VOLUME 1. The American Citizen, T* pobtlNhd everv Wednesday in the borough of Butler, by THOMAS FOSIKSO* A C. E. ANDERSON- on Main street, opposite to Jock s Hotel—office up stairs ID the brick ©TIIKTIV occupied by Eli Yetter, aa a store TKKMH SI 50 a year, if pai earns of 10 lines or lew for one year, Inclu »linic paper 6 00 Oard of It) linos or l«>< 1 year without paper... 4 00 ■/ A column for «lx months " 00 for one year 12 00 -n »ix months 13 00 PFTOINMN for ONE year 00 x i Column for sl« 00 1 column for one year 00 For the Citizen. A TR BUTF TO A. LINCOLN. When all fhe great ones of the earth. Are ranged to sh< W then moral worth, When every patriotic name. HIGH on the golden wall of fame, 1-traced bv History's glowing hand, Through countless age* there to stand: True to her culling, then will she, Vphehl by Hncre/1 Liberty, fcet Lincoln'* *tar along with them, lu glory's glittering diadem. In vain may men betray their trust, And strive to trample in the dust, To ■*tra< , i"e the unsullied name, Of liiin who gently holds therein, Of gorerument in Washington; Protecting every loyal son, That fr lom Rends upon the field, To make the spawn of treason yield, 'Tls folly now to urge the claim Of any new aspirant* name. How conld we USE the put riot cold. WHO stands like Jackson did ol old, Defying treason's bloody hand, Now prone to waste our goodly land. What has he done to rouse our shaine, Or cause our hatred TO his name, Nothing** vet of which 1 know, UNLET* perchance he's moved too slow, YET had lie moved too 112 tt 1 wean, lU'-H *1 dyed would have been our hillsides green. Men rare and rant, and storm I see, A U»ut the " one term" policy. " one term," 'tis but a poor excuse. For those now striving to reduce. The fame that Lincoln's name has won, For patriotic deed'* he d«Hie, ftnppoee you NOW he would retrace, And liing L»*ck in our very face, The praises we to him hnve given ? No! soouer fall the star* fr -m heaven. Pome would his righto .in acts forget, Because they in hi-> cabinet, Got riot N feat, and this I W- RT N, IN why they'r venting forth their spleen; And some weak hearts have fainted quite, BECAUSE across their " wee short" SIGHT, Bv devilish, skillful hands is spread, Tue slime of Mr. Copperhead : Not of manlini'SM enough huve they, To brash the filthy oosto away, Yet, too much loyalty It seems, To Join in their nefarious schemes. So ashamed of Al»o without a causo, They've marie a short " political pauso," But when we make our banners fly, In glittering light ulong the sky, And shout aloud Abe Lincoln's name, They'll join the train ami shout the same, Finn •. firmly stand, Abe Lincoln's friends. You've got the odd*, y mil gain the ends: Stand firmly. traitors quake with fear, W lien evet Lincoln's name they hear. " SUCCESS AND FAILURE. A SEKWO.X: Ily Ix'ev. lUrrick Johnson, J\iitor of the Thiol JYetbyte- j rid* Church Pittsburgh. "1 therefore Ro run. not AS uncertainly; so fight I, not AS one that beuteth the air."—lST CORINTHIANS ix.2TT. Truer auto-biographic words were nev er spoken than those of the apostle con cerning himself. No man ever had a bet ter conception of life than Paul, the ser vant of Jesus Christ. No man ever seem cd to measure, with a clearer eye and a fuller comprehension, life's grand inter ests. No man ever succeeded beyond this faithful preacher of righteousness.— ITe ran for a goal and reached it. lie fought for a prize and won it. He aim ed at success and succeeded. Almost alone, ,in the great and wicked city ol Rome, in prison, in chains, with the un principled, murderous, Jfero hard-by in the palace, thirsting for the blood of Chris tians. with the certainty of an unjust sop tence before him. to be followed by the axe of the lictor or the sword of the cxecu tionei. the Christian hero wrote these tri umphant words : '• lam now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure i.« at hand. I have fought a good fight, 1 have finished my course, 1 have kept the faith ; and henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give uie at that day." And yet, how many who saw that small troop of soldiers silently j threading their way through the dust and tumu t of the busy crowd, conducting the venerable apostle out beyond the gate to be beheaded, imagined the life thus inglo riously ending, a success ? How many do you suppose, thought that victim of the bloody Nero other tliau a poor religious fanatic, whose hot, unreasoniug zeal in be half of a sect, had brought him to the block of the executioner'! Yet look now. the Roman emperors are all dead. The great empire of the Cwsars has long been a thing of the past, severed and destroy ed. The detestable Nero is remembered only to be execrated and abhorred. But what multitudes praise God for the toils, aud chains, aud fortitude, and martydom of Paul of Tarsus. He, himself, wears the crown of the ransomed, and millions on millions of hearts have been thrilled and inspired by the contemplation of his successful life. He had a right to say, 