The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1900-11-14
.CHOATE SPOKE
| TO PHILOSOPHERS
Career and Character Of
Lincoln His Theme.
| SCHOLARL Y ADDRESS.
Delivered Before Philosophical Society
Of Edinburgh.
INTRODUCED BY ROSEBERRY.
| Referred to the Speaker i'll Language
| Complimentary, not Alone 10 Him,
! hut tn His Predecessors at
/ the Court Of st. James.a
/ Vote of Thanks Ten
| dered Orator.
INTRODUCED BY RosEBERRY.
By Associated Press.)

(By Associated fress.)
EDINBURGH, November 13.-Joseph II.
Choate, the United States ambassador TO
Great Britain, this evening delivered the
inaugural lecture at the Philosophical In
stitute of Edinburgh, taking as his theme
1.-The Career and Character OF Abraham
Lincoln
Lord Roseberry, who presided, introduced
Mr. Choate as follows:
..Mr. Choate is one Of that choice sue
cession Of men whom tho United States
has sent to this country. He has endeared
himself to us in 4 remarkable degree by
his brilliant and genial qualities. For his
discourage he has selected one of the
most interesting subjects within the range
OF possibility, the great man whom he
! personally knew in the flesh, Abraham
| Lincoln
! Mr.. Choate said:
| When YOU asked me TO deliver the In
| augurai address on tLl.s occasion, recos-
| med that l owed this compliment to the
| fact that l was the official representative
| OF America, and in selecting a. subject [
| yentured TO think that I might interest
| you Tor an hour in a brief study in popu-
| lar government, az illustrated by the life
| of the most American of all Americans. |
! therefore offer no. apology for asking your
| attention to Abraham Lincoln, TO his
| unique character and the parts he bore in
| two important achievements OF modern
| hiStory-the preservation OF the integrity
| Of the American Union and the elnancpa-
| ton OF the coiored race. During his brief
| term of power he was probably the OBJECT
| OF more abuse, viification and ridlcu!e
! than my other man in the world, but
| when he fell by the hand of an assassin,
| at the very moment OF his stuperdcus
| victory, all the nations of the earth We'd
| WITH one another IN paying homage 10 his
! character, and the thirty-five years that
! have since elapsed have -es;ab.ished--his
| place IN history as one of the great Dene-
| factors, not of his own country alone, but
| Of the human race.
| Fiction can furnish no mulch for the
| romance of his life, and biography will be
| searched in vain for such startling Vlcls-
| STUDIES of fortune. SO great power and
| glory won out of such humble beginnings
| and adverse circumstances.
] Nothing could be more squalid and mis-
! erable thnn the home in which Abraham
| Lincoln was bor1l-a one-roomed caoih
| without floor or window in what was then
| the wilderness of Kentucky. His father,
| ignorant, needy and rhriftless,, together
| for himself and his family, was ever seek
| ing, without success, to better his unhappy
| condition by moving on from one such
! scene of tlreary desolation TO nnoeler. His
| whole schooling obtained during such odd
| times as could be spared from grinding
labor did not amount in all to as much
| as one year. and the quality of the teach
| ing was of the lowest possible Srnde, in
GLIDING only the elements of reading.
| writing and ciphering. But out OF these
| simple elements, when rightly used by the
| right man. education is achieved, and LIN
! coin knew how to use them
sCHOOLED BY HARDSHIP.
I have 5aen thus detailed in sketcslng
| his early years because upon these strange
! foundations the structure of his great
| fnne and service was built. In the place
Of a school and university training fortune
substituted these trials, hardships and
struggles as a preparation TOR the great
| work which he had 70 do 1t turned out
| to be exactly what the emergency reQu!r-
| ed Ten years insteud at the public school
| and the university certainly never could
! have fitted this man for the unique work
| which was to be thrown upon him. Some
| other Moses. would have had 70 lead us
TO our Jordan, to the sight OF our proposed
( land OF liberty.
| Nv professional brethren will naturally
| ask me how could this rough backwoods-
| man whose youth had been spent in the
| forest or on the farm and fiat boat, with
| out culture and training. education or
| study by the random reading. on the
| wing, OF II few miscellaneous law books,
| become a learned and accomplished law
| yer? Well, he never did He never would
have earned his salt as a writer for the
| S.gnet, nor have won place as advocate
! in the Court of Session, where the tech
| nidua of the profession has reached its
highest perfection, and centuries of learn
| ing and precedent are Involved II the
| equipment of a lawyer. Dr. Holmes when
asked by an anxious young mother, when
-. ~ aS1yr.a .,f u hkacs
| REPLIED: MADAM, at Least two centuries
before it is born And SO J an, sure it IS
with the Scots lawyer
But not SO in Illinois in 1910. Between
1880 and 1850 its population increased
| twentyTold. and when Lincoln began
practicing law in Springfield IN 51Sss. life
in Illinois was very crude and simple. and
so were the courts and the adm nstration
1 of Justice Books and libraries were
| scarce. But the people loved justice. up
held the law and followed the courts and
1 soon found their favortss among the nd
vocates.
A POLITICIAN.
In those early days IN the West, every
lawyer, especially every court lawyer, was
necessarily a politician, constantly en-
ga ged in the pubic discussion OF the many
questions evolved from the rapid develop
1 mant OF town, county. State and Fedora
affairs Tigen ana there, IN this regard
s public discussion supplied the pace which
ihe universal activity OF the press has
since monopo!ized, and the public speaker
i who. by clearness; force, earuestness alid
wit, could make himself feltS on 5eae cues
tJone of the day, would rapidly come te
the front.
AZ the age Of flfty-one this child OF the
wilderness. this farm iaborer, rail-spiit'
! ter, flafboatman. this surveyor. lawyer
q orator, statesman and patriot found him
3 self elected by the great party VII CT
was pledged to prevent at all hazards ths
4 further extension of slavery. as the CHIEF
d ma gistrlte of the Republic. bound toscarrS
q n,,t 1,l,r,,se, he i "a leader aud rule!