The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1913-08-07

L. MEDICINE CO., Portland, Me.
and of EN-, the youngest, mas been tried
!of aesertlng and he is going to be shot
IN buffers army day after tomorrow.
he never deserted. He's wild and may
have drunk too much and wandered off,
put he never deserted. 'Taint in the
blood. He's his mothers favorite, and
II he's shot | know she'll die" The
PRESIDENT directing his Secretary, said:
Telegraph General Butler to suspend
the execution in case of this mans boy
until further orders from me, and ask
MIN to answer The old man didn't
seem satisfied, and with a sad look
sad: MIR. President, ! can't take that
news home. 1t won't satisfy his mother
how will she know but what you II give
further orders Tomorrow ''My good
man, said Mr.. Lincoln, Il have to do
the best | can. The generals are com
plainng because | pardon so many.
Ihey say that my mercy destroys disci-
pine. Now when you get home you tell
his mother what you said about my
giving further orders; and then you tell
her that said this: "lf her son lives
until they get furher orders from me,
that when he does die people will say that
old Methuselah was baby compared to
him.
The stories of Lincoln's loving kind
ness and tender mercy, like those of our
Saviour, will live for all time. No man
ever carried greater burden, no man
ever exercised greater patience, no man
ever had greater faith that the people
would ultimately see the right and that
right would prevail. His existence is
one of the instances in which God pre-
pares the servant and fits him to the
task of overcoming the unchecked
growth of deep-rooted evil and wrong.
and then fixing his character and virtues
so strongly in the hearts of the civilised
world as to be their guide and hope
But though his great services and re-
sponslbilites arose out of war, still he
was a great lover of peace, and con-
stantly lived in the hope that all nations
should arrive at and continue in profound
peace with themselves and with each
other.
This leads me to the sentiment which
is closest to my heart and more deeply
rooted in every thrill and pulsation of my
thought and being than all others that
of Universal peace. We are now looking
down from the summit of twenty CEN
turles since the Prince of Peace walked
the earth pr-claiming peace on earth
and goodwill among men. To that end
we are making some progress. Yet to-
day theJ war power is larger and
stronger and more effective for destruc-
ton OF life and property than ever be-
fore. Germany alone has an effective
army OF 800. 900, and has appropriated
$3.50, 900, 600 to increase its efficiency on
land and sea. England is equally well
equipped and has equally provided for
increase. Both nations are so deeply in
debt already for the expenditures of war
ana W2rlke preparations as never TO be
able to meet them, and yet both nations
are il profound peace. The combined
war debt of civilized nations today is
thlrty-seven billion dollars This burden
Is one resting for all time upon their
productive energies. To maintain a war
footing costs the nations several billion
dollars annually and drains every indus
try; and not aloe the industry, but the
produce OF our strongest, healthiest,
most active and courageous young men,
whose blood and muscle is most needed
in the ordinary walks Of life. An esti-
mate of the loss to the effective energies
OF the human race through war and
. maintaining standing armies and fully
equipped navies is impossible, if not
/ 'i'hoOl lii44Il Anu ~ lIG dIOI1dtVuS
excuse therefor is that it is necessary as
ence to the quiet duty of living a civiliz-
ed and Christian life of peace and Just
consideration Of your felowmen, with
sword, a rifle. sixteen-inch shell, or
two thousand pound ball sent on its
death-dealing mission by four hundred
pounds of powder fifteen miles, is surely d
system of peace-culture not fully con-
slstent, with, or demanded by, any
civilized nation whose Christian virtues
are not paralyzed by unholy hate, and
whose heart impulses are not clogged or
frozen by inhurnan frenzy. Having had
some experience IN war. and shared per-
sonally in its sacrifices, desire no more.
am free to say it is inhunan. 1t does
not belong to civilization One of our
distinguished Generals terseIy said,
War is He'll. - But l am sure that He'll
is an Elysian playground wi en- compar-
ed with war. 1t can have no just cause
In these modern times except in unreason,
and unreason is no cause. 1t degrades
as we'll as destroys the high character of
any people. 1t tells too seriously upon
the character of the common people who
fight its battles, and draws too hard on
their energies to support the whole race
with war expenditures. History records
that all the great commanders of mode. n
times, with the possible exception of
Napoleon. deprecate war and counsel
peace. How long then must we wait fer
the sentiment Of all nations that war
shall become impossible? The greatest
conservators of peace today are those
who loan the money to carry on war, and
they have discoy cred that no nation of any
MAGNITUDE. with the possible execution