I Abraham Lincoln in Peoria, Illinois FROM A PAINTING BY CHARLES OVERALL Here, on the steps of the old Peoria County Court House begins the true story of Abraham Lincoln's great career A New Lincoln Book With Material Never Before Published "ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS" Over 300 pages of intimate history and anecdotes told with a remarkably fine atten- tion to detail and presenting numerous important histori- cal side-lights. The book is built around Lincoln's visits to Peoria and his famous reply to Judge Douglas on the night of Oc- tober 16, 1854 — the speech that is considered by many historians as the turning point in his life, and which even- tually made him president. Go with Lincoln on the old Peoria land trails, as he rode the circuit, and you will vis- ion him as he lived and dreamed. When you have purchased this volume, read the tremen- dously important speech Lin- coln made in Peoria, Illinois, on the night of October 16, 1854, and you will know Lincoln as he was in 1854. The principles there laid down remained with him un- til the very end. The rare and exclusive fea- tures of this book will make it a most treasured volume. LINCOLN HISTORICAL PUBLISHING CO. 424 Fulton Street Peoria, - - Illinois LINCOLN ROOM UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS LIBRARY MEMORIAL the Class of 1901 founded by HARLAN HOYT HORNER and HENRIETTA CALHOUN HORNER Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2012 with funding from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign http://archive.org/details/abrahamlincolnin01bryn EDWARD J. JACOB PRINTER PEORIA, ILL., U. S. A. Abraham ffitttrnln In ftenria, JUtnote i. OL irgnrr Ifxrat iEMttmt, ©rtubrr IB, 1024 Cintftrd in Hill (£iunru gu>ranb lEnlargrfc Ibittun. (irtober 10. 192H Cuuitrn In 1 1HU1 (injur!! *' J mm ani Ijearb iCinroltt an& flauglaa uiti^n a bng' COPYRIGHT 1926 BY THE LINCOLN HISTORICAL PUBLISHING CO. PEORIA, ILLINOIS PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OP AMERICA C47 OCTOBER SIXTEEN, EIGHTEEN HUNDRED FIFTY-FOUR, WAS A MEMORABLE DAY IN PEORIA. NONE APPREHENDED IT THEN, AND BUT FEW APPRECIATE IT NOW— SEVENTY YEARS AFTER. (FROM FIRST EDITION— OCTOBF.R 16, 1924) Abraham IGtnrnln 'Jll? waurfc no ar?ptr?, iuor? no rrotun, No aria ignoble mamb i|tB baga; An& wfyrn in rloofo Ijta aun went bown ®1jf worlb, in barkuraa, aang Ijia praia?! —S. Patterson Prowse Late Librarian of the Citi) of Peoria ABRAHAM LINCOLN DELIVERING HIS FAMOUS SPEECH ON THE NIGHT OF OCTOBER 16, 1854, AT PEORIA, ILLINOIS ABRAHAM LINCOLN 'RISE to :the height of a gener- ation OF FREE MEN, WORTHY OF A FREE GOVERNMENT, THE PEOPLES' WILL. IS THE ULTIMATE LAW FOR ALL.' —ABRAHAM LINCOLN. FOREWORD (Second Edition) October 16th, 1854, at Peoria, Lincoln and Douglas met in debate. It was the good fortune of the writer, then a boy and an ardent Douglas "man," to have been present. Telling of the inci- dent one day to the publisher the latter so persis- tently urged that it be written up that consent was finally given, with the result that upon the 70th anniversary of the occasion a beautiful little volume was gotten out, "One Hundred Copies, privately printed, October Sixteenth, Nineteen Twenty-four. Not for sale." The writer cannot refrain from publicly ex- pressing his surprise and pleasure at the reception it has received and with the requests for general distribution. Complying with this demand this second edition has been issued. It contains the first edition complete and additional matter such as pic- tures of Peoria as it then appeared — early steam- boats — the first railroad train to enter town over the Bureau Valley road (now the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific) from Chicago, which incident occurred November 7th, 1854, three weeks after the Lincoln-Douglas debate of October 16th — hotels where entertainment was furnished for man and beast — a picture of Peoria in 1832 when Lin- coln passed through on foot upon his return from the Black Hawk war — the old market house — also, after a long search, we have found a partial report of Judge Douglas' address, preceding Mr. Lincoln's on October 1 6, 1854. As far as we have been able to ascertain, this is the first time it has been published in any book. All these create an atmosphere from which may be formed a picture which it is confidently believed will prove of inter- est and value to the ever increasing army of stu- dents of the stirring times which preceded our National recognition and gave liberty to every man, woman and child, regardless of race, creed or color, throughout the land, and united all in ever increasing love for the flag. Lincoln's speech as given in the first edition is taken from the Peoria Transcript. Upon Lin- coln's return to Springfield he, three days later, wrote out and revised it, desiring no doubt to give a more clear and not to be misunderstood expres- sion of his views upon the questions then at issue. In this volume is given the reporter's copy as it appeared in the first edition as well as the address as personally revised by Mr. Lincoln upon his return to Springfield. Allowance must be made for possible errors in the reporter's copy, for shorthand was then but little in vogue and the speech was probably taken in long hand at the time delivered, but upon care- ful reading I cannot help but think it accurately reported. In a letter from Henry B. Rankin, who was a law student in Lincoln's office, he says, "Days and nights through tedious weeks, he (Lincoln) was in the State Library among office files of papers and campaign scrap books, composing the manu- script copy of the Cooper Institute speech. Those weeks made him President. Events following the speech swiftly changed the current of United States history. That speech began its growth with Lincoln in Peoria in 1854. To the present generation the picture would not be complete without visioning the state of the public mind at the time. I have therefore added local incidents, scenes and other matter that may serve to a clearer understanding and appreciation of the time of which I write. That the critical reader and scholar will find imperfections in con- struction and expression of which the writer is unconscious, I do not doubt, but the statement of facts cannot be contradicted. The age of fifteen found me casting aside school books to enlist as a soldier in the Civil War, one of a hundred and twenty-five thousand boys of sixteen years and under who followed the leadership of Abraham Lincoln. Lack of schooling must therefore serve as my excuse for faulty construction and diction. In the reading may you find some of the happi- ness I have found in the writing. October 16, 1926. B. C. BRYNER. \ WI SO KHf S'J.H.. rt?.ri iy .«*& ; C -^ ^ts %£ On«w OtettvW- 6 MAP Of i,t,t MO-IS. KENTUCKY. OLD ILLINOIS LAND TRAILS, BEFORE THE TIME OF THE RAILROADS AND THE HARD ROADS. THIS MAP REPRODUCED FROM "THE PEORIA RECORD" 185 7. ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS O'ER OLD PEORIA LAND TRAILS WITH LINCOLN Let us unfetter fancy and wander over old trails with one whose humanity and love are the blessed legacy of the world's most favored nation. Mid sunshine and storm — heat and cold — dust and wind — biting frost and pitiless summer suns, Lincoln went these ways through toil and hard- ship, learning in the school of experience lessons untaught in academy or college. A tall, ungainly figure on horseback or hunched up in a buggy, his knees and chin in close com- panionship, with perhaps a fellow traveler by his side — the way beguiled by stories of inimitable wit and humor — broad at times — but always re- plete with wisdom and kindliness. Across virgin prairies abloom with bluebells — through the dells of the Mackinaw, by the banks of the Illinois, wading sparkling streams alive with leaping life — climbing hills, enfolding lakes that mirror en- circling heights. Squirrels chattered and sprang from limb to limb of trees laden with acorn and hickory nut. Birds sang and wild fowl sped to cover unharmed, for Lincoln carried no gun, as was the wont of other travelers. His great 15 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS tender heart loved all creatures and all were safe at his hands. Was it not in the notes of the sing- ing birds, the whispering leaves and the flow of waters, he learned the music of those words that shall live till prairie and forest and wind and wave shall be no more? When alone did he meditate upon ills he would suppress, did he note that nature's fruits ripened in their season and did he learn that philosophy which bade him bide the season and wait the opportunity that came at last? This page of my book I dedicate to dreams; all others are given to facts, unadorned, yet beautiful to those who love a manhood of childish sim- plicity and love supreme. May future generations follow the trails that Lincoln trod! 16 Chapter One October 16th, 1854, was a memorable day in Peoria. None apprehended it then, and but few appreciate it now — seventy years after. It was the starting point of the race which won for Abraham Lincoln the Presidency of the United States, brought on the War of the Rebellion, led to the death of a half million men and twice that number disabled by disease and wounds, made free men and women of four million slaves, and desolated almost every home in the land. Four years of human sacrifice and suffering! At every fireside heartstrings were broken by the fingers of Death. From a population of thirty-four million, a million and one-half were taken. The monument in the Court House square bears the names of five hundred and twenty-five boys from Peoria who died between April, 1861, and April, 1865, and Peoria had then less than one- tenth its present population. And the starting point of it all was at Peoria, that 16th day of October, 1854. As the evening shadows gather, I wander through the halls of memory and behold a picture of those earlier days. Peoria — "beautiful view" — for such is the meaning of the word in the a 17 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS language of the Pottawattomies — only a village — bluffs covered with oak and hickory — under- growth of hazel brush and wild blackberry — ra- vines in which the wolf still lingered. At the nar- rows butternuts, wild grapes, plums, pecans, per- simmons and pawpaws. Rope ferries at opposite ends of the lake — wild ducks floating upon the river's bosom. Clouds of black birds darkened the skies. The honk of the wild geese winging their way north or south in endless file the whole day long foretold the season's change. Morning and evening heard the drumming of partridges, or the call of the quail in back yards and streets. Political times: music of bands — of drum and fife with drummers and fifers garbed in colonial costume — the "Spirit of '76." Campaign songs — flags mounted on saplings with bunches of leaves at the top. Only thirty-four stars then. Floats with pretty girls in white representing Columbia and the several states. I see them at night upon the floor of my home — sleeping upon improvised beds upon the floor — my mother cooking for all. Not a completed railroad in Peoria, October 16th, 1854. No telegraph — no sewing machine — no telephone — tallow candles for illumination — but- ter, eggs and milk lowered into the cistern to keep fresh. And yet all of the comforts and luxury of 18 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS today were born of the brain and brawn of that and the succeeding generation. Amidst such scenes Lincoln and Douglas first met in debate in Peoria, October 1 6th, 1854. 