But the Declaration of Independence is one of the
most immortal of papers because it proved a grand success; and it was
successful because the men who put it forth were fully competent to the
grand work with the performance of which they were charged. It is for
Mr. Lincoln himself to say whether the Proclamation of September 22,
1861, shall take rank with the Declaration of July 4, 1776, or with
those evidences of flagrant failure that have become so common since
1789,--with the French Declaration of the Rights of Man, and Mexican
Constitutions. That it is the people's duty to support the President is
said by almost all men; but is it not equally the duty of the President
to support the people? And have they not supported him,--supported him
with men, with money, with the surrender of the enjoyment of some of
their dearest rights, with their full confidence, with good wishes and
better deeds, and with all the rest of the numerous moral and material
means of waging war vigorously and triumphantly? And if they have
done and are doing all this, who will be to blame, if the enemy shall
accomplish their purpose?
The President and his immediate associates are placed so high by their
talents and their positions that they must be supposed open to the love
of fame, and to desire honorable mention in their country's annals,
especially as they have to do with matters of such transcendent
importance, greater even than those that absorbed the attention of
Washington and Hamilton, of Jefferson and Madison, of Jackson and
Livingston.
Pages:
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383
384
385
386
387
388
389
390
391
392
393