The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1900-11-14
.CHOATE ON LINCOLN.
Ambassador Delivers an Adj
dress at Edinburgh.
TELLS OF EMANCIPATOR
LORD ROSEBERY ALSO PAYS
TRIBUTE TO WAR PRESIDENT.

Edinburgh NOV. lS.-JOSeph Ii.
Choate, United States ambassador TO
Great Britain, this evening delivered
the inaugural lecture at the Philosoph-
ical Institution of Edinburgh, taking
as his theme THE Career and Charac-
ter Of Abraham Lincoln"
Lord Rosebery. who presided, intro
duCed Mr.. Choate as follows:
Mr.. ChOate is one of that choice
succession of men whom the United
States have sent TO this country. He
has endeaTed himself to Us in a re-
markdble degree by his brilliant and
genial qualities. For his discourse he
has selected one of the most interest
ing subjects in the range of possibility,
the great man whom he personally
knew in the flesh. Abraham lincoln"
Lincoln Typical american.
Mr.. Choate said, in part:
When you asked me to deliver the
inaugural address on this occasion.
recognized that 1 owed this compliment
70 the fact that I was the official rep
resentatiVe of Amerfca-and in select
ing subject I VentUred TO think that
] might interest you for an hour in a
brief study IN popular government, as
illustrated by the life Of the most
American Of all Americans. I therefore
offer no apology for asking your atten-
LCA4AlUll W -AuidIldI lIlCOtn-k0 MS
unique character and the parts he bore
IN two important achievements of mod
ern histOTy-the preservation of the
integrity of the American Union and
the emancipation Of the cOIored race.
During his brief term Of power he
was probably the object OF more abuse,
NIllncatlOn and ridiCule than any other
man in che world; but when he fell by
the hand Of an assassin, at the very
moment of his stupendous victory, all
the nations of the earth vieG with one
another IN paying homage to his char
acter, and the thirty-hve years that
nave since elapsed have established his
place in history as one of the great
benefactOrs, not of his own country
alone, but of the human race.
Fiction can furnish no match for
the romance of his life, and biography
will be searched in vain for such start
ling vicissitudes of fortune, so great
power and glory won out of such hum
bic beginnings and adverse circum-
stances"
Lincoln as a Lawyer.
Mr.. Choate then entered upon a de-
tailed story of the early trials and pri-
Vations of Abraham Lincoln, his stIug-
giles in the study and practice of the
law. Said he:
My professional brethren viii natu-
rally ask me how could this rough
AfstAIAN t}bAASllldls " Nose youth ndd DeEn
spent in the forest or on the farm and
fiatboat, without culture and training
education or study. by the random
reading, on the wing, of a few miSCel-
laneOuS law books, become d learned
and accomplished lawyer2 Wen, Re
never did He never would have earned
his salt as a writer for the Signet nor
have won a place as advocate in the
court of sessions, where the technique
of the profession has reached its high
est perfection, and centuries of learning
and precedent are involved in the
equipment of lawyer. Or. Holiness
WueH asked by an anxious young moth
er, When should the education of a
child begin% replied: Madam. at least
two centuries before il is born and so
] am sure it is with the Scots lawyer.
But not so in Illinois in 1910. Be
tween 1880 and 1880 it's population in
creased tWenty-fOld, and when Lincoln
began practicing law in Springfield in
1887, life in Illinois was very crude and
simple. and SO We're the courts, and the
administrative of justice Books and Ii
braries were scarce. But the people
loved justice, upheld the law and fol-
lowed the courts and soon found their
favOTites among the advocates. The
fundamental principles of the common
law, as set forth by Blackstone and
Chitty, were not so difficult to acquire:
and brains, common sense, force Of
character, tenaCity Of purpose, ready
Wit and power OF speech did the rest
and supplied all the deficiencies OF
learning
Lincoln In Politics.
Mr.. Choate spoke at length of Lin
coins political ambitions. showing how
he mastered every obstacle rs it arose
before him, and by the extraordinary
training Of his youth. found himself
particularly htted for the work he was
called upon to perform.
Many notable persons were in the au-
dienCe. and Mr.. ChOate was frequently
applauded.
Lord ROsebery, replying to d vote Of
thanks for presiding, said.
Lincoln was one of the great fig
ures OF the nineteenth century. To me
il has also seemed that he was the sec
Ond founder of the great republic. His
strength rested on two rOcks-uufiinch-
ing principle and Hlimitable common
sense. One distinguishing feature that
ASSOCIATED him from ali the other
great men Of history was his immense
fund of humOr."
Thanking Mr. Choate in behalf of the
audience, Lord Rosebery referred 10 him
as THAT cOnsummate master Of -lO-
Quenle,' and he concluded with an inter
esting personal reference to the vivid i'm
preston and intense interest which the
American civil war produced in my case
ar the most impressiOuabie moment of my
life"
so anxiously did I and my fellow stu
dents at Elton study the details OF the
war said Lord ROSebery. that we seem
ed to hear the very clash of conflict across
the Atlantic, and as soon as ] had S}IfF1-
Client liberty and funds ] crossed the At
lantic to try TO become acquainted with
some of the places and men iiluStriOuS in
that war. ] saw Gram. Sherman. Jeffer-
son Davis, and many others, and even at
ter this lapse OF years everything seems
as familiar as then