Part 7 (2/2)
The first was the seizure upon the high seas of Mason and Slidell, the accredited representatives froland and France, respectively The seizure was in November, 1861, by Captain Wilkes of our navy; and the envoys na steamer of the British Government The act of Captain Wilkes hout the entire country; he was voted the thanks of Congress, and his act publicly approved by the Secretary of the Navy
”The deovernment for reparation upon the part of the United States was prompt and explicit The perils that then environed us were such as rarely shadow the pathway of nations
Save Russia alone, our Govern the crowned heads of Europe Menaced by the peril of the recognition of the Southern Confederacy by England and France, with the very stars apparently warring against us in their courses, the position of the President was in the last degree trying To surrender the Confederate envoys was in aand in opposition to the popular inition of the Southern Confederacy by the European powers, and the certain and ienius of President Lincoln--rather his wise, just, far-seeing statesmanshi+p--stood him well in hand at the critical moment Had a rash and impulsive ht have overwhelht have been changed!
”The calm, wise President, in his council chamber, aided by his closest official adviser, Secretary Seward, discerned clearly the path of national safety and of honor None the less was the act of the President one of justice, one that will abide the sure test of tiround that the seizure of the envoys was in violation of the Law of Nations, they were eventually surrendered, and ith England, as well as the inition of the Confederacy, averted Let it not be forgotten that this very act of President Lincoln was a triumphant vindication of our Governed as a protest on our part against British seizure and ih seas
”The other incident, to which I briefly refer, was the proclanificance in the national defence, as well as of justice to the enslaved, such proclareater or less degree been urged upon the President from the outbreak of the Rebellion That slavery was to perish areat upheaval becahtfulthe earnest supporters of the President as to the time the masterful act 'that could know no backward steps' should be taken Unmoved amid divided counsels, and at ti executive, upon as cast the tremendous responsibility, patiently bided his time Events that are now the masterful theme of history crowded in rapid succession, the opportune moment arrived, the hour struck, the proclamation that has no counterpart fell upon the ears of the startled world, and, as by the interposition of a e
”To the one iven to know the day and the hour At the crucial moment, in one of the exalted days of human history,
”'He sounded forth the trumpet that has never called retreat'
”The men who knew Abraham Lincoln, who saw hie, have with few exceptions passed to the grave Another generation is upon the busy stage
The book has forever closed upon the dreadful pageant of civil strife Sectional ani now only to the past The mantle of Peace is over our entire land, and prosperity within our borders
”'The war-drus are furled In the parliah the instrumentality, in no small measure, of the man whose memoryhonor, the Governer of Time, has descended to us The responsibility of its preservation and transenerations as they coo To-day, at this auspicious hour sacred to the memory of Lincoln, let us, his countrymen, inspired by the sublirateful to God for all He has vouchsafed to our fathers and to us in the past, take courage and turn our faces resolutely, hopefully, trustingly to the future I know of no wordshich to close this humble tribute to the memory of Abraham Lincoln, than those inscribed upon the lory; he anting to ours'”
VII STEPHEN A DOUGLAS
DOUGLAS'S HARDshi+PS IN YOUTH--HE IS ADMITTED TO THE BAR--JACKSON'S TRIUMPH OVER ADAMS IN 1828--DOUGLAS ENTERS THE ARENA OF DEBATE AT THE AGE OF 22--BECOMES ATTORNEY-GENERAL--CHOSEN TO THE TENTH GENERAL assEMBLY OF ILLINOIS--BECOMES SECRETARY OF STATE IN ILLINOIS --DEFENDS JACKSON'S DECLARATION OF MARTIAL LAW AT NEW ORLEANS-- TAKES PART IN THE OREGON BOUNDARY DEBATE--ADVOCATES THE ANNEXATION OF TEXAS--IS ELECTED TO THE SENATE--ADVOCATES THE ADMISSION OF CALIFORNIA AS A FREE STATE--HE PROCURES A LAND GRANT TO THE ILLINOIS CENTRAL RAILROAD COMPANY--IN DEBATING THE KANSAS-NEBRASKA BILL HE CONTENDS FOR POPULAR SOVEREIGNTY--ORIGIN OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY --DOUGLAS LOSES THE FRIENDshi+P OF THE SOUTH--DEBATES BETWEEN DOUGLAS AND LINCOLN--LINCOLN'S EARLY HISTORY--DOUGLAS'S REASONS FOR ADVOCATING POPULAR SOVEREIGNTY--LINCOLN'S REPLY--THE SLAVERY QUESTION --THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY RENT ASUNDER--CONSEQUENT FAILURE OF DOUGLAS TO WIN THE PRESIDENCY--HIS DEATH
History has been defined, ”the suinterest in A our Civil War is bound up in the biography of the strongthe actors, his place was near theperiod
Stephen A Douglas was born in Brandon, Vero, Illinois, June 3, 1861 Between the dates given lie the years that up a crowded, eventful life Left penniless by the death of his father, he was at a tender age dependent upon his own exertions for e of fifteen he apprenticed himself to a cabinet-maker in the town of Middlebury in his native State Naturally of delicate organization, he was unable long to endure the physical strain of this calling, and at the close of two years' service he returned to his early ho an academy in Brandon, he there for a tience the studies preparatory to a higher course
Supple the education thus acquired, by a brief course of study in an acadee of twenty he turned his footsteps ard
One of his biographers says:
”It is doubtful if a all the thousands who in those early days were constantly faring ard froinia, and the Carolinas, there ever was a youth more resolutely and boldly addressed to opportunity than he Penniless, broken in health, almost diminutive in physical stature, and unknown, he made his way successively to Cincinnati, Louisville, and St Louis, in search of employment, literally of bread”
By a sudden turn in fortune's wheel his lot was cast in Central Illinois, where his first vocation was that of teacher of a village school Yet later--after laborious application--adeously entered upon his marvellous career
His hoan and neighboring counties, it was soon revealed that notwithstanding his slight stature and boyish appearance the youthful Douglas was at once to be taken fully into the account Self-reliant to the very verge, he unhesitatingly entered the arena of active professional and political strife with foemen worthy the steel of veterans at the bar, and upon the hustings
The issues were sharply drawn between the two political parties then struggling for ascendancy, and Central Illinois was the ho party at any ti, Logan, Baker, Lincoln were just then upon the threshold of careers that have given their naes of our history Into the safe keeping of the leaders just naree the advocacy of the principles of the now historic party, and the political fortunes of its great chieftain, Henry Clay
As is well known, the principal antagonist of the renowned Whig chieftain was Andrew Jackson Earlier in their political careers, both had been earnest supporters of the administration of President Monroe, but at its close the leaders last nareat office No candidate receiving a majority of the electoral votes and the selection by Constitutional require upon the House of Representatives, Mr Adams was eventually chosen His election over his principal coh the influence of Mr Clay; and the subsequent acceptance by the latter of the office of Secretary of State gave rise to the unfounded but veheain and corruption,” which followed the Kentucky statesles of later periods, and died wholly away only when the clods had fallen upon his grave
Triumphant in his candidacy over Adams in 1828, President Jackson, four years later, encountered as his foronist--the one iveness, even when the shadoere gathering about his own couch
”The early and better days of the Republic” is by no means an unusual expression in the political literature of our day Possibly all the generations of reat bard: