P. 300  ON THE EVE OF THE GREAT CONFLICT

       When the joint debate was over in Jonesboro, the two contestants began their journey to the next meeting which was at Charleston, Coles county, September 18. Mr. Lincoln seems to have gone direct to Centralia. Just north of Centralia was the new town of Central City. Here the state fair was in progress. Mr. Douglas was not in haste to reach Centralia. At least he visited Benton, the home of John A. Logan, where he received an ovation. A letter from Judge Thomas Layman of Benton tells an interesting story and it is reproduced.

DOUGLAS AT BENTON

“Prof, George W. Smith,
Carbondale, Illinois
BENTON, Illinois, May 1, 1912.
Dear Sir :
       I am in receipt of your letter of April 24th asking for some data relative to the visit of Stephen A. Douglas to Benton on September 16, 1858. The Benton Standard was burned three years ago and all the files of the paper since 1849 were destroyed. So I will not be able to give you much information.

       “On the morning of September 16, 1558, Tillman B. Cantrell, Daniel Mooney and other prominent citizens met Douglas at Tamaroa. At that time no railroad entered Benton. Douglas arrived in Benton sometime before noon, and wag at once taken to the home of John A. Logan on South street. The old house where he was entertained is still standing. He spoke in a grove in the northwest part of town. The afternoon of the fifteenth, Mrs. John A. Logan went over town and collected money to buy materials with which to make a flag. She and a party of women spent nearly all the night making the flag which was used in the procession and on the speaker’s stand next day. After Douglas had finished his speech he was driven back to Tamaroa and took the northbound Illinois Central. I am told that John A. Logan presided as chairman at the meeting. Mrs. Douglas did not accompany him.

       Mrs. Tabitha Browning of this place has given me most of the information that I have obtained. I have been unable to find anyone thus far who attended the Jonesboro debate from Benton. Mr, W. S. Cantrell says that Judge M. C. Crawford of Jonesboro can probably tell you of the Benton visit of Douglas. If I find anything further I will let you know. With best wishes, I remain,

“Thos. J. LAYMAN.”

POLITICAL MEETINGS AT CENTRALIA

       From The Missouri Republican,—Sept 18, 1858:. “The National Democrats held an anti-Douglas meeting here last evening, August 16, in front of the Veranda Hotel, to express their opposition to P. 301 Judge Douglas, and the principles which he advocates. The meeting was but poorly attended and several times interrupted by cries for Douglas. The first speaker, Governor Reynolds (candidate for state superintendent of public instruction), addressed the crowd, and took occasion in the course of his remarks to say that he would not countenance St. Paul though he had sacred gospels on his lips, if he favored Douglas. He was followed by Colonel Carpenter and Mr. Hoyne of Chicago, and others.            

       “As evidence of the nature of the meeting and the amount of interest manifested, I will say I saw the principal speaker, assisted by one of the editors of the Chicago Press and Tribune, engaged in carrying dry goods boxes to make a platform from which to speak!

       “The Douglas Democrats soon got up an opposition meeting within a short distance and drew the major portion of the crowd away from the former place. The Douglas meeting was addressed by Messrs. Linder, Fouke, and Hicks, and a great deal of enthusiasm was manifested throughout.”

       On the next afternoon, September 17, Senator Douglas spoke to the assembled citizens in Centralia in answer to Governor Reynolds and the other administration speakers.

       Both Lincoln and Douglas spent their spare time at the State Fair, and on the evening of the 17th they proceeded to Mattoon where both remained over night. On the morning of the 18th they proceeded by wagon road to Charleston, eight miles to the east. Great processions were formed and the intense heat and great clouds of dust made the journey very trying. The two processions were met out of Charleston with banners, bands, and great crowds. The debate occurred in the fair grounds, and the crowd was estimated at from ten to fifteen thousand.

LAST DEBATE AT ALTON

       The last of the joint debates was held at Alton October 15. The speaking occurred at the east side of the present city hall. There were joint committees on decorations, music, salutes, and other matters of common interests. Boats and trains brought in people from all directions. The audience was estimated at from five to six thousand. The dispatches refer to Mr. Douglas’ voice as much impaired. Mr. Lincoln seems to have stood the strain of the campaign some better than Douglas. Following the Alton debate Mr. Lincoln filled twelve regular engagements while Mr. Douglas filled nine.

