The Gavelyte, February 1909

.,- •)• ) ----- --------- ------------------- ;~() for Bt>II, and only 1.2 t'or r>,>ugla:-~. Plans for sPcession in the ~01nh, which had Jeclared it woulrl secede if Lint:oln were electPd, werP :::oon in progress; and a convention met Feb. 4, 1R61, at Mo11tgon.er~, ,Ali1bama, anrl on Feb. 18, 1861, ,Jefferson Davis was i11augurated JJl't-'Hidt--11t of thP Confederate States. PrP ·idPnt Buehanan \\'HS aging and lacking in executive force and his IPading adviser~ Wt>re Southern sympathizers, and thus from Nov. ti, 1860 till Mareh 4, 1861. i',he South unimpeded was permitted to cor.solidate anrl prPpare for war, :::o that when :'llr. Lincoln touk the oath oi office it was a fore gone conclu,-ion that the South was determined to have its own govern– nw11t anrl compel Washington to seek terms of treaty at the c::outhern capitol. Mr. Lincoln after taking the oath deliw•red an elaborate inaugurnl address cal<'ulated to reconcile differences. Yet he showed firmness to execute his office in the words which he addressPd to some rPpresPntatives of the ::,outh '·you have no oath registered in heaven to dt>stroy anrl I have to maintain the union.'' The firing of Beauregard on Ft. SumtPr, April 14, 1861 brought on the war, whose four year,; of mighty armies, distinguish"d generah;, terrible fields of carnage, ft1arful and wide- ·pread devastations, loss of treasurP and of life, make it at once one of thi-i most appalling of eivil strnggles in all history and the blooii bond of inseparable union in thi::; republic. The prayers and tear", the ach~s and groans, the fevers and tossings, the corn,ecrntions anrl separations, the agoni('~ and distresses, the wounds ancl sufieringR, the anxietif's and hnpes, the defeats and disappointments, thP- mean foe at, home and the gallant foe in the south, all, all the,;e and a thousand besideP eontributed to fill up the cup 11f Divin.> wrath against ac– cursed slavery, :1or did anvone Jrnqw it be tter or drinl · ddeJJer into the dregs · of that <'UP than nol,le, RincPl'P, humanitarian Abraham Lincoln a:-< he pitiecl the misguidecl South, prap·d for the loyal' ~uffering North wt>pt for both and s;:icrificed himself for t.he perpetuation of the union. o mere man ever endured greatE:>r contradict ion of frknds anrl foes, suffered worsE:> misintP1·– pretation of his purf'st clesireR anrl t->Xpn·i,:-ions. receiveJ deeJJer abuse at the mouths and pt·ess of a frenzied and war-to sed nation, pi',ssed through a hotter flame of persecution, or organized , in intE:>nSE-r pain of er ucifixion, ancl yet thrnugh it all that one invincible spirit of ''malice toward none and <'harity for all" kept him calm, purposefu( nncomplaining, and firm nntil he-