THE PAPERS AND WRITINGS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN

VOLUME ONE

CONSTITUTIONAL EDITION

By Abraham Lincoln

Edited by Arthur Brooks Lapsley

With an Introduction by Theodore Roosevelt

The Essay on Lincoln by Carl Schurz

The Address on Lincoln by Joseph Choate

VOLUME 1. 

INTRODUCTORY

Immediately after Lincoln's re-election to the Presidency, in anoff-hand speech, delivered in response to a serenade by some of hisadmirers on the evening of November 10, 1864, he spoke as follows:

"It has long been a grave question whether any government not too strongfor the liberties of its people can be strong enough to maintain itsexistence in great emergencies. On this point, the present rebellionbrought our republic to a severe test, and the Presidential election, occurring in regular course during the rebellion, added not a littleto the strain. .. . The strife of the election is but human naturepractically applied to the facts in the case. What has occurred in thiscase must ever occur in similar cases. Human nature will not change. Inany future great national trial, compared with the men of this, we shallhave as weak and as strong, as silly and as wise, as bad and as good. Let us therefore study the incidents in this as philosophy to learnwisdom from and none of them as wrongs to be avenged. .. . Now that theelection is over, may not all having a common interest reunite in acommon fort to save our common country? For my own part, I have strivenand shall strive to avoid placing any obstacle in the way. So long as Ihave been here, I have not willingly planted a thorn in any man's bosom. While I am deeply sensible to the high compliment of a re-electionand duly grateful, as I trust, to Almighty God for having directed mycountrymen to a right conclusion, as I think for their own good, it addsnothing to my satisfaction that any other man may be disappointed orpained by the result. "

This speech has not attracted much general attention, yet it is in apeculiar degree both illustrative and typical of the great statesman whomade it, alike in its strong common-sense and in its lofty standard ofmorality. Lincoln's life, Lincoln's deeds and words, are not only ofconsuming interest to the historian, but should be intimately known toevery man engaged in the hard practical work of American political life. It is difficult to overstate how much it means to a nation to have asthe two foremost figures in its history men like Washington and Lincoln. It is good for every man in any way concerned in public life to feelthat the highest ambition any American can possibly have will begratified just in proportion as he raises himself toward the standardsset by these two men. 

It is a very poor thing, whether for nations or individuals, to advancethe history of great deeds done in the past as an excuse for doingpoorly in the present; but it is an excellent thing to study the historyof the great deeds of the past, and of the great men who did them, withan earnest desire to profit thereby so as to render better service inthe present. In their essentials, the men of the present day are muchlike the men of the past, and the live issues of the present can befaced to better advantage by men who have in good faith studied how theleaders of the nation faced the dead issues of the past. Such a study ofLincoln's life will enable us to avoid the twin gulfs of immorality andinefficiency--the gulfs which always lie one on each side of the careersalike of man and of nation. It helps nothing to have avoided one ifshipwreck is encountered in the other. The fanatic, the well-meaningmoralist of unbalanced mind, the parlor critic who condemns others buthas no power himself to do good and but little power to do ill--allthese were as alien to Lincoln as the vicious and unpatrioticthemselves. His life teaches our people that they must act with wisdom, because otherwise adherence to right will be mere sound and fury withoutsubstance; and that they must also act high-mindedly, or else what seemsto be wisdom will in the end turn out to be the most destructive kind offolly. 

Throughout his entire life, and especially after he rose to leadershipin his party, Lincoln was stirred to his depths by the sense of fealtyto a lofty ideal; but throughout his entire life, he also accepted humannature as it is, and worked with keen, practical good sense to achieveresults with the instruments at hand. It is impossible to conceive of aman farther removed from baseness, farther removed from corruption, frommere self-seeking; but it is also impossible to conceive of a man ofmore sane and healthy mind--a man less under the influence of thatfantastic and diseased morality (so fantastic and diseased as to be inreality profoundly immoral) which makes a man in this work-a-dayworld refuse to do what is possible because he cannot accomplish theimpossible. 

In the fifth volume of Lecky's History of England, the historian drawsan interesting distinction between the qualities needed for a successfulpolitical career in modern society and those which lead to eminence inthe spheres of pure intellect or pure moral effort. He says:

". .. . The moral qualities that are required in the higher spheresof statesmanship [are not] those of a hero or a saint. Passionateearnestness and self-devotion, complete concentration of every facultyon an unselfish aim, uncalculating daring, a delicacy of conscience anda loftiness of aim far exceeding those of the average of men, are herelikely to prove rather a hindrance than an assistance. The politiciandeals very largely with the superficial and the commonplace; his art isin a great measure that of skilful compromise, and in the conditionsof modern life, the statesman is likely to succeed best who possessessecondary qualities to an unusual degree, who is in the closestintellectual and moral sympathy with the average of the intelligentmen of his time, and who pursues common ideals with more than commonability. .. . Tact, business talent, knowledge of men, resolution, promptitude and sagacity in dealing with immediate emergencies, acharacter which lends itself easily to conciliation, diminishes frictionand inspires confidence, are especially needed, and they are more likelyto be found among shrewd and enlightened men of the world than among menof great original genius or of an heroic type of character. "

The American people should feel profoundly grateful that the greatestAmerican statesman since Washington, the statesman who in thisabsolutely democratic republic succeeded best, was the very man whoactually combined the two sets of qualities which the historian thusputs in antithesis. Abraham Lincoln, the rail-splitter, the Westerncountry lawyer, was one of the shrewdest and most enlightened men of theworld, and he had all the practical qualities which enable such a man toguide his countrymen; and yet he was also a genius of the heroic type, a leader who rose level to the greatest crisis through which this nationor any other nation had to pass in the nineteenth century. 

THEODORE ROOSEVELT

SAGAMORE HILL, OYSTER BAY, N. Y. , September 22, 1905. 

INTRODUCTORY NOTE

"I have endured, " wrote Lincoln not long before his death, "a greatdeal of ridicule without much malice, and have received a great deal ofkindness not quite free from ridicule. " On Easter Day, 1865, the worldknew how little this ridicule, how much this kindness, had reallysignified. Thereafter, Lincoln the man became Lincoln the hero, year byyear more heroic, until to-day, with the swift passing of those who knewhim, his figure grows ever dimmer, less real. This should not be. ForLincoln the man, patient, wise, set in a high resolve, is worth far morethan Lincoln the hero, vaguely glorious. Invaluable is the example ofthe man, intangible that of the hero. 

And, though it is not for us, as for those who in awed stillnesslistened at Gettysburg with inspired perception, to know AbrahamLincoln, yet there is for us another way whereby we may attain suchknowledge--through his words--uttered in all sincerity to those wholoved or hated him. Cold, unsatisfying they may seem, these printedwords, while we can yet speak with those who knew him, and look intoeyes that once looked into his. But in truth it is here that we find hissimple greatness, his great simplicity, and though no man tried less soto show his power, no man has so shown it more clearly. 

Thus these writings of Abraham Lincoln are associated with those ofWashington, Hamilton, Franklin, and of the other "Founders of theRepublic, " not that Lincoln should become still more of the past, but, rather, that he with them should become still more of the present. However faint and mythical may grow the story of that Great Struggle, the leader, Lincoln, at least should remain a real, living American. No matter how clearly, how directly, Lincoln has shown himself in hiswritings, we yet should not forget those men whose minds, from theirvarious view-points, have illumined for us his character. As this nationowes a great debt to Lincoln, so, also, Lincoln's memory owes a greatdebt to a nation which, as no other nation could have done, has beenable to appreciate his full worth. Among the many who have brought aboutthis appreciation, those only whose estimates have been placed in thesevolumes may be mentioned here. To President Roosevelt, to Mr. Schurzand to Mr. Choate, the editor, for himself, for the publishers, and onbehalf of the readers, wishes to offer his sincere acknowledgments. 

Thanks are also due, for valuable and sympathetic assistance rendered inthe preparation of this work, to Mr. Gilbert A. Tracy, of Putnam, Conn. , Major William H. Lambert, of Philadelphia, and Mr. C. F. Gunther, ofChicago, to the Chicago Historical Association and personally toits capable Secretary, Miss McIlvaine, to Major Henry S. Burrage, ofPortland, Me. , and to General Thomas J. Henderson, of Illinois. 

For various courtesies received, the editor is furthermore indebted tothe Librarian of the Library of Congress; to Messrs. McClure, Phillips& Co. , D. Appleton & Co. , Macmillan & Co. , Dodd, Mead & Co. , and HarperBrothers, of New York; to Houghton, Mifflin & Co. , Dana, Estes & Co. , and L. C. Page & Co. , of Boston; to A. C. McClure & Co. , of Chicago; toThe Robert Clarke Co. , of Cincinnati, and to the J. B. Lippincott Co. , of Philadelphia. 

It is hardly necessary to add that every effort has been made by theeditor to bring into these volumes whatever material may there properlybelong, material much of which is widely scattered in public librariesand in private collections. He has been fortunate in securing certaininteresting correspondence and papers which had not before come intoprint in book form. Information concerning some of these papers hadreached him too late to enable the papers to find place in their properchronological order in the set. Rather, however, than not to presentthese papers to the readers they have been included in the seventhvolume of the set, which concludes the "Writings. "

 [These later papers are, in this etext, re-arranged into chronologic order. D. W. ]

October, 1905, A. B. L. 

ABRAHAM LINCOLN: AN ESSAY BY CARL SHURZ

No American can study the character and career of Abraham Lincolnwithout being carried away by sentimental emotions. We are alwaysinclined to idealize that which we love, --a state of mind veryunfavorable to the exercise of sober critical judgment. It is thereforenot surprising that most of those who have written or spoken on thatextraordinary man, even while conscientiously endeavoring to draw alifelike portraiture of his being, and to form a just estimate of hispublic conduct, should have drifted into more or less indiscriminatingeulogy, painting his great features in the most glowing colors, andcovering with tender shadings whatever might look like a blemish. 

But his standing before posterity will not be exalted by mere praise ofhis virtues and abilities, nor by any concealment of his limitationsand faults. The stature of the great man, one of whose peculiar charmsconsisted in his being so unlike all other great men, will rather losethan gain by the idealization which so easily runs into the commonplace. For it was distinctly the weird mixture of qualities and forces in him, of the lofty with the common, the ideal with the uncouth, of that whichhe had become with that which he had not ceased to be, that made himso fascinating a character among his fellow-men, gave him his singularpower over their minds and hearts, and fitted him to be the greatestleader in the greatest crisis of our national life. 

His was indeed a marvellous growth. The statesman or the military heroborn and reared in a log cabin is a familiar figure in American history;but we may search in vain among our celebrities for one whose origin andearly life equalled Abraham Lincoln's in wretchedness. He first saw thelight in a miserable hovel in Kentucky, on a farm consisting of afew barren acres in a dreary neighborhood; his father a typical "poorSouthern white, " shiftless and without ambition for himself or hischildren, constantly looking for a new piece of land on which he mightmake a living without much work; his mother, in her youth handsome andbright, grown prematurely coarse in feature and soured in mind by dailytoil and care; the whole household squalid, cheerless, and utterly voidof elevating inspirations. .. Only when the family had "moved" into themalarious backwoods of Indiana, the mother had died, and a stepmother, a woman of thrift and energy, had taken charge of the children, theshaggy-headed, ragged, barefooted, forlorn boy, then seven years old, "began to feel like a human being. " Hard work was his early lot. When amere boy he had to help in supporting the family, either on his father'sclearing, or hired out to other farmers to plough, or dig ditches, orchop wood, or drive ox teams; occasionally also to "tend the baby, "when the farmer's wife was otherwise engaged. He could regard it as anadvancement to a higher sphere of activity when he obtained work in a"crossroads store, " where he amused the customers by his talk over thecounter; for he soon distinguished himself among the backwoods folkas one who had something to say worth listening to. To win thatdistinction, he had to draw mainly upon his wits; for, while his thirstfor knowledge was great, his opportunities for satisfying that thirstwere wofully slender. 

In the log schoolhouse, which he could visit but little, he was taughtonly reading, writing, and elementary arithmetic. Among the peopleof the settlement, bush farmers and small tradesmen, he found none ofuncommon intelligence or education; but some of them had a few books, which he borrowed eagerly. Thus he read and reread, AEsop's Fables, learning to tell stories with a point and to argue by parables; he readRobinson Crusoe, The Pilgrim's Progress, a short history of the UnitedStates, and Weems's Life of Washington. To the town constable's he wentto read the Revised Statutes of Indiana. Every printed page that fellinto his hands he would greedily devour, and his family and friendswatched him with wonder, as the uncouth boy, after his daily work, crouched in a corner of the log cabin or outside under a tree, absorbedin a book while munching his supper of corn bread. In this manner hebegan to gather some knowledge, and sometimes he would astonish thegirls with such startling remarks as that the earth was moving aroundthe sun, and not the sun around the earth, and they marvelled where"Abe" could have got such queer notions. Soon he also felt the impulseto write; not only making extracts from books he wished to remember, butalso composing little essays of his own. First he sketched these withcharcoal on a wooden shovel scraped white with a drawing-knife, or onbasswood shingles. Then he transferred them to paper, which was a scarcecommodity in the Lincoln household; taking care to cut his expressionsclose, so that they might not cover too much space, --a style-formingmethod greatly to be commended. Seeing boys put a burning coal on theback of a wood turtle, he was moved to write on cruelty to animals. Seeing men intoxicated with whiskey, he wrote on temperance. Inverse-making, too, he tried himself, and in satire on persons offensiveto him or others, --satire the rustic wit of which was not always fit forears polite. Also political thoughts he put upon paper, and some ofhis pieces were even deemed good enough for publication in the countyweekly. 

Thus he won a neighborhood reputation as a clever young man, which heincreased by his performances as a speaker, not seldom drawing uponhimself the dissatisfaction of his employers by mounting a stump in thefield, and keeping the farm hands from their work by little speeches ina jocose and sometimes also a serious vein. At the rude social frolicsof the settlement he became an important person, telling funny, stories, mimicking the itinerant preachers who had happened to pass by, andmaking his mark at wrestling matches, too; for at the age of seventeenhe had attained his full height, six feet four inches in his stockings, if he had any, and a terribly muscular clodhopper he was. But hewas known never to use his extraordinary strength to the injury orhumiliation of others; rather to do them a kindly turn, or to enforcejustice and fair dealing between them. All this made him a favorite inbackwoods society, although in some things he appeared a little odd, to his friends. Far more than any of them, he was given not only toreading, but to fits of abstraction, to quiet musing with himself, andalso to strange spells of melancholy, from which he often would pass ina moment to rollicking outbursts of droll humor. But on the whole hewas one of the people among whom he lived; in appearance perhaps evena little more uncouth than most of them, --a very tall, rawboned youth, with large features, dark, shrivelled skin, and rebellious hair; hisarms and legs long, out of proportion; clad in deerskin trousers, whichfrom frequent exposure to the rain had shrunk so as to sit tightly onhis limbs, leaving several inches of bluish shin exposed between theirlower end and the heavy tan-colored shoes; the nether garment heldusually by only one suspender, that was strung over a coarse homemadeshirt; the head covered in winter with a coonskin cap, in summer with arough straw hat of uncertain shape, without a band. 

It is doubtful whether he felt himself much superior to hissurroundings, although he confessed to a yearning for some knowledgeof the world outside of the circle in which he lived. This wish wasgratified; but how? At the age of nineteen he went down the Mississippito New Orleans as a flatboat hand, temporarily joining a trade manymembers of which at that time still took pride in being called "halfhorse and half alligator. " After his return he worked and lived in theold way until the spring of 1830, when his father "moved again, " thistime to Illinois; and on the journey of fifteen days "Abe" had to drivethe ox wagon which carried the household goods. Another log cabin wasbuilt, and then, fencing a field, Abraham Lincoln split those historicrails which were destined to play so picturesque a part in thePresidential campaign twenty-eight years later. 

Having come of age, Lincoln left the family, and "struck out forhimself. " He had to "take jobs whenever he could get them. " The firstof these carried him again as a flatboat hand to New Orleans. Theresomething happened that made a lasting impression upon his soul:he witnessed a slave auction. "His heart bled, " wrote one of hiscompanions; "said nothing much; was silent; looked bad. I can say, knowing it, that it was on this trip that he formed his opinion onslavery. It run its iron in him then and there, May, 1831. I haveheard him say so often. " Then he lived several years at New Salem, in Illinois, a small mushroom village, with a mill, some "stores" andwhiskey shops, that rose quickly, and soon disappeared again. It was adesolate, disjointed, half-working and half-loitering life, without anyother aim than to gain food and shelter from day to day. He served aspilot on a steamboat trip, then as clerk in a store and a mill; businessfailing, he was adrift for some time. Being compelled to measure hisstrength with the chief bully of the neighborhood, and overcoming him, he became a noted person in that muscular community, and won the esteemand friendship of the ruling gang of ruffians to such a degree that, when the Black Hawk war broke out, they elected him, a young man oftwenty-three, captain of a volunteer company, composed mainly of roughsof their kind. He took the field, and his most noteworthy deed of valorconsisted, not in killing an Indian, but in protecting against his ownmen, at the peril of his own life, the life of an old savage who hadstrayed into his camp. 

The Black Hawk war over, he turned to politics. The step from thecaptaincy of a volunteer company to a candidacy for a seat in theLegislature seemed a natural one. But his popularity, although greatin New Salem, had not spread far enough over the district, and he wasdefeated. Then the wretched hand-to-mouth struggle began again. He "setup in store-business" with a dissolute partner, who drank whiskey whileLincoln was reading books. The result was a disastrous failure and aload of debt. Thereupon he became a deputy surveyor, and was appointedpostmaster of New Salem, the business of the post-office being so smallthat he could carry the incoming and outgoing mail in his hat. All thiscould not lift him from poverty, and his surveying instruments and horseand saddle were sold by the sheriff for debt. 

But while all this misery was upon him his ambition rose to higher aims. He walked many miles to borrow from a schoolmaster a grammar with whichto improve his language. A lawyer lent him a copy of Blackstone, and hebegan to study law. 

People would look wonderingly at the grotesque figure lying in thegrass, "with his feet up a tree, " or sitting on a fence, as, absorbedin a book, he learned to construct correct sentences and made himselfa jurist. At once he gained a little practice, pettifogging before ajustice of the peace for friends, without expecting a fee. Judicialfunctions, too, were thrust upon him, but only at horse-races orwrestling matches, where his acknowledged honesty and fairness gave hisverdicts undisputed authority. His popularity grew apace, and soonhe could be a candidate for the Legislature again. Although he calledhimself a Whig, an ardent admirer of Henry Clay, his clever stumpspeeches won him the election in the strongly Democratic district. Then for the first time, perhaps, he thought seriously of his outwardappearance. So far he had been content with a garb of "Kentucky jeans, "not seldom ragged, usually patched, and always shabby. Now, he borrowedsome money from a friend to buy a new suit of clothes--"store clothes"fit for a Sangamon County statesman; and thus adorned he set out for thestate capital, Vandalia, to take his seat among the lawmakers. 

His legislative career, which stretched over several sessions--forhe was thrice re-elected, in 1836, 1838, and 1840--was not remarkablybrilliant. He did, indeed, not lack ambition. He dreamed even of makinghimself "the De Witt Clinton of Illinois, " and he actually distinguishedhimself by zealous and effective work in those "log-rolling" operationsby which the young State received "a general system of internalimprovements" in the shape of railroads, canals, and banks, --a recklesspolicy, burdening the State with debt, and producing the usual crop ofpolitical demoralization, but a policy characteristic of the time andthe impatiently enterprising spirit of the Western people. Lincoln, no doubt with the best intentions, but with little knowledge of thesubject, simply followed the popular current. The achievement in which, perhaps, he gloried most was the removal of the State government fromVandalia to Springfield; one of those triumphs of political managementwhich are apt to be the pride of the small politician's statesmanship. One thing, however, he did in which his true nature asserted itself, andwhich gave distinct promise of the future pursuit of high aims. Againstan overwhelming preponderance of sentiment in the Legislature, followedby only one other member, he recorded his protest against a proslaveryresolution, --that protest declaring "the institution of slavery tobe founded on both injustice and bad policy. " This was not only theirrepressible voice of his conscience; it was true moral valor, too; forat that time, in many parts of the West, an abolitionist was regardedas little better than a horse-thief, and even "Abe Lincoln" would hardlyhave been forgiven his antislavery principles, had he not been knownas such an "uncommon good fellow. " But here, in obedience to the greatconviction of his life, he manifested his courage to stand alone, thatcourage which is the first requisite of leadership in a great cause. 

Together with his reputation and influence as a politician grew his lawpractice, especially after he had removed from New Salem to Springfield, and associated himself with a practitioner of good standing. He had nowat last won a fixed position in society. He became a successful lawyer, less, indeed, by his learning as a jurist than by his effectiveness asan advocate and by the striking uprightness of his character; and it maytruly be said that his vivid sense of truth and justice had much to dowith his effectiveness as an advocate. He would refuse to act as theattorney even of personal friends when he saw the right on the otherside. He would abandon cases, even during trial, when the testimonyconvinced him that his client was in the wrong. He would dissuade thosewho sought his service from pursuing an obtainable advantage when theirclaims seemed to him unfair. Presenting his very first case in theUnited States Circuit Court, the only question being one of authority, he declared that, upon careful examination, he found all the authoritieson the other side, and none on his. Persons accused of crime, when hethought them guilty, he would not defend at all, or, attempting theirdefence, he was unable to put forth his powers. One notable exception ison record, when his personal sympathies had been strongly aroused. Butwhen he felt himself to be the protector of innocence, the defenderof justice, or the prosecutor of wrong, he frequently disclosed suchunexpected resources of reasoning, such depth of feeling, and rose tosuch fervor of appeal as to astonish and overwhelm his hearers, and makehim fairly irresistible. Even an ordinary law argument, coming from him, seldom failed to produce the impression that he was profoundly convincedof the soundness of his position. It is not surprising that the mereappearance of so conscientious an attorney in any case should havecarried, not only to juries, but even to judges, almost a presumptionof right on his side, and that the people began to call him, sincerelymeaning it, "honest Abe Lincoln. "

In the meantime he had private sorrows and trials of a painfullyafflicting nature. He had loved and been loved by a fair and estimablegirl, Ann Rutledge, who died in the flower of her youth and beauty, andhe mourned her loss with such intensity of grief that his friends fearedfor his reason. Recovering from his morbid depression, he bestowedwhat he thought a new affection upon another lady, who refused him. And finally, moderately prosperous in his worldly affairs, and havingprospects of political distinction before him, he paid his addresses toMary Todd, of Kentucky, and was accepted. But then tormenting doubts ofthe genuineness of his own affection for her, of the compatibilityof their characters, and of their future happiness came upon him. Hisdistress was so great that he felt himself in danger of suicide, andfeared to carry a pocket-knife with him; and he gave mortal offenceto his bride by not appearing on the appointed wedding day. Now thetorturing consciousness of the wrong he had done her grew unendurable. He won back her affection, ended the agony by marrying her, and became afaithful and patient husband and a good father. But it was no secretto those who knew the family well that his domestic life was full oftrials. The erratic temper of his wife not seldom put the gentlenessof his nature to the severest tests; and these troubles and struggles, which accompanied him through all the vicissitudes of his life fromthe modest home in Springfield to the White House at Washington, adding untold private heart-burnings to his public cares, and sometimesprecipitating upon him incredible embarrassments in the discharge of hispublic duties, form one of the most pathetic features of his career. 

He continued to "ride the circuit, " read books while travelling in hisbuggy, told funny stories to his fellow-lawyers in the tavern, chattedfamiliarly with his neighbors around the stove in the store and at thepost-office, had his hours of melancholy brooding as of old, and becamemore and more widely known and trusted and beloved among the peopleof his State for his ability as a lawyer and politician, for theuprightness of his character and the overflowing spring of sympathetickindness in his heart. His main ambition was confessedly that ofpolitical distinction; but hardly any one would at that time have seenin him the man destined to lead the nation through the greatest crisisof the century. 

His time had not yet come when, in 1846, he was elected to Congress. Ina clever speech in the House of Representatives he denounced PresidentPolk for having unjustly forced war upon Mexico, and he amused theCommittee of the Whole by a witty attack upon General Cass. Moreimportant was the expression he gave to his antislavery impulsesby offering a bill looking to the emancipation of the slaves in theDistrict of Columbia, and by his repeated votes for the famous WilmotProviso, intended to exclude slavery from the Territories acquired fromMexico. But when, at the expiration of his term, in March, 1849, he lefthis seat, he gloomily despaired of ever seeing the day when the causenearest to his heart would be rightly grasped by the people, and when hewould be able to render any service to his country in solving the greatproblem. Nor had his career as a member of Congress in any sense beensuch as to gratify his ambition. Indeed, if he ever had any belief in agreat destiny for himself, it must have been weak at that period; for heactually sought to obtain from the new Whig President, General Taylor, the place of Commissioner of the General Land Office; willing tobury himself in one of the administrative bureaus of the government. Fortunately for the country, he failed; and no less fortunately, when, later, the territorial governorship of Oregon was offered to him, Mrs. Lincoln's protest induced him to decline it. Returning to Springfield, he gave himself with renewed zest to his law practice, acquiesced in theCompromise of 1850 with reluctance and a mental reservation, supportedin the Presidential campaign of 1852 the Whig candidate in somespiritless speeches, and took but a languid interest in the politics ofthe day. But just then his time was drawing near. 

The peace promised, and apparently inaugurated, by the Compromise of1850 was rudely broken by the introduction of the Kansas-Nebraska Billin 1854. The repeal of the Missouri Compromise, opening the Territoriesof the United States, the heritage of coming generations, to theinvasion of slavery, suddenly revealed the whole significance of theslavery question to the people of the free States, and thrust itselfinto the politics of the country as the paramount issue. Something likean electric shock flashed through the North. Men who but a short timebefore had been absorbed by their business pursuits, and deprecated allpolitical agitation, were startled out of their security by a suddenalarm, and excitedly took sides. That restless trouble of conscienceabout slavery, which even in times of apparent repose had secretlydisturbed the souls of Northern people, broke forth in an utterancelouder than ever. The bonds of accustomed party allegiance gave way. Antislavery Democrats and antislavery Whigs felt themselves drawntogether by a common overpowering sentiment, and soon they began torally in a new organization. The Republican party sprang into being tomeet the overruling call of the hour. Then Abraham Lincoln's time wascome. He rapidly advanced to a position of conspicuous championship inthe struggle. This, however, was not owing to his virtues and abilitiesalone. Indeed, the slavery question stirred his soul in its profoundestdepths; it was, as one of his intimate friends said, "the only one onwhich he would become excited"; it called forth all his faculties andenergies. Yet there were many others who, having long and arduouslyfought the antislavery battle in the popular assembly, or in the press, or in the halls of Congress, far surpassed him in prestige, and comparedwith whom he was still an obscure and untried man. His reputation, although highly honorable and well earned, had so far been essentiallylocal. As a stump-speaker in Whig canvasses outside of his State he hadattracted comparatively little attention; but in Illinois he had beenrecognized as one of the foremost men of the Whig party. Among theopponents of the Nebraska Bill he occupied in his State so importanta position, that in 1856 he was the choice of a large majority of the"Anti-Nebraska men" in the Legislature for a seat in the Senate of theUnited States which then became vacant; and when he, an old Whig, couldnot obtain the votes of the Anti-Nebraska Democrats necessary to makea majority, he generously urged his friends to transfer their votesto Lyman Trumbull, who was then elected. Two years later, in thefirst national convention of the Republican party, the delegation fromIllinois brought him forward as a candidate for the vice-presidency, andhe received respectable support. Still, the name of Abraham Lincoln wasnot widely known beyond the boundaries of his own State. But now it wasthis local prominence in Illinois that put him in a position of peculiaradvantage on the battlefield of national politics. In the assault on theMissouri Compromise which broke down all legal barriers to the spreadof slavery Stephen Arnold Douglas was the ostensible leader and centralfigure; and Douglas was a Senator from Illinois, Lincoln's State. Douglas's national theatre of action was the Senate, but in hisconstituency in Illinois were the roots of his official position andpower. What he did in the Senate he had to justify before the peopleof Illinois, in order to maintain himself in place; and in Illinois alleyes turned to Lincoln as Douglas's natural antagonist. 

As very young men they had come to Illinois, Lincoln from Indiana, Douglas from Vermont, and had grown up together in public life, Douglasas a Democrat, Lincoln as a Whig. They had met first in Vandalia, in1834, when Lincoln was in the Legislature and Douglas in the lobby; andagain in 1836, both as members of the Legislature. Douglas, a very ablepolitician, of the agile, combative, audacious, "pushing" sort, rose inpolitical distinction with remarkable rapidity. In quick succession hebecame a member of the Legislature, a State's attorney, secretaryof state, a judge on the supreme bench of Illinois, three times aRepresentative in Congress, and a Senator of the United States when onlythirty-nine years old. In the National Democratic convention of 1852 heappeared even as an aspirant to the nomination for the Presidency, asthe favorite of "young America, " and received a respectable vote. He hadfar outstripped Lincoln in what is commonly called political successand in reputation. But it had frequently happened that in politicalcampaigns Lincoln felt himself impelled, or was selected by his Whigfriends, to answer Douglas's speeches; and thus the two were lookedupon, in a large part of the State at least, as the representativecombatants of their respective parties in the debates beforepopular meetings. As soon, therefore, as, after the passage of hisKansas-Nebraska Bill, Douglas returned to Illinois to defend his causebefore his constituents, Lincoln, obeying not only his own impulse, butalso general expectation, stepped forward as his principal opponent. Thus the struggle about the principles involved in the Kansas-NebraskaBill, or, in a broader sense, the struggle between freedom and slavery, assumed in Illinois the outward form of a personal contest betweenLincoln and Douglas; and, as it continued and became more animated, that personal contest in Illinois was watched with constantly increasinginterest by the whole country. When, in 1858, Douglas's senatorial termbeing about to expire, Lincoln was formally designated by the Republicanconvention of Illinois as their candidate for the Senate, to takeDouglas's place, and the two contestants agreed to debate the questionsat issue face to face in a series of public meetings, the eyes of thewhole American people were turned eagerly to that one point: and thespectacle reminded one of those lays of ancient times telling of twoarmies, in battle array, standing still to see their two principalchampions fight out the contested cause between the lines in singlecombat. 

Lincoln had then reached the full maturity of his powers. His equipmentas a statesman did not embrace a comprehensive knowledge of publicaffairs. What he had studied he had indeed made his own, with the eagercraving and that zealous tenacity characteristic of superior mindslearning under difficulties. But his narrow opportunities and theunsteady life he had led during his younger years had not permittedthe accumulation of large stores in his mind. It is true, in politicalcampaigns he had occasionally spoken on the ostensible issues betweenthe Whigs and the Democrats, the tariff, internal improvements, banks, and so on, but only in a perfunctory manner. Had he ever given muchserious thought and study to these subjects, it is safe to assume thata mind so prolific of original conceits as his would certainly haveproduced some utterance upon them worth remembering. His soul hadevidently never been deeply stirred by such topics. But when his moralnature was aroused, his brain developed an untiring activity until ithad mastered all the knowledge within reach. As soon as the repeal ofthe Missouri Compromise had thrust the slavery question into politicsas the paramount issue, Lincoln plunged into an arduous study of allits legal, historical, and moral aspects, and then his mind became acomplete arsenal of argument. His rich natural gifts, trained by longand varied practice, had made him an orator of rare persuasiveness. Inhis immature days, he had pleased himself for a short period with thatinflated, high-flown style which, among the uncultivated, passes for"beautiful speaking. " His inborn truthfulness and his artistic instinctsoon overcame that aberration and revealed to him the noble beauty andstrength of simplicity. He possessed an uncommon power of clear andcompact statement, which might have reminded those who knew the storyof his early youth of the efforts of the poor boy, when he copied hiscompositions from the scraped wooden shovel, carefully to trim hisexpressions in order to save paper. His language had the energy ofhonest directness and he was a master of logical lucidity. He lovedto point and enliven his reasoning by humorous illustrations, usuallyanecdotes of Western life, of which he had an inexhaustible store at hiscommand. These anecdotes had not seldom a flavor of rustic robustnessabout them, but he used them with great effect, while amusing theaudience, to give life to an abstraction, to explode an absurdity, toclinch an argument, to drive home an admonition. The natural kindlinessof his tone, softening prejudice and disarming partisan rancor, wouldoften open to his reasoning a way into minds most unwilling to receiveit. 

Yet his greatest power consisted in the charm of his individuality. Thatcharm did not, in the ordinary way, appeal to the ear or to the eye. Hisvoice was not melodious; rather shrill and piercing, especially when itrose to its high treble in moments of great animation. His figure wasunhandsome, and the action of his unwieldy limbs awkward. He commandednone of the outward graces of oratory as they are commonly understood. His charm was of a different kind. It flowed from the rare depth andgenuineness of his convictions and his sympathetic feelings. Sympathywas the strongest element in his nature. One of his biographers, whoknew him before he became President, says: "Lincoln's compassion mightbe stirred deeply by an object present, but never by an object absentand unseen. In the former case he would most likely extend relief, withlittle inquiry into the merits of the case, because, as he expressed ithimself, it `took a pain out of his own heart. '" Only half of this iscorrect. It is certainly true that he could not witness any individualdistress or oppression, or any kind of suffering, without feeling a pangof pain himself, and that by relieving as much as he could the sufferingof others he put an end to his own. This compassionate impulse to helphe felt not only for human beings, but for every living creature. As inhis boyhood he angrily reproved the boys who tormented a wood turtle byputting a burning coal on its back, so, we are told, he would, when amature man, on a journey, dismount from his buggy and wade waist-deepin mire to rescue a pig struggling in a swamp. Indeed, appeals to hiscompassion were so irresistible to him, and he felt it so difficultto refuse anything when his refusal could give pain, that he himselfsometimes spoke of his inability to say "no" as a positive weakness. But that certainly does not prove that his compassionate feeling wasconfined to individual cases of suffering witnessed with his own eyes. As the boy was moved by the aspect of the tortured wood turtle tocompose an essay against cruelty to animals in general, so the aspect ofother cases of suffering and wrong wrought up his moral nature, and sethis mind to work against cruelty, injustice, and oppression in general. 

As his sympathy went forth to others, it attracted others to him. Especially those whom he called the "plain people" felt themselves drawnto him by the instinctive feeling that he understood, esteemed, andappreciated them. He had grown up among the poor, the lowly, theignorant. He never ceased to remember the good souls he had met amongthem, and the many kindnesses they had done him. Although in his mentaldevelopment he had risen far above them, he never looked down upon them. How they felt and how they reasoned he knew, for so he had once felt andreasoned himself. How they could be moved he knew, for so he had oncebeen moved himself and practised moving others. His mind was much largerthan theirs, but it thoroughly comprehended theirs; and while he thoughtmuch farther than they, their thoughts were ever present to him. Nor hadthe visible distance between them grown as wide as his rise in the worldwould seem to have warranted. Much of his backwoods speech and mannersstill clung to him. Although he had become "Mr. Lincoln" to his lateracquaintances, he was still "Abe" to the "Nats" and "Billys" and "Daves"of his youth; and their familiarity neither appeared unnatural tothem, nor was it in the least awkward to him. He still told andenjoyed stories similar to those he had told and enjoyed in the Indianasettlement and at New Salem. His wants remained as modest as they hadever been; his domestic habits had by no means completely accommodatedthemselves to those of his more highborn wife; and though the "Kentuckyjeans" apparel had long been dropped, his clothes of better materialand better make would sit ill sorted on his gigantic limbs. His cottonumbrella, without a handle, and tied together with a coarse string tokeep it from flapping, which he carried on his circuit rides, is said tobe remembered still by some of his surviving neighbors. This rusticityof habit was utterly free from that affected contempt of refinement andcomfort which self-made men sometimes carry into their more affluentcircumstances. To Abraham Lincoln it was entirely natural, and all thosewho came into contact with him knew it to be so. In his ways of thinkingand feeling he had become a gentleman in the highest sense, but therefining process had polished but little the outward form. The plainpeople, therefore, still considered "honest Abe Lincoln" one ofthemselves; and when they felt, which they no doubt frequently did, thathis thoughts and aspirations moved in a sphere above their own, they were all the more proud of him, without any diminutionof fellow-feeling. It was this relation of mutual sympathy andunderstanding between Lincoln and the plain people that gave him hispeculiar power as a public man, and singularly fitted him, as we shallsee, for that leadership which was preeminently required in the greatcrisis then coming on, --the leadership which indeed thinks and movesahead of the masses, but always remains within sight and sympathetictouch of them. 

He entered upon the campaign of 1858 better equipped than he had everbeen before. He not only instinctively felt, but he had convincedhimself by arduous study, that in this struggle against the spread ofslavery he had right, justice, philosophy, the enlightened opinion ofmankind, history, the Constitution, and good policy on his side. Itwas observed that after he began to discuss the slavery question hisspeeches were pitched in a much loftier key than his former oratoricalefforts. While he remained fond of telling funny stories in privateconversation, they disappeared more and more from his public discourse. He would still now and then point his argument with expressions ofinimitable quaintness, and flash out rays of kindly humor and wittyirony; but his general tone was serious, and rose sometimes to genuinesolemnity. His masterly skill in dialectical thrust and parry, hiswealth of knowledge, his power of reasoning and elevation of sentiment, disclosed in language of rare precision, strength, and beauty, notseldom astonished his old friends. 

Neither of the two champions could have found a more formidableantagonist than each now met in the other. Douglas was by far the mostconspicuous member of his party. His admirers had dubbed him "the LittleGiant, " contrasting in that nickname the greatness of his mind with thesmallness of his body. But though of low stature, his broad-shoulderedfigure appeared uncommonly sturdy, and there was something lion-like inthe squareness of his brow and jaw, and in the defiant shake of his longhair. His loud and persistent advocacy of territorial expansion, in thename of patriotism and "manifest destiny, " had given him an enthusiasticfollowing among the young and ardent. Great natural parts, a highlycombative temperament, and long training had made him a debaterunsurpassed in a Senate filled with able men. He could be as forceful inhis appeals to patriotic feelings as he was fierce in denunciation andthoroughly skilled in all the baser tricks of parliamentary pugilism. While genial and rollicking in his social intercourse--the idol of the"boys" he felt himself one of the most renowned statesmen of his time, and would frequently meet his opponents with an overbearing haughtiness, as persons more to be pitied than to be feared. In his speech openingthe campaign of 1858, he spoke of Lincoln, whom the Republicans haddared to advance as their candidate for "his" place in the Senate, withan air of patronizing if not contemptuous condescension, as "a kind, amiable, and intelligent gentleman and a good citizen. " The Little Giantwould have been pleased to pass off his antagonist as a tall dwarf. Heknew Lincoln too well, however, to indulge himself seriously in such adelusion. But the political situation was at that moment in a curioustangle, and Douglas could expect to derive from the confusion greatadvantage over his opponent. 

By the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, opening the Territories to theingress of slavery, Douglas had pleased the South, but greatly alarmedthe North. He had sought to conciliate Northern sentiment by appendingto his Kansas-Nebraska Bill the declaration that its intent was "notto legislate slavery into any State or Territory, nor to exclude ittherefrom, but to leave the people thereof perfectly free to formand regulate their institutions in their own way, subject only to theConstitution of the United States. " This he called "the great principleof popular sovereignty. " When asked whether, under this act, the peopleof a Territory, before its admission as a State, would have the rightto exclude slavery, he answered, "That is a question for the courtsto decide. " Then came the famous "Dred Scott decision, " in which theSupreme Court held substantially that the right to hold slavesas property existed in the Territories by virtue of the FederalConstitution, and that this right could not be denied by any act of aterritorial government. This, of course, denied the right of the peopleof any Territory to exclude slavery while they were in a territorialcondition, and it alarmed the Northern people still more. Douglasrecognized the binding force of the decision of the Supreme Court, atthe same time maintaining, most illogically, that his great principleof popular sovereignty remained in force nevertheless. Meanwhile, theproslavery people of western Missouri, the so-called "border ruffians, "had invaded Kansas, set up a constitutional convention, madea constitution of an extreme pro-slavery type, the "LecomptonConstitution, " refused to submit it fairly to a vote of the people ofKansas, and then referred it to Congress for acceptance, --seeking thusto accomplish the admission of Kansas as a slave State. Had Douglassupported such a scheme, he would have lost all foothold in the North. In the name of popular sovereignty he loudly declared his opposition tothe acceptance of any constitution not sanctioned by a formal popularvote. He "did not care, " he said, "whether slavery be voted up or down, "but there must be a fair vote of the people. Thus he drew upon himselfthe hostility of the Buchanan administration, which was controlled bythe proslavery interest, but he saved his Northern following. Morethan this, not only did his Democratic admirers now call him "the truechampion of freedom, " but even some Republicans of large influence, prominent among them Horace Greeley, sympathizing with Douglas in hisfight against the Lecompton Constitution, and hoping to detach himpermanently from the proslavery interest and to force a lasting breachin the Democratic party, seriously advised the Republicans of Illinoisto give up their opposition to Douglas, and to help re-elect him to theSenate. Lincoln was not of that opinion. He believed that great popularmovements can succeed only when guided by their faithful friends, andthat the antislavery cause could not safely be entrusted to the keepingof one who "did not care whether slavery be voted up or down. " Thisopinion prevailed in Illinois; but the influences within the Republicanparty over which it prevailed yielded only a reluctant acquiescence, ifthey acquiesced at all, after having materially strengthened Douglas'sposition. Such was the situation of things when the campaign of 1858between Lincoln and Douglas began. 

Lincoln opened the campaign on his side at the convention whichnominated him as the Republican candidate for the senatorship, witha memorable saying which sounded like a shout from the watchtower ofhistory: "A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe thisgovernment cannot endure permanently half slave and half free. I do notexpect the Union to be dissolved. I do not expect the house to fall, butI expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing orall the other. Either the opponents of slavery will arrest the furtherspread of it, and place it where the public mind shall rest in thebelief that it is in the course of ultimate extinction, or its advocateswill push it forward, till it shall become alike lawful in all theStates, --old as well as new, North as well as South. " Then he proceededto point out that the Nebraska doctrine combined with the Dred Scottdecision worked in the direction of making the nation "all slave. " Herewas the "irrepressible conflict" spoken of by Seward a short time later, in a speech made famous mainly by that phrase. If there was any newdiscovery in it, the right of priority was Lincoln's. This utteranceproved not only his statesmanlike conception of the issue, but also, in his situation as a candidate, the firmness of his moral courage. The friends to whom he had read the draught of this speech before hedelivered it warned him anxiously that its delivery might be fatal tohis success in the election. This was shrewd advice, in the ordinarysense. While a slaveholder could threaten disunion with impunity, themere suggestion that the existence of slavery was incompatible withfreedom in the Union would hazard the political chances of any publicman in the North. But Lincoln was inflexible. "It is true, " said he, "and I will deliver it as written. .. . I would rather be defeated withthese expressions in my speech held up and discussed before the peoplethan be victorious without them. " The statesman was right in hisfar-seeing judgment and his conscientious statement of the truth, butthe practical politicians were also right in their prediction of theimmediate effect. Douglas instantly seized upon the declaration that ahouse divided against itself cannot stand as the main objective point ofhis attack, interpreting it as an incitement to a "relentless sectionalwar, " and there is no doubt that the persistent reiteration of thischarge served to frighten not a few timid souls. 

Lincoln constantly endeavored to bring the moral and philosophical sideof the subject to the foreground. "Slavery is wrong" was the keynote ofall his speeches. To Douglas's glittering sophism that the right of thepeople of a Territory to have slavery or not, as they might desire, wasin accordance with the principle of true popular sovereignty, he madethe pointed answer: "Then true popular sovereignty, according to SenatorDouglas, means that, when one man makes another man his slave, nothird man shall be allowed to object. " To Douglas's argument thatthe principle which demanded that the people of a Territory should bepermitted to choose whether they would have slavery or not "originatedwhen God made man, and placed good and evil before him, allowing himto choose upon his own responsibility, " Lincoln solemnly replied: "No;God--did not place good and evil before man, telling him to make hischoice. On the contrary, God did tell him there was one tree of thefruit of which he should not eat, upon pain of death. " He did not, however, place himself on the most advanced ground taken by the radicalanti-slavery men. He admitted that, under the Constitution, "theSouthern people were entitled to a Congressional fugitive slave law, "although he did not approve the fugitive slave law then existing. Hedeclared also that, if slavery were kept out of the Territories duringtheir territorial existence, as it should be, and if then the people ofany Territory, having a fair chance and a clear field, should do suchan extraordinary thing as to adopt a slave constitution, uninfluenced bythe actual presence of the institution among them, he saw no alternativebut to admit such a Territory into the Union. He declared further that, while he should be exceedingly glad to see slavery abolished in theDistrict of Columbia, he would, as a member of Congress, with hispresent views, not endeavor to bring on that abolition except oncondition that emancipation be gradual, that it be approved by thedecision of a majority of voters in the District, and that compensationbe made to unwilling owners. On every available occasion, he pronouncedhimself in favor of the deportation and colonization of the blacks, ofcourse with their consent. He repeatedly disavowed any wish on his partto have social and political equality established between whites andblacks. On this point he summed up his views in a reply to Douglas'sassertion that the Declaration of Independence, in speaking of all menas being created equal, did not include the negroes, saying: "I do notunderstand the Declaration of Independence to mean that all men werecreated equal in all respects. They are not equal in color. But Ibelieve that it does mean to declare that all men are equal in somerespects; they are equal in their right to life, liberty, and thepursuit of happiness. "

With regard to some of these subjects Lincoln modified his position ata later period, and it has been suggested that he would have professedmore advanced principles in his debates with Douglas, had he not fearedthereby to lose votes. This view can hardly be sustained. Lincoln hadthe courage of his opinions, but he was not a radical. The man whorisked his election by delivering, against the urgent protest of hisfriends, the speech about "the house divided against itself" would nothave shrunk from the expression of more extreme views, had he reallyentertained them. It is only fair to assume that he said what at thetime he really thought, and that if, subsequently, his opinions changed, it was owing to new conceptions of good policy and of duty broughtforth by an entirely new set of circumstances and exigencies. Itis characteristic that he continued to adhere to the impracticablecolonization plan even after the Emancipation Proclamation had alreadybeen issued. 

But in this contest Lincoln proved himself not only a debater, butalso a political strategist of the first order. The "kind, amiable, andintelligent gentleman, " as Douglas had been pleased to call him, was byno means as harmless as a dove. He possessed an uncommon share of thatworldly shrewdness which not seldom goes with genuine simplicity ofcharacter; and the political experience gathered in the Legislatureand in Congress, and in many election campaigns, added to his keenintuitions, had made him as far-sighted a judge of the probable effectsof a public man's sayings or doings upon the popular mind, and asaccurate a calculator in estimating political chances and forecastingresults, as could be found among the party managers in Illinois. Andnow he perceived keenly the ugly dilemma in which Douglas found himself, between the Dred Scott decision, which declared the right to hold slavesto exist in the Territories by virtue of the Federal Constitution, andhis "great principle of popular sovereignty, " according to which thepeople of a Territory, if they saw fit, were to have the right toexclude slavery therefrom. Douglas was twisting and squirming tothe best of his ability to avoid the admission that the two wereincompatible. The question then presented itself if it would be goodpolicy for Lincoln to force Douglas to a clear expression of his opinionas to whether, the Dred Scott decision notwithstanding, "the people of aTerritory could in any lawful way exclude slavery from its limits priorto the formation of a State constitution. " Lincoln foresaw and predictedwhat Douglas would answer: that slavery could not exist in a Territoryunless the people desired it and gave it protection by territoriallegislation. In an improvised caucus the policy of pressing theinterrogatory on Douglas was discussed. Lincoln's friends unanimouslyadvised against it, because the answer foreseen would sufficientlycommend Douglas to the people of Illinois to insure his re-election tothe Senate. But Lincoln persisted. "I am after larger game, " said he. "If Douglas so answers, he can never be President, and the battle of1860 is worth a hundred of this. " The interrogatory was pressed uponDouglas, and Douglas did answer that, no matter what the decision ofthe Supreme Court might be on the abstract question, the people ofa Territory had the lawful means to introduce or exclude slavery byterritorial legislation friendly or unfriendly to the institution. Lincoln found it easy to show the absurdity of the proposition that, ifslavery were admitted to exist of right in the Territories by virtueof the supreme law, the Federal Constitution, it could be kept out orexpelled by an inferior law, one made by a territorial Legislature. Again the judgment of the politicians, having only the nearest object inview, proved correct: Douglas was reelected to the Senate. But Lincoln'sjudgment proved correct also: Douglas, by resorting to the expedientof his "unfriendly legislation doctrine, " forfeited his last chance ofbecoming President of the United States. He might have hoped to win, bysufficient atonement, his pardon from the South for his oppositionto the Lecompton Constitution; but that he taught the people of theTerritories a trick by which they could defeat what the proslavery menconsidered a constitutional right, and that he called that tricklawful, this the slave power would never forgive. The breach betweenthe Southern and the Northern Democracy was thenceforth irremediable andfatal. 

The Presidential election of 1860 approached. The struggle in Kansas, and the debates in Congress which accompanied it, and which notunfrequently provoked violent outbursts, continually stirred the popularexcitement. Within the Democratic party raged the war of factions. Thenational Democratic convention met at Charleston on the 23d of April, 1860. After a struggle of ten days between the adherents and theopponents of Douglas, during which the delegates from the cotton Stateshad withdrawn, the convention adjourned without having nominated anycandidates, to meet again in Baltimore on the 18th of June. There was noprospect, however, of reconciling the hostile elements. It appeared veryprobable that the Baltimore convention would nominate Douglas, whilethe seceding Southern Democrats would set up a candidate of their own, representing extreme proslavery principles. 

Meanwhile, the national Republican convention assembled at Chicago onthe 16th of May, full of enthusiasm and hope. The situation was easilyunderstood. The Democrats would have the South. In order to succeedin the election, the Republicans had to win, in addition to the Statescarried by Fremont in 1856, those that were classed as "doubtful, "--NewJersey, Pennsylvania, and Indiana, or Illinois in the place of eitherNew Jersey or Indiana. The most eminent Republican statesmen and leadersof the time thought of for the Presidency were Seward and Chase, bothregarded as belonging to the more advanced order of antislavery men. Of the two, Seward had the largest following, mainly from New York, New England, and the Northwest. Cautious politicians doubted seriouslywhether Seward, to whom some phrases in his speeches had undeservedlygiven the reputation of a reckless radical, would be able to command thewhole Republican vote in the doubtful States. Besides, during his longpublic career he had made enemies. It was evident that those who thoughtSeward's nomination too hazardous an experiment would consider Chaseunavailable for the same reason. They would then look round for an"available" man; and among the "available" men Abraham Lincoln waseasily discovered to stand foremost. His great debate with Douglas hadgiven him a national reputation. The people of the East being eagerto see the hero of so dramatic a contest, he had been induced to visitseveral Eastern cities, and had astonished and delighted large anddistinguished audiences with speeches of singular power and originality. An address delivered by him in the Cooper Institute in New York, beforean audience containing a large number of important persons, was then, and has ever since been, especially praised as one of the most logicaland convincing political speeches ever made in this country. The peopleof the West had grown proud of him as a distinctively Western great man, and his popularity at home had some peculiar features which could beexpected to exercise a potent charm. Nor was Lincoln's name as that ofan available candidate left to the chance of accidental discovery. Itis indeed not probable that he thought of himself as a Presidentialpossibility, during his contest with Douglas for the senatorship. Aslate as April, 1859, he had written to a friend who had approached himon the subject that he did not think himself fit for the Presidency. The Vice-Presidency was then the limit of his ambition. But some ofhis friends in Illinois took the matter seriously in hand, and Lincoln, after some hesitation, then formally authorized "the use of his name. "The matter was managed with such energy and excellent judgment that, in the convention, he had not only the whole vote of Illinois to startwith, but won votes on all sides without offending any rival. A largemajority of the opponents of Seward went over to Abraham Lincoln, andgave him the nomination on the third ballot. As had been foreseen, Douglas was nominated by one wing of the Democratic party at Baltimore, while the extreme proslavery wing put Breckinridge into the field asits candidate. After a campaign conducted with the energy of genuineenthusiasm on the antislavery side the united Republicans defeated thedivided Democrats, and Lincoln was elected President by a majority offifty-seven votes in the electoral colleges. 

The result of the election had hardly been declared when the disunionmovement in the South, long threatened and carefully planned andprepared, broke out in the shape of open revolt, and nearly a monthbefore Lincoln could be inaugurated as President of the United Statesseven Southern States had adopted ordinances of secession, formed anindependent confederacy, framed a constitution for it, and electedJefferson Davis its president, expecting the other slaveholdingStates soon to join them. On the 11th of February, 1861, Lincoln leftSpringfield for Washington; having, with characteristic simplicity, asked his law partner not to change the sign of the firm "Lincolnand Herndon" during the four years unavoidable absence of the seniorpartner, and having taken an affectionate and touching leave of hisneighbors. 

The situation which confronted the new President was appalling: thelarger part of the South in open rebellion, the rest of the slaveholdingStates wavering preparing to follow; the revolt guided by determined, daring, and skillful leaders; the Southern people, apparently full ofenthusiasm and military spirit, rushing to arms, some of the fortsand arsenals already in their possession; the government of the Union, before the accession of the new President, in the hands of men some ofwhom actively sympathized with the revolt, while others were hampered bytheir traditional doctrines in dealing with it, and really gave it aidand comfort by their irresolute attitude; all the departments full of"Southern sympathizers" and honeycombed with disloyalty; the treasuryempty, and the public credit at the lowest ebb; the arsenals illsupplied with arms, if not emptied by treacherous practices; the regulararmy of insignificant strength, dispersed over an immense surface, anddeprived of some of its best officers by defection; the navy small andantiquated. But that was not all. The threat of disunion had so oftenbeen resorted to by the slave power in years gone by that most Northernpeople had ceased to believe in its seriousness. But, when disunionactually appeared as a stern reality, something like a chill sweptthrough the whole Northern country. A cry for union and peace at anyprice rose on all sides. Democratic partisanship reiterated this crywith vociferous vehemence, and even many Republicans grew afraid ofthe victory they had just achieved at the ballot-box, and spoke ofcompromise. The country fairly resounded with the noise of "anticoercionmeetings. " Expressions of firm resolution from determined antislaverymen were indeed not wanting, but they were for a while almost drownedby a bewildering confusion of discordant voices. Even this was notall. Potent influences in Europe, with an ill-concealed desire for thepermanent disruption of the American Union, eagerly espoused the causeof the Southern seceders, and the two principal maritime powers of theOld World seemed only to be waiting for a favorable opportunity to lendthem a helping hand. 

This was the state of things to be mastered by "honest Abe Lincoln" whenhe took his seat in the Presidential chair, --"honest Abe Lincoln, " whowas so good-natured that he could not say "no"; the greatest achievementin whose life had been a debate on the slavery question; who had neverbeen in any position of power; who was without the slightest experienceof high executive duties, and who had only a speaking acquaintance withthe men upon whose counsel and cooperation he was to depend. Nor washis accession to power under such circumstances greeted with generalconfidence even by the members of his party. While he had indeed wonmuch popularity, many Republicans, especially among those who hadadvocated Seward's nomination for the Presidency, saw the simple"Illinois lawyer" take the reins of government with a feeling littleshort of dismay. The orators and journals of the opposition wereridiculing and lampooning him without measure. Many people actuallywondered how such a man could dare to undertake a task which, as hehimself had said to his neighbors in his parting speech, was "moredifficult than that of Washington himself had been. "

But Lincoln brought to that task, aside from other uncommon qualities, the first requisite, --an intuitive comprehension of its nature. Whilehe did not indulge in the delusion that the Union could be maintained orrestored without a conflict of arms, he could indeed not foresee all theproblems he would have to solve. He instinctively understood, however, by what means that conflict would have to be conducted by the governmentof a democracy. He knew that the impending war, whether great or small, would not be like a foreign war, exciting a united national enthusiasm, but a civil war, likely to fan to uncommon heat the animosities of partyeven in the localities controlled by the government; that this war wouldhave to be carried on not by means of a ready-made machinery, ruledby an undisputed, absolute will, but by means to be furnished by thevoluntary action of the people:--armies to be formed by voluntaryenlistments; large sums of money to be raised by the people, throughrepresentatives, voluntarily taxing themselves; trust of extraordinarypower to be voluntarily granted; and war measures, not seldomrestricting the rights and liberties to which the citizen wasaccustomed, to be voluntarily accepted and submitted to by the people, or at least a large majority of them; and that this would have to bekept up not merely during a short period of enthusiastic excitement; butpossibly through weary years of alternating success and disaster, hopeand despondency. He knew that in order to steer this government bypublic opinion successfully through all the confusion created by theprejudices and doubts and differences of sentiment distracting thepopular mind, and so to propitiate, inspire, mould, organize, unite, andguide the popular will that it might give forth all the means requiredfor the performance of his great task, he would have to take intoaccount all the influences strongly affecting the current of popularthought and feeling, and to direct while appearing to obey. 

This was the kind of leadership he intuitively conceived to be neededwhen a free people were to be led forward en masse to overcome agreat common danger under circumstances of appalling difficulty, theleadership which does not dash ahead with brilliant daring, no matterwho follows, but which is intent upon rallying all the available forces, gathering in the stragglers, closing up the column, so that the frontmay advance well supported. For this leadership Abraham Lincoln wasadmirably fitted, better than any other American statesman of his day;for he understood the plain people, with all their loves and hates, their prejudices and their noble impulses, their weaknesses and theirstrength, as he understood himself, and his sympathetic nature was aptto draw their sympathy to him. 

His inaugural address foreshadowed his official course in characteristicmanner. Although yielding nothing in point of principle, it was by nomeans a flaming antislavery manifesto, such as would have pleased themore ardent Republicans. It was rather the entreaty of a sorrowingfather speaking to his wayward children. In the kindliest languagehe pointed out to the secessionists how ill advised their attempt atdisunion was, and why, for their own sakes, they should desist. Almostplaintively, he told them that, while it was not their duty to destroythe Union, it was his sworn duty to preserve it; that the least hecould do, under the obligations of his oath, was to possess and hold theproperty of the United States; that he hoped to do this peaceably; thathe abhorred war for any purpose, and that they would have noneunless they themselves were the aggressors. It was a masterpiece ofpersuasiveness, and while Lincoln had accepted many valuable amendmentssuggested by Seward, it was essentially his own. Probably Lincolnhimself did not expect his inaugural address to have any effect upon thesecessionists, for he must have known them to be resolved upon disunionat any cost. But it was an appeal to the wavering minds in the North, and upon them it made a profound impression. Every candid man, howevertimid and halting, had to admit that the President was bound by his oathto do his duty; that under that oath he could do no less than he saidhe would do; that if the secessionists resisted such an appeal asthe President had made, they were bent upon mischief, and that thegovernment must be supported against them. The partisan sympathy withthe Southern insurrection which still existed in the North did indeednot disappear, but it diminished perceptibly under the influence of suchreasoning. Those who still resisted it did so at the risk of appearingunpatriotic. 

It must not be supposed, however, that Lincoln at once succeeded inpleasing everybody, even among his friends, --even among those nearest tohim. In selecting his cabinet, which he did substantially before he leftSpringfield for Washington, he thought it wise to call to his assistancethe strong men of his party, especially those who had given evidence ofthe support they commanded as his competitors in the Chicago convention. In them he found at the same time representatives of thedifferent shades of opinion within the party, and of the differentelements--former Whigs and former Democrats--from which the party hadrecruited itself. This was sound policy under the circumstances. Itmight indeed have been foreseen that among the members of a cabinet socomposed, troublesome disagreements and rivalries would break out. Butit was better for the President to have these strong and ambitiousmen near him as his co-operators than to have them as his critics inCongress, where their differences might have been composed in a commonopposition to him. As members of his cabinet he could hope to controlthem, and to keep them busily employed in the service of a commonpurpose, if he had the strength to do so. Whether he did possess thisstrength was soon tested by a singularly rude trial. 

There can be no doubt that the foremost members of his cabinet, Sewardand Chase, the most eminent Republican statesmen, had felt themselveswronged by their party when in its national convention it preferredto them for the Presidency a man whom, not unnaturally, they thoughtgreatly their inferior in ability and experience as well as in service. The soreness of that disappointment was intensified when they saw thisWestern man in the White House, with so much of rustic manner and speechas still clung to him, meeting his fellow-citizens, high and low, on afooting of equality, with the simplicity of his good nature unburdenedby any conventional dignity of deportment, and dealing with the greatbusiness of state in an easy-going, unmethodical, and apparentlysomewhat irreverent way. They did not understand such a man. EspeciallySeward, who, as Secretary of State, considered himself next to theChief Executive, and who quickly accustomed himself to giving orders andmaking arrangements upon his own motion, thought it necessary that heshould rescue the direction of public affairs from hands so unskilled, and take full charge of them himself. At the end of the first month ofthe administration he submitted a "memorandum" to President Lincoln, which has been first brought to light by Nicolay and Hay, and is one oftheir most valuable contributions to the history of those days. In thatpaper Seward actually told the President that at the end of a month'sadministration the government was still without a policy, eitherdomestic or foreign; that the slavery question should be eliminated fromthe struggle about the Union; that the matter of the maintenance of theforts and other possessions in the South should be decided with thatview; that explanations should be demanded categorically from thegovernments of Spain and France, which were then preparing, one for theannexation of San Domingo, and both for the invasion of Mexico; thatif no satisfactory explanations were received war should be declaredagainst Spain and France by the United States; that explanations shouldalso be sought from Russia and Great Britain, and a vigorous continentalspirit of independence against European intervention be aroused all overthe American continent; that this policy should be incessantly pursuedand directed by somebody; that either the President should devotehimself entirely to it, or devolve the direction on some member of hiscabinet, whereupon all debate on this policy must end. 

This could be understood only as a formal demand that the Presidentshould acknowledge his own incompetency to perform his duties, contenthimself with the amusement of distributing post-offices, and resign hispower as to all important affairs into the hands of his Secretary ofState. It seems to-day incomprehensible how a statesman of Seward'scalibre could at that period conceive a plan of policy in which theslavery question had no place; a policy which rested upon the utterlydelusive assumption that the secessionists, who had already formed theirSouthern Confederacy and were with stern resolution preparing to fightfor its independence, could be hoodwinked back into the Union by somesentimental demonstration against European interference; a policy which, at that critical moment, would have involved the Union in a foreign war, thus inviting foreign intervention in favor of the Southern Confederacy, and increasing tenfold its chances in the struggle for independence. Butit is equally incomprehensible how Seward could fail to see that thisdemand of an unconditional surrender was a mortal insult to the headof the government, and that by putting his proposition on paper hedelivered himself into the hands of the very man he had insulted; for, had Lincoln, as most Presidents would have done, instantly dismissedSeward, and published the true reason for that dismissal, it wouldinevitably have been the end of Seward's career. But Lincoln did whatnot many of the noblest and greatest men in history would have beennoble and great enough to do. He considered that Seward was stillcapable of rendering great service to his country in the place inwhich he was, if rightly controlled. He ignored the insult, butfirmly established his superiority. In his reply, which he forthwithdespatched, he told Seward that the administration had a domestic policyas laid down in the inaugural address with Seward's approval; thatit had a foreign policy as traced in Seward's despatches with thePresident's approval; that if any policy was to be maintained orchanged, he, the President, was to direct that on his responsibility;and that in performing that duty the President had a right to theadvice of his secretaries. Seward's fantastic schemes of foreign warand continental policies Lincoln brushed aside by passing them over insilence. Nothing more was said. Seward must have felt that he was atthe mercy of a superior man; that his offensive proposition had beengenerously pardoned as a temporary aberration of a great mind, and thathe could atone for it only by devoted personal loyalty. This he did. He was thoroughly subdued, and thenceforth submitted to Lincoln hisdespatches for revision and amendment without a murmur. The war withEuropean nations was no longer thought of; the slavery question found indue time its proper place in the struggle for the Union; and when, ata later period, the dismissal of Seward was demanded by dissatisfiedsenators, who attributed to him the shortcomings of the administration, Lincoln stood stoutly by his faithful Secretary of State. 

Chase, the Secretary of the Treasury, a man of superb presence, ofeminent ability and ardent patriotism, of great natural dignity and acertain outward coldness of manner, which made him appear more difficultof approach than he really was, did not permit his disappointment toburst out in such extravagant demonstrations. But Lincoln's ways wereso essentially different from his that they never became quiteintelligible, and certainly not congenial to him. It might, perhaps, have been better had there been, at the beginning of the administration, some decided clash between Lincoln and Chase, as there was betweenLincoln and Seward, to bring on a full mutual explanation, and to makeChase appreciate the real seriousness of Lincoln's nature. But, as itwas, their relations always remained somewhat formal, and Chase neverfelt quite at ease under a chief whom he could not understand, and whosecharacter and powers he never learned to esteem at their true value. At the same time, he devoted himself zealously to the duties of hisdepartment, and did the country arduous service under circumstances ofextreme difficulty. Nobody recognized this more heartily than Lincolnhimself, and they managed to work together until near the end ofLincoln's first Presidential term, when Chase, after some disagreementsconcerning appointments to office, resigned from the treasury; and, after Taney's death, the President made him Chief Justice. 

The rest of the cabinet consisted of men of less eminence, whosubordinated themselves more easily. In January, 1862, Lincoln found itnecessary to bow Cameron out of the war office, and to put in his placeEdwin M. Stanton, a man of intensely practical mind, vehement impulses, fierce positiveness, ruthless energy, immense working power, loftypatriotism, and severest devotion to duty. He accepted the war officenot as a partisan, for he had never been a Republican, but only todo all he could in "helping to save the country. " The manner inwhich Lincoln succeeded in taming this lion to his will, by franklyrecognizing his great qualities, by giving him the most generousconfidence, by aiding him in his work to the full of his power, bykindly concession or affectionate persuasiveness in cases of differingopinions, or, when it was necessary, by firm assertions of superiorauthority, bears the highest testimony to his skill in the management ofmen. Stanton, who had entered the service with rather a mean opinionof Lincoln's character and capacity, became one of his warmest, mostdevoted, and most admiring friends, and with none of his secretarieswas Lincoln's intercourse more intimate. To take advice with candidreadiness, and to weigh it without any pride of his own opinion, was oneof Lincoln's preeminent virtues; but he had not long presided over hiscabinet council when his was felt by all its members to be the rulingmind. 

The cautious policy foreshadowed in his inaugural address, and pursuedduring the first period of the civil war, was far from satisfying allhis party friends. The ardent spirits among the Union men thought thatthe whole North should at once be called to arms, to crush the rebellionby one powerful blow. The ardent spirits among the antislavery meninsisted that, slavery having brought forth the rebellion, this powerfulblow should at once be aimed at slavery. Both complained that theadministration was spiritless, undecided, and lamentably slow in itsproceedings. Lincoln reasoned otherwise. The ways of thinking andfeeling of the masses, of the plain people, were constantly present tohis mind. The masses, the plain people, had to furnish the men for thefighting, if fighting was to be done. He believed that the plain peoplewould be ready to fight when it clearly appeared necessary, and thatthey would feel that necessity when they felt themselves attacked. Hetherefore waited until the enemies of the Union struck the first blow. As soon as, on the 12th of April, 1861, the first gun was fired inCharleston harbor on the Union flag upon Fort Sumter, the call wassounded, and the Northern people rushed to arms. 

Lincoln knew that the plain people were now indeed ready to fight indefence of the Union, but not yet ready to fight for the destruction ofslavery. He declared openly that he had a right to summon the people tofight for the Union, but not to summon them to fight for the abolitionof slavery as a primary object; and this declaration gave him numberlesssoldiers for the Union who at that period would have hesitated to dobattle against the institution of slavery. For a time he succeededin rendering harmless the cry of the partisan opposition that theRepublican administration were perverting the war for the Union into an"abolition war. " But when he went so far as to countermand the acts ofsome generals in the field, looking to the emancipation of the slavesin the districts covered by their commands, loud complaints arose fromearnest antislavery men, who accused the President of turning his backupon the antislavery cause. Many of these antislavery men will now, after a calm retrospect, be willing to admit that it would have beena hazardous policy to endanger, by precipitating a demonstrative fightagainst slavery, the success of the struggle for the Union. 

Lincoln's views and feelings concerning slavery had not changed. Thosewho conversed with him intimately upon the subject at that period knowthat he did not expect slavery long to survive the triumph of the Union, even if it were not immediately destroyed by the war. In this he wasright. Had the Union armies achieved a decisive victory in an earlyperiod of the conflict, and had the seceded States been received backwith slavery, the "slave power" would then have been a defeated power, defeated in an attempt to carry out its most effective threat. It wouldhave lost its prestige. Its menaces would have been hollow sound, andceased to make any one afraid. It could no longer have hoped to expand, to maintain an equilibrium in any branch of Congress, and to control thegovernment. The victorious free States would have largely overbalancedit. It would no longer have been able to withstand the onset of ahostile age. It could no longer have ruled, --and slavery had to rule inorder to live. It would have lingered for a while, but it would surelyhave been "in the course of ultimate extinction. " A prolonged warprecipitated the destruction of slavery; a short war might only haveprolonged its death struggle. Lincoln saw this clearly; but he saw alsothat, in a protracted death struggle, it might still have kept disloyalsentiments alive, bred distracting commotions, and caused great mischiefto the country. He therefore hoped that slavery would not survive thewar. 

But the question how he could rightfully employ his power to bring onits speedy destruction was to him not a question of mere sentiment. Hehimself set forth his reasoning upon it, at a later period, in oneof his inimitable letters. "I am naturally antislavery, " said he. "Ifslavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong. I cannot remember the time whenI did not so think and feel. And yet I have never understood that thePresidency conferred upon me an unrestricted right to act upon thatjudgment and feeling. It was in the oath I took that I would, to thebest of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution ofthe United States. I could not take the office without taking the oath. Nor was it my view that I might take an oath to get power, and breakthe oath in using that power. I understood, too, that, in ordinary civiladministration, this oath even forbade me practically to indulge myprivate abstract judgment on the moral question of slavery. I didunderstand, however, also, that my oath imposed upon me the duty ofpreserving, to the best of my ability, by every indispensable means, that government, that nation, of which the Constitution was the organiclaw. I could not feel that, to the best of my ability, I had even tiedto preserve the Constitution--if, to save slavery, or any minor matter, I should permit the wreck of government, country, and Constitutionall together. " In other words, if the salvation of the government, theConstitution, and the Union demanded the destruction of slavery, hefelt it to be not only his right, but his sworn duty to destroy it. Itsdestruction became a necessity of the war for the Union. 

As the war dragged on and disaster followed disaster, the sense of thatnecessity steadily grew upon him. Early in 1862, as some of his friendswell remember, he saw, what Seward seemed not to see, that to givethe war for the Union an antislavery character was the surest means toprevent the recognition of the Southern Confederacy as an independentnation by European powers; that, slavery being abhorred by the moralsense of civilized mankind, no European government would dare to offerso gross an insult to the public opinion of its people as openly tofavor the creation of a state founded upon slavery to the prejudice ofan existing nation fighting against slavery. He saw also that slaveryuntouched was to the rebellion an element of power, and that in orderto overcome that power it was necessary to turn it into an elementof weakness. Still, he felt no assurance that the plain people wereprepared for so radical a measure as the emancipation of the slaves byact of the government, and he anxiously considered that, if they werenot, this great step might, by exciting dissension at the North, injurethe cause of the Union in one quarter more than it would help it inanother. He heartily welcomed an effort made in New York to mould andstimulate public sentiment on the slavery question by public meetingsboldly pronouncing for emancipation. At the same time he himselfcautiously advanced with a recommendation, expressed in a specialmessage to Congress, that the United States should co-operate with anyState which might adopt the gradual abolishment of slavery, givingsuch State pecuniary aid to compensate the former owners of emancipatedslaves. The discussion was started, and spread rapidly. Congress adoptedthe resolution recommended, and soon went a step farther in passing abill to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia. The plain peoplebegan to look at emancipation on a larger scale as a thing to beconsidered seriously by patriotic citizens; and soon Lincoln thoughtthat the time was ripe, and that the edict of freedom could be venturedupon without danger of serious confusion in the Union ranks. 

The failure of McClellan's movement upon Richmond increased immenselythe prestige of the enemy. The need of some great act to stimulate thevitality of the Union cause seemed to grow daily more pressing. OnJuly 21, 1862, Lincoln surprised his cabinet with the draught of aproclamation declaring free the slaves in all the States that should bestill in rebellion against the United States on the 1st of January, 1863. As to the matter itself he announced that he had fully made up his mind;he invited advice only concerning the form and the time of publication. Seward suggested that the proclamation, if then brought out, amidstdisaster and distress, would sound like the last shriek of a perishingcause. Lincoln accepted the suggestion, and the proclamation waspostponed. Another defeat followed, the second at Bull Run. But when, after that battle, the Confederate army, under Lee, crossed the Potomacand invaded Maryland, Lincoln vowed in his heart that, if the Union armywere now blessed with success, the decree of freedom should surelybe issued. The victory of Antietam was won on September 17, and thepreliminary Emancipation Proclamation came forth on the a 22d. It wasLincoln's own resolution and act; but practically it bound the nation, and permitted no step backward. In spite of its limitations, it was theactual abolition of slavery. Thus he wrote his name upon the books ofhistory with the title dearest to his heart, the liberator of the slave. 

It is true, the great proclamation, which stamped the war as one for"union and freedom, " did not at once mark the turning of the tide on thefield of military operations. There were more disasters, Fredericksburgand Chancellorsville. But with Gettysburg and Vicksburg the whole aspectof the war changed. Step by step, now more slowly, then more rapidly, but with increasing steadiness, the flag of the Union advanced fromfield to field toward the final consummation. The decree of emancipationwas naturally followed by the enlistment of emancipated negroes in theUnion armies. This measure had a anther reaching effect than merelygiving the Union armies an increased supply of men. The laboring forceof the rebellion was hopelessly disorganized. The war became like aproblem of arithmetic. As the Union armies pushed forward, the areafrom which the Southern Confederacy could draw recruits and suppliesconstantly grew smaller, while the area from which the Union recruitedits strength constantly grew larger; and everywhere, even within theSouthern lines, the Union had its allies. The fate of the rebellionwas then virtually decided; but it still required much bloody work toconvince the brave warriors who fought for it that they were reallybeaten. 

Neither did the Emancipation Proclamation forthwith command universalassent among the people who were loyal to the Union. There were evensigns of a reaction against the administration in the fall elections of1862, seemingly justifying the opinion, entertained by many, that thePresident had really anticipated the development of popular feeling. Thecry that the war for the Union had been turned into an "abolition war"was raised again by the opposition, and more loudly than ever. Butthe good sense and patriotic instincts of the plain people graduallymarshalled themselves on Lincoln's side, and he lost no opportunity tohelp on this process by personal argument and admonition. There neverhas been a President in such constant and active contact with the publicopinion of the country, as there never has been a President who, whileat the head of the government, remained so near to the people. Beyondthe circle of those who had long known him the feeling steadily grewthat the man in the White House was "honest Abe Lincoln" still, andthat every citizen might approach him with complaint, expostulation, oradvice, without danger of meeting a rebuff from power-proud authority, or humiliating condescension; and this privilege was used by so manyand with such unsparing freedom that only superhuman patience couldhave endured it all. There are men now living who would to-day read withamazement, if not regret, what they ventured to say or write to him. ButLincoln repelled no one whom he believed to speak to him in good faithand with patriotic purpose. No good advice would go unheeded. No candidcriticism would offend him. No honest opposition, while it might painhim, would produce a lasting alienation of feeling between him and theopponent. It may truly be said that few men in power have ever beenexposed to more daring attempts to direct their course, to severercensure of their acts, and to more cruel misrepresentation of theirmotives: And all this he met with that good-natured humor peculiarly hisown, and with untiring effort to see the right and to impress itupon those who differed from him. The conversations he had and thecorrespondence he carried on upon matters of public interest, not onlywith men in official position, but with private citizens, were almostunceasing, and in a large number of public letters, written ostensiblyto meetings, or committees, or persons of importance, he addressedhimself directly to the popular mind. Most of these letters stand amongthe finest monuments of our political literature. Thus he presented thesingular spectacle of a President who, in the midst of a great civilwar, with unprecedented duties weighing upon him, was constantly inperson debating the great features of his policy with the people. 

While in this manner he exercised an ever-increasing influence upon thepopular understanding, his sympathetic nature endeared him more andmore to the popular heart. In vain did journals and speakers of theopposition represent him as a lightminded trifler, who amused himselfwith frivolous story-telling and coarse jokes, while the blood of thepeople was flowing in streams. The people knew that the man at the headof affairs, on whose haggard face the twinkle of humor so frequentlychanged into an expression of profoundest sadness, was more than anyother deeply distressed by the suffering he witnessed; that he feltthe pain of every wound that was inflicted on the battlefield, and theanguish of every woman or child who had lost husband or father; thatwhenever he could he was eager to alleviate sorrow, and that his mercywas never implored in vain. They looked to him as one who was with themand of them in all their hopes and fears, their joys and sorrows, wholaughed with them and wept with them; and as his heart was theirs; sotheir hearts turned to him. His popularity was far different fromthat of Washington, who was revered with awe, or that of Jackson, the unconquerable hero, for whom party enthusiasm never grew wearyof shouting. To Abraham Lincoln the people became bound by a genuinesentimental attachment. It was not a matter of respect, or confidence, or party pride, for this feeling spread far beyond the boundary lines ofhis party; it was an affair of the heart, independent of mere reasoning. When the soldiers in the field or their folks at home spoke of "FatherAbraham, " there was no cant in it. They felt that their President wasreally caring for them as a father would, and that they could go to him, every one of them, as they would go to a father, and talk to him of whattroubled them, sure to find a willing ear and tender sympathy. Thus, their President, and his cause, and his endeavors, and his successgradually became to them almost matters of family concern. And thispopularity carried him triumphantly through the Presidential electionof 1864, in spite of an opposition within his own party which at firstseemed very formidable. 

Many of the radical antislavery men were never quite satisfied withLincoln's ways of meeting the problems of the time. They were veryearnest and mostly very able men, who had positive ideas as to "how thisrebellion should be put down. " They would not recognize the necessityof measuring the steps of the government according to the progressof opinion among the plain people. They criticised Lincoln's cautiousmanagement as irresolute, halting, lacking in definite purpose and inenergy; he should not have delayed emancipation so long; he should nothave confided important commands to men of doubtful views as to slavery;he should have authorized military commanders to set the slaves freeas they went on; he dealt too leniently with unsuccessful generals; heshould have put down all factious opposition with a strong hand insteadof trying to pacify it; he should have given the people accomplishedfacts instead of arguing with them, and so on. It is true, thesecriticisms were not always entirely unfounded. Lincoln's policy had, with the virtues of democratic government, some of its weaknesses, whichin the presence of pressing exigencies were apt to deprive governmentalaction of the necessary vigor; and his kindness of heart, hisdisposition always to respect the feelings of others, frequently madehim recoil from anything like severity, even when severity was urgentlycalled for. But many of his radical critics have since then revisedtheir judgment sufficiently to admit that Lincoln's policy was, on thewhole, the wisest and safest; that a policy of heroic methods, while ithas sometimes accomplished great results, could in a democracy likeours be maintained only by constant success; that it would have quicklybroken down under the weight of disaster; that it might have beensuccessful from the start, had the Union, at the beginning of theconflict, had its Grants and Shermans and Sheridans, its Farraguts andPorters, fully matured at the head of its forces; but that, as the greatcommanders had to be evolved slowly from the developments of the war, constant success could not be counted upon, and it was best to followa policy which was in friendly contact with the popular force, andtherefore more fit to stand trial of misfortune on the battlefield. Butat that period they thought differently, and their dissatisfaction withLincoln's doings was greatly increased by the steps he took toward thereconstruction of rebel States then partially in possession of the Unionforces. 

In December, 1863, Lincoln issued an amnesty proclamation, offeringpardon to all implicated in the rebellion, with certain specifiedexceptions, on condition of their taking and maintaining an oath tosupport the Constitution and obey the laws of the United States and theproclamations of the President with regard to slaves; and also promisingthat when, in any of the rebel States, a number of citizens equal to onetenth of the voters in 1860 should re-establish a state government inconformity with the oath above mentioned, such should be recognizedby the Executive as the true government of the State. The proclamationseemed at first to be received with general favor. But soon anotherscheme of reconstruction, much more stringent in its provisions, was putforward in the House of Representatives by Henry Winter Davis. BenjaminWade championed it in the Senate. It passed in the closing moments ofthe session in July, 1864, and Lincoln, instead of making it a law byhis signature, embodied the text of it in a proclamation as a plan ofreconstruction worthy of being earnestly considered. The differences ofopinion concerning this subject had only intensified the feeling againstLincoln which had long been nursed among the radicals, and some ofthem openly declared their purpose of resisting his re-election tothe Presidency. Similar sentiments were manifested by the advancedantislavery men of Missouri, who, in their hot faction-fight with the"conservatives" of that State, had not received from Lincoln the activesupport they demanded. Still another class of Union men, mainly in theEast, gravely shook their heads when considering the question whetherLincoln should be re-elected. They were those who cherished in theirminds an ideal of statesmanship and of personal bearing in high officewith which, in their opinion, Lincoln's individuality was much out ofaccord. They were shocked when they heard him cap an argument upon graveaffairs of state with a story about "a man out in Sangamon County, "--astory, to be sure, strikingly clinching his point, but sadly lacking indignity. They could not understand the man who was capable, in openinga cabinet meeting, of reading to his secretaries a funny chapter from arecent book of Artemus Ward, with which in an unoccupied moment he hadrelieved his care-burdened mind, and who then solemnly informed theexecutive council that he had vowed in his heart to issue a proclamationemancipating the slaves as soon as God blessed the Union arms withanother victory. They were alarmed at the weakness of a President whowould indeed resist the urgent remonstrances of statesmen against hispolicy, but could not resist the prayer of an old woman for the pardonof a soldier who was sentenced to be shot for desertion. Such men, mostly sincere and ardent patriots, not only wished, but earnestly setto work, to prevent Lincoln's renomination. Not a few of them actuallybelieved, in 1863, that, if the national convention of the Union partywere held then, Lincoln would not be supported by the delegation of asingle State. But when the convention met at Baltimore, in June, 1864, the voice of the people was heard. On the first ballot Lincoln receivedthe votes of the delegations from all the States except Missouri; andeven the Missourians turned over their votes to him before the result ofthe ballot was declared. 

But even after his renomination the opposition to Lincoln within theranks of the Union party did not subside. A convention, called by thedissatisfied radicals in Missouri, and favored by men of a similarway of thinking in other States, had been held already in May, andhad nominated as its candidate for the Presidency General Fremont. He, indeed, did not attract a strong following, but opposition movementsfrom different quarters appeared more formidable. Henry Winter Davis andBenjamin Wade assailed Lincoln in a flaming manifesto. Other Union men, of undoubted patriotism and high standing, persuaded themselves, andsought to persuade the people, that Lincoln's renomination was illadvised and dangerous to the Union cause. As the Democrats had put offtheir convention until the 29th of August, the Union party had, duringthe larger part of the summer, no opposing candidate and platform toattack, and the political campaign languished. Neither were the tidingsfrom the theatre of war of a cheering character. The terrible lossessuffered by Grant's army in the battles of the Wilderness spread generalgloom. Sherman seemed for a while to be in a precarious position beforeAtlanta. The opposition to Lincoln within the Union party grew louder inits complaints and discouraging predictions. Earnest demands were heardthat his candidacy should be withdrawn. Lincoln himself, not knowinghow strongly the masses were attached to him, was haunted by darkforebodings of defeat. Then the scene suddenly changed as if by magic. 

The Democrats, in their national convention, declared the war a failure, demanded, substantially, peace at any price, and nominated on such aplatform General McClellan as their candidate. Their convention hadhardly adjourned when the capture of Atlanta gave a new aspect to themilitary situation. It was like a sun-ray bursting through a darkcloud. The rank and file of the Union party rose with rapidly growingenthusiasm. The song "We are coming, Father Abraham, three hundredthousand strong, " resounded all over the land. Long before the decisiveday arrived, the result was beyond doubt, and Lincoln was re-electedPresident by overwhelming majorities. The election over even hisseverest critics found themselves forced to admit that Lincoln was theonly possible candidate for the Union party in 1864, and that neitherpolitical combinations nor campaign speeches, nor even victories in thefield, were needed to insure his success. The plain people had all thewhile been satisfied with Abraham Lincoln: they confided in him; theyloved him; they felt themselves near to him; they saw personified in himthe cause of Union and freedom; and they went to the ballot-box for himin their strength. 

The hour of triumph called out the characteristic impulses of hisnature. The opposition within the Union party had stung him to thequick. Now he had his opponents before him, baffled and humiliated. Nota moment did he lose to stretch out the hand of friendship to all. "Nowthat the election is over, " he said, in response to a serenade, "may notall, having a common interest, reunite in a common effort to save ourcommon country? For my own part, I have striven, and will strive, toplace no obstacle in the way. So long as I have been here I have notwillingly planted a thorn in any man's bosom. While I am deeplysensible to the high compliment of a re-election, it adds nothing tomy satisfaction that any other man may be pained or disappointed by theresult. May I ask those who were with me to join with me in the samespirit toward those who were against me?" This was Abraham Lincoln'scharacter as tested in the furnace of prosperity. 

The war was virtually decided, but not yet ended. Sherman wasirresistibly carrying the Union flag through the South. Grant had hisiron hand upon the ramparts of Richmond. The days of the Confederacywere evidently numbered. Only the last blow remained to be struck. ThenLincoln's second inauguration came, and with it his second inauguraladdress. Lincoln's famous "Gettysburg speech" has been much and justlyadmired. But far greater, as well as far more characteristic, was thatinaugural in which he poured out the whole devotion and tenderness ofhis great soul. It had all the solemnity of a father's last admonitionand blessing to his children before he lay down to die. These wereits closing words: "Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that thismighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet if God wills that itcontinue until all the wealth piled up by the bondman's two hundred andfifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop ofblood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said, `Thejudgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. ' With malicetoward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as Godgives us to see the right, let us strive to finish the work we are in;to bind up the nation's wounds; to care for him who shall have borne thebattle, and for his widow and his orphan; to do all which may achieveand cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with allnations. "

This was like a sacred poem. No American President had ever spoken wordslike these to the American people. America never had a President whofound such words in the depth of his heart. 

Now followed the closing scenes of the war. The Southern armies foughtbravely to the last, but all in vain. Richmond fell. Lincoln himselfentered the city on foot, accompanied only by a few officers and asquad of sailors who had rowed him ashore from the flotilla in the JamesRiver, a negro picked up on the way serving as a guide. Never had theworld seen a more modest conqueror and a more characteristic triumphalprocession, no army with banners and drums, only a throng of those whohad been slaves, hastily run together, escorting the victorious chiefinto the capital of the vanquished foe. We are told that they pressedaround him, kissed his hands and his garments, and shouted and dancedfor joy, while tears ran down the President's care-furrowed cheeks. 

A few days more brought the surrender of Lee's army, and peace wasassured. The people of the North were wild with joy. Everywherefestive guns were booming, bells pealing, the churches ringing withthanksgivings, and jubilant multitudes thronging the thoroughfares, whensuddenly the news flashed over the land that Abraham Lincoln had beenmurdered. The people were stunned by the blow. Then a wail of sorrowwent up such as America had never heard before. Thousands of Northernhouseholds grieved as if they had lost their dearest member. Many aSouthern man cried out in his heart that his people had been robbedof their best friend in their humiliation and distress, when AbrahamLincoln was struck down. It was as if the tender affection which hiscountrymen bore him had inspired all nations with a common sentiment. All civilized mankind stood mourning around the coffin of the deadPresident. Many of those, here and abroad, who not long before hadridiculed and reviled him were among the first to hasten on with theirflowers of eulogy, and in that universal chorus of lamentation andpraise there was not a voice that did not tremble with genuine emotion. Never since Washington's death had there been such unanimity of judgmentas to a man's virtues and greatness; and even Washington's death, although his name was held in greater reverence, did not touch sosympathetic a chord in the people's hearts. 