19 Chapter Two Drown' s Peoria City Record of March 4th, 1854, gives the following description of Peoria at that date: "PEORIA IN 1854, though only in her 35th year, we will venture to say is the most beautiful City in the West, its location is not surpassed by any, for the God of Nature in his wisdom formed THE "OCEAN WAVE" PACKET BOAT PLYING THE ILLINOIS RIVER IN 1854 its site, so that there never was nor is there any occasion of expending a thousand dollars to make every street in the whole City passable. Still, our City Fathers' are, and have been for a year or two past, endeavoring to improve upon what God, after he had made it, 'saw that it was good'; but improvement is the order of the day. A few years since and most of our river towns, now swelling 21 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS into cities, were insignificant hamlets with a mea- gre backwoods population. Many of my readers will recall to mind, with a smile of satisfied pride, the local and business condition of our TOWN, when the business was confined to the barter of hazel nuts and eggs for buttons, beads, powder and shot. Miniature stores, based on a capital of a THE "PRAIRIE STATE," AN ILLINOIS RIVER PACKET BOAT IN 1854 few hundreds, consisting mainly of a chest of tea, a sack of coffee, a -keg of three-picayune James' river tobacco, a barrel of 'bald face,' and a dozen butcher knives. And then again, the 'country folks,' after they had been to 'town' and in- dulged a little in the 'critur,' about once a week, 22 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS must have a little more indulgence in target dem- onstrations at a candle by night, or at the body of a turkey drawn with chalk on an 'oak-punch- eon/ after they had got through with 'trading' and ready to go home. Such like amusements com- prised a good part of the time and business along our river line of settlements, which are now mat- ters of memory only and thrown far to the rear- ward in the onward march of improvement. Whence the timid fawn stood by the margin of the stream or lake, feeding on the luxuriant herbage, or viewing its shadow in the limpid wave; or the yell of the panther awoke the echoes of the wood — the sonorous breathing of steam engines, or the more thrilling, loud, long, terrific, terrible whistle of a locomotive is heard, and thriving towns and cities stand out in beauty along the shore, doing a business of countless thousands in merchandise and produce. Speaking of a locomotive and its whistle, it is now beginning to be heard in all our continent — we have heard its clear shriek in this City for a few months past, shouting, 'Take care! take care! ! the iron image moves!' What is that image like? Has it breath? and what is it? It is like some won- derful thing seen in a startling dream, imagined to be for some great purpose inexplicable! It has breath and arms, hands and feet, and is a live metal 23 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS with a steam soul — here now, and in an hour 40, 50 or 60 miles hence, dragging after it its weak creator, with its bundles of rich substances; and sometimes it takes upon its shoulders great palaces full of human life and plunges into rivers and lakes and across the wide prairies; and wherever it goes it whistles! The lips of a thousand human whis- tles in one grand strain united could not raise a note half so loud and thrilling as the faintest effort of one 'iron man/ Old men, when you hear the whistle of the iron man of this day, do you ever think of the time you whistled to 'drive off fear,' or 'drive dull cares away'? — How loud you could 'sound/ how the woods would ring and the hills echo with the tunes that 'come natural/ How pleasant you felt whistling. You never ex- pected then to hear a big piece of iron whistle loud- er than you could! You can hear it now. The iron whistle is every man's musician — he is the particular favorite of the fast spirit enterprise, and the children of trade dance to the melody of his strain, while cold eyed speculation smiles, and grim-faced avarice laughs aloud when he whistles in the distance." (A facsimile photograph of the four page paper, Drown's Peoria City Record, will be found inserted on page 135 of this book.) 24 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS November 7, 1854, the first train from Chicago entered Peoria over the Peoria and Bureau Valley — now the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific rail- road. Prior to that time regular service was main- tained between St. Louis and Chicago by means PEORIA AND BUREAU VALLEY RAILROAD (NOW C. R. I. ft P.) FIRST TRAIN TO ENTER PEORIA FROM CHICAGO NOV. 1, 1854. of packets. As the railroad progressed from Chi- cago westward the connection was made at La Salle, Peru and Henry. 25 Chapter Three Although only a boy I recall the day perfectly. I was a strong "Douglas man" — how he would appeal to a boy of that period! The "Little Giant" — the foremost statesman of the day — was arrayed in frock coat and black pants, a high silk hat, white shirt and collar, with a black stock. He came to our western village where such things were unknown, a being superior and supreme in my regard. The Democratic Committee had appointed a committee of sixty to arrange for his reception, and had passed the following resolution: "Resolved: That the Democracy of Peoria County who wish to take part in the public recep- tion of Judge Douglas be requested to meet at the Three Mile House' (Potter's), on the Farming- ton road, on Monday, the 16th inst., at 9 o'clock A. M. All who do so are requested to appear on horseback." The Peoria Republican of Oct. 19, 1854, says: "Mr. Douglas rode into our city yesterday at the head of a triumphal procession, seated in a car- riage drawn by four beautiful white palfreys and preceded by a band of music. Cannon boomed in 27 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS welcome to the distinguished visitor and the cheers of his friends resounded through our quiet streets. He was waited upon by a committee of the faithful and escorted to the place of speaking, and the 'dis- tinguished chairman (Washington Cockle) wel- comed him to Peoria County in a terse and elo- quent speech in which he seemed to assume that the Judge was the great man of the age — the greatest man of any age in the past, and greater than any man that may flourish in any age in the future." In strange contrast was the quiet, undemon- strative entry of the tall, lank, homely and awk- ward Lincoln whose name and fame were to ring through the ages — child of the soil — friend of the people — the Emancipator of a race. Child-like in his faith — God-like in his courage — Christ-like in his martyrdom. The events which led up to this meeting form a fascinating page in the history of our country and will deserve the attention of the student who wishes to familiarize himself with the develop- ment of free America as it exists today. The immediate cause of the famous Lincoln- Douglas debates, of which the Peoria meeting was the forerunner, was the Kansas-Nebraska Bill in- troduced into the United States Senate in Jan- 28 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS uary, 1854, by Judge Douglas, which became a law May 31st, 1854. This bill provided for the creation of two vast territories to be called, respectively, Kansas and Nebraska. The inhabitants were to be allowed to decide for themselves whether or not slavery was to be permitted within their respective limits. The passage of this bill created sectional rancor and dis- cord. The North saw in the measure a scheme to make slavery National, and Southern statesmen confirmed the opinion. Robert Toombs of Geor- gia, who afterwards became a member of the Con- federate Cabinet, declared he would "yet live to call the roll of his slaves on Bunker's Hill." Squat- ters (emigrants) flocked to Kansas and Nebraska from North and South — the one element firm to prevent the extension of slavery into these sections, the other seeking to create new slave territory. This question became known as the doctrine of "Squatter Sovereignty." 29 LINCOLN'S INVITATION TO PEORIA Chapter Four The Peoria debate could hardly be called a pre- arranged affair. A short time before the Peoria meeting, Judge Douglas had addressed the crowd at the State Fair held in Springfield, and the Whigs had arranged with Judge Lyman Trumbull to make reply upon the day following, but he failed to appear, and Mr. Lincoln was called upon to fill his place. The Democrats had arranged a series of meetings for Judge Douglas — the first to be held at Peoria, October 16th. As soon as announce- ment of these meetings was made, the Whigs in Peoria got busy and an invitation was sent to Mr. Lincoln to appear and make answer. PEORIA'S INVITATION TO LINCOLN Peoria, Sept. 28, '54. Hon. Abraham Lincoln, Dear Sir: Understanding that Judge Douglas is expected to address our citizens on the 16th of next month on the principles of the Nebraska-Kansas Bill, and feeling that what he may then advance should not be suffered to pass without suitable notice — the undersigned, on behalf of themselves and the Whigs of Peoria, are exceedingly desirous that (if 31 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS not too great a tax upon your time and strength) you will consent to be present and take a con- venient opportunity, after the speech of Judge Douglas, to reply to it, and give us your own views upon the subject. Permit us to say here that we are not unmindful of the good service you have heretofore repeatedly rendered us, nor in- sensible of what we already owe you on that ac- count. But this the rather encourages us to solicit and look for a renewal of the favor. Hoping you may find it convenient to respond favorably to our wish, and that at no distant day it may be in our power to testify our loyal and warm appreciation of your patriotic and efficient public services, we remain Very truly, Your Friends and Fellow Citizens. John Hamlin Jonathan K. Cooper A. P. Bartlett George W. McClellan Lorin G. Pratt Thomas Bryant Dr. Joseph C. Frye John T. Lindsay Charles Ballance John A. McCoy George C. Bestor David D. Irons Hugh W. Reynolds Valentine Dewein Alexander McCoy William A. Herron John Dredge Edward Dickinson John D. Arnold John King (A facsimile of this invitation is inserted on page 31.) 32 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS Mr. Lincoln accepted the invitation and it was afterwards arranged that Mr. Douglas was to speak, Lincoln to follow, and Douglas to close. No limit was set as to time each was to occupy. The meeting had been advertised as a Douglas meeting. Judge Douglas commenced his speech at half after two and did not conclude until after five o'clock. I now quote from an account given by the late Dr. Robert Boal of Peoria. "After he concluded, Mr. Lincoln arose and said he had a proposal to make to the audience which was, that they go home and get their suppers, then come back and he would talk to them. As an ad- ditional inducement, he said that 'Senator Doug- las had the closing speech, and if you would like to see him skin me, you had better come back.' The people had stood for nearly three hours in front of the steps of the old court house, from which the speakers addressed them. They were tired from standing so long, but they came back in increased number and with increased interest. At about 7 o'clock, Mr. Lincoln slowly arose, and, after sur- veying the large audience, commenced his speech by saying: 'He thought he could appreciate an argu- ment, and, at times, believed he could make one, but when one denied the settled and plainest facts of history, you could not argue with him; the only 3 33 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS thing you could do would be to stop his mouth with a corn cob/ "I write this as I recollect it, and I believe I have given it substantially as he said it. Senator Doug- las had an appointment to speak at Lacon the next day. The late Judge Silas Ramsey and myself went to Peoria to hear the speeches and to induce Mr. Lincoln to go to Lacon the next day to answer Senator Douglas. He agreed to go. We took him up in a carriage. Senator Douglas went up in the mail steamer to Chillicothe, which connected with the branch of the Rock Island, which was only finished to that point. A number of Peorians went up on the boat and took the train to Spar- land. Among them was the late Judge Powell of Peoria. In the conversation which took place between the senator and the judge, the latter told the senator that Mr. Lincoln was on the way up to Lacon 'to reply to him. Mr. Douglas was sur- prised to hear it, but said little in reply. He did not expect to meet Mr. Lincoln. When we arrived about 1 o'clock at Lacon, we found Senator Doug- las at the hotel. Mr. Lincoln went in to see him, and, after a few minutes, came out and told his friends that Mr. Douglas said he was sick and worn out and would not speak. Mr. Lincoln, with his usual magnanimity, said he would not take ad- 34 B. C. BRYNER Through whose efforts this book was made possible ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS vantage of him and would make no speech. The people were greatly disappointed. Nearly half the population in the county were in town to hear the distinguished men. An agreement was made be- tween Senator Douglas and Mr. Lincoln that both would go home and stop their meetings. Mr. Lin- coln left soon after the arrangement was made. Senator Douglas remained until the next day, and left ostensibly for Chicago. I was going to Chi- cago and was with him in the omnibus. Between Lacon and Sparland a carriage met us and stopped the omnibus. Senator Douglas got out of it and took his satchel with him. I said to him, 'I thought you intended to go to Chicago?' 