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 ADBRESSED TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. 
 
 BY DR. W. E. GUTHRIE. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA : 
 
 JOHN PENINGTON & SONS; 
 
 127 SOUTH SEVENTH STREET. 
 
 1865. 
 
 11 
 
OHATl ox 
 
 
 ADDRESSED TO THE AMERICA>.' I'EOI'I.E. 
 
 BY DK. AV. E. GUTHRIE. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 J H X P E N I X G T X «fc SONS, 
 
 127 SOUTH SEVE>'TH STREET. 
 
 186:). 
 

 NOTE 
 
 Tliis Oration, first delivered before the American 
 Literary Union, on tlie 2.5tli of April, lias been sent to 
 Secretary W. H. Seward, with the letter printed here 
 as an introduction, on the 4th of May last, the day of 
 the burial of President Abraham Lincoln, in Spring- 
 iield. 
 
^JZ 
 
 
 % 
 
 / INTRODUCTION. 
 
 tif • 
 
 LETTER. 
 
 Philadelphia, May 4, I860, 
 
 To Hox. ^^^ h. s * * * * * . 
 
 Sir: The accompanying address was written as a 
 tribute to tlie nieniory of an lionest man. 
 
 More dismayed than surprised at the news of the 
 outrage, I felt that tliougli born on a far land, and 
 living in the shade, a stranger to that alluring activity 
 which characterizes the American people, in sharing 
 their perplexity and sufferings, I had identified myself 
 with them, and that their hour of trial was also mine. 
 These lines have then been written as a solace to the 
 sentiment of deep sorrow under which the death of 
 that innocent man had bowed me. Reading them in 
 the intimacy of the fireside, I felt that, as imperfect 
 as they may be, in them was perhaps something to 
 console a few of those, who, in the bottom of their 
 hearts, silently shed tears on the death of that just man. 
 
 You, his friend and counsellor, who have held the 
 helm amidst that conflict of home and foreign inter- 
 ests, as well as jealous ambitions, all united to under- 
 mine and bring the downfall of a free government ; 
 whose first words after sharing as a victim in the 
 tragical event, were: "For me, I care not— but they 
 should have been more watchful for their President." 
 Since it is not yet permitted you to speak on business, 
 I hope I do not intrude upon your time in asking you 
 to receive the offering of the enclosed manuscript, beg- 
 ging that, if its contents seem to you deserving, you 
 
also send the second enclosed copy to the President, 
 the chosen of the people, to whom is entrusted the 
 realization of tlie work. 
 
 If in the reading of these lines of consolation they 
 find their way to the heart; if a tear comes to moisten 
 the eyelid, my ambition will be satisfied, 
 
 I conclude by uniting in sympathy with the satisfac- 
 tion wliidi tfie liope of your recovery, and that of your 
 son, gives universally. 
 
 I)u. W. E. G ******. 
 
ORATIOX. 
 
 Americans! you have lost your great man! your 
 honest man ! ! 
 
 Him who, rendering no worship eitlier to gold or 
 ambition, in the midst of destructive passions, of cor- 
 ruption, and the abuse of all earthly blessings, did re- 
 main pure, master of himself; his great heart always 
 open to forgiveness; never judging hastily; always 
 perfectly sober in all his acts, whether public or private. 
 
 Thought, emanating from that great soul, untar- 
 nished by any personal interest or prejudice, glowed 
 upon his honest countenance, broke upon his lips in 
 friendly words, in parables, never wounding even 
 when it reproved. 
 
 You have lost your great man ! 
 
 Hinr who possessed the, true spirit of Christ, the 
 spirit of the Gospel ; that spirit which A'ivifies, which 
 regenerates; that spirit which, without wounding, 
 penetrates the soul of the sinner, and soon the sinner 
 repents, feels himself renovated, open to new senti- 
 ments, and the miracle is performed ! 
 
 In his youth, retired in the primeval forest, under 
 those lofty trees, in the midst of that profound silence, 
 his youthful soul had opened, had nurtured itself, had 
 enlarged; silent, thoughtful, that sweet and living 
 
music, the rustling of loaves mingled with the song of 
 birds, came lightly murmuring like a soothing har- 
 mony, and charmed his senses without disturbing his 
 tlioughts. He seemed to perceive, through those green 
 l)owers which the rays of the sun were caressing, his 
 nation, his ]:>eople, his own, in the distant futui'e, de- 
 livered of tlicir chains, joyously entering the fields 
 promised to a nation regenerated by liberty, equality, 
 fraternity . . . })y the word of Jesus. His mind 
 embraced the multitude of cliildren, innocent and 
 beautiful, sporting and singing under those bowers 
 which sift the light .... But the wind rises, day 
 disappears, liglitning alone rends the dark clouds and 
 spreads over nature, upon these onee happy faces, the 
 hloody rays of a sinister light. 
 