Nor can it be said that this was owing to the tragic character ofLincoln's end. It is true, the death of this gentlest and most mercifulof rulers by the hand of a mad fanatic was well apt to exalt him beyondhis merits in the estimation of those who loved him, and to make hisrenown the object of peculiarly tender solicitude. But it is also truethat the verdict pronounced upon him in those days has been affectedlittle by time, and that historical inquiry has served rather toincrease than to lessen the appreciation of his virtues, his abilities, his services. Giving the fullest measure of credit to his greatministers, --to Seward for his conduct of foreign affairs, to Chase forthe management of the finances under terrible difficulties, to Stantonfor the performance of his tremendous task as war secretary, --andreadily acknowledging that without the skill and fortitude of the greatcommanders, and the heroism of the soldiers and sailors under them, success could not have been achieved, the historian still finds thatLincoln's judgment and will were by no means governed by those aroundhim; that the most important steps were owing to his initiative; thathis was the deciding and directing mind; and that it was pre-eminentlyhe whose sagacity and whose character enlisted for the administrationin its struggles the countenance, the sympathy, and the support of thepeople. It is found, even, that his judgment on military matters wasastonishingly acute, and that the advice and instructions he gave to thegenerals commanding in the field would not seldom have done honor to theablest of them. History, therefore, without overlooking, or palliating, or excusing any of his shortcomings or mistakes, continues to placehim foremost among the saviours of the Union and the liberators of theslave. More than that, it awards to him the merit of having accomplishedwhat but few political philosophers would have recognized aspossible, --of leading the republic through four years of furious civilconflict without any serious detriment to its free institutions. 

He was, indeed, while President, violently denounced by the oppositionas a tyrant and a usurper, for having gone beyond his constitutionalpowers in authorizing or permitting the temporary suppression ofnewspapers, and in wantonly suspending the writ of habeas corpus andresorting to arbitrary arrests. Nobody should be blamed who, when suchthings are done, in good faith and from patriotic motives protestsagainst them. In a republic, arbitrary stretches of power, even whendemanded by necessity, should never be permitted to pass without aprotest on the one hand, and without an apology on the other. It is wellthey did not so pass during our civil war. That arbitrary measures wereresorted to is true. That they were resorted to most sparingly, and onlywhen the government thought them absolutely required by the safety ofthe republic, will now hardly be denied. But certain it is that thehistory of the world does not furnish a single example of a governmentpassing through so tremendous a crisis as our civil war was with sosmall a record of arbitrary acts, and so little interference with theordinary course of law outside the field of military operations. NoAmerican President ever wielded such power as that which was thrust intoLincoln's hands. It is to be hoped that no American President everwill have to be entrusted with such power again. But no man was everentrusted with it to whom its seductions were less dangerous than theyproved to be to Abraham Lincoln. With scrupulous care he endeavored, even under the most trying circumstances, to remain strictly within theconstitutional limitations of his authority; and whenever the boundarybecame indistinct, or when the dangers of the situation forced himto cross it, he was equally careful to mark his acts as exceptionalmeasures, justifiable only by the imperative necessities of the civilwar, so that they might not pass into history as precedents for similaracts in time of peace. It is an unquestionable fact that during thereconstruction period which followed the war, more things were donecapable of serving as dangerous precedents than during the war itself. Thus it may truly be said of him not only that under his guidance therepublic was saved from disruption and the country was purified of theblot of slavery, but that, during the stormiest and most perilous crisisin our history, he so conducted the government and so wielded his almostdictatorial power as to leave essentially intact our free institutionsin all things that concern the rights and liberties of the citizens. He understood well the nature of the problem. In his first message toCongress he defined it in admirably pointed language: "Must a governmentbe of necessity too strong for the liberties of its own people, ortoo weak to maintain its own existence? Is there in all republics thisinherent weakness?" This question he answered in the name of the greatAmerican republic, as no man could have answered it better, with atriumphant "No. .. . "

It has been said that Abraham Lincoln died at the right moment for hisfame. However that may be, he had, at the time of his death, certainlynot exhausted his usefulness to his country. He was probably the onlyman who could have guided the nation through the perplexities of thereconstruction period in such a manner as to prevent in the work ofpeace the revival of the passions of the war. He would indeed not haveescaped serious controversy as to details of policy; but he could haveweathered it far better than any other statesman of his time, for hisprestige with the active politicians had been immensely strengthened byhis triumphant re-election; and, what is more important, he would havebeen supported by the confidence of the victorious Northern people thathe would do all to secure the safety of the Union and the rights ofthe emancipated negro, and at the same time by the confidence of thedefeated Southern people that nothing would be done by him from motivesof vindictiveness, or of unreasoning fanaticism, or of a selfish partyspirit. "With malice toward none, with charity for all, " the foremostof the victors would have personified in himself the genius ofreconciliation. 

He might have rendered the country a great service in another direction. A few days after the fall of Richmond, he pointed out to a friend thecrowd of office-seekers besieging his door. "Look at that, " said he. "Now we have conquered the rebellion, but here you see something thatmay become more dangerous to this republic than the rebellion itself. "It is true, Lincoln as President did not profess what we now call civilservice reform principles. He used the patronage of the governmentin many cases avowedly to reward party work, in many others to formcombinations and to produce political effects advantageous to the Unioncause, and in still others simply to put the right man into the rightplace. But in his endeavors to strengthen the Union cause, and in hissearch for able and useful men for public duties, he frequently wentbeyond the limits of his party, and gradually accustomed himself to thethought that, while party service had its value, considerations ofthe public interest were, as to appointments to office, of far greaterconsequence. Moreover, there had been such a mingling of differentpolitical elements in support of the Union during the civil war thatLincoln, standing at the head of that temporarily united motley mass, hardly felt himself, in the narrow sense of the term, a party man. And as he became strongly impressed with the dangers brought upon therepublic by the use of public offices as party spoils, it is by no meansimprobable that, had he survived the all-absorbing crisis and found timeto turn to other objects, one of the most important reforms of laterdays would have been pioneered by his powerful authority. This wasnot to be. But the measure of his achievements was full enough forimmortality. 

To the younger generation Abraham Lincoln has already become ahalf-mythical figure, which, in the haze of historic distance, growsto more and more heroic proportions, but also loses in distinctness ofoutline and feature. This is indeed the common lot of popular heroes;but the Lincoln legend will be more than ordinarily apt to becomefanciful, as his individuality, assembling seemingly incongruousqualities and forces in a character at the same time grand and mostlovable, was so unique, and his career so abounding in startlingcontrasts. As the state of society in which Abraham Lincoln grew uppasses away, the world will read with increasing wonder of the man who, not only of the humblest origin, but remaining the simplest andmost unpretending of citizens, was raised to a position of powerunprecedented in our history; who was the gentlest and most peace-lovingof mortals, unable to see any creature suffer without a pang in his ownbreast, and suddenly found himself called to conduct the greatest andbloodiest of our wars; who wielded the power of government when sternresolution and relentless force were the order of the day and then wonand ruled the popular mind and heart by the tender sympathies of hisnature; who was a cautious conservative by temperament and mental habit, and led the most sudden and sweeping social revolution of our time;who, preserving his homely speech and rustic manner even in the mostconspicuous position of that period, drew upon himself the scoffs ofpolite society, and then thrilled the soul of mankind with utterances ofwonderful beauty and grandeur; who, in his heart the best friend of thedefeated South, was murdered because a crazy fanatic took him for itsmost cruel enemy; who, while in power, was beyond measure lampooned andmaligned by sectional passion and an excited party spirit, and aroundwhose bier friend and foe gathered to praise him which they have sincenever ceased to do--as one of the greatest of Americans and the best ofmen. 

ABRAHAM LINCOLN, BY JOSEPH H. CHOATE

[This Address was delivered before the Edinburgh PhilosophicalInstitution, November 13, 1900. It is included in this set with thecourteous permission of the author and of Messrs. Thomas Y. Crowell &Company. ]

ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

When you asked me to deliver the Inaugural Address on this occasion, I recognized that I owed this compliment to the fact that I was theofficial representative of America, and in selecting a subject Iventured to think that I might interest you for an hour in a brief studyin popular government, as illustrated by the life of the most Americanof all Americans. I therefore offer no apology for asking your attentionto Abraham Lincoln--to his unique character and the part he bore intwo important achievements of modern history: the preservation of theintegrity of the American Union and the emancipation of the coloredrace. 

During his brief term of power he was probably the object of more abuse, vilification, and ridicule than any other man in the world; but when hefell by the hand of an assassin, at the very moment of his stupendousvictory, all the nations of the earth vied with one another in payinghomage to his character, and the thirty-five years that have sinceelapsed have established his place in history as one of the greatbenefactors not of his own country alone, but of the human race. 

One of many noble utterances upon the occasion of his death was that inwhich 'Punch' made its magnanimous recantation of the spirit with whichit had pursued him:

 "Beside this corpse that bears for winding sheet The stars and stripes he lived to rear anew, Between the mourners at his head and feet, Say, scurrile jester, is there room for you?

 . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 

 "Yes, he had lived to shame me from my sneer, To lame my pencil, and confute my pen To make me own this hind--of princes peer, This rail-splitter--a true born king of men. "

Fiction can furnish no match for the romance of his life, and biographywill be searched in vain for such startling vicissitudes of fortune, so great power and glory won out of such humble beginnings and adversecircumstances. 

Doubtless you are all familiar with the salient points of hisextraordinary career. In the zenith of his fame he was the wise, patient, courageous, successful ruler of men; exercising more power thanany monarch of his time, not for himself, but for the good of the peoplewho had placed it in his hands; commander-in-chief of a vast militarypower, which waged with ultimate success the greatest war of thecentury; the triumphant champion of popular government, the delivererof four millions of his fellowmen from bondage; honored by mankind asStatesman, President, and Liberator. 

Let us glance now at the first half of the brief life of which this wasthe glorious and happy consummation. Nothing could be more squalid andmiserable than the home in which Abraham Lincoln was born--a one-roomedcabin without floor or window in what was then the wilderness ofKentucky, in the heart of that frontier life which swiftly movedwestward from the Alleghanies to the Mississippi, always in advance ofschools and churches, of books and money, of railroads and newspapers, of all things which are generally regarded as the comforts and evennecessaries of life. His father, ignorant, needy, and thriftless, content if he could keep soul and body together for himself and hisfamily, was ever seeking, without success, to better his unhappycondition by moving on from one such scene of dreary desolation toanother. The rude society which surrounded them was not much better. Thestruggle for existence was hard, and absorbed all their energies. Theywere fighting the forest, the wild beast, and the retreating savage. From the time when he could barely handle tools until he attained hismajority, Lincoln's life was that of a simple farm laborer, poorly clad, housed, and fed, at work either on his father's wretched farm or hiredout to neighboring farmers. But in spite, or perhaps by means, of thisrude environment, he grew to be a stalwart giant, reaching six feet fourat nineteen, and fabulous stories are told of his feats of strength. With the growth of this mighty frame began that strange education whichin his ripening years was to qualify him for the great destiny thatawaited him, and the development of those mental faculties and moralendowments which, by the time he reached middle life, were to make himthe sagacious, patient, and triumphant leader of a great nation in thecrisis of its fate. His whole schooling, obtained during such odd timesas could be spared from grinding labor, did not amount in all to as muchas one year, and the quality of the teaching was of the lowest possiblegrade, including only the elements of reading, writing, and ciphering. But out of these simple elements, when rightly used by the right man, education is achieved, and Lincoln knew how to use them. As so oftenhappens, he seemed to take warning from his father's unfortunateexample. Untiring industry, an insatiable thirst for knowledge, andan ever-growing desire to rise above his surroundings, were earlymanifestations of his character. 

Books were almost unknown in that community, but the Bible was inevery house, and somehow or other Pilgrim's Progress, AEsop's Fables, a History of the United States, and a Life of Washington fell into hishands. He trudged on foot many miles through the wilderness to borrow anEnglish Grammar, and is said to have devoured greedily the contents ofthe Statutes of Indiana that fell in his way. These few volumes he readand reread--and his power of assimilation was great. To be shut in witha few books and to master them thoroughly sometimes does more for thedevelopment of character than freedom to range at large, in a cursoryand indiscriminate way, through wide domains of literature. This youth'smind, at any rate, was thoroughly saturated with Biblical knowledge andBiblical language, which, in after life, he used with great readinessand effect. But it was the constant use of the little knowledge which hehad that developed and exercised his mental powers. After the hardday's work was done, while others slept, he toiled on, always reading orwriting. From an early age he did his own thinking and made up his ownmind--invaluable traits in the future President. Paper was such a scarcecommodity that, by the evening firelight, he would write and cipheron the back of a wooden shovel, and then shave it off to make room formore. By and by, as he approached manhood, he began speaking in the rudegatherings of the neighborhood, and so laid the foundation of that artof persuading his fellow-men which was one rich result of his education, and one great secret of his subsequent success. 

Accustomed as we are in these days of steam and telegraphs to have everyintelligent boy survey the whole world each morning before breakfast, and inform himself as to what is going on in every nation, it is hardlypossible to conceive how benighted and isolated was the condition of thecommunity at Pigeon Creek in Indiana, of which the family of Lincoln'sfather formed a part, or how eagerly an ambitious and high-spirited boy, such as he, must have yearned to escape. The first glimpse that he evergot of any world beyond the narrow confines of his home was in 1828, atthe age of nineteen, when a neighbor employed him to accompany his sondown the river to New Orleans to dispose of a flatboat of produce--acommission which he discharged with great success. 

Shortly after his return from this his first excursion into the outerworld, his father, tired of failure in Indiana, packed his family andall his worldly goods into a single wagon drawn by two yoke of oxen, andafter a fourteen days' tramp through the wilderness, pitched his camponce more, in Illinois. Here Abraham, having come of age and being nowhis own master, rendered the last service of his minority by ploughingthe fifteen-acre lot and splitting from the tall walnut trees of theprimeval forest enough rails to surround the little clearing with afence. Such was the meagre outfit of this coming leader of men, at theage when the future British Prime Minister or statesman emerges from theuniversity as a double first or senior wrangler, with every advantagethat high training and broad culture and association with the wisest andthe best of men and women can give, and enters upon some form of publicservice on the road to usefulness and honor, the University course beingonly the first stage of the public training. So Lincoln, at twenty-one, had just begun his preparation for the public life to which he soonbegan to aspire. For some years yet he must continue to earn his dailybread by the sweat of his brow, having absolutely no means, no home, no friend to consult. More farm work as a hired hand, a clerkship in avillage store, the running of a mill, another trip to New Orleans on aflatboat of his own contriving, a pilot's berth on the river--these werethe means by which he subsisted until, in the summer of 1832, when hewas twenty-three years of age, an event occurred which gave him publicrecognition. 

The Black Hawk war broke out, and, the Governor of Illinois calling forvolunteers to repel the band of savages whose leader bore that name, Lincoln enlisted and was elected captain by his comrades, among whom hehad already established his supremacy by signal feats of strength andmore than one successful single combat. During the brief hostilitieshe was engaged in no battle and won no military glory, but his localleadership was established. The same year he offered himself as acandidate for the Legislature of Illinois, but failed at the polls. Yethis vast popularity with those who knew him was manifest. The districtconsisted of several counties, but the unanimous vote of the peopleof his own county was for Lincoln. Another unsuccessful attempt atstore-keeping was followed by better luck at surveying, until his horseand instruments were levied upon under execution for the debts of hisbusiness adventure. 

I have been thus detailed in sketching his early years because uponthese strange foundations the structure of his great fame and servicewas built. In the place of a school and university training fortunesubstituted these trials, hardships, and struggles as a preparation forthe great work which he had to do. It turned out to be exactly whatthe emergency required. Ten years instead at the public school and theuniversity certainly never could have fitted this man for the uniquework which was to be thrown upon him. Some other Moses would have had tolead us to our Jordan, to the sight of our promised land of liberty. 

At the age of twenty-five he became a member of the Legislature ofIllinois, and so continued for eight years, and, in the meantime, qualified himself by reading such law books as he could borrow atrandom--for he was too poor to buy any to be called to the Bar. Forhis second quarter of a century--during which a single term in Congressintroduced him into the arena of national questions--he gave himself upto law and politics. In spite of his soaring ambition, his two yearsin Congress gave him no premonition of the great destiny that awaitedhim, --and at its close, in 1849, we find him an unsuccessful applicantto the President for appointment as Commissioner of the General LandOffice--a purely administrative bureau; a fortunate escape forhimself and for his country. Year by year his knowledge and power, hisexperience and reputation extended, and his mental faculties seemed togrow by what they fed on. His power of persuasion, which had always beenmarked, was developed to an extraordinary degree, now that he becameengaged in congenial questions and subjects. Little by little he rose toprominence at the Bar, and became the most effective public speaker inthe West. Not that he possessed any of the graces of the orator; but hislogic was invincible, and his clearness and force of statement impressedupon his hearers the convictions of his honest mind, while his broadsympathies and sparkling and genial humor made him a universal favoriteas far and as fast as his acquaintance extended. 

These twenty years that elapsed from the time of his establishment asa lawyer and legislator in Springfield, the new capital of Illinois, furnished a fitting theatre for the development and display of his greatfaculties, and, with his new and enlarged opportunities, he obviouslygrew in mental stature in this second period of his career, as ifto compensate for the absolute lack of advantages under which he hadsuffered in youth. As his powers enlarged, his reputation extended, for he was always before the people, felt a warm sympathy with all thatconcerned them, took a zealous part in the discussion of every publicquestion, and made his personal influence ever more widely and deeplyfelt. 

My brethren of the legal profession will naturally ask me, how couldthis rough backwoodsman, whose youth had been spent in the forest oron the farm and the flatboat, without culture or training, education orstudy, by the random reading, on the wing, of a few miscellaneous lawbooks, become a learned and accomplished lawyer? Well, he never did. He never would have earned his salt as a 'Writer' for the 'Signet', nor have won a place as advocate in the Court of Session, where thetechnique of the profession has reached its highest perfection, andcenturies of learning and precedent are involved in the equipment of alawyer. Dr. Holmes, when asked by an anxious young mother, "When shouldthe education of a child begin?" replied, "Madam, at least two centuriesbefore it is born!" and so I am sure it is with the Scots lawyer. 

But not so in Illinois in 1840. Between 1830 and 1880 its populationincreased twenty-fold, and when Lincoln began practising law inSpringfield in 1837, life in Illinois was very crude and simple, and sowere the courts and the administration of justice. Books and librarieswere scarce. But the people loved justice, upheld the law, and followedthe courts, and soon found their favorites among the advocates. Thefundamental principles of the common law, as set forth by Blackstoneand Chitty, were not so difficult to acquire; and brains, common sense, force of character, tenacity of purpose, ready wit and power of speechdid the rest, and supplied all the deficiencies of learning. 

The lawsuits of those days were extremely simple, and the principles ofnatural justice were mainly relied on to dispose of them at the Barand on the Bench, without resort to technical learning. Railroads, corporations absorbing the chief business of the community, combinedand inherited wealth, with all the subtle and intricate questions theybreed, had not yet come in--and so the professional agents and theequipment which they require were not needed. But there were many highlyeducated and powerful men at the Bar of Illinois, even in those earlydays, whom the spirit of enterprise had carried there in search of fameand fortune. It was by constant contact and conflict with these thatLincoln acquired professional strength and skill. Every community andevery age creates its own Bar, entirely adequate for its present usesand necessities. So in Illinois, as the population and wealth of theState kept on doubling and quadrupling, its Bar presented a growingabundance of learning and science and technical skill. The earlypractitioners grew with its growth and mastered the requisite knowledge. Chicago soon grew to be one of the largest and richest and certainlythe most intensely active city on the continent, and if any of myprofessional friends here had gone there in Lincoln's later years, totry or argue a cause, or transact other business, with any idea thatEdinburgh or London had a monopoly of legal learning, science, orsubtlety, they would certainly have found their mistake. 

In those early days in the West, every lawyer, especially every courtlawyer, was necessarily a politician, constantly engaged in the publicdiscussion of the many questions evolved from the rapid developmentof town, county, State, and Federal affairs. Then and there, in thisregard, public discussion supplied the place which the universalactivity of the press has since monopolized, and the public speaker who, by clearness, force, earnestness, and wit; could make himself felt onthe questions of the day would rapidly come to the front. In the absenceof that immense variety of popular entertainments which now feed thepublic taste and appetite, the people found their chief amusement infrequenting the courts and public and political assemblies. In eitherplace, he who impressed, entertained, and amused them most was thehero of the hour. They did not discriminate very carefully between theeloquence of the forum and the eloquence of the hustings. Human natureruled in both alike, and he who was the most effective speaker in apolitical harangue was often retained as most likely to win in a causeto be tried or argued. And I have no doubt in this way many retainerscame to Lincoln. Fees, money in any form, had no charms for him--inhis eager pursuit of fame he could not afford to make money. He wasambitious to distinguish himself by some great service to mankind, andthis ambition for fame and real public service left no room for avaricein his composition. However much he earned, he seems to have ended everyyear hardly richer than he began it, and yet, as the years passed, fees came to him freely. One of L 1, 000 is recorded--a very largeprofessional fee at that time, even in any part of America, the paradiseof lawyers. I lay great stress on Lincoln's career as a lawyer--muchmore than his biographers do because in America a state of thingsexists wholly different from that which prevails in Great Britain. Theprofession of the law always has been and is to this day the principalavenue to public life; and I am sure that his training and experiencein the courts had much to do with the development of those forces ofintellect and character which he soon displayed on a broader arena. 

It was in political controversy, of course, that he acquired his widereputation, and made his deep and lasting impression upon the people ofwhat had now become the powerful State of Illinois, and upon the peopleof the Great West, to whom the political power and control of the UnitedStates were already surely and swiftly passing from the older EasternStates. It was this reputation and this impression, and the familiarknowledge of his character which had come to them from his localleadership, that happily inspired the people of the West to present himas their candidate, and to press him upon the Republican convention of1860 as the fit and necessary leader in the struggle for life which wasbefore the nation. 

That struggle, as you all know, arose out of the terrible question ofslavery--and I must trust to your general knowledge of the historyof that question to make intelligible the attitude and leadership ofLincoln as the champion of the hosts of freedom in the final contest. Negro slavery had been firmly established in the Southern States froman early period of their history. In 1619, the year before the Mayflowerlanded our Pilgrim Fathers upon Plymouth Rock, a Dutch ship haddischarged a cargo of African slaves at Jamestown in Virginia: Allthrough the colonial period their importation had continued. A few hadfound their way into the Northern States, but none of them in sufficientnumbers to constitute danger or to afford a basis for political power. At the time of the adoption of the Federal Constitution, there is nodoubt that the principal members of the convention not only condemnedslavery as a moral, social, and political evil, but believed that bythe suppression of the slave trade it was in the course of gradualextinction in the South, as it certainly was in the North. Washington, in his will, provided for the emancipation of his own slaves, andsaid to Jefferson that it "was among his first wishes to see some planadopted by which slavery in his country might be abolished. " Jeffersonsaid, referring to the institution: "I tremble for my country when Ithink that God is just; that His justice cannot sleep forever, "--andFranklin, Adams, Hamilton, and Patrick Henry were all utterly opposedto it. But it was made the subject of a fatal compromise in the FederalConstitution, whereby its existence was recognized in the States as abasis of representation, the prohibition of the importation of slaveswas postponed for twenty years, and the return of fugitive slavesprovided for. But no imminent danger was apprehended from it till, bythe invention of the cotton gin in 1792, cotton culture by negro laborbecame at once and forever the leading industry of the South, and gavea new impetus to the importation of slaves, so that in 1808, whenthe constitutional prohibition took effect, their numbers had vastlyincreased. From that time forward slavery became the basis of a greatpolitical power, and the Southern States, under all circumstances and atevery opportunity, carried on a brave and unrelenting struggle for itsmaintenance and extension. 

The conscience of the North was slow to rise against it, though bittercontroversies from time to time took place. The Southern leadersthreatened disunion if their demands were not complied with. To save theUnion, compromise after compromise was made, but each one in the end wasbroken. The Missouri Compromise, made in 1820 upon the occasion ofthe admission of Missouri into the Union as a slave State, whereby, inconsideration of such admission, slavery was forever excluded from theNorthwest Territory, was ruthlessly repealed in 1854, by a Congresselected in the interests of the slave power, the intent being to forceslavery into that vast territory which had so long been dedicated tofreedom. This challenge at last aroused the slumbering conscience andpassion of the North, and led to the formation of the Republican partyfor the avowed purpose of preventing, by constitutional methods, thefurther extension of slavery. 

In its first campaign, in 1856, though it failed to elect itscandidates; it received a surprising vote and carried many of theStates. No one could any longer doubt that the North had made up itsmind that no threats of disunion should deter it from pressing itscherished purpose and performing its long neglected duty. From theoutset, Lincoln was one of the most active and effective leaders andspeakers of the new party, and the great debates between Lincoln andDouglas in 1858, as the respective champions of the restriction andextension of slavery, attracted the attention of the whole country. Lincoln's powerful arguments carried conviction everywhere. His moralnature was thoroughly aroused his conscience was stirred to the quick. Unless slavery was wrong, nothing was wrong. Was each man, of whatevercolor, entitled to the fruits of his own labor, or could one man livein idle luxury by the sweat of another's brow, whose skin was darker?He was an implicit believer in that principle of the Declaration ofIndependence that all men are vested with certain inalienable rightsthe equal rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. On thisdoctrine he staked his case and carried it. We have time only for one ortwo sentences in which he struck the keynote of the contest. 

"The real issue in this country is the eternal struggle between thesetwo principles--right and wrong--throughout the world. They are the twoprinciples that have stood face to face from the beginning of time, andwill ever continue to struggle. The one is the common right of humanity, and the other the divine right of kings. It is the same principle inwhatever shape it develops itself. It is the same spirit that says, 'Youwork and toil and earn bread and I'll eat it. '"

He foresaw with unerring vision that the conflict was inevitable andirrepressible--that one or the other, the right or the wrong, freedomor slavery, must ultimately prevail and wholly prevail, throughout thecountry; and this was the principle that carried the war, once begun, toa finish. 

One sentence of his is immortal:

"Under the operation of the policy of compromise, the slavery agitationhas not only not ceased, but has constantly augmented. In my opinionit will not cease until a crisis shall have been reached and passed. 'Ahouse divided against itself cannot stand. ' I believe this governmentcannot endure permanently half slave and half free. I do not expectthe Union to be dissolved. I do not expect the house to fall, but I doexpect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing orall the other; either the opponents of slavery will arrest the furtherspread of it, and place it where the public mind shall rest in thebelief that it is in the course of ultimate extinction, or its advocateswill push it forward till it shall become alike lawful in all theStates, old as well as new, North as well as South. "

During the entire decade from 1850 to 1860 the agitation of theslavery question was at the boiling point, and events which have becomehistorical continually indicated the near approach of the overwhelmingstorm. No sooner had the Compromise Acts of 1850 resulted in a temporarypeace, which everybody said must be final and perpetual, than newoutbreaks came. The forcible carrying away of fugitive slaves by Federaltroops from Boston agitated that ancient stronghold of freedom to itsfoundations. The publication of Uncle Tom's Cabin, which truly exposedthe frightful possibilities of the slave system; the reckless attemptsby force and fraud to establish it in Kansas against the will of thevast majority of the settlers; the beating of Summer in the SenateChamber for words spoken in debate; the Dred Scott decision in theSupreme Court, which made the nation realize that the slave power had atlast reached the fountain of Federal justice; and finally the executionof John Brown, for his wild raid into Virginia, to invite the slaves torally to the standard of freedom which he unfurled:--all these eventstend to illustrate and confirm Lincoln's contention that the nationcould not permanently continue half slave and half free, but must becomeall one thing or all the other. When John Brown lay under sentence ofdeath he declared that now he was sure that slavery must be wiped out inblood; but neither he nor his executioners dreamt that within four yearsa million soldiers would be marching across the country for its finalextirpation, to the music of the war-song of the great conflict:

 "John Brown's body lies a-mouldering in the grave, But his soul is marching on. "

And now, at the age of fifty-one, this child of the wilderness, thisfarm laborer, rail-sputter, flatboatman, this surveyor, lawyer, orator, statesman, and patriot, found himself elected by the great party whichwas pledged to prevent at all hazards the further extension of slavery, as the chief magistrate of the Republic, bound to carry out thatpurpose, to be the leader and ruler of the nation in its most tryinghour. 

Those who believe that there is a living Providence that overrules andconducts the affairs of nations, find in the elevation of this plain manto this extraordinary fortune and to this great duty, which he sofitly discharged, a signal vindication of their faith. Perhaps to thisphilosophical institution the judgment of our philosopher Emerson willcommend itself as a just estimate of Lincoln's historical place. 

"His occupying the chair of state was a triumph of the good sense ofmankind and of the public conscience. He grew according to the need; hismind mastered the problem of the day: and as the problem grew, so didhis comprehension of it. In the war there was no place for holidaymagistrate, nor fair-weather sailor. The new pilot was hurried tothe helm in a tornado. In four years--four years of battle days--hisendurance, his fertility of resource, his magnanimity, were sorelytried, and never found wanting. There, by his courage, his justice, hiseven temper, his fertile counsel, his humanity, he stood a heroic figurein the centre of a heroic epoch. He is the true history of the Americanpeople in his time, the true representative of this continent--fatherof his country, the pulse of twenty millions throbbing in his heart, thethought of their mind--articulated in his tongue. "

He was born great, as distinguished from those who achieve greatness orhave it thrust upon them, and his inherent capacity, mental, moral, andphysical, having been recognized by the educated intelligence of a freepeople, they happily chose him for their ruler in a day of deadly peril. 

It is now forty years since I first saw and heard Abraham Lincoln, butthe impression which he left on my mind is ineffaceable. After his greatsuccesses in the West he came to New York to make a political address. He appeared in every sense of the word like one of the plain peopleamong whom he loved to be counted. At first sight there was nothingimpressive or imposing about him--except that his great stature singledhim out from the crowd: his clothes hung awkwardly on his giant frame;his face was of a dark pallor, without the slightest tinge of color; hisseamed and rugged features bore the furrows of hardship and struggle;his deep-set eyes looked sad and anxious; his countenance in repose gavelittle evidence of that brain power which had raised him from the lowestto the highest station among his countrymen; as he talked to me beforethe meeting, he seemed ill at ease, with that sort of apprehension whicha young man might feel before presenting himself to a new and strangeaudience, whose critical disposition he dreaded. It was a greataudience, including all the noted men--all the learned and cultured ofhis party in New York editors, clergymen, statesmen, lawyers, merchants, critics. They were all very curious to hear him. His fame as a powerfulspeaker had preceded him, and exaggerated rumor of his wit--the worstforerunner of an orator--had reached the East. When Mr. Bryant presentedhim, on the high platform of the Cooper Institute, a vast sea of eagerupturned faces greeted him, full of intense curiosity to see what thisrude child of the people was like. He was equal to the occasion. Whenhe spoke he was transformed; his eye kindled, his voice rang, his faceshone and seemed to light up the whole assembly. For an hour and a halfhe held his audience in the hollow of his hand. His style of speech andmanner of delivery were severely simple. What Lowell called "thegrand simplicities of the Bible, " with which he was so familiar, werereflected in his discourse. With no attempt at ornament or rhetoric, without parade or pretence, he spoke straight to the point. If any cameexpecting the turgid eloquence or the ribaldry of the frontier, theymust have been startled at the earnest and sincere purity of hisutterances. It was marvellous to see how this untutored man, by mereself-discipline and the chastening of his own spirit, had outgrown allmeretricious arts, and found his own way to the grandeur and strength ofabsolute simplicity. 

He spoke upon the theme which he had mastered so thoroughly. Hedemonstrated by copious historical proofs and masterly logic that thefathers who created the Constitution in order to form a more perfectunion, to establish justice, and to secure the blessings of libertyto themselves and their posterity, intended to empower the FederalGovernment to exclude slavery from the Territories. In the kindliestspirit he protested against the avowed threat of the Southern States todestroy the Union if, in order to secure freedom in those vast regionsout of which future States were to be carved, a Republican Presidentwere elected. He closed with an appeal to his audience, spoken with allthe fire of his aroused and kindling conscience, with a full outpouringof his love of justice and liberty, to maintain their political purposeon that lofty and unassailable issue of right and wrong which alonecould justify it, and not to be intimidated from their high resolve andsacred duty by any threats of destruction to the government or of ruinto themselves. He concluded with this telling sentence, which drove thewhole argument home to all our hearts: "Let us have faith that rightmakes might, and in that faith let us to the end dare to do our duty aswe understand it. " That night the great hall, and the next day the wholecity, rang with delighted applause and congratulations, and he who hadcome as a stranger departed with the laurels of great triumph. 

Alas! in five years from that exulting night I saw him again, for thelast time, in the same city, borne in his coffin through its drapedstreets. With tears and lamentations a heart-broken people accompaniedhim from Washington, the scene of his martyrdom, to his lastresting-place in the young city of the West where he had worked his wayto fame. 

Never was a new ruler in a more desperate plight than Lincoln whenhe entered office on the fourth of March, 1861, four months after hiselection, and took his oath to support the Constitution and the Union. The intervening time had been busily employed by the Southern States incarrying out their threat of disunion in the event of his election. As soon as the fact was ascertained, seven of them had seceded and hadseized upon the forts, arsenals, navy yards, and other public propertyof the United States within their boundaries, and were making everypreparation for war. In the meantime the retiring President, who hadbeen elected by the slave power, and who thought the seceding Statescould not lawfully be coerced, had done absolutely nothing. Lincolnfound himself, by the Constitution, Commander-in-Chief of the Army andNavy of the United States, but with only a remnant of either at hand. Each was to be created on a great scale out of the unknown resources ofa nation untried in war. 

In his mild and conciliatory inaugural address, while appealing to theseceding States to return to their allegiance, he avowed his purpose tokeep the solemn oath he had taken that day, to see that the laws of theUnion were faithfully executed, and to use the troops to recover theforts, navy yards, and other property belonging to the government. Itis probable, however, that neither side actually realized that warwas inevitable, and that the other was determined to fight, until theassault on Fort Sumter presented the South as the first aggressorand roused the North to use every possible resource to maintain thegovernment and the imperilled Union, and to vindicate the supremacy ofthe flag over every inch of the territory of the United States. Thefact that Lincoln's first proclamation called for only 75, 000 troops, toserve for three months, shows how inadequate was even his idea of whatthe future had in store. But from that moment Lincoln and his loyalsupporters never faltered in their purpose. They knew they could win, that it was their duty to win, and that for America the whole hopeof the future depended upon their winning; for now by the acts of theseceding States the issue of the election to secure or prevent theextension of slavery--stood transformed into a struggle to preserve orto destroy the Union. 

We cannot follow this contest. You know its gigantic proportions; thatit lasted four years instead of three months; that in its progress, instead of 75, 000 men, more than 2, 000, 000 were enrolled on the sideof the government alone; that the aggregate cost and loss to the nationapproximated to 1, 000, 000, 000 pounds sterling, and that not less than300, 000 brave and precious lives were sacrificed on each side. Historyhas recorded how Lincoln bore himself during these four frightful years;that he was the real President, the responsible and actual head of thegovernment, through it all; that he listened to all advice, heard allparties, and then, always realizing his responsibility to God and thenation, decided every great executive question for himself. His absolutehonesty had become proverbial long before he was President. "Honest AbeLincoln" was the name by which he had been known for years. His everyact attested it. 

In all the grandeur of the vast power that he wielded, he never ceasedto be one of the plain people, as he always called them, never lost orimpaired his perfect sympathy with them, was always in perfect touchwith them and open to their appeals; and here lay the very secret ofhis personality and of his power, for the people in turn gave him theirabsolute confidence. His courage, his fortitude, his patience, hishopefulness, were sorely tried but never exhausted. 

He was true as steel to his generals, but had frequent occasion tochange them, as he found them inadequate. This serious and painful dutyrested wholly upon him, and was perhaps his most important function asCommander-in-Chief; but when, at last, he recognized in General Grantthe master of the situation, the man who could and would bring the warto a triumphant end, he gave it all over to him and upheld him with allhis might. Amid all the pressure and distress that the burdens of officebrought upon him, his unfailing sense of humor saved him; probably itmade it possible for him to live under the burden. He had always beenthe great story-teller of the West, and he used and cultivated thisfaculty to relieve the weight of the load he bore. 

It enabled him to keep the wonderful record of never having lost histemper, no matter what agony he had to bear. A whole night might bespent in recounting the stories of his wit, humor, and harmless sarcasm. But I will recall only two of his sayings, both about General Grant, whoalways found plenty of enemies and critics to urge the President to ousthim from his command. One, I am sure, will interest all Scotchmen. Theyrepeated with malicious intent the gossip that Grant drank. "Whatdoes he drink?" asked Lincoln. "Whiskey, " was, of course, the answer;doubtless you can guess the brand. "Well, " said the President, "justfind out what particular kind he uses and I'll send a barrel to each ofmy other generals. " The other must be as pleasing to the British asto the American ear. When pressed again on other grounds to get rid ofGrant, he declared, "I can't spare that man, he fights!"

He was tender-hearted to a fault, and never could resist the appeals ofwives and mothers of soldiers who had got into trouble and were undersentence of death for their offences. His Secretary of War and otherofficials complained that they never could get deserters shot. As surelyas the women of the culprit's family could get at him he always gaveway. Certainly you will all appreciate his exquisite sympathy with thesuffering relatives of those who had fallen in battle. His heart bledwith theirs. Never was there a more gentle and tender utterance than hisletter to a mother who had given all her sons to her country, written ata time when the angel of death had visited almost every household in theland, and was already hovering over him. 

"I have been shown, " he says, "in the files of the War Department astatement that you are the mother of five sons who have died gloriouslyon the field of battle. I feel how weak and fruitless must be any wordsof mine which should attempt to beguile you from your grief for aloss so overwhelming but I cannot refrain from tendering to you theconsolation which may be found in the thanks of the Republic they diedto save. I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of yourbereavement and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and thelost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly asacrifice upon the altar of freedom. "

Hardly could your illustrious sovereign, from the depths of her queenlyand womanly heart, have spoken words more touching and tender to soothethe stricken mothers of her own soldiers. 

The Emancipation Proclamation, with which Mr. Lincoln delighted thecountry and the world on the first of January, 1863, will doubtlesssecure for him a foremost place in history among the philanthropistsand benefactors of the race, as it rescued, from hopeless and degradingslavery, so many millions of his fellow-beings described in the law andexisting in fact as "chattels-personal, in the hands of their ownersand possessors, to all intents, constructions, and purposes whatsoever. "Rarely does the happy fortune come to one man to render such a serviceto his kind--to proclaim liberty throughout the land unto all theinhabitants thereof. 

Ideas rule the world, and never was there a more signal instance of thistriumph of an idea than here. William Lloyd Garrison, who thirty yearsbefore had begun his crusade for the abolition of slavery, and had livedto see this glorious and unexpected consummation of the hopeless causeto which he had devoted his life, well described the proclamation asa "great historic event, sublime in its magnitude, momentous andbeneficent in its far-reaching consequences, and eminently just andright alike to the oppressor and the oppressed. "

Lincoln had always been heart and soul opposed to slavery. Traditionsays that on the trip on the flatboat to New Orleans he formed hisfirst and last opinion of slavery at the sight of negroes chained andscourged, and that then and there the iron entered into his soul. Noboy could grow to manhood in those days as a poor white in Kentucky andIndiana, in close contact with slavery or in its neighborhood, without agrowing consciousness of its blighting effects on free labor, as well asof its frightful injustice and cruelty. In the Legislature of Illinois, where the public sentiment was all for upholding the institution andviolently against every movement for its abolition or restriction, uponthe passage of resolutions to that effect he had the courage with onecompanion to put on record his protest, "believing that the institutionof slavery is founded both in injustice and bad policy. " No greatdemonstration of courage, you will say; but that was at a time whenGarrison, for his abolition utterances, had been dragged by an angry mobthrough the streets of Boston with a rope around his body, and inthe very year that Lovejoy in the same State of Illinois was slain byrioters while defending his press, from which he had printed antislaveryappeals. 

In Congress he brought in a bill for gradual abolition in the Districtof Columbia, with compensation to the owners, for until they raisedtreasonable hands against the life of the nation he always maintainedthat the property of the slaveholders, into which they had come by twocenturies of descent, without fault on their part, ought not to be takenaway from them without just compensation. He used to say that, one wayor another, he had voted forty-two times for the Wilmot Proviso, whichMr. Wilmot of Pennsylvania moved as an addition to every bill whichaffected United States territory, "that neither slavery nor involuntaryservitude shall ever exist in any part of the said territory, " and it isevident that his condemnation of the system, on moral grounds as a crimeagainst the human race, and on political grounds as a cancer that wassapping the vitals of the nation, and must master its whole being orbe itself extirpated, grew steadily upon him until it culminated in hisgreat speeches in the Illinois debate. 

By the mere election of Lincoln to the Presidency, the further extensionof slavery into the Territories was rendered forever impossible--Voxpopuli, vox Dei. Revolutions never go backward, and when founded on agreat moral sentiment stirring the heart of an indignant people theiredicts are irresistible and final. Had the slave power acquiesced inthat election, had the Southern States remained under the Constitutionand within the Union, and relied upon their constitutional and legalrights, their favorite institution, immoral as it was, blighting andfatal as it was, might have endured for another century. The great partythat had elected him, unalterably determined against its extension, wasnevertheless pledged not to interfere with its continuance in the Stateswhere it already existed. Of course, when new regions were foreverclosed against it, from its very nature it must have begun to shrinkand to dwindle; and probably gradual and compensated emancipation, which appealed very strongly to the new President's sense of justice andexpediency, would, in the progress of time, by a reversion to the ideasof the founders of the Republic, have found a safe outlet for bothmasters and slaves. But whom the gods wish to destroy they first makemad, and when seven States, afterwards increased to eleven, openlyseceded from the Union, when they declared and began the war upon thenation, and challenged its mighty power to the desperate and protractedstruggle for its life, and for the maintenance of its authority asa nation over its territory, they gave to Lincoln and to freedom thesublime opportunity of history. 

In his first inaugural address, when as yet not a drop of precious bloodhad been shed, while he held out to them the olive branch in one hand, in the other he presented the guarantees of the Constitution, and afterreciting the emphatic resolution of the convention that nominatedhim, that the maintenance inviolate of the "rights of the States, andespecially the right of each State to order and control its own domesticinstitutions according to its own judgment exclusively, is essentialto that balance of power on which the perfection and endurance of ourpolitical fabric depend, " he reiterated this sentiment, and declared, with no mental reservation, "that all the protection which, consistentlywith the Constitution and the laws, can be given, will be cheerfullygiven to all the States when lawfully demanded for whatever cause ascheerfully to one section as to another. "

When, however, these magnanimous overtures for peace and reunion wererejected; when the seceding States defied the Constitution and everyclause and principle of it; when they persisted in staying out of theUnion from which they had seceded, and proceeded to carve out of itsterritory a new and hostile empire based on slavery; when they flew atthe throat of the nation and plunged it into the bloodiest war of thenineteenth century the tables were turned, and the belief gradually cameto the mind of the President that if the Rebellion was not soon subduedby force of arms, if the war must be fought out to the bitter end, thento reach that end the salvation of the nation itself might requirethe destruction of slavery wherever it existed; that if the war was tocontinue on one side for Disunion, for no other purpose than to preserveslavery, it must continue on the other side for the Union, to destroyslavery. 