'Yes/ he said, 'but I will catch the train at Henry/ Instead of taking the train at Henry, he went to Princeton, in Bureau County, and made a speech that day which Owen Lovejoy answered. In so doing, he violated the agreement made with Mr. Lincoln and made a remarkably rapid recovery from his ill- ness." 36 Chapter Five SPEECH OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN AT PEORIA, ILL. (OCT. 16, 1854) IN REPLY TO SENATOR STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS (From a Reporter's Note Book) I insist that if there is anything which it is the duty of the whole people never to intrust to any hands but their own, that thing is the preservation and perpetuity of their own liberties and institu- tions. And if they shall think, as I do, that the extension of slavery endangers them more than any or all other causes, how recreant to themselves if they submit the question, and with it the fate of their country, to a mere handful of men bent only to self-interest. If this question of slavery exten- sion were an insignificant one — one having no power to do harm — it might be shuffled aside in this way; and being, as it is, the great Behemoth of danger, shall the strong grip of the nation be loos- ened upon him, to intrust him to the hands of such feeble keepers? But Nebraska is urged as a great Union-saving measure. Well, I too go for saving the Union. Much as I hate slavery, I would consent to the ex- tension of it rather than see the Union dissolved, just as I would consent to any great evil to avoid 37 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS a greater one. But when I go to Union-saving, I must believe, at least, that the means I employ have some adaptation to the end. To my mind, Ne- braska has no such adaptation. It hath no relish of salvation in it. It is an ag- gravation, rather, of the only one thing which ever endangers the Union. When it came upon us, all was peace and quiet. The nation was looking to the forming of new bonds of union, and a long course of peace and prosperity seemed to lie before us. In the whole range of possibility, there scarce- ly appears to me to have been anything out of which the slavery agitation could have been re- vived, except the very project of repealing the Mis- souri Compromise. Every inch of territory we owned already had a definite settlement of the slavery question, by which all parties were pledged to abide. Indeed, there was no uninhabited coun- try on the continent which we could acquire, if we except some extreme northern regions which are wholly out of the question. In this state of affairs the Genius of Discord himself could scarcely have invented a way of again setting us by the ears but by turning back and destroying the peace measures of the past. The counsels of that Genius seem to have prevailed. The Missouri Compromise was repealed; and here 38 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS we are in the midst of a new slavery agitation, such, I think, as we have never seen before. Who is responsible for this? Is it those who resist the measure, or those who causelessly brought it for- ward and pressed it through, having reason to know, and in fact knowing, it must and would be so resisted? It could not but be expected by its author that it would be looked upon as a meas- ure for the extension of slavery, aggravated by a gross breach of faith. Argue as you will and long as you will, this is the naked front and aspect of the measure. And in this aspect it could not but produce agitation. Slavery is founded in the selfishness of man's na- ture — opposition to it in his love of justice. These principles are an eternal antagonism, and when brought into collision so fiercely as slavery exten- sion brings them, shocks and throes and convul- sions must ceaselessly follow. Repeal the Missouri Compromise, repeal all compromises, repeal the Declaration of Independence, repeal all past his- tory, you still cannot repeal human nature. It still will be out of the abundance of man's heart that slavery extension is wrong, and out of the abundance of his heart his mouth will continue to speak. The structure, too, of the Nebraska Bill is very peculiar. The people are to decide 39 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS the question of slavery for themselves; but when they are to decide, or how they are to decide, or whether when the question is once decided, it is to remain so or is to be subject to an in- definite succession of new trials, the law does not say. Is it to be decided by the first dozen settlers who arrive there, or is it to await the arrival of a hundred? Is it to be decided by a vote of the people or a vote of the legislature, or, indeed, by a vote of any sort? To these questions the law gives no answer. There is a mystery about this; for when a member proposed to give the legislature express authority to exclude slavery, it was hooted down by the friends of the bill. This fact is worth remembering. Some Yankees in the East are send- ing emigrants to Nebraska to exclude slavery from it; and, so far as I can judge, they expect the ques- tion to be decided by voting in some way or other. But the Missourians are awake, too. They are within a stone's-throw of the contested ground. They hold meetings and pass resolutions, in which not the slightest allusion to voting is made. They resolve that slavery already exists in the Territory; that more shall go there; that they, remaining in Missouri, will protect it, and that abolitionists shall be hung or driven away. Through all this bowie-knives and six-shooters are seen plainly enough, but never a glimpse of the ballot-box. 40 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS And, really, what is the result of all this? Each party within having numerous and determined backers without, is it not probable that the contest will come to blows and bloodshed? Could there be a more apt invention to bring about collision and the violence on the slavery question than this Nebraska project is? I do not charge or believe that such was intended by Congress; but if they had literally formed a ring and placed champions with- in it to fight out the controversy, the fight could be no more likely to come off than it is. And if this fight should begin, is it likely to take a very peace- ful Union-saving turn? Will not the first drop of blood so shed be the real knell of the Union? The Missouri Compromise ought to be restored. For the sake of the Union, it ought to be restored. We ought to elect a House of Representatives which will vote its restoration. If by any means we omit to do this, what follows? Slavery may or may not be established in Nebraska. But wheth- er it be or not, we shall have repudiated — discarded from the councils of the nation — the spirit of com- promise; for who, after this, will ever trust in a national compromise? The spirit of mutual con- cession — that spirit which first gave us the Consti- tution, and which has thrice saved the Union — we shall have strangled and cast from us forever. And 41 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS what shall we have in lieu of it? The South flushed with triumph and tempted to excess; the North, betrayed as they believe, brooding on wrong and burning for revenge. One side will provoke, the other resent. The one will taunt, the other defy; one aggresses, the other retaliates. Already a few in the North defy all constitutional restraints, re- sist the execution of the fugitive-slave law, and even menace the institution of slavery in the States where it exists. Already a few in the South claim the constitutional right to take and to hold slaves in the free States — demand the revival of the slave- trade — and demand a treaty with Great Britain by which fugitive slaves may be reclaimed from Can- ada. As yet they are but few on either side. It is a grave question for lovers of the Union, whether the final destruction of the Missouri Compromise, and with it the spirit of all compromise, will or will not embolden and embitter each of these, and fatally increase the number of both. But restore the compromise, and what then? We thereby restore the national faith, the national confidence, the national feeling of brotherhood. We thereby reinstate the spirit of concession and compromise, that spirit which has never failed us in past perils, and which may be safely trusted for all the future. The South ought to join in doing 42 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS this. The peace of the nation is as dear to them as to us. In memories of the past and hopes of the future, they share as largely as we. It would be on their part a great act — great in its spirit, and great in its effects. It would be worth to the nation a hundred years' purchase of peace and prosperity. And what of sacrifice would they make? They only surrender to us what they gave us for a con- sideration long, long ago; what they have not now asked for, struggled or cared for; what has been thrust upon them, not less to their astonishment than to ours. But it is said we cannot restore it; that though we elect every member of the lower House, the Sen- ate is still against us. It is quite true that of the sen- ators who passed the Nebraska Bill a majority of the whole Senate will retain their seats in spite of the elections of this and the next year. But if at these elections their several constituencies shall clearly express their will against Nebraska, will these senators disregard their will? Will they neither obey nor make room for those who will? But even if we fail to technically restore the compromise, it is still a great point to carry a pop- ular vote in favor of the restoration. The moral weight of such a vote cannot be estimated too highly. The authors of Nebraska are not at all 43 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS satisfied with the destruction of the compromise — an indorsement of this principle they proclaim to be the great object. With them, Nebraska alone is a small matter — to establish a principle for future use is what they particularly desire. The future use is to be the planting of slavery wherever in the wide world local and unorganized opposition cannot prevent it. Now, if you wish to give them this indorsement, if you wish to es- tablish this principle, do so. I shall regret it, but it is your right. On the contrary, if you are op- posed to the principle — intend to give it no such indorsement — let no wheedling, no sophistry, di- vert you from throwing a direct vote against it. Some men, mostly Whigs, who condemn the re- peal of the Missouri Compromise, nevertheless hesitate to go for its restoration, lest they be thrown in company with the abolitionists. Will they allow me, as an old Whig, to tell them, good- humoredly, that I think this is very silly? Stand with anybody that stands right. Stand with him while he is right, and part with him when he goes wrong. Stand with the abolitionists in restoring the Missouri Compromise, and stand against him when he attempts to repeal the fugitive-slave law. In the latter case you stand with the Southern dis- unionist. What of that? You are still right. In 44 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS both cases you are right. In both cases you expose the dangerous extremes. In both you stand on middle ground, and hold the ship level and steady. In both you are national, and nothing less than na- tional. This is the good old Whig ground. To desert such ground because of any company is to be less than a Whig — less than a man — less than an American. I particularly object to the new position which the avowed principle of this Nebraska law gives to slavery in the body politic. I object to it because it assumes that there can be moral right in the enslav- ing of one man by another* I object to it as a dangerous dalliance for a free people — a sad evi- dence that, feeling prosperity, we forget right; that liberty, as a principle, we have ceased to revere. I object to it because the fathers of the republic es- chewed and rejected it. The argument of "neces- sity" was the only argument they ever admitted in favor of slavery; and so far, and so far only, as it carried them did they ever go. They found the institution existing among us, which they could not help, and they cast blame upon the British king for having permitted its introduction. Before the Constitution they prohibited its introduction into the Northwestern Territory, the only country we owned then free from it. At the framing and 45 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS adoption of the Constitution, they forbore to so much as mention the word "slave" or "slavery" in the whole instrument. In the provision for the re- covery of fugitives, the slave is spoken of as a "per- son held to serve or labor." In that prohibiting the abolition of the African slave-trade for twenty years, that trade is spoken of as "the migration or importation of such persons as any of the States now existing shall think proper to admit," etc. These are the only provisions alluding to slavery. Thus the thing is hid away in the Constitution, just as an afflicted man hides away a wen or can- cer which he does not cut out at once, lest he bleed to death, — with the promise, nevertheless, that the cutting may begin at a certain time. Less than this our fathers could not do, and more they would not do. Necessity drove them so far. and further they would not go. But this is not all. The earliest Congress under the Constitution took the same view of slavery. They hedged and hemmed it in to the narrowest limits of necessity. In 1794 they prohibited an outgoing slave- trade — that is, the taking of slaves from the United States to sell. In 1798 they prohibited the bringing of slaves from Africa into the Mis- sissippi Territory, this Territory then comprising what are now the States of Mississippi and Ala- 46 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS bama. This was ten years before they had the authority to do the same