 Suddenly smitten, these proud giants of the forest, 
 that have long disdained the crowd of young saplings, 
 their equals, their brothers, are mastered by the tem- 
 pest and the ambitious winds; and their impending 
 downfall threatens Avitli destruction all which is below 
 them. 
 
 The man inclines his pensive, illumined brow, otter- 
 ing to (lod his humble prayer, he raises his arms, the 
 axe describes a circle, the blow resounds, repeated in 
 tlie echoes, mingled with the moanings of all sufferers 
 in the plain. The haughty, in Ids disdain, smiles. The 
 axe redoubles, its measured and patient blows excite 
 the ra^e, the hissings of a thousand reptiles ct)ncealed 
 amidst tlie roots. But the presumptuous falls at last ! 
 and the storm disappears, a pure sky covers again the 
 fore-st, soon the M'ounds made in its fall will heal. 
 
Reclined on that tree which a lew moments before 
 was a menacing giant, hut which now lies expiring 
 soon to disappear forever, the man wipes the sweat 
 which runs from his hrow, and his axe rests at his feet. 
 
 But soon retracing the space which his mind era- 
 braced, a revelation descends into that pensive soul: 
 that profound silence of the forest, In which he loved to 
 retire, it is the thought of humanity ! 
 
 Those sweet songs, that soft harmony, those glades 
 of a pure sky which his eye loves to find, to search 
 through the verdant foliage, whicli a vivifying sun 
 lightens, are the vistas of a promised land, the King- 
 dom of God on earth, where men renewed, freed from 
 their chains, from their vices, will adore the God of 
 mercy .... in imitating Him ! 
 
 That storm is the tempest of ouv passions, our vict-s 
 and our crimes ! 
 
 That tree with the haughty summit, is the In-utal 
 mastership of the tyrant, of the trader, of the slave- 
 holder ! 
 
 The woodman rises, his face beams with laitli, ho 
 thrusts aside that axe now useless, and directs his steps 
 toward the cities to study tlie springs wliich govern 
 that great aggregate, which is decorated Avitli tiie name 
 of Republic. A new David, he marches to oppose his 
 faith to the terrible armies of the enemies of God ! 
 
 Weep ! You have lost your great man ! 
 
 You have lost him who, after having deeply studied 
 the mechanism, as well as the object, of your societies, 
 always enlightening, never Imposing his opinions, in 
 all his contests against those giants, your fetters, your 
 
vices and your prejudices ; to save your liberties, offered 
 but the truth, innocently though tersely expressed, as 
 a small round stone cast in their path, causing those 
 false nobilities to stumble and fall. 
 
 You have lost him who thought that, if a severe jus- 
 tice may restrain crimes, rendering them more diffi- 
 cult and more rare, meekness and honesty alone pene- 
 trate hearts, melt to repentance, and, by inviting back 
 to the path of duty, heal the disease itself. 
 
 You have lost him who, holding in his hand the 
 power deposited in it by the people, never took a de- 
 cision ]>ut when convinced, never sided with the 
 strong against the feeble . . . though the feeble were 
 his enemy. 
 
 Him wlio dared to be honest! And who yielded to 
 the opinion, to the })ressure of the mass, as much only 
 as yielding would convert that mass itself to its best 
 interests. 
 
 Him who dared to contend against you, that you 
 might have time, by a riper and more sober thought, 
 to cover yourselves with glory, in foregoing vengeance 
 against your misguided brothers ; wlien, had he obeyed 
 your (damors, you would have dishonored yourselves, 
 dipping your wrathful and revengeful hands in blood 
 that need not be shed. 
 
 Weep ! You have lost tliat great man Avhom circum- 
 stances had not altered! 
 
 Him who, to the summit of power had remained as 
 simple as he was Avhen a child, playing with his axe in 
 the forest, under the sluide of those mighty oaks ! 
 
 Him of whom more than of any other among you 
 
you may say : "NiMl himiani a me ciUenum puto."* No- 
 thing human was stranger to him ! 
 
 You have lost him who, knowing the strength and 
 root of the disease, despaired not nor doubted the 
 triumpli of good, him who, foreseeing the fate that 
 miglit be his, has loved you, has kept himself before the 
 Almighty, ready to give his life for his flock, and did 
 seal his work with his blood. 
 
 Weep ! You have lost your great man ! your honest 
 man ! your father ! Weep ! . . . . 
 
 You had to lose him to know him ! 
 
 The blood of martyrs is always fruitful ! . . . . May 
 God permit that from that innocent blood may spring 
 up the regeneration of the American people ! 
 
 Let us descend into our souls and ask, which one of 
 us will throw the first stone at guilt? 
 
 Oh ! Americans ! come back to God ! Overthrow the 
 altar of the golden calf! that your rich shall be, no 
 more, those who have the most usurped, but those who 
 have found grace, laboring to the forthcoming of the 
 Kingdom of God on earth. 
 
iB S 72 
 
_,. 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 011 837 571 3