LINCOLN AND CROMWELL.
Sir,-On a recent Sunday afternoon 2ZB produced a magnificent programme to mark the 137th anniversary of the birth of that great statesman, Abraham Lincoln. Unfortunately the programme was spoilt by just one sentence. That was when the narrator suggested that Abraham Lincoln would have been "et home" marching with Oliver Cromwell, of all people. This absurd comparison absolutely startled me. It is difficult to find a common denominator from Lincoln’s and Cromwell’s respective political careers. Cromwell led a rebellion against the state: Lincoln led his nation against the Southern rebels: Cromwell enforced his
religious creed upon the people: Lincoln stood for spiritual freedom. Cromwell and his associates were notorious money lenders: Lincoln opposed debt bondage as well as the other form of slavery. Cromwell was an absolute dictator: Lincoln’s name will forever be associated with democracy. The narrator also compared Abraham Lincoln with Wat Tyler. Now that was a good comparison. He might have added such names as William Wilberforce, Daniel O’Connell, W. E. Gladstone, or perhaps even R. J. Seddon. As for Cromwell, he might well be compared with Brutus and Stanley Baldwin, all three being responsible for dethroning their respective sovereigns. By contrast, Lincoln himself was assassinated. No doubt "Old Abe" would somersault in his grave, if he knew that 2ZB had compared him with that treasonable and rebellious scoundrel Cromwell.
B. H.
PATON
(Marlborough).
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 14, Issue 353, 29 March 1946, Page 5
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230LINCOLN AND CROMWELL. New Zealand Listener, Volume 14, Issue 353, 29 March 1946, Page 5
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