Page:The Granite Monthly Volume 10.djvu/52

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��Abraham Lincoln.

��borhoods which bad been solemnly dedicated to freedom. It elected presidents, made and unmade courts, controlled Congresses, stifled the con- sciences of statesmen, gagg;ed the freedom of press and speech, dictated the policy and shaped the act? of thegoverj!mrnt,aiid domineered with impui'ent swagger, like a bloated monarch, over this land which it claimed ; s it« kingdom.

When it «as finally met and beaten at the polls by the I'epublican party, it clutched, in its desper- ation, at the throat of the nation, and undertook to destroy it, but the assassin who would slay, him- self w»s slain; and the Democratic party, which nursed and encouraged the barbarous system, was relegated to a retirement which lasted for a quarter of a century, and from which it has but recently been aci identally and temporarily called.

The power of the liquor sa'oon is such that it dictates boards of selectmen; it elects aldernjen and councilmen and mayors; it organizes societies whose openly avowed purpose is to defeat the law; it disreuards the authority of men and the suppli- cations of women; and its influence and sway are getting to be such that the conscience and sense of honor of the nation, which is now aslei'p, will soon awake and arise, and smite this monster and send it to everlasting perdition, and the party that sus- tains it will go with it.

These are a few of the issues which await the so- lution of the American people; and that party which possesses the wisdom and courage to grapple with these great problems, and demand that they shall be settled in a w«y that shall be u.-eful to the progress of humanity, is the party which in the end will con'rul and direct this governsi ent.

The Kei>ublican i arty during tLie last twenty-five years has been compelled to act upon some of the most critical questions ever presented to the peo- ple of any age or country ; questions involving na- tional interests of the highest importance, even to the preservation of the Union and the maintenance, credit, and honor of the nation, as well as the enfranchisement of one tenth of all the people of the United States ; and upon all these great ;ind unpreceiieiited questions it has always espoused the side of freedom and justice. It has carried the nation safely through each and every crisis.

It couli' not h;.ve weathered so many dangerous capf s or bre:isted so many terrific storms bad it not had for pilots .'■one of the noblest and ablest men that our country has produced. In the war, our helm was guided by Andrew, IVIorton, Seward, Chase, Stanton, Sumner, Garfield, and Lincoln. God bless his memory, at the touch of whose pen the chains ot four millions of slaves were broken, never to be reforged ; and Sherman, who, thank God, still lives ; and Grant, whose fame is as im- perishable as the light of the stars ; and honest John l^ogan, fn m whose bier the mourners have bui just gone. This is a list of contemporaneous civil and military leaders, which the luition, in all its history, cannot surpass or match. Their charac- ters and deeds challenge the admiration of n>an- Uind, and their memories are embilmed in endur- ing fame. It has been truly said that ''the heroic example of other days is in gieac part the source ot the coura'/e of each generation." In the lives of these splendid leaders (jur country finds an inspira- tion which, if heeded, will lead to the highest and grandest nati< nal achie-^ements.

From this galaxy of distinguished Americans we select on this anniversary of his lowly birth that noble and God-crowned man, Abraham Lincoln. To-night and here we hund)ly assst in gHthering up "ihe scattered f shes into history's golden urn.' We pay an earnest tribute to the good citizen, the painstiiking and conscientious lawyer, the wise, patriotic, and far-seeing statesman, the matchless political leader, the martyred president, and the uncompromising friend of humanity. A man who, in intellectual power and strength, was the peer of the ablest of his countrymen, and wh< se heart was larger than his brain. His was one of

��the few great lives which had an humble legin" ning, a slow development, a tremendous influence and import, and a tragic ending before it was fully appreciated by his countrymen. From the moment the good man was stricken down, his fame bej^an to live and grow. The greatness of his mind, the goodness of his heart, the far-reachiu" significince and sublimity of his work, are now recognized the world over. All alike concede the sincerity, pu- rity, g. odne«s, and beauty of his character; and over his whole life there ''arches a bow of urques- tioned integrity."

It cannot be said of Mr. Lincoln, ae Victor Hugo extravagantly wrote of Napoleon, 'He was every- thing. He was complete: he made history, and he wrote it." But it can be said that he is a>' com- plete a figure as the present century has produced, and that he was the conspicuous and successful leader in a series of civil, political, and military events which constitute the most remark:>ble crisis and the most important epoch in the history of modern times. He presided over the nation at a time when treason wms doing its deadliest work; when the Union was in the deepest peril; when the destinies of forty millions of living souls, as well as countless g nerations then unborn, stood trem- bling in the balance; and it is the lliuhe^t encomi- um to pronounce on this consecrated man that the nation, under his loving and patriotic guidance, was triumphant i^ver every foe, and came ou from its ordeal ot treason and civil war with the \inion of thesp states reaffirmed upon a basis as solid as the eternal hills.

M hen Wendell Phillips died, Joseph Cook elo- quently said of him, "There lies Head on his shield in yonder street an unsullie-i soldier of unpopular reform, a spi tlessly disinte'ested champion of the oppressed, the foremost orator of the English- speaking world in recent years, the largest and latest, let us hoi e not the last, of the Puritans. A servant of the Most High God, a man on the altar of whose heart the coals of lire were kindled by a breath from the Divine justice and tenderness, Wendell Phillips has gone doubtless to an incalcu- lably great reward. He is with Garrison and Sum- ner and Lincoln now; he has met Wilberfi rce and Clarkson; he is in the company of v\ristides and Scipio and the Koman Gracchi, and of all the past martyrs who in every age have laid down their lives that the darkness of the ages might be a li tie lighte' ed." And so it can be said of Al)raham 1-in- coln:hei'< among the martyrs -'who have laid drtwn I heir lives that the darkness of the ages miaht be a little lightened.'' Wh>therhe is view- ed as the head of tlie greatest politii-al party known to history, or as commander-in-chief of the brav- st and most intelligent army of soldiers that Wi:s ever niarsi'alled on the fHce of the earth; or as presi- dent o' the most successful Kepublic th it has ever adorned the fnuiily of nations, — he «n-wers all the tests of patriotism, wise statesmanship, high citi- zenship, and noble manhood.

All honor, then, to thf! imperishable name of Abraham Lincoln. In life a patriot, in death a martyr, in eternity the companion of the good of all ages, — his example is the heritage of his country.

He lives; the patriot lives no more to die; And wliile dim rolling centuries hasten by, He still ahali live, the mjin of thought sublime, Down to the latest hour ot coming time.

In the absence of Hon. Henry Robinson, John J. Bell of Exeter was called upon as the closing speaker, and responded Avitli a brief but eloquent tribute to the achievements of the Republican party, and a statement of the duties before it. It was 1:15 a. m. when the company left the tables.

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