The Nashville globe. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1906-193?, 1910-01-07
EMANCIPATION.
CONTINUED from PAGE 1.l

ator Douglas the full scope and orig
inality of his genius.
The republic had reached a crisis.
The conflict between Liberty and
Slavery could no longer be delayed.
The day of compromise had passed.
Standing above the %contending hosts,
above the prejudices and blind sen
timentalities of the time, Lincoln ut
tered these prophetic words: "a house
divided against itself cannot stand. |
believe this country cannot perma-
nently endure half slave and half free.
l do not expect the union to be dis
solved. i do not expect the house to
fall; but q do expect it will cease to
be divided. 1t will become all the
one thing or all the other. Either the
opponents of slavery will arrest the
further spread of 1t, and place
it where the public mind shall rest in
the belief that it is in the course of
ultimate extinction, or it's advocates
will push it further until it becomes
lawful in all the states, old as well
as new, North as well as South"
Defeated for the Senate in 1858,
Lincoln gathered around his standard
the great hosts of the Republican
party and was ushered into the Pres
idency in 1861.
Then came the crisis of secession
and war.
Called to assume a greater task
than that of Washington, he came to
the presidency under such a burden
of care and responsibility as had not
fallen to the lot Of any ruler of mod
ern times. On the occasion of his
Inauguration Lincoln delivered a care
fully prepared address, declaring his
fixed purpose to uphold the constitu-
ton, enforce the laws and preserve
the integrity of the Union. Like a
father pleading with his hayward
children, with the deepest feeling and
%loftiest patriotism, he addresses him.
self to the hearts of the Southern
people in these touching, these pa
thetic words: I'VE are not enemies,
but friends. We must not be enc
mics. Though passion may have
strained, it must not break our bonds
of affection. The mystic chords OF
memory stretching from every bat
tlefield and patriotic grave to every
loving heart and hearthstone will
swell the chorus of the Union when
again touched as surely they will be
by the better angels of our nature
1t is but repeating history to state
that the rebellion was organized and
fought upon the idea of founding q
c~onfederacy upon the cornerstone oil
slavery.
Lincoln had always hated slavery
yet he felt the obligations and duties
of his position. Hating slavery, pity
ing the master as the war progressed
he proposed scheme after scheme o.
emancipation and colonization. The
South would not hear.
Feeling that the time had come tt
put an end to slavery, this man O
sorrows on the 22nd day of Septem
Der, 1862, that glorious date in the
history of the Republic, issued tht
Emancipation Proclamation to take
effect, under certain conditions, OF
January LIST, 1863. From this date
the cause of Lincoln and the republi,
became sacred.
Grander than the Grecian phalanx
nobler than the Roman eagles, thu
soldiers of the Republic, on hard
fought battlefields, poured out thei
life-blood that the nation might "hav,
a new birth of freedom and that tn,
government of the people, for tn,
people, by the people, should not per
ish from the earth"
The South was beaten, four mil
lions of slaves liberated and the Re
public was free.
Lincoln's work was done. He stooC
the foremost man in all the world
his name written high on the scroll
of fame. What he did was worth liv
ing for, worth dying for.
Wanting nothing to complete thu
grandeur of his life, the hand O
crime snatched it from him in the full
triumph of his cause. Yet he still
lives! His work still lives and will
endure with the history of this Re
public, and his fame Will rest secur,
with the countless free-born descend
ants of four millions of slaves who
holding his memory in precious rev
erence, will sing anthems of praise
to his name forever.
An important announcement wa
made just before the close of thu
meeting by j. G. Napier on the impor
lance of taking the United States
Census for 1910. He particularly urgeC
the cooperation of the members O
the race in assisting the enumerator,
in getting correct data.
EMANCIPATION DAY AT FISK