Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-07-05

lowed no prescriptions, no patches Of VIC
Tins for the scaffold. no hosts Of exiles.
no legaliZed representations. no multitudee
rotting in political prisons
Democracy Of Lincoln.
Now. these great Anglo-Saxon principles
and democracy itself were most nobly
embodied during the nineteenth century
in Abraham Lincoln. Nothing could de-
stroy his belief in popular government.
Neither the abuse of enemies. nor the
harsh criticism of friends. nor military
defeats. nor political detection could turn
or embitter or disconcert him. He. in
deed. probably to a greater degree than
any other ruler in history. kept steadily
before him the realization that the In
terests of all the people were his sacred
charge. He would practice compromise
up to the very line where compromise
ceases to be a virtue. His large toler-
ance had malice toward none and charity
for all. And he possessed to the full the
Anglo-Saxon respect for law as the means
to the protection Of every individual, no
matter how humble. and to the equal and
impartial distribution of justice. Among
the Latin peoples and the Germans the
law Is feared, rather than respected. be-
cause it has served as the instrument for
Ut restraint, lnSlSaQ OF LOT
protection; an ally Of the hated police and
of despOtic governments. But Lincoln in
this regard truly represented our race;
and when through the exigencies Of a
colossal war he had thrust upon him
powers which were practically unlimited
he used them lawfully. aiming only at
justice, Righteousness and charity. It ia
hardly an exaggeration to say that he
showed how even a dictatorship may be
constitutional
no rif
lea. therefore. in celebrating Abraham
Lincoln as the pattern and exemplar Of
the fundamental political ideals Of our
Anglo-SaXOn race. Wherever men would
learn the type of citizen and ruler. of
law gfver and law abider, which Anglo
Saxon democracy reveres. they may turn
to him. Democracy, which was but a
germ in The Witenagemot, and but q ten
der shoot at Runnymede, came to its
fruit in him.
what believe to be the noblest intellect
ual characteristics of our race. He was
not merely an indefatigabIe investigator
and penetrating observer. not merely
slow to assert and quick to listen to criti-
cism. but he was modest, generous and
utterly truthful. Unlike many great men
of science. he was neither opinionated
nor doctrinaire: and he loved truth. even
when it seemed to imperil his theory.
When We think of him there does not
rise up the figure of the typical Gelehrter
the astonishing specialist, and nothing
more-but of a great personality that in
cluded (bet was not hemmed in by) the
master scientist. His honesty, his can
DOR his quiet courage. his magnanimity
his large simplicity and sound humanity,
in word. his moral qualities. added
who can say how much?-to his intel
iectual efficiency. Darwin was as So
licltous to be just to every fact as Lin
coin was to treat every man and every
opinion with perfect fairness; and they
did so without any apparent urging by
conscience. Their acts were so shaped by
the nabit of duty that they seemed in
evitably righteous.
Looked at from one point Of view the
! chief effort Of men during the past 400
years has been to try to rationalize the
world In which we live. This they have
accomplished by discovering its processes
and the laws which govern them The
ultimate cause still eludes pursuit
! but We know and control our actual
world as men never did before. At all
points it seems to behave reasonably In
proportion as our reason has mastered it
steam, for instance. which. until so short
time ago, was only a tricksy vapor, to
! De whitfield away with the first breath
now furnishes most of the power by
which civilized nations manufacture and
travel. Electricity. also. still more elusive
and invisible besides. has been rational
| lied. And SO of everything.
Darwin Is the embodied reason. seekina
its own in the material world and espe.
cially in organic life. He finds a larger
| chaos and ignorance. He divines a cos.
mic law 10 replace primitive legends He
! is afraid of nothing-not even Of the
| truth