The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-06-03

also because they had an intellectual
conviction that they had right under
the constitution to leave the union,
when they thought it was advantag-
eous to do so. ...
They had come into the union, they
had accepted the constitution, and
they couldn't admit that that was an
irrevocable transaction. The right OF
rebellion had been talked Of In every
quarter. Every man has right to re-
bel, we are told. If only he is willing to
take the consequences. That was the
doctrine Of our seeding countrymen IN
the south. They were defending their
property as we would defend ours, and
they were defending what they con-
sidered to be an inherent right, the
right of every freeman to say whether
he will submit to the government that
is over him, or rebel and take the con-
sequences. And I am bound to de-
clare that the most Of them were just
as sincere In their purpose and their
passion as we were In ours.
Mr.. Lincoln was not what We would
call an educated man. The college that
he had attended was that which q man
attends who gets up at daylight to hoe
the corn. and sits up at night to read
the best book he can find by the side Of
burning pine knot. What education
he had picked up In that way. He
had read a great many books; and all
the books that he had read, he knew.
He had tenacious memory, just as he
had the ability to see the essential
thing. He never took an unimportant
point and went off upon that: but he
always laid hold Of the real thing, Of
the real question. and attended to that
without attending to the others any
more than was indispensably neces-
sary.
Thus. while we say that Mr.. Lincoln
was an uneducated man, uneducated In
the sense that we recognize here in
New Haven, or at any other great COL
lege town. he yet had singularly per-
feet education in regard to everything
that concerns the practical affairs of
life. His judgment was excellent, and
his information was always accurate.
He knew what the thing was. He was q
man Of genius, and, contrasted with
men Of education, genius will always
carry the day. / remember very well
going into Mr.. Stantor's room in the
War department on the day Of the
Gettysburg celebration, and he said:
Have you seen the Gettysburg
NO" said I; II didn't know you had
them"
He said: "Yes: and the people will
be delighted with them. Edward Ev-
erett has made a speech that will make
three columns In the newspapers. and
Mr.. Lincoln has made speech Of per-
| haps forty or fifty lines. Everett 8
is the speech of scholar, polished to
the last possibility. 1t is elegant and
1t Is learned: but Mr.. Lincoln's speech
will be read by thousand men where
one reads Everett's and will be re-
membered as long as anybody's
speeches are remembered who speaks
In the English language"
| That was the truth. If you will take
| those two speeches now, you will get an
idea how superior genius is to educa-
tlon; how superior that intellectual fac
ulty is which sees the vitality Of ques
tion and knows how to state it: how
superior that intellectual faculty Is
which regards everything with the fire
Of earnestness In the soul. with the re-
lentless purpose Of q heart devoted to
objcts beyond literature.
HAD NO ILLUSIONS.
Another remarkable popularity OF
Mr.. Lincoln's was that he seemed to
have no illusions. He had no freakish
notions that things were so or nigh,
be so, when they were not so. All his
thinking and all his reasoning. all his
mind, in short, was based continually
upon actual facts and upon facts OF
which. as l said he saw the essence.
never heard him say anything that was
not so. I never heard him foretel
things. He told what they were. Blu,
I never heard him intimate that such
and such consequences were likely tc
happen, without the consequences fol.
| lnWinr I 20 hot \, A.,
greatest quality was wisdom. And thai
is something superior TO talent super
Tor to education. do not think It car
be acquired. He had 1t. He was wise
he was not mistaken: he saw things us
they were. All the advice that he gave
was wise: II was judicious; and II was
always timely. This wisdom II 1.
scarcely necessary to add, had its ami
mating philosophy in his own famous
words: with charity toward all: will
malice toward none.' Or to afford 6
from Nicolay and Hays History (vol
ume VI, y. 1922 the main part Of hi
I most admirable letter Of August %, 1852
to Horace Greeley:
IF there be those who would not saw,
the union unless they could at the sam
time save slavery, ] do not agree will
them. II there be those who would no
save the union unless they could at tn
same time DESTROY slavery. do no
ngree with them. MY paramount obtec
in this struggle is to save the union
: and Is not either to save or destroy sla
very. If could save the union withou
freeing any slave. would do It.; an,
IL / could save II by freeing all, TIL
slaves, would do II; and If could saw
II by freeing some and leaving other
alone, would also do that. What I d.