White Pine news weekly mining review. [volume] (East Ely, Nev.) 1910-1920, 1911-02-12
MEMORIAL To LINCOLN BY
IS A MASTERPIECE

Lineoln's life and heard the raw
legislator from New Salem denounce
slavery before an assemblage of its
friends. Douglas, from the North,
its a%pologist, Lincoln from the
South, its assailant. 1t would be
difficult to imagine two men so to-
tally at variance, and it might not
be nninteresting to take a mental
picture of both. Douglas was states
attorney, clever, captivating, vola-
tile, of good address, short of stat
ure, with a handsome head resting
closely upon graceful shoulders.
Lincoln. partaking of the soil, the
hero of the wrestling ring and from
tier combat. but lately clothed in
skins, tall, gaunt, uncouth, a half
starved look from his sunken cheeks,
big-boned and awkward, homely of
gait and GESTURE storm-beaten
figure emerging from the tempest.
Upon these two. history was prepar-
Ing to focus its attention while
Providence worked out the destiny
of a nation.
The legislative career closed in
%gloriously. Lincoln went back to
his narrow life-Douglas moved in
an overwhelming sphere, exciting
the admiration of his wondering
countrymen. Lincoln had studied
iaw;-how, only the Lord and him
self knew. A term in Congress,
brief and inconspicuous, and a re-
jected application for an appoint
ment to office, seemed TO close the
chapter of his bid for fame.
But there never was a decade
where man and cause were prepar-
ing for each other as that which fol-
lowed L%incoln's retirement from
public life. He became the noted
figure ON his judicial circuit, NOV
ing constantly among the farmers of
Illinois, establishing friendships in
every town, earning the esteem and
respect of their people, and drawing
to himself the personal affections of
a multitude-to whom Douglas was
only a name. He became a leader
in his PROFESSIONALISM and bar
alike recognizing the master mind.
Skillful in debate. persuasive. keen
minded, grasping the fundamentals
of his ease and holding fast to the
right, were characteristics of Lin
coin developed by the court room.
His memory has enriched the best
traditions OF his profession and has
convinced those of us who follow IL
that. in adherence to its highest
standards. Is the open road 10 sue
cess.
The legal profession is one of OPP
portunity and responsibility, charg-
ed as II Is with the duty of making
and applying the laws of the land
TO every relation of human society.
What greater incentive should exist
for the exercise of the loftiest ideals
than mere brotherhood In such a
calling The lawyer who ignores
his duty. who violates it's ethical
spirit. who encourages a contempt
for the law, or brings it into disre-
pute, is disloyal 10 his state and
country. 1t matters not whether ii
be counsel for great corporations,
who aid them to erYert the law
and to conquer through %chicanery,
or the obscure harry of divorce
courts-both stand alike upon the
HlOol VI lOAtHNlOIdl uuM VI IlltSS
Lincoln regarded the upright prac-
tice of law as "A public duty. and the
people knew he so regarded 1t. His
reputation became more than state
wide and, in an age before the press
did our thinking, his power as an
orator. his fame as a lawyer, the
sincerity and depth of his conyic-
tons. had won for him the heart OF
Illinois.
And as he grew so grew the cause
that was to claim him. The group
of great men who founded the ma
ton recognized the danger of slavery
and, so far as their influence extend
ed, they sought to curtail 1t. Jeffer-
son had caught a glimpse of the i'm
pending conflict. and. with all his
earnestness, he endeavored to per
suade Virginia to give up her slaves.
Washington and Madison, were no
less emphatic in their denunciation
of its curse-a curse that rested not
alone upon the slave. but even more
upon the master-not upon the mas
ter alone. but ever more upon the
nation. The generation of the Revo-
luton condemned slavery as a moral
wrong. Many of their descendants,
blinded by the wealth of an econom-
ic system. resting upon slave labor,
declared that 1t was right.
The challenge was accepted by
Lovejoy. Garrison and Phillips. who
dedicated their lives to its abolition.
The growth of public opinion was
slow, but 1t was steadily attaining
strength. Calhoun and Jackson had
already come into collision-not
ostensibly. but in reality. owe slav-
cry. and the South was quick to real
ize that its favored institution was in
danger. A great historian has OBJ
served that no government was ever
overthrown except with the help of
some its great departments. SO the
slave power organized itself polit-
ically to make government the ally
of its interests and, to fasten its hold
upon the country, seized the foun-
tains Of justice. 1t played upon the
,a,efnp. of tho n~anpla. ~ inpifpd