mjw-'wf
8
The Commoner.
A Rebuke from the South.
Tho lotter writton by Senator-elect CarmncR
of TonnosHco, h reproduced below bocnnso it 2c
sonts a view of Lincoln from a southern standpoint.-
Mr. Carmack is one of the now men who have
forged to tho front in tho last few years, ho hav
ing boon olected to Congress first in 1800.
His rapid rise in politics is duo to his ability
and to his devotion to democratic principles.
What a commentary upon tho imperialistic ten
dencies of tho republican party, that a southern
democrat should bo able to use tho words of
Abraham Lincoln to rebuke northern republicans:
Hon. Benton Childers, Secretary, Jefferson-Jaek-son-Lincoln
League, Columbus.Ohio. My Dear Sir:-
I deeply regret that circumstances forbid my presence
at the banquet of the Jefferson-Jackson-Lineoln
League on the 12th of February, to respond to a
toast of ". Jefferson and Lincoln," which by the kind
ness of the committee I was permitted to choose for
myself.
The name and fame of Jefferson, who lived and
died in Virginia, is tho common heritage of our com
mon country. With the cause for which Abraham
Lincoln stood tho people of tho South, by a cruel fate,
were brought into conflict for four dreadful years of
blood and sorrow; but today they remember that he,
too, was born on southern soil and his glory and ex
ample are tho common property of all who worship
at the shrine of liberty beneath the banner of the
free. As a man of southern birth and southern an
cestry it would be a matter of prido and pleasure to
pay my tribute to tho memory of Abraham Lincoln,
whoso statue stands sid by side in the temple of fame
with that of our great apostle of human rights who
wrote tho Declaration of Independence and founded
the democratic party.
To the shallow critic, it may seem strange that
the name of Jefferson, the founder of tho democratic
party, should be coupled with that of Lincoln.the first
victorious loader of its great antagonist. But ho who
looks beneath the surface of things and who under
stands that history is not a mere table of names and
dates, but that great ideas are the moving forces be
hind human events, will perceive the singular fitness
of the association. Themames of tho groat and good
men of tho world are associated with tho causes and
principles to which they dedicated their lives. A
party that inscribes upon its banner tho name of an
honored leader whose principles it has deserted and
betrayed, is a political pirate, hoisting a friendly flao
to lure tho unwary to destruction. The names of
groat leaders belong, for party purposes, to whatever
party is faithful to their precepts and true to their
principles. In this sense, the name of Abraham Lin
coln, no less than that of Thomas Jefferson, is tho
property of tho democratic party.
Abraham Lincoln proudly avowed himself a dis
ciple of Jefferson, and he declared that the republi
can party of his time was founded upon the doctrines
of that mighty teacher. In the platform on which
Abraham Lincoln was first nominated for the pres
idency, the republican party laid its faith in tho
Declaration of Independence, in tho doctrine of tho
inalienable rights of all men to tho "enjoyment of
life, liberty and tho pursuit of happiness," and in the
doctrine that governments derive "their just powers
from the consent of tho governed." Tho republican
party today could not so stultify itself as to write
such a maxim into its platform. To those who sneer
at the association upon such an occasion as this of
tho names of Jefferson and Lincoln, I would commend
a thoughtful consideration of tho fact that in all tho
republican literature of tho last campaign, not one
maxim or sentiment of Abraham Lincoln was ever
cited to justify their policy of "criminal aggression
while democratic literature abounded with quotations
from both Jefferson and Lincoln. For the first time
since its foundation the republican party placed the
Declaration of Independence and the words of Abra
ham Lincoln upon its Index Expurgandura, and it is
doubtless surprised at its own moderation that it did
not order the writings of both to be burned. There
was hardly an argument advanced by them to justify
their policy of conquest and subjugation that had not
already been made for them by tho apologists of
human slavery in the United States and already refuted
by tho pitiless logic of Abraham Lincoln himself.
I bog to contrast the republican party of Abraham
Lincoln with the republican party of today. In the
very platform on which Lincoln was nominated, the
doctrine was distinctly declared and made a funda
mental principle of the party faith that the constitu
tion, of its own force, extends to all the territory
indor the flag of the United States to protect every
inhabitant in the enjoyment of life, liberty and the
pursuit of happiness. Tho present doctrine of tho
republican party is that Congress and tho president
have practically Unlimited power over the inhabitants
of the teritorics. Where could you find a specific
departure of a more radical and fundamental char
acter from the spirit that was in the founders of the
republican party?
Abraham Lincoln declared that the republican
party of his day was the true party of Jefferson as
contradistinguished from the party of Hamilton.
