Democratic Sentinel, Volume 13, Number 5, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 February 1889 — LINCOLN’S BIRTHDAY. [ARTICLE]

LINCOLN’S BIRTHDAY.

HIS PRE-EMINENCE OVER THE GKEA7 M*N OF HISTORY. The Hon. Joliu A. Hasson’s Tribote to th< Memory of the Martyred President —Hit Magnanimity' Compared with the Selfishness of Napoleon. ‘ Let us hope that the celebration ol Lincoln’s birthday thnß commenced may be continued and become a regular and national institution,” was the general senfiment of those who gathered in the vai ions c ties of the country on the 12th iust., to < ommemorate the eigh.ieth anniversary of Abraham Lincoln. At Chicago the exercises weie under the auspices of the LaSalle Club, and were of an elaborate nature. The invited guests were: The Hon. Robert T. Lincoln, Hannibal Hamlin, ex-Gov. George S. Boutwell, Got. Larrabee of lowa, Dr. H. W.Thomas, J. McGregor Adams, Gen. George Crook, F. S. Head, Bishop Samuel Fallows, Judge L. C. Collins, the Rev. Robert Mclntyre. The speaker of the occasion, Hon. John A. Kasson of lowa, paid the following glowing tribute to the “Character and Worth of Abraham Lincoln:” Mr. Chairman, ladies, and gentlemen, the 17ih day of Apri1,.1865, the Common Council of the city of Chicago met together under the shadow of a profound national sorrow to consider aud give expression to the popular sentiment upon the death of Atraham Lincoln. Onihatoccasion they declared "that ihe deceased will stand among the foremost of the brightest names of history and will be forever remembered with admiration anti honor, not only by his countrymen but by tho good and true of all countries and of all times.’’ You, gentlemen of the La Salle Club, still more representatives of this great city, have raso'ved to fulfill the pledge of continual remembrance and honorable observance of tho birthday of that great citizen and patriot, and we may congratulate ourselves in common that on this inaugural occasion we are honored by the presence of that distinguished man who was elected second only to Abraham Lincoln in 1860 to he Vice President of the United Slates —the eminent and venerable Hannibal Hamlin, of Maine. [Applause^] The time is well chosen, for this is the centennial year of that Union which Lincoln so grandly preserved. This place is well chosen, for here is the great city of the future, in this liberty-loving West whenco Lineo n sprung. Here was witnessed honorable struggle from ignorance to knowledge, from despondency to hope, from humility to eminence. Hero we o his qualities of leadership discovered, here are the State and city that gave him to the nation, to preserve its life and restore its integrity. Yo.r have not come to the determination to intrcduCa these festivals under the impression of a recent loss <?r ber?avem':n r . Nearly a quarter of a century is it row since the' food of pec pie’s tears fell upon the ground where the ha.oic man lies barie 1. Monuments in marble and in bronze have tin ?e been erected in his donor by the fi’aebom and the emancipated race, wuile somo of us still carr/ in our hearts the treasured affection which we 8 nourished by his personal companionship, yet a la: gar number of his associates have departel for the realm w hither he has led them. But tbe feolincs of tho people demand a memoral quick with life, vivid with human sentiment. Wo are met to-day to lay the loundutiens of such a memorial.

Great and heroic men are the cherished glories of a Stato, and the richest treasure of the people. Haie we in this American citizen a ch tractor sufficiently great and heroic, a career sufficiently noble, a depository of gilts to humanity rich enough to justify the honor of a festival to commemorate him V If we cau answer these questions in the affirmative such a public memorial Bhould receive public sanction, and this day, like the birthday "of Washington, should Le dedicated to the development of civil duty. The speaker described the emigration of the Lincoln family from Kentucky untit it reached Illinois, their poor circumstances after settling on the frontier, and the difficulties under which Abraham Lincoln acquired knowledge. Ho dwelt on the splendid physical development of tt e boy and the despair with which he compared hims-ls to those situated more favorably for the acquisition of knowledge, loading to temporary mental disorder. After Lincoln was admitted to the profession i.o displayed remarkable powers of logic and a keenness of perception equal to thd knife of a surgeon. He retus d to argue a case which conliicted with his sense of right. Although he soon rose to recognition in more intellectual society, ho always preserved his familiar contact with the society from which he sprang. The American front er life reco.tnized no superior order ot society, granting superiority only to the qualities of manhood, courage and honesty, force of character, fidelity to friends, intellectual strength, and nervy m all emergencies. Nowhere else have been developed so fully the principles of liberty, equality and fraternity as on the lines of our American rentier, and tho comp miODships formed there were likely to endure through life. It was to these surroundings that.much of tho character of Lincoln was due. Linton's election four times to the Legislature and la“er to Congress was due to his qualities of real manhood, continued the speaker. Lincoln held to his party while under its partial alliance with slavery. But his heart tvat not yet sufficiently moved nor his soul sufficiently aroused to impol him to the front of the advancing lino of the battle for freedom. He was 41 years old when the passage of tho fugitive slavo law presented a now cause for public agitation. Lincoln said that if slavery was not wrong then nothing was wrong. But slavery was declared to be within the Constitution. But Lincoln did not yet break from his party. He waited until the slave power in 18 \4 passed an act declaring it a mat ter of national'inuiflerence whether freedom or slavery should control the Territories hithtrio free In this memorable year, when the ocean of popular feeling began to exhibit signs of a great approaching storm, the turbulent love of liberty surged m.o the breast of that lawyer of Illinois. From the mists and clouds of politics n.iw emerges the new Lincoln with soul all aflame for the rights of humanity. Ho denounced ihe aggressiveness of slavery and .its propaganda through Congress and the Supreme Court; he contrast d its base and inhuman princip.o with the ennobling genius of liberty. During the campaigns of 4830 to 1831 he contintieij his assaults upon the Democratic party as tho principal Btay of slavery. His arguments were transparent to the common mind, ana carried as irresistible force as the law of nuture. He had an abiding faith in the people. To tnem he made his nppeal, and made it with ultimate success. “Wiilr their sustaining aid,” he declared, “even as humble as I am, I cannot fail to carry the ship of state safely through the storm," Nor was it in the rich and intelligent alone that he reposed his confidence. “No men living are more worthy to be trusted, ” he said, “lhan those who toil up from poverty, none less inclined to touch aught which they have not honestly acquired. ” Mr. rvassou characterized the peculiar force of Mr. Lincoln’s eloquence, not shaped on classical models nor often embellishe t with quotations, but always full of loree nnJ conviction. The speaker quoted many or the express ons of sorrow and sympathy that were sent at Lincoln’s death from e\ cry nation in the world, showering eulogi s on him in greater number and elevating him higher than any monarch of ancient or modem times. lew inonarchs (he continued , if any, within th 9 bounds of modern civilization have exercised a greater power over the fate of men and of government than t hat possessed by this American President dur ng otir gigantic war. None have used it so div inoly. with so much conciliation opposed to so much obstinacy, with so much patience against so much violence, with so much clemency In face of so much cruelty, or with so magnammous a purpose fi.r the freedom and elevation of man while confronted by brute force applied‘for t' o enslavement of man. None have encountered equal treason with a patriotism so unselfisu. If all that priests have chanted and poets hat e sung from the beginning of time until now of the beauty of temp ranee and mercy enthroned at tin side of power is not the vanity of an- idle fancy, then is Lincoln worthy to be celebrated in sermon and in song through all the coming ages. With tbe lapse of time there may come for our republic a period of decline and tall. Future orator? and patriots shall then appeal to Lincoln’s recorded faith in God and in the people to inspire the disheartened with hope, tbe faithless with trust, and humanity itself with the undying resolution that the republic which Washington founded and which Lincoln rescued and made free shall be perpetuated in honor and dignity and in tho glory of constitutional liberty.'