E457 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS DDD05T7Q5S(3 c '■-'-* kp* 0*' - • • . )*'..i:i'. ^> "^v.%'^' **' *^ --OTs?-* /"\ -.^r/ ** ** ^°%'l^- /% •^* o^X-^ • *^*?^ '.« 1809. (^Bra^am Eincofn. 1894. 1809. @6ra^am femcofn. 1894. REMARKS OF THOMAS L. JAMES, AT THE BANQUET OF THE EINCOEN LEAGUE RUTHERFORD, NEW JERSEY I^INCOLN'S BIRTHDAY February 12th. 1894, IN RESPONSE TO THE SENTIMENT ''The Day We Celebrate r Published By Re^uksi TWreS OF &.~H. DICKSON'S SONS 4 C0.,.12£«ST 430 ST., N. if)lh^ 1 u»- Mr. President, and Gentlemen of the Lincoln League : I approach the discussion of the topic assigned me, with awe ; for I am conscious of my inability to do justice to so great a theme. We celebrate, to-night, the birthday of one, who, though born in obscurity, cradled in poverty, and handicapped by adverse sur- roundings, by the rare force of character, integrity and genius, became the bright, consummate flower of our Christian civilization,— one of the grandest char- acters of all history ; and is, to-day, the most promi- nent figure (save Washington) of our national life. I also approach it with great diffidence, because it seems as though the life and character, the genius and the career, of this great beacon-light of all history, had been subjected to such constant analysis and careful scrutiny, and been the subject of so much in the way of published and spoken address, that there could be nothing new^ said concerning the man or his career. Yet, upon second thought, it has seemed to me that Abraham Lincoln was one of those men of whom the last word can never be said. For, those who have lived, doing great things for humanity, and, being dead, have left a glorious heri- tage to the world, are ever of fresh interest and of splendid inspiration to those who give thought to their achievements and their characters. Mr. Lincoln was one of these. A generation has passed since the countrv was bereaved by his untimely and bloody 4 ABRAHAM IJXCOI.X. death; and yet there is fascination to-day in the story of his career, the study of his character, and the analysis of his qualities; and those anecdotes which are told, illustrating the man, have the charm of delightful romance, and are read with greater interest than the most brilliant tales of the writers of fiction. Mr. Lincoln looked forth upon the world, as we of to-day now realize, with almost Shakespeare's eyes : and it was, perhaps, that greater quality of his, that subtle capacity to fathom the human heart; to under- stand its weaknesses and its capacities, and so under- standing to be guided by them in his own direction of affairs, and in the discipline which made it possible for him in great emergencies to stand forth as a man of true greatness, which makes the consideration of him to-day as fresh, invigorating, and timely, asitwasw^hen those great affairs of which he was the master were occupying the country's eye. He was essentially a poet by nature, not with that technical facility for rythm or command of prosody, by which Shakespeare was able to reveal human nature to the world with immortal sentence; and, nevertheless, by those homely anecdotes, most of which were of his own creation, — as wide in range and as true in teach- ing as the Fables of .-Esop, — he illustrated the weak- nesses and the forces of human nature with, perhaps, almost as universal a reach as did Shakespeare in his plays. This greater quality of Mr. Lincoln's, — greater in an intellectual sense, — is now beginning to be under- stood. Years passed before even those nearest him perceived this quality; and it is probable that, as the ABRAHAM LINCOLN. years roll by, and critical study is given to the purely mental capacit}- of Mr. Lincoln, it will furnish as profound suggestion, as amazing revelation, of his all- comprehending nature, as does the investigation of the works of the great dramatists. Therefore, there need be no fear that, upon the anniversaries of Mr. Lincoln's birth, nothing can be said of him which has not been uttered before. There will always be new suggestions, new revelations, new understandings; for of such capacity was the quality of his intellect and soul. It was with some consciousness of this that Mr. Lincoln's associate upon the presidential ticket, the late Vice President Hamlin, journeyed in the dead of winter, bent with years but still of vigorous intellect, to New York City, that he might appear before The Lincoln Club on such an anniversary as this, and say something which had been in his heart to say, ever since, in his retirement in his distant home in Maine, he had turned to his recollections of Mr. Lincoln, in the peaceful contemplation of his old age. Mr. Hamlin, the last survivor of all those associated with Mr. Lincoln when he took the presidency, stood before The Lincoln Club, saying that he had made the long journey that he might impress upon them a thought which had come to him, and that was that the nation should set apart the anniversary of Lincoln's birthday, that it might be inspired by a study of his character, and that able men and plain, unlettered folk might upon that day give their testimony in public places, of Ivincoln and his service to his country. vScholars, profound .students, and men of critical 6 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. capacity will have abundant inspiration long after this and succeeding generations have passed away, for study