DOUGLAS ELECTED SENATOR

       The election occurred Tuesday, November 2, 1858. When the smoke of battle cleared away it was found that the result was:

                Douglas—Senate, 14; house, 40; total, 54.

                Lincoln—Senate, 11; house, 35; total, 46.

       The state had gone Republican on the two state positions—the treasurership and the superintendent of public instruction. And probably if the apportionment of the senatorial and representative districts had been fairly made Lincoln would have been the senator.

       The contest between Douglas and Lincoln had attracted the attention of the entire country, north and south, east and west. Mr. Lincoln P 302

P 303 was defeated but not cast down. It was only one short year till the national canvass would demand attention of the whole people. Lincoln wrote to a friend shortly after the November election as follows: “The fight must go on. The cause of civil liberty must not be surrendered at the end of one or one hundred defeats. Douglas had the ingenuity to be supported in the late contest, both as the best means to break down and to uphold the slave interest. No ingenuity can keep these antagonistic elements in harmony long. Another explosion will soon come.”

       Douglas naturally felt proud of his victory. After a short rest * following the close of the campaign, he made a tour of the southern states; but nothing he could say or do could pacify the administration. Its friends were up in arms against what was called the “Freeport Doctrine.” Douglas must feel the hand of the administration, and so he was deposed from the chairmanship of the committee on territories which he had held for eleven years.

       In the Freeport debate Mr. Lincoln ingenuously propounded this question to Mr. Douglas:

       “Can the people of a United States territory in any lawful way, against the wish of any citizens of the United States, exclude slavery from its limits prior to the formation of a state constitution?”

       If Mr. Douglas wishes still to uphold the doctrine of Squatter Sovereignty he will be forced to say, “Yes.” If he says, “No,” then his doctrine of Squatter Sovereignty has burst as a bubble. If Douglas answers in the affirmative he runs counter to the decision of the supreme court which has so greatly delighted the slave holders of the south. If he says, “Yes,” every pro-slavery southerner will be ready to read him out of the Democratic party. If he says, “No,” he will lose the senatorship, for those that are pleading Douglas’ cause argue that Douglas ought to be sustained because he stands for abiding by the will of the people as expressed in regularly constituted means for such expression. He had won many admirers, not only in Illinois but throughout the north, for refusing to endorse the action of the Lecompton convention which shamefully disfranchised nearly 10,000 citizens of Kansas. In this stand he had lost the good will of Buchanan and as to the general feeling toward him in the south we shall see presently.

       Douglas was truly midway between two great dangers, but summoning all his native skill in the art of debate he answered: “I answer emphatically, as Mr. Lincoln has heard me answer a hundred times from every stump in Illinois, that, in my opinion the people of the territory can by lawful means, exclude slavery from their limits prior to the formation of a state constitution. . . . The people have the lawful means to introduce it or exclude it, as they please, for the reason that slavery cannot exist a day, or an hour, anywhere, unless it is supported by local police regulation.”

       This greatly angered the south; and the press and the public speakers in that section denounced him in the severest terms. To get at something of the feelings of the people in the south toward Douglas for his answer to question number two, let us hear Senator Judah P. Benjamin, of Louisiana, in the United States senate, May 28, 1860: “Up to the years of 1857 and 1858, no man in this nation had a higher or more exalted opinion of the character, the services and the political P 304 integrity of the senator from Illinois (Douglas) than I had .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 

       Sir . . . I have been obliged to pluck down my idol from his place on high, and to refuse him any more support or confidence as a member of the party. . . . The causes that have operated on me have operated on the Democratic party of the United States, and have operated an effect which the whole future life of the senator will be utterly unable to obliterate. It is impossible that confidence lost can be restored. We accuse him for this, to-wit: That having bargained with us upon a point upon which we were an issue, that it should be a judicial point; that he would abide the decision; that he would act under the decision, and consider it a doctrine of the party; that having said that to us here in the senate, he went home, and under the stress of a local election, his knees gave way; his whole person trembled. His adversary stood upon principle and was beaten; and lo! he is the candidate of a mighty party for the presidency of the United States. The senator from Illinois faltered. He got the prize for which he faltered; but lo! the grand prize of his ambition today slips from his grasp because of his faltering in his former contest, and his success in the canvas for the senate, purchased for an ignoble price, has cost him the loss of the presidency of the United States.”

       This speech is no doubt a fair statement of the feeling of the south toward Douglas for his failure to stand up boldly for the decision of the supreme court.

THE CAMPAIGN OF 1860

        The year 1860 was one which will long be remembered by those who were old enough to be aware of the significance of the events of that memorable year. It can be truly said that since the success of the Republican party in 1856, that politics was the absorbing thing in the state. Everyone looked forward to the presidential contest which was to take place in the summer and fall of 1860. In the west there was little doubt that Lincoln was the logical candidate of the Republican party. However, there were other men worthy of such honor. Salmon P. Chase, of Ohio, William A. Seward, of New York, and Simon Cameron, . of Pennsylvania, were also considered presidential possibilities.

       The great battle fought between Lincoln and Douglas had drawn all eyes toward Illinois and Abraham Lincoln. A Chicago editor wrote to Lincoln while the campaign was in progress in 1858, and said: “You are like Byron, who woke up one morning and found himself famous. People wish to know about you. You have sprung at once from the position of a capital fellow and a leading lawyer in Illinois, to a national reputation.” David Davis, one of the great men in Illinois, wrote Lincoln in 1858, just after the final result became known and said:

       “You have made a noble canvass which, if unavailing in this state, has earned you a national reputation, and made you friends everywhere.”

       The Republican central committee of New Hampshire sent word to Lincoln that if Douglas came into that state, to make a campaign, they would want Mr. Lincoln‘s services. Scores of calls came from all parts of the country for Mr. Lincoln’s help in the political campaign of 1859. Mr. Lincoln’s. most serious political work in 1859, was in the campaign in Ohio. The Democratic party had invited Douglas into that state, and as soon as this was known the Republican P 305 committee urged Mr. Lincoln to come to Ohio. This Mr. Lincoln did. He made two set speeches; one at Columbus and one at Cincinnati. The burden of his speeches was the subject of slavery. He met with enthusiastic friends everywhere. The committee thought so much of his influence in carrying Ohio that they arranged to print in cheap book form his debate with Douglas, together with the two speeches in Ohio, as campaign documents for the presidential canvass in 1860. 

       In the winter of 1859-60, Mr. Lincoln was invited to New York and Boston to make public addresses. He also visited many other points in the New England and the Middle States. These addresses were somewhat of the nature of lectures. Mr. Lincoln received pay, at least in New York and Boston, at the rate of $200 per night. In New York he spoke in Cooper Institute to one of the finest audiences which ever assembled in the city. William Cullen Bryant was chairman of the evening. The next morning The Tribune said: “Since the days of Clay and Webster no man has spoken to a larger assemblage of the intellect and mental culture in our city.” This trip to the east was of great value to Mr. Lincoln when the coming canvass was under way.

       All through the year of 1859 there was a quiet, though effective, work going on in Illinois looking toward the securing of the Republican nomination for the presidency for Mr. Lincoln. Among those who were thus pushing the claims of Lincoln were David Davis, Leonard Swett, Judge Stephen T. Logan, John M. Palmer, Jesse W. Fell, John Wentworth, Joseph Medill, Norman B. Judd, Richard Oglesby and scores of others. County conventions, which were being held in the early spring of 1860, instructed their delegates to the state convention to work for the nomination of Lincoln, In the winter of ‘59 and ‘60, Joseph Medill, editor of the Chicago Tribune was in Washington, trying quietly to work up a Lincoln sentiment, and on February 16, 1860, The Tribune came out editorially for Lincoln.

       But in a list of twenty-one persons mentioned for the presidency published in New York in the winter of ‘59 and ‘60, Lincoln’s name does not appear. There was scarcely a paper in the east that ever mentioned his name as a probable candidate.