thing as to the States ex- isting at the adoption of the Constitution. In 1800 they prohibited American citizens from trading in slaves between foreign countries, as, for instance, from Africa to Brazil. In 1803 they passed a law in aid of one or two slave-State laws, in restraint of the internal slave-trade. In 1807, in apparent hot haste, they passed the law nearly a year in advance — to take effect the first day of 1808, the very first day the Constitution would permit — prohibiting the African slave-trade by heavy pecuniary and corporal penalties. In 1820, finding these provisions ineffectual, they declared the slave-trade piracy, and annexed to it the extreme penalty of death. While all this was pass- ing in the General Government, five or six of the original slave States had adopted systems of grad- ual emancipation, by which the institution was rapidly becoming extinct within their limits. Thus we see that the plain, unmistakable spirit of that ^ge toward slavery was hostility to the principle and toleration only by necessity. But now it is to be transformed into a "sacred right/' Nebraska brings it forth, places it on the highroad to extension and perpetuity, and with a pat on its back says to it, "Go, and God speed 47 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS you." Henceforth it is to be the chief jewel of the nation — the very figurehead of the ship of state. Little by little, but steadily as man's march to the grave, we have been giving up the old for the new faith. Near eighty years ago we began by declaring that all men are created equal; but now from that beginning we have run down to the other declara- tion, that for some men to enslave others is a "sa- cred right of self-government." These principles cannot stand together. They are as opposite as God and Mammon; and whoever holds to the one must despise the other. When Pettit, in con- nection with his support of the Nebraska Bill, called the Declaration of Independence "a self-evi- dent lie," he only did what consistency and candor require all other Nebraska men to do. Of the forty-odd Nebraska senators who sat present and heard him no one rebuked him. Nor am I ap- prised that any Nebraska newspaper, or any Ne- braska orator, in the whole nation has ever yet re- buked him. If this had been said among Marion's men, Southerners though they were, what would have become of the man who said it? If this had been said to the men who captured Andre, the man who said it would probably have been hung sooner than Andre was. If it had been said in old Inde- pendence Hall seventy-eight years ago, the very 48 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS doorkeeper would have throttled the man and thrust him into the street. Let no one be deceived. The spirit of seventy-six and the spirit of Nebras- ka are utter antagonisms; and the former is being rapidly displaced by the latter. Fellow-countrymen, Americans, South as well as North, shall we make no effort to arrest this? Already the liberty party throughout the world express the apprehension "that the one retrograde institution in America is undermining the prin- ciples of progress, and fatally violating the noblest political system the world ever saw." This is not the taunt of enemies, but the warning of friends. Is it quite safe to disregard it — to despise it? Is there no danger to liberty itself in discarding the earliest practice and first precept of our ancient faith? In our greedy chase to make profit of the negro let us beware lest we "cancel and tear in pieces" even the white man's charter of freedom. Our republican robe is soiled and trailed in the dust. Let us repurify it. Let us turn and wash it white in the spirit, if not the blood, of the Revo- lution. Let us turn slavery from its claims of "moral right" back upon its existing legal right and its arguments of "necessity." Let us return it to the position our fathers gave it, and there let it rest in peace. Let us readopt the Declaration of 4 49 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS Independence, and with it the practices and policy which harmonize with it. Let North and South — let all Americans — let all lovers of liberty every- where join in the great and good work. If we do this, we shall not only have saved the Union, but we shall have so saved it as to make and to keep it forever worthy of the saving. We shall have so saved it that the succeeding millions of free, happy people, the world over, shall rise up and call us blessed to the latest generations. At Springfield, twelve days ago, where I had spoken substantially as I have here, Judge Douglas replied to me; and as he is to reply to me here, I shall attempt to anticipate him by noticing some of the points he made there. He commenced by stat- ing I had assumed all the way through that the principle of the Nebraska Bill would have the effect of extending slavery. De denied that this was intended, or that this effect would follow. I will not reopen the argument upon this point. That such was the intention, the world believed at the start, and will continue to believe. This was the countenance of the thing, and both friends and enemies instantly recognized it as such. That countenance cannot now be changed by argument. You can as easily argue the color out of the negro's skin. Like the "bloody hand" you may wash it 50 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS and wash it, yet the red witness of guilt still sticks and stares horribly at you. Next he says that congressional intervention never prevented slavery anywhere; that it did not prevent it in the Northwestern Territory, nor in Illinois; that, in fact, Illinois came into the Union as a slave State; that the principle of the Nebraska Bill expelled it from Illinois, from several old States, from everywhere. Now this is mere quibbling all the way through. If the ordinance of '87 did not keep slavery out of the Northwest Territory, how hap- pens it that the northwest shore of the Ohio River is entirely free from it, while the southeast shore, less than a mile distant, along nearly the whole length of the river, is entirely covered with it? If that ordinance did not keep it out of Illinois, what was it that made the difference between Illi- nois and Missouri? They lie side by side, the Mississippi River only dividing them while their early settlements were within the same latitude. Between 1810 and 1820 the number of slaves in Missouri increased 7211, while in Illinois in the same ten years they decreased 5 1 . This appears by the census returns. During nearly all of that ten years both were Territories, not States. During this time the ordinance forbade slavery to go into 51 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS Illinois, and nothing forbade it to go into Mis- souri. It did go into Missouri, and did not go into Illinois. That is the fact. Can any one doubt as to the reason of it? But he says Illinois came into the Union as a slave State. Silence, perhaps, would be the best answer to this flat contradiction of the known history of the country. What are the facts upon which this bold assertion is based? When we first acquired the country, as far back as 1787, there were some slaves within it held by the French inhabitants of Kaskaskia. The territorial legisla- tion admitted a few negroes from the slave States as indentured servants. One year after the adop- tion of the first State constitution, the whole number of them was — what do you think? Just one hundred and seventeen, while the aggregate free population was 55,094 — about four hun- dred and seventy to one. Upon this state of facts the people framed their constitution prohibiting the further introduction of slavery, with a sort of guarantee to the owners of the few indentured servants, giving freedom to their children to be born thereafter, and making no mention whatever of any supposed slave for life. Out of this small matter the judge manufactures his argument that Illinois came into the Union as a slave State. Let the facts be the answer to the argument. 52 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS The principles of the Nebraska Bill, he says, ex- pelled slavery from Illinois. The principle of that bill first planted it here — that is, it first came because there was no law to prevent it, first came before we owned the country; and finding it here, and having the ordinance of '87 to prevent its in- creasing, our people struggled along, and finally got rid of it as best they could. But the principle of the Nebraska Bill abolished slavery in several of the old States. Well, it is true that several of the old States, in the last quarter of the last century, did adopt systems of gradual emancipation by which the institution has finally become extinct within their limits; but it may or may not be true that the principle of the Nebraska Bill was the cause that led to the adoption of these measures. It is now more than fifty years since the last of these States adopted its system of emancipa- tion. If the Nebraska Bill is the real author of the benevolent works, it is rather deplorable that it has for so long a time ceased working altogether. Is there not some reason to suspect that it was the principle of the Revolution, and not the prin- ciple of the Nebraska Bill, that led to emanci- pation in these old States? Leave it to the people of these old emancipating States, and I am quite 53 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS certain they will decide that neither that nor any other good thing ever did or ever will come of the Nebraska Bill In the course of my argument, Judge Douglas interrupted me to say that the principle of the Ne- braska Bill was very old; that it originated when God made man, and placed good and evil before him, allowing him to choose for himself, being re- sponsible for the choice he should make. At the time I thought this was merely playful, and I an- swered it accordingly. But in his reply to me he renewed it as a serious argument. In seriousness, then, the facts of this proposition are not true as stated. God did not place good and evil before man, telling him to make his choice. On the con- trary, he did tell him there was one tree of the fruit of which he should not eat, upon pain of certain death. I should scarcely wish so strong a prohibi- tion against slavery in Nebraska. But this argument strikes me as not a little re- markable in another particular — in its strong re- semblance to the old argument for the "divine right of kings." By the latter, the king is to do just as he pleases with his white subjects, being re- sponsible to God alone. By the former, the white man is to do just as he pleases with his black slaves, being responsible to God alone. The two things are 54 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS precisely alike, and it is but natural that they should find similar arguments to sustain them. I had argued that the application of the prin- ciple of self-government, as contended for, would require the revival of the African slave-trade, that no argument could be made in favor of a man's right to take slaves to Nebraska, which could not be equally well made in favor of his right to bring them from the coast of Africa. The judge replied that the Constitution requires the suppression of the foreign slave-trade, but does not require the prohibition of slavery in the Territories. That is a mistake in point of fact. The Constitution does not require the action of Congress in either case, and it does authorize it in both. And so there is still no difference between the cases. In regard to what I have said of the advantage the slave States have over the free in the matter of representation, the judge replied that we in the free States count five free negroes as five white people, while in the slave States they count five slaves as three whites only; and that the advantage, at last, was on the side of the free States. Now, in the slave States they count free negroes just as we do; and it so happens that besides their slaves, they have as many free negroes as we have, and thirty thousand over. Thus, their free ne- 55 ABRAHAM LINCOLN, IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS groes more than balance ours; and their advantage over us, in consequence of their slaves, still remains as I stated it. In reply to my argument that the compromise measures of 1850 were a system of equivalents, and that the provisions of no one of them could fairly be carried to other subjects without its cor- responding equivalent being carried with it, the judge denied outright that these measures had any connection with or dependence upon each other. This is mere desperation. If they had no connec- tion, why are they always spoken of in connection? Why has he so spoken of them a thousand times? Why has he constantly called them a series of meas- ures? Why does everybody call them a com- promise? Why was California kept out of the Union six or seven months, if it was not because of its connection with the other measures? Web- ster's leading definition of the verb "to compro- mise" is "to adjust and settle a difference, by