The present republican speaker of the House of Rep
resentatives, during the late campaign, delivered a
glowing eulogy on Alexander Hamilton, as the expo
nent of those ideas and principles of government for
which the republican party stands today. Can such
a party be, in spirit and in truth, tho republican
party of 1800? Let Lincoln speak. In a letter writ
ten April 0th, 1859, in reply to an invitation to attend
a celebration in Boston of the birthday of Jefferson,
ho said :
Bearing in mind that nbout 70 years ngo two great political
parties were ilrst formed in tills country, that Thomas Jefferson
was tho head of one of them and Boston the headquarters of tho
other, it is both ourious and interesting that thoso supposed to
descend politically from tho party opposed to Jefferson should
now ho celebrating his birthday in their original seat of empire,
while thoso claiming political descent from him havo nearly
ceased to breathe his name everywhere. i
roraember once being much amused at seeing two partially intox
icated men engage in a tight with their great coats on, which
tight, after a long and rather harmless contest, ended In each
having fought himself out of his own coat and into that of tho
other. If tho two leading parties of this day are really identical
with the two in tho days of Jefferson and Adams, they havo per
formed tho samo feat as tho two drunken men. But soberly, it is
now no child's play to save the principles of Jefferson from total
ovorthrow in this nation. Tho principles of Jefferson are tho
definitions and axioms of free society. And yet, they are denied
and evaded with no small show of success. Ono dashingly calls
them "glittering generalities;" others insidiously arguo that they
apply to "superior races." These expressions, differing in form,
aro identical in object and offeot-the supplanting of tho principles
of free government. Thoy would dolight a convocation of orowned
heads plotting against tho people. They are tho vanguard, tho
minors and sapers of returning despotism.
It is plain that tho party of Abraham Lincoln is
not tho party of Marcus Alonzo nanna. In the con
tinued struggle each party has fought itself into its
own coat again. The democratic party today is
clothed again with the principles of Jefferson, with
the principles of the republican party of 1800, so far
as they relate to the inalienable rights of roan. The
political coat that was worn by Abraham Lincoln
was worthily worn during tho late campaign by a
gentleman who sits at your banquet board tonight.
The great struggle to "save tho principles of Jeffer
son from total overthrow" is on again. The very
terms and arguments quoted by Lincoln as used to
evade the axioms of the Declaration of Independence
reappeared in the republican literature of the late
campaign. Tho very reference to the immortal
Declaration as a string of "glittering generalities,"
and tho very pretense that its doctrineswero intended
only for "superior races" were borrowed by the so
cal ed "party of human liberty" from the advocates
of human slavery to justify tho subjugation of a
distant people, who but lately were our allies and
brothers-in-arms, and who havo only offended us by
-wishing to be free. J
In conclusion let me say, in the very words of
Lincoln: "All honor to Jefferson-to the man who
m the concrete pressure of a struggle for nationa
independence by a single people, had the coolness,
forecast and capacity to introduce into a merely revo
lutionary document an abstract truth, applicable to
all men and all times, and so (to embalm it there that
today, and in all coming days, it shall be a rebuke
and a stumbling block to the very harbingers of re
appearing tyranny and oppression."
And all honor to Abraham Lincoln to the man
who applied the principles of Jefferson with such
force and directness and fearless wisdom that today
every word and act of his life rise up as a "rebuke
and a stumbling block" to the party which seeks to
appropriate his name while dishonoring his precepts
and example. Very sincerely yours,
E. W. Caimack.
A Word of Encouragement.
We should like to offer a word of consolation to
those bereaved ones who can see no rift in the cloud
that lowers o'er the dead queen's bier. That tho de
ceased was a wise and loving monarch, a noble
hearted woman, a model wife and mother, is not to
be doubted by even the most cynical. To her illus
trious virtues we have already paid our reverent and
heartfelt tribute. She did not create the age of
splendid progress with which she was contemporan
eous, but she presided over it, she was its most bril
liant and impressive figure, and the span of her reign
covers the most splendid epoch in the history of man
kind. Wo cannot believe, however, that tho Ameri
can people, or those pretending to speak for thein,
are justified in giving way to despair and refusing to
be comforted.
We had imagined that after the first shock even
the most ecstatic of our mourners would begin to lift
their stricken heads and show a disposition to look
life in the face with something of their quondam for
titude and courage. After all, Victoria was not
queen of the United States. After all, if it be neces
sary to the happiness of a certain small class of our
population to bow down to something English, there
is Edward VII., who represents everything that they
hold sacred. The adoration need not be interrurted.
The adorers need not refuse the ministrations of the
pitiful and the compassionate. A good and well-beloved
woman has been taken from the world. It is
well to celebrate her passing with a sorrowing and
grateful tear. But all is not lost for those who turn
their devoted eyes to England. The king reigns.
London survives. The British aristocracy remain for
our pious contemplation and our toady hopes.
Cheer up, oh, fainting snob! Get on your feet
again and comb the ashes out from that matted hair!
Washington Post.
Borrowed Fun.
-
nnnn
Justifiablo rrlclc.
Chicago Millionaire (showing his library to dis
tinguished novelist): "See them books?"
Diutinguished Novelist: "Yes."
C M.: "All bound in calf, ain't they?"
D. N.: "So they are."
C M.: (proudly): "Well, sir, I killed all them
calves myself!" Fun, London.
Mind and Matter.
"Do you believe in the power of mind over mat
tor?" asked the mystical man.
"No," answered the practical friend. "I believe
in the power of matter over mind. I have known a
cl nil, insensible tack hammer, by ono swift rap on the
thumb, to make a man say things that he had not
thought of for years. "Washington Star.
A Bad Reputation.
" Do you believe mosquitoes carry germs? "
" Haven't the slightest doubt of it; I'm from New
Jersey j I would believe anything of a mosquito.-Ohio
State Journal.
Fato of a Bad Little Boy.
Tuesday his rubbers he would not wear,
Thursday he had such an aching head;
Friday he spent in his trundle bed;
Saturday found him very low;
Sunday there came a fall of snow;
Monday came coasting, but he couldn't go.
The Oregonian.
