The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1902-06-06
HONOR THE nation 5 DEAD
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the courage of his political convic-
tions; whilst the fact that, at the
time of its utterance, he had been
warned of conspiracy to kill him,
removes from these words any suspi-
cion Of striving for rhetorical effect,
anu invests them with the solelnnity
of prophecy.
For weeks succeeding his Inaugural
ton, the new President awaited the
progress of events-the policy of
laissez- faire seemed to have been
adopted. Some tentative efforts were
made to relieve the beleaguered forts
within the limits of the insurgent
territory but apparently the Nation
was drifting to death.
But the shot on Sumter wrought
instant and wondrous change. How
ever uncertain may have been Abra-
ham Lincoln's views as to the method
of maintaining the Union, his pur-
pose to maintain it had been positive
" declared; and from the moment
the flag was fired upon. the method
was no longer in doubt. The call of
April Is, 1861, was the answer to the
know now that the number of men
called forth was strangely inadequate
to the work to be done-but the value
of the call was less i'll the number of
men it evoked than in the assertion
that armed rebellion was to be con-
fronted, and that the power of the
Nation was to be put forth not for
revenge or for conquest, but for It's
own preservation, and the enforce
ment of the laws.
Destitute of experience in statecraft,
with no precedent either in our own
history in that of other lands to
guide him, the task which confronted
the President was of appalling mag
nitude. He had called to his cabinet
the chief of the leaders of the Re-
publican party, men whose greater
experience in public affairs, and
whose admitted ability and acquire
ments justified their selection, and
might we'll indeed have induced him
to submit to their direction, but he
realized that as President, he could
not, if he would, transfer the obliga-
tion of his office. Whatever doubts
NAV have existed in the minds of his
advisers as to the Presidents willing
ness and fitness to accept the respon-
sibility of his station were soon dis
PEELED and there could be no doubt
that the President dominated his adj
ministration from the beginning,
when he notified the Secretary of
State, g if this must be done l must do
it-still upon points arising in its
progress, wish and suppose / am
entitled to have the advice of all the
cabinet, to the close, when he adj
vised the Lieutenant General, "You
are not to decide, discuss or confer
upon political questions, such ques-
lions the President holds in his own
hands End will submit them to no
military conferences or conventions -
The War of 1865 was no mere fac
tional contest. 1t was peoples war
begun by people jealous of it's in
situations, fearful of the waEe of the
power it had long WELDED distrust-
full of the new administration s assur-
ances of non-intervention with the
rights of states, and conscious that
the limitation of slavery TO the terri
tory that it now occupied must even
tually effect it's extinction. The war
was accepted by people innocent OF
purpose to interfere with the do
nestle institution" within State
lines, and far from united in opinion
about slavery and though substan-
TALLY opposed to its extension over
the country's free domain, not agreed
as to the best method of legislative
treatment; but absolutely one in love
for the Union and determination to
maintain it.
Zone would make war rather than
let the Nation survive, and the other
would accept war rather than let it
perish. And the war came. -
The sympathetic audience which
the President gave to every tale of
VICE. his manifest reluctance to infiict
the extreme penalty which violation
times to detract from the dignity of
his high office, and prompted com
manding officers to complain that
the proper maintenance of discipline
was rendered impossible by Mr.. Lin
coins sensibility; but these charac-
teristics strengthened his hold upon
the people at home and in the army.
In his profound sympathy, in his
splendid courage, in his transparen
honesty, in his patriotic devotion, in
his simplicity of thought and man.
ner. nay, in the very haggardness of
feature, ungainliness of form, and
homeliness of attire, he seemed the
expression of plain peoples hopes,
the embodiment of their cause. which
he steadily upheld, even when, for
the moment, other forces seemed
powerless.
And of his sympathy with those
who have suffered for the cause of
the Union, his ac,s and words give
fullest proof as when to the
Massachusetts mother, whose five
sons had fallen in battle he wrote: 81