St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-02-13
Charles Darwin and Abraham
Lincoln Both Born on the
Same Day.
The Seed of the Proclamation
Planted in New Orleans
in 1884.
A Life Full Of Mirth and
Tears, Of the Tragic and
the Gpotesque.

NEW YORK, Feb. 12.-Col Robert
Ingersoll delivered lecture at the
Broadway theater tonight, on Abraham
Lincoln" He opened his remarks by
saying:
"Eighty-four years ago today two
babes were born-One in the woods of
Kentucky, amid the hardships and pow
erty of pioneers; one in England, sur
rounded by wealth and culture. One
was educated in the university of nat
ture; the other at Oxford. One associ-
ated his name with the enfranchise-
ment of labor, with the emancipation of
millions, with the salvation of the re-
public. He is known to us as Abraham
Lincoln.
The other broke the chains of super
stition, and filled the world with intel
lectual light, and he is known as Charles
Darwin. Because of these two men the
nineteenth century is illustrious.
"a few men and women make the ma
ton glorious. Shakespeare made Eng
land immortal; Voltaire civilized and
humapized France; Goethe, Schiller and
Humboldt lifted Germany into the
light; Angelo, Raphael, Gallileo and
Bruno crowned
with Fadeiess Laurel
the Italian brow, and now the most
precious treasure of the great republic
is the memory of Abraham Lincoln"
After briefly summarizing the events
leading up to the civil war, Col. Inger-
soil went on to say: 1.-The sympathies
of Lincoln. his ties of kindred, were
with. the South. HIS convictions, his
sense of justice and his ideal were with
the North. Lincoln WAS a statesman.
A politician schemes and works in
every way to make the people to do
something for him. A statesman wishes
to do something for the people. With
him place and power are means to an
end. and the end is the good of his
country. 1t is not a common thing to
elect a really great man to fill the high
est official position. | do not say that
the great presidents have been chosen
by accident. Probably it would be bet
lSl W say GIldG lHGy WGIc IllS 1dfOIlISS
of happy chance.
1.-The average man is afraid Of genius.
He feels as an awkward man feels in
the presence Of straightforward per-
former. He admlres and suspects.
Genius appears to carry too much sail,
lacks prudence, has too much courage.
The ballast of dullneSs inspires con-
fidence.
ssRy a Happy Chance
Lincoln was nominated and elected in
spite of his fitneSS-and the patient,
gentle, just and loving man was called
upon to bear as great burden as man
has ever borne. After the proclamation
of emancipation was signed Lincoln
held it, waiting for some great victory
before giving it to the world, so that it
might appear to be the child of strength.
This was on the 22d day of July, 1862.
On the 22d of August of the same year
after Lincoln wrote his celebrated
letter to Horace Greeley, in which he
stated that his object was to save the
Union; that he would save it with
slavery If he could; that if it was nee
eSSary to destroy slavery in order to
save the Union, lie would; in other
words, he would do what was necessary
to save the Union.
This letter disheartened, to a great
degree, thousands and millions Of the
friends of freedom. They felt that Mr..
Lincoln had not attained the moral
height upon which they supposed he
stood. And yet, when this letter was
written, the emancipation proclamation
was In his hands, and had been for
Thirty Days Waiting
only an opportunity to give it to the
world On the 22d day of September,
1862, the most glorious date in the his
tory of the republic, the proclamation of |
emancipation was issued. Lincoln had
reached the generalization of all argu- |
ment upon the question of slavery and |
freedom-a generalization that never |
has been and probably never will be eX-
celled. In giving freedom to the slave,
we assure freedom to the free. This is |
absolutely true. Liberty can be retained !
and can be enjoyed only by giving it to
others.
"The spendthrift saves" the miser is
prodlgal. In the realm of freedom waste |
is husbandry. He who puts chains |
upon the body of another shackIes his |
own soul. The moment this procIama- |
ton was issued the cause of the re-
public became sacred. From that mo- |
ment the North fought for the human
race. From that moment the North |
stood under the blue and stars, the flag !
of nature-sublime and free. In 1881 |
Lincoln saw in New Orleaus a coIored |
girl sold at auction. The scene filled |
his soul with
Indignation and Horror
Turning to his companions, he said: |
"Boys, if l ever get chance to hit |
slavery, by God. I'll hit it hard" The
helpless girl, uncOnsciously, had planted |
in great heart the seed of the procla-
nation. Thirty-one years afterward |
the chance came; the oath was kept.
and to 100000 of slaves, of men, women
and children, was restored the jewel of
the soul. In the history, in the fiction
of the world, there is nothing more in
ensely dramatic than this.''
Col. lngersolPs lecture was long. and |
it abounded in bright and eloquent say
ipgs. Speaking of Lincoln's character, |
he said: "Strange mingling of mirth |
and tears, of the tragic and grotesque,
of cap and crown, of Socrates and De-
mocritus, of Hsop and Marcus Aurelius,
of all that is gentle and just. humorous |
and honest, merciful, wise, laughable,
lOvable and divine, and all consecrated |
to the use of man; while through all and |
over all was an overwhelming sense of |
obligation, of chivalrc
Loyalty to Truth.
and upon all the shadow of the tragic
end
NEARLY all the great historic charac-
tiers are impossible monsters, dispropor-
toned by tiattery or by calumny de-
formed. We know nothing OF their pc
culiarities. About these oaks there |
clingS none of the earth of humanity |