The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1904-06-03
Nth force.

be also recommended the thorough
organization OF the militia, the am,
ing Of every man between eighteen
| and forty five, and concluded with q
confident appeal to the Dispenser of
all human events in whose keeping
the cause was to be entrusted.
Other states in the south took SIM.
liar action, and thus-even before
Lincoln vas inaugu1ated- treason,
| secession and armed rebellion con-
fronued HIM and the nation.
The spirit OF unrest. OF secession
and INSTRUMENTATION TO the will of
the people, as expressed at the bal
lot box, was rampant. and it even
became necessary for MIR. Lincoln TO
travel from Philadelphia to WASH
ineton% secretly as threats of assassina-
ton and plots to carry it out, had
been openly made by the enemies
of our government-the slave-hold-
ing oliearchy of the south.
But on the 4th of March. 1861,
Abraham Lincoln delivered his in
augural address. He was tactful.
conciliatory to a degree, but boldly
proclaimed that she would at all
hazards protect aud preserve the un.
ions" but Sin doing this there need
be no %bloodsheo or violence and there
shall be none, unless it is forced up
on the national authority" His
closing words were: SIN your hands,
my dissatisfied fellow-coutrvmen, and
not in mine, is the momentous issue
Iof civil war. The government will
not assail you. You can have no
conflict without yourselves being the
aggreSSOrS. You have no oath reg
istered IN heaven to destroy the gov
ernment, while l shall have the most
solemn n to ''preserve, protect and
defend it. am loath to close. We
are not .enemies, but friends. We
must not be enemies. Though pas
sion may have strained, it must not
break our bonds of affection. The
mystic chords of memory, stretching
from every battlefield and patriot
grave, to every living heart and
hearthstone all over this broad land
will yet swell the chorus of the
union, when again touched, as surely
they Will be by the better angels OF
our nature" He then took the oath
of Office and his administration be-
gan.
On the 18th day of February, or al
most a month before tins noble APP
peal to the patriotic impulses of the
southern people, jefferson Davis, Il
former United States senator, which
position he dramatically surrendered
to follow his state out of the union,
was inaugurated as president OF the
southern confederacy," and thus Il
dual government was attempting to
govern tile thirty-tive millions of
people within the confines of our
glorious union. One, the rightful
president, pledged to preserve the
union; The other, violating his
oath as a senator, in which he
pledged fcalty to it, was now at the
head of a pretended government,
| whose sole purpose was to disrupt,
| destroy and crush the government
that had honored him so greatly.
But both could not survive. The
very physical nature of our country
precluded the possibility of two
stable governments The one oppus-
inc and the other upholding slavery.
Both sections OF our distracted
country realized this and Immediately
both sides prepared to submit the
vital question to the arbitrament OF
the sword.
For four long, weary years war
bloody war ragged; battle followed
battle; dead heaped upon dead:
g1oans multiDlled: grief overwhelmed
the entire country because of the
terrible sacrifice required. and yet,
with the heroism Of Spartans and
highly resolved that the union
should be..preserved, the brave yeo-
many Of the north swelled the
ranks Of the union army, and finally
hydra-hcaded treason was routed
boots and saddle, and victory perched
upon the tanners Of the union; and
rebellion, so fagrantly begun, and
so viciously persisted in, yielded to
the valor Of the brave boys in blue,
and peace gentle peace : brooded
once more DER II sorrowing land.
But what an awful sacrifice was
required. Over a quarter Of a mil
lion OF precious lives; over seven bill
lions Of treasure; thousands upon
thousands crippled for life, yet other
thousands, yea millions, mourning
for those who were not. Truly the
price paid for permitting human
slavery to pollute and disgrace our
government, was appalling in the
extreme. But, thanks to our brave
boys , u patriotic and liberty-lov-
ing DOyS, Uue price was pdlO, q
every man walked throughout the
length and breadth Of all our vast
domain, a free man, and the clank-
ing chains nc longer CALLED the slave,
and for once that royal declaration.
which proclaimed that: "All men
are created free and equal and are
possessed of certain inalienable
rights, among which are life. liberty
and the pursuit Of happiness" was
indeed true, and human slavery, as
we hope and believe. was forever
barred in these glorious United
States. And then although the
sainted Lincoln could not know it,
unless the disseminated can look
down from the battlements OF the
celestial heights and see and know
what takes place here-came the
time when his prophetic words, used
in closing his first inaugural address
came true: '"The mystic chords of
memory, stretching from every
battlefield and patriot grave, to every
living heart and heartllstone, all
over this broad land, will yet swell
| thn chnr1c nf tho union .ubap ur,;p