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


erty. fighting to the last. lighting to
the death. I don't think there Is any
thing else in history to compare with
that achievement.
LiNCOLN'S GREATNESS.
How did he do It? In the first place,
he never was in haste. AS l said. he
never took step too soon, and also n
never took a step too late. When the
whole northern country seemed 10 be
ciamorlng icr him 10 Issue a proCiausa-
tion Astonishing slavery, ne didn't do IT.
peputstion after Geputaiion went to
Washington. 4 remember once hull
dred gentlemen came, dressed in black
coats, mostly c!Cfgymen, from Massa-
chusetts. They appealed to him to pro-
claim the abolition OF slavery. but he
didn't do it. He allowed Mr.. Cameron
and Gen. Butler to execute their great
idea of treating slaves as cOntraband of
war and OF protecting those who had
got into our tines against being recap
tured by their Southern owners. But
he would not prematurely make the
proclamation that was so much desired.
Finally the time came: and OF that he
was the judge. Nobody else decided II; (;
nobody commanded 1t: the proclama-
ton was issued as he thought best; and
It was efiicacio1s. The people OF the
north, who during the long contest over
slavery had always stood strenuously
by the compromises of the constitution,
might themselves have become half reb-
els IL this proclamation had been issued
| 100 soon. They at last We're tired Of
| waiting. tired of endeavoring to pre-.
serve even show Of regard for what
was called the, com promise of the con =
stitution when they believed the cons;i-
| tuition itself was in danger. Thus pub
| lie opinion was ripe when the procla
| nation came. and that was the begin
ming of the end.
This unerring judgment, this patience
which waited and which krrW when the
right time had arrived; those were intel
lectual qualities that do not find exer-
cised upon any such scale by any other
man in history. and with such unerr-
ing precision. This proves Abraham
Lincoln to have been intellectually one
OF the greatest of rulers. II we look
through the recC:d Of great men, where
has there ever been ore to be matched
alongside of him? / don't know. He
could have issued this proclamation two
years before, perhaps. and the conse-
quence of 1t might have been our entire
defeat; but when 1t came 1t did its work
and 1t did US no harm whatever. No
body protested against 1t, not even the
|
1t deeply.
Another interesting fact about Abra-
ham Lincoln was that he developed into
a great military man, that is to say, a
man of supreme military judgment.
DO not risk anything In saying that II
you will study the records of the war
and study the writings relating to it.
you will agree with me that the great
est general we had, greater than Grant
or Thomas, was Abraham Lincoln. II
was not so at the beginning; but after
three or four years Of constant practice
In the science and art of war, he ar
rived at this extraordinary knowledge
Of it, so that Won Moltke was not bet
ter general or an ADLER planner or ex'
FOUNDER Of u campaign than President
Lincoln was. He was, to sum 1t up, @
born leader of men. He knew human
nature; he knew what chord to strike
and he was never afraid to strike !,
when he believed that the time had ar.
rived