The daily morning journal and courier., 1896-10-08
ACCOMMODATES DEBATE.
The Notable Event Fittingly Commem-
 orated.


 Galesburg, H., Oct. 7.-Knox college to-day honored the memory of Lincoln and Douglas by the unveiling of a. bronze tablet commemorating the 3Sth anniversary of the great Lincoln Doug lass joint debate.
 Following an address of Hon. Robert T. Lincoln, Hon. Chauncey M. Depew spoke, in part, as follows:
 Abraham Lincoln was not an acci- dent, but development He did not leap into leadership at bound, but earned the position by laborious prepa- ration and frequent demonstrations of supreme ability. It Is only thirty years since the country was shocked as never before by his assassination, and yet to the vast majority of the American peo- pie he is alreedy a legendary character, and the human elements which endear- ed him to his generation are forgotten. We have made history so rapidly in the last quarter of century that even the thrilling events of the civil war can no longer conjure votes or move audiences. Memorial day, which was once a period of passion and sorrow, is now a popular picnic and children s holiday.
 To understand the significance of the meeting here thirty eight years ago be- tween Lincoln and Douglas, we must recreate the conditions under which they fought. revive the questions which caused parties to rush from partisan ship to rebellion, and reincarnate the combatants on this famous field. The apparent contest was the statehood of Kansas, but both the orators and the people knew that the tremendous issue was between freedom and slavery, the dissolution of the Union or its perpet- uity.
 Rehearsing exhaustively the condi- tions which then obtained, and review- ing the political situation at length, MT. Depew concluded as follows:
 As the great debate proceeded the whole country became the audience. The discussion was rapidly moulding public opinion, promoting patriotism and dissolving parties. The people were eager students in a national uni versity, with the two most eminent teachers of their time preparing them for the impending crisis. Lincoln's view grew broader and higher He again summoned his friends and admirers. He submitted to them whether he should ask and compel Douglas to answer the question whether, notWith- standing the Dred Scott decision had declared that slavery was lawful in the territories under the constitution, "the people of @ territory could in any law full way exclude slavery froom it's limits prior to the formation of state con- stitution?" This nakedly presented the deadly antagonism between the Dred Scott decision and the popular sover- eighty" of Douglas. Lincoln's friends unanimously advised against 1t.
 For the questions they debated here hundreds of thousands of our country men died upon the field of battle. The south fought as Americans can fight for what they believed to be right, and the north fought as Americans can fight for what time has demonstrated was the right. The VOW registered by Lincoln, the rough fiatboatman of nine teen, at the slave mart in New Orleans, was fulfilled by Lincoln president of the United States, in the proclamation which freed the slaves and made the sentence for freedom in the Declara- ton of Independence both a sentiment and fact. Two millions of volunteer soldiers helped him enforce his mes sage to the disunionists in his first speech at the commencement of this de. bate, we will not go out of the union and you shall not.''
 The famous controversy over the House divided against itself" nowhere discussed more bitterly than here on this platform, ended at Appomattox The house did not fall but it did be- come "alI free.'' The new south. the peopled west, the enriched east. and the prosperous north can calmly review the issues which so radically divided them in the past and reverently thank God that in the final conflict and it's settle ment the leader of the forces of union and liberty was the great-hearted, broad-souled, wise -brained man of love and charity. Abraham Lincoln.