As he said, "Events control me; I cannot control events, " and as thedreadful war progressed and became more deadly and dangerous, theunalterable conviction was forced upon him that, in order that thefrightful sacrifice of life and treasure on both sides might not be allin vain, it had become his duty as Commander-in-Chief of the Army, asa necessary war measure, to strike a blow at the Rebellion which, all others failing, would inevitably lead to its annihilation, byannihilating the very thing for which it was contending. His own wordsare the best:

"I understood that my oath to preserve the Constitution to the best ofmy ability imposed upon me the duty of preserving by every indispensablemeans that government--that nation--of which that Constitution was theorganic law. Was it possible to lose the nation and yet preserve theConstitution? By general law, life and limb must be protected, yet oftena limb must be amputated to save a life; but a life is never wiselygiven to save a limb. I felt that measures otherwise unconstitutionalmight become lawful by becoming indispensable to the preservation of theConstitution through the preservation of the nation. Right or wrong, Iassumed this ground and now avow it. I could not feel that to the bestof my ability I had ever tried to preserve the Constitution if to saveslavery or any minor matter I should permit the wreck of government, country, and Constitution all together. "

And so, at last, when in his judgment the indispensable necessity hadcome, he struck the fatal blow, and signed the proclamation which hasmade his name immortal. By it, the President, as Commander-in-Chief intime of actual armed rebellion, and as a fit and necessary war measurefor suppressing the rebellion, proclaimed all persons held as slavesin the States and parts of States then in rebellion to be thenceforwardfree, and declared that the executive, with the army and navy, wouldrecognize and maintain their freedom. 

In the other great steps of the government, which led to the triumphantprosecution of the war, he necessarily shared the responsibility and thecredit with the great statesmen who stayed up his hands in his cabinet, with Seward, Chase and Stanton, and the rest, --and with his generals andadmirals, his soldiers and sailors, but this great act was absolutelyhis own. The conception and execution were exclusively his. He laid itbefore his cabinet as a measure on which his mind was made up and couldnot be changed, asking them only for suggestions as to details. He chosethe time and the circumstances under which the Emancipation should beproclaimed and when it should take effect. 

It came not an hour too soon; but public opinion in the North would nothave sustained it earlier. In the first eighteen months of the war itsravages had extended from the Atlantic to beyond the Mississippi. Manyvictories in the West had been balanced and paralyzed by inactionand disasters in Virginia, only partially redeemed by the bloody andindecisive battle of Antietam; a reaction had set in from the generalenthusiasm which had swept the Northern States after the assault uponSumter. It could not truly be said that they had lost heart, but factionwas raising its head. Heard through the land like the blast of abugle, the proclamation rallied the patriotism of the country to freshsacrifices and renewed ardor. It was a step that could not be revoked. It relieved the conscience of the nation from an incubus that hadoppressed it from its birth. The United States were rescued from thefalse predicament in which they had been from the beginning, and thegreat popular heart leaped with new enthusiasm for "Liberty and Union, henceforth and forever, one and inseparable. " It brought not only moralbut material support to the cause of the government, for within twoyears 120, 000 colored troops were enlisted in the military service andfollowing the national flag, supported by all the loyalty of the North, and led by its choicest spirits. One mother said, when her son wasoffered the command of the first colored regiment, "If he accepts itI shall be as proud as if I had heard that he was shot. " He was shotheading a gallant charge of his regiment. .. . The Confederates replied toa request of his friends for his body that they had "buried him under alayer of his niggers. .. ;" but that mother has lived to enjoy thirty-sixyears of his glory, and Boston has erected its noblest monument to hismemory. 

The effect of the proclamation upon the actual progress of the war wasnot immediate, but wherever the Federal armies advanced they carriedfreedom with them, and when the summer came round the new spirit andforce which had animated the heart of the government and people weremanifest. In the first week of July the decisive battle of Gettysburgturned the tide of war, and the fall of Vicksburg made the great riverfree from its source to the Gulf. 

On foreign nations the influence of the proclamation and of these newvictories was of great importance. In those days, when there was nocable, it was not easy for foreign observers to appreciate what wasreally going on; they could not see clearly the true state of affairs, as in the last year of the nineteenth century we have been able, by ournew electric vision, to watch every event at the antipodes and observeits effect. The Rebel emissaries, sent over to solicit intervention, spared no pains to impress upon the minds of public and private menand upon the press their own views of the character of the contest. Theprospects of the Confederacy were always better abroad than at home. Thestock markets of the world gambled upon its chances, and its bonds atone time were high in favor. 

Such ideas as these were seriously held: that the North was fighting forempire and the South for independence; that the Southern States, insteadof being the grossest oligarchies, essentially despotisms, founded onthe right of one man to appropriate the fruit of other men's toil and toexclude them from equal rights, were real republics, feebler to be surethan their Northern rivals, but representing the same idea of freedom, and that the mighty strength of the nation was being put forth tocrush them; that Jefferson Davis and the Southern leaders had createda nation; that the republican experiment had failed and the Union hadceased to exist. But the crowning argument to foreign minds was thatit was an utter impossibility for the government to win in the contest;that the success of the Southern States, so far as separation wasconcerned, was as certain as any event yet future and contingent couldbe; that the subjugation of the South by the North, even if it could beaccomplished, would prove a calamity to the United States and the world, and especially calamitous to the negro race; and that such a victorywould necessarily leave the people of the South for many generationscherishing deadly hostility against the government and the North, andplotting always to recover their independence. 

When Lincoln issued his proclamation he knew that all these ideas werefounded in error; that the national resources were inexhaustible;that the government could and would win, and that if slavery were oncefinally disposed of, the only cause of difference being out of the way, the North and South would come together again, and by and by be as goodfriends as ever. In many quarters abroad the proclamation waswelcomed with enthusiasm by the friends of America; but I think thedemonstrations in its favor that brought more gladness to Lincoln'sheart than any other were the meetings held in the manufacturingcentres, by the very operatives upon whom the war bore the hardest, expressing the most enthusiastic sympathy with the proclamation, whilethey bore with heroic fortitude the grievous privations which the warentailed upon them. Mr. Lincoln's expectation when he announced to theworld that all slaves in all States then in rebellion were set freemust have been that the avowed position of his government, that thecontinuance of the war now meant the annihilation of slavery, would makeintervention impossible for any foreign nation whose people were loversof liberty--and so the result proved. 

The growth and development of Lincoln's mental power and moral force, ofhis intense and magnetic personality, after the vast responsibilities ofgovernment were thrown upon him at the age of fifty-two, furnish a rareand striking illustration of the marvellous capacity and adaptability ofthe human intellect--of the sound mind in the sound body. He came tothe discharge of the great duties of the Presidency with absolutely noexperience in the administration of government, or of the vastlyvaried and complicated questions of foreign and domestic policy whichimmediately arose, and continued to press upon him during the rest ofhis life; but he mastered each as it came, apparently with the facilityof a trained and experienced ruler. As Clarendon said of Cromwell, "Hisparts seemed to be raised by the demands of great station. " His lifethrough it all was one of intense labor, anxiety, and distress, withoutone hour of peaceful repose from first to last. But he rose to everyoccasion. He led public opinion, but did not march so far in advance ofit as to fail of its effective support in every great emergency. Heknew the heart and thought of the people, as no man not in constant andabsolute sympathy with them could have known it, and so holding theirconfidence, he triumphed through and with them. Not only was there thissteady growth of intellect, but the infinite delicacy of his nature andits capacity for refinement developed also, as exhibited in thepurity and perfection of his language and style of speech. The roughbackwoodsman, who had never seen the inside of a university, became inthe end, by self-training and the exercise of his own powers of mind, heart, and soul, a master of style, and some of his utterances will rankwith the best, the most perfectly adapted to the occasion which producedthem. 

Have you time to listen to his two-minutes speech at Gettysburg, at thededication of the Soldiers' Cemetery? His whole soul was in it:

"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on thiscontinent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to theproposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in agreat civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceivedand so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield ofthat war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a finalresting-place for those who here gave their lives that that nation mightlive. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. Butin a larger sense we cannot dedicate--we cannot consecrate--we cannothallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled herehave consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. Theworld will little note, nor long remember, what we say here but it cannever forget what they did here. It is for us, the living, rather, tobe dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here havethus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated tothe great task remaining before us that from these honored dead wetake increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last fullmeasure of devotion--that we here highly resolve that these dead shallnot have died in vain--that this nation under God shall have a new birthof freedom--and that government of the people, by the people, and forthe people shall not perish from the earth. "

He lived to see his work indorsed by an overwhelming majority of hiscountrymen. In his second inaugural address, pronounced just forty daysbefore his death, there is a single passage which well displays hisindomitable will and at the same time his deep religious feeling, his sublime charity to the enemies of his country, and his broad andcatholic humanity:

"If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of those offenceswhich in the Providence of God must needs come, but which, havingcontinued through the appointed time, He now wills to remove, and thatHe gives to both North and South this terrible war, as the woe due tothose by whom the offence came, shall we discern therein any departurefrom those divine attributes which the believers in a living God alwaysascribe to Him? Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that thismighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that itcontinue until all the wealth piled by the bondsmen's two hundred andfifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop ofblood drawn with the lash shall be paid with another drawn by the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said, 'thejudgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. '

"With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in theright as God gives us to see the right let us strive on to finish thework we are in to bind up the nation's wounds; to care for him who shallhave borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan to do all whichmay achieve, and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves, andwith all nations. "

His prayer was answered. The forty days of life that remained tohim were crowned with great historic events. He lived to seehis Proclamation of Emancipation embodied in an amendment of theConstitution, adopted by Congress, and submitted to the States forratification. The mighty scourge of war did speedily pass away, for itwas given him to witness the surrender of the Rebel army and the fall oftheir capital, and the starry flag that he loved waving in triumph overthe national soil. When he died by the madman's hand in the supreme hourof victory, the vanquished lost their best friend, and the human raceone of its noblest examples; and all the friends of freedom and justice, in whose cause he lived and died, joined hands as mourners at his grave. 

THE WRITINGS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, 1832-1843

1832

ADDRESS TO THE PEOPLE OF SANGAMON COUNTY. 

March 9, 1832. 

FELLOW CITIZENS:--Having become a candidate for the honorable office ofone of your Representatives in the next General Assembly of this State, in according with an established custom and the principles of trueRepublicanism it becomes my duty to make known to you, the people whom Ipropose to represent, my sentiments with regard to local affairs. 

Time and experience have verified to a demonstration the public utilityof internal improvements. That the poorest and most thinly populatedcountries would be greatly benefited by the opening of good roads, andin the clearing of navigable streams within their limits, is what noperson will deny. Yet it is folly to undertake works of this orany other without first knowing that we are able to finish them--ashalf-finished work generally proves to be labor lost. There cannotjustly be any objection to having railroads and canals, any more than toother good things, provided they cost nothing. The only objection is topaying for them; and the objection arises from the want of ability topay. 

With respect to the County of Sangamon, some. .. . 

Yet, however desirable an object the construction of a railroad throughour country may be, however high our imaginations may be heated atthoughts of it, --there is always a heart-appalling shock accompanyingthe amount of its cost, which forces us to shrink from our pleasinganticipations. The probable cost of this contemplated railroad isestimated at $290, 000; the bare statement of which, in my opinion, issufficient to justify the belief that the improvement of the SangamonRiver is an object much better suited to our infant resources. .. .. .. 

What the cost of this work would be, I am unable to say. It is probable, however, that it would not be greater than is common to streams of thesame length. Finally, I believe the improvement of the Sangamon Riverto be vastly important and highly desirable to the people of the county;and, if elected, any measure in the Legislature having this for itsobject, which may appear judicious, will meet my approbation and receivemy support. 

It appears that the practice of loaning money at exorbitant rates ofinterest has already been opened as a field for discussion; so I supposeI may enter upon it without claiming the honor or risking the dangerwhich may await its first explorer. It seems as though we are neverto have an end to this baneful and corroding system, acting almost asprejudicially to the general interests of the community as a direct taxof several thousand dollars annually laid on each county for the benefitof a few individuals only, unless there be a law made fixing the limitsof usury. A law for this purpose, I am of opinion, may be made withoutmaterially injuring any class of people. In cases of extreme necessity, there could always be means found to cheat the law; while in all othercases it would have its intended effect. I would favor the passage ofa law on this subject which might not be very easily evaded. Let it besuch that the labor and difficulty of evading it could only be justifiedin cases of greatest necessity. 

Upon the subject of education, not presuming to dictate any planor system respecting it, I can only say that I view it as the mostimportant subject which we as a people can be engaged in. That everyman may receive at least a moderate education, and thereby be enabled toread the histories of his own and other countries, by which he may dulyappreciate the value of our free institutions, appears to be an objectof vital importance, even on this account alone, to say nothing of theadvantages and satisfaction to be derived from all being able to readthe Scriptures, and other works both of a religious and moral nature, for themselves. 

For my part, I desire to see the time when education--and by its means, morality, sobriety, enterprise, and industry--shall become much moregeneral than at present, and should be gratified to have it in my powerto contribute something to the advancement of any measure which mighthave a tendency to accelerate that happy period. 

With regard to existing laws, some alterations are thought to benecessary. Many respectable men have suggested that our estray laws, thelaw respecting the issuing of executions, the road law, and some others, are deficient in their present form, and require alterations. But, considering the great probability that the framers of those laws werewiser than myself, I should prefer not meddling with them, unless theywere first attacked by others; in which case I should feel it both aprivilege and a duty to take that stand which, in my view, might tendmost to the advancement of justice. 

But, fellow-citizens, I shall conclude. Considering the great degree ofmodesty which should always attend youth, it is probable I have alreadybeen more presuming than becomes me. However, upon the subjects ofwhich I have treated, I have spoken as I have thought. I may be wrong inregard to any or all of them; but, holding it a sound maxim that it isbetter only sometimes to be right than at all times to be wrong, so soonas I discover my opinions to be erroneous, I shall be ready to renouncethem. 

Every man is said to have his peculiar ambition. Whether it be true ornot, I can say, for one, that I have no other so great as that of beingtruly esteemed of my fellow-men, by rendering myself worthy of theiresteem. How far I shall succeed in gratifying this ambition is yet to bedeveloped. I am young, and unknown to many of you. I was born, and haveever remained, in the most humble walks of life. I have no wealthyor popular relations or friends to recommend me. My case is thrownexclusively upon the independent voters of the county; and, ifelected, they will have conferred a favor upon me for which I shall beunremitting in my labors to compensate. But, if the good people intheir wisdom shall see fit to keep me in the background, I have been toofamiliar with disappointments to be very much chagrined. 

Your friend and fellow-citizen, A. LINCOLN. 

New Salem, March 9, 1832. 

1833

TO E. C. BLANKENSHIP. 

NEW SALEM, Aug. 10, 1833

E. C. BLANKENSHIP. 

Dear Sir:--In regard to the time David Rankin served the encloseddischarge shows correctly--as well as I can recollect--having no writingto refer. The transfer of Rankin from my company occurred as follows:Rankin having lost his horse at Dixon's ferry and having acquaintance inone of the foot companies who were going down the river was desirousto go with them, and one Galishen being an acquaintance of mine andbelonging to the company in which Rankin wished to go wished to leaveit and join mine, this being the case it was agreed that they shouldexchange places and answer to each other's names--as it was expectedwe all would be discharged in very few days. As to a blanket--I have noknowledge of Rankin ever getting any. The above embraces all the factsnow in my recollection which are pertinent to the case. 

I shall take pleasure in giving any further information in my powershould you call on me. 

Your friend, A. LINCOLN. 

RESPONSE TO REQUEST FOR POSTAGE RECEIPT

TO Mr. SPEARS. 

Mr. SPEARS:

At your request I send you a receipt for the postage on your paper. I amsomewhat surprised at your request. I will, however, comply with it. The law requires newspaper postage to be paid in advance, and now thatI have waited a full year you choose to wound my feelings by insinuatingthat unless you get a receipt I will probably make you pay it again. 

Respectfully, A. LINCOLN. 

1836

ANNOUNCEMENT OF POLITICAL VIEWS. 

New Salem, June 13, 1836. 

TO THE EDITOR OF THE "JOURNAL"--In your paper of last Saturday I seea communication, over the signature of "Many Voters, " in which thecandidates who are announced in the Journal are called upon to "showtheir hands. " Agreed. Here's mine. 

I go for all sharing the privileges of the government who assist inbearing its burdens. Consequently, I go for admitting all whites tothe right of suffrage who pay taxes or bear arms (by no means excludingfemales). 

If elected, I shall consider the whole people of Sangamon myconstituents, as well those that oppose as those that support me. 

While acting as their representative, I shall be governed by their willon all subjects upon which I have the means of knowing what their willis; and upon all others I shall do what my own judgment teaches mewill best advance their interests. Whether elected or not, I go fordistributing the proceeds of the sales of the public lands to theseveral States, to enable our State, in common with others, to digcanals and construct railroads without borrowing money and paying theinterest on it. If alive on the first Monday in November, I shall votefor Hugh L. White for President. 

Very respectfully, A. LINCOLN. 

RESPONSE TO POLITICAL SMEAR

TO ROBERT ALLEN

New Salem, June 21, 1836

DEAR COLONEL:--I am told that during my absence last week you passedthrough this place, and stated publicly that you were in possession of afact or facts which, if known to the public, would entirely destroy theprospects of N. W. Edwards and myself at the ensuing election; but that, through favor to us, you should forbear to divulge them. No one hasneeded favors more than I, and, generally, few have been less unwillingto accept them; but in this case favor to me would be injustice to thepublic, and therefore I must beg your pardon for declining it. ThatI once had the confidence of the people of Sangamon, is sufficientlyevident; and if I have since done anything, either by design ormisadventure, which if known would subject me to a forfeiture of thatconfidence, he that knows of that thing, and conceals it, is a traitorto his country's interest. 

I find myself wholly unable to form any conjecture of what fact orfacts, real or supposed, you spoke; but my opinion of your veracity willnot permit me for a moment to doubt that you at least believed what yousaid. I am flattered with the personal regard you manifested for me;but I do hope that, on more mature reflection, you will view the publicinterest as a paramount consideration, and therefore determine to letthe worst come. I here assure you that the candid statement of factson your part, however low it may sink me, shall never break the tie ofpersonal friendship between us. I wish an answer to this, and you are atliberty to publish both, if you choose. 

Very respectfully, A. LINCOLN. 

TO MISS MARY OWENS. 

VANDALIA, December 13, 1836. 

MARY:--I have been sick ever since my arrival, or I should have writtensooner. It is but little difference, however, as I have very littleeven yet to write. And more, the longer I can avoid the mortificationof looking in the post-office for your letter and not finding it, thebetter. You see I am mad about that old letter yet. I don't like verywell to risk you again. I'll try you once more, anyhow. 

The new State House is not yet finished, and consequently theLegislature is doing little or nothing. The governor delivered aninflammatory political message, and it is expected there will be somesparring between the parties about it as soon as the two Houses get tobusiness. Taylor delivered up his petition for the new county to oneof our members this morning. I am told he despairs of its success, onaccount of all the members from Morgan County opposing it. There arenames enough on the petition, I think, to justify the members from ourcounty in going for it; but if the members from Morgan oppose it, whichthey say they will, the chance will be bad. 

Our chance to take the seat of government to Springfield is better thanI expected. An internal-improvement convention was held there since wemet, which recommended a loan of several millions of dollars, on thefaith of the State, to construct railroads. Some of the Legislature arefor it, and some against it; which has the majority I cannot tell. There is great strife and struggling for the office of the United StatesSenator here at this time. It is probable we shall ease their pains ina few days. The opposition men have no candidate of their own, andconsequently they will smile as complacently at the angry snarl of thecontending Van Buren candidates and their respective friends as theChristian does at Satan's rage. You recollect that I mentioned at theoutset of this letter that I had been unwell. That is the fact, thoughI believe I am about well now; but that, with other things I cannotaccount for, have conspired, and have gotten my spirits so low that Ifeel that I would rather be any place in the world than here. I reallycannot endure the thought of staying here ten weeks. Write back as soonas you get this, and, if possible, say something that will please me, for really I have not been pleased since I left you. This letter isso dry and stupid that I am ashamed to send it, but with my presentfeelings I cannot do any better. 

Give my best respects to Mr. And Mrs. Able and family. 

Your friend, LINCOLN

1837

SPEECH IN ILLINOIS LEGISLATURE. 

January [?], 1837

Mr. CHAIRMAN:--Lest I should fall into the too common error of beingmistaken in regard to which side I design to be upon, I shall make itmy first care to remove all doubt on that point, by declaring that I amopposed to the resolution under consideration, in toto. Before I proceedto the body of the subject, I will further remark, that it is notwithout a considerable degree of apprehension that I venture to crossthe track of the gentleman from Coles [Mr. Linder]. Indeed, I do notbelieve I could muster a sufficiency of courage to come in contact withthat gentleman, were it not for the fact that he, some days since, most graciously condescended to assure us that he would never be foundwasting ammunition on small game. On the same fortunate occasion, he further gave us to understand, that he regarded himself as beingdecidedly the superior of our common friend from Randolph [Mr. Shields];and feeling, as I really do, that I, to say the most of myself, amnothing more than the peer of our friend from Randolph, I shallregard the gentleman from Coles as decidedly my superior also, andconsequently, in the course of what I shall have to say, whenever Ishall have occasion to allude to that gentleman, I shall endeavorto adopt that kind of court language which I understand to be due todecided superiority. In one faculty, at least, there can be no disputeof the gentleman's superiority over me and most other men, and that is, the faculty of entangling a subject, so that neither himself, orany other man, can find head or tail to it. Here he has introduced aresolution embracing ninety-nine printed lines across common writingpaper, and yet more than one half of his opening speech has been madeupon subjects about which there is not one word said in his resolution. 

Though his resolution embraces nothing in regard to theconstitutionality of the Bank, much of what he has said has been witha view to make the impression that it was unconstitutional in itsinception. Now, although I am satisfied that an ample field may be foundwithin the pale of the resolution, at least for small game, yet, asthe gentleman has traveled out of it, I feel that I may, with all duehumility, venture to follow him. The gentleman has discovered that somegentleman at Washington city has been upon the very eve of deciding ourBank unconstitutional, and that he would probably have completed hisvery authentic decision, had not some one of the Bank officers placedhis hand upon his mouth, and begged him to withhold it. The factthat the individuals composing our Supreme Court have, in an officialcapacity, decided in favor of the constitutionality of the Bank, would, in my mind, seem a sufficient answer to this. It is a fact known to all, that the members of the Supreme Court, together with the Governor, forma Council of Revision, and that this Council approved this Bank charter. I ask, then, if the extra-judicial decision not quite but almost madeby the gentleman at Washington, before whom, by the way, the question ofthe constitutionality of our Bank never has, nor never can come--is tobe taken as paramount to a decision officially made by that tribunal, by which, and which alone, the constitutionality of the Bank can ever besettled? But, aside from this view of the subject, I would ask, if thecommittee which this resolution proposes to appoint are to examine intothe Constitutionality of the Bank? Are they to be clothed with power tosend for persons and papers, for this object? And after they have foundthe bank to be unconstitutional, and decided it so, how are they toenforce their decision? What will their decision amount to? They cannotcompel the Bank to cease operations, or to change the course of itsoperations. What good, then, can their labors result in? Certainly none. 

The gentleman asks, if we, without an examination, shall, by giving theState deposits to the Bank, and by taking the stock reserved for theState, legalize its former misconduct. Now I do not pretend to possesssufficient legal knowledge to decide whether a legislative enactmentproposing to, and accepting from, the Bank, certain terms, would havethe effect to legalize or wipe out its former errors, or not; but I canassure the gentleman, if such should be the effect, he has already gotbehind the settlement of accounts; for it is well known to all, that theLegislature, at its last session, passed a supplemental Bank charter, which the Bank has since accepted, and which, according to his doctrine, has legalized all the alleged violations of its original charter in thedistribution of its stock. 

I now proceed to the resolution. By examination it will be found thatthe first thirty-three lines, being precisely one third of the whole, relate exclusively to the distribution of the stock by the commissionersappointed by the State. Now, Sir, it is clear that no question can ariseon this portion of the resolution, except a question between capitalistsin regard to the ownership of stock. Some gentlemen have their stock intheir hands, while others, who have more money than they know what todo with, want it; and this, and this alone, is the question, to settlewhich we are called on to squander thousands of the people's money. What interest, let me ask, have the people in the settlement of thisquestion? What difference is it to them whether the stock is owned byJudge Smith or Sam Wiggins? If any gentleman be entitled to stock in theBank, which he is kept out of possession of by others, let him asserthis right in the Supreme Court, and let him or his antagonist, whichevermay be found in the wrong, pay the costs of suit. It is an old maxim, and a very sound one, that he that dances should always pay the fiddler. Now, Sir, in the present case, if any gentlemen, whose money is a burdento them, choose to lead off a dance, I am decidedly opposed to thepeople's money being used to pay the fiddler. No one can doubt that theexamination proposed by this resolution must cost the State some ten ortwelve thousand dollars; and all this to settle a question in whichthe people have no interest, and about which they care nothing. Thesecapitalists generally act harmoniously and in concert, to fleece thepeople, and now that they have got into a quarrel with themselves we arecalled upon to appropriate the people's money to settle the quarrel. 

I leave this part of the resolution and proceed to the remainder. Itwill be found that no charge in the remaining part of the resolution, iftrue, amounts to the violation of the Bank charter, except one, which Iwill notice in due time. It might seem quite sufficient to say no moreupon any of these charges or insinuations than enough to show they arenot violations of the charter; yet, as they are ingeniously framed andhandled, with a view to deceive and mislead, I will notice in theirorder all the most prominent of them. The first of these is in relationto a connection between our Bank and several banking institutions inother States. Admitting this connection to exist, I should like to seethe gentleman from Coles, or any other gentleman, undertake to show thatthere is any harm in it. What can there be in such a connection, thatthe people of Illinois are willing to pay their money to get a peepinto? By a reference to the tenth section of the Bank charter, anygentleman can see that the framers of the act contemplated the holdingof stock in the institutions of other corporations. Why, then, is it, when neither law nor justice forbids it, that we are asked to spend ourtime and money in inquiring into its truth?

The next charge, in the order of time, is, that some officer, director, clerk or servant of the Bank, has been required to take an oath ofsecrecy in relation to the affairs of said Bank. Now, I do not knowwhether this be true or false--neither do I believe any honest mancares. I know that the seventh section of the charter expresslyguarantees to the Bank the right of making, under certain restrictions, such by-laws as it may think fit; and I further know that the requiringan oath of secrecy would not transcend those restrictions. What, then, if the Bank has chosen to exercise this right? Whom can it injure? Doesnot every merchant have his secret mark? and who is ever silly enoughto complain of it? I presume if the Bank does require any such oath ofsecrecy, it is done through a motive of delicacy to those individualswho deal with it. Why, Sir, not many days since, one gentleman upon thisfloor, who, by the way, I have no doubt is now ready to join this hueand cry against the Bank, indulged in a philippic against one of theBank officials, because, as he said, he had divulged a secret. 

Immediately following this last charge, there are several insinuationsin the resolution, which are too silly to require any sort of notice, were it not for the fact that they conclude by saying, "to the greatinjury of the people at large. " In answer to this I would say that itis strange enough, that the people are suffering these "great injuries, "and yet are not sensible of it! Singular indeed that the people shouldbe writhing under oppression and injury, and yet not one among themto be found to raise the voice of complaint. If the Bank be inflictinginjury upon the people, why is it that not a single petition ispresented to this body on the subject? If the Bank really be agrievance, why is it that no one of the real people is found to askredress of it? The truth is, no such oppression exists. If it did, ourpeople would groan with memorials and petitions, and we would not bepermitted to rest day or night, till we had put it down. The people knowtheir rights, and they are never slow to assert and maintain them, whenthey are invaded. Let them call for an investigation, and I shall everstand ready to respond to the call. But they have made no such call. Imake the assertion boldly, and without fear of contradiction, that noman, who does not hold an office, or does not aspire to one, has everfound any fault of the Bank. It has doubled the prices of the productsof their farms, and filled their pockets with a sound circulatingmedium, and they are all well pleased with its operations. No, Sir, itis the politician who is the first to sound the alarm (which, bythe way, is a false one. ) It is he, who, by these unholy means, isendeavoring to blow up a storm that he may ride upon and direct. It ishe, and he alone, that here proposes to spend thousands of the people'spublic treasure, for no other advantage to them than to make valuelessin their pockets the reward of their industry. Mr. Chairman, this workis exclusively the work of politicians; a set of men who have interestsaside from the interests of the people, and who, to say the most ofthem, are, taken as a mass, at least one long step removed from honestmen. I say this with the greater freedom, because, being a politicianmyself, none can regard it as personal. 

Again, it is charged, or rather insinuated, that officers of the Bankhave loaned money at usurious rates of interest. Suppose this to betrue, are we to send a committee of this House to inquire into it?Suppose the committee should find it true, can they redress the injuredindividuals? Assuredly not. If any individual had been injured in thisway, is there not an ample remedy to be found in the laws of the land?Does the gentleman from Coles know that there is a statute standing infull force making it highly penal for an individual to loan money at ahigher rate of interest than twelve per cent? If he does not he is tooignorant to be placed at the head of the committee which his resolutionpurposes and if he does, his neglect to mention it shows him to be toouncandid to merit the respect or confidence of any one. 

But besides all this, if the Bank were struck from existence, couldnot the owners of the capital still loan it usuriously, as well as now?whatever the Bank, or its officers, may have done, I know thatusurious transactions were much more frequent and enormous before thecommencement of its operations than they have ever been since. 

The next insinuation is, that the Bank has refused specie payments. This, if true is a violation of the charter. But there is not theleast probability of its truth; because, if such had been the fact, theindividual to whom payment was refused would have had an interest inmaking it public, by suing for the damages to which the charter entitleshim. Yet no such thing has been done; and the strong presumption is, that the insinuation is false and groundless. 

From this to the end of the resolution, there is nothing that meritsattention--I therefore drop the particular examination of it. 

By a general view of the resolution, it will be seen that a principalobject of the committee is to examine into, and ferret out, a mass ofcorruption supposed to have been committed by the commissionerswho apportioned the stock of the Bank. I believe it is universallyunderstood and acknowledged that all men will ever act correctly unlessthey have a motive to do otherwise. If this be true, we can only supposethat the commissioners acted corruptly by also supposing that they werebribed to do so. Taking this view of the subject, I would ask if theBank is likely to find it more difficult to bribe the committee ofseven, which, we are about to appoint, than it may have found it tobribe the commissioners?

(Here Mr. Linder called to order. The Chair decided that Mr. Lincolnwas not out of order. Mr. Linder appealed to the House, but, before thequestion was put, withdrew his appeal, saying he preferred to let thegentleman go on; he thought he would break his own neck. Mr. Lincolnproceeded:)

Another gracious condescension! I acknowledge it with gratitude. I knowI was not out of order; and I know every sensible man in the House knowsit. I was not saying that the gentleman from Coles could be bribed, nor, on the other hand, will I say he could not. In that particular I leavehim where I found him. I was only endeavoring to show that there was atleast as great a probability of any seven members that could be selectedfrom this House being bribed to act corruptly, as there was that thetwenty-four commissioners had been so bribed. By a reference tothe ninth section of the Bank charter, it will be seen that thosecommissioners were John Tilson, Robert K. McLaughlin, Daniel Warm, A. G. S. Wight, John C. Riley, W. H. Davidson, Edward M. Wilson, Edward L. Pierson, Robert R. Green, Ezra Baker, Aquilla Wren, John Taylor, SamuelC. Christy, Edmund Roberts, Benjamin Godfrey, Thomas Mather, A. M. Jenkins, W. Linn, W. S. Gilman, Charles Prentice, Richard I. Hamilton, A. H. Buckner, W. F. Thornton, and Edmund D. Taylor. 

These are twenty-four of the most respectable men in the State. Probablyno twenty-four men could be selected in the State with whom the peopleare better acquainted, or in whose honor and integrity they wouldmore readily place confidence. And I now repeat, that there is lessprobability that those men have been bribed and corrupted, than thatany seven men, or rather any six men, that could be selected from themembers of this House, might be so bribed and corrupted, even thoughthey were headed and led on by "decided superiority" himself. 

In all seriousness, I ask every reasonable man, if an issue be joinedby these twenty-four commissioners, on the one part, and any otherseven men, on the other part, and the whole depend upon the honor andintegrity of the contending parties, to which party would the greatestdegree of credit be due? Again: Another consideration is, that we haveno right to make the examination. What I shall say upon this head Idesign exclusively for the law-loving and law-abiding part of the House. To those who claim omnipotence for the Legislature, and who in theplenitude of their assumed powers are disposed to disregard theConstitution, law, good faith, moral right, and everything else, I havenot a word to say. But to the law-abiding part I say, examine the Bankcharter, go examine the Constitution, go examine the acts that theGeneral Assembly of this State has passed, and you will find just asmuch authority given in each and every of them to compel the Bank tobring its coffers to this hall and to pour their contents upon thisfloor, as to compel it to submit to this examination which thisresolution proposes. Why, Sir, the gentleman from Coles, the mover ofthis resolution, very lately denied on this floor that the Legislaturehad any right to repeal or otherwise meddle with its own acts, whenthose acts were made in the nature of contracts, and had been acceptedand acted on by other parties. Now I ask if this resolution does notpropose, for this House alone, to do what he, but the other day, deniedthe right of the whole Legislature to do? He must either abandon theposition he then took, or he must now vote against his own resolution. It is no difference to me, and I presume but little to any one else, which he does. 

I am by no means the special advocate of the Bank. I have long thoughtthat it would be well for it to report its condition to the GeneralAssembly, and that cases might occur, when it might be proper to make anexamination of its affairs by a committee. Accordingly, during thelast session, while a bill supplemental to the Bank charter was pendingbefore the House, I offered an amendment to the same, in these words:"The said corporation shall, at the next session of the GeneralAssembly, and at each subsequent General Session, during the existenceof its charter, report to the same the amount of debts due from saidcorporation; the amount of debts due to the same; the amount of speciein its vaults, and an account of all lands then owned by the same, andthe amount for which such lands have been taken; and moreover, if saidcorporation shall at any time neglect or refuse to submit its books, papers, and all and everything necessary for a full and fair examinationof its affairs, to any person or persons appointed by the GeneralAssembly, for the purpose of making such examination, the saidcorporation shall forfeit its charter. "

This amendment was negatived by a vote of 34 to 15. Eleven of the 34 whovoted against it are now members of this House; and though it wouldbe out of order to call their names, I hope they will all recollectthemselves, and not vote for this examination to be made withoutauthority, inasmuch as they refused to receive the authority when it wasin their power to do so. 

I have said that cases might occur, when an examination might be proper;but I do not believe any such case has now occurred; and if it has, I should still be opposed to making an examination without legalauthority. I am opposed to encouraging that lawless and mobocraticspirit, whether in relation to the Bank or anything else, which isalready abroad in the land and is spreading with rapid and fearfulimpetuosity, to the ultimate overthrow of every institution, of everymoral principle, in which persons and property have hitherto foundsecurity. 

But supposing we had the authority, I would ask what good can resultfrom the examination? Can we declare the Bank unconstitutional, andcompel it to desist from the abuses of its power, provided we find suchabuses to exist? Can we repair the injuries which it may have done toindividuals? Most certainly we can do none of these things. Whythen shall we spend the public money in such employment? Oh, say theexaminers, we can injure the credit of the Bank, if nothing else, Pleasetell me, gentlemen, who will suffer most by that? You cannot injure, toany extent, the stockholders. They are men of wealth--of large capital;and consequently, beyond the power of malice. But by injuring the creditof the Bank, you will depreciate the value of its paper in the hands ofthe honest and unsuspecting farmer and mechanic, and that is all you cando. But suppose you could effect your whole purpose; suppose you couldwipe the Bank from existence, which is the grand ultimatum of theproject, what would be the consequence? why, Sir, we should spendseveral thousand dollars of the public treasure in the operation, annihilate the currency of the State, render valueless in the hands ofour people that reward of their former labors, and finally be once moreunder the comfortable obligation of paying the Wiggins loan, principaland interest. 

OPPOSITION TO MOB-RULE

ADDRESS BEFORE THE YOUNG MEN'S LYCEUM OF SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS. 

January 27, 1837. 

As a subject for the remarks of the evening, "The Perpetuation of ourPolitical Institutions" is selected. 

In the great journal of things happening under the sun, we, the Americanpeople, find our account running under date of the nineteenth century ofthe Christian era. We find ourselves in the peaceful possession of thefairest portion of the earth as regards extent of territory, fertilityof soil, and salubrity of climate. We find ourselves under thegovernment of a system of political institutions conducing moreessentially to the ends of civil and religious liberty than any of whichthe history of former times tells us. We, when mounting the stage ofexistence, found ourselves the legal inheritors of these fundamentalblessings. We toiled not in the acquirement or establishment of them;they are a legacy bequeathed us by a once hardy, brave, and patriotic, but now lamented and departed, race of ancestors. Theirs was thetask (and nobly they performed it) to possess themselves, and throughthemselves us, of this goodly land, and to uprear upon its hills and itsvalleys a political edifice of liberty and equal rights; it is ours onlyto transmit these--the former unprofaned by the foot of an invader, thelatter undecayed by the lapse of time and untorn by usurpation--to thelatest generation that fate shall permit the world to know. This taskgratitude to our fathers, justice to ourselves, duty to posterity, andlove for our species in general, all imperatively require us faithfullyto perform. 

How then shall we perform it? At what point shall we expect the approachof danger? By what means shall we fortify against it? Shall we expectsome transatlantic military giant to step the ocean and crush us at ablow? Never! All the armies of Europe, Asia, and Africa combined, withall the treasure of the earth (our own excepted) in their militarychest, with a Bonaparte for a commander, could not by force take a drinkfrom the Ohio or make a track on the Blue Ridge in a trial of a thousandyears. 

At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer:If it ever reach us it must spring up amongst us; it cannot come fromabroad. If destruction be our lot we must ourselves be its author andfinisher. As a nation of freemen we must live through all time, or dieby suicide. 

I hope I am over-wary; but if I am not, there is even now somethingof ill omen amongst us. I mean the increasing disregard for law whichpervades the country--the growing disposition to substitute the wild andfurious passions in lieu of the sober judgment of courts, and theworse than savage mobs for the executive ministers of justice. Thisdisposition is awfully fearful in any community; and that it nowexists in ours, though grating to our feelings to admit, it would be aviolation of truth and an insult to our intelligence to deny. Accountsof outrages committed by mobs form the everyday news of the times. They have pervaded the country from New England to Louisiana; they areneither peculiar to the eternal snows of the former nor the burning sunsof the latter; they are not the creature of climate, neither are theyconfined to the slave holding or the non-slave holding States. Alikethey spring up among the pleasure-hunting masters of Southern slaves, and the order-loving citizens of the land of steady habits. Whateverthen their cause may be, it is common to the whole country. 

It would be tedious as well as useless to recount the horrors of all ofthem. Those happening in the State of Mississippi and at St. Louis areperhaps the most dangerous in example and revolting to humanity. In theMississippi case they first commenced by hanging the regular gamblers--aset of men certainly not following for a livelihood a very useful orvery honest occupation, but one which, so far from being forbidden bythe laws, was actually licensed by an act of the Legislature passed buta single year before. Next, negroes suspected of conspiring to raise aninsurrection were caught up and hanged in all parts of the State;then, white men supposed to be leagued with the negroes; and finally, strangers from neighboring States, going thither on business, were inmany instances subjected to the same fate. Thus went on this process ofhanging, from gamblers to negroes, from negroes to white citizens, andfrom these to strangers, till dead men were seen literally danglingfrom the boughs of trees upon every roadside, and in numbers almostsufficient to rival the native Spanish moss of the country as a draperyof the forest. 

Turn then to that horror-striking scene at St. Louis. A single victimonly was sacrificed there. This story is very short, and is perhapsthe most highly tragic of anything of its length that has ever beenwitnessed in real life. A mulatto man by the name of McIntosh was seizedin the street, dragged to the suburbs of the city, chained to a tree, and actually burned to death; and all within a single hour from the timehe had been a freeman attending to his own business and at peace withthe world. 

Such are the effects of mob law, and such are the scenes becoming moreand more frequent in this land so lately famed for love of law andorder, and the stories of which have even now grown too familiar toattract anything more than an idle remark. 

But you are perhaps ready to ask, "What has this to do with theperpetuation of our political institutions?" I answer, It has much todo with it. Its direct consequences are, comparatively speaking, buta small evil, and much of its danger consists in the proneness ofour minds to regard its direct as its only consequences. Abstractlyconsidered, the hanging of the gamblers at Vicksburg was of but littleconsequence. They constitute a portion of population that is worse thanuseless in any community; and their death, if no pernicious example beset by it, is never matter of reasonable regret with any one. Ifthey were annually swept from the stage of existence by the plague orsmallpox, honest men would perhaps be much profited by the operation. Similar too is the correct reasoning in regard to the burning of thenegro at St. Louis. He had forfeited his life by the perpetration of anoutrageous murder upon one of the most worthy and respectable citizensof the city, and had he not died as he did, he must have died by thesentence of the law in a very short time afterwards. As to him alone, it was as well the way it was as it could otherwise have been. But theexample in either case was fearful. When men take it in their headsto-day to hang gamblers or burn murderers, they should recollect that inthe confusion usually attending such transactions they will be as likelyto hang or burn some one who is neither a gambler nor a murderer as onewho is, and that, acting upon the example they set, the mob of to-morrowmay, and probably will, hang or burn some of them by the very samemistake. And not only so: the innocent, those who have ever set theirfaces against violations of law in every shape, alike with the guiltyfall victims to the ravages of mob law; and thus it goes on, step bystep, till all the walls erected for the defense of the persons andproperty of individuals are trodden down and disregarded. But all this, even, is not the full extent of the evil. By such examples, by instancesof the perpetrators of such acts going unpunished, the lawless in spiritare encouraged to become lawless in practice; and having been used tono restraint but dread of punishment, they thus become absolutelyunrestrained. Having ever regarded government as their deadliest bane, they make a jubilee of the suspension of its operations, and pray fornothing so much as its total annihilation. While, on the other hand, good men, men who love tranquillity, who desire to abide by the laws andenjoy their benefits, who would gladly spill their blood in the defenseof their country, seeing their property destroyed, their familiesinsulted, and their lives endangered, their persons injured, and seeingnothing in prospect that forebodes a change for the better, become tiredof and disgusted with a government that offers them no protection, andare not much averse to a change in which they imagine they have nothingto lose. Thus, then, by the operation of this mobocratic spirit whichall must admit is now abroad in the land, the strongest bulwark ofany government, and particularly of those constituted like ours, mayeffectually be broken down and destroyed--I mean the attachment of thepeople. Whenever this effect shall be produced among us; whenever thevicious portion of population shall be permitted to gather in bandsof hundreds and thousands, and burn churches, ravage and robprovision-stores, throw printing presses into rivers, shoot editors, andhang and burn obnoxious persons at pleasure and with impunity, depend onit, this government cannot last. By such things the feelings of the bestcitizens will become more or less alienated from it, and thus it willbe left without friends, or with too few, and those few too weak tomake their friendship effectual. At such a time, and under suchcircumstances, men of sufficient talent and ambition will not be wantingto seize the opportunity, strike the blow, and overturn that fair fabricwhich for the last half century has been the fondest hope of the loversof freedom throughout the world. 

I know the American people are much attached to their government; I knowthey would suffer much for its sake; I know they would endure evilslong and patiently before they would ever think of exchanging it foranother, --yet, notwithstanding all this, if the laws be continuallydespised and disregarded, if their rights to be secure in their personsand property are held by no better tenure than the caprice of a mob, the alienation of their affections from the government is the naturalconsequence; and to that, sooner or later, it must come. 

Here, then, is one point at which danger may be expected. 

