The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1902-02-18
LAWLER ON LINCOLN
ST. PAUL MAN DELIVERS ADDRESS
BEFORE CONGREGATIONAL
CLUB AT MINNEAPOLIS
HIS TRIBUTE IS STIRRING
Spirit of the Great Liberator's Time
Is Living Today-His Views
on the Merger
Question.

The Congregational club, Of ST. Paul
and Minneapolis, held its regular month
ly meeting in the church parlors Of the
Plymouth church in Minneapolis last
evening. A sumptuous banquet was
served by the Bethel settlement, and the
large audience was entertained with mu-
sic and speeches. A. c. Anderson acted
as chairman and POSTMASTER and intro
duced as the first speaker Of the evening
Rev. DR.. McGregor Of the Park Avenue
Congregational church, of st. Paul, who
spoke on the subject selected by the ex-
ecutive corrmittee Of the club Lincoln -
DR.. McGregor's speech was impromptu
as he had been substituted at the last
moment to take the place of Judge Fisk,
who was absent on account of sickness
in his family. He spoke Of Lincoln as a
man and Christian, and said in regard
to his Christianity he was 300 years
ahead of his time, and that even today
mo church was willing to take man
into it for what he was rather than what
he believed"
Chairman Anderson, in introducing the
principal speaker Of the evening, Hon
d. w. LAWYER, of st. Paul, said that
when the executive committee of the
club decided to change the usual order
of their programme and have a Lincoln
day this year, instead of a Washington
day, as had been their custom, the ques-
ton of a suitable speaker for the occa-
sion was the one of utmost Importance.
They wanted someone who could speak
of the spirit of Abraham Lincoln in the
present century. They wanted a man
who was brave and fearless; one who
would rather be called a traitor by those
who had selfish interests at heart, than
to see his country suffer by any act Of
his which be believed in his heart to be
against the constitution and laws which
he had solemnly sworn to support He
said such a man was Mr. LAWYER and
he had demonstrated his adhesion to
principle when the Populist party, in 1896,
sought to bring the courts of the United
States into disrepute by certain plank
in its campaign platform. He openly
declared that he never could support
such principles, and what was more he
would not, even though he was temper
arily forced to take issue with a number
of his best friends.
When Mr.. Lawler arose to address the
large audience he was loudly cheered,
and spoke in part as follows:
Mr.. LAWYERS Address.
The subject which has been announced
is appropriately selected and aptly word
ed. 1t assumes that the spirit of Abra-
nam Lincoln impressed its genius upon
the people whom he loved and the re-
public which he preserved It u = dec
laratlon that his life was not lived in
vain and that his mighty work and aw-
full sacrifice have endured to the present
generation. 1t is well to gather on oc-
caSionS like this and render our full trib-
ute to the worth and patriotism Of the
past. 1t is equally proper and equally
our duty to admit the just claims Of the
adj
have little sympathy with that spirit
Which can eulOgiZe the departed only by
cr1t1eising their survivors, which falls
down in worship before hoary antiquity
and turns its back in contempt on con-
temporary merit, which goes exclusively
to the cemeteries of history for exam
pies of truth and virtue and refuses to
discover them in the busy ways of every
day life. The world is better mentally,
morally and physically than it was a
thousand or a hundred years ago. Gov
ernments are juster, laws are more hon
eStly administered, individual merit OF
brain and Drawn and character is better
compensated, the gospel is better and
more widely preached than in any other
period of the worlds history. And be-
cause the race for a thousand years has
taken no backward step in its march Of
progress, and because our country
marches in the vanguard Of the race,
the lofty patriotism, the alI-embracing
charity, the sober and diSpassionate
Judgment which garIanded the chaPa cter
of Abraham Lincoln have descended to
his country and his countrymefl
1 know that it is not fashionable of
recent years for speakers on such oc-
caSions to permit themselves to indulge
IN eulogy of the present. The favorite
theme of ululation has been the so-called
"commercfalism" of the age, the dry
rot OF money getting, the atropIy of the
primitive virtues Of charity and patriot
ism. A foreigner unacquainted with our
nR0nI6 rf4cri
little respect for either on reading many
of the Lincoln day addresses of the pres
ent year. If accepted as true they would
be received as jeremiadeS rather than
panegyrics And yet the events of the
past few years have shown that the peo-
pie of this country both in their rank
and file and in their leaders, are as true
to the Lincoln spirit as were their fore
fathers when designated by George the
Third as @ruStic towards" and by the
slave power as Northern mudSillS" The
spirit Of Abraham Lincoln Giazed forth
in this nation only the other day, when
it drew the sword of war in defense OF
struggling people. President and con-
gress, all the political parties, every in
the prompting of humanity and marshal
ed all the resources of the republic
against the power Of Spain.
The nations across the sea looked and
wondered and marveled about the result
The president asked for 125 coo men-a
million would have responded They
came from field and farm and counting
house. from the palaces Of the million
ARE and from the cattle ranges of the
Western plain. They were worthy of
their sires Bagley, stin a midshipman,
boy in years. a hero in self-sacrifice,
faced the fire of the Spanish forts at
Cardenas and died by the waters Of the
Cuban sea for his comrades and his
fag. Hobson and his men braved death
in hundred shapes in the straits of
Powers on the Sea.
Dewey and Schley taught startled
world that the American sailor had not
died with Farragut and Porter, and
Roosevelt with his Rough Riders charg-
ed to fame and victory on the heights
Of Ell Caney. These were but examples
Of the rest they were but the front rank
Of that splendid army Of American
chivalry which pressed to the post Of
duty and Of danger with the same IN
trepid valor and purity of patriotism
that fred the hearts of those other SOL
dierS of the Union who on the fields of
the rebellion laid down their lives for
the cause of liberty and right. And be-
hind them all, inspiring and uplifting
them all, president, congress. soldier and
sailor were the stout hearts Of the men
and woman of America nro.1av.od IL,