mu- tual agreement, with concessions of claims by the parties." This conveys precisely the popular un- derstanding of the word "compromise." We knew, before the judge told us, that these measures passed separately, and in distinct bills, and that no two of them were passed by the votes of precisely the same members. But we also know, 56 ABRAHAM LINCOLN, IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS and so does he know, that no one of them could have passed both branches of Congress but for the understanding that the others were to pass also. Upon this understanding, each got votes which it could have got in no other way. It is this fact which gives to the measures their true character; and it is the universal knowledge of this fact that has given them the name of "compromise," so ex- pressive of that true character. I had asked "if, in carrying the Utah and New Mexico laws to Nebraska, you could clear away other objection, but could you leave Nebraska 'perfectly free' to introduce slavery before she forms a constitution during her territorial govern- ment, while the Utah and New Mexico laws only authorize it when they form constitutions and are admitted into the Union?" To this Judge Doug- las answered that the Utah and New Mexico laws also authorized it before; and to prove this he read from one of their laws, as follows; "That the legislative power of said territory shall extend to all rightful subjects of legislation, consistent with the Constitution of the United States and the pro- visions of this act." Now it is perceived from the reading of this that there is nothing express upon the subject, but that the authority is sought to be implied merely for 57 ABRAHAM LINCOLN, IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS the general provision of "all rightful subjects of legislation." In reply to this I insist, as a legal rule of construction, as well as the plain, popular view of the matter, that the express provisions for Utah and New Mexico coming in with slavery, if they choose, when they shall form constitutions, is an exclusion of all implied authority on the same subject; that Congress, having the subject distinct- ly in their minds when they made the express pro- vision, they therein expressed their whole meaning on that subject. The judge rather insinuated that I had found it convenient to forget the Washington territorial law passed in 1853. This was a division of Ore- gon organizing the northern part as the Territory of Washington. He asserted that by this act the ordinance of '87, theretofore existing in Oregon, was repealed; that nearly all the members of Con- gress voted for it, beginning in the House of Repre- sentatives with Charles Allen of Massachusetts, and ending with Richard Yates of Illinois; and that he could not understand how those who now oppose the Nebraska Bill so voted there, unless it was because it was then too soon after both the great political parties had ratified the compromises of 1850, and the ratification therefore was too fresh to be then repudiated. 58 ABRAHAM LINCOLN, IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS Now I had seen the Washington act before, and I have carefully examined it since; and I aver that there is no repeal of the ordinance of '87, or of any prohibition of slavery, in it. In express terms, there is absolutely nothing in the whole law upon the subject — in fact, nothing to lead a reader to think of the subject. To my judgment it is equally free from everything from which repeal can be legally implied; but however this may be, are men now to be entrapped by a legal implication, extracted from covert language, introduced perhaps for the very purpose of entrapping them? I sincerely wish every man could read this law quite through, care- fully watching every sentence and every line for a repeal of the ordinance of '87, or anything equiva- lent to it. Another point on the Washington act. If it was intended to be modeled after the Utah and New Mexico acts, as Judge Douglas insists, why was it not inserted in it, as in them, that Washing- ton was to come in with or without slavery as she may choose at the adoption of her constitution? It has no such provision in it; and I defy the in- genuity of a man to give a reason for the omission, other than that it was not intended to follow the Utah and New Mexico laws in regard to the ques- tion of slavery. 59 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS The Washington act not only differs vitally from the Utah and New Mexico acts, but the Ne- braska act differs vitally from both. By the latter act the people are left "perfectly free" to regulate their own domestic concerns, etc.; but in all the former, all their laws are to be submitted to Con- gress, and if disapproved are to be null. The Washington act goes even further; it absolutely prohibits the territorial legislature, by very strong and guarded language, from establishing banks or borrowing money on the faith of the Territory. Is this the sacred right of self-government we hear vaunted so much? No sir; the Nebraska Bill finds no model in the act of '50 or the Washington act. It finds no model in any law from Adam till today. As Phillips says of Napoleon, the Nebraska act is grand, gloomy and peculiar, wrapped in the soli- tude of its own originality, without a model and without a shadow upon the earth. In the course of his reply Senator Douglas re- marked in substance that he had always considered this government was made for the white people and not for the negroes. Why, in point of mere fact, I think so too. But in this remark of the judge there is a significance which I think is the key to the great mistake (if there is any such mis- take) which he has made in this Nebraska meas- 60 ABRAHAM LINCOLN, IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS ure. It shows that the judge has no very vivid im- pression that the negro is human, and consequently has no idea that there can be any moral question in legislating about him. In his view the question of whether a new country shall be slave or free is a matter of as utter indifference as it is whether his neighbor shall plant his farm with tobacco or stock it with horned cattle. Now, whether this view is right or wrong, it is very certain that the great mass of mankind take a totally different view. They consider slavery a great moral wrong, and their feeling against it is not evanescent, but eter- nal. It lies at the very foundation of their sense of justice, and it cannot be trifled with. It is a great and durable element of popular action, and I think no statesman can safely disregard it. Our Senator also objects that those who oppose him in this matter do not entirely agree with one another. He reminds me that in my firm adher- ence to the constitutional rights of the slave States, I differ widely from others who are co-operating with me in opposing the Nebraska Bill, and he says it is not quite fair to oppose him in this variety of ways. He should remember that he took us by surprise — astounded us by this measure. We were thunderstruck and stunned, and we reeled and fell in utter confusion. But we rose, each fighting, 61 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS grasping whatever he could first reach — a scythe, a pitchfork, a chopping ax, or a butcher's cleaver. We struck in the direction of the sound, and we were rapidly closing in upon him. He must not think to divert us from our purpose by showing us that our drill, our dress, and our weapons are not entirely perfect and uniform. When the storm shall be past he shall find us still Americans, no less devoted to the continued union and pros- perity of the country than heretofore. 62 LINCOLN AND DOUGLAS THE PEORIA DEBATES and LINCOLN'S POWER A Broadside Published in 1866 by Wm. H. Herndon, of Springfield, 111., Lincoln's Law Partner The writer of this has been placed wrongly on a particular record. The work to which allusion is made is a Biography of Mr. Lincoln, written and published in Springfield, Mass. I have hitherto abstained from exposing the mistake, first, because I thought it might injure the sale of the Biog- raphy, and secondly, because I knew the people would soon see the error. It is now time to speak. The facts are both interesting and important: they show Douglas' opinion of the strength of Mr. Lincoln; they show the goodness of Mr. Lincoln, and they explain an event of interest. Hence I assert that the facts are interesting and important, and should therefore be known, in justice to all. Now for the facts. Senator Douglas made a speech in the city of Springfield, Illinois, in 1854. It was delivered to a large and intelligent audience in the Hall of the House of Representatives, October 4th, 1854; it was in the day time, and during the State Fair. Mr. Lincoln was present at 63 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS the speech, heard it attentively, took notes, and prepared himself to answer it the next day. The next day — say at one o'clock P. M. — Mr. Lincoln made his appearance in the same hall and then and there spoke to a similar audience, equal in num- ber and intelligence. Senator Douglas spoke for about two and one-half hours the day before. Mr. Lincoln spoke on the 5 th day of October about three and one-half hours. Much enthusiasm pre- vailed at the time of these speeches. Senator Douglas replied to Mr. Lincoln on the same day and to the same audience. Douglas in reply spoke eloquently and energetically for about one hour. Senator Douglas at that time had a published list of appointments — say commencing at Springfield, October 4th; at Peoria, October the 16th; at Lacon on the 17th; at Princeton on the 18th, and at Aurora on the 19th. Mr. Lincoln's friends asked — nay, actually petitioned Mr. Lincoln — praying that he would follow Douglas and answer him whenever and wherever he spoke. Douglas did go to Peoria to fill his appointments; he spoke in Peoria according to published notice on the 16th of October, 1854. Mr. Lincoln did follow Sena- tor Douglas to Peoria and did hear him speak — did take notes — did arrange them, and did answer Senator Douglas, say at 7 o'clock in the evening of 64 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS that day in the same house. Senator Douglas, I presume, was present. Senator Douglas replied, as at the Hall of the House of Representatives in Springfield, he concluding both debates. It was the fixed determination of Mr. Lincoln to follow Senator Douglas to his appointments, and to the end. He had made full preparations to go to Lacon, Princeton and Aurora, as well as elsewhere. After the debate was over Senator Douglas, probably on October the 1 7th, sent for Mr. Lin- coln at Peoria or on the way to Lacon. Mr. Lin- coln did go and see Senator Douglas; they had a private conversation about the speeches that were to be made. Senator Douglas at that meeting said to Mr. Lincoln substantially, if not in words: "Mr. Lincoln, you have made me more trouble on this Territorial question, and the facts and laws of their organization, with intents and purposes, in the government, since its organization, than all the members of the Senate of the United States. You know what trouble they have given me. You have given me more trouble than all the opposition. I now propose this to you: If you will go home, and make no more speeches at my appointments, I will go to no more of my published places of speaking, and remain silent. I can make nothing off you, and you can't off me. "Your will be done, 5 65 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS Senator Douglas; I don't wish to crowd you/' re- plied Mr. Lincoln. Douglas' remaining published places were Lacon, Princeton and Aurora. Sena- tor Douglas did go to Lacon. Lincoln did follow. Senator Douglas made some excuse to his friends at this place that his throat was sore. Mr. Lincoln said he would take no advantage of Senator Doug- las' situation. The two great men then understood each other, and Lincoln in kindness and nobleness never in- sinuated what was the matter, nor did he crowd Senator Douglas. Mr. Lincoln made his promises in good faith and really kept them to the end, in- violate in fact and spirit. Mr. Lincoln returned to his home in the city of Springfield, Illinois, about the 19th of October, 1854. He remained in this city till the election was over, making no more speeches, I say, during that canvass. Several of Mr. Lincoln's friends met him in his office some days after the 19th of October. Some of these men were the original petitioners spoken of before. These men, or some of them, are as fol- lows: Peyton L. Harrison, Benj. F. Irwin — a pe- titioner — Isaac Cogdall, and myself. Mr. Irwin probably asked him why he did not follow Sena- tor Douglas, as he had promised to do as under- stood. This placed Mr. Lincoln in a dilemma; his 66 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS word was out to follow and answer Senator Douglas and the petitioner asked him why he did not follow. Mr. Lincoln after a few minutes' re- flection then told the reasons, enjoining privacy on all as above given; he good-naturedly said