1- I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air." He draws his illustration from the Grecian games. His meaniug is, I know at nhat 1 aim ; it is not a matter of doubt, or a running at hap-hasard; the goal and crown are in view; and I make it the great and grand point of my life, so to live that there may be no room for uncertainty as to the result. And in the conflict, lam not as one missing his aim, so that the blows are spent in the empty air. Paul spoke the truth. Every blow that he struck, told. He did not exert himself, and spend his strength for naught. He got a conception of succew, aimed at it, and succeeded. AMERICAN CITIZEN. But Buccess! what is it? And failure ! what is that ? It is important, before con sidering the causes of successes in life and canvassing the means and methods by which it may be secuml.to havesome dis tinct idea of what it is. Unto what do we wish to attain, when we talk about attaiuingsuccess in life?— It is as essential that we start out with some definite conception, as that the sculp tor should, before putting his chisel to the marble, or the artist before putting h's brush to tht canvass. To succeed in be ing successful, we must know what the object is at which we aim; else ye shall only run with uncertainty and spend our strength in beating the air. What, there fore, is the true and just import of the phrase; success in life ? 1. I answer, in the first place, success in THIS life, is not necessarily success in life. If men were brutes, and the death of the body ended the life of the soul, then by no possibility could this statement be true. If man had no future, if across the grave there stretched no immortality, then our estimate of success or failure would be based solely on the records of time, and tho computation of eternal interests would not enter into the account. Rut life has no such limits. Death changes; it docs not annihilate. The grave is a passage way, not a resting place. We go through the doors of the sdfulchre —we do not tar ry there. 'Room, gentle flowers' my child would pass to heaven," said one, as they put aside the beautiful blossoms and broke the sod to make a place for the dead babe. Oh, yes ! our tombs arc but gate ways into tho great hall of the universe of Ood. We are pilgrims on the earth. The abiding places are all beyond the riv er. Wc are. and cannot die. Success in this life, therefore, is not necessarily success in life. Both worlds must he taken into the account. All of life must be thought of when we compute the gain and loss. Men count the mo ments when they should count the ages. They look this side of the grave when they should look beyond it. Time, sense, the world, wealth, place, fame, the breath of human applause, these absorb them.— Kternity, spirit, Christ, heaven, hell, re alities that are everlasting, the smile of an approving God—these are unthoughtol and forgotten. True success, then, is an interest se cured that death cannot rob us of—that we need not part with when we die All else is disastrous failure. The best of life, the most of life, well nigh all of life is on the other side of what we call death. Surely to fail there, togo in the bitterness of disappointment, poverty-girt and pov erty-stricken. with unrealized expectation and blasted hopes through all the ages, is not to succeed. Paul, the Apostle, wa Saul of Tarsus once ; the foe and prose cutor and slayer of the vile Christian logs. lie had learning, talents, reputa aou. He was held in high estimation lie was honored by his nation ; he was oil the high wave of popularity, but if he had died so, think you the starred crown that now rests eternally upon his brow would ever have been placed there? No. He would have been, at the last, as one that beateth the air. Every blow thathestruck at the Church would have recoiled with terrible force to weaken and crush his own spirit. Every martyr's death unto which he consented, would have given the suf ferers place in the commonwealth ofhea eti—•• citizenship in the democracy of ev erlasting life," while the heavy liukswould thus have been added to the chain by which he in the end would have beeu bound in eternal bondage to Satan. But jie changed all this, lie came to view life in its relation to God and eternity, and turning his back upon worldly honors, leaving the proud place with which his countrymen had honored him, he took up the despised and execrated cross, and with the same wealth of resources and resist less energy and fiery zeal that he had liv-, ed for this world, he lived for both. Hu man applause did not greet him now; scorn instead and poverty, opprobiuui and hate. He was hunted, arraigned, impris oned, whipped, tortured, murdered. But did he fail? To human eye, then and there, he did. But that triumphant avow al "I have fought a good fight, I have fin ished my course, I have kept the faith," echoing from his prison walls until it has gone round and round the world, has con vinced us all that he did not fail. He pressed toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus, and he won it. And any achievement that comes short of this, taking life in its truest and highest sense is failure. Suc cess in life, is success in the whole of life. 11. Again, success iu life, is in charac ter rather than in reputation. He who forms a good character, who builds him | self up of materials that will stand the ■ fiercest fire of temptation and comes out I from it unconsumed and unhurt, he is Uu " Let us have Faith that Right makes Might; and in that Faith let us, to the end,dare to do our duty as we understand LINCOLN. BUTLER, BUTLER COUNTY, PA., WEDNESDAY, MAY 11, 1864. ly successful. A man may achieve a great reputation, and yet his life be the saddest of failures. Reputation that has no bas is in moral character is ephemeral. Char acter is as lasting as life. Reputation is the child of circumstance. It may be made in a day and in a day destroyed.— It is affected by the popular breeze. It is not in our own keeping. Charac ter, however, is not born in an hour. It is a thing of growth and culture. We build it up. It is in no wise affected by the favoring or opposing windsof circum stances. And when once firmly estab lished, it is as enduring as the eternal hills, to achieve a character, therefore, well-pro portioned, completed, perfect, is to achieve success. A man may be great without being good ; and popular without having much merit of any kind. Many whom the world are accustomed to call great, have no bet ter title to that distinction than the fallen spirits—great in talents and great in wick edness and crime. To be popular, to be celebrated, to be famous, is in itself noev idence of success. The unprincipled demagogue is popular with his party. — The bold pirate-captain is popular with his piratical crew. The low buffoon ; s )x>j, u . lar with the rabbi" that shout their huz zalis over his profuuo squibs and jests.— isut in r,u this, popularity or reputation indicates nothing so much as an utter worthlessness of character. To call this success in life is to degrade our moral na ture and insult the God that made us. — But a good character is a priceless posses sion, though it give us no name. It is a good thing togo into eternity with. Tho' it bring us no revenue of praise from hu man lips this side the grave, it may give us the gladness and joy of praise beyond it, and from Him whose very smile is hea- Ill: And this leads me to say. thirdly, that apparent failure is often trucsucccss. Success is not so much a matter of out ward conditions, as many are led to sup pose. Wc are deceived 2>y appearance. Inflexible adherence to principle may cost a man his wealth, his position, his very life, yet the world neverafter all when the record is at bust made up, writes such men failures. Togo to the grave with intelli gence, virtue, integrity—with cheerfulness of mind, contentment under the allot ments of Providence, and faith in God, though poor and neglected, though mis understood and misrepresented and ma ligned, though laughed and jeered at be cause your purposes have seemingly come to naught, and failed of accomplishment, is to be successful. The futureshall hon or the seed of such a life, and God will make the fruitage glorious. He always has. Look at Bunyan. Look at John lluss. Look at Paul, once the pride of a nation, ending his life there on the block >f an executioner. Look at Jesus, win had claimed to be equal with God, ano had boldly declared his purpose to estab lish a kingdom, and had openly avoweti bis power over death, dying there upon'-an ignominious cross between two thieves.— Oh. if ever there Was apparent failure in this world, it on Calvary, where he who had claimed to save others, seemed as if he could not save himself. It did cer tainly appear to huuiau view as if his cause was lost. And yet that very death, that seemingly fatal end of all the hopes that had been centered in Jesus of Naz areth. was the grandesttriumph this world ever witnessed. And iu all the universe of Ood there will be no other crowued with so complete and perfect success, as he whose life ended amid such overwhelm ing evidence of apparent failure and loss there on the middle cross of Golgotha. The most unfavoring and unpropitious outward circumstances may therefore be consistent with the truest and highest suc cess. To possess intelligence and virtue, to have an inflexibly moral character and to secure the best and truest happiness both of this life and of that which is to come —this is success; this is to be like i'uul, "to so run not as uncertainly, aud to so fight not as one that beateth the air.' And this rules out of course, "all low and vicious pleasures; all grasping after great wealth; all greediness after worldly hon or ; all dishonesty and falseness in the' business and intercourse of life; all in a word that is forbidden by conscience and the word of God as wrong in principle or in act, and derogatory to the true diguffy and destiny of man, as asocial, moral, ac countable and immortal subject of