into the extraordinary intellectual qualifica- tions of this plain man of the prairies. But a greater service will be done to the American people than any that critical scholarship can furnish, if, upon this and recurring anniversaries, the life and career of Mr. Lincoln are so presented that coming generations shall know what he was, what he did, and what the lessons of inspirations for the American people in these achievements are. Thirty-four years ago this month of February, and only a few days after the 51st anniversary of his birth- day, Mr. Lincoln stood upon the historic platform of Cooper Institute in New York, The cultured men of the metropolis had known him only through that unique repute, which his brief career, before the public eye, in the West, had furnished. Our pro- fessional men, our scholars, and our clergymen, had heard, through vague reports in the public prints, and through interesting sketches brought by those w^ho had visited the West, of a lawyer of the prairies, an unconventional man who had had no schooling, whose practice was in the rural circuit, whose companions were men not prominent in public affairs; but who had, nevertheless, met Douglas, the most impetuous, bril- liant, and overwhelming debater of his day, and over- thrown him, in a series of public addresses in those towns. They had also heard that this country lawyer, whom his friends called "Honest Abe," with patron- izing suggestion, had made a speech in which he had proclaimed, before the idol of the Republicans of the ABRAHAM LINCOLN. East, Wm. H. Seward, had done so, the issue upon which the "Rebellion" was created and crushed. Seward, in his Rochester speech, in the summer of '59, had declared that there was an "irrepressible con- flict" between slavery and freedom in this country, and that one or the other would be victorious: and the Republicans of the East seized that laconic term ' 'ir- repressible conflict," and made it the watch-cry of their organization. But, Lincoln, two months before Mr. Seward thus crystallized the doctrine of the Republican Party, had, with finer metaphor and apter illustration, expressed the same idea: for, in his speech at Chicago, in the spring of '59, he said in his ex- ordium, " A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure half slave, half free. I do not expect the Union dissolved, I do not expect the house to fall ; but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing, or all the other." The politicians of the West, to whom he read this speech before he delivered it, criticized it, begging him to make softer utterance of that truth; but he de- clared that it .was God's truth; that the time had come for uttering it; and that the people were ready for its enunciation; and, therein, two years before he became President, he had displayed that marvelous capacit}' for fathoming public sentiment and of being guided by it, which was his strength during his administration. With the repute caused by this speech in the West, Mr. Lincoln came to Cooper Union. A notable throng was gathered to hear him. The poet, Bryant, presided; and, in that historic second cradle of liberty, ^which ABRAHAM LUSTCOtN". Cooper Union is, — there were gathered representatives of culture, financial power, and the lofty character, which makes New York of pre-eminent influence. These men eyed the tall, gaunt lawyer from the West, with curious giance ; and, if most of them had spoken with the truth, they would have said that it was a half humorous curiosity which brought them to that place to hear this western lawyer ; but, when he had finished that masterly address, — pre-eminent in its ability, cool and remorseless in its logic, concil- iatory and tender in its suggestions, — no feeling of curiosity mastered that great throng ; but one of pro- found respect and admiration, so that the}' asked one another, "What manner of man is this lawyer of the West, who has set forth these truths as we have never yet heard them before?" That address disclosed one of the capacities of Mr. Lincoln which we understood better afterwards. It was the abilit}- to grasp opinion as it was asserting itself among the masses of the people, and to make such perfect presentation of it, as caused him to be regarded, not as a follower of opinion, but as the creator and leader of it. Often Mr. Lincoln said, "I do not lead; I only follow.'^ But there was the genius, such as has been given to few men in this world, revealed in that following, so that it aj>peared like leadership. It is this quality which those who aspire to leader- ship in this day and in future would do well to study. There are those who mistake their own obstinacy, deem- ing it but the conviction of the public : there are those who believe that, in a Republic like ours, leadership forces public opinion and does not follow it; and the ABRAHAM IJXCOI.X. political grave-yards are filled with buried ambitions and crushed hopes, because of that mistake, which Mr. Lincoln never made. He had extraordinary courage; but it was not the courage of brute obstinacy or insensi- bility. When, a month after his inauguration, that man of supreme abilit}- and splendid acquirements, Governor Seward, who had been chosen Secretary of State, laid before Mr. Lincoln a certain paper containing suggestions as to policy and an intimation that the President might commit to his Secretary the carrying out of that policy, Mr. Lincoln