St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-02-16
INGERSOLL ON LINCOLN.
THE CELEBRATED AGN0ST.c DELIH-
ERS LECTURE AT the LYcECM.
THE MARTyRED PRESIDENT.
"A Glowing Eulogy on II is Life and
Character-.A Statesman and a
Mantle Discourse Very En-
tertaining-rhe Intellect IN
Fashion OF the City Present
VII md fNIonnonnn

tertaining-rhe Intellect IN
Fashion OF the City Present
Wit and EIoQuence.
Col. Robert q. Ingersoll, the famous
orator, whose agnoStlc principles have
made him known to people of all coun-
tries aud climes, appeared at the Ly-
ceum last night and delivered his latest
and best etfort-a lecture on Abraham
Lincoln. Every seat In the house was
filled. the intellect aid fashion Of the
city being represented. The gallery
was crowded, an hundreds Of people
occupied seats OH the stage. The lect-
ure was delivered in Mr.. IngerSolPs
characteristic eloquent manner an In
that dramatic and wholesome spirit that
causes glow to pervade the hearts
of his auditors. The arguments
against religion and on Shakes
peare may be faulty, but his
manner of delivery and his capacity for
furnishing entertainment when on the
platform in the character of lecturer
are almost above criticism. His effort
of last night was replete with that scin-
tillating wit for which he is noted, and
the burden of his discourse demon
Strated he had made the life and chat
ac.er of his ideal-Abraham Lincoin-a
thorough study. There were times he
could not forbear interpolating his
ideas of personal God, but there was
nothing Objectionable even to the most
orthodox of his audience. 1t rather
served as sauce for the subject matter.
A brief synopsis of the discourse is
given below:
"a nation to be great must produce
great men and great women. and it re-
Quires ouly few great men and women
to make Ration glorious. Shakespeare
made England glorious with his litera-
ture. Voitaire civilized France and
abolished torture. Goethe and Schiller
lifted Germany into the light. Lincoln
emancipated the slaves and regained
darkest America. People are divided
into two classes, the many who
die with their backs turned
to the sunlight; the many who
live and die in the belief that things
are good enough as they are; and the
few who delve into science and search
for the truth, and who, when they find
it, act in accordance with their deduc-
lions and belief. Such man was Lin
coin. l would rather live in the small
est country on earth and have my fell
lows free than i'll country where
lasheS on the back were considered
legal tender for labor performed. So.
too, thought Abraham Lincoln. He had
the sense that the entire American peo-
pie should have in 1892"
After eulOglzlng Mr.. Lincoln, he said
that at one time Lincoln had two de-
bates with Stephen A. Douglas upon
the question of slavery, and demon
slrated that he was uetter logician
than Douglas and better statesman.
There is" said he, "a difference be-
tween politician and statesman. A
politician schemes day ana night to see
whBt the people can do for him, and
a statesman works and strives to see
what he can do for the people,
Slavery, he said, domlniZed the presi-
dent and degraded the people. He did
not blame the South any more than the
North. The merchants i'll the North
wanted TO sell to the South, and were
ready and ANXIOUS to mob any man who
made speech for liberty. If man
said any thing in favor of freedom for
the human race they wanted to strike
him down.
HC WOtQS VI lG COuGluueu
'ln his first Inauguration speech, "a
house divided against itself cannot stand
ETC., was the standard around which
gathered the nucleus of the greatest
political party that was ever born. This
declaration made Lincoln the leader OF
that vast and splendid host.
1.-The central idea of secession is the
essence of anarchy. You can think that
over for The next six months and you
cannot improve the idea.
From the battle of Lexington to the
surrender of CORVALLIS, in the Reyolu-
tionary war. there was never major
lty of The people Of the thirteen colonies
who believed i'll founding a separate
government. LII All election had been
held when Lincoln took his seat, or
few months afterward, there would
have been majority to say: Let the
South have a separate government
SO Lincoln had TO move with some
prudence. The shot fired upon Sumter
soliditied the South. and justified us
before the eyes of the civilized world.
at is wonderful" he said, dropping
into agnosticiSm and abiding to the
Bible, that piece of paper, printed
book, is holier than the flesh and blood
of human beings; that it can stop the
advance Of the human race. | care
nothing for paper or book unless the
Things written thereon agree with my
own brain and my own heart. L don't
care who wrote il, whether it was in
this world or the other"
In concluding, he referred to Lncoln's
first experience with slavery. He said:
Lincoln had lived in Kentucky among
the slaves, but had never seen one sold
until i'll 1881 he went down the Miss
.lSsippi river Oil flat boat, and at New
Orleans he saw for the first time slave
sold at auction, and after listening to
the remarks Of the auctioneer lauding
the quality of the goods he offered
for sale, Lincoln left, and said to
his friend: IF ever L get chance
to hit the institution of slavery.
by God, lll hit it hard" Thirty-one
years after the oath, or rather the pray
er, was kept. l have heard oatbs that
were prayers, and have heard some
prayers that were oaths. During the
War of the Rebellion Gladstone said
that the North could never win. The
pope at Rome Goods AGENT was of the
belief that the North was simply fight
ing for territory. England said that the
Southerners were her natural allies;
that the North was simply keeping an
opposition shop III the same line of
business mot lofty sentiment, but it is
English.
Lincoln was without type.
He stood alone, and how do l account
for this? That Lincoln lived in a new
country. In new country a man must
have three virtues-houesty, courage
and generosity. In new country CHAR
acter is essential; in an Old country a
man lives upon his reputation. In the
country we are an aggre CATION of atoms :;
i'll the city we are an atom of an aggre-
CATION"