the di vine government." But let me not' be understood as advo cating a sickly, sentimental, do-nothing piety, and recommending that to you, young men, as my idea of success in life. Far from it. My object is to impress up on you the vital importance of keeping both worlds in view while you arc dwell ers and workers only in this. Whatever else you do, if this bo not done, your best achievements here, your most applauded successes will seem at the last, and to no one else more certainly than to yourselves, follies stupendousand eternally to be regret ted, while conscience and the Word of God will brand your lives failures. But to be merely pi us is not all. Paul lost no vitality by becoming a Christian. He laid aside none of his native energy and force of character, no element of his roy al monhood, when he took up the cham pionship of the Cross. And had he fol lowed an other calling than that of the ministry this would still have been true While, then, it is to be remembered that there can be no true success in life unless that success pertain to the whole of life here and hereafter; and while both worlds' are thus to be kept in view, you are to bear in mind that God has placed you in this—that this is a world of realities, a busy, bustling, stirring world, with grand opportunities forusefulness in it, and high responsibilities and holy trusts that wealth and honor ancl worthy achievements in the various walks of life are not to be shun ned but sought and sought with r.ll the ability and appliance God has given vou ; yet always a\iu everywliete with supremo regard to his will and not to man's and with reference to eternity as well as to time; so that though you fail of them your life shall not fail. Now, how is true success to be achiev ed ? What are the means and methods of its attainment! My first remark is, that success will never come to you, young men, without your own personal agency. Under God you are the carvers of your own fortunes —tho arbiters of your own destiny.— From the highest end at which it is pos sible for you to aim, down through all the minor and subordinate ends that may be worthily set before you for attainment, this is true- Success in life depends up on yourselves. How many, with refer ence to religion not only, but everything else, are ruined utterly and forever by neglecting this cardinal and fundamental truth, and relying on some other agency .than their own for success. As regards spiritual things, what multitudes have failed and lost their all in losing them selves, through waiting God's time or look ing for some outside circumstance or mys terious external influence that should some how compel them to enter the kingdom. As regards what is great and good and worthy to be possessed in this world, what prizes have been lost through failure ol direct personal effort. Birth, wealth and social position are often relied on, but these can no more command true success than Satan could in his war in heaven.— Some young men are constantly dreaming of a favorable turn in the wheel of for tune ; some look for success through the influence of influential friends; some de spair of it, and let go all effort because ■ hey hove not these adventitious surround ngs; but they succeed who resolve and do llosolution is well nigh omnipotent. No ble and worthy resolution, nobly aud wor thily carried out, or sought to be carried out, will seldom fail of bringing a young man to the object at which he has aimed , will never fail of making life successful. There is very much of strength in a resolute and determined purpose. Re solve that you will be worthy of esteem, young men; that wherever God places you, no matter on what spot of this wide earth, however near or remote from your wish or hope, and in the midst of what ever favoring or opposiug circumstances, there you will serve Him and your gener ation ; there you will stand aud labor, con tented to stand and labor until, in llis providence, you are given another field ( ; there you will surmount all obstacles, and rise in tjie world, and that resolution will make you the master of circumstances and surely crown with success. The mould of a man's fortunes, says Lord Ba con, is in his own hands. It is true ol time. It is true of eternity. Whether our lives shall be a failure or not, depends upon ourselves. A clear, well-defined knowledge ofmor ol distinctions, and inflexible, unbending regard for them, are among the important means of success in life. Thoroughly set tle your convictions of right and wrong, and abide by them, though the heaveus fall. Views of duty should not be vague and fluctuating, deprived from the max ims of a pliant morality, bnt fixed and im movable as given in the word of God and the utterances of an enlightened con science. Custom and usage wield a vast influ ence in the marts of trade and conformi ty thereunto is something advocated. 