The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1911-06-01
DAY DULY OBSERVED
Continued From Page 1.

T>~O~~~~>
The Indians we're enslaved, but they
we're sullen and revengeful, and
rapidly died off in confinement.
In the year 1919, in Virginia, a.
Dutch man-of-war exchanged twenty
negro slaves for provisions, and
soon every colony had it's slaves.
The tobacco fields and rice planta-
lions of the South made slave labor
profitable, and the slave-holding
planters became it's richest men. The
North and South developed along
different lines. In the North the
merchants we're the richest men, and
conditions seemed more favorable to
free agriculture and manufactures.
In the South system of castles and
classes prevailed, based upon the
ownership of slaves. In the North
there was greater freedom and equali-
ty among the people. Neither district
was able to understand the other, or
to fully appreciate it's point of view.
In the South the one question which
could not be discussed, and on which
no one was allowed to differ from his
neighbor, was the question of slavery.
In the North it was the all-absorbing
source of constant discussion; in the
home and on the street; in the pulpit
and in the press; in the halls of legis-
lation and on the stump; with the
ballot, and, on the border, with the
bullet. In spite of all attempts at
compromise, and after every effort at
extension, and at restriction and con-
troll, the entire country was forced to
a recognition of the fact that slavery
was disturbing influence, which
could neither be quieted, ignored or
removed; that Seward was right in
his characterization of the "irre pres
sible conflict which it caused.
It is not easy for US to correctly
judge our own or our brothers. cause.
Our judgments are necessarily biased
by our human frailties. It was but
terests at stake the conflict should in
crease in bitterness. All through the
South we're heard the mutterings of
secession. There came the danger
that the strife would be transferred
from the forum to the field. The grim
specter Of civil war began to raise it's
head and mar the dream of peace and
plenty.
Lincoln, the Indispensable figure of
the war, and of the age, was elected
president of the union. His great and
sympathetic heart was peculiarly
susceptible to the appeals of the op-
pressed and to the ills of slavery.
OF it be had said: sit is thing which
has, and continually exercises, the
power of making me miserable.' He
had declared that if ever be had a
chance to hit that thing he would hit
it hard. It is of record that when in
congress he had voted forty two times
for the principle Of the so-called Will
mot proviso, which was, in effect,
that as an express and fundamental
condition to the acquisition of terri
tory by the United States, slavery
should never exist therein. He be-
lieved that the union could not long
endure half slave and half free; that
the union at all hazards should and
must be preserved; that ultimately it
would become all slave or all free,
and his constant hope and effort was
that it should become all free.
When journeying East to take up his
great burden, he had foreshadowed
his policy in his speeches. In his
inaugural address he said II hold
that in contemplation of universal law
and of the cons titution, the union of
these states is perpetual, X
and to the extent of my ability J shall
take care that the laws of
the union be faithfully executed in all
the states Physically
speaking, we cannot separate, we can
not remove our respective sections
from each other nor build an i'm
passable wall between them.n The
solemn purpose Of the great presi-
dent, Outlines affirmed, was to pre-
serve, pr otect and defend the union.
His election but precipitated the long
approaching crisis. A month before
his Inauguration the southern con-
federacy had been formed.
On April 18th, 1861, Fort Sumter,
with it's sixty men was fred upon. In
thirty hours bombardment from
forts manned by seven thousand men,
she was knocked to pieces, and
Anderson with his little band marched
forth, with colors flying, drums beat
ing, and saluting his country's flag
with fifty guns.
To whom belonged the victory of
Sumter's fall? To the South? What