saw that the time had come when it must be shown to his Cabinet, that he could delegate no powers and responsibilities; and that he must command his administration. But it was in gentle courtesy that he took that paper from his vSecretary of State, placed it in his portfolio ; and, with wise and sad admonition, indicated that the policy which hs proposed he would carry out ; and, from that day until his death, he was the master of his official servants. He showed courage, when, in a time of great emergency, he sent for that Western lawyer who was not even of his political party, and asked him to enter the Cabinet as Secretary of War. There was every reason, at least of personal inclination, why Mr. Lincoln should have chosen almost any other com- petent man than Edward M. Stanton for that post. Stanton had been a member of Buchanan's Cabinet. Only a few years before, he had met Mr. Lincoln, in the prosecution of a law case at Cincinnati; and he, with humiliating oifensiveness, snubbed the country lawyer of Illinois. Yet this, and other considerations, had no more weight with Mr. Lincoln than would ABRAHAM WNCOI^N. have been the case had they not existed. He had the courage to call a Democrat to his Cabinet, because he perceived that that man possessed those unusual qualifications which were imperative for a successful conduct of the War Department, and he knew that, behind Mr. Stanton's failings of temperament, there was an absorbing love of his country and an honesty of character, such as few men possess. With Stanton he could be firm and courageous, yielding often in trifles, but masterful when there was need of it. Said Stanton to him one day: — "Mr. President, I cannot carry out that order. It is improper, and I don't believe it right." And, speaking very gently, Mr, Lincoln said "Well, I reckon, Mr. Secretary, that you will have to carry it out." "But I won't do it, Mr. President; it's all wrong." " I guess you will have to do it, Mr. Secretary," and it was done. In the quality of tact, Mr. Lincoln has been excelled l)y no man who ever held high public office in this country. Van Buren was tactful, but too transparently so to secure best results. Lincoln's tact was so subtle and masterful that it seldom was perceived, and never realized until its purpose had been accomplished. But it was the pre-eminent quality of fathoming public opinion, — which he believed, in the long run, always to be right, correcting itself when led into error, — and becoming the absolute servant of that opinion, in which Mr. Lincoln's claim as a public servant worthy of the highest honor and gratitude, rested. We see now that he was waiting for public opinion to become pre-eminent, before he indicated his policy with re- .spect to the slaves. He revoked Hunter's order in ABRAHAM IJNCOIvN. South Carolina and Fremont's in Missouri, proclama- tions which established freedom for the slaves in those militar}- districts ; and, though he was rebuked for doing so, savagely by Phillips and Garrison, and the influential public men who espoused innnediate eman- cipation, yet it was because Mr. Lincoln saw, as they did not, that the time was not ripe for such a benefi- cent act. He waited for a year ; and, when he per- ceiA^ed that opinion would sustain him, then he, seeming to lead it, issued his Emancipation Proclama- tion ; and, in lesser matters, he was always thus guided. He erred sometimes, and no one saw sooner than he himself ; but it was a recent minister to Great Britain who said " that a man who made no mistakes made nothing. " Statesmen have said that he was in error when he suggested, in the closing months of his first administration, that Congress could afford to ap- propriate money to recompense the men of the South for the loss of their property, if, by such appropria- tion the war could be brought to a close. But, in these latter days, we are not so sure that Mr. Lincoln's view had not more of wisdom in it, than did that of those in Congress who opposed him. For the first time since Abraham Lincoln led the Republican party to victory, more than thirty years ago, the Democratic party is in full control of tlie Executive and IvCgislative Departments of the Govern- ment. How has this party met the responsibility ? Its utter incapacity to govern the country has never before been so clearly shown forth as now. Never before in our history as a nation have our industries been so paralyzed, and business of all kinds been so depressed. 12 ABRAHAM IJNCOI.N. Never before have honest mechanics and laboring men clamored for work without finding it. Never before in this broad country of ours have women and little children suffered for the necessaries of life. My friends, are we amiss if we feel something of alarm at conditions and portents which have prevailed during the year that has j ust passed ? Do we exagge- rate, when we say that fearful perils environ our Re- public? Are not the apprehensions, which subtle influences, recently revealed, create, fully justified? Are w^e raising unnecessary and false alarms, if we say to one another that, even to-day, we are beset with dangers, and are shadowed by storm-clouds, almost as momentous as those which prevailed throughout the country when Mr. Lincoln took the oath of office in March, 1861? It is true, there is no imminent peril of civil war ; but the thin wedge has, within the past ten days, been inserted into our political