The National tribune., 1909-02-11
LINCOLN's GREATNESS.


y been secured to furnish tributes to tbs
memory of the Martyr President. Gu
of such a mass of eulogy it would seen
that everything possible can and vii
be said, and yet, strive as they all must
they will necessarily fall far short ot
). presenting the absolute mental and
spiritual cxaltation of the man.
; The English-speaking race has now
kept the center OF the worlds stage for
nearly 1000 years. In that time it has
furnished TO humanity by far the great
est proportion of men who have been
eminent in all departments of effort
. 1t has furnished in profusion writers
speakers. soldiers, discoveries, admin
istrators, jurists. inventors, merchants
and financiers. In all
This glorious throng.
Whose hands have helped this laggard
world along
Abraham Efncoln stands pre-eminent.
He is unqhestionably the greatest man
that the ESglish-speaking race has pro-
duccd in all these centuries. Naturally
the quality that is most often present.
the public mind was his boundless SYM
pathy and compassion, his tender feel
ing for every right-feeling man and
woman. and his numberless acts of
kindness and mercy. No man since
Jesus Christ had heart so full to over
| flowing with kindness and mercy. with
unfailing sympathy for his fellow-men
| in bn 1aOcitinr, nf life
Yet in our admiration for this Christ
like quality we are only too apt to for
get that was united with unshakeable
| frmness of purpose in the right as God
| had given him to see the right with
an executive ability unsurpassed in hu-
man history and with wisdom in ap-
plying means to ends such rs is equally
unparalleled in the annals OF time. Lin
coins heart bled with every man and
woman's misfortune and sorrows, and
yet he could summon half million SOL
diers to the field to do and die for their
country, and when these were thinned
down by DSttle and disease he could
summon another half million to fill up
their ranks and encounter the same
S1u ldtt, anu So On Until ne lldu put
into the field in front of the enemy
the unexampled number of more than
100000 men, of whom 100000 were
dead before the war closed, and ap-
proximately half of the remainder We're
lifelong sufferers from the results of
their service. 1t is hard to link such |
ineXorable frmness in prosecuting the |
war with such infinite compassion and |
mercy as has been before mentioned |
yet these two qualities were insepara-
bly, linked, and one was no less promi-
nent in Lincolns composition than the |
other
The third element of Lincolns great
ness was his astonishing knowledge Of
human nature and his marvellous abil-
ity to shape men of the strongest per-
sonality and the most diverse Temporal
-ments and modes of thought to entire |
serviceableness toward the great end |
he had in view
1t could scarcely be called a party
which had elected Bir. Lincoln to the
Presidency. 1t was a fortuitous con-
of men of widely different
united upon one thing-that of re-
the spread of the curse of
slavery. Representing these various
divisions were men of conspicuous abil-
ity. men who had been before the coun-
try for years as great leaders. as Sew
ard, who was an old-line Whig; Chase
and Trumbull. who were Democrats:
Thad Stevens, who was an uncompro-
missing Abolitionist, and a galaxy OF
other men of similar ability, but abso-
iutely opposed to one another on every
question except that of the restrictiAn of
slavery. Every one of these was conf
Gent that he was at least Mr.. LincoIn's
equal intellectually and had far more
extensive experience in public affairs.
There was no jealousy in Mr.. Lincoln's
nature; he surrounded himself with all
lhese and took their advice, and with O :
skill that cannot be overadmired, he
welded them ali into a harmonious
phalanx for the support of the Union.
and made every one contribute his best
abilities toward the saving of the coun- ,
Try 1t was not long until all of them | ,
saw clearly that he was their leader .
and the superior of them all. Strongly :
as they had in the past resented fol- ,
lowing any mans lead, they came to be ,
only too glad to follow his. I
AT the beginning of the war it seemed .
that the whole loyal part of the coun- !
Try was hopelessly divided into scores +
Df different factions. headed by self I
men who each wanted to save /.
he country his own way and was i'm q
eatient<Df every other mans. I
AS the war progressed Lincoln mold f
ID these into compact army, where I
,verys man retained his own private c
opinions, but was solidly and agrees v
lively for the policy of the Administra- +
ion toward the common enemy. L
No man ever better illustrated Ten a
lyson's lines: 7
Who knew the reasons. when TO take
occasion by the itand and make
The bounds of a freedom wider vet"
The marvellous progress the country :,
made during Lincoln's four years even
While terrible war was going on, was :
AIKEN step by step. and no step was :,
aiken until Lincoln with wonderful },
'reseience saw that the people were =