Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1892-09-17
LlNcoLNs IDEAS AND oRAToRY.
He Was Always Looking to the Future
and for the Right.

Mr.. Lincoln entertained advanced
thoughts and opinions upon all worthy
topics Of public concern; indeed his
opinions were in advance, usually, of
his acts as a public man. This is but
another mode of stating the truth that
he possessed the faculty of foreseeing
the course of public opinion-a faculty
essential to statesmen in popular gov
ernments.
In 1858, in campaign letter, he said:
al 20 for all sharing the privileges of
the government who assist in bearing
its burdens. Consequently ! 90 for adj
hitting all whites to the right of sulf-
rare who pay taxes or bear arms, by no
means excluding females"
I'm 1854 he said; Labor is prior to
and independent of capital Capital is
only the fruit of labor and could never
have existed if labor had not first ex-
listed. Labor is the support of capital
and deserves much the higher con-
sidrration.'
In April of the same year he said;
81 am naturally anti-slavery. If
slavery is not wrong nothing is wrong.
cannot remember when did not so
feel and think" In his last public ut
terance he declared himself in favor of
extending the elective franchise to
Colored men.
Thus he died without one limitation
in his expressed opinions of the rights
of men which historian or eulogist will
desire to suppress or crafty 1t is to
be further said of this many-sided man.
and most opulent in resources, that he
takes rank with the first logiciaHS and
orators OF every age. His mastery
over Douglas in the debate of 1858 was
complete While President and bv
successive letters, hc eIectually re-
palled the attacks and silenCed the
criticisms OF the New York committee,
of which Erastus Corning was the
head, that condemned illegal arrests
and the suspension of the writ of habeas
corpus; Of the Union committee of the
State Of Illinois, that proposed to save
The Union il slavery could be saved
with 1T: of the Democratic convention
OF The State of Ohio that denounced
the arrest of Vallandigham and of
n Horace Greeley himself when he com
planned Of the policy the President
seemed to be pursuing on the subject Of
emancipation.
A. approach my conclusion, ask
Judgment Of Mr.. Lincoln, not as a com
petitor Of Mr.. Douglas for a seat in the
Senate of the United States, but as
competitor for fame with the first
orators of this or any other country, of
this and other ages.
In support of this quote the closing
paragraph Of his inst speech. IN the
caUF ASS ai .J5: Oar cuIsnLaau, must
be iutrU,Je,l to and conducted by it's
own uujoHhcd friruGs, those whose
HANDS are !rp, whose "lr,s are i'm the
Nu.s. .... V ear. .,.u -iiit. Two
year a-1teeR" i.gaus the Nation
mustered over 1900, 900 strong. We
did this under the single impulse Of
resistance to a common danger, with
every external circumstance against
Us. OF strange, discordant and even
hostile clements we gathered from the
four winds and formed and fought the
battle through under the constant.
hot fire of a disciplined, proud, and
pampered enemy. Did we brave all
those 20 fater now? Now, when. that
same enemy is wavering. discovered,
and bclligerent? The result is not
doubtful. We shall not fail; if we
STAN, firm we shall not fail. Wise
e9uasels may accelerate or mistakes
delay itbut sooner or later the victory
Is sure to come"
We remember his simple, earnest,
persuasive appeals to the South in his
lrs, inaugural address. AT the end he
says: Il am loath to close. We are
moi enemies, but friends. We must not
~ enemies. Though passion may have
strained, it must not break our bonds
OF affection. The mystic chords Of
memory, stretching from every battle
Ars and patriot grave to every living
near. and hearthstOnc all over tins
1'1ad land, viii vet swell the chorus Of
u" union when again touched.as sure
" they viii be- by the better angels Of
oar ature." There is nothing else IN
laxative literature 20 be compared
"..l this 1t combines the eloqueuce
y tae orator with the imagery and in
>f.ratiou Of the poet.
bli the three great papers on which
i.h.a.u's fame viii be carried along
..e ages are the proclamation Of eman-
patton, his Grafton at Gettysburg, and
second inaugural address. The
s.nn ranks with the noblest pro-
..-ltans OF antiquity, with the works
circles, of DemoSthenes, Of Cicero,
rivals thetinc-t passages Of Grat-
aarae, or Webster. This is not
Lion Of Americans only, bat Of
HHTated in other countries whose
@ent anticipates the Judgment Of
Gritty.
a Wa consider the place, the
session the man. and. more than all.
We consider the Grafton itself,
oubt that i ranks with the
American classics? That litera-
''ie Il immortal which commands a
lament place in the schools OF our
tIfy and is there any composition
Il certain of that destiny than Lin
Il grafton at Getty burg?- George
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