       The state Republican convention met in Decatur May 9 and 10. Here Lincoln received an ovation, John M. Palmer moved that, “Abraham Lincoln is the choice of the Republican party of Illinois for the presidency, and the delegates from this state are instructed to use all honorable means to secure his nomination by the Chicago convention, and to vote as a unit for him.” At this convention Richard Yates was nominated for governor and a full ticket put into the field.

       We have already spoken of Douglas’ trip through the southern states following the campaign of 1858. He spoke in all the large cities in the south. He was received with marked courtesy and listened to with growing interest. In early January, 1859, Douglas arrived at the capitol and took his seat in the senate. He was soon made aware of the fact that the southern senators had deposed him from the leadership of his party or at least the southern half of it. They demanded of him what he would do if according to his “Freeport Doctrine” the territorial legislature should legislate so unfriendly as to exclude slavery. They pressed him so closely and made such demands that he said to them: “I tell you, gentlemen of the south, in all candor, I do not believe a Democratic candidate can carry any one Democratic state of P 306 the north on the platform that it is the duty of the federal government to force the people of a territory to have slavery when they do not want it.’’

       Here, in the closing days of the session an irreparable schism was opened between the slaveholding Democracy of the south and the Squatter Sovereignty Democracy of the north. In June, 1859, Douglas, in answer to a question as to whether he would be a candidate for the presidency replied that if the Democracy adhere to its former principles his friends would be at liberty to present his name. On the contrary he said, if the convention shall insist on the revival of the slavetrade, or hold that congress has a right to pass a slave code for the territories, or that the constitution of the United States either establishes or prohibits slavery in the territories beyond the power of the people legally to control it, then he could not accept the nomination if tendered to him.

       The National Republican convention met in a wigwam, in Chicago. May 16, 1860. Strong delegations were present from the eastern states to whom the western methods of campaigning may have been a little new. A committee of one from each state and territory, was appointed on the committee on resolution which reported a very conservative set of resolutions as the platform of the party. The following is an abridgment of that document:

       The past four years have justified the organization of the Republican party. The causes which called it into existence are permanent.

       The principal of equality, stated in the Declaration of Independence, is essential to the preservation of our Republican institutions.

       The wonderful development of the nation is the result of the union of the states.

       The lawless invasion of any state or territory by armed force is among the gravest of crimes.

       The dogma that the constitution carries slavery into the Territories is a dangerous political heresy.

       We deny the right of congress, or of any territorial legislature, or of any individuals, to legalize slavery in any territory of the United States.

       The recent reopening of the African slave trade is a crime against humanity.

       Kansas should of right be admitted as a state under the constitution recently formed.

       The party favors a protective tariff.

       The party favors liberal homestead laws.

       Pledges efficient protection to all classes of citizens.

       All citizens who can unite on this platform of principles are invited to give it their support.

       On the first ballot Seward had 1321/2, Lincoln 102, Cameron 501/2, Bates 48, Chase 49, scattering 42. Lincoln’s friends felt greatly encouraged. The second ballot resulted, Seward 1841/2, Lincoln 181, Bates 35, Chase 421/2, scattering 22. On the third ballot Seward stood 183, Lincoln 2311/2, Bates 22, Chase 241/2, scattering 7. The total number of delegates was 466, a majority of which would be 234. Lincoln lacked only 2½ votes of the nomination. The Ohio delegates changed four votes to Lincoln from Chase, and Lincoln was nominated. With him was nominated Hannibal Hamlin, of Maine for vice president. Mr. Lincoln was notified of his nomination immediately, and the greatest problem P 307 he had ever faced was now before him—that of harmonizing all of the forces which were eventually to bring about his election.

       The National Democratic convention met at Charleston, South Carolina, April 23, 1860. It was known long before that day that there would be a wide difference of opinion on the subject of slavery in the convention. Upon the completion of the permanent organization, the committee on resolutions was named. On the 27th, Mr. Avery, of North Carolina, from the majority of the committee on platform reported (in part) as follows:

       Resolved, That the National Democracy of the United States hold these cardinal principles on the subject of slavery in the territories;—

       1st. That congress has no power to abolish slavery in the territories;

       2d. That the territorial legislature has no power to abolish slavery in the territory, nor to prohibit the introduction of slaves therein, nor any power to destroy or impair the right of property in slaves by any legislation whatever.