system, which, continued, may open the way for the coming of socialism, anarchy, and those obnoxious and abhor- rent forces which, after all, have always been recog- nized as the great menace to a republican form of government. One year ago this country was upon the high tide of prosperity. To-day, it presents a picture of suffering, misery, want, starvation, anguish, such as was not even witnessed in the time of the Civil War. The workingmen are overwhelmed by anxiety ; our merchants, our manufacturers, our financiers, stand, looking into the future, wdth pale faces and heavy hearts. We see the Finance Minister of the government, almost upon bended knees, pleading for money for his empty treasury, and pleading, because ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 13 the inenibers of Congress of his party will not provide him with legislation whereby he can secure the funds of which he stands in need, without holding out the hand of the borrower. We see, in the neighboring vState, a man, in the name of the Democratic party, blackening his hand, staining his reputation, that he may steal a legislature. We see that man honored by the Chief Executive of the State, — and for that very act, — by appointment to the bench of the highest court. We see a vulgar charlatan, masquerading as a Christian, delivering, at his own sweet will, such ma- jorities as seem to him to be best, and defying the mandates of the Supreme Court in doing it. We see a Lieutenant-Governor of New York brazenly defying the Senate of the State, of which he is the presiding officer, and declaring that, though the Republicans are in a majority in the Senate, he holds the Chair. We see our Senators in Congress, who are supposed to represent the industries of New Jersey, both of whom are opposed to that "sum of all villainies," the Wil- son Bill, gravely announcing that, if this bill is re- ported to the Senate by the Committee having it in charge, they will vote for it. And we see that no hearings are to be given by the Senate Finance Com- mittee, to those who oppose the bill. We see, in elec- tion districts in New York, the district leaders reporting entire polls without a single opposition vote. We see here, in our own State of New Jersey, revolution in the name of Democrac}-, begun by vicious politicians, and encouraged by a timid and supple Governor. We see, in Washington, a Congress, heedless, senseless, sw^ayed by the most repugnant elements, and carrying 14 AI5RAHAM IJXCOI.N. out the lurking resentments of others, who, beaten fairly in the field of battle, seek now to compel the wealth of the North chiefly to contribute, through the instrumentality of class legislation, to the support of the government. We see a President, manifestly lack- ing in what we believe to be true patriotism, repudi- ating the precedents of a hundred years, violating the laws of nations, disregarding wlint the American flag signifies, and violating the Constitution by command- ing his secret spy to order that flag to be hauled down, as the first step to the restoration of a lewd woman to a rotten throne. I have not ovenstated the case ; you will bear me out in this assertion. And so it may be well for us, to- night, reflecting upon these conditions, to look for such a one as Abraham Lincoln, — a man of the people, true to the people, simple, direct, unselfish, with cour- age, with tact, with fidelity, with loyalty in his heart to the bottom principles of this Democratic-Republi- can form of government, — to come forth ; and, by his example and his influence, to bring order out of con- fusion ; point the way from despair to prosperity ; and face the country about again in that direction, in which, obeying the laws of justice, equity, fairness and truth, we may be able to fulfil our destiny. We do not yet know who the " Moses" will be that will lead the Republic out of this " wdlderness" to the ' ' promised land. ' ' It may be the leader of the Repub- lican hosts in the House of Representatives, that great man, Thomas B. Reed; or it may be that man who entered the army, a boy of seventeen, as a pri- vate, fought through the entire war of the Rebellion, ABRAHAM LINCOLN. i.S came out a Major; and whom his own vState has just re-elected Governor, on an absolutely ' ' protective ' ' platform, by a majority of^ 80,000 — Governor William McKinley ; or it may be - hi^ . who bears the name and possesses many of the traits which made his father, Abraham Lincoln, wise in counsel and supreme in the hour of peril — Robert T. Lincoln, It is given not to many men in a century, or even in a cycle, to have such opportunity and such capacity for meeting it, as was Abraham Lincoln's ; but it is given to all x\mericans to learn of his integrity, his consuming love of his country, his loyalty to its laws, his recognition of his obligations as a citizen, his ten- derness for the weak, his courage in maintaining the right, his faith in principles, and his respect for men of honor who did not agree with him on matters of policy ; so that American citizenship may be broad- ened, and there be new impulses and inspirations for each one to do his part in the maintenance of the nation, which it was Mr. Lincoln's lot to preserve freed from the blot of slaverv. «60 % A 5> .••^^4^ ^ V* .•IV*. ^ lV^ ■.HP/ ** *^ '.OT^**..*^'^^ ^. *' VVi* .A ^^ '••*• .*..i:,i.'. •^;^ 5*>. c*' .^SBi*. t^ A* .: ^\.^°X-.^ *-./ . **^% . 0^ « . ^4^