Smyrna times., 1926-10-13

address in Springfield, ILL.,, before the
Young Mems Lyceum, January 27,
1887. It was his first important pub
lie address in that city, and he pre-
pared it with great care, and doubt
less saw it through the press Of the
Sangamo Journal, edited by his friend
Simeon Francis. Speaking of the per-
petuity of American institutions, he
said:
Let every American, every low
er Of liberty, every well-wisher to
his posterity, swear by the blood
of the Revolution, never to violate
in the least particular, the laws
of the country, and never to toler-
ate their violation in others. As
the patriots of '76 did to the sup
port of the Declaration of Inde-
pendence, so to the support of the
Constitution and laws let every
American pledge his life, his
property and his sacred honor
let every man remember that to
violate the law is to trample on
the blood of his fathers, and to
tear the charter of his own and
his children's liberty.
Let reverence for the laws be
breathed by every American
mother to the lisping babe that
prattles on her lap; let it be
taught in schools, in seminaries
and in colleges; let it be written
in primers, spelling books and in
almanacs; let it be preached from
the pulpit, proclaimed in legisla-
tive halls and enforced in courts
of justice And iii short, let it be
come the political religion of the
Nation; and let the old and the
young, the rich and the poor, the
grave and the gay of all sexes
and colors and conditions, sacri-
flee increasingly upon its altars.
This is sometimes inaccurately quot
ed; but as here given its text is that
which Nicolay and Hay approved fol
their Complete Works of Abraham
Lincoln, Gettysburgh edition, Volume
!, page 43. I have no doubt that, il
compared with the files Of the Journal
in the library of the Illinois State
Historical Society, his secretaries will
be found to have followed Lincoln's
own copy with strict iteralness.
To be sure, Lincoln was not speak
ing particularly of liquor, but no one
can doubt what he would have said to
those who hold that if a law is passed
which one does not like or approve
one is at liberty to disobey it.
Lincoln's own attitude on the Fugi-
tive Slave Law is in point: he did not
like it, but he believed that so long
as the Constitution recognized slavery
a fugitive slave law was a necessary
part of the legislation to make the
Constitution effective, and that the
South was entitled to such Legislation
till the time, for which he hoped, wher
slavery itself should be made illegal
He did not approve the violation o.
the Fugitive Slave Law, much as ht
disliked it.
But five years later Lincoln deliver
ed an address in Springfield in which
he definitely did speak Of the sale anC
use of liquor. This was his address
before the Washington Society, Feb
%, 1912. Here again we have Lin
coins own printing of his speech:
"Of cur political revolution Of ~
we are all justly proud. It has givel
US a degree of political freedom ia
exceeding that Of any other nation o
the earth =.
Turn now to the temperance revolu
ton. In it we find a stronger bond
age broken, viler slavery manumitt
ed, a greater tyrant deposed; in il
more of want supplied, more diseas
healed, more sorrow assuaged. By
no orphans starving, no widows weep
ing. By it, none wounded in feeling
none injured in interest; even tn
dram-maker and the dram-seller wi
have glided into other occupations S
gradually as never to have felt tn
change, and will stand ready to joi
all others in the universal song 0
gladness. And what a noble ally thi
to the cause of political freedom; an
with such an aid its march cannot ia.
to be on and on, till every son Q
earth shall drink in rich fruition tn
sorrow-quenching draughts Of perfec
liberty. Happy day when-all appt
tites controlled, all poisons subduet
all matter subjected-mind, all-cor
quering mind, shall live and move, til
monarch of the world. Glorious cor
summation! Hail, fall of fury! Reig
Of reason, all haill
And when the victory shall be con
plete,-when there shall be neither
slave nor a drunkard on earth,-ho
proud the title of that land which ma
truly claim to be the birthplace an
the cradle of both those revolution
that shall have ended in that victor,
How nobly distinguished that peop
who shall have nurtured to maturit
both the political and moral freedo-
Of their species"