The question recurs, How shall we fortify against it? The answer issimple. Let every American, every lover of liberty, every well-wisher tohis posterity swear by the blood of the Revolution never to violatein the least particular the laws of the country, and never to toleratetheir violation by others. As the patriots of seventy-six did to thesupport of the Declaration of Independence, so to the support of theConstitution and laws let every American pledge his life, his property, and his sacred honor. Let every man remember that to violate the law isto trample on the blood of his father, and to tear the charter of hisown and his children's liberty. Let reverence for the laws be breathedby every American mother to the lisping babe that prattles on her lap;let it be taught in schools, in seminaries, and in colleges; let it bewritten in primers, spelling books, and in almanacs; let it be preachedfrom the pulpit, proclaimed in legislative halls, and enforced in courtsof justice. And, in short, let it become the political religion of thenation; and let the old and the young, the rich and the poor, thegrave and the gay of all sexes and tongues and colors and conditions, sacrifice unceasingly upon its altars. 

While ever a state of feeling such as this shall universally or evenvery generally prevail throughout the nation, vain will be every effort, and fruitless every attempt, to subvert our national freedom. 

When, I so pressingly urge a strict observance of all the laws, let menot be understood as saying there are no bad laws, or that grievancesmay not arise for the redress of which no legal provisions have beenmade. I mean to say no such thing. But I do mean to say that althoughbad laws, if they exist, should be repealed as soon as possible, still, while they continue in force, for the sake of example they should bereligiously observed. So also in unprovided cases. If such arise, letproper legal provisions be made for them with the least possible delay, but till then let them, if not too intolerable, be borne with. 

There is no grievance that is a fit object of redress by mob law. In anycase that may arise, as, for instance, the promulgation of abolitionism, one of two positions is necessarily true--that is, the thing is rightwithin itself, and therefore deserves the protection of all law and allgood citizens, or it is wrong, and therefore proper to be prohibited bylegal enactments; and in neither case is the interposition of mob laweither necessary, justifiable, or excusable. 

But it may be asked, Why suppose danger to our political institutions?Have we not preserved them for more than fifty years? And why may we notfor fifty times as long?

We hope there is no sufficient reason. We hope all danger may beovercome; but to conclude that no danger may ever arise would itself beextremely dangerous. There are now, and will hereafter be, many causes, dangerous in their tendency, which have not existed heretofore, andwhich are not too insignificant to merit attention. That our governmentshould have been maintained in its original form, from its establishmentuntil now, is not much to be wondered at. It had many props to supportit through that period, which now are decayed and crumbled away. Throughthat period it was felt by all to be an undecided experiment; now it isunderstood to be a successful one. Then, all that sought celebrityand fame and distinction expected to find them in the success of thatexperiment. Their all was staked upon it; their destiny was inseparablylinked with it. Their ambition aspired to display before an admiringworld a practical demonstration of the truth of a proposition which hadhitherto been considered at best no better than problematical--namely, the capability of a people to govern themselves. If they succeeded theywere to be immortalized; their names were to be transferred to counties, and cities, and rivers, and mountains; and to be revered and sung, toasted through all time. If they failed, they were to be calledknaves and fools, and fanatics for a fleeting hour; then to sink and beforgotten. They succeeded. The experiment is successful, and thousandshave won their deathless names in making it so. But the game is caught;and I believe it is true that with the catching end the pleasures ofthe chase. This field of glory is harvested, and the crop is alreadyappropriated. But new reapers will arise, and they too will seek afield. It is to deny what the history of the world tells us is true, tosuppose that men of ambition and talents will not continue to springup amongst us. And when they do, they will as naturally seek thegratification of their ruling passion as others have done before them. The question then is, Can that gratification be found in supportingand in maintaining an edifice that has been erected by others? Mostcertainly it cannot. Many great and good men, sufficiently qualified forany task they should undertake, may ever be found whose ambition wouldaspire to nothing beyond a seat in Congress, a Gubernatorial or aPresidential chair; but such belong not to the family of the lion, orthe tribe of the eagle. What! think you these places would satisfy anAlexander, a Caesar, or a Napoleon? Never! Towering genius disdainsa beaten path. It seeks regions hitherto unexplored. It sees nodistinction in adding story to story upon the monuments of fame erectedto the memory of others. It denies that it is glory enough to serveunder any chief. It scorns to tread in the footsteps of any predecessor, however illustrious. It thirsts and burns for distinction; and ifpossible, it will have it, whether at the expense of emancipating slavesor enslaving freemen. Is it unreasonable, then, to expect that some manpossessed of the loftiest genius, coupled with ambition sufficient topush it to its utmost stretch, will at some time spring up among us? Andwhen such an one does it will require the people to be united with eachother, attached to the government and laws, and generally intelligent, to successfully frustrate his designs. 

Distinction will be his paramount object, and although he would aswillingly, perhaps more so, acquire it by doing good as harm, yet, that opportunity being past, and nothing left to be done in the way ofbuilding up, he would set boldly to the task of pulling down. 

Here then is a probable case, highly dangerous, and such an one as couldnot have well existed heretofore. 

Another reason which once was, but which, to the same extent, is now nomore, has done much in maintaining our institutions thus far. I mean thepowerful influence which the interesting scenes of the Revolution hadupon the passions of the people as distinguished from their judgment. Bythis influence, the jealousy, envy, and avarice incident to our nature, and so common to a state of peace, prosperity, and conscious strength, were for the time in a great measure smothered and rendered inactive, while the deep-rooted principles of hate, and the powerful motive ofrevenge, instead of being turned against each other, were directedexclusively against the British nation. And thus, from the force ofcircumstances, the basest principles of our nature were either made tolie dormant, or to become the active agents in the advancement ofthe noblest of causes--that of establishing and maintaining civil andreligious liberty. 

But this state of feeling must fade, is fading, has faded, with thecircumstances that produced it. 

I do not mean to say that the scenes of the Revolution are now or everwill be entirely forgotten, but that, like everything else, they mustfade upon the memory of the world, and grow more and more dim by thelapse of time. In history, we hope, they will be read of, and recounted, so long as the Bible shall be read; but even granting that they will, their influence cannot be what it heretofore has been. Even then theycannot be so universally known nor so vividly felt as they were by thegeneration just gone to rest. At the close of that struggle, nearlyevery adult male had been a participator in some of its scenes. Theconsequence was that of those scenes, in the form of a husband, afather, a son, or a brother, a living history was to be found inevery family--a history bearing the indubitable testimonies of its ownauthenticity, in the limbs mangled, in the scars of wounds received, inthe midst of the very scenes related--a history, too, that could be readand understood alike by all, the wise and the ignorant, the learned andthe unlearned. But those histories are gone. They can be read no moreforever. They were a fortress of strength; but what invading foemancould never do the silent artillery of time has done--the leveling ofits walls. They are gone. They were a forest of giant oaks; but theall-restless hurricane has swept over them, and left only here andthere a lonely trunk, despoiled of its verdure, shorn of its foliage, unshading and unshaded, to murmur in a few more gentle breezes, and tocombat with its mutilated limbs a few more ruder storms, then to sinkand be no more. 

They were pillars of the temple of liberty; and now that they havecrumbled away that temple must fall unless we, their descendants, supplytheir places with other pillars, hewn from the solid quarry of soberreason. Passion has helped us, but can do so no more. It will in futurebe our enemy. Reason cold, calculating, unimpassioned reason--mustfurnish all the materials for our future support and defense. Let thosematerials be moulded into general intelligence, sound morality, andin particular, a reverence for the Constitution and laws; and that weimproved to the last, that we remained free to the last, that we reveredhis name to the last, that during his long sleep we permitted no hostilefoot to pass over or desecrate his resting place, shall be that which tolearn the last trump shall awaken our Washington. 

Upon these let the proud fabric of freedom rest, as the rock of itsbasis; and as truly as has been said of the only greater institution, "the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. "

PROTEST IN THE ILLINOIS LEGISLATURE ON THE SUBJECT OF SLAVERY. 

March 3, 1837. 

The following protest was presented to the House, which was read andordered to be spread in the journals, to wit:

"Resolutions upon the subject of domestic slavery having passed bothbranches of the General Assembly at its present session, the undersignedhereby protest against the passage of the same. 

"They believe that the institution of slavery is founded on bothinjustice and bad policy, but that the promulgation of abolitiondoctrines tends rather to increase than abate its evils. 

"They believe that the Congress of the United States has no power underthe Constitution to interfere with the institution of slavery in thedifferent States. 

"They believe that the Congress of the United States has the power, under the Constitution, to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia, but that the power ought not to be exercised, unless at the request ofthe people of the District. 

"The difference between these opinions and those contained in the saidresolutions is their reason for entering this protest. 

"DAN STONE, "A. LINCOLN, "Representatives from the County of Sangamon. "

TO MISS MARY OWENS. 

SPRINGFIELD, May 7, 1837. 

MISS MARY S. OWENS. 

FRIEND MARY:--I have commenced two letters to send you before this, bothof which displeased me before I got half done, and so I tore them up. The first I thought was not serious enough, and the second was on theother extreme. I shall send this, turn out as it may. 

This thing of living in Springfield is rather a dull business, afterall; at least it is so to me. I am quite as lonesome here as I ever wasanywhere in my life. I have been spoken to by but one woman since I havebeen here, and should not have been by her if she could have avoided it. I 've never been to church yet, and probably shall not be soon. I stayaway because I am conscious I should not know how to behave myself. 

I am often thinking of what we said about your coming to live atSpringfield. I am afraid you would not be satisfied. There is a greatdeal of flourishing about in carriages here, which it would be your doomto see without sharing it. You would have to be poor, without the meansof hiding your poverty. Do you believe you could bear that patiently?Whatever woman may cast her lot with mine, should any ever do so, it ismy intention to do all in my power to make her happy and contented; andthere is nothing I can imagine that would make me more unhappy than tofail in the effort. I know I should be much happier with you than theway I am, provided I saw no signs of discontent in you. What you havesaid to me may have been in the way of jest, or I may have misunderstoodyou. If so, then let it be forgotten; if otherwise, I much wish youwould think seriously before you decide. What I have said I will mostpositively abide by, provided you wish it. My opinion is that you hadbetter not do it. You have not been accustomed to hardship, and it maybe more severe than you now imagine. I know you are capable of thinkingcorrectly on any subject, and if you deliberate maturely upon thissubject before you decide, then I am willing to abide your decision. 

You must write me a good long letter after you get this. You havenothing else to do, and though it might not seem interesting to youafter you had written it, it would be a good deal of company to me inthis "busy wilderness. " Tell your sister I don't want to hear any moreabout selling out and moving. That gives me the "hypo" whenever I thinkof it. 

Yours, etc. , LINCOLN. 

TO JOHN BENNETT. 

SPRINGFIELD, ILL. , Aug. 5, 1837. JOHN BENNETT, ESQ. 

DEAR SIR:-Mr. Edwards tells me you wish to know whether the act to whichyour own incorporation provision was attached passed into a law. Itdid. You can organize under the general incorporation law as soon as youchoose. 

I also tacked a provision onto a fellow's bill to authorize therelocation of the road from Salem down to your town, but I am notcertain whether or not the bill passed, neither do I suppose I canascertain before the law will be published, if it is a law. BowlingGreene, Bennette Abe? and yourself are appointed to make the change. Nonews. No excitement except a little about the election of Monday next. 

I suppose, of course, our friend Dr. Heney stands no chance in yourdiggings. 

Your friend and humble servant, A. LINCOLN. 

TO MARY OWENS. 

SPRINGFIELD, Aug. 16, 1837

FRIEND MARY: You will no doubt think it rather strange that I shouldwrite you a letter on the same day on which we parted, and I can onlyaccount for it by supposing that seeing you lately makes me think of youmore than usual; while at our late meeting we had but few expressionsof thoughts. You must know that I cannot see you, or think of you, withentire indifference; and yet it may be that you are mistaken in regardto what my real feelings toward you are. 

If I knew you were not, I should not have troubled you with this letter. Perhaps any other man would know enough without information; but Iconsider it my peculiar right to plead ignorance, and your bounden dutyto allow the plea. 

I want in all cases to do right; and most particularly so in all caseswith women. 

I want, at this particular time, more than any thing else to do rightwith you; and if I knew it would be doing right, as I rather suspect itwould, to let you alone I would do it. And, for the purpose of makingthe matter as plain as possible, I now say that you can drop thesubject, dismiss your thoughts (if you ever had any) from me for everand leave this letter unanswered without calling forth one accusingmurmur from me. And I will even go further and say that, if it will addanything to your comfort or peace of mind to do so, it is my sincerewish that you should. Do not understand by this that I wish to cut youracquaintance. I mean no such thing. What I do wish is that our furtheracquaintance shall depend upon yourself. If such further acquaintancewould contribute nothing to your happiness, I am sure it would not tomine. If you feel yourself in any degree bound to me, I am now willingto release you, provided you wish it; while on the other hand I amwilling and even anxious to bind you faster if I can be convincedthat it will, in any considerable degree, add to your happiness. This, indeed, is the whole question with me. Nothing would make me moremiserable than to believe you miserable, nothing more happy than to knowyou were so. 

In what I have now said, I think I cannot be misunderstood; and to makemyself understood is the only object of this letter. 

If it suits you best not to answer this, farewell. A long life anda merry one attend you. But, if you conclude to write back, speak asplainly as I do. There can neither be harm nor danger in saying to meanything you think, just in the manner you think it. My respects to yoursister. 

Your friend, LINCOLN. 

LEGAL SUIT OF WIDOW v. S. Gen. ADAMS

TO THE PEOPLE. 

"SANGAMON JOURNAL, " SPRINGFIELD, ILL. , Aug. 19, 1837. 

In accordance with our determination, as expressed last week, we presentto the reader the articles which were published in hand-bill form, inreference to the case of the heirs of Joseph Anderson vs. James Adams. These articles can now be read uninfluenced by personal or partyfeeling, and with the sole motive of learning the truth. When that isdone, the reader can pass his own judgment on the matters at issue. 

We only regret in this case, that the publications were not made someweeks before the election. Such a course might have prevented theexpressions of regret, which have often been heard since, from differentindividuals, on account of the disposition they made of their votes. 

To the Public:

It is well known to most of you, that there is existing at this timeconsiderable excitement in regard to Gen. Adams's titles to certaintracts of land, and the manner in which he acquired them. As Iunderstand, the Gen. Charges that the whole has been gotten up by a knotof lawyers to injure his election; and as I am one of the knot to whichhe refers, and as I happen to be in possession of facts connected withthe matter, I will, in as brief a manner as possible, make a statementof them, together with the means by which I arrived at the knowledge ofthem. 

Sometime in May or June last, a widow woman, by the name of Anderson, and her son, who resides in Fulton county, came to Springfield, forthe purpose as they said of selling a ten acre lot of ground lying neartown, which they claimed as the property of the deceased husband andfather. 

When they reached town they found the land was claimed by Gen. Adams. John T. Stuart and myself were employed to look into the matter, and ifit was thought we could do so with any prospect of success, to commencea suit for the land. I went immediately to the recorder's office toexamine Adams's title, and found that the land had been entered by oneDixon, deeded by Dixon to Thomas, by Thomas to one Miller, and by Millerto Gen. Adams. The oldest of these three deeds was about ten or elevenyears old, and the latest more than five, all recorded at the sametime, and that within less than one year. This I thought a suspiciouscircumstance, and I was thereby induced to examine the deeds veryclosely, with a view to the discovery of some defect by which tooverturn the title, being almost convinced then it was founded in fraud. I discovered that in the deed from Thomas to Miller, although Miller'sname stood in a sort of marginal note on the record book, it was nowherein the deed itself. I told the fact to Talbott, the recorder, andproposed to him that he should go to Gen. Adams's and get the originaldeed, and compare it with the record, and thereby ascertain whetherthe defect was in the original or there was merely an error in therecording. As Talbott afterwards told me, he went to the General's, butnot finding him at home, got the deed from his son, which, when comparedwith the record, proved what we had discovered was merely an error ofthe recorder. After Mr. Talbott corrected the record, he brought theoriginal to our office, as I then thought and think yet, to show usthat it was right. When he came into the room he handed the deed to me, remarking that the fault was all his own. On opening it, another paperfell out of it, which on examination proved to be an assignment of ajudgment in the Circuit Court of Sangamon County from Joseph Anderson, the late husband of the widow above named, to James Adams, the judgmentbeing in favor of said Anderson against one Joseph Miller. Knowing thatthis judgment had some connection with the land affair, I immediatelytook a copy of it, which is word for word, letter for letter and crossfor cross as follows:

Joseph Anderson, vs. Joseph Miller. 

Judgment in Sangamon Circuit Court against Joseph Miller obtained on anote originally 25 dolls and interest thereon accrued. I assign all myright, title and interest to James Adams which is in consideration of adebt I owe said Adams. 

his JOSEPH x ANDERSON. Mark. 

As the copy shows, it bore date May 10, 1827; although the judgmentassigned by it was not obtained until the October afterwards, as may beseen by any one on the records of the Circuit Court. Two other strangecircumstances attended it which cannot be represented by a copy. One ofthem was, that the date "1827" had first been made "1837" and, withoutthe figure "3, " being fully obliterated, the figure "2" had afterwardsbeen made on top of it; the other was that, although the date was tenyears old, the writing on it, from the freshness of its appearance, wasthought by many, and I believe by all who saw it, not to be more than aweek old. The paper on which it was written had a very old appearance;and there were some old figures on the back of it which made thefreshness of the writing on the face of it much more striking than Isuppose it otherwise might have been. The reader's curiosity is no doubtexcited to know what connection this assignment had with the land inquestion. The story is this: Dixon sold and deeded the land to Thomas;Thomas sold it to Anderson; but before he gave a deed, Anderson sold itto Miller, and took Miller's note for the purchase money. When thisnote became due, Anderson sued Miller on it, and Miller procured aninjunction from the Court of Chancery to stay the collection of themoney until he should get a deed for the land. Gen. Adams was employedas an attorney by Anderson in this chancery suit, and at the Octoberterm, 1827, the injunction was dissolved, and a judgment given in favorof Anderson against Miller; and it was provided that Thomas was toexecute a deed for the land in favor of Miller and deliver it to Gen. Adams, to be held up by him till Miller paid the judgment, and then todeliver it to him. Miller left the county without paying the judgment. Anderson moved to Fulton county, where he has since died When the widowcame to Springfield last May or June, as before mentioned, and found theland deeded to Gen. Adams by Miller, she was naturally led to inquirewhy the money due upon the judgment had not been sent to them, inasmuchas he, Gen. Adams, had no authority to deliver Thomas's deed to Milleruntil the money was paid. Then it was the General told her, or perhapsher son, who came with her, that Anderson, in his lifetime, had assignedthe judgment to him, Gen. Adams. I am now told that the General isexhibiting an assignment of the same judgment bearing date "1828" andin other respects differing from the one described; and that he isasserting that no such assignment as the one copied by me ever existed;or if there did, it was forged between Talbott and the lawyers, andslipped into his papers for the purpose of injuring him. Now, I can onlysay that I know precisely such a one did exist, and that Ben. Talbott, Wm. Butler, C. R. Matheny, John T. Stuart, Judge Logan, Robert Irwin, P. C. Canedy and S. M. Tinsley, all saw and examined it, and that at leastone half of them will swear that IT WAS IN GENERAL ADAMS'S HANDWRITING!!And further, I know that Talbott will swear that he got it out of theGeneral's possession, and returned it into his possession again. Theassignment which the General is now exhibiting purports to have been byAnderson in writing. The one I copied was signed with a cross. 

I am told that Gen. Neale says that he will swear that he heard Gen. Adams tell young Anderson that the assignment made by his father wassigned with a cross. 

The above are 'facts, ' as stated. I leave them without comment. I havegiven the names of persons who have knowledge of these facts, in orderthat any one who chooses may call on them and ascertain how far theywill corroborate my statements. I have only made these statementsbecause I am known by many to be one of the individuals against whomthe charge of forging the assignment and slipping it into the General'spapers has been made, and because our silence might be construed intoa confession of its truth. I shall not subscribe my name; but I herebyauthorize the editor of the Journal to give it up to any one that maycall for it. 

LINCOLN AND TALBOTT IN REPLY TO GEN. ADAMS. 

"SANGAMON JOURNAL, " SPRINGFIELD, ILL. , Oct. 28, 1837. 

In the Republican of this morning a publication of Gen. Adams's appears, in which my name is used quite unreservedly. For this I thank theGeneral. I thank him because it gives me an opportunity, withoutappearing obtrusive, of explaining a part of a former publication ofmine, which appears to me to have been misunderstood by many. 

In the former publication alluded to, I stated, in substance, thatMr. Talbott got a deed from a son of Gen. Adams's for the purpose ofcorrecting a mistake that had occurred on the record of the said deedin the recorder's office; that he corrected the record, and brought thedeed and handed it to me, and that on opening the deed, another paper, being the assignment of a judgment, fell out of it. This statementGen. Adams and the editor of the Republican have seized upon as a mostpalpable evidence of fabrication and falsehood. They set themselvesgravely about proving that the assignment could not have been in thedeed when Talbott got it from young Adams, as he, Talbott, would haveseen it when he opened the deed to correct the record. Now, the truthis, Talbott did see the assignment when he opened the deed, or at leasthe told me he did on the same day; and I only omitted to say so, inmy former publication, because it was a matter of such palpable andnecessary inference. I had stated that Talbott had corrected the recordby the deed; and of course he must have opened it; and, just as theGeneral and his friends argue, must have seen the assignment. I omittedto state the fact of Talbott's seeing the assignment, because itsexistence was so necessarily connected with other facts which I didstate, that I thought the greatest dunce could not but understandit. Did I say Talbott had not seen it? Did I say anything that wasinconsistent with his having seen it before? Most certainly I didneither; and if I did not, what becomes of the argument? These logicalgentlemen can sustain their argument only by assuming that I did saynegatively everything that I did not say affirmatively; and upon thesame assumption, we may expect to find the General, if a little harderpressed for argument, saying that I said Talbott came to our office withhis head downward, not that I actually said so, but because I omitted tosay he came feet downward. 

In his publication to-day, the General produces the affidavit of ReubenRadford, in which it is said that Talbott told Radford that he did notfind the assignment in the deed, in the recording of which the errorwas committed, but that he found it wrapped in another paper in therecorder's office, upon which statement the Genl. Comments as follows, to wit: "If it be true as stated by Talbott to Radford, that hefound the assignment wrapped up in another paper at his office, thatcontradicts the statement of Lincoln that it fell out of the deed. "

Is common sense to be abused with such sophistry? Did I say what Talbottfound it in? If Talbott did find it in another paper at his office, isthat any reason why he could not have folded it in a deed and broughtit to my office? Can any one be so far duped as to be made believe thatwhat may have happened at Talbot's office at one time is inconsistentwith what happened at my office at another time?

Now Talbott's statement of the case as he makes it to me is this, thathe got a bunch of deeds from young Adams, and that he knows he found theassignment in the bunch, but he is not certain which particular deed itwas in, nor is he certain whether it was folded in the same deed out ofwhich it was taken, or another one, when it was brought to my office. Isthis a mysterious story? Is there anything suspicious about it?

"But it is useless to dwell longer on this point. Any man who is notwilfully blind can see at a flash, that there is no discrepancy, andLincoln has shown that they are not only inconsistent with truth, buteach other"--I can only say, that I have shown that he has done no suchthing; and if the reader is disposed to require any other evidence thanthe General's assertion, he will be of my opinion. 

Excepting the General's most flimsy attempt at mystification, in regardto a discrepance between Talbott and myself, he has not denied a singlestatement that I made in my hand-bill. Every material statement thatI made has been sworn to by men who, in former times, were thought asrespectable as General Adams. I stated that an assignment of a judgment, a copy of which I gave, had existed--Benj. Talbott, C. R. Matheny, Wm. Butler, and Judge Logan swore to its existence. I stated that it wassaid to be in Gen. Adams's handwriting--the same men swore it was inhis handwriting. I stated that Talbott would swear that he got it out ofGen. Adams's possession--Talbott came forward and did swear it. 

Bidding adieu to the former publication, I now propose to examine theGeneral's last gigantic production. I now propose to point out somediscrepancies in the General's address; and such, too, as he shall notbe able to escape from. Speaking of the famous assignment, the Generalsays: "This last charge, which was their last resort, their dyingeffort to render my character infamous among my fellow citizens, wasmanufactured at a certain lawyer's office in the town, printed at theoffice of the Sangamon Journal, and found its way into the world sometime between two days just before the last election. " Now turn to Mr. Keys' affidavit, in which you will find the following, viz. : "Icertify that some time in May or the early part of June, 1837, I sawat Williams's corner a paper purporting to be an assignment from JosephAnderson to James Adams, which assignment was signed by a mark toAnderson's name, " etc. Now mark, if Keys saw the assignment on the lastof May or first of June, Gen. Adams tells a falsehood when he saysit was manufactured just before the election, which was on the 7th ofAugust; and if it was manufactured just before the election, Keys tellsa falsehood when he says he saw it on the last of May or first ofJune. Either Keys or the General is irretrievably in for it; and in theGeneral's very condescending language, I say "Let them settle it betweenthem. "

Now again, let the reader, bearing in mind that General Adams hasunequivocally said, in one part of his address, that the charge inrelation to the assignment was manufactured just before the election, turn to the affidavit of Peter S. Weber, where the following will befound viz. : "I, Peter S. Weber, do certify that from the best ofmy recollection, on the day or day after Gen. Adams started for theIllinois Rapids, in May last, that I was at the house of Gen. Adams, sitting in the kitchen, situated on the back part of the house, it beingin the afternoon, and that Benjamin Talbott came around the house, backinto the kitchen, and appeared wild and confused, and that he laid apackage of papers on the kitchen table and requested that they should behanded to Lucian. He made no apology for coming to the kitchen, norfor not handing them to Lucian himself, but showed the token of beingfrightened and confused both in demeanor and speech and for what cause Icould not apprehend. "

Commenting on Weber's affidavit, Gen. Adams asks, "Why this fright andconfusion?" I reply that this is a question for the General himself. Weber says that it was in May, and if so, it is most clear that Talbottwas not frightened on account of the assignment, unless the Generallies when he says the assignment charge was manufactured just before theelection. Is it not a strong evidence, that the General is not travelingwith the pole-star of truth in his front, to see him in one part ofhis address roundly asserting that the assignment was manufacturedjust before the election, and then, forgetting that position, procuringWeber's most foolish affidavit, to prove that Talbott had been engagedin manufacturing it two months before?

In another part of his address, Gen. Adams says: "That I hold anassignment of said judgment, dated the 20th of May, 1828, and signedby said Anderson, I have never pretended to deny or conceal, but statedthat fact in one of my circulars previous to the election, and alsoin answer to a bill in chancery. " Now I pronounce this statementunqualifiedly false, and shall not rely on the word or oath of anyman to sustain me in what I say; but will let the whole be decided byreference to the circular and answer in chancery of which the Generalspeaks. In his circular he did speak of an assignment; but he did notsay it bore date 20th of May, 1828; nor did he say it bore any date. Inhis answer in chancery, he did say that he had an assignment; but hedid not say that it bore date the 20th May, 1828; but so far from it, hesaid on oath (for he swore to the answer) that as well as recollected, he obtained it in 1827. If any one doubts, let him examine the circularand answer for himself. They are both accessible. 

It will readily be observed that the principal part of Adams's defenserests upon the argument that if he had been base enough to forge anassignment he would not have been fool enough to forge one that wouldnot cover the case. This argument he used in his circular before theelection. The Republican has used it at least once, since then; andAdams uses it again in his publication of to-day. Now I pledge myself toshow that he is just such a fool that he and his friends have contendedit was impossible for him to be. Recollect--he says he has a genuineassignment; and that he got Joseph Klein's affidavit, stating that hehad seen it, and that he believed the signature to have been executedby the same hand that signed Anderson's name to the answer in chancery. Luckily Klein took a copy of this genuine assignment, which I have beenpermitted to see; and hence I know it does not cover the case. In thefirst place it is headed "Joseph Anderson vs. Joseph Miller, " and headsoff "Judgment in Sangamon Circuit Court. " Now, mark, there never wasa case in Sangamon Circuit Court entitled Joseph Anderson vs. JosephMiller. The case mentioned in my former publication, and the onlyone between these parties that ever existed in the Circuit Court, wasentitled Joseph Miller vs. Joseph Anderson, Miller being the plaintiff. What then becomes of all their sophistry about Adams not being foolenough to forge an assignment that would not cover the case? It iscertain that the present one does not cover the case; and if he gotit honestly, it is still clear that he was fool enough to pay for anassignment that does not cover the case. 

The General asks for the proof of disinterested witnesses. Whom does heconsider disinterested? None can be more so than those who have alreadytestified against him. No one of them had the least interest on earth, so far as I can learn, to injure him. True, he says they had conspiredagainst him; but if the testimony of an angel from Heaven wereintroduced against him, he would make the same charge of conspiracy. And now I put the question to every reflecting man, Do you believe thatBenjamin Talbott, Chas. R. Matheny, William Butler and Stephen T. Logan, all sustaining high and spotless characters, and justly proud of them, would deliberately perjure themselves, without any motive whatever, except to injure a man's election; and that, too, a man who had been acandidate, time out of mind, and yet who had never been elected to anyoffice?

Adams's assurance, in demanding disinterested testimony, is surpassing. He brings in the affidavit of his own son, and even of Peter S. Weber, with whom I am not acquainted, but who, I suppose, is some black ormulatto boy, from his being kept in the kitchen, to prove his points;but when such a man as Talbott, a man who, but two years ago, ranagainst Gen. Adams for the office of Recorder and beat him more thanfour votes to one, is introduced against him, he asks the community, with all the consequence of a lord, to reject his testimony. 

I might easily write a volume, pointing out inconsistencies betweenthe statements in Adams's last address with one another, and with otherknown facts; but I am aware the reader must already be tired withthe length of this article. His opening statements, that he was firstaccused of being a Tory, and that he refuted that; that then theSampson's ghost story was got up, and he refuted that; that as a lastresort, a dying effort, the assignment charge was got up is all as falseas hell, as all this community must know. Sampson's ghost first madeits appearance in print, and that, too, after Keys swears he saw theassignment, as any one may see by reference to the files of papers; andGen. Adams himself, in reply to the Sampson's ghost story, was the firstman that raised the cry of toryism, and it was only by way of set-off, and never in seriousness, that it was bandied back at him. His effort isto make the impression that his enemies first made the charge of toryismand he drove them from that, then Sampson's ghost, he drove them fromthat, then finally the assignment charge was manufactured just beforeelection. Now, the only general reply he ever made to the Sampson'sghost and tory charges he made at one and the same time, and not insuccession as he states; and the date of that reply will show, that itwas made at least a month after the date on which Keys swears he saw theAnderson assignment. But enough. In conclusion I will only say that Ihave a character to defend as well as Gen. Adams, but I disdain to whineabout it as he does. It is true I have no children nor kitchen boys; andif I had, I should scorn to lug them in to make affidavits for me. 

A. LINCOLN, September 6, 1837. 

Gen. ADAMS CONTROVERSY--CONTINUED

TO THE PUBLIC. 

"SANGAMON JOURNAL, " Springfield, Ill, Oct. 28, 1837. 

Such is the turn which things have taken lately, that when Gen. Adamswrites a book, I am expected to write a commentary on it. In theRepublican of this morning he has presented the world with a new workof six columns in length; in consequence of which I must beg the room ofone column in the Journal. It is obvious that a minute reply cannotbe made in one column to everything that can be said in six; and, consequently, I hope that expectation will be answered if I reply tosuch parts of the General's publication as are worth replying to. 

It may not be improper to remind the reader that in his publication ofSept. 6th General Adams said that the assignment charge was manufacturedjust before the election; and that in reply I proved that statement tobe false by Keys, his own witness. Now, without attempting to explain, he furnishes me with another witness (Tinsley) by which the same thingis proved, to wit, that the assignment was not manufactured just beforethe election; but that it was some weeks before. Let it be borne in mindthat Adams made this statement--has himself furnished two witnesses toprove its falsehood, and does not attempt to deny or explain it. Beforegoing farther, let a pin be stuck here, labeled "One lie proved andconfessed. " On the 6th of September he said he had before stated inthe hand-bill that he held an assignment dated May 20th, 1828, which inreply I pronounced to be false, and referred to the hand-bill for thetruth of what I said. This week he forgets to make any explanation ofthis. Let another pin be stuck here, labelled as before. I mention thesethings because, if, when I convict him in one falsehood, he is permittedto shift his ground and pass it by in silence, there can be no end tothis controversy. 

The first thing that attracts my attention in the General's presentproduction is the information he is pleased to give to "those who aremade to suffer at his (my) hands. "

Under present circumstances, this cannot apply to me, for I am nota widow nor an orphan: nor have I a wife or children who might bypossibility become such. Such, however, I have no doubt, have been, and will again be made to suffer at his hands! Hands! Yes, they arethe mischievous agents. The next thing I shall notice is his favoriteexpression, "not of lawyers, doctors and others, " which he is so fond ofapplying to all who dare expose his rascality. Now, let it be rememberedthat when he first came to this country he attempted to impose himselfupon the community as a lawyer, and actually carried the attempt sofar as to induce a man who was under a charge of murder to entrust thedefence of his life in his hands, and finally took his money and gothim hanged. Is this the man that is to raise a breeze in his favor byabusing lawyers? If he is not himself a lawyer, it is for the lack ofsense, and not of inclination. If he is not a lawyer, he is a liar, forhe proclaimed himself a lawyer, and got a man hanged by depending onhim. 

Passing over such parts of the article as have neither fact nor argumentin them, I come to the question asked by Adams whether any person eversaw the assignment in his possession. This is an insult to common sense. Talbott has sworn once and repeated time and again, that he got it outof Adams's possession and returned it into the same possession. Still, as though he was addressing fools, he has assurance to ask if any personever saw it in his possession. 

Next I quote a sentence, "Now my son Lucian swears that when Talbottcalled for the deed, that he, Talbott, opened it and pointed out theerror. " True. His son Lucian did swear as he says; and in doing so, heswore what I will prove by his own affidavit to be a falsehood. Turn toLucian's affidavit, and you will there see that Talbott called for thedeed by which to correct an error on the record. Thus it appears thatthe error in question was on the record, and not in the deed. How thencould Talbott open the deed and point out the error? Where a thing isnot, it cannot be pointed out. The error was not in the deed, and ofcourse could not be pointed out there. This does not merely prove thatthe error could not be pointed out, as Lucian swore it was; but itproves, too, that the deed was not opened in his presence with a specialview to the error, for if it had been, he could not have failed to seethat there was no error in it. It is easy enough to see why Lucian sworethis. His object was to prove that the assignment was not in the deedwhen Talbott got it: but it was discovered he could not swear thissafely, without first swearing the deed was opened--and if he swore itwas opened, he must show a motive for opening it, and the conclusionwith him and his father was that the pointing out the error would appearthe most plausible. 

For the purpose of showing that the assignment was not in the bundlewhen Talbott got it, is the story introduced into Lucian's affidavitthat the deeds were counted. It is a remarkable fact, and one thatshould stand as a warning to all liars and fabricators, that in thisshort affidavit of Lucian's he only attempted to depart from the truth, so far as I have the means of knowing, in two points, to wit, in theopening the deed and pointing out the error and the counting of thedeeds, --and in both of these he caught himself. About the counting, hecaught himself thus--after saying the bundle contained five deeds anda lease, he proceeds, "and I saw no other papers than the said deed andlease. " First he has six papers, and then he saw none but two; for "myson Lucian's" benefit, let a pin be stuck here. 

Adams again adduces the argument, that he could not have forged theassignment, for the reason that he could have had no motive for it. Withthose that know the facts there is no absence of motive. Admitting thepaper which he has filed in the suit to be genuine, it is clear that itcannot answer the purpose for which he designs it. Hence his motive formaking one that he supposed would answer is obvious. His making the datetoo old is also easily enough accounted for. The records were not in hishands, and then, there being some considerable talk upon this particularsubject, he knew he could not examine the records to ascertain theprecise dates without subjecting himself to suspicion; and hence heconcluded to try it by guess, and, as it turned out, missed it a little. About Miller's deposition I have a word to say. In the first place, Miller's answer to the first question shows upon its face that he hadbeen tampered with, and the answer dictated to him. He was asked if heknew Joel Wright and James Adams; and above three-fourths of his answerconsists of what he knew about Joseph Anderson, a man about whom nothinghad been asked, nor a word said in the question--a fact that can only beaccounted for upon the supposition that Adams had secretly told him whathe wished him to swear to. 

Another of Miller's answers I will prove both by common sense and theCourt of Record is untrue. To one question he answers, "Anderson broughta suit against me before James Adams, then an acting justice of thepeace in Sangamon County, before whom he obtained a judgment. 

"Q. --Did you remove the same by injunction to the Sangamon CircuitCourt? Ans. --I did remove it. "

Now mark--it is said he removed it by injunction. The word "injunction"in common language imports a command that some person or thing shallnot move or be removed; in law it has the same meaning. An injunctionissuing out of chancery to a justice of the peace is a command to him tostop all proceedings in a named case until further orders. It is not anorder to remove but to stop or stay something that is already moving. Besides this, the records of the Sangamon Circuit Court show that thejudgment of which Miller swore was never removed into said Court byinjunction or otherwise. 

I have now to take notice of a part of Adams's address which in theorder of time should have been noticed before. It is in these words:"I have now shown, in the opinion of two competent judges, that thehandwriting of the forged assignment differed from mine, and by one ofthem that it could not be mistaken for mine. " That is false. Tinsley nodoubt is the judge referred to; and by reference to his certificate itwill be seen that he did not say the handwriting of the assignmentcould not be mistaken for Adams's--nor did he use any other expressionsubstantially, or anything near substantially, the same. But if Tinsleyhad said the handwriting could not be mistaken for Adams's, it wouldhave been equally unfortunate for Adams: for it then would havecontradicted Keys, who says, "I looked at the writing and judged it thesaid Adams's or a good imitation. "

Adams speaks with much apparent confidence of his success on attendinglawsuits, and the ultimate maintenance of his title to the land inquestion. Without wishing to disturb the pleasure of his dream, I wouldsay to him that it is not impossible that he may yet be taught to sing adifferent song in relation to the matter. 

At the end of Miller's deposition, Adams asks, "Will Mr. Lincoln now saythat he is almost convinced my title to this ten acre tract of landis founded in fraud?" I answer, I will not. I will now change thephraseology so as to make it run--I am quite convinced, &c. I cannotpass in silence Adams's assertion that he has proved that the forgedassignment was not in the deed when it came from his house by Talbott, the recorder. In this, although Talbott has sworn that the assignmentwas in the bundle of deeds when it came from his house, Adams hasthe unaccountable assurance to say that he has proved the contrary byTalbott. Let him or his friends attempt to show wherein he proved anysuch thing by Talbott. 

In his publication of the 6th of September he hinted to Talbott, thathe might be mistaken. In his present, speaking of Talbott and me he says"They may have been imposed upon. " Can any man of the least penetrationfail to see the object of this? After he has stormed and raged till hehopes and imagines he has got us a little scared he wishes to softlywhisper in our ears, "If you'll quit I will. " If he could get us to saythat some unknown, undefined being had slipped the assignment intoour hands without our knowledge, not a doubt remains but that he wouldimmediately discover that we were the purest men on earth. This is theground he evidently wishes us to understand he is willing to compromiseupon. But we ask no such charity at his hands. We are neither mistakennor imposed upon. We have made the statements we have because we knowthem to be true and we choose to live or die by them. 

Esq. Carter, who is Adams's friend, personal and political, willrecollect, that, on the 5th of this month, he (Adams), with a greataffectation of modesty, declared that he would never introduce his ownchild as a witness. Notwithstanding this affectation of modesty, he hasin his present publication introduced his child as witness; and as if toshow with how much contempt he could treat his own declaration, hehas had this same Esq. Carter to administer the oath to him. And soimportant a witness does he consider him, and so entirely does the wholeof his entire present production depend upon the testimony of his child, that in it he has mentioned "my son, " "my son Lucian, " "Lucian, my son, "and the like expressions no less than fifteen different times. Let itbe remembered here, that I have shown the affidavit of "my darling sonLucian" to be false by the evidence apparent on its own face; and I nowask if that affidavit be taken away what foundation will the fabric haveleft to stand upon?

General Adams's publications and out-door maneuvering, taken inconnection with the editorial articles of the Republican, are not morefoolish and contradictory than they are ludicrous and amusing. Oneweek the Republican notifies the public that Gen. Adams is preparingan instrument that will tear, rend, split, rive, blow up, confound, overwhelm, annihilate, extinguish, exterminate, burst asunder, and grindto powder all its slanderers, and particularly Talbott and Lincoln--allof which is to be done in due time. 

Then for two or three weeks all is calm--not a word said. Again theRepublican comes forth with a mere passing remark that "public" opinionhas decided in favor of Gen. Adams, and intimates that he will givehimself no more trouble about the matter. In the meantime Adams himselfis prowling about and, as Burns says of the devil, "For prey, and holesand corners tryin', " and in one instance goes so far as to take an oldacquaintance of mine several steps from a crowd and, apparently weigheddown with the importance of his business, gravely and solemnly asks himif "he ever heard Lincoln say he was a deist. "

Anon the Republican comes again. "We invite the attention of the publicto General Adams's communication, " &c. "The victory is a great one, thetriumph is overwhelming. " I really believe the editor of the IllinoisRepublican is fool enough to think General Adams leads off--"Authorsmost egregiously mistaken &c. Most woefully shall their presumption bepunished, " &c. (Lord have mercy on us. ) "The hour is yet to come, yea, nigh at hand--(how long first do you reckon?)--when the Journal and itsjunto shall say, I have appeared too early. " "Their infamy shall be laidbare to the public gaze. " Suddenly the General appears to relent at theseverity with which he is treating us and he exclaims: "The condemnationof my enemies is the inevitable result of my own defense. " For yourhealth's sake, dear Gen. , do not permit your tenderness of heart toafflict you so much on our account. For some reason (perhaps because weare killed so quickly) we shall never be sensible of our suffering. 

Farewell, General. I will see you again at court if not before--when andwhere we will settle the question whether you or the widow shall havethe land. 

A. LINCOLN. October 18, 1837. 

1838

TO Mrs. O. H. BROWNING--A FARCE

SPRINGFIELD, April 1, 1838. 

DEAR MADAM:--Without apologizing for being egotistical, I shall make thehistory of so much of my life as has elapsed since I saw you the subjectof this letter. And, by the way, I now discover that, in order to givea full and intelligible account of the things I have done and sufferedsince I saw you, I shall necessarily have to relate some that happenedbefore. 

It was, then, in the autumn of 1836 that a married lady of myacquaintance, and who was a great friend of mine, being about to pay avisit to her father and other relatives residing in Kentucky, proposedto me that on her return she would bring a sister of hers with her oncondition that I would engage to become her brother-in-law with allconvenient despatch. I, of course, accepted the proposal, for you knowI could not have done otherwise had I really been averse to it; butprivately, between you and me, I was most confoundedly well pleased withthe project. I had seen the said sister some three years before, thoughther intelligent and agreeable, and saw no good objection to ploddinglife through hand in hand with her. Time passed on; the lady took herjourney and in due time returned, sister in company, sure enough. Thisastonished me a little, for it appeared to me that her coming so readilyshowed that she was a trifle too willing, but on reflection it occurredto me that she might have been prevailed on by her married sister tocome without anything concerning me ever having been mentioned to her, and so I concluded that if no other objection presented itself, I wouldconsent to waive this. All this occurred to me on hearing of her arrivalin the neighborhood--for, be it remembered, I had not yet seen her, except about three years previous, as above mentioned. In a few days wehad an interview, and, although I had seen her before, she did not lookas my imagination had pictured her. I knew she was over-size, but shenow appeared a fair match for Falstaff. I knew she was called an"old maid, " and I felt no doubt of the truth of at least half of theappellation, but now, when I beheld her, I could not for my life avoidthinking of my mother; and this, not from withered features, --forher skin was too full of fat to permit of its contracting intowrinkles, --but from her want of teeth, weather-beaten appearance ingeneral, and from a kind of notion that ran in my head that nothingcould have commenced at the size of infancy and reached her present bulkin less than thirty-five or forty years; and in short, I was not atall pleased with her. But what could I do? I had told her sister that Iwould take her for better or for worse, and I made a point of honor andconscience in all things to stick to my word especially if others hadbeen induced to act on it which in this case I had no doubt they had, for I was now fairly convinced that no other man on earth would haveher, and hence the conclusion that they were bent on holding me to mybargain. 