in mit- igation or excuse: "Senator Douglas flattered me into the arrangement, and you must not blame me." A few months — say one or two months — after Mr. Lincoln's assassination, a gentleman from Springfield, Mass., came into my office and pre- sented me with a letter of introduction from a friend in Chicago, as my memory serves me. Probably the letter was from my friend, Horace White, of the Chicago Tribune. The New Eng- land gentleman — a member of the Massachusetts Historical Society — was informed probably at Chicago that I was writing an analytical life of Mr. Lincoln: he was so informed in this city. He made known his business and asked me several questions, none of which did I object to. I was really desirous of helping the gentleman, and so told him. I answered the questions quickly, frankly and truthfully; he was with me taking notes for parts of two days. I told him many things, without being asked, it may be. I quit my business, dropped my professional duties for those 67 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS parts of days, in order to accommodate and assist the man. He got from me what I think valuable; he evidently thought so, because he used it in the Biography, with Mr. Lincoln's strong, gnarly sen- tences toned down, in some instances, to suit an over-refined, distorted taste, as I think. The Massachusetts gentleman goes back to his home in the East, sits down in his office, and pens the fol- lowing lines, at pages 141 and 142, speaking of the Peoria debate and what I told him: "At the close of the debate, the two combatants held a conference, the result of which has been variously reported. One authority * (*William H. Herndon, in a foot note) states that Mr. Douglas sent for Mr. Lincoln, and told him that if he would speak no more during the campaign, he (Douglas) would go home and remain silent during the same period, and that this arrangement was agreed upon, and its terms fulfilled. That there was a conference on the subjects sought, there is no doubt, and there is no doubt that Mr. Lincoln promised not to challenge him again to debate, during the canvass, but abundant evidence exists that Mr. Lincoln did not leave the field at all, but spoke in various parts of the State." I am not objecting to the manner of his state- ment, though that is not correct, I am not raising 68 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS any objection on that issue. Let it stand as it is. I have italicized some words which are not in the original. Here is a direct assertion, on my part, that Mr. Lincoln said as above stated by me. I did make the assertion as I state it. Here in the book, in the sentence quoted, is a denial of what I said and now repeat. Would it not have been quite gentlemanly for the man to have given me a chance to correct the error, by informing me of it by letter, or otherwise? If he did not choose so to do, would it not have been quite gentlemanly to have left my name out as the author of the story, or even a part of it? There is an allega- tion that after the 16th of October, 1854, and after Mr. Lincoln's agreement with Senator Douglas, Mr. Lincoln, during the canvass of that year, did on various occasions and places address the people of Illinois on the questions of the day. One of three things is true: First, I told a lie; second, that Mr. Lincoln acted in bad faith — broke his sacred honor by addressing the people after the 16th of October; or, third, that the gen- tleman has no abundant evidence to prove that Mr. Lincoln, after that 16th day, did speak "in various parts of the State." But suppose that Mr. Lincoln and myself are correct, then what? Let me state a fact here, by way of note as it were. It 69 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS is said to me, on what I consider good author- ity, that Senator Douglas did speak at Prince- ton, on the 18th day of October, contrary to his agreement with Mr. Lincoln. I regret to learn this, and leave an explanation to come from Sena- tor Douglas' friend, who should, for his credit, in- vestigate the matter thoroughly and well. Senator Douglas may have been driven to this by the peo- ple — the Democrats and Republicans at that place and time; or he may have been bantered into it by the Republicans, who had then and there an elo- quent champion on the spot, ready and anxious to answer Senator Douglas. The gentleman here spoken of, or alluded to, was the Hon. Owen Lovejoy. There is some excuse, some explanation, some probable cause why Senator Douglas spoke at Princeton, somewhere, and it can be found out. Now, as to that abundant evidence, let us see. Mr. Lincoln returned to his home in this city about the 19th day of October — three days after the Peoria debate; he sat down and here com- menced writing out, as rapidly as he could, his Peo- ria speech, which, in substance, is the Springfield speech, with the fire died out, made October the 5th; he was a candidate for the State Legislature at that time, probably against his will. The San- gamon Circuit Court was coming on apace and he 70 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS must turn some of his attention to these things. The first part of Mr. Lincoln's speech appears in the Illinois Daily Journal (now called), October 2 1st. The entire speech runs through seven num- bers of the Daily Journal. Mr. Lincoln was at home, writing out and correcting the proof sheets of his speech. I well know, well remember this. I so assert this now. The full speech, as written out by Mr. Lincoln, first appeared as it now stands in the Weekly Journal, November 2nd, 1854, No. 1, 213. The November election, by the Consti- tution and laws of the State of Illinois, took place — came off — on the 7th day of November, 1854. There are five days between the 2nd of November and the 7th. Will some gentleman show or pro- cure that abundant evidence spoken of? Will some good man show that Mr. Lincoln made, after the 16th of October, various speeches to the people of Illinois, during the canvass of that year? Will some searching, inquiring mind show any evidence by the record that Mr. Lincoln spoke at all after the day agreed upon between Senator Douglas and himself? I aver that there is no such abundant evidence of record, nor other well authenticated evidence anywhere. No man can show that Mr. Lincoln violated his sacred honor. No man can show that Mr. Lincoln ever addressed 71 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS the people after his promise. I aver that he told me — rather told Benj. F. Irwin, Peyton L. Har- rison, Isaac Cogdall and myself — that he had made the agreement with Senator Douglas substantially as I state it. Men may carelessly, loosely say that Mr. Lincoln did violate his honor, by saying that he did speak contrary to the above agreement. For Mr. Lincoln's sake, and for my own sake, I appeal to and ask for the record or any other valid, relia- ble evidence. If I assert, as I do, these things, I wilfully tell falsehood; and I ought to have no quarter, and because of that I ask for none. Feeling that I have been badly treated, and mis- placed, as it were, wantonly, on the record, I am compelled in self-defense to publish this letter. It is probable that the Biographer would, in another edition of the work, correct the error, but I know of no law compelling me to wait for that con- tingency. The publication of this letter cannot injure the sale of his life of Mr. Lincoln. Truly yours, W. H. HERNDON. 72 Chapter Six Nicolay and Hay in their life of Lincoln speak of the encounter of Judge Douglas and Lincoln at the Illinois State Fair at Springfield as a debate. This is hardly correct, as State Fair Week was an occasion when speakers from all parts presented their views and the custom was followed at this time — Lincoln and Douglas speaking upon differ- ent days. Their account of the Peoria meeting and com- ments upon Lincoln's speech are of so much in- terest that I venture to reproduce here what they have to say. (Vol. 1, Page 378, "Abraham Lin- coln," Nicolay and Hay.) "Douglas made his speech, according to notice, on the first day of the fair, Tuesday, October 3. 'I will mention,' said he in his opening remarks, 'that it is understood by some gentlemen that Mr. Lincoln, of this city, is expected to answer me. If this is the understanding, I wish that Mr. Lin- coln would step forward and let us arrange some plan upon which to carry out this discussion.' Mr. Lincoln was not there at the moment, and the arrangement could not then be made. Unpropiti- ous weather had brought the meeting to the Rep- resentatives' Hall in the State House, which was 73 SENATOR STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS "The first duty of an American citizen is obedience to the Constitution and Laws of his Country." — Stephen A. Douglas. ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS densely packed. The next day found the same hall filled as before to hear Mr. Lincoln. Douglas occupied a seat just in front of him, and in his rejoinder he explained that 'my friend Mr. Lin- coln expressly invited me to stay and hear him speak today, as he heard me yesterday, and to answer and defend myself as best I could. I here thank him for his courteous offer/ The occasion greatly equalized the relative standing of the champions. The familiar surroundings, the pres- ence and hearty encouragement of his friends, put Lincoln in his best vein. His bubbling humor, his perfect temper, and, above all, the overwhelm- ing current of his historical arraignment extorted the admiration of even his political enemies. 'His speech was four hours in length,' wrote one of these, 'and was conceived and expressed in a most happy and pleasant style, and was received with abundant applause. At times he made statements which brought Senator Douglas to his feet, and then good-humored passages of wit created much interest and enthusiasm.' All reports plainly in- dicate that Douglas was astonished and discon- certed at this unexpected strength of argument, and that he struggled vainly through a two hours' rejoinder to break the force of Lincoln's victory in the debate. Lincoln had hitherto been the fore- 75 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS most man in his district. That single effort made him the leader on the new question in his State. "The fame of this success brought Lincoln ur- gent calls from all the places where Douglas was expected to speak. Accordingly, twelve days afterwards, October 16, they once more met in debate at Peoria. Lincoln, as before, gave Doug- las the opening and closing speeches, explaining that he was willing to yield this advantage in order to secure a hearing from the Democratic por- tion of his listeners. The audience was a large one, but not so representative in its character as that at Springfield. The occasion was made mem- orable, however, by the fact that when Lincoln returned home he wrote out and published his speech. We have therefore the revised text of his argument, and are able to estimate its character and value. Marking as it does with unmistakable precision a step in the second period of his intellec- tual development, it deserves the careful attention of the student of his life. "After the lapse of more than a quarter of a century the critical reader still finds it a model of brevity, directness, terse diction, exact and lucid historical statement, and full of logical proposi- tions so short and so strong as to resemble mathe- matical axioms. Above all it is pervaded by an 76 NEAR THIS SPOT OCCURRED THE FAMOUS -C" POLITICAL DEBATE BETWEEN , & ABRAHAM LINCOLN AND |? STEPHEN A.DOUGLAS OCTOBER 16,1854 ...a HEIGHT OP A GENERATION OF FREE e government:' "THE PEOPLE'S WILL 1ST UTY OF AN AMERICAN CITIZEN IS OBEDIENC ON AND LAWS OF HIS COUNTRY." .' - wtECTED BY GEORGE A.WILSON CIRCLE NO 49 LADIES OF THE GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC BRONZE PLATE ON THE PRESENT PEORIA COUNTY COURT HOUSE ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS elevation of thought and aim that lifts it out of the commonplace of mere party controversy. Comparing it with his later speeches, we find it to contain not only the argument of the hour, but the premonition of the broader issues into which the new struggle was destined soon to expand. "The main, broad current of his reasoning was to vindicate and restore the policy of the fathers of the country in the restriction of slavery; but running through this like a thread of gold was the demonstration of the essential injustice and im- morality of the system. He said: 'This declared indifference but, as I must think, covert zeal for the spread of slavery, I can- not but hate. I hate it because of the monstrous injustice of slavery itself. I hate it because it deprives our republican example of its just in- fluence in the world; enables the enemies of free institutions with plausibility to taunt us as hypo- crites; causes the real friends of freedom to doubt our sincerity; and especially because it forces so many really good men among ourselves into an open war with the very fundamental principles of civil liberty, criticizing the Declaration of Inde- pendence and insisting that there is no right prin- ciple of action but self-interest. 