AUGUST 15 Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not. Jeremiah 33: 3. May God Superintend the Solution. (From a letter to Honorable Robertson, Lexington, Kentucky, August 15, 1855.) So far as peaceful, voluntary emancipation is concerned, the condition of the negro slave in America, scarcely less terrible to the contemplation of a free mind, is now as fixed and hopeless of change for the better as that of the lost souls of the finally impenitent. The Autocrat of all the Russians will resign his crown and proclaim his subjects free republicans sooner than will our American masters voluntarily give up their slaves. Our political problem now is, "Can we, as a Nation, continue together permanently-forever-half slave and half free?" The problem is too mighty for me. May God in his mercy superintend the solution. God moves in a mysterious way, He plants his footsteps in the sea, Blind unbelief is sure to err And scan his work in vain; And he will make it plain. -Cowper. AUGUST 16 Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, nelther shall they learn war any more. Isaiah 2:4. More Colors than One. (Extract from letter written August 16, 1863, to Honorable James C. Conkling, of Illinois.) The signs look better. The Father of Waters again goes unvexed to the sea. Thanks to the great Northwest for it; nor yet wholly to them. Three hundred miles up they met New England, Empire, Keystone, and Jersey hewing their way right and left. The sunny South, too, in more colors than one, also lent a helping hand. On the spot their part of the history was jotted down in black and white. The job was a great national one, and let none be slighted who bore an honorable part in it. Nor must Uncle Sam's web feet be forgotten. At all the watery margins they have been present, not only on the deep sea, the broad bay, and the rapid river, but also up the narrow muddy bayou, and wherever the ground was a little damp they have been and made their tracks. Thanks to all. There's a good time coming, boys, A good time coming: We may not live to see the day, Of the good time coming. But thought's a weapon stronger; -Charles Mackay. AUGUST 17 Only fear the Lord, and serve him in truth with all your heart: for consider how great things he hath done for you. 1. Samuel 12: 24. The Rightful Result. (Extract from letter, written August 16, 1863, to Honorable James C. Conkling, of Illinois. Continued from preceding page.) Peace does not appear so distant as it did. I hope it will come soon, and come to stay, and so come as to be worth the keeping in all future time. It will then have been proved that among free men there can be no successful appeal from the ballot to the bullet, and that they who take such appeal are sure to lose their case and pay the cost. And there will be some black men who can remember that with silent tongue, and clenched teeth, and steady eye, and well-poised bayonet they have helped mankind on to this great consummation; while I fear there will be some white men unable to forget that with malignant and deceitful speech they have striven to hinder it. Still, let us not be over sanguine of a speedy final triumph. Let us be quite sober. Let us diligently apply the means, never doubting that a just God, in his own good time, will give us the rightful result. We bless thee for the growing light, The advancing thought, the widening view, The larger freedom, clearer sight, Which from the old unfolds the new. With wider view comes loftier goal; With fuller light more good to see; With freedom, fuller self-control; With knowledge, deeper reverence be. -Samuel Longfellow. AUGUST 18 Leave it for an inheritance for your children after you. I. Chronicles 28:8. More Involved than Realized, (Extract from speech to a regiment of Ohio hundred-day men, who visited the President August 18, 1864.) I wish it to be more generally understood what the country is now engaged in. We have, as all will agree, a free government, where every man has a right to be equal with every other man. In this great struggle this form of government and every form of human rights are endangered if our enemies succeed. There is more involved in this contest than is realized by every one. There is involved in this struggle the question whether your children and my children shall enjoy the privileges we have enjoyed. I say this in order to impress upon you, if you are not already so impressed, that no small matter should divert us from our great purpose. There may be some inequalities in the practical application of our system. It is fair that each man shall pay taxes in exact proportion to the value of his property; but if we should wait, before collecting a tax, to adjust the taxes upon each man in exact proportion with every other man, we should never collect any tax at all. There may be mistakes made sometimes; things may be done wrong while all the officers of the Government do all they can to prevent mistakes. O God of battles, let thy might Till, guided by thy glorious hand, And North and South alike shall raise AUGUST 19 An horse is a vain thing for safety; neither shall he deliver any by his great strength. Psalms 33: 17. The Britchen Broke. (In reply to Douglas in the campaign of 1852, who spoke of confidence in Providence.) Let us stand by our candidate (General Scott) as faithfully as he has always stood by our country, and I much doubt if we do not perceive a slight abatement of Judge Douglas's confidence in Providence as well as the people. I suspect that confidence is not more firmly fixed with the Judge than it was with the old woman whose horse ran away with her in a buggy. She said she "trusted in Providence till the britchen broke," and then she "didn't know what on airth to do." The chance is, the Judge will see the britchen broke, and then he can, at his leisure, bewail the fate of Locofocism as the victim of misplaced confidence. Better to weave in the web of life A bright and golden filling, And to do God's will with a ready heart Of a curious life asunder, And then Heaven blame for the tangled ends, -Charles Mackay. |