THE ROCHESTER COMMEMORATION

HROUGHOUT the State of New York celebrations were

spread attention was that at Rochester, where His Excellency, Hon. Charles E. Hughes, Governor of the State of New York, was the speaker of the occasion.

LINCOLN: THE TRUE AMERICAN

HON. CHARLES EVANS HUGHES

N the twenty-third day of August, 1864, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, penned these words, which he laid aside for future reference, "This morning, as for some days past, it seems exceedingly probable that this administration will not be reëlected."

It was within eight months of the close of a career which has made his memory a priceless treasure of the nation. He had risen from the humblest conditions to the highest place of influence and power. For three years and a half he had borne the awful burdens of leadership in the struggle to preserve the Union. He had proclaimed the emancipation of the slaves, and delivered the immortal Address at Gettysburg. The logic of events had demanded his renomination for the presidency, and as yet the candidate of the opposing party had not been named. Yet in those dark days of the Summer of 1864, it seemed that he would be buried under an avalanche of hostile criticism. He was misconstrued, maligned, and reviled. He was charged both with weakness and with usurpation. It was his painful lot to bear the heavy assault, not simply of the enemies of his armies or their sympathizers, but of sincere and high-minded men who should have been his stoutest supporters. He later described

those days to his Cabinet as a time "when as yet we had no adversary and seemed to have no friends." The most astute advisers told him that his reëlection was an impossibility, and it appeared as if the American people were to write the word "failure" over the administration which gives to the day we now celebrate its undying significance.

It was precisely at that hour of uncertainty and foreboding, that Lincoln displayed the finest qualities of his character. Unshaken in conviction, secure in the peace of an undisturbed conscience, he looked into the future with a keen and honest eye, and resolved that even were he subjected to humiliation and defeat, even were he scorned and thrust aside by those for whom he had so severely labored, yet, if he could, he would still save the Union. In the private memorandum of that August day, the opening words of which I have already quoted, he thus registered this determination, "Then it will be my duty to so coöperate with the President-elect as to save the Union between the election and the inauguration; as he will have secured his election on such grounds that he cannot possibly save it afterwards."

This is the Lincoln whom we honor to-day!-not the Commander-in-chief of a victorious army; not the triumphant political leader; not the master of debate, or the inspired orator, but the hero of patriotic self-sacrifice, the great-souled servant of the people.

The story of Lincoln's rise will ever be the finest inspiration of American youth. The surroundings of his early life were not only obscure, but depressing and disheartening. It was not simply that he was the child of poverty-that may be a blessing. The real deprivation was not in the rudeness of the home or in the lowliness of the estate, but in the lack of those incentives to endeavor, and stimuli to ambition, which are the heritage of most of our American boys.

Lincoln was not without opportunity. The event proves that. And the glory of his career is that he so nobly used each opportunity that he had, and made it provide another. The marvel is that he was not a victim to inertia; and that, in such conditions, may be found such talent and such dis

position to use it. With each review of his career we renew our confidence in humanity and pledge our faith, not to circumstance or station, but to the divine fire of reason, and truth, and conscience, constantly flaming out in unsuspected places which the Power that makes for righteousness and progress will not permit to be quenched.

Lincoln performed each task as well as he knew. As a boy he learned to write, and he did it so well that he became the favored scribe of an unlettered community. He had access to but few books, but instead of neglecting these because they were few, he mastered them, and he became rich in the strength of their wisdom. He was willing to give his day's labor to secure a coveted "Life of Washington." He had little schooling and none of the advantages of academy or college. But he seized what was within his reach, and the fact that for a time he was denied, made his pursuit the more eager. And so he was constantly growing and developing, with a sense of power which comes by the exercise of the will in constant achievement. That part of our educational methods is really worth while which develops the sense of intellectual conquest, and Lincoln, from his early years, despite his apparent disadvantages, had a fine curriculum of victories.

He was nourished in patriotism, learning at the feet of Washington. As soon as there was opportunity he enlisted, and reënlisted, to protect the safety of the State, in the Black Hawk War. When he returned, he went into politics. According to the practice of the time, Lincoln became a candidate for the Assembly by simply announcing his condidacy and declaring his principles. He was defeated in his first campaign, and, turning to the simple activities of a village life, he devoted himself more earnestly than ever to the increase of his store of knowledge. He had acquired no little information as to men and affairs; and his earlier trips, by boat to New Orleans, and his experiences in the Black Hawk War, had widened his horizon. In 1854, Lincoln was again a candidate for the Legislature, and was elected by a large majority. He was reëlected in 1836, 1838,

and again in 1840. Meanwhile he had been encouraged to study law, and in 1836 was admitted to the bar. His great adversary, Douglas, said of him, "Lincoln is one of those peculiar men who perform with admirable skill everything they undertake." But he was peculiarly fitted for the bar. His keenness and analytical precision, his good humor and democratic ease, his passion for study, and his rugged honesty, equipped him for high place in a profession whose best prizes are not won by those who are mere masters of chicane.

It is said that he left the Legislature in 1840 with the reputation of being "the ablest man in it, the recognized leader of his party in the House and in his State," and "with a reputation for honesty and integrity which not even the bitterest of his political opponents had the hardihood to asperse." He rose rapidly at the bar and particularly excelled in the arts of advocacy. Meanwhile he was not without his disappointments. As he failed in his first candidacy for the State Assembly, he also failed in his first candidacy for Congress, but was elected to Congress in 1846. Retiring after his first term, he devoted himself to his legal practice. But he was equipped and destined for political activity.

The discussion of the great questions which related to the extension of slavery furnished the opportunity, and soon he became the protagonist in the debate which challenged the attention of the country and marked him as a national leader. His nomination and election to the presidency were the natural result of the contest in which, although Douglas through the apportionment of districts won his election to the Senate, Lincoln had the best of the argument, and the prestige of popular victory. Thus he was elected not to honors, but to burdens. And from his accession to the highest place in the people's gift, to the time when he laid down his life a martyr to the cause of liberty and union-at last one and inseparable-he bore a weight of care and responsibility greater than that borne by any other President, and for which it would be difficult to find a parallel in history.

There is no day so eloquent to me as the day on which we commemorate the birth of Lincoln. In him we recognize the