78 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS 'The doctrine of self-government is right — absolutely and eternally right — but it has no just application as here attempted. Or perhaps I should rather say that whether it has such just application depends upon whether a negro is not, or is, a man. If he is not a man, in that case he who is a man may as a matter of self-government do just what he pleases with him. But if the negro is a man, is it not to that extent a total destruction of self-government to say that he too shall not govern himself? When the white man governs himself, that is self-government; but when he governs himself and also governs another man, that is more than self-government — that is despotism. 'What I do say is, that no man is good enough to govern another man without that other's consent. 'The master not only governs the slave with- out his consent, but he governs him by a set of rules altogether different from those which he prescribes for himself. Allow all the governed an equal voice in the government; that, and that only, is self-government. ' 'Slavery is founded in the selfishness of man's nature — opposition to it, in his love of justice. These principles are an eternal antagonism; and 79 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS when brought into collision so fiercely as slavery extension brings them, shocks and throes and con- vulsions must ceaselessly follow. Repeal the Mis- souri Compromise — repeal all compromise — re- peal the Declaration of Independence — repeal all past history — still you cannot repeal human nature. 'I particularly object to the new position which the avowed principle of this Nebraska law gives to slavery in the body politic. I object to it because it assumes that there can be moral right in the enslaving of one man by another. I object to it as a dangerous dalliance for a free people — a sad evidence that, feeling prosperity, we forget right — that liberty as a principle we have ceased to revere. 1 'Little by little, but steadily as man's march to the grave, we have been giving up the old for the new faith. Near eighty years ago we began by declaring that all men are created equal; but now from that beginning we have run down to the other declaration that for some men to en- slave others is a 'sacred right of self-government.' These principles cannot stand together. They are as opposite as God and Mammon. 'Our republican robe is soiled and trailed in the dust. Let us repurify it. Let us turn and wash it white in the spirit, if not the blood, of 80 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS the Revolution. Let us turn slavery from its claims of "moral right" back upon its existing legal rights, and its arguments of ''necessity/' Let us return it to the position our fathers gave it, and there let it rest in peace. Let us readopt the Declaration of Independence, and the practices and policy which harmonize with it. Let North and South — let all Americans — let all lovers of lib- erty everywhere join in the great and good work. If we do this, we shall not only have saved the Union, but we shall have so saved it as to make and to keep it forever worthy of the saving. We shall have so saved it that the succeeding millions of free, happy people, the world over, shall rise up and call us blessed to the latest generations/ 81 Chapter Seven These recollections of my boyhood days are as pictures of the old masters whose colors remain vivid through all the years. No words of mine can better describe what memory recalls of those stirring days than the following from the pen of the special correspondent of the New York Post, written four years after Lincoln and Douglas met in Peoria: "It is astonishing how deep an interest in politics this people take. Over long weary miles of hot and dusty prairie the processions of eager partisans come — on foot, on horseback, in wagons drawn by horses or mules; men, women and chil- dren, old and young; the half sick, just out of the last 'shake'; children in arms, infants at the mater- nal fount, pushing on in clouds of dust and be- neath the blazing sun; settling down at the town where the meeting is, with hardly a chance for sitting, and even less opportunity for eating, wait- ing in anxious groups for hours at the places of speaking, talking, discussing, litigious, vociferous, while the war artillery, the music of the bands, the waving of banners, the huzzahs of the crowds, as delegation after delegation appears; the cry of the peddlers vending all sorts of ware, from an 83 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS infallible cure of 'agur' to a monster watermelon in slices to suit purchasers — combine to render the occasion one scene of confusion and commotion. The hour of one arrives and a perfect rush is made for the grounds; a column of dust is rising to the ILLUSTRATION USED ON POLITICAL BANNERS IN 1854 heavens and fairly deluging those who are hurry- ing on through it. Then the speakers come with flags, and banners, and music, surrounded by cheering partisans. Their arrival at the ground and immediate approach to the stand are the signal for shouts that rend the heavens. They are in- troduced to the audience amidst prolonged and enthusiastic cheers; they are interrupted by fre- quent applause; and they sit down finally amid 84 PEORIA COUNTY COURT HOUSE AT THE TIME OF THE LINCOLN ADDRESS, OCTOBER 16, 1854 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS the same uproarious demonstration. The audience sit or stand patiently throughout, and, as the last word is spoken, make a break for their homes, first hunting up lost members of their families, getting their scattered wagonloads together, and, as the daylight fades away, entering again upon the broad prairies and slowly picking their way back to the place of beginning." In 1854 the old Court House stood in the same place as the present one. From the north corner of the square, extending to the foot of the bluff and running through where now stands the Woman's Club House, was an avenue of locust trees fragrant in blossom time. Around the square were hitching racks to which were tied horses and mules attached to vehicles of every description. Delegations arriving were preceded by floats. Usually there was one containing Miss Columbia, surrounded by young ladies in white, wearing sashes upon which were lettered the names of the States represented. I recall my mother entertain- ing one such, and improvising for them beds upon the floor. To cook for thirty or forty was no trick for the efficient housewife of those days. Flags were almost invariably mounted upon sap- 86 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS lings with a bunch of leaves at the top. At night illuminations glowed from candles set in rows in windows. It is all a glorious memory. 87 Chapter Eight It will be noted that the writer has taken for his text — "I saw and heard Lincoln and Douglas when a boy." This only! Variety may lead me far afield in striving to impart a personal touch to my sketch, but I have found that children enjoy those stories most to which one adds a relation- ship, no matter how remote. And what are we all but grown up children — robbed of their bloom and touched with the canker of egotistic wisdom! For wisdom is the name we give our knowledge of evil, whereas true wisdom dwells only in the innocence of childhood. Probably no one stood higher in the esteem and confidence of Lincoln than Colonel Alexander K. McClure, whose first wife was a cousin of my father. The following is an account of Colonel McClure: Colonel Alexander K. McClure, the editorial director of the Philadelphia Times, which he founded in 1875, began his forceful career as a tanner's apprentice in the mountains of Pennsyl- vania three score years ago. He tanned hides all day, and read exchanges at nights in a neighboring weekly newspaper office. The learned tanner's boy also became the aptest tanner in the county, and 89 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS the editor testified his admiration for young McClure's attainments by sending him to edit a new weekly paper which the exigencies of politics called into being in an adjoining county. The lad was over six feet high, had the thews of Ajax and the voice of Boanerges, and knew enough about shoe-leather not to be afraid of any man that stood in it. He made his paper a suc- cess, went into politics and made that a success, studied law with William McLellan and made that a success, and actually went into the army and made that a success, by an interesting accident which brought him into close personal relations with Abraham Lincoln, whom he had helped to nominate, serving as chairman of the Republican State Committee of Pennsylvania through the campaign. In 1862 the Government needed troops badly, and in each Pennsylvania county Republicans and Democrats were appointed to assist in the enrollment, under the State laws. McClure, work- ing day and night at Harrisburg, saw conscripts coming in at the rate of a thousand a day, only to fret in idleness against the army red-tape which held them there instead of sending a regiment a day to the front, as McClure demanded should be done. The military officer continued to dispatch 90 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS two companies a day — leaving the mass of the conscripts to be fed by the contractors. McClure went to Washington and said to the President, "You must send a mustering officer to Harrisburg who will do as I say; I can't stay there any longer under existing conditions." Lincoln sent into another room for Adjutant- General Thomas. ''General/' said he, "what is the highest rank of military officer at Harrisburg?" "Captain, sir," said Thomas. "Bring me a com- mission for an Assistant Adjutant-General of the United States Army," said Lincoln. So Adjutant-General McClure was mustered in, and after that a regiment a day of boys in blue left Harrisburg for the front. Colonel McClure is one of the group of great Celt-American editors which included Medill, McCullagh and McLean. Long after the war Colonel McClure collected and published a book of Lincoln stories — "Lin- coln's Own Yarns and Stories." This one inter- ested me: "HOW HE GOT BLACKSTONE" The following story was told by Mr. Lincoln to Mr. A. J. Conant, the artist, who painted his portrait in Springfield in 1860: "One day a man who was migrating to the West drove up in front of my store with a wagon 91 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS which contained his family and household plun- der. He asked me if I would buy an old barrel for which he had no room in his wagon, and which he said contained nothing of special value. I did not want it, but to oblige him I bought it, and paid him, I think, half a dollar for it. Without further examination, I put it away in the store and forgot all about it. Some time after, in over- hauling things, I came upon the barrel, and, emptying it upon the floor to see what it con- tained, I found at the bottom of the rubbish a complete edition of Blackstone's Commentaries. I began to read those famous works, and I had plenty of time; for during the long summer days, when the farmers were busy with their crops, my customers were few and far between. The more I read" — this he said with unusual emphasis — "the more intensely interested I became. Never in my whole life was my mind so thoroughly absorbed. I read until I devoured them." Grant Wright is an artist — a Peoria boy — with a studio in New York. Some time ago he sent me a "leaf from my sketch book." It is a pencil portrait of Conant, then in his 94th year. (A photograph of the original is shown on another page.) The sketch was made November 12th, 1914. Below the picture Grant has written: "Dear 92 t~ Si tit' ft Mil fsw ^ * ft 4^ s b ■4 i, ^o^f** Ccn^ IA«^ ®U~K «^"Vfc». 4V-^ f"C(C. .- rUn-il 1 t— pip CZ.P" ..-WA^ r, Mr-*.-- ■■. '■-*M-0^sswt t aut(^n A.m. . „-,> v> -fur* ( rar-3U^3rw3E£ , £22SC£&. ■££*«*<*"'■> /C^^rAiS %^» -^.i^&h^ ts-{5X%( ^f k f^g & £ ? u a 2, ft. ? 1 I i w m *u «p r^™i • n, ^ r n W- ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS Cloyd: On the opposite side is a little talk I had with this grand old man of the Art World just before he died. He painted from life the only smiling Lincoln — the portrait is now in the Phillipsie Manor, Yonkers. I also record the re- porter's story of the New York Herald two years before." On the back of the leaf he writes as follows: "Mr. Conant passes his declining years with his daughter, Mrs. Smith. His portrait of Gen- eral Anderson, whom he esteemed very highly, we worked on with great zeal and a study for perfect detail as to surroundings, drapery, etc. — cannon, carriage, flag backers. The grand old man always bids one a farewell. N. Y. Herald, 1912." "DearB. C: "Eight years ago I made this sketch in this grand old man's studio (59W. 10th St.) , a build- ing devoted to the welfare of what we call the an- cient and honorables in the Art World. The build- ing is full of studios of past masters in the Arts who had passed the three score and ten and were yet progressive and productive. Thos. Wood, Ed- ward Gay, Seymour Guy, Wm. M. Chase, at one time had their studios there — this to describe the old 10th St. Studio Building. In 1916 the old gentleman passed to the great beyond (96 years 93 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS old). He was one of the most lovable characters — one of the grandest men — and his relation with past history made him mighty interesting. He had in his studio Gen. Anderson's picture and, of course, the smiling face of Lincoln, whom he loved to talk about. He told me how Lincoln described to him one of his forensic spars with Douglas — how Douglas had accused him of everything from being a failure to a disloyalist. 