"Well, " thought I, "I have said it, and, be the consequences what theymay, it shall not be my fault if I fail to do it. " At once I determinedto consider her my wife; and, this done, all my powers of discovery wereput to work in search of perfections in her which might be fairly setoff against her defects. I tried to imagine her handsome, which, butfor her unfortunate corpulency, was actually true. Exclusive of this nowoman that I have ever seen has a finer face. I also tried to convincemyself that the mind was much more to be valued than the person; and inthis she was not inferior, as I could discover, to any with whom I hadbeen acquainted. 

Shortly after this, without coming to any positive understanding withher, I set out for Vandalia, when and where you first saw me. Duringmy stay there I had letters from her which did not change my opinion ofeither her intellect or intention, but on the contrary confirmed it inboth. 

All this while, although I was fixed, "firm as the surge-repellingrock, " in my resolution, I found I was continually repenting therashness which had led me to make it. Through life, I have been in nobondage, either real or imaginary, from the thraldom of which I so muchdesired to be free. After my return home, I saw nothing to change myopinions of her in any particular. She was the same, and so was I. I nowspent my time in planning how I might get along through life after mycontemplated change of circumstances should have taken place, and how Imight procrastinate the evil day for a time, which I really dreaded asmuch, perhaps more, than an Irishman does the halter. 

After all my suffering upon this deeply interesting subject, here I am, wholly, unexpectedly, completely, out of the "scrape"; and now I want toknow if you can guess how I got out of it----out, clear, in every senseof the term; no violation of word, honor, or conscience. I don't believeyou can guess, and so I might as well tell you at once. As the lawyersays, it was done in the manner following, to wit: After I had delayedthe matter as long as I thought I could in honor do (which, by the way, had brought me round into the last fall), I concluded I might as wellbring it to a consummation without further delay; and so I musteredmy resolution, and made the proposal to her direct; but, shocking torelate, she answered, No. At first I supposed she did it through anaffectation of modesty, which I thought but ill became her under thepeculiar circumstances of her case; but on my renewal of the charge, I found she repelled it with greater firmness than before. I tried itagain and again but with the same success, or rather with the same wantof success. 

I finally was forced to give it up; at which I very unexpectedly foundmyself mortified almost beyond endurance. I was mortified, it seemedto me, in a hundred different ways. My vanity was deeply wounded by thereflection that I had been too stupid to discover her intentions, and atthe same time never doubting that I understood them perfectly, and alsothat she, whom I had taught myself to believe nobody else would have, had actually rejected me with all my fancied greatness. And, to cap thewhole, I then for the first time began to suspect that I was really alittle in love with her. But let it all go. I'll try and outlive it. Others have been made fools of by the girls, but this can never withtruth be said of me. I most emphatically in this instance, made a foolof myself. I have now come to the conclusion never again to think ofmarrying, and for this reason: I can never be satisfied with any one whowould be blockhead enough to have me. 

When you receive this, write me a long yarn about something to amuse me. Give my respects to Mr. Browning. 

Your sincere friend, A. LINCOLN. 

1839

REMARKS ON SALE OF PUBLIC LANDS

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, January 17, 1839. 

Mr. Lincoln, from Committee on Finance, to which the subject wasreferred, made a report on the subject of purchasing of the UnitedStates all the unsold lands lying within the limits of the State ofIllinois, accompanied by resolutions that this State propose to purchaseall unsold lands at twenty-five cents per acre, and pledging the faithof the State to carry the proposal into effect if the government acceptthe same within two years. 

Mr. Lincoln thought the resolutions ought to be seriously considered. Inreply to the gentleman from Adams, he said that it was not to enrich theState. The price of the lands may be raised, it was thought by some; byothers, that it would be reduced. The conclusion in his mind was thatthe representatives in this Legislature from the country in whichthe lands lie would be opposed to raising the price, because it wouldoperate against the settlement of the lands. He referred to the lands inthe military tract. They had fallen into the hands of large speculatorsin consequence of the low price. He was opposed to a low price of land. He thought it was adverse to the interests of the poor settler, becausespeculators buy them up. He was opposed to a reduction of the price ofpublic lands. 

Mr. Lincoln referred to some official documents emanating from Indiana, and compared the progressive population of the two States. Illinoishad gained upon that State under the public land system as it is. Hisconclusion was that ten years from this time Illinois would have no morepublic land unsold than Indiana now has. He referred also to Ohio. ThatState had sold nearly all her public lands. She was but twenty yearsahead of us, and as our lands were equally salable--more so, as hemaintained--we should have no more twenty years from now than she has atpresent. 

Mr. Lincoln referred to the canal lands, and supposed that the policy ofthe State would be different in regard to them, if the representativesfrom that section of country could themselves choose the policy; but therepresentatives from other parts of the State had a veto upon it, andregulated the policy. He thought that if the State had all the lands, the policy of the Legislature would be more liberal to all sections. 

He referred to the policy of the General Government. He thought thatif the national debt had not been paid, the expenses of the governmentwould not have doubled, as they had done since that debt was paid. 

TO ------ ROW. 

SPRINGFIELD, June 11, 1839 DEAR ROW:

Mr. Redman informs me that you wish me to write you the particulars ofa conversation between Dr. Felix and myself relative to you. The Dr. Overtook me between Rushville and Beardstown. 

He, after learning that I had lived at Springfield, asked if I wasacquainted with you. I told him I was. He said you had lately beenelected constable in Adams, but that you never would be again. I askedhim why. He said the people there had found out that you had beensheriff or deputy sheriff in Sangamon County, and that you came off andleft your securities to suffer. He then asked me if I did not know suchto be the fact. I told him I did not think you had ever been sheriff ordeputy sheriff in Sangamon, but that I thought you had been constable. Ifurther told him that if you had left your securities to suffer in thator any other case, I had never heard of it, and that if it had been so, I thought I would have heard of it. 

If the Dr. Is telling that I told him anything against you whatever, Iauthorize you to contradict it flatly. We have no news here. 

Your friend, as ever, A. LINCOLN. 

SPEECH ON NATIONAL BANK

IN THE HALL OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS, December 20, 1839. 

FELLOW-CITIZENS:--It is peculiarly embarrassing to me to attempt acontinuance of the discussion, on this evening, which has been conductedin this hall on several preceding ones. It is so because on each ofthose evenings there was a much fuller attendance than now, without anyreason for its being so, except the greater interest the community feelin the speakers who addressed them then than they do in him who is to doso now. I am, indeed, apprehensive that the few who have attendedhave done so more to spare me mortification than in the hope of beinginterested in anything I may be able to say. This circumstance castsa damp upon my spirits, which I am sure I shall be unable to overcomeduring the evening. But enough of preface. 

The subject heretofore and now to be discussed is the subtreasury schemeof the present administration, as a means of collecting, safe-keeping, transferring, and disbursing, the revenues of the nation, as contrastedwith a national bank for the same purposes. Mr. Douglas has said that we(the Whigs) have not dared to meet them (the Locos) in argument on thisquestion. I protest against this assertion. I assert that we have againand again, during this discussion, urged facts and arguments againstthe subtreasury which they have neither dared to deny nor attempted toanswer. But lest some may be led to believe that we really wish to avoidthe question, I now propose, in my humble way, to urge those argumentsagain; at the same time begging the audience to mark well the positionsI shall take and the proof I shall offer to sustain them, and that theywill not again permit Mr. Douglas or his friends to escape the force ofthem by a round and groundless assertion that we "dare not meet them inargument. "

Of the subtreasury, then, as contrasted with a national bank for thebefore-enumerated purposes, I lay down the following propositions, towit: (1) It will injuriously affect the community by its operation onthe circulating medium. (2) It will be a more expensive fiscal agent. (3) It will be a less secure depository of the public money. To showthe truth of the first proposition, let us take a short review of ourcondition under the operation of a national bank. It was the depositoryof the public revenues. Between the collection of those revenues and thedisbursement of them by the government, the bank was permitted to anddid actually loan them out to individuals, and hence the large amount ofmoney actually collected for revenue purposes, which by any otherplan would have been idle a great portion of the time, was kept almostconstantly in circulation. Any person who will reflect that money isonly valuable while in circulation will readily perceive that any devicewhich will keep the government revenues in constant circulation, insteadof being locked up in idleness, is no inconsiderable advantage. By thesubtreasury the revenue is to be collected and kept in iron boxes untilthe government wants it for disbursement; thus robbing the people of theuse of it, while the government does not itself need it, and while themoney is performing no nobler office than that of rusting in iron boxes. The natural effect of this change of policy, every one will see, isto reduce the quantity of money in circulation. But, again, bythe subtreasury scheme the revenue is to be collected in specie. Ianticipate that this will be disputed. I expect to hear it said thatit is not the policy of the administration to collect the revenuein specie. If it shall, I reply that Mr. Van Buren, in his messagerecommending the subtreasury, expended nearly a column of that documentin an attempt to persuade Congress to provide for the collection of therevenue in specie exclusively; and he concludes with these words:

"It may be safely assumed that no motive of convenience to the citizensrequires the reception of bank paper. " In addition to this, Mr. Silas Wright, Senator from New York, and the political, personal andconfidential friend of Mr. Van Buren, drafted and introduced into theSenate the first subtreasury bill, and that bill provided for ultimatelycollecting the revenue in specie. It is true, I know, that that clausewas stricken from the bill, but it was done by the votes of the Whigs, aided by a portion only of the Van Buren senators. No subtreasurybill has yet become a law, though two or three have been considered byCongress, some with and some without the specie clause; so that Iadmit there is room for quibbling upon the question of whether theadministration favor the exclusive specie doctrine or not; but I take itthat the fact that the President at first urged the specie doctrine, and that under his recommendation the first bill introduced embraced it, warrants us in charging it as the policy of the party until their headas publicly recants it as he at first espoused it. I repeat, then, thatby the subtreasury the revenue is to be collected in specie. Now markwhat the effect of this must be. By all estimates ever made there arebut between sixty and eighty millions of specie in the United States. The expenditures of the Government for the year 1838--the last for whichwe have had the report--were forty millions. Thus it is seen that if thewhole revenue be collected in specie, it will take more than half of allthe specie in the nation to do it. By this means more than half of allthe specie belonging to the fifteen millions of souls who compose thewhole population of the country is thrown into the hands of the publicoffice-holders, and other public creditors comprising in number perhapsnot more than one quarter of a million, leaving the other fourteenmillions and three quarters to get along as they best can, with lessthan one half of the specie of the country, and whatever rags andshinplasters they may be able to put, and keep, in circulation. Bythis means, every office-holder and other public creditor may, andmost likely will, set up shaver; and a most glorious harvest will thespecie-men have of it, --each specie-man, upon a fair division, having tohis share the fleecing of about fifty-nine rag-men. In all candor let meask, was such a system for benefiting the few at the expense of the manyever before devised? And was the sacred name of Democracy ever beforemade to indorse such an enormity against the rights of the people?

I have already said that the subtreasury will reduce the quantity ofmoney in circulation. This position is strengthened by the recollectionthat the revenue is to be collected in Specie, so that the mere amountof revenue is not all that is withdrawn, but the amount of papercirculation that the forty millions would serve as a basis to iswithdrawn, which would be in a sound state at least one hundredmillions. When one hundred millions, or more, of the circulation wenow have shall be withdrawn, who can contemplate without terror thedistress, ruin, bankruptcy, and beggary that must follow? The manwho has purchased any article--say a horse--on credit, at one hundreddollars, when there are two hundred millions circulating in the country, if the quantity be reduced to one hundred millions by the arrival ofpay-day, will find the horse but sufficient to pay half the debt; andthe other half must either be paid out of his other means, and therebybecome a clear loss to him, or go unpaid, and thereby become a clearloss to his creditor. What I have here said of a single case of thepurchase of a horse will hold good in every case of a debt existing atthe time a reduction in the quantity of money occurs, by whomsoever, andfor whatsoever, it may have been contracted. It may be said thatwhat the debtor loses the creditor gains by this operation; but onexamination this will be found true only to a very limited extent. It ismore generally true that all lose by it--the creditor by losing more ofhis debts than he gains by the increased value of those he collects; thedebtor by either parting with more of his property to pay his debtsthan he received in contracting them, or by entirely breaking up hisbusiness, and thereby being thrown upon the world in idleness. 

The general distress thus created will, to be sure, be temporary, because, whatever change may occur in the quantity of money in anycommunity, time will adjust the derangement produced; but while thatadjustment is progressing, all suffer more or less, and very many loseeverything that renders life desirable. Why, then, shall we suffer asevere difficulty, even though it be but temporary, unless we receivesome equivalent for it?

What I have been saying as to the effect produced by a reduction of thequantity of money relates to the whole country. I now propose toshow that it would produce a peculiar and permanent hardship upon thecitizens of those States and Territories in which the public lands lie. The land-offices in those States and Territories, as all know, form thegreat gulf by which all, or nearly all, the money in them is swallowedup. When the quantity of money shall be reduced, and consequentlyeverything under individual control brought down in proportion, theprice of those lands, being fixed by law, will remain as now. Ofnecessity it will follow that the produce or labor that now raises moneysufficient to purchase eighty acres will then raise but sufficientto purchase forty, or perhaps not that much; and this difficulty andhardship will last as long, in some degree, as any portion of theselands shall remain undisposed of. Knowing, as I well do, the difficultythat poor people now encounter in procuring homes, I hesitate not to saythat when the price of the public lands shall be doubled or trebled, or, which is the same thing, produce and labor cut down to one half or onethird of their present prices, it will be little less than impossiblefor them to procure those homes at all. .. . 

Well, then, what did become of him? (Postmaster General Barry) Why, thePresident immediately expressed his high disapprobation of his almostunequaled incapacity and corruption by appointing him to a foreignmission, with a salary and outfit of $18, 000 a year! The party nowattempt to throw Barry off, and to avoid the responsibility of his sins. Did not the President indorse those sins when, on the very heel oftheir commission, he appointed their author to the very highest and mosthonorable office in his gift, and which is but a single step behind thevery goal of American political ambition?

I return to another of Mr. Douglas's excuses for the expenditures of1838, at the same time announcing the pleasing intelligence that this isthe last one. He says that ten millions of that year's expenditure wasa contingent appropriation, to prosecute an anticipated war with GreatBritain on the Maine boundary question. Few words will settle this. First, that the ten millions appropriated was not made till 1839, andconsequently could not have been expended in 1838; second, although itwas appropriated, it has never been expended at all. Those who heard Mr. Douglas recollect that he indulged himself in a contemptuous expressionof pity for me. "Now he's got me, " thought I. But when he went on tosay that five millions of the expenditure of 1838 were payments of theFrench indemnities, which I knew to be untrue; that five millions hadbeen for the post-office, which I knew to be untrue; that ten millionshad been for the Maine boundary war, which I not only knew to be untrue, but supremely ridiculous also; and when I saw that he was stupid enoughto hope that I would permit such groundless and audacious assertions togo unexposed, --I readily consented that, on the score both of veracityand sagacity, the audience should judge whether he or I were the moredeserving of the world's contempt. 

Mr. Lamborn insists that the difference between the Van Buren party andthe Whigs is that, although the former sometimes err in practice, they are always correct in principle, whereas the latter are wrong inprinciple; and, better to impress this proposition, he uses a figurativeexpression in these words: "The Democrats are vulnerable in the heel, but they are sound in the head and the heart. " The first branch of thefigure--that is, that the Democrats are vulnerable in the heel--I admitis not merely figuratively, but literally true. Who that looks but fora moment at their Swartwouts, their Prices, their Harringtons, and theirhundreds of others, scampering away with the public money to Texas, toEurope, and to every spot of the earth where a villain may hope to findrefuge from justice, can at all doubt that they are most distressinglyaffected in their heels with a species of "running itch"? It seemsthat this malady of their heels operates on these sound-headed andhonest-hearted creatures very much like the cork leg in the comic songdid on its owner: which, when he had once got started on it, the more hetried to stop it, the more it would run away. At the hazard of wearingthis point threadbare, I will relate an anecdote which seems toostrikingly in point to be omitted. A witty Irish soldier, who was alwaysboasting of his bravery when no danger was near, but who invariablyretreated without orders at the first charge of an engagement, beingasked by his captain why he did so, replied: "Captain, I have as brave aheart as Julius Caesar ever had; but, somehow or other, wheneverdanger approaches, my cowardly legs will run away with it. " So with Mr. Lamborn's party. They take the public money into their hand for themost laudable purpose that wise heads and honest hearts can dictate; butbefore they can possibly get it out again, their rascally "vulnerableheels" will run away with them. 

Seriously this proposition of Mr. Lamborn is nothing more or less thana request that his party may be tried by their professions instead oftheir practices. Perhaps no position that the party assumes is moreliable to or more deserving of exposure than this very modest request;and nothing but the unwarrantable length to which I have alreadyextended these remarks forbids me now attempting to expose it. For thereason given, I pass it by. 

I shall advert to but one more point. Mr. Lamborn refers to the lateelections in the States, and from their results confidently predictsthat every State in the Union will vote for Mr. Van Buren at the nextPresidential election. Address that argument to cowards and to knaves;with the free and the brave it will effect nothing. It may be true; ifit must, let it. Many free countries have lost their liberty, and oursmay lose hers; but if she shall, be it my proudest plume, not that I wasthe last to desert, but that I never deserted her. I know that the greatvolcano at Washington, aroused and directed by the evil spirit thatreigns there, is belching forth the lava of political corruption in acurrent broad and deep, which is sweeping with frightful velocityover the whole length and breadth of the land, bidding fair to leaveunscathed no green spot or living thing; while on its bosom are riding, like demons on the waves of hell, the imps of that evil spirit, andfiendishly taunting all those who dare resist its destroying course withthe hopelessness of their effort; and, knowing this, I cannot deny thatall may be swept away. Broken by it I, too, may be; bow to it I neverwill. The probability that we may fall in the struggle ought not todeter us from the support of a cause we believe to be just; it shall notdeter me. If ever I feel the soul within me elevate and expand to thosedimensions not wholly unworthy of its almighty Architect, it is when Icontemplate the cause of my country deserted by all the world beside, and I standing up boldly and alone, and hurling defiance at hervictorious oppressors. Here, without contemplating consequences, beforehigh heaven and in the face of the world, I swear eternal fidelity tothe just cause, as I deem it, of the land of my life, my liberty, andmy love. And who that thinks with me will not fearlessly adopt the oaththat I take? Let none falter who thinks he is right, and we may succeed. But if, after all, we shall fail, be it so. We still shall have theproud consolation of saying to our consciences, and to the departedshade of our country's freedom, that the cause approved of our judgment, and adored of our hearts, in disaster, in chains, in torture, in death, we never faltered in defending. 

TO JOHN T. STUART. 

SPRINGFIELD, December 23, 1839. 

DEAR STUART:

Dr. Henry will write you all the political news. I write this about somelittle matters of business. You recollect you told me you had drawn theChicago Masark money, and sent it to the claimants. A hawk-billed Yankeeis here besetting me at every turn I take, saying that Robert Kinzienever received the eighty dollars to which he was entitled. Can you tellme anything about the matter? Again, old Mr. Wright, who lives up SouthFork somewhere, is teasing me continually about some deeds which he sayshe left with you, but which I can find nothing of. Can you tell me wherethey are? The Legislature is in session and has suffered the bank toforfeit its charter without benefit of clergy. There seems to be littledisposition to resuscitate it. 

Whenever a letter comes from you to Mrs. ____________ I carry it to her, and then I see Betty; she is a tolerable nice "fellow" now. Maybe I willwrite again when I get more time. 

Your friend as ever, A. LINCOLN

P. S. --The Democratic giant is here, but he is not much worth talkingabout. A. L. 

1840

CIRCULAR FROM WHIG COMMITTEE. 

Confidential. 

January [1?], 1840. 

To MESSRS ------

GENTLEMEN:--In obedience to a resolution of the Whig State convention, we have appointed you the Central Whig Committee of your county. Thetrust confided to you will be one of watchfulness and labor; but we hopethe glory of having contributed to the overthrow of the corrupt powersthat now control our beloved country will be a sufficient reward for thetime and labor you will devote to it. Our Whig brethren throughout theUnion have met in convention, and after due deliberation andmutual concessions have elected candidates for the Presidency andVice-Presidency not only worthy of our cause, but worthy of the supportof every true patriot who would have our country redeemed, and herinstitutions honestly and faithfully administered. To overthrow thetrained bands that are opposed to us whose salaried officers are everon the watch, and whose misguided followers are ever ready to obey theirsmallest commands, every Whig must not only know his duty, but mustfirmly resolve, whatever of time and labor it may cost, boldly andfaithfully to do it. Our intention is to organize the whole State, sothat every Whig can be brought to the polls in the coming Presidentialcontest. We cannot do this, however, without your co-operation; andas we do our duty, so we shall expect you to do yours. After duedeliberation, the following is the plan of organization, and the dutiesrequired of each county committee:

(1) To divide their county into small districts, and to appoint in eacha subcommittee, whose duty it shall be to make a perfect list of all thevoters in their respective districts, and to ascertain with certaintyfor whom they will vote. If they meet with men who are doubtful as tothe man they will support, such voters should be designated in separatelines, with the name of the man they will probably support. 

(2) It will be the duty of said subcommittee to keep a constant watch onthe doubtful voters, and from time to time have them talked to by thosein whom they have the most confidence, and also to place in their handssuch documents as will enlighten and influence them. 

(3) It will also be their duty to report to you, at least once a month, the progress they are making, and on election days see that every Whigis brought to the polls. 

(4) The subcommittees should be appointed immediately; and by the lastof April, at least, they should make their first report. 

(5) On the first of each month hereafter we shall expect to hear fromyou. After the first report of your subcommittees, unless there shouldbe found a great many doubtful voters, you can tell pretty accuratelythe manner in which your county will vote. In each of your letters tous, you will state the number of certain votes both for and against us, as well as the number of doubtful votes, with your opinion of the mannerin which they will be cast. 

(6) When we have heard from all the counties, we shall be able totell with similar accuracy the political complexion of the State. Thisinformation will be forwarded to you as soon as received. 

(7) Inclosed is a prospectus for a newspaper to be continued until afterthe Presidential election. It will be superintended by ourselves, andevery Whig in the State must take it. It will be published so low thatevery one can afford it. You must raise a fund and forward us for extracopies, --every county ought to send--fifty or one hundred dollars, --andthe copies will be forwarded to you for distribution among our politicalopponents. The paper will be devoted exclusively to the great causein which we are engaged. Procure subscriptions, and forward them to usimmediately. 

(8) Immediately after any election in your county, you must inform us ofits results; and as early as possible after any general election we willgive you the like information. 

(9) A senator in Congress is to be elected by our next Legislature. Letno local interests divide you, but select candidates that can succeed. 

(10) Our plan of operations will of course be concealed from every oneexcept our good friends who of right ought to know them. 

Trusting much in our good cause, the strength of our candidates, andthe determination of the Whigs everywhere to do their duty, we go tothe work of organization in this State confident of success. We havethe numbers, and if properly organized and exerted, with the gallantHarrison at our head, we shall meet our foes and conquer them in allparts of the Union. 

Address your letters to Dr. A. G. Henry, R. F, Barrett; A. Lincoln, E. D. Baker, J. F. Speed. 

TO JOHN T. STUART. 

SPRINGFIELD, March 1, 1840

DEAR STUART:

I have never seen the prospects of our party so bright in these partsas they are now. We shall carry this county by a larger majority thanwe did in 1836, when you ran against May. I do not think my prospects, individually, are very flattering, for I think it probable I shallnot be permitted to be a candidate; but the party ticket will succeedtriumphantly. Subscriptions to the "Old Soldier" pour in withoutabatement. This morning I took from the post office a letter from Duboisenclosing the names of sixty subscribers, and on carrying it to FrancisI found he had received one hundred and forty more from other quartersby the same day's mail. That is but an average specimen of every day'sreceipts. Yesterday Douglas, having chosen to consider himself insultedby something in the Journal, undertook to cane Francis in the street. Francis caught him by the hair and jammed him back against a market cartwhere the matter ended by Francis being pulled away from him. Thewhole affair was so ludicrous that Francis and everybody else (Douglassexcepted) have been laughing about it ever since. 

I send you the names of some of the V. B. Men who have come out forHarrison about town, and suggest that you send them some documents. 

Moses Coffman (he let us appoint him a delegate yesterday), AaronCoffman, George Gregory, H. M. Briggs, Johnson (at Birchall'sBookstore), Michael Glyn, Armstrong (not Hosea nor Hugh, but acarpenter), Thomas Hunter, Moses Pileher (he was always a Whig anddeserves attention), Matthew Crowder Jr. , Greenberry Smith; John Fagan, George Fagan, William Fagan (these three fell out with us about Early, and are doubtful now), John M. Cartmel, Noah Rickard, John Rickard, Walter Marsh. 

The foregoing should be addressed at Springfield. 

Also send some to Solomon Miller and John Auth at Salisbury. Also toCharles Harper, Samuel Harper, and B. C. Harper, and T. J. Scroggins, John Scroggins at Pulaski, Logan County. 

Speed says he wrote you what Jo Smith said about you as he passed here. We will procure the names of some of his people here, and send them toyou before long. Speed also says you must not fail to send us the NewYork Journal he wrote for some time since. 

Evan Butler is jealous that you never send your compliments to him. Youmust not neglect him next time. 

Your friend, as ever, A. LINCOLN

RESOLUTION IN THE ILLINOIS LEGISLATURE. 

November 28, 1840. 

In the Illinois House of Representatives, November 28, 1840, Mr. Lincolnoffered the following:

Resolved, That so much of the governor's message as relates tofraudulent voting, and other fraudulent practices at elections, bereferred to the Committee on Elections, with instructions to saidcommittee to prepare and report to the House a bill for such an act asmay in their judgment afford the greatest possible protection of theelective franchise against all frauds of all sorts whatever. 

RESOLUTION IN THE ILLINOIS LEGISLATURE. 

December 2, 1840. 

Resolved, That the Committee on Education be instructed to inquireinto the expediency of providing by law for the examination as to thequalification of persons offering themselves as school teachers, that noteacher shall receive any part of the public school fund who shall nothave successfully passed such examination, and that they report by billor otherwise. 

REMARKS IN THE ILLINOIS LEGISLATURE. 

December 4, 1840

In the House of Representatives, Illinois, December 4, 1840, onpresentation of a report respecting petition of H. N. Purple, claimingthe seat of Mr. Phelps from Peoria, Mr. Lincoln moved that the Houseresolve itself into Committee of the Whole on the question, and takeit up immediately. Mr. Lincoln considered the question of the highestimportance whether an individual had a right to sit in this House ornot. The course he should propose would be to take up the evidence anddecide upon the facts seriatim. 

Mr. Drummond wanted time; they could not decide in the heat of debate, etc. 

Mr. Lincoln thought that the question had better be gone into now. In courts of law jurors were required to decide on evidence, withoutprevious study or examination. They were required to know nothing ofthe subject until the evidence was laid before them for their immediatedecision. He thought that the heat of party would be augmented by delay. 

The Speaker called Mr. Lincoln to order as being irrelevant; no mentionhad been made of party heat. 

Mr. Drummond said he had only spoken of debate. Mr. Lincoln asked whatcaused the heat, if it was not party? Mr. Lincoln concluded by urgingthat the question would be decided now better than hereafter, and hethought with less heat and excitement. 

(Further debate, in which Lincoln participated. )

REMARKS IN THE ILLINOIS LEGISLATURE. 

December 4, 1840. 

In the Illinois House of Representatives, December 4, 1840, House inCommittee of the Whole on the bill providing for payment of interest onthe State debt, --Mr. Lincoln moved to strike out the body and amendmentsof the bill, and insert in lieu thereof an amendment which in substancewas that the governor be authorized to issue bonds for the payment ofthe interest; that these be called "interest bonds"; that the taxesaccruing on Congress lands as they become taxable be irrevocably setaside and devoted as a fund to the payment of the interest bonds. Mr. Lincoln went into the reasons which appeared to him to render this planpreferable to that of hypothecating the State bonds. By this course wecould get along till the next meeting of the Legislature, which wasof great importance. To the objection which might be urged that theseinterest bonds could not be cashed, he replied that if our other bondscould, much more could these, which offered a perfect security, a fundbeing irrevocably set aside to provide for their redemption. To anotherobjection, that we should be paying compound interest, he would replythat the rapid growth and increase of our resources was in so great aratio as to outstrip the difficulty; that his object was to do the bestthat could be done in the present emergency. All agreed that the faithof the State must be preserved; this plan appeared to him preferableto a hypothecation of bonds, which would have to be redeemed and theinterest paid. How this was to be done, he could not see; therefore hehad, after turning the matter over in every way, devised this measure, which would carry us on till the next Legislature. 

(Mr. Lincoln spoke at some length, advocating his measure. )

Lincoln advocated his measure, December 11, 1840. 

December 12, 1840, he had thought some permanent provision ought to bemade for the bonds to be hypothecated, but was satisfied taxation andrevenue could not be connected with it now. 

1841

TO JOHN T. STUART--ON DEPRESSION

SPRINGFIELD, Jan 23, 1841

DEAR STUART: I am now the most miserable man living. If what I feel wereequally distributed to the whole human family, there would not be onecheerful face on earth. Whether I shall ever be better, I cannot tell; Iawfully forbode I shall not. To remain as I am is impossible. I must dieor be better, as it appears to me. .. . I fear I shall be unable to attendany business here, and a change of scene might help me. If I could bemyself, I would rather remain at home with Judge Logan. I can write nomore. 

REMARKS IN THE ILLINOIS LEGISLATURE. 

January 23, 1841

In the House of Representatives January 23, 1841, while discussing thecontinuation of the Illinois and Michigan Canal, Mr. Moore was afraidthe holders of the "scrip" would lose. 

Mr. Napier thought there was no danger of that; and Mr. Lincoln said hehad not examined to see what amount of scrip would probably be needed. The principal point in his mind was this, that nobody was obliged totake these certificates. It is altogether voluntary on their part, andif they apprehend it will fall in their hands they will not take it. Further the loss, if any there be, will fall on the citizens of thatsection of the country. 

This scrip is not going to circulate over an extensive range of country, but will be confined chiefly to the vicinity of the canal. Now, we findthe representatives of that section of the country are all in favor ofthe bill. 

When we propose to protect their interests, they say to us: Leave usto take care of ourselves; we are willing to run the risk. And thisis reasonable; we must suppose they are competent to protect their owninterests, and it is only fair to let them do it. 

CIRCULAR FROM WHIG COMMITTEE. 

February 9, 1841. 

Appeal to the People of the State of Illinois. 

FELLOW-CITIZENS:--When the General Assembly, now about adjourning, assembled in November last, from the bankrupt state of the publictreasury, the pecuniary embarrassments prevailing in every departmentof society, the dilapidated state of the public works, and the impendingdanger of the degradation of the State, you had a right to expectthat your representatives would lose no time in devising and adoptingmeasures to avert threatened calamities, alleviate the distresses ofthe people, and allay the fearful apprehensions in regard to the futureprosperity of the State. It was not expected by you that the spirit ofparty would take the lead in the councils of the State, and make everyinterest bend to its demands. Nor was it expected that any party wouldassume to itself the entire control of legislation, and convert themeans and offices of the State, and the substance of the people, intoaliment for party subsistence. Neither could it have been expected byyou that party spirit, however strong its desires and unreasonableits demands, would have passed the sanctuary of the Constitution, andentered with its unhallowed and hideous form into the formation of thejudiciary system. 

At the early period of the session, measures were adopted by thedominant party to take possession of the State, to fill all publicoffices with party men, and make every measure affecting the interestsof the people and the credit of the State operate in furtherance oftheir party views. The merits of men and measures therefore became thesubject of discussion in caucus, instead of the halls of legislation, and decisions there made by a minority of the Legislature have beenexecuted and carried into effect by the force of party discipline, without any regard whatever to the rights of the people or the interestsof the State. The Supreme Court of the State was organized, and judgesappointed, according to the provisions of the Constitution, in 1824. The people have never complained of the organization of that court; noattempt has ever before been made to change that department. Respect forpublic opinion, and regard for the rights and liberties of the people, have hitherto restrained the spirit of party from attacks upon theindependence and integrity of the judiciary. The same judges havecontinued in office since 1824; their decisions have not been thesubject of complaint among the people; the integrity and honesty of thecourt have not been questioned, and it has never been supposed thatthe court has ever permitted party prejudice or party considerationsto operate upon their decisions. The court was made to consist of fourjudges, and by the Constitution two form a quorum for the transactionof business. With this tribunal, thus constituted, the people havebeen satisfied for near sixteen years. The same law which organized theSupreme Court in 1824 also established and organized circuit courtsto be held in each county in the State, and five circuit judges wereappointed to hold those courts. In 1826 the Legislature abolished thesecircuit courts, repealed the judges out of office, and required thejudges of the Supreme Court to hold the circuit courts. The reasonsassigned for this change were, first, that the business of the countrycould be better attended to by the four judges of the Supreme Court thanby the two sets of judges; and, second, the state of the public treasuryforbade the employment of unnecessary officers. In 1828 a circuit wasestablished north of the Illinois River, in order to meet the wants ofthe people, and a circuit judge was appointed to hold the courts in thatcircuit. 

In 1834 the circuit-court system was again established throughout theState, circuit judges appointed to hold the courts, and the judges ofthe Supreme Court were relieved from the performance of circuit courtduties. The change was recommended by the then acting governor of theState, General W. L. D. Ewing, in the following terms:

"The augmented population of the State, the multiplied number oforganized counties, as well as the increase of business in all, haslong since convinced every one conversant with this department ofour government of the indispensable necessity of an alteration inour judiciary system, and the subject is therefore recommended to theearnest patriotic consideration of the Legislature. The present systemhas never been exempt from serious and weighty objections. The idea ofappealing from the circuit court to the same judges in the Supreme Courtis recommended by little hopes of redress to the injured party below. The duties of the circuit, too, it may be added, consume one half of theyear, leaving a small and inadequate portion of time (when that requiredfor domestic purposes is deducted) to erect, in the decisions of theSupreme Court, a judicial monument of legal learning and research, which the talent and ability of the court might otherwise be entirelycompetent to. "

With this organization of circuit courts the people have nevercomplained. The only complaints which we have heard have come fromcircuits which were so large that the judges could not dispose of thebusiness, and the circuits in which Judges Pearson and Ralston latelypresided. 

Whilst the honor and credit of the State demanded legislation upon thesubject of the public debt, the canal, the unfinished public works, andthe embarrassments of the people, the judiciary stood upon a basiswhich required no change--no legislative action. Yet the party in power, neglecting every interest requiring legislative action, and whollydisregarding the rights, wishes, and interests of the people, has, forthe unholy purpose of providing places for its partisans and supplyingthem with large salaries, disorganized that department of thegovernment. Provision is made for the election of five party judgesof the Supreme Court, the proscription of four circuit judges, and theappointment of party clerks in more than half the counties of theState. Men professing respect for public opinion, and acknowledged to beleaders of the party, have avowed in the halls of legislation thatthe change in the judiciary was intended to produce political resultsfavorable to their party and party friends. The immutable principlesof justice are to make way for party interests, and the bonds of socialorder are to be rent in twain, in order that a desperate faction maybe sustained at the expense of the people. The change proposed in thejudiciary was supported upon grounds so destructive to the institutionsof the country, and so entirely at war with the rights and libertiesof the people, that the party could not secure entire unanimity in itssupport, three Democrats of the Senate and five of the House votingagainst the measure. They were unwilling to see the temples of justiceand the seats of independent judges occupied by the tools of faction. The declarations of the party leaders, the selection of party men forjudges, and the total disregard for the public will in the adoption ofthe measure, prove conclusively that the object has been not reform, butdestruction; not the advancement of the highest interests of the State, but the predominance of party. 

We cannot in this manner undertake to point out all the objections tothis party measure; we present you with those stated by the Councilof Revision upon returning the bill, and we ask for them a candidconsideration. 

Believing that the independence of the judiciary has been destroyed, that hereafter our courts will be independent of the people, andentirely dependent upon the Legislature; that our rights of propertyand liberty of conscience can no longer be regarded as safe from theencroachments of unconstitutional legislation; and knowing of no otherremedy which can be adopted consistently with the peace and good orderof society, we call upon you to avail yourselves of the opportunityafforded, and, at the next general election, vote for a convention ofthe people. 

 S. H. LITTLE, E. D. BAKER, J. J. HARDIN, E. B. WEBS, A. LINCOLN, J. GILLESPIE, Committee on behalf of the Whig members of the Legislature. 

AGAINST THE REORGANIZATION OF THE JUDICIARY. 

EXTRACT FROM A PROTEST IN THE ILLINOIS LEGISLATURE

February 26, 1841

For the reasons thus presented, and for others no less apparent, theundersigned cannot assent to the passage of the bill, or permit it tobecome a law, without this evidence of their disapprobation; and theynow protest against the reorganization of the judiciary, because--(1)It violates the great principles of free government by subjecting thejudiciary to the Legislature. (2) It is a fatal blow at the independenceof the judges and the constitutional term of their office. (3) It is ameasure not asked for, or wished for, by the people. (4) It will greatlyincrease the expense of our courts, or else greatly diminish theirutility. (5) It will give our courts a political and partisan character, thereby impairing public confidence in their decisions. (6) It willimpair our standing with other States and the world. (7)It is a partymeasure for party purposes, from which no practical good to the peoplecan possibly arise, but which may be the source of immeasurable evils. 

The undersigned are well aware that this protest will be altogetherunavailing with the majority of this body. The blow has already fallen, and we are compelled to stand by, the mournful spectators of the ruin itwill cause. 

[Signed by 35 members, among whom was Abraham Lincoln. ]

TO JOSHUA F. SPEED--MURDER CASE

SPRINGFIELD June 19, 1841. 

DEAR SPEED:--We have had the highest state of excitement here for a weekpast that our community has ever witnessed; and, although the publicfeeling is somewhat allayed, the curious affair which aroused it is veryfar from being even yet cleared of mystery. It would take a quire ofpaper to give you anything like a full account of it, and I thereforeonly propose a brief outline. The chief personages in the drama areArchibald Fisher, supposed to be murdered, and Archibald Trailor, HenryTrailor, and William Trailor, supposed to have murdered him. The threeTrailors are brothers: the first, Arch. , as you know, lives in town;the second, Henry, in Clary's Grove; and the third, William, in WarrenCounty; and Fisher, the supposed murdered, being without a family, hadmade his home with William. On Saturday evening, being the 29th of May, Fisher and William came to Henry's in a one-horse dearborn, and therestayed over Sunday; and on Monday all three came to Springfield (Henryon horseback) and joined Archibald at Myers's, the Dutch carpenter. That evening at supper Fisher was missing, and so next morning someineffectual search was made for him; and on Tuesday, at one o'clockP. M. , William and Henry started home without him. In a day or two Henryand one or two of his Clary-Grove neighbors came back for him again, andadvertised his disappearance in the papers. The knowledge of the matterthus far had not been general, and here it dropped entirely, till aboutthe 10th instant, when Keys received a letter from the postmaster inWarren County, that William had arrived at home, and was telling a verymysterious and improbable story about the disappearance of Fisher, whichinduced the community there to suppose he had been disposed of unfairly. Keys made this letter public, which immediately set the whole town andadjoining county agog. And so it has continued until yesterday. The massof the people commenced a systematic search for the dead body, whileWickersham was despatched to arrest Henry Trailor at the Grove, and JimMaxcy to Warren to arrest William. On Monday last, Henry was brought in, and showed an evident inclination to insinuate that he knew Fisher to bedead, and that Arch. And William had killed him. He said he guessed thebody could be found in Spring Creek, between the Beardstown road andHickox's mill. Away the people swept like a herd of buffalo, and cutdown Hickox's mill-dam nolens volens, to draw the water out of the pond, and then went up and down and down and up the creek, fishing and raking, and raking and ducking and diving for two days, and, after all, no deadbody found. 

In the meantime a sort of scuffling-ground had been found in the brushin the angle, or point, where the road leading into the woods pastthe brewery and the one leading in past the brick-yard meet. From thescuffle-ground was the sign of something about the size of a man havingbeen dragged to the edge of the thicket, where it joined the trackof some small-wheeled carriage drawn by one horse, as shown by theroad-tracks. The carriage-track led off toward Spring Creek. Near thisdrag-trail Dr. Merryman found two hairs, which, after a long scientificexamination, he pronounced to be triangular human hairs, which term, hesays, includes within it the whiskers, the hair growing under the armsand on other parts of the body; and he judged that these two were of thewhiskers, because the ends were cut, showing that they had flourished inthe neighborhood of the razor's operations. On Thursday last Jim Maxcybrought in William Trailor from Warren. On the same day Arch. Wasarrested and put in jail. Yesterday (Friday) William was put upon hisexamining trial before May and Lovely. Archibald and Henry were bothpresent. Lamborn prosecuted, and Logan, Baker, and your humble servantdefended. A great many witnesses were introduced and examined, but Ishall only mention those whose testimony seemed most important. Thefirst of these was Captain Ransdell. He swore that when William andHenry left Springfield for home on Tuesday before mentioned they did nottake the direct route, --which, you know, leads by the butcher shop, --butthat they followed the street north until they got opposite, or nearlyopposite, May's new house, after which he could not see them from wherehe stood; and it was afterwards proved that in about an hour after theystarted, they came into the street by the butcher shop from toward thebrickyard. Dr. Merryman and others swore to what is stated about thescuffle-ground, drag-trail, whiskers, and carriage tracks. Henry wasthen introduced by the prosecution. He swore that when they started forhome they went out north, as Ransdell stated, and turned down westby the brick-yard into the woods, and there met Archibald; that theyproceeded a small distance farther, when he was placed as a sentinel towatch for and announce the approach of any one that might happen thatway; that William and Arch. Took the dearborn out of the road a smalldistance to the edge of the thicket, where they stopped, and he sawthem lift the body of a man into it; that they then moved off with thecarriage in the direction of Hickox's mill, and he loitered about forsomething like an hour, when William returned with the carriage, butwithout Arch. , and said they had put him in a safe place; that they wentsomehow he did not know exactly how--into the road close to the brewery, and proceeded on to Clary's Grove. He also stated that some time duringthe day William told him that he and Arch. Had killed Fisher the eveningbefore; that the way they did it was by him William knocking him downwith a club, and Arch. Then choking him to death. 

An old man from Warren, called Dr. Gilmore, was then introduced onthe part of the defense. He swore that he had known Fisher for severalyears; that Fisher had resided at his house a long time at each of twodifferent spells--once while he built a barn for him, and once whilehe was doctored for some chronic disease; that two or three years agoFisher had a serious hurt in his head by the bursting of a gun, sincewhich he had been subject to continued bad health and occasionalaberration of mind. He also stated that on last Tuesday, being the sameday that Maxcy arrested William Trailor, he (the doctor) was from homein the early part of the day, and on his return, about eleven o'clock, found Fisher at his house in bed, and apparently very unwell; that heasked him how he came from Springfield; that Fisher said he had come byPeoria, and also told of several other places he had been at more in thedirection of Peoria, which showed that he at the time of speaking didnot know where he had been wandering about in a state of derangement. He further stated that in about two hours he received a note from one ofTrailor's friends, advising him of his arrest, and requesting him to goon to Springfield as a witness, to testify as to the state of Fisher'shealth in former times; that he immediately set off, calling up twoof his neighbors as company, and, riding all evening and all night, overtook Maxcy and William at Lewiston in Fulton County; that Maxcyrefusing to discharge Trailor upon his statement, his two neighborsreturned and he came on to Springfield. Some question being made as towhether the doctor's story was not a fabrication, several acquaintancesof his (among whom was the same postmaster who wrote Keys, as beforementioned) were introduced as sort of compurgators, who swore that theyknew the doctor to be of good character for truth and veracity, andgenerally of good character in every way. 

