Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1895-02-13
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
Celebration Of His Birthday by Chi
CaSOs National Union.
HENRY WATTERs0N SPEAKS.
He EIOauentiy Lands the Wartime
President and Holds That He Was
Inspired by Heaven to His Life
Work.

CHICAGO, feofuaTy i-.-ih' 'iS"'"
celebration OF the birth OF Abraham Lin
coin by the National Union took place
this evening at the Auditorium.
The celebration took Jhe form OF a
concert and addresses appropriate to the
occasion. The music programme consist
ed OF selections by the Chicago Marine
Band and several OF Chicago's best quar-
tettes. At the conclusion OF the musical
entertainment the speaker OF the eve
ming. Mr.. Henry Watterson. who Is
making a lecture tour under the manage
ment OF the Southern Lyceum Bureau oil
Louisville. was introduced. He spoke IN
part az follows:
Long before the guns OF Beaure-
gard opened fire upon Fort Sumter, and
fulfilling the programme OF extremism.
blood was sprinkled in the faces or the
people. Congress had become battle
ground and every rood OF debatable ter
rtory was used for controversial mills.
always tumutuous, and sometimes san
culinary.
Amid the noise ani confusion, the
clashing OF intelccts. like sabres bright.
and the booming OF the big oratoricai
guns of the North and the South. row de-
hnitely srrayed, there came one day into
the northern camp the oldest figure
imaginable-the figure OF a man, who, In
spite of an appearance somewhat out or
line carried a serious aspect, II not the
suggestion of power, and. pauslng mo-
ment to utter "A single sentence that could
be heard above the din. passed on. ana
for a moment disappeared. the sentence
being pregnant with meaning. The man
bore n commission from God on high
He said: A house divided again't Itself
cannot stand. ! believe this government
cannot endure permanently half-free and
half-slave. | do not expect the l mon 10
| be dissolved. | do not expect the house
| To- fall: but do expect II Will cease TO be
divided That man was Abraham LIN
colin
LINCOLN AND THE SOUTH.
Mr. Watterson then went into the his
| tory OF I.incoln's early hfe and the inn
| rtssiOns of those who had known him
| gave a sketch of his own personal recol'
| lectiOns OF him. and concluded as fol
| lows: Il want 10 say just here a feT
words about Mr.. Lincon's relations e
| the South and towards the people of the
| South he was himself a southern man
| He and all his tribe were sOutherners
| although he LETT Kentucky when "A mere
child. He was an old child. He wa
never very young lie grew 10 manhood
| in "A kentucky colony for what Is chi
| csgo but Kentucky colony grown some
| wnat out Of proportion?
Lincoln was in no sense what We
| used to call poor white. Awkward
/ perhaps, ungainly, perhaps, niggeTless
certainly: not aspiring. the spirit of a
| hero beneath that rugged exterior, the
| Imagination OF a poet beneath those heavy
| brows: the courage Of a lion beneatt
| those pathetic eyes. and long before h.
was OF legal age r leader
| "Throughout the wild contest that pre-
| ceded the war. amid the lurid passions
| that attended the war itself not one
bitter or narrow word escaped the lip'
of Abraham Lincoln. whilst there wa
| hardly a day when he was not projecting
| his big sturdy personality betwc som'
| southern man or woman and danger
| AT HAMPTON ROADS.
After the formal Interview at ~
| famous Hampton Roads conference. whei
| the Confederate commissioners. stephens
| Campbell and Hunter. had traversed th'
tieId Of discussion with Mr. Lincoln, tn
| President took the slm-faced. consurno
| tive-like man aside, and, placing ais arm
over his shoulder. pointed to a picc
OF paper he held in his own hand, AM
said Stephens. write Union at the tol
OF that page. and you may write belos
| whatever else you please.
In the preceding conversation Nr
| Lincoln had lntimatei that psymon nj for
the slaves was not outside Of a possible
arrangement for reunion and peace. n"
based that statement upon a proposal he
| already had in hand TO appropriate
sic00nooo to this purpose. ! am not 60
| ing 10 tell any tales out Of school | am not
here for controversy. but whrn we are
dead and gone, the private memorabilia
OF those who really knew what terms
were Offered the Confed racy. when In
| ninety days OF It's total collapse viii show
| that in the individual judgment Of all Of
them the wisdom Of the situation said
| accept
NEW BIRIH or FREEDOM.
And why were they not accept d? /,
was the will Of God that ther- should b p,
| ss Gods own prophet had promised, a
! new birth Of freedom. and this could only
be reached by the compIet Obliteration
and extension OF the very id a Of slavery
| "God struck Lincoln down IN the mo-
ment of his triumph TO attain II. God
| blighted the South TO attain H. But lie
| did attain II, and here ~ are this night
20 attest it, Gods will be done on earth,
| as il is IN IleaV n.
But let no southern man point his
! finger at me because ! canonize Abraham
| Lincoln. for he WAS the only friend "
| nsd when friends were most in need. n
| was the man who wanted 10 pr serve
| as intact. 10 save Us from the wolves OF
| m re- passion and plunder that stood q,
| our doors. and so surely ~ that God OF
| whom IL has been said, whom lie loyeth
J He chasteneth. meant that We should
b. chastened. Lincoln was out out Of the
way by the bullet OF an assassin. having
| neither lot nor parcel with the South but
a winged emissary OF fave. come from
the shadows Of that mystic world which
| Aeschylus and Shakespeare concentrated
| into tragedy"
LINCOLN INSPIRED.
| Colonel Watt@rson paid a high compli-
| ment 10 LincOln's powers in debate. his
wonderful acumsn. and his skill at com
position, and concluded with an eloquent
| tribute TO the dead hero's virtues, accom-
| panied by an argument that he was in.
| spired by II aaven 10 his life-wOrk, ending
| with these words: Where ia Shakes.
peare get his genius? Where did Mozart
| get his music? Whose hand smo,e III,
iyrs OF the Scottish plowman. and stayed
the life Of the German priest? God. God
| and God alone. and as surely as thes'
men were raised up by God, inspired BY
| God was Abraham Lincoln: and a thou
| sand years hence no story. no tragedy
no epic POEM will be filed with greater
| wonder or be followed by mankind viii
| deeper feeling than that which tells or his
life and death"