Let
none falter who thinks he is right, and
we may succeed. But If, after all, we
shall fail, be it so. We still shall have
the proud consolation Of saying TO our
consciences, and to the departed shade of
our cOuntry's freedom, that the cause
approved of our Judgment, and adOred of
our hearts in disaster, in chains, and in
death-We never taltered in defending"
1.-The Shasta Courier, referring to
the reproduction Of Old-time remines-
cences, says: "It is common sense for
those who live in the present, and have
| heirs to succeed them, to remember the
| past, recall events, refresh memories, and
| make the young generation acquainted
with events and local history of the
scenes that transpired in the days that
have gone, things that occurred in the
neighbOrhOod of their birth. To recall
/ . III L. IL.
ORD MON, Greka journal, WeaverVilIe
Journal, the Mountain Democrat, and
other papers, occasionally go back to the
early records that they are fortunate
enough to possess, and give extracts and
local historical matters that are highly
relished and prized as information and
history Of the times spoken of.
'Of course there are a simple set Of
aftermath swallows and gulls thinly
skimming the waters of the present, who
| don't want to know about what has pre-.
| ceded them. or for anything of to-day,
except what they can get by cheek and
! loud pretense; and what they leave after
| them will not be worth recording in the
! papers. The newspapers of to-day that
in addition to giving the current news of
| local and transpiring events, can give au-
| thentic and Photographic views of local
/ events and times of the past, have man
| ifest and well appreciated advantage.
Let glimpses of the past history ac-
| company the current events of the pres
| ent and there will be no kickers except
those adolescents that are born to be rec
| ognized in their day and generation as
| envious or crippled under the hat"
| Political feeling was running high
! in those days, and sensational occur
rences were frequent. One night an
| Italian organ-grinder was turning the
| crank of his wheezy machine at Second
| and * streets, when a Southerner whose
| heart had been duly fired" (and his
brain, also, by frequent libations) APP
| preached the musician and commanded
him to play Dixie" A Republican,
who had been celebrating in honor of
| Major Anderson's gallant defense of Fort
| Sumter, happened along about that time
| time and overheard the Southerner's de-
mand. He objected, and told the organ
| grinder to grind out Yankee Doodle"
Then the war broke out, and a rough
and-tumble fight ensued between the
Democrat and the Republican, during
which the Italian was rolled on and his
! organ ground to splinters. To add TO the
excitement, two pistOl-shotS were fired,
| but nobody was shot.
! The trouble lasted for some time, and
| came near causing a general riot, but was
finally quelled by the police
MN the Assembly John Conness
made mastery speech against Zach.
Montgomery's bill providing for a di-
vision of the public school funds so as to
enable different religious denominations
to maintain their own schools Mr.. Con
ness is an Irishman, and although it was
reported that the bill was introduced at
the instigatiCn of the Catholic Church he
denied the charge, and said the principle
involved was not asked for by the major
ity of Catholics. He told how, quarter
1N.afN To-, i
shores OF America from an emigrant
ship; how he was deposited there as a
single grain of sand upon the sea-shore ~
how he found his way into a free school,
where he was given All education and
never asked what his religious views
might be. His speech occupied several
columns OF the UNION, ana was one of
| the ablest and most eloquent delivered
during that memorable session,
....,...The stockholders of the Central
Pacific Railroad Company met in Sacra-
mento on the 1st of May, 1861, and took
the first steps toward effecting an organ
iZation. Articles of association were
adopted, and a Board of Directors and
one of Commissioners appointed The
Directors were l.. a. Booth, James
Bailey, c. 2. Huntington, 7. D. Judah.
Leland Stanford, Charles Crocker and
Mark Hopkins, Sacramento; d. w.
Strong, Dutch Flat; Charles Marsh, Ne
vada. Commissioners - b. f. Moore.
Dutch Flat; Edward Brickell, Illinois
town; L. g. Waite, Nevada; Charles Nc
Laughlin, Grass Valley; Samuel Cross,
Sacramento.
1.-THE reduction of Fort Sumter had
set the nation practically on fire. Men
were hocl1ing to New York from all
| directions in response to Lincoln's call
| for seventy-five thousand volunteers, and