The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-02-13
A NOTABLE OBSERVANCE
IN MEMORY OF LINCOLN
The Minnesota Gomandery Loyal Legion, Holds Its Tenth Annual
Lincoln Day Banquet the West HoteA Mastery Grafton
the Martyr President Delivered President Cyrus Northop
Other 0bservances of the Anniversary.

every existing barrier between freedom
and slavery in the territories, and made It
possible for the slave owner to go where
he pleased with his slaves and still hold
them as slaves. The result was politi- |
cal uprising in the north. hardly less
memorable than that which came seven |
years later with the attack on Fort sum
ter. For the first time in a half century !
the moral and religious sentiment of the
north was aroused, and men who had |
cared little or nothing for politics during
the dreary decades when ssubserviency to
the south was the only key to success
and when the radicalism of the abolition
lists defying alike the constitution and the
laws, repealed law -abiding citizens from
cooperating with then--now sounded the
note of alarm and fastened to join hands
with all who were willing to stand to-
gether for freedom in the territories.
among these was Abraham Lincoln.
He had cared little for politics when
neither great party was fighting for much
but the spells. But now an issue had
come into which every right thinking
man could throw his whole soul He
| had never forgotten his visit to New
! Orleans, in the early days, and the sight,
| then witnessed Of men, women and chill
dren sold like cattle with no more regard
| to their wishes and affections than If
| they had been cattle. 1t was new ABE
Lincoln who caught up the standard Of
| Free Soil in Illinois and bore it
! bravely through the memorable contest
with Stephen A. Douglas for the senator
! ship. Douglas did not care whether
| slavery were voted UP or We're voted down
| Mr. Lincoln did care. He wanted slavery
voted down. He stood for right for JUS
| tice for humanity. He was as skilful In
debate as was the little giant. He was.
stronger than he in pure logic. He was
greater in moral elevation. His speeches
were a revelation to the country. He
forced Douglas to take q. position which
indeed gained him the senatorship but
!; later lost him the presidency.
u .. Practical Westcrner
After the contest for the senatorship
was over MI Lincoln went east He gave
an address in Cooper institute, New York,
on the opinions of the fathers Of the re-
public respecting slavery that was as com
plete a demonstration as any problem or
tlleorem In Euclid. He spoke in New
Haven and in other cities of Connecticut.
: Then it was that I first saw him and
t Heard him. I had heard Tom Corwin and
had been disappointed. He lacked moi al
i earnestness. I had heard Wendell Phil
t lips and had been delighted. But he
: lacked practical plans for action had
It heard Beecher and had been stirred by
t his enthusiasm, half spiritual and half
: militant. But here was a man from the
e west who had had no such training as
n these men. who had none of the graces
of manner or of person which belonged
= to some of them, who was tall and lank
- and. ho1nely, who yet had the power tc
', convince your understanding, to make 70,
+ see things exactly as he saw. them, tt
lie make YOU feeld what lie felt, to capture
e and hold captive your very soul,s and al
lie this without a. single recognized art of the
is rhetorician. Plain. clear. logical forcefu
the. great cause for which he spoke gluri
fed hin, as he glorified it. He made
political fight grand by imparting to it
fe moral quality. 1t was no longer ;
1T struggle for office--it was a battle 70
. Righteousness In no other kind of a con
IN test could Abraham Lincoln: have come t
q the 'front.' In no other could he have Wo
ry the fadeess crown OF glory which he nov
If wears and will wear through all the com
is ing centuries. '2>>s.-
Cause Demanded the Man.
4 IF there We're no sorrow in the worlt
re- pity and sympathy would be unnecessar,
tn If there were no poison no antidote Woul
~ he needed If there We're 10 wrong an
g.. cruelty heroic self-sacrifice would not /
w required. And if there had been: no sal>
~, 40 cry issue, Abraham Lincoln would NJ
~, have been called from the obscurity
u ~. his country home to guide the natio
nc, through its mornentous struggle for hf
10 10 The great cause demanded the great ma.
- | Lincoln answered the call and in a mo-
10
- crisis. go: ---' frs .--."- F..
~, ~ Elected president, he never forgot tn;
~, he was a southern man by birth, and h
- heart ached all through the great sirius
- gle for the sufferings Of the southern Pc
~ pie. Yet he never finched in pressing TO
~ ward In the contest. and never for a M
:. n1 % ment lost sight Of the great end to be s
- cured--union irst-and then union al
- ~ universal freedom. He had no malice
- his heart. His: first inaugural addre
-1-J
~. already in the grasp Of the mad fren
q Of revolution. But it came too late. II
die was cast. The long series Of lagita
-, ing questions which had distracted t.
ed country for seventy years were now to
~, settled on battle fields, the only pla
in where they could be finally settled. In
10 the great struggle the south entered wi
ay a CHEEKY spirit and with undoubting e
pectation of victory. Into the same stru
. gle the north entered with a blind dete
- nination to win and a slowly gender
"a conception Of the magnitude of the stru
a. gle.
.sThe participants in the contest on be
as sides were brave and heroic. Victory u
ad | der such circumstances was hard to G
uf- / tain, and defeat could not be disgracef
ali The leaders in the contest on both sic
he came into view like stars in the 1leave1
- and many of them faded out of sight;
- the real planets with their clear shini
Ire remained in the sky, to the end and {
as. there still - Grant Sherman, Sherid
ful Thomas. Lee, jackson. Johnston, these
rlt least are still shining, and now as
he peacerG' irduence Of time is felt, they
,n- b. pd' rs together their rays Of glory
oh he CLr,rltry which they all loved, and
"a wIurI all would gladly have fou,
against foreign foe.
1T Awaits Victory to Be -Merciful. 3
And through itall-the long four We
ri of death and sorrow, Lincoln, waited o
- for the hour of victory that he might
merciful. Bitterly abused by his enem
- sometimes betrayed b. his friends, of
annoyed by the Impotence of the oy
Any jealous, he experienced a large: meas
the of ingratitude in return for generos
axe while he was bearing on his own 81
heart the sorrows OF his country
we friends and foes alike. He came out
.elv the crucibe of affection purified like
viii gold. And when at the dedication of
az, cemetery at Gettysburg, after a great
~ ton by Edward Everett. a prince am
AoA orators, Lincoln spoke for five minu
me. he in that short time effaced from m
has memory all the rounded periods Of E.
will etts scholarly eloquence. with
and plafnness Of one of the common pee
ir11s with the pathos of a great heart suffer
,1ete Almost 70 oreahng, ailu VIII me lllsp
memorable sentences of conservation
'n l. hope that will live in the worlds hig