The Newtown bee., 1907-02-22
New Orleans, eff ever hit slavery I
will hit it hard" Lincoln, the honest

will hit it hard" Lincoln, the honest
and capable lawyer, who never took a
case or the side of a case which he
knew to be in the wrong; Lincoln, the
politician, who risked being buried
forever by 1.-THE dislikes Of the party
that nominated him for president by
making a speech in which he spoke of
things which the bravest did not even
dare to think, this same Lincoln I'M
assuming, honest, fearless was at the
helm, and it was no wonder chat the
Southern Confederacy at once broke
loose from the North and announced
it's intention by firing on Fort Sumpt-
er. II the South revolted at this
time because she thought the North
was too weak to con- kel her to stay or
because she ridiculed the new presi-
dent, she underestimated the deter
mination OF the North and made q
great mistake in reference to Lincoln.
There were some pro-slavery men in
the North, yet the ma jority were ready
to make sacrifice for principle as they
later showed, and though Lincoln was
q politician who had never been bribed
and who never did things to please q
partisan, he was just the man in this
crisis to do what the conditions de-
manded. He was a first one to
speak the truth about slavery before
election, and, as I have said, in doing
so he risked his chances of attaining a
goal, and therefore now when there
was no risk he was able to do what
was right. 1t was destiny that Lin
coin be our 10th president, for of all
the able men of his day he alone
seemed able to take the Initiative, to
make the first hostile steps against
slavery. ALL the others were afraid to
offend friends or portions of the ma
tion, to precipitate war; he saw the
truth and was not afraid to do what
was right, hence when the South took
the step which precipitated war, Lin
coin saw his chance later to issue the
Emancipation Proclamation, to the
effect that the slaves were freed In all
the states that were in rebellion, un-
less they lay down arms before fixed
date, and hence on January 1, 1868, not
alone we're the slaves declared freed in
the South, but in all the territory Of
the United States. That
WAS THE MASTER STROKE OF LIN
COINS LIFE,
and that is what the average citizen
does not appreciate in all it's signif-
canoe! It has placed Lincoln a fore
most statesman in America! The
thing to be expected was that the
president, representing the North,
would say to the South, latter those
two hard years Of war, "If you will
stop lighting we will make constitu-
tional the fact of slavery, and we will
guarantee you power to the extent Of
half in all that savors of national bust
ness and emolument. Already mil
lions of dollars had been expended and
thousands of lives lost in a struggle
Which threatened the destruction of
both North and South, and II there
had been the most strenuous attempts
at compromise before, how much
more ought not the North wish to
compromise now! That is the way in
history. But not SO with Lincoln. He
saw what the matter was; he saw
what a curse slavery.lwas, and how, If
is continued, it was to make still more
trouble; he saw the right which a
Southern state claimed to secede was
an abomination and destined, IL not
checked, to keep this nation in con-
slant turmoil; he not only saw these
things, he was able to take stand and
to act as he saw was right, no matter
the lack of precedent. Indeed he was
"chosen" to known the truth and to
act his convictionsI That we might
appreciate the worth of such man as
Lincoln! That we might know how
rare are such men as bel This coun-
try will not soon again have another