The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1896-07-07

cloS ne provinces Il6 IuSlTunGlllS that
are necessary for the preservation of
what is best in national life, and for the
vindication and establishment of the
cause of righteousness and justice; and
at the critical moment for the nation,
the power to decree that slavery in freeI
America should be no more, was in the
hands of the man who is now the most
loved and revered of all the lost OF
earth, Abraham Lincoln, and he reso-
lutely executed the purpose which he
deemed essential to the salvation OF the
Republic and made real and universal
within it the proclamation, which had,
ND to that time, been only of partial ap-
plication: Proclaim liberty through
out all the land unto all the inhabitants
thereof"
When, after the close of the great
contest, the national heart was sore
stricken beyond all precedent, by the
the cruel assassination of the nations
chosen head, and his lifeless body was
borne to its resting place amid ma
TONS tears. it seemed to me that that
great soul, as it went to a stand before
the judgment seat, where we must all
one day stand to plead for mercy, could
have carried in his hand no more potent
plea for forgiveness than the broken
shaclles of four millions of his liber-
ated fellow men.
1t is well for nations and commune
ties that in the times of their need and
| trial the right sort of men asd agents
appear for their help. 1t is belief, per-
| haps a common one-at least it finds
| frequent expression = that the great
men of our country have passed away;
that all the really great men have died
| from among us; that we have no more
men who are, or who might become,
giants in craftsmanship or heroes in
war. l hold, however, the contrary be-
lief; that there are always men who, in
the event of a real occasion and need.
will be found equal to any emergency
or demand. l recall the fact that this
idea that the great men are no longer
with us or of us, is not novel one.
remember that soon after the deaths OF
three great American statesmen, Cal
houn, Clay and Webster, who followed
each other in quick succession to the
grave, one of our poets wrote, sadly
thus:
"Lo, Carolina mourns her steadfas
pine,
, Which like mainmast lowered abov,
her realm;
And Ashland hears no more the voic
divine
4 10 oh of how. ~
ent elm;
And Marshfield's giant oak, whose stor
my brow
Oft turned the ocean tempest froI
the west,
u !, Lies on the shore he guarded long, an
Our startled eagle knows not wher
Z to rest"
But this pathetically uttered plaiT
II of the disheartened poet was not til
expression of the truth. 1t was not
y fact that this nation was bereft of i
. guardians, or left without defender
~ because one, or another, great man {
prince had fallen in Israel. For in no
y brief period was it after this lamen
~ ing utterance that the unexpected ten
pest of internal, sectional strife bur
upon our national horizon and blottt
:. out the sunshine of peace; yet just
" the crisis when their help was needle
God raised up Lincoln and his great a
sociates in craftsmanship, and und
:, their sagacious guidance the matte
~ emerged into the clearer and bright
~ light of alarger freedom, and grew to
- stronger and better nationality; and
:, the crucial hour when the angry wav
=. of powerful armed rebellion beat mo
- fiereely en- the imperiled foundation
= of our national constitution and COVER
~ ment, then came such soldiers as Graz
Sherman and Sheridan, and the threa
- ening pillows were rolled back as t
:, rock rolls back the wave Let no goo
n no righteous, cause ever despair of fin
~ ing defenders; they will appear at t
~ hour appointed for them, and Veto
- will finally crown the right
There are still some incidents, cons
~ quences and conditions of the peri
- prior to emancipation remaining, al
:. some difficult problems resulting fro
IL the. change are still unsolved; but l b
~ lieve that the intelligence and the sen
~ of justice of the people of the Unit
"a States will be found adequate for the
peaceable solution.
~ That our country will remain forevt
~ ~ or as long as it endures as a natio
~ the home of freemen only is UNIQUE
- tionably assured. The nation will l
- main one and wholly free
its But all well informed citizens of o
mt Republic are well aware that we ha
It's by no means solved all the problems
is self-government, or disposed of all t
an difficulties that arise in the administl
CHI ton of our somewhat complex syste
as These problems and difficulties are L
IN now such as the most important
,at those of the ante-bellum period we
in their character; they do not app,
no SO much to the moral sense or to /
le- name considerations; they are not o.
ON sentimental nature, nor calculated
Dr. arouse mems sympathies and passion
lal they appeal rather. to the matters
,rs fact and to work day life condition
an they are questions of an economic a
nd business character, or fall into t
if category of sociological questions; /
ire prominent and pressing questions
he the hour are those of finance, labor a
am enterprise.