Here the testimony ended, and the Trailors were discharged, Arch. AndWilliam expressing both in word and manner their entire confidence thatFisher would be found alive at the doctor's by Galloway, Mallory, andMyers, who a day before had been despatched for that purpose; whichHenry still protested that no power on earth could ever show Fisheralive. Thus stands this curious affair. When the doctor's storywas first made public, it was amusing to scan and contemplate thecountenances and hear the remarks of those who had been actively insearch for the dead body: some looked quizzical, some melancholy, andsome furiously angry. Porter, who had been very active, swore he alwaysknew the man was not dead, and that he had not stirred an inch to huntfor him; Langford, who had taken the lead in cutting down Hickox'smill-dam, and wanted to hang Hickox for objecting, looked mostawfully woebegone: he seemed the "victim of unrequited affection, " asrepresented in the comic almanacs we used to laugh over; and Hart, thelittle drayman that hauled Molly home once, said it was too damned badto have so much trouble, and no hanging after all. 

I commenced this letter on yesterday, since which I received yours ofthe 13th. I stick to my promise to come to Louisville. Nothing new hereexcept what I have written. I have not seen ______ since my last trip, and I am going out there as soon as I mail this letter. 

Yours forever, LINCOLN. 

STATEMENT ABOUT HARRY WILTON. 

June 25, 1841

It having been charged in some of the public prints that Harry Wilton, late United States marshal for the district of Illinois, had used hisoffice for political effect, in the appointment of deputies for thetaking of the census for the year 1840, we, the undersigned, were calledupon by Mr. Wilton to examine the papers in his possession relativeto these appointments, and to ascertain therefrom the correctness orincorrectness of such charge. We accompanied Mr. Wilton to a room, andexamined the matter as fully as we could with the means afforded us. Theonly sources of information bearing on the subject which were submittedto us were the letters, etc. , recommending and opposing the variousappointments made, and Mr. Wilton's verbal statements concerning thesame. From these letters, etc. , it appears that in some instancesappointments were made in accordance with the recommendations of leadingWhigs, and in opposition to those of leading Democrats; among whichinstances the appointments at Scott, Wayne, Madison, and Lawrence arethe strongest. According to Mr. Wilton's statement of the seventy-sixappointments we examined, fifty-four were of Democrats, eleven of Whigs, and eleven of unknown politics. 

The chief ground of complaint against Mr. Wilton, as we had understoodit, was because of his appointment of so many Democratic candidates forthe Legislature, thus giving them a decided advantage over theirWhig opponents; and consequently our attention was directed ratherparticularly to that point. We found that there were many suchappointments, among which were those in Tazewell, McLean, Iroquois, Coles, Menard, Wayne, Washington, Fayette, etc. ; and we did notlearn that there was one instance in which a Whig candidate for theLegislature had been appointed. There was no written evidence beforeus showing us at what time those appointments were made; but Mr. Wiltonstated that they all with one exception were made before thoseappointed became candidates for the Legislature, and the letters, etc. , recommending them all bear date before, and most of them long before, those appointed were publicly announced candidates. 

We give the foregoing naked facts and draw no conclusions from them. 

BEND. S. EDWARDS, A. LINCOLN. 

TO MISS MARY SPEED--PRACTICAL SLAVERY

BLOOMINGTON, ILL. , September 27, 1841. 

Miss Mary Speed, Louisville, Ky. 

MY FRIEND: By the way, a fine example was presented on board the boatfor contemplating the effect of condition upon human happiness. Agentleman had purchased twelve negroes in different parts of Kentucky, and was taking them to a farm in the South. They were chained six andsix together. A small iron clevis was around the left wrist of each, and this fastened to the main chain by a shorter one, at a convenientdistance from the others, so that the negroes were strung togetherprecisely like so many fish upon a trotline. In this condition theywere being separated forever from the scenes of their childhood, theirfriends, their fathers and mothers, and brothers and sisters, and manyof them from their wives and children, and going into perpetualslavery where the lash of the master is proverbially more ruthlessand unrelenting than any other; and yet amid all these distressingcircumstances, as we would think them, they were the most cheerful andapparently happy creatures on board. One, whose offence for which hehad been sold was an overfondness for his wife, played the fiddle almostcontinually, and the others danced, sang, cracked jokes, and playedvarious games with cards from day to day. How true it is that 'Godtempers the wind to the shorn lamb, ' or in other words, that he rendersthe worst of human conditions tolerable, while he permits the best tobe nothing better than tolerable. To return to the narrative: When wereached Springfield I stayed but one day, when I started on this tediouscircuit where I now am. Do you remember my going to the city, while Iwas in Kentucky, to have a tooth extracted, and making a failure of it?Well, that same old tooth got to paining me so much that about a weeksince I had it torn out, bringing with it a bit of the jawbone, theconsequence of which is that my mouth is now so sore that I can neithertalk nor eat. 

Your sincere friend, A. LINCOLN. 

1842

TO JOSHUA F. SPEED--ON MARRIAGE

January 30, 1842. 

MY DEAR SPEED:--Feeling, as you know I do, the deepest solicitude forthe success of the enterprise you are engaged in, I adopt this as thelast method I can adopt to aid you, in case (which God forbid!) youshall need any aid. I do not place what I am going to say on paperbecause I can say it better that way than I could by word of mouth, but, were I to say it orally before we part, most likely you would forgetit at the very time when it might do you some good. As I think itreasonable that you will feel very badly some time between this and thefinal consummation of your purpose, it is intended that you shall readthis just at such a time. Why I say it is reasonable that you will feelvery badly yet, is because of three special causes added to the generalone which I shall mention. 

The general cause is, that you are naturally of a nervous temperament;and this I say from what I have seen of you personally, and what youhave told me concerning your mother at various times, and concerningyour brother William at the time his wife died. The first special causeis your exposure to bad weather on your journey, which my experienceclearly proves to be very severe on defective nerves. The second is theabsence of all business and conversation of friends, which might divertyour mind, give it occasional rest from the intensity of thought whichwill sometimes wear the sweetest idea threadbare and turn it to thebitterness of death. The third is the rapid and near approach of thatcrisis on which all your thoughts and feelings concentrate. 

If from all these causes you shall escape and go through triumphantly, without another "twinge of the soul, " I shall be most happily but mostegregiously deceived. If, on the contrary, you shall, as I expect youwill at sometime, be agonized and distressed, let me, who have somereason to speak with judgment on such a subject, beseech you to ascribeit to the causes I have mentioned, and not to some false and ruinoussuggestion of the Devil. 

"But, " you will say, "do not your causes apply to every one engaged ina like undertaking?" By no means. The particular causes, to a greateror less extent, perhaps do apply in all cases; but the generalone, --nervous debility, which is the key and conductor of allthe particular ones, and without which they would be utterlyharmless, --though it does pertain to you, does not pertain to one in athousand. It is out of this that the painful difference between you andthe mass of the world springs. 

I know what the painful point with you is at all times when you areunhappy; it is an apprehension that you do not love her as you should. What nonsense! How came you to court her? Was it because you thought shedeserved it, and that you had given her reason to expect it? If it wasfor that why did not the same reason make you court Ann Todd, and atleast twenty others of whom you can think, and to whom it would applywith greater force than to her? Did you court her for her wealth? Why, you know she had none. But you say you reasoned yourself into it. Whatdo you mean by that? Was it not that you found yourself unable to reasonyourself out of it? Did you not think, and partly form the purpose, ofcourting her the first time you ever saw her or heard of her? What hadreason to do with it at that early stage? There was nothing at that timefor reason to work upon. Whether she was moral, amiable, sensible, or even of good character, you did not, nor could then know, except, perhaps, you might infer the last from the company you found her in. 

All you then did or could know of her was her personal appearance anddeportment; and these, if they impress at all, impress the heart, andnot the head. 

Say candidly, were not those heavenly black eyes the whole basis of allyour early reasoning on the subject? After you and I had once been atthe residence, did you not go and take me all the way to Lexington andback, for no other purpose but to get to see her again, on our returnon that evening to take a trip for that express object? What earthlyconsideration would you take to find her scouting and despising you, andgiving herself up to another? But of this you have no apprehension; andtherefore you cannot bring it home to your feelings. 

I shall be so anxious about you that I shall want you to write by everymail. 

Your friend, LINCOLN. 

TO JOSHUA F. SPEED. 

SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS, February 3, 1842. 

DEAR SPEED:--Your letter of the 25th January came to hand to-day. Youwell know that I do not feel my own sorrows much more keenly than I doyours, when I know of them; and yet I assure you I was not much hurt bywhat you wrote me of your excessively bad feeling at the time you wrote. Not that I am less capable of sympathizing with you now than ever, notthat I am less your friend than ever, but because I hope and believethat your present anxiety and distress about her health and her lifemust and will forever banish those horrid doubts which I know yousometimes felt as to the truth of your affection for her. If they canonce and forever be removed (and I almost feel a presentiment that theAlmighty has sent your present affliction expressly for that object), surely nothing can come in their stead to fill their immeasurablemeasure of misery. The death-scenes of those we love are surely painfulenough; but these we are prepared for and expect to see: they happen toall, and all know they must happen. Painful as they are, they are notan unlooked for sorrow. Should she, as you fear, be destined to an earlygrave, it is indeed a great consolation to know that she is so wellprepared to meet it. Her religion, which you once disliked so much, I will venture you now prize most highly. But I hope your melancholybodings as to her early death are not well founded. I even hope thatere this reaches you she will have returned with improved and stillimproving health, and that you will have met her, and forgotten thesorrows of the past in the enjoyments of the present. I would say moreif I could, but it seems that I have said enough. It really appearsto me that you yourself ought to rejoice, and not sorrow, at thisindubitable evidence of your undying affection for her. Why, Speed, ifyou did not love her although you might not wish her death, you wouldmost certainly be resigned to it. Perhaps this point is no longera question with you, and my pertinacious dwelling upon it is a rudeintrusion upon your feelings. If so, you must pardon me. You know thehell I have suffered on that point, and how tender I am upon it. Youknow I do not mean wrong. I have been quite clear of "hypo" since youleft, even better than I was along in the fall. I have seen ______ butonce. She seemed very cheerful, and so I said nothing to her about whatwe spoke of. 

Old Uncle Billy Herndon is dead, and it is said this evening that UncleBen Ferguson will not live. This, I believe, is all the news, and enoughat that unless it were better. Write me immediately on the receipt ofthis. 

Your friend, as ever, LINCOLN. 

TO JOSHUA F. SPEED--ON DEPRESSION

SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS, February 13, 1842. 

DEAR SPEED:--Yours of the 1st instant came to hand three or four daysago. When this shall reach you, you will have been Fanny's husbandseveral days. You know my desire to befriend you is everlasting; thatI will never cease while I know how to do anything. But you will alwayshereafter be on ground that I have never occupied, and consequently, if advice were needed, I might advise wrong. I do fondly hope, however, that you will never again need any comfort from abroad. But should I bemistaken in this, should excessive pleasure still be accompanied witha painful counterpart at times, still let me urge you, as I have everdone, to remember, in the depth and even agony of despondency, that veryshortly you are to feel well again. I am now fully convinced that youlove her as ardently as you are capable of loving. Your ever being happyin her presence, and your intense anxiety about her health, if therewere nothing else, would place this beyond all dispute in my mind. Iincline to think it probable that your nerves will fail you occasionallyfor a while; but once you get them firmly guarded now that trouble isover forever. I think, if I were you, in case my mind were not exactlyright, I would avoid being idle. I would immediately engage in somebusiness, or go to making preparations for it, which would be the samething. If you went through the ceremony calmly, or even with sufficientcomposure not to excite alarm in any present, you are safe beyondquestion, and in two or three months, to say the most, will be thehappiest of men. 

I would desire you to give my particular respects to Fanny; but perhapsyou will not wish her to know you have received this, lest she shoulddesire to see it. Make her write me an answer to my last letter to her;at any rate I would set great value upon a note or letter from her. Write me whenever you have leisure. Yours forever, A. LINCOLN. P. S. --Ihave been quite a man since you left. 

TO G. B. SHELEDY. 

SPRINGFIELD, ILL. , Feb. 16, 1842. 

G. B. SHELEDY, ESQ. :

Yours of the 10th is duly received. Judge Logan and myself are doingbusiness together now, and we are willing to attend to your cases as youpropose. As to the terms, we are willing to attend each case you prepareand send us for $10 (when there shall be no opposition) to be sent inadvance, or you to know that it is safe. It takes $5. 75 of cost tostart upon, that is, $1. 75 to clerk, and $2 to each of two publishersof papers. Judge Logan thinks it will take the balance of $20 to carrya case through. This must be advanced from time to time as the servicesare performed, as the officers will not act without. I do not knowwhether you can be admitted an attorney of the Federal court in yourabsence or not; nor is it material, as the business can be done in ournames. 

Thinking it may aid you a little, I send you one of our blank forms ofPetitions. It, you will see, is framed to be sworn to before the Federalcourt clerk, and, in your cases, will have [to] be so far changed as tobe sworn to before the clerk of your circuit court; and his certificatemust be accompanied with his official seal. The schedules, too, mustbe attended to. Be sure that they contain the creditors' names, theirresidences, the amounts due each, the debtors' names, their residences, and the amounts they owe, also all property and where located. 

Also be sure that the schedules are all signed by the applicants as wellas the Petition. Publication will have to be made here in one paper, and in one nearest the residence of the applicant. Write us in each casewhere the last advertisement is to be sent, whether to you or to whatpaper. 

I believe I have now said everything that can be of any advantage. Yourfriend as ever, A. LINCOLN. 

TO GEORGE E. PICKETT--ADVICE TO YOUTH

February 22, 1842. 

I never encourage deceit, and falsehood, especially if you have got abad memory, is the worst enemy a fellow can have. The fact is truthis your truest friend, no matter what the circumstances are. Notwithstanding this copy-book preamble, my boy, I am inclined tosuggest a little prudence on your part. You see I have a congenitalaversion to failure, and the sudden announcement to your Uncle Andrew ofthe success of your "lamp rubbing" might possibly prevent your passingthe severe physical examination to which you will be subjected in orderto enter the Military Academy. You see I should like to have a perfectsoldier credited to dear old Illinois--no broken bones, scalp wounds, etc. So I think it might be wise to hand this letter from me in toyour good uncle through his room-window after he has had a comfortabledinner, and watch its effect from the top of the pigeon-house. 

I have just told the folks here in Springfield on this 111th anniversaryof the birth of him whose name, mightiest in the cause of civil liberty, still mightiest in the cause of moral reformation, we mention in solemnawe, in naked, deathless splendor, that the one victory we can ever callcomplete will be that one which proclaims that there is not one slave orone drunkard on the face of God's green earth. Recruit for this victory. 

Now, boy, on your march, don't you go and forget the old maxim that "onedrop of honey catches more flies than a half-gallon of gall. " Load yourmusket with this maxim, and smoke it in your pipe. 

ADDRESS BEFORE THE SPRINGFIELD WASHINGTONIAN TEMPERANCE SOCIETY, FEBRUARY 22, 1842. 

Although the temperance cause has been in progress for near twentyyears, it is apparent to all that it is just now being crowned with adegree of success hitherto unparalleled. 

The list of its friends is daily swelled by the additions of fifties, ofhundreds, and of thousands. The cause itself seems suddenly transformedfrom a cold abstract theory to a living, breathing, active, and powerfulchieftain, going forth "conquering and to conquer. " The citadels of hisgreat adversary are daily being stormed and dismantled; his temple andhis altars, where the rites of his idolatrous worship have long beenperformed, and where human sacrifices have long been wont to be made, are daily desecrated and deserted. The triumph of the conqueror's fameis sounding from hill to hill, from sea to sea, and from land to land, and calling millions to his standard at a blast. 

For this new and splendid success we heartily rejoice. That that successis so much greater now than heretofore is doubtless owing to rationalcauses; and if we would have it continue, we shall do well to inquirewhat those causes are. 

The warfare heretofore waged against the demon intemperance has somehowor other been erroneous. Either the champions engaged or the tacticsthey adopted have not been the most proper. These champions for the mostpart have been preachers, lawyers, and hired agents. Between these andthe mass of mankind there is a want of approachability, if the termbe admissible, partially, at least, fatal to their success. They aresupposed to have no sympathy of feeling or interest with those verypersons whom it is their object to convince and persuade. 

And again, it is so common and so easy to ascribe motives to men ofthese classes other than those they profess to act upon. The preacher, it is said, advocates temperance because he is a fanatic, and desires aunion of the Church and State; the lawyer from his pride and vanity ofhearing himself speak; and the hired agent for his salary. But when onewho has long been known as a victim of intemperance bursts the fettersthat have bound him, and appears before his neighbors "clothed and inhis right mind, " a redeemed specimen of long-lost humanity, and standsup, with tears of joy trembling in his eyes, to tell of the miseriesonce endured, now to be endured no more forever; of his once naked andstarving children, now clad and fed comfortably; of a wife long weigheddown with woe, weeping, and a broken heart, now restored to health, happiness, and a renewed affection; and how easily it is all done, onceit is resolved to be done; how simple his language! there is a logic andan eloquence in it that few with human feelings can resist. They cannotsay that he desires a union of Church and State, for he is not a churchmember; they cannot say he is vain of hearing himself speak, for hiswhole demeanor shows he would gladly avoid speaking at all; they cannotsay he speaks for pay, for he receives none, and asks for none. Nor canhis sincerity in any way be doubted, or his sympathy for those he wouldpersuade to imitate his example be denied. 

In my judgment, it is to the battles of this new class of championsthat our late success is greatly, perhaps chiefly, owing. But, had theold-school champions themselves been of the most wise selecting, wastheir system of tactics the most judicious? It seems to me it wasnot. Too much denunciation against dram-sellers and dram-drinkerswas indulged in. This I think was both impolitic and unjust. It wasimpolitic, because it is not much in the nature of man to be driven toanything; still less to be driven about that which is exclusively hisown business; and least of all where such driving is to be submittedto at the expense of pecuniary interest or burning appetite. When thedram-seller and drinker were incessantly told not in accents of entreatyand persuasion, diffidently addressed by erring man to an erringbrother, but in the thundering tones of anathema and denunciation withwhich the lordly judge often groups together all the crimes of thefelon's life, and thrusts them in his face just ere he passes sentenceof death upon him that they were the authors of all the vice and miseryand crime in the land; that they were the manufacturers and material ofall the thieves and robbers and murderers that infest the earth; thattheir houses were the workshops of the devil; and that their personsshould be shunned by all the good and virtuous, as moral pestilences--Isay, when they were told all this, and in this way, it is not wonderfulthat they were slow to acknowledge the truth of such denunciations, and to join the ranks of their denouncers in a hue and cry againstthemselves. 

To have expected them to do otherwise than they did to have expectedthem not to meet denunciation with denunciation, crimination withcrimination, and anathema with anathema--was to expect a reversal ofhuman nature, which is God's decree and can never be reversed. 

When the conduct of men is designed to be influenced, persuasion, kind, unassuming persuasion, should ever be adopted. It is an old and a truemaxim that "a drop of honey catches more flies than a gallon of gall. "So with men. If you would win a man to your cause, first convince himthat you are his sincere friend. Therein is a drop of honey that catcheshis heart, which, say what he will, is the great highroad to hisreason; and which, when once gained, you will find but little troublein convincing his judgment of the justice of your cause, if indeed thatcause really be a just one. On the contrary, assume to dictate to hisjudgment, or to command his action, or to mark him as one to be shunnedand despised, and he will retreat within himself, close all the avenuesto his head and his heart; and though your cause be naked truth itself, transformed to the heaviest lance, harder than steel, and sharper thansteel can be made, and though you throw it with more than herculeanforce and precision, you shall be no more able to pierce him than topenetrate the hard shell of a tortoise with a rye straw. Such is man, and so must he be understood by those who would lead him, even to hisown best interests. 

On this point the Washingtonians greatly excel the temperance advocatesof former times. Those whom they desire to convince and persuade aretheir old friends and companions. They know they are not demons, noreven the worst of men; they know that generally they are kind, generous, and charitable even beyond the example of their more staid and soberneighbors. They are practical philanthropists; and they glow witha generous and brotherly zeal that mere theorizers are incapable offeeling. Benevolence and charity possess their hearts entirely; and outof the abundance of their hearts their tongues give utterance; "lovethrough all their actions runs, and all their words are mild. " In thisspirit they speak and act, and in the same they are heard and regarded. And when such is the temper of the advocate, and such of the audience, no good cause can be unsuccessful. But I have said that denunciationsagainst dramsellers and dram-drinkers are unjust, as well as impolitic. Let us see. I have not inquired at what period of time the use ofintoxicating liquors commenced; nor is it important to know. It issufficient that, to all of us who now inhabit the world, the practice ofdrinking them is just as old as the world itself that is, we have seenthe one just as long as we have seen the other. When all such of us ashave now reached the years of maturity first opened our eyes uponthe stage of existence, we found intoxicating liquor recognized byeverybody, used by everybody, repudiated by nobody. It commonly enteredinto the first draught of the infant and the last draught of the dyingman. From the sideboard of the parson down to the ragged pocket of thehouseless loafer, it was constantly found. Physicians proscribed it inthis, that, and the other disease; government provided it for soldiersand sailors; and to have a rolling or raising, a husking or "hoedown, "anywhere about without it was positively insufferable. So, too, it waseverywhere a respectable article of manufacture and merchandise. Themaking of it was regarded as an honorable livelihood, and he who couldmake most was the most enterprising and respectable. Large and smallmanufactories of it were everywhere erected, in which all the earthlygoods of their owners were invested. Wagons drew it from town to town;boats bore it from clime to clime, and the winds wafted it from nationto nation; and merchants bought and sold it, by wholesale and retail, with precisely the same feelings on the part of the seller, buyer, andbystander as are felt at the selling and buying of ploughs, beef, bacon, or any other of the real necessaries of life. Universal public opinionnot only tolerated but recognized and adopted its use. 

It is true that even then it was known and acknowledged that many weregreatly injured by it; but none seemed to think the injury arose fromthe use of a bad thing, but from the abuse of a very good thing. Thevictims of it were to be pitied and compassionated, just as are theheirs of consumption and other hereditary diseases. Their failing wastreated as a misfortune, and not as a crime, or even as a disgrace. If, then, what I have been saying is true, is it wonderful that some shouldthink and act now as all thought and acted twenty years ago? and is itjust to assail, condemn, or despise them for doing so? The universalsense of mankind on any subject is an argument, or at least aninfluence, not easily overcome. The success of the argument in favorof the existence of an overruling Providence mainly depends upon thatsense; and men ought not in justice to be denounced for yielding to itin any case, or giving it up slowly, especially when they are backed byinterest, fixed habits, or burning appetites. 

Another error, as it seems to me, into which the old reformers fell, wasthe position that all habitual drunkards were utterly incorrigible, andtherefore must be turned adrift and damned without remedy in order thatthe grace of temperance might abound, to the temperate then, and to allmankind some hundreds of years thereafter. There is in this something so repugnant to humanity, so uncharitable, so cold-blooded andfeelingless, that it, never did nor ever can enlist the enthusiasm of apopular cause. We could not love the man who taught it we could not hearhim with patience. The heart could not throw open its portals to it, the generous man could not adopt it--it could not mix with his blood. It looked so fiendishly selfish, so like throwing fathers and brothersoverboard to lighten the boat for our security, that the noble-mindedshrank from the manifest meanness of the thing. And besides this, thebenefits of a reformation to be effected by such a system were tooremote in point of time to warmly engage many in its behalf. Few canbe induced to labor exclusively for posterity, and none will do itenthusiastically. --Posterity has done nothing for us; and, theorize onit as we may, practically we shall do very little for it, unless we aremade to think we are at the same time doing something for ourselves. 

What an ignorance of human nature does it exhibit to ask or to expecta whole community to rise up and labor for the temporal happiness ofothers, after themselves shall be consigned to the dust, a majorityof which community take no pains whatever to secure their own eternalwelfare at no more distant day! Great distance in either time orspace has wonderful power to lull and render quiescent the human mind. Pleasures to be enjoyed, or pains to be endured, after we shall be deadand gone are but little regarded even in our own cases, and much lessin the cases of others. Still, in addition to this there is something soludicrous in promises of good or threats of evil a great way off as torender the whole subject with which they are connected easily turnedinto ridicule. "Better lay down that spade you are stealing, Paddy; ifyou don't you'll pay for it at the day of judgment. " "Be the powers, ifye'll credit me so long I'll take another jist. "

By the Washingtonians this system of consigning the habitual drunkardto hopeless ruin is repudiated. They adopt a more enlarged philanthropy;they go for present as well as future good. They labor for all nowliving, as well as hereafter to live. They teach hope to all-despair tonone. As applying to their cause, they deny the doctrine ofunpardonable sin; as in Christianity it is taught, so in this theyteach--"While--While the lamp holds out to burn, The vilest sinner mayreturn. " And, what is a matter of more profound congratulation, they, byexperiment upon experiment and example upon example, prove the maximto be no less true in the one case than in the other. On every hand webehold those who but yesterday were the chief of sinners, now the chiefapostles of the cause. Drunken devils are cast out by ones, by sevens, by legions; and their unfortunate victims, like the poor possessed whowere redeemed from their long and lonely wanderings in the tombs, arepublishing to the ends of the earth how great things have been done forthem. 

To these new champions and this new system of tactics our latesuccess is mainly owing, and to them we must mainly look for the finalconsummation. The ball is now rolling gloriously on, and none are soable as they to increase its speed and its bulk, to add to its momentumand its magnitude--even though unlearned in letters, for this task noneare so well educated. To fit them for this work they have been taught inthe true school. They have been in that gulf from which they would teachothers the means of escape. They have passed that prison wall whichothers have long declared impassable; and who that has not shall dare toweigh opinions with them as to the mode of passing?

But if it be true, as I have insisted, that those who have suffered byintemperance personally, and have reformed, are the most powerful andefficient instruments to push the reformation to ultimate success, itdoes not follow that those who have not suffered have no part left themto perform. Whether or not the world would be vastly benefited by atotal and final banishment from it of all intoxicating drinks seemsto me not now an open question. Three fourths of mankind confess theaffirmative with their tongues, and, I believe, all the rest acknowledgeit in their hearts. 

Ought any, then, to refuse their aid in doing what good the good of thewhole demands? Shall he who cannot do much be for that reason excusedif he do nothing? "But, " says one, "what good can I do by signing thepledge? I never drank, even without signing. " This question has alreadybeen asked and answered more than a million of times. Let it be answeredonce more. For the man suddenly or in any other way to break off fromthe use of drams, who has indulged in them for a long course of yearsand until his appetite for them has grown ten or a hundredfold strongerand more craving than any natural appetite can be, requires a mostpowerful moral effort. In such an undertaking he needs every moralsupport and influence that can possibly be brought to his aid and thrownaround him. And not only so, but every moral prop should be taken fromwhatever argument might rise in his mind to lure him to his backsliding. When he casts his eyes around him, he should be able to see all that herespects, all that he admires, all that he loves, kindly and anxiouslypointing him onward, and none beckoning him back to his former miserable"wallowing in the mire. "

But it is said by some that men will think and act for themselves; thatnone will disuse spirits or anything else because his neighbors do; andthat moral influence is not that powerful engine contended for. Let usexamine this. Let me ask the man who could maintain this position moststiffly, what compensation he will accept to go to church some Sundayand sit during the sermon with his wife's bonnet upon his head? Not atrifle, I'll venture. And why not? There would be nothing irreligiousin it, nothing immoral, nothing uncomfortable--then why not? Is it notbecause there would be something egregiously unfashionable in it? Thenit is the influence of fashion; and what is the influence of fashionbut the influence that other people's actions have on our actions--thestrong inclination each of us feels to do as we see all our neighborsdo? Nor is the influence of fashion confined to any particular thing orclass of things; it is just as strong on one subject as another. Let usmake it as unfashionable to withhold our names from the temperance causeas for husbands to wear their wives' bonnets to church, and instanceswill be just as rare in the one case as the other. 

"But, " say some, "we are no drunkards, and we shall not acknowledgeourselves such by joining a reformed drunkard's society, whatever ourinfluence might be. " Surely no Christian will adhere to this objection. If they believe as they profess, that Omnipotence condescended to takeon himself the form of sinful man, and as such to die an ignominiousdeath for their sakes, surely they will not refuse submission to theinfinitely lesser condescension, for the temporal, and perhapseternal, salvation of a large, erring, and unfortunate class of theirfellow-creatures. Nor is the condescension very great. In my judgmentsuch of us as have never fallen victims have been spared more by theabsence of appetite than from any mental or moral superiority over thosewho have. Indeed, I believe if we take habitual drunkards as a class, their heads and their hearts will bear an advantageous comparison withthose of any other class. There seems ever to have been a pronenessin the brilliant and warm-blooded to fall into this vice--the demon ofintemperance ever seems to have delighted in sucking the blood of geniusand of generosity. What one of us but can call to mind some relative, more promising in youth than all his fellows, who has fallen a sacrificeto his rapacity? He ever seems to have gone forth like the Egyptianangel of death, commissioned to slay, if not the first, the fairest bornof every family. Shall he now be arrested in his desolating career? Inthat arrest all can give aid that will; and who shall be excused thatcan and will not? Far around as human breath has ever blown he keeps ourfathers, our brothers, our sons, and our friends prostrate in the chainsof moral death. To all the living everywhere we cry, "Come sound themoral trump, that these may rise and stand up an exceeding great army. ""Come from the four winds, O breath! and breathe upon these slainthat they may live. " If the relative grandeur of revolutions shall beestimated by the great amount of human misery they alleviate, and thesmall amount they inflict, then indeed will this be the grandest theworld shall ever have seen. 

Of our political revolution of '76 we are all justly proud. It has givenus a degree of political freedom far exceeding that of any other nationof the earth. In it the world has found a solution of the long-mootedproblem as to the capability of man to govern himself. In it was thegerm which has vegetated, and still is to grow and expand into theuniversal liberty of mankind. But, with all these glorious results, past, present, and to come, it had its evils too. It breathed forthfamine, swam in blood, and rode in fire; and long, long after, theorphan's cry and the widow's wail continued to break the sad silencethat ensued. These were the price, the inevitable price, paid for theblessings it bought. 

Turn now to the temperance revolution. In it we shall find a strongerbondage broken, a viler slavery manumitted, a greater tyrant deposed; init, more of want supplied, more disease healed, more sorrow assuaged. By it no Orphans starving, no widows weeping. By it none wounded infeeling, none injured in interest; even the drammaker and dram-sellerwill have glided into other occupations so gradually as never tohave felt the change, and will stand ready to join all others in theuniversal song of gladness. And what a noble ally this to the cause ofpolitical freedom, with such an aid its march cannot fail to be onand on, till every son of earth shall drink in rich fruition thesorrow-quenching draughts of perfect liberty. Happy day when-allappetites controlled, all poisons subdued, all matter subjected-mind, all-conquering mind, shall live and move, the monarch of the world. Glorious consummation! Hail, fall of fury! Reign of reason, all hail!

And when the victory shall be complete, when there shall be neithera slave nor a drunkard on the earth, how proud the title of that landwhich may truly claim to be the birthplace and the cradle of boththose revolutions that shall have ended in that victory. How noblydistinguished that people who shall have planted and nurtured tomaturity both the political and moral freedom of their species. 

This is the one hundred and tenth anniversary of the birthday ofWashington; we are met to celebrate this day. Washington is themightiest name of earth long since mightiest in the cause of civilliberty, still mightiest in moral reformation. On that name no eulogyis expected. It cannot be. To add brightness to the sun or glory to thename of Washington is alike impossible. Let none attempt it. In solemnawe pronounce the name, and in its naked deathless splendor leave itshining on. 

TO JOSHUA F. SPEED. 

SPRINGFIELD, February 25, 1842. 

DEAR SPEED:--Yours of the 16th instant, announcing that Miss Fanny andyou are "no more twain, but one flesh, " reached me this morning. Ihave no way of telling you how much happiness I wish you both, though Ibelieve you both can conceive it. I feel somewhat jealous of both of younow: you will be so exclusively concerned for one another, that I shallbe forgotten entirely. My acquaintance with Miss Fanny (I call her this, lest you should think I am speaking of your mother) was too short for meto reasonably hope to long be remembered by her; and still I am sure Ishall not forget her soon. Try if you cannot remind her of that debt sheowes me--and be sure you do not interfere to prevent her paying it. 

I regret to learn that you have resolved to not return to Illinois. I shall be very lonesome without you. How miserably things seem to bearranged in this world! If we have no friends, we have no pleasure; andif we have them, we are sure to lose them, and be doubly pained by theloss. I did hope she and you would make your home here; but I own I haveno right to insist. You owe obligations to her ten thousand timesmore sacred than you can owe to others, and in that light let them berespected and observed. It is natural that she should desire to remainwith her relatives and friends. As to friends, however, she could notneed them anywhere: she would have them in abundance here. 

Give my kind remembrance to Mr. Williamson and his family, particularlyMiss Elizabeth; also to your mother, brother, and sisters. Ask littleEliza Davis if she will ride to town with me if I come there again. Andfinally, give Fanny a double reciprocation of all the love she sent me. Write me often, and believe me

Yours forever, LINCOLN. 

P. S. Poor Easthouse is gone at last. He died awhile before day thismorning. They say he was very loath to die. .. . 

L. 

TO JOSHUA F. SPEED--ON MARRIAGE CONCERNS

SPRINGFIELD, February 25, 1842. 

DEAR SPEED:--I received yours of the 12th written the day you went downto William's place, some days since, but delayed answering it till Ishould receive the promised one of the 16th, which came last night. I opened the letter with intense anxiety and trepidation; so much so, that, although it turned out better than I expected, I have hardly yet, at a distance of ten hours, become calm. 

I tell you, Speed, our forebodings (for which you and I are peculiar)are all the worst sort of nonsense. I fancied, from the time I receivedyour letter of Saturday, that the one of Wednesday was never to come, and yet it did come, and what is more, it is perfectly clear, both fromits tone and handwriting, that you were much happier, or, if you thinkthe term preferable, less miserable, when you wrote it than when youwrote the last one before. You had so obviously improved at thevery time I so much fancied you would have grown worse. You say thatsomething indescribably horrible and alarming still haunts you. You willnot say that three months from now, I will venture. When your nervesonce get steady now, the whole trouble will be over forever. Nor shouldyou become impatient at their being even very slow in becoming steady. Again you say, you much fear that that Elysium of which you have dreamedso much is never to be realized. Well, if it shall not, I dare swear itwill not be the fault of her who is now your wife. I now have no doubtthat it is the peculiar misfortune of both you and me to dream dreams ofElysium far exceeding all that anything earthly can realize. Far shortof your dreams as you may be, no woman could do more to realize themthan that same black-eyed Fanny. If you could but contemplate herthrough my imagination, it would appear ridiculous to you that any oneshould for a moment think of being unhappy with her. My old fatherused to have a saying that "If you make a bad bargain, hug it all thetighter"; and it occurs to me that if the bargain you have just closedcan possibly be called a bad one, it is certainly the most pleasant onefor applying that maxim to which my fancy can by any effort picture. 

I write another letter, enclosing this, which you can show her, if shedesires it. I do this because she would think strangely, perhaps, shouldyou tell her that you received no letters from me, or, telling her youdo, refuse to let her see them. I close this, entertaining the confidenthope that every successive letter I shall have from you (which I herepray may not be few, nor far between) may show you possessing a moresteady hand and cheerful heart than the last preceding it. As ever, yourfriend, LINCOLN. 

TO JOSHUA F. SPEED. 

SPRINGFIELD, March 27, 1842

DEAR SPEED:--Yours of the 10th instant was received three or four dayssince. You know I am sincere when I tell you the pleasure its contentsgave me was, and is, inexpressible. As to your farm matter, I haveno sympathy with you. I have no farm, nor ever expect to have, andconsequently have not studied the subject enough to be much interestedwith it. I can only say that I am glad you are satisfied and pleasedwith it. But on that other subject, to me of the most intense interestwhether in joy or sorrow, I never had the power to withhold my sympathyfrom you. It cannot be told how it now thrills me with joy to hear yousay you are "far happier than you ever expected to be. " That much I knowis enough. I know you too well to suppose your expectations were not, at least, sometimes extravagant, and if the reality exceeds them all, Isay, Enough, dear Lord. I am not going beyond the truth when I tell youthat the short space it took me to read your last letter gave me morepleasure than the total sum of all I have enjoyed since the fatal 1stof January, 1841. Since then it seems to me I should have been entirelyhappy, but for the never-absent idea that there is one still unhappywhom I have contributed to make so. That still kills my soul. I cannotbut reproach myself for even wishing to be happy while she is otherwise. She accompanied a large party on the railroad cars to Jacksonvillelast Monday, and on her return spoke, so that I heard of it, of havingenjoyed the trip exceedingly. God be praised for that. 

You know with what sleepless vigilance I have watched you ever since thecommencement of your affair; and although I am almost confident it isuseless, I cannot forbear once more to say that I think it is even yetpossible for your spirits to flag down and leave you miserable. If theyshould, don't fail to remember that they cannot long remain so. Onething I can tell you which I know you will be glad to hear, and that isthat I have seen--and scrutinized her feelings as well as I could, andam fully convinced she is far happier now than she has been for the lastfifteen months past. 

You will see by the last Sangamon Journal, that I made a temperancespeech on the 22d of February, which I claim that Fanny and you shallread as an act of charity to me; for I cannot learn that anybody elsehas read it, or is likely to. Fortunately it is not very long, and Ishall deem it a sufficient compliance with my request if one of youlistens while the other reads it. 

As to your Lockridge matter, it is only necessary to say that therehas been no court since you left, and that the next commences to-morrowmorning, during which I suppose we cannot fail to get a judgment. 

I wish you would learn of Everett what he would take, over and above adischarge for all the trouble we have been at, to take his business outof our hands and give it to somebody else. It is impossible to collectmoney on that or any other claim here now; and although you know I amnot a very petulant man, I declare I am almost out of patience with Mr. Everett's importunity. It seems like he not only writes all the lettershe can himself, but gets everybody else in Louisville and vicinity tobe constantly writing to us about his claim. I have always said thatMr. Everett is a very clever fellow, and I am very sorry he cannot beobliged; but it does seem to me he ought to know we are interested tocollect his claim, and therefore would do it if we could. 

I am neither joking nor in a pet when I say we would thank him totransfer his business to some other, without any compensation for whatwe have done, provided he will see the court cost paid, for which we aresecurity. 

The sweet violet you inclosed came safely to hand, but it was so dry, and mashed so flat, that it crumbled to dust at the first attemptto handle it. The juice that mashed out of it stained a place in theletter, which I mean to preserve and cherish for the sake of her whoprocured it to be sent. My renewed good wishes to her in particular, andgenerally to all such of your relations who know me. 

As ever, LINCOLN. 

TO JOSHUA F. SPEED. 

SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS, July 4, 1842. 

DEAR SPEED:--Yours of the 16th June was received only a day or twosince. It was not mailed at Louisville till the 25th. You speak of thegreat time that has elapsed since I wrote you. Let me explain that. Yourletter reached here a day or two after I started on the circuit. Iwas gone five or six weeks, so that I got the letters only a few weeksbefore Butler started to your country. I thought it scarcely worth whileto write you the news which he could and would tell you more in detail. On his return he told me you would write me soon, and so I waited foryour letter. As to my having been displeased with your advice, surelyyou know better than that. I know you do, and therefore will not laborto convince you. True, that subject is painful to me; but it is not yoursilence, or the silence of all the world, that can make me forget it. Iacknowledge the correctness of your advice too; but before I resolveto do the one thing or the other, I must gain my confidence in my ownability to keep my resolves when they are made. In that ability you knowI once prided myself as the only or chief gem of my character; that gemI lost--how and where you know too well. I have not yet regained it; anduntil I do, I cannot trust myself in any matter of much importance. Ibelieve now that had you understood my case at the time as well as Iunderstand yours afterward, by the aid you would have given me I shouldhave sailed through clear, but that does not now afford me sufficientconfidence to begin that or the like of that again. 

You make a kind acknowledgment of your obligations to me for yourpresent happiness. I am pleased with that acknowledgment. But a thousandtimes more am I pleased to know that you enjoy a degree of happinessworthy of an acknowledgment. The truth is, I am not sure that there wasany merit with me in the part I took in your difficulty; I was drawn toit by a fate. If I would I could not have done less than I did. I alwayswas superstitious; I believe God made me one of the instruments ofbringing your Fanny and you together, which union I have no doubt He hadfore-ordained. Whatever He designs He will do for me yet. "Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord" is my text just now. If, as you say, you have told Fanny all, I should have no objection to her seeing thisletter, but for its reference to our friend here: let her seeing itdepend upon whether she has ever known anything of my affairs; and ifshe has not, do not let her. 

I do not think I can come to Kentucky this season. I am so poor and makeso little headway in the world, that I drop back in a month of idlenessas much as I gain in a year's sowing. I should like to visit you again. I should like to see that "sis" of yours that was absent when I wasthere, though I suppose she would run away again if she were to hear Iwas coming. 

My respects and esteem to all your friends there, and, by yourpermission, my love to your Fanny. 

Ever yours, LINCOLN. 

A LETTER FROM THE LOST TOWNSHIPS

Article written by Lincoln for the Sangamon Journal in ridicule of JamesShields, who, as State Auditor, had declined to receive State Bank notesin payment of taxes. The above letter purported to come from a poorwidow who, though supplied with State Bank paper, could not obtain areceipt for her tax bill. This, and another subsequent letter by MaryTodd, brought about the "Lincoln-Shields Duel. "

LOST TOWNSHIPS

August 27, 1842. 

DEAR Mr. PRINTER:

I see you printed that long letter I sent you a spell ago. I 'm quiteencouraged by it, and can't keep from writing again. I think theprinting of my letters will be a good thing all round--it will giveme the benefit of being known by the world, and give the world theadvantage of knowing what's going on in the Lost Townships, and giveyour paper respectability besides. So here comes another. Yesterdayafternoon I hurried through cleaning up the dinner dishes and steppedover to neighbor S------ to see if his wife Peggy was as well as mout beexpected, and hear what they called the baby. Well, when I got there andjust turned round the corner of his log cabin, there he was, setting onthe doorstep reading a newspaper. "How are you, Jeff?" says I. He sorterstarted when he heard me, for he hadn't seen me before. "Why, " says he, "I 'm mad as the devil, Aunt 'Becca!" "What about?" says I; "ain'tits hair the right color? None of that nonsense, Jeff; there ain't anhonester woman in the Lost Townships than. .. "--"Than who?" says he;"what the mischief are you about?" I began to see I was running thewrong trail, and so says I, "Oh! nothing: I guess I was mistaken alittle, that's all. But what is it you 're mad about?"

"Why, " says he, "I've been tugging ever since harvest, getting out wheatand hauling it to the river to raise State Bank paper enough to pay mytax this year and a little school debt I owe; and now, just as I 've gotit, here I open this infernal Extra Register, expecting to find it fullof 'Glorious Democratic Victories' and 'High Comb'd Cocks, ' when, loand behold! I find a set of fellows, calling themselves officers of theState, have forbidden the tax collectors, and school commissioners toreceive State paper at all; and so here it is dead on my hands. I don'tnow believe all the plunder I've got will fetch ready cash enough to paymy taxes and that school debt. "

I was a good deal thunderstruck myself; for that was the first I hadheard of the proclamation, and my old man was pretty much in the samefix with Jeff. We both stood a moment staring at one another withoutknowing what to say. At last says I, "Mr. S------ let me look at thatpaper. " He handed it to me, when I read the proclamation over. 