       This was a part of the majority report. Mr. Henry B. Payne, of Ohio, presented the minority report which affirmed the platform of 1856, but added: “Resolved, (2) That the Democratic party will abide by the decision of the supreme court of the United States on the question of constitutional law.

       Mr. Avery, in commenting upon the situation, said: “I say that the results and ultimate consequences to the southern states of this confederacy, if the Popular Sovereignty doctrine be adopted as the doctrine of the Democratic party, would be as dangerous and subversive of their rights as the adoption of the principle of congressional intervention or provision.” In this Mr. Avery meant to say that the Republican doctrine would be as acceptable to the south as the Squatter Sovereignty doctrine.

       A vote was taken on the platform as reported by Mr. Avery and the one reported by Mr. Payne, both of which had been somewhat modified.

       Mr. Payne’s report was adopted by a vote of 165 to 138. Thereupon Alabama gave notice of her intention to withdraw from the convention. Other states followed. The seceding members held a meeting and adjourned to Richmond. The Douglas contingent balloted several times for President, but not making a choice adjourned to Baltimore. Here in June, Douglas was nominated for the presidency.

       The canvass was encouraging to Lincoln’s friends from the start. The opposition was divided; the Republicans were enthusiastic from the beginning. The twenty-four states which took part in the Chicago convention had 234 electoral votes out of the total of 303. Fremont, in 1856, had carried 114 electoral votes and to these the Republicans, in their estimate, added the votes of New Jersey, Pennsylvania. Indiana, and Illinois. making 169, a wide margin over the needed majority of 152.

       A very dramatic feature of the campaign was the use of many things illustrative of Lincoln's life. Rails, mauls, axes, and log cabins were signs of his boyhood days. ‘Tis true the east was greatly disappointed when Lincoln received the nomination. They said he was without schooling, was uncultured, and would be a “nullity” if elected. But while all manner of uncomplimentary things were being said about Lincoln, the great men who contended with him for the nomination were logically P 309 standing by the  candidate. Such men as Sumner, Seward, Chase, Clay, Greeley, and many others of that kind of people took the stump for Lincoln.

       The election came off the 6th of November. Out of the total of 303 electoral votes, Lincoln received 180. But there were fifteen states that did not give him an electoral vote, and in ten states he did not receive a single popular vote. Lincoln received in Illinois 172,161 votes; Douglas, 160,215; Bell, 4,913; Breckenridge, 2,401. Yates was elected governor over Allen, the Democratic candidate, by some 13,000 votes.

       Both houses of the legislature were Republican.

       The legislature met Monday, January 7, 1861, and organized by electing Shelby M. Cullom speaker of the lower house. This was the first time that the Democrats did not control one or both branches of the legislature. Governor Wood, the retiring executive, reported that the state debt had decreased during the four years preceding nearly $3,000,000. On the 14th of January Richard Yates was inaugurated governor for four years. His inaugural address was a vigorous statement of the views of the Republican party relative to the preservation of the union. After the election of Lyman Trumbull, United States senator, and the passage of a few bills, the legislature adjourned.

A SON OF ILLINOIS

       Abraham Lincoln was born three miles from Hodgensville, in La Rue county, Kentucky, February 12, 1809. His father’s name was Thomas and his mother’s maiden name was Nancy Hanks. It has often been stated that Lincoln’s parents were poor. Perhaps they were; so were many other families in Kentucky. When he was about four years old his parents moved to Knob Creek, sixteen  miles away from his birthplace. Here he began his education, but evidently he did not make a business of going to school. Mr. Lincoln says he thinks six months would cover all the time he ever went to school.

       In 1816, Thomas Lincoln moved to a farm one and one-half miles east of Gentryville, Spencer county, Indiana. Abraham was now seven years old. The home is described as a “half-face camp.” The furnishings were very meager. Wild game was plentiful in the thick woods about them. It has been said that Thomas Lincoln neglected his wife and children while here. Abraham says that these were “pretty pinching times.” Abraham’s mother died in 1818, and then no doubt the Lincoln home was desolate indeed.

