The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1909-02-13

Seward at the head, and mis-spelled h}s
given name, making it .'Abram' IN
stead of abraham -
In the Civil War.
Tt is not necessary, nor is it possible,
tonight, TO rehearse the story of Presi-
dent Lincoln S relation to the Civil
War. But we may briefly consider some
of the facts which revealed his personal
mastery of great men of that period and
of the great crisis itself. The Repub.
hean party leaders believed at the out
set of the war that they must direct
him so as to secure the public safety:
and the ablest of them tried The War
Secretary, former enemy of his chief.
found, when he undertook to curb Mr..
Lincoln, in military matters, that he
had to deal with the iron hand in a
velvet glove. One of the first acts of
Mr.. Seward was to suggest that the en-
tire direction of foreign policy should
devolve upon him, but Mr.. Lincoln re-
sponded in a State paper which settled
the question for good and all, and set.
tied it his way. Mr.. Greeley, the ablest
party editor, in a discussion over the
slavery question, had to acknowledge
that in dialecties he had met his master.
From the first, Mr. Lincoln controlled
the situation. 1t has seemed impossi-
bic, in the study of the war period, to
find an instance where his advice was
unsound or his policies damaging to the
cause. He seemed to have instructive
knowledge of what was best to do even
IN military matters though he did not
like to interfere with his generals. Yet
, when he did interfere it was with such
advantage to the country that, in after
years a Major General said to an ap-
plauding audience of military men that's
Lincoln was a greater general than anvs
of his generals as well as greater
statesman than any of his statesmen.
Even in naval matters he had singu-
lar prescience. 1t was he who insisted
on a trial of Ericsson S monitor after
a naval board had declared against IT.
In diplomacy this rural lawyer stood
over Seward both as respects the policy
| to be taken towards the French in
vasion of Mexico and the incident with
i England over the seizure of the Trent.
When the Confederate Commissioners
met him at City Point, the able Alex.
H. Stephens undertook to bear down
! Mr.. Lincoln in a constitutional argu-
] ment but was Worsted by an epigram
which went straight to its mark with
! the force and precision of a musket
| ball. Even in oratory he took the
honors at Gettysburg from Everett, the
Cicero of the North. Here, indeed, was
a great man; and looking back upon
history one may well recognize an over
ruling wisdom in the choice of this lead
er above all others and say with Richie
lieu in Bulwer's lines:
! Yes, let us own it; there is One above
| Who sways the harmonious mystery of
this world
! Even better than Prime Ministers.
The Lesson Taught.
Did ever Fate, in its most impressive
moments, do more dramatic thing than
when it proved the case for democracy
in the person of this plain, self-edu-
Gated son of an ignorant father; VII
lage lawyer, a local politiciana But
such an example of what democracy
could do with what the Old Wor would
call the crudest material, was the one
thing needed. The imprint of the les
son Fate meant to teach would not have
been so deep if Seward, a Chase or Il
Sumner had saved the state. These were
men of the ruling caste. They had been
trained to affairs. Their business was
high politics. But who could doubt or
| forget the inherent strength of Anglo
Saxon democracy, its power to meet
emergencies, when, in its direst peril,
this nation could turn to a rail-splitter
of Illinois and tanner of Galena and
find in one a statesman greater than
Pitt and in the other captain greater
than Marlborough?
When Lincoln Died.
Tt was at the very zenith of his
career that Abraham Lincoln died-at
a time and in manner which crown
ed his just fame with martyrdom and
gave it that certainty of lasting which
) the daggers gave to the fame of Caesar.
Indeed, it has been said that Abraham
Lincoln was as fortunate in death as
he had been in life: for if he had lived,
his magnanimity towards the Southern
people might not have found the sup.
, port of the North and he would have
had to endure the obloquy which so
often befalls the mau who is ahead of
his age. especially when he tries to
stem rising tide of prejudice. It
, needed the assuaging influence of forty
, years to bring the North to the state
of mind and heart which Abraham Lin
coin possessed when he came out of the
war smoke and faced the problem of re-
construction. Happily for him he did
not live to see idolatry turn to dis
trust; and he must have lived at least
a generation longer to see the sons of
the North and of the South clasp hands
where their fathers had crossed swords.
When One Despairs.
Fellow citizens, when one despairs Of
) tie republic it is good to sit down
, and read the story of Abraham Lin
coin and try and realize that the kind
of people who made him possible are
still busy in the villages aud on the
farms; that they are still at work in
i field and forest; that, as in the day of
} the emancipators, they still obey self
i given laws. still fear God and honor
: the flag. And as they are highly re-
solved that their martyr President
shall not have died in vain, may we
not believe, that, if other great crises
come. there will again emerge from
their Cromwellian ranks some Man Of
g Destiny in whose hands the Ark of the
! American Covenant will be safe.
Lincoln g TrTe Monument