Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1904-07-09

| which could contribute to the CataS-
trophe upon which they were rushing.
The whig party had gone to ruin in
1852 on account of the impossibility of
combining the scattered elements of
opposition to the party of pro-slavery
aggression; but they themselves fur
| nished the weapon which was to defeat
| them In May 1854 after several
months of passionate debate, to which
| the country listened with feverish in
| terest, congress passed the bill organ
izing the territories of Kansas and Ne
braska, emitting the restrictions of
the Missouri Compromise which ex-
cluded slavery from them. This ac-
ton at once precipitated the floating
anti-slavery sentiment of the country.
A mighty cry of resolute indignation
arose from one end of the land to the
other The hollow truce. founded upon
the legitimate compromises which
had been observed in good faith by
one side and ruthlessly violated by the
other, was at an end. Men began to
search their consciences instead of the
arguments of political expediency A
discussion of the right and wrong of
slavery became general; the light was
let in, fatal to darkness. A system
which degraded men, dishonored wom-
en-, deprived little children of the sac
red solace of home. was doomed from
the hour it passed into the arena Of
free debate. And even if we shut our
eyes to the moral aspects Of that heart
less system and confined ourselves to
the examination of its economic mer-
-, rs No. o,{o II ~,
efficient. The Americans are at once
the most sentimental and the most
practical Of peoples = and when they
see that an institution is morally re-
voting and, besides, does not pay, its
fate Is sealed.
Guided by Constitution.
Yet the most wonderful feature Of
that extraordinary campaign which
then began, and which never ceased
until the land was purged Of its dead
ly sin, was that even in the very item.
pest and whirlwind of their passion
the great leaders of the republican
party kept their agitation strictly with
in the limits of the constitution and
the law. There was no general de-
mand for even an amendment to the
organic instrument. They pleaded for
the repeal of unjust statutes as incon.
sistent with the constitution but did
not advocate their violation. Only
among the more obscure and ardent
members Of the party was there any
demand for the abolition of slavery
but the whole party stood like rock
for the principle that the damanable
institution must be content with what
it had already got, and must not be al
lowed to pollute another inch of free
SOIL On this impregnable ground they
| made their stand; and the mass con
| ventions which assembled here in 1854
while the vibrations of the thunder OF
the guns and the shoutings of the
birthday Of liberty yet fingered in the
air, gave nucleus and a name to the
new party, destined to a great anC
beneficent career. Before the month
ended, the anti-slavery men of five
more great states adopted the name
republican" and under that banner
! congress was carried and two years
later a national party assembled a
Pittsburg and nominated Fremont anc
Dayton, who failed by few votes o.
sweeping the north.
Lincoln First President.
If there is one thing more than an.
other in which we republicans are en-
titled to legitimate pride it is that
Lincoln was our first president; that
we believed in him, loyalty supported
him while he lived, and that we have
never lost the right to call ourselves
his followers. There is not a prin
ciple avowed by the republican party
today which is out of harmony with
his teachings or inconsistent with his
character. We do not object to ou1
opponents quoting him, praising hin,
even claiming him as their own. II
it is not sincere, it Is still a laudable
tribute to acknowledged excellence. Il
it is genuine, it is still better, fol
even a Nebraska populist who reads
his Lincoln is in the way of salvation
But only those who believe in human
rights and are willing to make sacri
fees to defend them; who believe il
the nation and its beneficent power;
who believe in the American system
of protection championed by long
line of our greatest and best, running
back from Mckinley to Washington
and, as Senator Dolliver SO truthfully
said, "to the original sources Of Ameri
can common sense" only those who
believe in equal justice to labor and
to capital; in honest money and the
right to earn it, have any title to name
themselves by the name Of Lincoln
or to claim moral kinship with that
august and venerated spirit. I admit
it would be little less than sacrilege
to try to trade upon that benignant
Renown. whose light folds in this
orb O. the earth" But we who have
always tried to walk in the road he
pointed out can not be deprived of the
tender pride of calling ourselves his
disciples, and of doing in his name
the work allotted to us by Providence
And I hope am violating neither the
confidence of friend nor the proprie
ties of an occasion like this when
refer to the ardent and able young
statesman who is now, and is to be
our president to let you know that II
: times of doubt and difficulty the
thought oftenest in his heart is, "Wha,
in such case would Lincoln have
done?"