       In 1819, Thomas Lincoln returned to Kentucky and married Sally Bush Johnston, a widow with three children. Mrs. Johnston and Thomas had been lovers in their younger days. The new mother brought quite a few comforts to the forlorn home in Indiana.

        In 1828 Abraham took a flat boat to New Orleans for a Mr. Gentry. The cargo was disposed of to the satisfaction of the owner thereof. He returned to Gentryville to find that the Lincoln family  had the western fever.

       In 1830 the Lincoln family moved to Illinois and settled near Decatur some ten miles west. Here is where Lincoln made the historic rails.

       The Lincolns fenced ten acres of ground, broke it, and planted it in corn. Lincoln was twenty-one years old February 12, 1830, and this was the last work he helped his father do. P 309

       P 310 In the winter of “the deep snow,” Lincoln with others engaged to take a flat boat to New Orleans. Lincoln helped to build the boat at Sangamon town (New Salem), and the trip was made to New Orleans in the spring of 1831. It was while in the city of New Orleans that he saw a mulatto girl offered for sale from the auction block in a slave market. The conduct of the auctioneer and the bidders was so revolting that Lincoln is said to have remarked to his companions, John Hanks and John D. Johnston, “Boys, let‘s get away from this. If I ever get a chance to hit that thing (slavery), I will hit it hard.”

       On his return he engaged to keep store in New Salem for Denton Offutt. This may have been in the fall of 1831. Here Lincoln spent the next few years of his life. It was indeed a strenuous one. He studied, read, wrestled, and courted. Some attention was given to the study of English grammar. In 1832 he offered himself as a candidate for the legislature. He had hardly announced himself, when in April, 1832, word came to New Salem of the call for troops to go to the Black Hawk war.

       Abraham Lincoln was captain of one of the four companies which constituted the Fourth regiment. When the army was mustered out, May 27, 1832, Lincoln reenlisted as a private in Captain Iles’ company for twenty days. When his time was up for this enlistment, he re-enlisted in Capt. Jacob M. Early’s company. He moved with the army up Rock river to the Wisconsin line, but later returned to Dixon where he was mustered out. He and a companion walked across country to Ottawa, came to Havana in a canoe, and walked to New Salem. He was defeated in the fall of 1832 for the legislature, but was elected the fall of 1834.

       He served in the legislature from December, 1834, to December, 1842. He represented the Springfield  district in congress from December, 1847-1849. In 1855 he was an unsuccessful candidate for the United States senate. In 1856 he was active in the campaign in which Bissell was a candidate for governor. This brings us to the organization of the Republican party and his career has been briefly sketched and from that time to his election to the presidency. Lincoln remained in Springfield during the canvass of 1860. He received many distinguished visitors during the summer as well as during the winter following the election. Three things especially occupied his mind during the winter of 1860-1. One was getting acquainted with the men with whom he must be associated in the work of carrying on the government. Another was the problem of selecting his cabinet—a task of no small proportion. A third was formulating his inaugural address. There was one thing which was a great annoyance in these swiftly passing days; it was the spread of the secession movement. His mail was extraordinarily heavy. All sorts of suggestions were pouring in on him and all sorts of inquiries.

       As the time approached for his departure for Washington, he settled up all his private business affairs. One of the most significant incidents of the closing days of his life as a private citizen was his visit to his stepmother, who lived in Coles county—near Charleston. He spent a day with her, and accompanied by her, he visited the grave of his father. Mr. Lincoln loved his stepmother very tenderly and it must indeed have been very touching to see this sad parting, for his mother told him she never expected to see him again. She was now seventy-three years old. She died December 10, 1869.

       The ballots of a free people, freely cast, had declared that P 311 Abraham Lincoln should serve the whole people in the exalted station of president of the United States. No election had ever been freer from undefined or undefinable issues. There could be no doubt as to where at least three of the candidates stood upon every issue which entered into the campaign. But no sooner was the result definitely known than steps were taken which looked to the ultimate dissolution of the Union. In fact long before the election in November there was a movement in the south favoring secession in the event of Mr. Lincoln’s election.