"There now, " says he, "did you ever see such a piece of impudence andimposition as that?" I saw Jeff was in a good tune for saying someill-natured things, and so I tho't I would just argue a little on thecontrary side, and make him rant a spell if I could. "Why, " says I, looking as dignified and thoughtful as I could, "it seems pretty tough, to be sure, to have to raise silver where there's none to be raised; butthen, you see, 'there will be danger of loss' if it ain't done. "

"Loss! damnation!" says he. "I defy Daniel Webster, I defy King Solomon, I defy the world--I defy--I defy--yes, I defy even you, Aunt 'Becca, to show how the people can lose anything by paying their taxes in Statepaper. "

"Well, " says I, "you see what the officers of State say about it, andthey are a desarnin' set of men. But, " says I, "I guess you 're mistakenabout what the proclamation says. It don't say the people will loseanything by the paper money being taken for taxes. It only says 'therewill be danger of loss'; and though it is tolerable plain that thepeople can't lose by paying their taxes in something they can get easierthan silver, instead of having to pay silver; and though it's just asplain that the State can't lose by taking State Bank paper, however lowit may be, while she owes the bank more than the whole revenue, andcan pay that paper over on her debt, dollar for dollar;--still there isdanger of loss to the 'officers of State'; and you know, Jeff, we can'tget along without officers of State. "

"Damn officers of State!" says he; "that's what Whigs are alwayshurrahing for. "

"Now, don't swear so, Jeff, " says I, "you know I belong to the meetin', and swearin' hurts my feelings. "

"Beg pardon, Aunt 'Becca, " says he; "but I do say it's enough to makeDr. Goddard swear, to have tax to pay in silver, for nothing onlythat Ford may get his two thousand a year, and Shields his twenty-fourhundred a year, and Carpenter his sixteen hundred a year, and allwithout 'danger of loss' by taking it in State paper. Yes, yes: it'splain enough now what these officers of State mean by 'danger of loss. 'Wash, I s'pose, actually lost fifteen hundred dollars out of the threethousand that two of these 'officers of State' let him steal from thetreasury, by being compelled to take it in State paper. Wonder if wedon't have a proclamation before long, commanding us to make up thisloss to Wash in silver. "

And so he went on till his breath run out, and he had to stop. Icouldn't think of anything to say just then, and so I begun to look overthe paper again. "Ay! here's another proclamation, or something likeit. "

"Another?" says Jeff; "and whose egg is it, pray?"

I looked to the bottom of it, and read aloud, "Your obedient servant, James Shields, Auditor. "

"Aha!" says Jeff, "one of them same three fellows again. Well read it, and let's hear what of it. "

I read on till I came to where it says, "The object of this measure isto suspend the collection of the revenue for the current year. "

"Now stop, now stop!" says he; "that's a lie a'ready, and I don't wantto hear of it. "

"Oh, maybe not, " says I. 

"I say it-is-a-lie. Suspend the collection, indeed! Will the collectors, that have taken their oaths to make the collection, dare to end it?Is there anything in law requiring them to perjure themselves at thebidding of James Shields?

"Will the greedy gullet of the penitentiary be satisfied with swallowinghim instead of all of them, if they should venture to obey him? Andwould he not discover some 'danger of loss, ' and be off about the timeit came to taking their places?

"And suppose the people attempt to suspend, by refusing to pay; whatthen? The collectors would just jerk up their horses and cows, and thelike, and sell them to the highest bidder for silver in hand, withoutvaluation or redemption. Why, Shields didn't believe that story himself;it was never meant for the truth. If it was true, why was it not writtill five days after the proclamation? Why did n't Carlin and Carpentersign it as well as Shields? Answer me that, Aunt 'Becca. I say it's alie, and not a well told one at that. It grins out like a copper dollar. Shields is a fool as well as a liar. With him truth is out of thequestion; and as for getting a good, bright, passable lie out of him, you might as well try to strike fire from a cake of tallow. I stick toit, it's all an infernal Whig lie!"

"A Whig lie! Highty tighty!"

"Yes, a Whig lie; and it's just like everything the cursed British Whigsdo. First they'll do some divilment, and then they'll tell a lie to hideit. And they don't care how plain a lie it is; they think they can cramany sort of a one down the throats of the ignorant Locofocos, as theycall the Democrats. "

"Why, Jeff, you 're crazy: you don't mean to say Shields is a Whig!"

"Yes, I do. "

"Why, look here! the proclamation is in your own Democratic paper, asyou call it. "

"I know it; and what of that? They only printed it to let us Democratssee the deviltry the Whigs are at. "

"Well, but Shields is the auditor of this Loco--I mean this DemocraticState. "

"So he is, and Tyler appointed him to office. "

"Tyler appointed him?"

"Yes (if you must chaw it over), Tyler appointed him; or, if it was n'thim, it was old Granny Harrison, and that's all one. I tell you, Aunt'Becca, there's no mistake about his being a Whig. Why, his very looksshows it; everything about him shows it: if I was deaf and blind, Icould tell him by the smell. I seed him when I was down in Springfieldlast winter. They had a sort of a gatherin' there one night among thegrandees, they called a fair. All the gals about town was there, and allthe handsome widows and married women, finickin' about trying to looklike gals, tied as tight in the middle, and puffed out at both ends, like bundles of fodder that had n't been stacked yet, but wantedstackin' pretty bad. And then they had tables all around the housekivered over with [------] caps and pincushions and ten thousand suchlittle knick-knacks, tryin' to sell 'em to the fellows that were bowin', and scrapin' and kungeerin' about 'em. They would n't let no Democratsin, for fear they'd disgust the ladies, or scare the little gals, ordirty the floor. I looked in at the window, and there was this samefellow Shields floatin' about on the air, without heft or earthlysubstances, just like a lock of cat fur where cats had been fighting. 

"He was paying his money to this one, and that one, and t' other one, and sufferin' great loss because it was n't silver instead of Statepaper; and the sweet distress he seemed to be in, --his very features, in the ecstatic agony of his soul, spoke audibly and distinctly, 'Deargirls, it is distressing, but I cannot marry you all. Too well I knowhow much you suffer; but do, do remember, it is not my fault that I amso handsome and so interesting. '

"As this last was expressed by a most exquisite contortion of his face, he seized hold of one of their hands, and squeezed, and held on to itabout a quarter of an hour. 'Oh, my good fellow!' says I to myself, 'ifthat was one of our Democratic gals in the Lost Townships, the way you'd get a brass pin let into you would be about up to the head. ' He aDemocrat! Fiddlesticks! I tell you, Aunt 'Becca, he's a Whig, and nomistake; nobody but a Whig could make such a conceity dunce of himself. "

"Well, " says I, "maybe he is; but, if he is, I 'm mistaken the worstsort. Maybe so, maybe so; but, if I am, I'll suffer by it; I'll be aDemocrat if it turns out that Shields is a Whig, considerin' you shallbe a Whig if he turns out a Democrat. "

"A bargain, by jingoes!" says he; "but how will we find out?"

"Why, " says I, "we'll just write and ax the printer. "

"Agreed again!" says he; "and by thunder! if it does turn out thatShields is a Democrat, I never will----"

"Jefferson! Jefferson!"

"What do you want, Peggy?"

"Do get through your everlasting clatter some time, and bring me a gourdof water; the child's been crying for a drink this livelong hour. "

"Let it die, then; it may as well die for water as to be taxed to deathto fatten officers of State. "

Jeff run off to get the water, though, just like he hadn't been sayinganything spiteful, for he's a raal good-hearted fellow, after all, onceyou get at the foundation of him. 

I walked into the house, and, "Why, Peggy, " says I, "I declare we liketo forgot you altogether. "

"Oh, yes, " says she, "when a body can't help themselves, everybody soonforgets 'em; but, thank God! by day after to-morrow I shall be wellenough to milk the cows, and pen the calves, and wring the contraryones' tails for 'em, and no thanks to nobody. "

"Good evening, Peggy, " says I, and so I sloped, for I seed she was madat me for making Jeff neglect her so long. 

And now, Mr. Printer, will you be sure to let us know in your next paperwhether this Shields is a Whig or a Democrat? I don't care about it formyself, for I know well enough how it is already; but I want to convinceJeff. It may do some good to let him, and others like him, know whoand what these officers of State are. It may help to send the presenthypocritical set to where they belong, and to fill the places they nowdisgrace with men who will do more work for less pay, and take fewerairs while they are doing it. It ain't sensible to think that the samemen who get us in trouble will change their course; and yet it's prettyplain if some change for the better is not made, it's not long thateither Peggy or I or any of us will have a cow left to milk, or a calf'stail to wring. 

Yours truly, REBECCA ------. 

INVITATION TO HENRY CLAY. 

SPRINGFIELD, ILL. , Aug 29, 1842. 

HON. HENRY CLAY, Lexington, Ky. 

DEAR SIR:--We hear you are to visit Indianapolis, Indiana, on the 5th OfOctober next. If our information in this is correct we hope you willnot deny us the pleasure of seeing you in our State. We are aware of thetoil necessarily incident to a journey by one circumstanced as you are;but once you have embarked, as you have already determined to do, thetoil would not be greatly augmented by extending the journey to ourcapital. The season of the year will be most favorable for good roads, and pleasant weather; and although we cannot but believe you would behighly gratified with such a visit to the prairie-land, the pleasure itwould give us and thousands such as we is beyond all question. You havenever visited Illinois, or at least this portion of it; and should younow yield to our request, we promise you such a reception as shall beworthy of the man on whom are now turned the fondest hopes of a greatand suffering nation. 

Please inform us at the earliest convenience whether we may expect you. 

Very respectfully your obedient servants, A. G. HENRY, A. T. BLEDSOE, C. BIRCHALL, A. LINCOLN, G. M. CABANNISS, ROB'T IRWIN, P. A. SAUNDERS, J. M. ALLEN, F. N. FRANCIS. Executive Committee "Clay Club. "

(Clay's answer, September 6, 1842, declines with thanks. )

CORRESPONDENCE ABOUT THE LINCOLN-SHIELDS DUEL. 

TREMONT, September 17, 1842. 

ABRA. LINCOLN, ESQ. :--I regret that my absence on public businesscompelled me to postpone a matter of private consideration a littlelonger than I could have desired. It will only be necessary, however, toaccount for it by informing you that I have been to Quincy on businessthat would not admit of delay. I will now state briefly the reasons ofmy troubling you with this communication, the disagreeable nature ofwhich I regret, as I had hoped to avoid any difficulty with any one inSpringfield while residing there, by endeavoring to conduct myself insuch a way amongst both my political friends and opponents as to escapethe necessity of any. Whilst thus abstaining from giving provocation, I have become the object of slander, vituperation, and personal abuse, which were I capable of submitting to, I would prove myself worthy ofthe whole of it. 

In two or three of the last numbers of the Sangamon Journal, articlesof the most personal nature and calculated to degrade me have made theirappearance. On inquiring, I was informed by the editor of that paper, through the medium of my friend General Whitesides, that you are theauthor of those articles. This information satisfies me that I havebecome by some means or other the object of your secret hostility. Iwill not take the trouble of inquiring into the reason of all this;but I will take the liberty of requiring a full, positive, andabsolute retraction of all offensive allusions used by you in thesecommunications, in relation to my private character and standing as aman, as an apology for the insults conveyed in them. 

This may prevent consequences which no one will regret more than myself. 

Your obedient servant, JAS. SHIELDS. 

TO J. SHIELDS. 

TREMONT, September 17, 1842

JAS. SHIELDS, ESQ. :--Your note of to-day was handed me by GeneralWhitesides. In that note you say you have been informed, through themedium of the editor of the Journal, that I am the author of certainarticles in that paper which you deem personally abusive of you; andwithout stopping to inquire whether I really am the author, or to pointout what is offensive in them, you demand an unqualified retraction ofall that is offensive, and then proceed to hint at consequences. 

Now, sir, there is in this so much assumption of facts and so much ofmenace as to consequences, that I cannot submit to answer that note anyfurther than I have, and to add that the consequences to which I supposeyou allude would be matter of as great regret to me as it possibly couldto you. 

Respectfully, A. LINCOLN. 

TO A. LINCOLN FROM JAS. SHIELDS

TREMONT, September 17, 1842. 

ABRA. LINCOLN, ESQ. :--In reply to my note of this date, you intimatethat I assume facts and menace consequences, and that you cannot submitto answer it further. As now, sir, you desire it, I will be a littlemore particular. The editor of the Sangamon Journal gave me tounderstand that you are the author of an article which appeared, Ithink, in that paper of the 2d September instant, headed "The LostTownships, " and signed Rebecca or 'Becca. I would therefore take theliberty of asking whether you are the author of said article, or anyother over the same signature which has appeared in any of the latenumbers of that paper. If so, I repeat my request of an absoluteretraction of all offensive allusions contained therein in relation tomy private character and standing. If you are not the author of any ofthese articles, your denial will be sufficient. I will say further, itis not my intention to menace, but to do myself justice. 

Your obedient servant, JAS. SHIELDS. 

MEMORANDUM OF INSTRUCTIONS TO E. H. MERRYMAN, Lincoln's Second, September 19, 1842. 

In case Whitesides shall signify a wish to adjust this affair withoutfurther difficulty, let him know that if the present papers bewithdrawn, and a note from Mr. Shields asking to know if I am the authorof the articles of which he complains, and asking that I shall make himgentlemanly satisfaction if I am the author, and this without menace, ordictation as to what that satisfaction shall be, a pledge is made thatthe following answer shall be given:

"I did write the 'Lost Townships' letter which appeared in the Journalof the 2d instant, but had no participation in any form in any otherarticle alluding to you. I wrote that wholly for political effect--I hadno intention of injuring your personal or private character or standingas a man or a gentleman; and I did not then think, and do not now think, that that article could produce or has produced that effect against you;and had I anticipated such an effect I would have forborne to write it. And I will add that your conduct toward me, so far as I know, had alwaysbeen gentlemanly; and that I had no personal pique against you, and nocause for any. "

If this should be done, I leave it with you to arrange what shalland what shall not be published. If nothing like this is done, thepreliminaries of the fight are to be--

First. Weapons: Cavalry broadswords of the largest size, preciselyequal in all respects, and such as now used by the cavalry company atJacksonville. 

Second. Position: A plank ten feet long, and from nine to twelve inchesbroad, to be firmly fixed on edge, on the ground, as the line betweenus, which neither is to pass his foot over upon forfeit of his life. Next a line drawn on the ground on either side of said plank andparallel with it, each at the distance of the whole length of the swordand three feet additional from the plank; and the passing of his ownsuch line by either party during the fight shall be deemed a surrenderof the contest. 

Third. Time: On Thursday evening at five o'clock, if you can get it so;but in no case to be at a greater distance of time than Friday eveningat five o'clock. 

Fourth. Place: Within three miles of Alton, on the opposite side of theriver, the particular spot to be agreed on by you. 

Any preliminary details coming within the above rules you are at libertyto make at your discretion; but you are in no case to swerve from theserules, or to pass beyond their limits. 

TO JOSHUA F. SPEED. 

SPRINGFIELD, October 4, 1842. 

DEAR SPEED:--You have heard of my duel with Shields, and I have nowto inform you that the dueling business still rages in this city. Daybefore yesterday Shields challenged Butler, who accepted, and proposedfighting next morning at sunrise in Bob Allen's meadow, one hundredyards' distance, with rifles. To this Whitesides, Shields's second, said"No, " because of the law. Thus ended duel No. 2. Yesterday Whitesideschose to consider himself insulted by Dr. Merryman, so sent him a kindof quasi-challenge, inviting him to meet him at the Planter's House inSt. Louis on the next Friday, to settle their difficulty. Merryman mademe his friend, and sent Whitesides a note, inquiring to know if he meanthis note as a challenge, and if so, that he would, according to thelaw in such case made and provided, prescribe the terms of the meeting. Whitesides returned for answer that if Merryman would meet him at thePlanter's House as desired, he would challenge him. Merryman replied ina note that he denied Whitesides's right to dictate time and place, butthat he (Merryman) would waive the question of time, and meet him atLouisiana, Missouri. Upon my presenting this note to Whitesides andstating verbally its contents, he declined receiving it, saying he hadbusiness in St. Louis, and it was as near as Louisiana. Merrymanthen directed me to notify Whitesides that he should publish thecorrespondence between them, with such comments as he thought fit. ThisI did. Thus it stood at bedtime last night. This morning Whitesides, byhis friend Shields, is praying for a new trial, on the ground thathe was mistaken in Merryman's proposition to meet him at Louisiana, Missouri, thinking it was the State of Louisiana. This Merryman hootsat, and is preparing his publication; while the town is in a ferment, and a street fight somewhat anticipated. 

But I began this letter not for what I have been writing, but tosay something on that subject which you know to be of such infinitesolicitude to me. The immense sufferings you endured from the first daysof September till the middle of February you never tried to conceal fromme, and I well understood. You have now been the husband of a lovelywoman nearly eight months. That you are happier now than the day youmarried her I well know, for without you could not be living. But I haveyour word for it, too, and the returning elasticity of spirits which ismanifested in your letters. But I want to ask a close question, "Areyou now in feeling as well as judgment glad that you are married as youare?" From anybody but me this would be an impudent question, not tobe tolerated; but I know you will pardon it in me. Please answer itquickly, as I am impatient to know. I have sent my love to your Fanny sooften, I fear she is getting tired of it. However, I venture to tenderit again. 

Yours forever, LINCOLN. 

TO JAMES S. IRWIN. 

SPRINGFIELD, November 2, 1842. 

JAS. S. IRWIN ESQ. :

Owing to my absence, yours of the 22nd ult. Was not received till thismoment. Judge Logan and myself are willing to attend to any businessin the Supreme Court you may send us. As to fees, it is impossible toestablish a rule that will apply in all, or even a great many cases. We believe we are never accused of being very unreasonable in thisparticular; and we would always be easily satisfied, provided we couldsee the money--but whatever fees we earn at a distance, if not paidbefore, we have noticed, we never hear of after the work is done. We, therefore, are growing a little sensitive on that point. 

Yours etc. , A. LINCOLN. 

1843

RESOLUTIONS AT A WHIG MEETING AT SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS, MARCH 1, 1843. 

The object of the meeting was stated by Mr. Lincoln of Springfield, whooffered the following resolutions, which were unanimously adopted:

Resolved, That a tariff of duties on imported goods, producingsufficient revenue for the payment of the necessary expenditures of theNational Government, and so adjusted as to protect American industry, isindispensably necessary to the prosperity of the American people. 

Resolved, That we are opposed to direct taxation for the support of theNational Government. 

Resolved, That a national bank, properly restricted, is highly necessaryand proper to the establishment and maintenance of a sound currency, andfor the cheap and safe collection, keeping, and disbursing of the publicrevenue. 

Resolved, That the distribution of the proceeds of the sales of thepublic lands, upon the principles of Mr. Clay's bill, accords with thebest interests of the nation, and particularly with those of the Stateof Illinois. 

Resolved, That we recommend to the Whigs of each Congressional districtof the State to nominate and support at the approaching election acandidate of their own principles, regardless of the chances of success. 

Resolved, That we recommend to the Whigs of all portions of the Stateto adopt and rigidly adhere to the convention system of nominatingcandidates. 

Resolved, That we recommend to the Whigs of each Congressional districtto hold a district convention on or before the first Monday of May next, to be composed of a number of delegates from each county equal to doublethe number of its representatives in the General Assembly, provided, each county shall have at least one delegate. Said delegates to bechosen by primary meetings of the Whigs, at such times and places asthey in their respective counties may see fit. Said district conventionseach to nominate one candidate for Congress, and one delegate toa national convention for the purpose of nominating candidates forPresident and Vice-President of the United States. The seven delegatesso nominated to a national convention to have power to add two delegatesto their own number, and to fill all vacancies. 

Resolved, That A. T. Bledsoe, S. T. Logan, and A. Lincoln be appointed acommittee to prepare an address to the people of the State. 

Resolved, That N. W. Edwards, A. G. Henry, James H. Matheny, JohnC. Doremus, and James C. Conkling be appointed a Whig Central StateCommittee, with authority to fill any vacancy that may occur in thecommittee. 

CIRCULAR FROM WHIG COMMITTEE. 

Address to the People of Illinois. 

FELLOW-CITIZENS:-By a resolution of a meeting of such of the Whigs ofthe State as are now at Springfield, we, the undersigned, were appointedto prepare an address to you. The performance of that task we nowundertake. 

Several resolutions were adopted by the meeting; and the chief object ofthis address is to show briefly the reasons for their adoption. 

The first of those resolutions declares a tariff of duties upon foreignimportations, producing sufficient revenue for the support of theGeneral Government, and so adjusted as to protect American industry, tobe indispensably necessary to the prosperity of the American people;and the second declares direct taxation for a national revenue tobe improper. Those two resolutions are kindred in their nature, andtherefore proper and convenient to be considered together. The questionof protection is a subject entirely too broad to be crowded into afew pages only, together with several other subjects. On that point wetherefore content ourselves with giving the following extracts fromthe writings of Mr. Jefferson, General Jackson, and the speech of Mr. Calhoun:

"To be independent for the comforts of life, we must fabricate themourselves. We must now place the manufacturer by the side of theagriculturalist. The grand inquiry now is, Shall we make our owncomforts, or go without them at the will of a foreign nation? He, therefore, who is now against domestic manufactures must be for reducingus either to dependence on that foreign nation, or to be clothed inskins and to live like wild beasts in dens and caverns. I am not one ofthose; experience has taught me that manufactures are now as necessaryto our independence as to our comfort. " Letter of Mr. Jefferson toBenjamin Austin. 

"I ask, What is the real situation of the agriculturalist? Where has theAmerican farmer a market for his surplus produce? Except for cotton, hehas neither a foreign nor a home market. Does not this clearly prove, when there is no market at home or abroad, that there [is] too muchlabor employed in agriculture? Common sense at once points out theremedy. Take from agriculture six hundred thousand men, women, andchildren, and you will at once give a market for more breadstuffs thanall Europe now furnishes. In short, we have been too long subject to thepolicy of British merchants. It is time we should become a littlemore Americanized, and instead of feeding the paupers and laborersof England, feed our own; or else in a short time, by continuing ourpresent policy, we shall all be rendered paupers ourselves. "--GeneralJackson's Letter to Dr. Coleman. 

"When our manufactures are grown to a certain perfection, as they soonwill be, under the fostering care of government, the farmer will finda ready market for his surplus produce, and--what is of equalconsequence--a certain and cheap supply of all he wants; his prosperitywill diffuse itself to every class of the community. " Speech of Hon. J. C. Calhoun on the Tariff. 

The question of revenue we will now briefly consider. For severalyears past the revenues of the government have been unequal to itsexpenditures, and consequently loan after loan, sometimes direct andsometimes indirect in form, has been resorted to. By this means anew national debt has been created, and is still growing on us witha rapidity fearful to contemplate--a rapidity only reasonably to beexpected in time of war. This state of things has been produced by aprevailing unwillingness either to increase the tariff or resort todirect taxation. But the one or the other must come. Coming expendituresmust be met, and the present debt must be paid; and money cannot alwaysbe borrowed for these objects. The system of loans is but temporary inits nature, and must soon explode. It is a system not only ruinous whileit lasts, but one that must soon fail and leave us destitute. As anindividual who undertakes to live by borrowing soon finds his originalmeans devoured by interest, and, next, no one left to borrow from, somust it be with a government. 

We repeat, then, that a tariff sufficient for revenue, or a direct tax, must soon be resorted to; and, indeed, we believe this alternative isnow denied by no one. But which system shall be adopted? Some of ouropponents, in theory, admit the propriety of a tariff sufficient fora revenue, but even they will not in practice vote for such a tariff;while others boldly advocate direct taxation. Inasmuch, therefore, assome of them boldly advocate direct taxation, and all the rest--or sonearly all as to make exceptions needless--refuse to adopt the tariff, we think it is doing them no injustice to class them all as advocatesof direct taxation. Indeed, we believe they are only delaying an openavowal of the system till they can assure themselves that the peoplewill tolerate it. Let us, then, briefly compare the two systems. Thetariff is the cheaper system, because the duties, being collected inlarge parcels at a few commercial points, will require comparatively fewofficers in their collection; while by the direct-tax system the landmust be literally covered with assessors and collectors, going forthlike swarms of Egyptian locusts, devouring every blade of grass andother green thing. And, again, by the tariff system the whole revenue ispaid by the consumers of foreign goods, and those chiefly the luxuries, and not the necessaries, of life. By this system the man who contentshimself to live upon the products of his own country pays nothing atall. And surely that country is extensive enough, and its productsabundant and varied enough, to answer all the real wants of its people. In short, by this system the burthen of revenue falls almost entirely onthe wealthy and luxurious few, while the substantial and laboring manywho live at home, and upon home products, go entirely free. By thedirect-tax system none can escape. However strictly the citizen mayexclude from his premises all foreign luxuries, --fine cloths, finesilks, rich wines, golden chains, and diamond rings, --still, forthe possession of his house, his barn, and his homespun, he is to beperpetually haunted and harassed by the tax-gatherer. With these viewswe leave it to be determined whether we or our opponents are the moretruly democratic on the subject. 

The third resolution declares the necessity and propriety of a nationalbank. During the last fifty years so much has been said and written bothas to the constitutionality and expediency of such an institution, thatwe could not hope to improve in the least on former discussions of thesubject, were we to undertake it. We, therefore, upon the question ofconstitutionality content ourselves with remarking the facts that thefirst national bank was established chiefly by the same men who formedthe Constitution, at a time when that instrument was but two years old, and receiving the sanction, as President, of the immortal Washington;that the second received the sanction, as President, of Mr. Madison, to whom common consent has awarded the proud title of "Father of theConstitution"; and subsequently the sanction of the Supreme Court, themost enlightened judicial tribunal in the world. Upon the question ofexpediency, we only ask you to examine the history of the times duringthe existence of the two banks, and compare those times with themiserable present. 

The fourth resolution declares the expediency of Mr. Clay's land bill. Much incomprehensible jargon is often used against the constitutionalityof this measure. We forbear, in this place, attempting an answer to it, simply because, in our opinion, those who urge it are through partyzeal resolved not to see or acknowledge the truth. The question ofexpediency, at least so far as Illinois is concerned, seems to us theclearest imaginable. By the bill we are to receive annually a large sumof money, no part of which we otherwise receive. The precise annual sumcannot be known in advance; it doubtless will vary in different years. Still it is something to know that in the last year--a year of almostunparalleled pecuniary pressure--it amounted to more than forty thousanddollars. This annual income, in the midst of our almost insupportabledifficulties, in the days of our severest necessity, our politicalopponents are furiously resolving to take and keep from us. And forwhat? Many silly reasons are given, as is usual in cases where a singlegood one is not to be found. One is that by giving us the proceedsof the lands we impoverish the national treasury, and thereby rendernecessary an increase of the tariff. This may be true; but if so, theamount of it only is that those whose pride, whose abundance of means, prompt them to spurn the manufactures of our country, and to strut inBritish cloaks and coats and pantaloons, may have to pay a few centsmore on the yard for the cloth that makes them. A terrible evil, truly, to the Illinois farmer, who never wore, nor ever expects to wear, asingle yard of British goods in his whole life. Another of their reasonsis that by the passage and continuance of Mr. Clay's bill, we preventthe passage of a bill which would give us more. This, if it were soundin itself, is waging destructive war with the former position; for ifMr. Clay's bill impoverishes the treasury too much, what shall be saidof one that impoverishes it still more? But it is not sound in itself. It is not true that Mr. Clay's bill prevents the passage of one morefavorable to us of the new States. Considering the strength and oppositeinterest of the old States, the wonder is that they ever permitted oneto pass so favorable as Mr. Clay's. The last twenty-odd years' effortsto reduce the price of the lands, and to pass graduation bills andcession bills, prove the assertion to be true; and if there were noexperience in support of it, the reason itself is plain. The Statesin which none, or few, of the public lands lie, and those consequentlyinterested against parting with them except for the best price, arethe majority; and a moment's reflection will show that they must evercontinue the majority, because by the time one of the original newStates (Ohio, for example) becomes populous and gets weight in Congress, the public lands in her limits are so nearly sold out that in everypoint material to this question she becomes an old State. She does notwish the price reduced, because there is none left for her citizensto buy; she does not wish them ceded to the States in which they lie, because they no longer lie in her limits, and she will get nothingby the cession. In the nature of things, the States interested inthe reduction of price, in graduation, in cession, and in all similarprojects, never can be the majority. Nor is there reason to hope thatany of them can ever succeed as a Democratic party measure, because wehave heretofore seen that party in full power, year after year, with many of their leaders making loud professions in favor of theseprojects, and yet doing nothing. What reason, then, is there to believethey will hereafter do better? In every light in which we can view thisquestion, it amounts simply to this: Shall we accept our share of theproceeds under Mr. Clay's bill, or shall we rather reject that and getnothing?

The fifth resolution recommends that a Whig candidate for Congress berun in every district, regardless of the chances of success. We areaware that it is sometimes a temporary gratification, when a friendcannot succeed, to be able to choose between opponents; but we believethat that gratification is the seed-time which never fails to befollowed by a most abundant harvest of bitterness. By this policy weentangle ourselves. By voting for our opponents, such of us as do itin some measure estop ourselves to complain of their acts, howeverglaringly wrong we may believe them to be. By this policy no one portionof our friends can ever be certain as to what course another portionmay adopt; and by this want of mutual and perfect understanding ourpolitical identity is partially frittered away and lost. And, again, those who are thus elected by our aid ever become our bitterestpersecutors. Take a few prominent examples. In 1830 Reynolds was electedGovernor; in 1835 we exerted our whole strength to elect Judge Youngto the United States Senate, which effort, though failing, gave him theprominence that subsequently elected him; in 1836 General Ewing, was soelected to the United States Senate; and yet let us ask what three menhave been more perseveringly vindictive in their assaults upon all ourmen and measures than they? During the last summer the whole Statewas covered with pamphlet editions of misrepresentations against us, methodized into chapters and verses, written by two of these samemen, --Reynolds and Young, in which they did not stop at charging us witherror merely, but roundly denounced us as the designing enemies ofhuman liberty, itself. If it be the will of Heaven that such men shallpolitically live, be it so; but never, never again permit them to draw aparticle of their sustenance from us. 

The sixth resolution recommends the adoption of the convention systemfor the nomination of candidates. This we believe to be of the veryfirst importance. Whether the system is right in itself we do not stopto inquire; contenting ourselves with trying to show that, while ouropponents use it, it is madness in us not to defend ourselves withit. Experience has shown that we cannot successfully defend ourselveswithout it. For examples, look at the elections of last year. Ourcandidate for governor, with the approbation of a large portion of theparty, took the field without a nomination, and in open opposition tothe system. Wherever in the counties the Whigs had held conventions andnominated candidates for the Legislature, the aspirants who were notnominated were induced to rebel against the nominations, and to becomecandidates, as is said, "on their own hook. " And, go where you wouldinto a large Whig county, you were sure to find the Whigs not contendingshoulder to shoulder against the common enemy, but divided intofactions, and fighting furiously with one another. The election came, and what was the result? The governor beaten, the Whig vote beingdecreased many thousands since 1840, although the Democratic votehad not increased any. Beaten almost everywhere for members of theLegislature, --Tazewell, with her four hundred Whig majority, sending adelegation half Democratic; Vermillion, with her five hundred, doingthe same; Coles, with her four hundred, sending two out of three; andMorgan, with her two hundred and fifty, sending three out of four, --andthis to say nothing of the numerous other less glaring examples; thewhole winding up with the aggregate number of twenty-seven Democraticrepresentatives sent from Whig counties. As to the senators, too, theresult was of the same character. And it is most worthy to be rememberedthat of all the Whigs in the State who ran against the regular nominees, a single one only was elected. Although they succeeded in defeatingthe nominees almost by scores, they too were defeated, and the spoilschucklingly borne off by the common enemy. 

We do not mention the fact of many of the Whigs opposing the conventionsystem heretofore for the purpose of censuring them. Far from it. We expressly protest against such a conclusion. We know they weregenerally, perhaps universally, as good and true Whigs as we ourselvesclaim to be. 

We mention it merely to draw attention to the disastrous result itproduced, as an example forever hereafter to be avoided. That "union isstrength" is a truth that has been known, illustrated, and declared invarious ways and forms in all ages of the world. That great fabulist andphilosopher Aesop illustrated it by his fable of the bundle of sticks;and he whose wisdom surpasses that of all philosophers has declaredthat "a house divided against itself cannot stand. " It is to induce ourfriends to act upon this important and universally acknowledged truththat we urge the adoption of the convention system. Reflection willprove that there is no other way of practically applying it. In itsapplication we know there will be incidents temporarily painful; but, after all, those incidents will be fewer and less intense with thanwithout the system. If two friends aspire to the same office it iscertain that both cannot succeed. Would it not, then, be much lesspainful to have the question decided by mutual friends some time before, than to snarl and quarrel until the day of election, and then both bebeaten by the common enemy?

Before leaving this subject, we think proper to remark that we do notunderstand the resolution as intended to recommend the application ofthe convention system to the nomination of candidates for the smalloffices no way connected with politics; though we must say we do notperceive that such an application of it would be wrong. 

The seventh resolution recommends the holding of district conventionsin May next, for the purpose of nominating candidates for Congress. Thepropriety of this rests upon the same reasons with that of the sixth, and therefore needs no further discussion. 

The eighth and ninth also relate merely to the practical application ofthe foregoing, and therefore need no discussion. 

Before closing, permit us to add a few reflections on the presentcondition and future prospects of the Whig party. In almost all theStates we have fallen into the minority, and despondency seems toprevail universally among us. Is there just cause for this? In 1840 wecarried the nation by more than a hundred and forty thousand majority. Our opponents charged that we did it by fraudulent voting; but whateverthey may have believed, we know the charge to be untrue. Where, now, isthat mighty host? Have they gone over to the enemy? Let the results ofthe late elections answer. Every State which has fallen off from theWhig cause since 1840 has done so not by giving more Democratic votesthan they did then, but by giving fewer Whig. Bouck, who was electedDemocratic Governor of New York last fall by more than 15, 000 majority, had not then as many votes as he had in 1840, when he was beaten byseven or eight thousand. And so has it been in all the other Stateswhich have fallen away from our cause. From this it is evident that tensof thousands in the late elections have not voted at all. Who and whatare they? is an important question, as respects the future. They cancome forward and give us the victory again. That all, or nearly all, ofthem are Whigs is most apparent. Our opponents, stung to madness bythe defeat of 1840, have ever since rallied with more than their usualunanimity. It has not been they that have been kept from the polls. These facts show what the result must be, once the people again rallyin their entire strength. Proclaim these facts, and predict this result;and although unthinking opponents may smile at us, the sagacious oneswill "believe and tremble. " And why shall the Whigs not all rally again?Are their principles less dear now than in 1840? Have any of theirdoctrines since then been discovered to be untrue? It is true, thevictory of 1840 did not produce the happy results anticipated; but itis equally true, as we believe, that the unfortunate death of GeneralHarrison was the cause of the failure. It was not the election ofGeneral Harrison that was expected to produce happy effects, but themeasures to be adopted by his administration. By means of his death, and the unexpected course of his successor, those measures were neveradopted. How could the fruits follow? The consequences we alwayspredicted would follow the failure of those measures have followed, andare now upon us in all their horrors. By the course of Mr. Tyler thepolicy of our opponents has continued in operation, still leaving themwith the advantage of charging all its evils upon us as the results ofa Whig administration. Let none be deceived by this somewhat plausible, though entirely false charge. If they ask us for the sufficient andsound currency we promised, let them be answered that we only promisedit through the medium of a national bank, which they, aided by Mr. Tyler, prevented our establishing. And let them be reminded, too, thattheir own policy in relation to the currency has all the time been, andstill is, in full operation. Let us then again come forth in our might, and by a second victory accomplish that which death prevented in thefirst. We can do it. When did the Whigs ever fail if they were fullyaroused and united? Even in single States, under such circumstances, defeat seldom overtakes them. Call to mind the contested electionswithin the last few years, and particularly those of Moore and Letcherfrom Kentucky, Newland and Graham from North Carolina, and the famousNew Jersey case. In all these districts Locofocoism had stalkedomnipotent before; but when the whole people were aroused by itsenormities on those occasions, they put it down, never to rise again. 

We declare it to be our solemn conviction, that the Whigs are always amajority of this nation; and that to make them always successful needsbut to get them all to the polls and to vote unitedly. This is the greatdesideratum. Let us make every effort to attain it. At every election, let every Whig act as though he knew the result to depend upon hisaction. In the great contest of 1840 some more than twenty one hundredthousand votes were cast, and so surely as there shall be that many, with the ordinary increase added, cast in 1844 that surely will a Whigbe elected President of the United States. 

A. LINCOLN. S. T. LOGAN. A. T. BLEDSOE. 

March 4, 1843. 

TO JOHN BENNETT. 

SPRINGFIELD, March 7, 1843. 

FRIEND BENNETT:

Your letter of this day was handed me by Mr. Miles. It is too late nowto effect the object you desire. On yesterday morning the most of theWhig members from this district got together and agreed to hold theconvention at Tremont in Tazewell County. I am sorry to hear that anyof the Whigs of your county, or indeed of any county, should longerbe against conventions. On last Wednesday evening a meeting of all theWhigs then here from all parts of the State was held, and the questionof the propriety of conventions was brought up and fully discussed, andat the end of the discussion a resolution recommending the system ofconventions to all the Whigs of the State was unanimously adopted. Other resolutions were also passed, all of which will appear in the nextJournal. The meeting also appointed a committee to draft an addressto the people of the State, which address will also appear in the nextjournal. 

In it you will find a brief argument in favor of conventions--andalthough I wrote it myself I will say to you that it is conclusive uponthe point and can not be reasonably answered. The right way for you todo is hold your meeting and appoint delegates any how, and if there beany who will not take part, let it be so. The matter will work so wellthis time that even they who now oppose will come in next time. 

The convention is to be held at Tremont on the 5th of April andaccording to the rule we have adopted your county is to havedelegates--being double your representation. 

If there be any good Whig who is disposed to stick out againstconventions get him at least to read the arguement in their favor in theaddress. 

Yours as ever, A. LINCOLN. 

JOSHUA F. SPEED. 

SPRINGFIELD, March 24, 1843. 

DEAR SPEED:--We had a meeting of the Whigs of the county here on lastMonday to appoint delegates to a district convention; and Baker beat me, and got the delegation instructed to go for him. The meeting, in spiteof my attempt to decline it, appointed me one of the delegates; so thatin getting Baker the nomination I shall be fixed a good deal like afellow who is made a groomsman to a man that has cut him out and ismarrying his own dear "gal. " About the prospects of your having anamesake at our town, can't say exactly yet. 

A. LINCOLN. 

TO MARTIN M. MORRIS. 

SPRINGFIELD, ILL. , March 26, 1843. 

FRIEND MORRIS:

Your letter of the a 3 d, was received on yesterday morning, and forwhich (instead of an excuse, which you thought proper to ask) I tenderyou my sincere thanks. It is truly gratifying to me to learn that, whilethe people of Sangamon have cast me off, my old friends of Menard, whohave known me longest and best, stick to me. It would astonish, ifnot amuse, the older citizens to learn that I (a stranger, friendless, uneducated, penniless boy, working on a flatboat at ten dollars permonth) have been put down here as the candidate of pride, wealth, andaristocratic family distinction. Yet so, chiefly, it was. There was, too, the strangest combination of church influence against me. Baker isa Campbellite; and therefore, as I suppose, with few exceptions got allthat church. My wife has some relations in the Presbyterian churches, and some with the Episcopal churches; and therefore, wherever it wouldtell, I was set down as either the one or the other, while it waseverywhere contended that no Christian ought to go for me, because Ibelonged to no church, was suspected of being a deist, and had talkedabout fighting a duel. With all these things, Baker, of course, hadnothing to do. Nor do I complain of them. As to his own church goingfor him, I think that was right enough, and as to the influences Ihave spoken of in the other, though they were very strong, it would begrossly untrue and unjust to charge that they acted upon them in a bodyor were very near so. I only mean that those influences levied a taxof a considerable per cent. Upon my strength throughout the religiouscontroversy. But enough of this. 

You say that in choosing a candidate for Congress you have an equalright with Sangamon, and in this you are undoubtedly correct. Inagreeing to withdraw if the Whigs of Sangamon should go against me, Idid not mean that they alone were worth consulting, but that if she, with her heavy delegation, should be against me, it would be impossiblefor me to succeed, and therefore I had as well decline. And in relationto Menard having rights, permit me fully to recognize them, and toexpress the opinion that, if she and Mason act circumspectly, they willin the convention be able so far to enforce their rights as to decideabsolutely which one of the candidates shall be successful. Let me showthe reason of this. Hardin, or some other Morgan candidate, will getPutnam, Marshall, Woodford, Tazewell, and Logan--making sixteen. Thenyou and Mason, having three, can give the victory to either side. 

You say you shall instruct your delegates for me, unless I object. Icertainly shall not object. That would be too pleasant a compliment forme to tread in the dust. And besides, if anything should happen (which, however, is not probable) by which Baker should be thrown out of thefight, I would be at liberty to accept the nomination if I could getit. I do, however, feel myself bound not to hinder him in any way fromgetting the nomination. I should despise myself were I to attempt it. I think, then, it would be proper for your meeting to appoint threedelegates and to instruct them to go for some one as the first choice, some one else as a second, and perhaps some one as a third; and if inthose instructions I were named as the first choice, it would gratify mevery much. If you wish to hold the balance of power, it is important foryou to attend to and secure the vote of Mason also: You should be sureto have men appointed delegates that you know you can safely confide in. If yourself and James Short were appointed from your county, all wouldbe safe; but whether Jim's woman affair a year ago might not be in theway of his appointment is a question. I don't know whether you know it, but I know him to be as honorable a man as there is in the world. Youhave my permission, and even request, to show this letter to Short; butto no one else, unless it be a very particular friend who you know willnot speak of it. 

Yours as ever, A. LINCOLN. 

P. S Will you write me again?

TO MARTIN M. MORRIS. 

April 14, 1843. 

FRIEND MORRIS:

I have heard it intimated that Baker has been attempting to get you orMiles, or both of you, to violate the instructions of the meeting thatappointed you, and to go for him. I have insisted, and still insist, that this cannot be true. Surely Baker would not do the like. As wellmight Hardin ask me to vote for him in the convention. Again, it is saidthere will be an attempt to get up instructions in your county requiringyou to go for Baker. This is all wrong. Upon the same rule, Whymight not I fly from the decision against me in Sangamon, and get upinstructions to their delegates to go for me? There are at least twelvehundred Whigs in the county that took no part, and yet I would as soonput my head in the fire as to attempt it. Besides, if any one should getthe nomination by such extraordinary means, all harmony in the districtwould inevitably be lost. Honest Whigs (and very nearly all of themare honest) would not quietly abide such enormities. I repeat, such anattempt on Baker's part cannot be true. Write me at Springfield how thematter is. Don't show or speak of this letter. 

A. LINCOLN

TO GEN. J. J. HARDIN. 

SPRINGFIELD, May 11, 1843. 

FRIEND HARDIN:

Butler informs me that he received a letter from you, in which youexpressed some doubt whether the Whigs of Sangamon will support youcordially. You may, at once, dismiss all fears on that subject. Wehave already resolved to make a particular effort to give you the verylargest majority possible in our county. From this, no Whig of thecounty dissents. We have many objects for doing it. We make it a matterof honor and pride to do it; we do it because we love the Whig cause; wedo it because we like you personally; and last, we wish to convince youthat we do not bear that hatred to Morgan County that you people have solong seemed to imagine. You will see by the journals of this week thatwe propose, upon pain of losing a barbecue, to give you twice as greata majority in this county as you shall receive in your own. I got up theproposal. 

Who of the five appointed is to write the district address? I did thelabor of writing one address this year, and got thunder for my reward. Nothing new here. 

Yours as ever, A. LINCOLN. 

P. S. --I wish you would measure one of the largest of those swords wetook to Alton and write me the length of it, from tip of the point totip of the hilt, in feet and inches. I have a dispute about the length. 

A. L. A. L.