1 am well aware, as a necessity, if a young man just commencing business would be successful. Is this true? Must a stand ard of morals be adopted more lax and pliable than that of the gospel, in order to fchow a good balance sheet in the annual U>ttlemen£ ? I think not. God is not guilty of the great wrong and crime of placing us where even the slightest de flection from the line of rectitude and moral uprighteousness is unavoidable in order to success. He neither is tempted of evil nor tempteth he any man. Usage may sanction the deflection. There may be certain rules according to which this or that branch of business is understood to be conducted, yet which are not drawn up with the strictest regard to moral dis tinctions; but God, you may be sure, makes approving recognition of no such convenient morality. And that being true, no extent and respectability of cus tom on this broad earth, no amount of so phistical reasoning, no pica of necessity whatever, can convince me that it is the road to true success in life. Custom is a dangerous rule of action. Adopted, it may give promise of moreimmediate gain —it may temporarily run up the profits; but independently of custom, independ cntly of the will and law; of man • there are such t'v.bgs as truth and falsehood, right and wrong. These are in their ra ture eternally obligatory upon every mor al being in every relation of life. Noeir cunistances can possibly be imagined where it would be right to disregard them.— And the setting aside of the eternal rules of rectitude is unauthorized aud sinful, and will iu the end inevitably result in failure. Settle your convictions of right and wrong, then, in tho clear light of a good conscience and God'sword. and make unalterable commitment of yourselves to Let no ulluriug bait of tempora ry interest, no fair promise of large gain*- swerve you from one hair's breadth. You may be pronounced singular; you may be deemed over-scrupulous; for awhile you) rigid adherence may bear hard upou you possibly you may see fortune flowing int. yous neighbor's lap that might have been turned into yours had you yielded but i little to the usage of the world; possibly he may find a more expeditious way topo sition and wealth. Rut religious probity and religious rectitude will ultimately make you friends even in this wicke world; and these will bring you honor, fortune and material success. But even if these fail, yon will have tho precious, priceless possession of an approving con science, and the smile of an approving God. And, mark my word, the hour in coming when you will esteem these oi mose value tliau the wealth of a thousand worlds—when to possess them will be eter nal success, and to want them will be ev erlasting failure. Diligence and faithfulness in one's call ing, is another cause of success in life.— To whatever honorable pursuit a young man gives himself, to that lie should de vote the best of his energies assiduously and untiringly. If under an employer, lie should make that employer's interests conscientiously his own. For the time being they are his own, and to be tlior mgly indentified with them is the dictate dike of policy and duty. It will open, as nothing else, doors of future enterprise ind bring to his hand every facility ol prosperity. And having chosen for him self an occupation, he should determine steadily to rise, and excel in it. It was the modest conefssion of Newton that he owed his success, as a philosopher, more to ]>aticnce and attention than to any orig inal superiority of mind. Excellence and eminence may be the otlieraide of moun tainous obstacles and discouraging cir cumstances, but diligentia omnia vine it. said Cicero, —diligence conquors all things. There are various other elements that might be named, all entering into the problem of success and failure, such as he improvement of time, the acquisition of knowledge, the choice of com [pinions. But I pause to speak very briefly, before closing of only one : a deep and practic al conviction of responsibility to God.— Nothing short of this can arm the young man against the wiles of the devil, and make him steadfast in the path of and assure him of true and fiual success. Webster once said, the greatest and most important thought that ever entered his mind, was the thought, of his individual and personal responsibility to God. This great truth once fully apprehended and lodged in-ullet. Gen. Frank in munofuvcred his roops with great skill, and while leading lis men on' Friday he had two fine horses hot frotn under him, while a miu'ic ball grazed his boot. GEN. SEYMOUK.—A Washington lispatch sjiys that Gen. Seymour has been ordered to that city, and that he will probably be dismissed the ser vice. ®0t»All day on Suwlay last, at Dubuque, we learn "the heavens were black witft wild pigeons flying northward." That must have been a ! dark day. DSaj" The greatest fall on reoord was the fall of Satan. Tho next greatest was the fall of Adam. The next will be the fall of the Southern rebllion t&T In one llhodo Island regiment are fourteen brothers named Postly. Four of them are twins. Their average bight is six feet two inches.