       The rapid growth of the idea of secession, between November 6, 1860, and the 4th of March, 1861, is well known, and it need not here be described. The seceded states had formed a government, and by the time Lincoln was inaugurated nearly all semblance of national authority in the south had been swept away.

       The winter of 1860-1 in the national capital, witnessed some very strange proceedings. The representatives and senators from the secession states were, day after day, resigning their positions in the federal congress, and they invariably took occasion to deliver very bitter farewells before retiring. Patriotic men were doing their best to bring about some sort of a compromise which would restore harmony to the distracted country. All sorts of rumors were afloat, and the public mind was strung to the highest tension. Stephen A. Douglas had no sympathy with secession. He took a very decided stand on behalf of the preservation of the Union.

        Lincoln left Springfield for Washington, February 11, 1861. To a great concourse of friends and neighbors who had gathered about the station he addressed a very touching farewell. He said:  “My friends, no one, not in my situation, can appreciate my feelings of sadness at this parting. To this place, and the kindness of these people, I owe everything. Here I have lived a quarter of a century, and have passed from a young man to an old man. Here my children have been born and one is buried. I now leave, not knowing when or whether ever I may return, with a task before me greater than that which rested upon Washington. Without the assistance of that Divine Being who ever attended him, I cannot succeed. With that assistance I cannot fail. Trusting in Him who can go with me, and remain with you, and be everywhere for good, let us confidently hope that all will yet be well. To His care commending you, as I hope in your prayers you will commend me, I bid you an affectionate farewell.”

       Mr. Lincoln made short speeches in some of the cities through which he passed on his way to Washington. In Philadelphia word was received that an attack would be made upon his life in Baltimore. This caused a change in the programme in the rest of his journey. He reached Washington safely, on the morning of the 4th of March, 1861, and was ready for the inaugural exercises.

       Shortly before noon the retiring President, Mr. Buchanan, called for Mr. Lincoln and escorted him to the senate chamber. From here they passed out upon a large platform erected upon the east side of the capitol where he delivered his inaugural in the presence of senators, representatives, judges, foreign ministers, and other public dignitaries.

       When the distinguished party came upon the platform and were seated, Senator Edward Baker arose and introduced Mr. Lincoln, and as he came forward a few steps with his cane in his hand, together with his manuscript and his tall silk hat, he was embarrassed for want of a place P 312 to put his hat. Just then Senator Douglas saw the embarrassment, stepped forward and took the president’s hat, and stepping back and holding it in his hand, said to a cousin of Mrs. Lincoln, “If I can’t be President, I can at least hold his hat.”

       The inaugural speech was a very clear statement of what he saw as his duty as the chief magistrate of the nation. He was especially anxious to have his hearers understand that he had been nominated and elected by people who had full knowledge of the fact that one of his fundamental doctrines was that, “I have no purpose, directly or indirectly to interfere with the institution of slavery in the states where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so.” He also read from the Chicago platform that, “The right of each state to order and control its own domestic institution according to its own judgment exclusively is essential to that balance of power on which the

perfection and endurance of our political fabric depends.” He was also careful to let be known that he regarded “The Union as unbroken; and to the extent of my ability, I shall take care, as the constitution expressly enjoins upon me, that the laws of the Union be faithfully executed in all the states.” Just near the close, as he was addressing his “dissatisfied countrymen,” he showed them wherein he had the advantage of them. “You have no oath registered in heaven to destroy the government, while I have the most solemn one to preserve, protect, and defend.

       On the 12th of April, Gen. G. T. Beauregard, under the direction of the authority of South Carolina, commenced a bombardment of Fort Sumter. This was on Friday. On Sunday morning, General Anderson surrendered, and marched out with the honors of war. Monday morning, the 15th, President Lincoln issued a call for 75,000 men. The news of the insult to the flag of the nation and to its brave defenders, flashed over P 313 the loyal states with wonderful rapidity, and nowhere was more patriotic enthusiasm aroused than in the Prairie state.