'He comes to you after voting in Congress to withhold supplies from our soldiers in Mexico' — said Douglas, 'be- cause he was opposed to the Mexican war. This man who has made a failure at everything he has undertaken; he w r as a failure as a farmer; as a sur- veyor; as lawyer; as soldier — yes, and as a saloon keeper — he couldn't make a living a decent one selling rum, and now he comes to you asking for my seat in the Senate.' Here old man Conant told me Lincoln chuckled like a school boy. 'Then,' said Lincoln, 'it was my turn. I thanked Judge Douglas for having such an accurate biog- raphy of me — he covers my pedigree about as well as any one could, but about my vote on the Mexi- can affair — here is Judge Fithian (or Fitter) who is a Democrat colleague of Douglas, let him say. I brought Fithian right out of his audience — brought him up on the platform and made him 94 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS admit that I was not in Congress when the ques- tion of appropriation for the soldiers was voted on.' Then, said Mr. Conant, Lincoln chuckled again. 1 said yes, Judge Douglas certainly covered me pretty close. I was a failure as a politician. I was a failure as a surveyor. I was a failure as a lawyer, but Judge Douglas has neglected to say in his castigation of me as a barkeeper that when I was on one side of the bar, he was always on the other' — this brought down the house, and Judge Douglas was laughed off the platform.' "He told me of his first visit to New York, of his call on Henry Inman — how he came forward to greet him, and how he invited him to sit down by his side while he worked, which was then on a portrait of Bishop Hughes — how he questioned Mr. Conant, then but a boy, about what he had been doing around town. 'I told him I had been up to see Mr. Coleman's exhibit of pictures, when he said, 'What did you think of them?' I being in the first flush of youth, and enthusiastic, told him I was enraptured over them. He said, 'Rot, they're all forgeries,' and from that time on I made up my mind I will make a more thorough investigation and go deeper into things before commenting. Mr. Inman had his studio on Broad- way, and was working on a portrait, or had just finished a portrait, of Bishop Onderdonk." 95 Chapter Nine In 1858, Captain James N. Brown, a native of Kentucky, was a candidate upon the Republican ticket for the Legislature. Being assailed for run- ning upon the same ticket with a "Black Aboli- tionist," he wrote to Lincoln for something authoritative. Lincoln procured a small memo- randum book in which he pasted newspaper ex- tracts of speeches he had made during the previous several years. I have in my possession a photo- graphic reproduction of this book made by my friend, J. McCan Davis, whose father — still living — was my comrade in the Civil War. This book, Davis says, is the only book ever written by Lin- coln. References to extracts are in Lincoln's own handwriting. Following are the first pages of this book, and it will be noted that his first "clippings" are from his speech at Peoria, Tuesday, October 16th, 1854. Can anything more conclusive be produced to show that the first step, which resulted in his reaching the Presidency, was taken at Peoria, Oc- tober 16th, 1854? Here are the extracts: "The following extracts are taken from various speeches of mine delivered at various times and 7 97 c*.-L ftf*. l~*CTL^ r ,..- *»\^ /,-£\sA^ C-/<>W;, 7 /( 7 It &£& <+^ e^^Mar h^ZJFJT.:* v ^ Chapter Ten It occurs to me, as it probably appears to the reader, that these sketches are a little "jerky." They are like Billy Stoughton's typewriter. Billy was a clerk in the office of Captain L. L. Troy, Superintendent Railway Mail Service at Chicago. He was an expert typewriter who could talk and follow copy at the same time. He also stammered badly. His machine was of the old- fashioned kind, and the writing was invisible. I was talking to him one day when he stopped and threw open the carriage to examine the writing. The keys had caught and he found nothing but a lot of meaningless characters. His face clouded with a look of blank astonishment, then he broke into a sunny smile. Looking up at me he said: "Bry-Bryner — bes-best typewriter in America — writes ex-ex-exactly like I-I-I talk." I may go "far afield" to give a personal touch to these pages, but the fragrance of memory's flowered fields gives them a charm to me of which I hope the reader may catch a faint breath. Colonel Clark E. Carr of Galesburg was our Minister to Denmark. I knew him well during the last years of his life, and he told me many things about Lincoln. He was with him upon the 115 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS train which took Mr. Lincoln to Gettysburg, and he said that Lincoln whilst en route made pencil notes upon the back of an envelope. It was this probably that gave rise to the story that his ad- dress was without previous preparation. It is far more likely that he only jotted down the headings of his speech to aid his memory of a carefully pre- pared address. At the Peoria meeting the plat- form was erected upon the south side of the old Court House and entrance thereto was through a window of the office of the Circuit Clerk. I have a vivid recollection of Judge Douglas* appearance as he stepped upon the platform. Colonel Carr has thus described him, which coincides perfectly with the picture I have in mind: "He was dressed in a black broadcloth suit of latest Washington cut; with immaculate linen — his trim figure, though small, seemed perfect, as his lustrous eyes looked out from under his massive forehead, surrounded by heavy brown locks. Bold, defiant, confident, he seemed the impersonation of strength and power." I doubt if any one man aside from Lincoln con- tributed so much to the salvation of the Union as Judge Douglas. He virtually broke with his party and carried thousands of his followers with him. At the inauguration of Lincoln, he sat upon the 116 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS platform and held Mr. Lincoln's hat, thus making public demonstration of his support to the incom- ing administration. Exactly three months later he passed away in the city of Chicago, an irreparable loss to the Union cause. Edward Bonham was Lieutenant Colonel of the regiment in which I served in the Civil War. I was acquainted with his father, Jeriah Bonham, who wrote "Fifty Years' Recollections." From this volume, I make the fol- lowing extract, as of interest in connection with Lincoln and Peoria: "There is not much in the early life of Abra- ham Lincoln to stir the imagination of the reader. There is nothing to rouse up wonderful enthu- siasm in the humble process of his education; his experiences of hardships; his early struggles with the rough forces of nature among which he was born. Indeed, we would be trespassing on the domain of history written by others if we at- tempted to give a brief history of his early life, which has been so well and ably written by others, among them the campaign biographies of Scripps, Raymond and Barrett, the writings of Ward H. Lamon, Esq., and Hon. Isaac N. Arnold; also, 'Life of Abraham Lincoln,' by J. G. Holland; Carpenter's 'Reminiscences,' and later, the 'Life 117 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS and Public Services of Abraham Lincoln/ by J. Carroll Power. To the excellence of all these we bear cheerful testimony. "Our 'Recollections' of Mr. Lincoln must be confined, in the main, to our personal acquaintance with him, which commenced at the mass Whig State Convention, held at Peoria, in June, 1844. Mr. Lincoln was among the 'big guns' in the grand array of eminent statesmen and eloquent speakers present on that occasion; a galaxy of bright particular stars in the constellation of talent and patriotism, numbering among them Gen. John J. Hardin, who afterwards fell at Buena Vista, Colonel Edward D. Baker, who gave up his life at Ball's Bluff during the Rebellion, John T. Stuart, Stephen T. Logan, Jesse K. Dubois, U. F. Linder, O. H. Browning, Joseph Gillespie, Archie Williams, Jackson Grimshaw, T. Lisle Smith, Martin P. Sweet, Ben. Bond, Richard Yates, T. Lyle Dickey, Lincoln B. Knowlton, D. W. Wood- son, Wm. H. Henderson, and a host of others who came up to this grand council in the interests of Clay and Frelinghuysen, the Whig standard bear- ers in that memorable campaign. In addition to these there were present Caleb B. Smith, Henry S. Lane, and several other Indiana orators, then and since known to fame, and from Missouri there 118 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS were the renowned and eloquent Dr. E. C McDowell, Don Morrison, and many others. "Among all this brilliant array called to ad- dress the convention during the two days' sessions, none attracted greater and more marked attention than Mr. Lincoln. Dr. McDowell, Caleb B. Smith, Edward D. Baker and Gen. Hardin made their speeches before him. All made grand speeches and were loudly applauded. Gen. Hardin was then the member of Congress from this district, and Col. Baker the candidate for the succession. "It is among the brightest recollections of that day when Mr. Lincoln took the stand. He did not, on rising, show his full height, stood rather in a stooping posture, his long-tailed coat hanging loosely round his body, descending round and over an ill-fitting pair of pantaloons that covered his not very symmetrical legs. He commenced his speech in a rather diffident manner, even seemed for a while at a loss for words, his voice was irregular, a little tremulous, as at first he began his argument by laying down his propositions. As he proceeded he seemed to gain more confidence, his body straightened up, his countenance brightened, his language became free and animated, as, during this time he had illustrated his argument by two or three well-told stories, that drew the attention of 119 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS the thousands of his audience to every word he ut- tered. Then he became eloquent, carrying the swaying crowd at his will, who, at every point he made in his forcible argument, were tumultuous in their applause. His subject was the exposition of the protective system — the tariff — the method of raising a revenue by a system of duties levied on foreign importations, which at the same time would afford protection to American industries. Mr. Lincoln spoke a little over an hour. His argu- ments were unanswerable. This speech raised him to the proudest height to which he had ever before attained. He had greatly strengthened the Whig organization in the State and established his repu- tation as one of the most powerful political debat- ers in the country. "This speech showed to the people that he had thoroughly mastered all the great questions of the day, and brought to their discussion closeness and soundness of logic, with numerous facts, clinched by the most elaborate and powerful arguments. This conclusion, it is among my recollections, we arrived at after enjoying this grand field day, hear- ing the most gifted of Illinois statesmen discuss all the great questions of the day, and we left with the thousands of others, for their homes, with the firm belief and conviction that Abraham Lincoln 120 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS was the foremost statesman in Illinois, and would, at that time, have been willing to vote for him for any position from Congressman to President of the United States, both of which privileges were enjoyed in after years." 21 Chapter Eleven From early childhood, when in the old Court House in Peoria I used to sit upon his knee and he bought me big red apples from old man Cut- ler, Colonel Robert G. Ingersoll, America's fore- most orator, was throughout life my friend. I recall standing over the furnace register, shaking the black ostrich plume, to put it in curl, which he wore upon his hat when he marched away as Colonel of the 11th Illinois Cavalry. As this is a Peoria story of Lincoln, I shall here insert his splendid tribute to the martyred President. "ABRAHAM LINCOLN— strange mingling of mirth and tears, of the tragic and grotesque, of cap and crown, of Socrates and Democritus, of Aesop and Marcus Aurelius, of all that is gentle and just, humorous and honest, merciful, wise, laughable, lovable and divine, and all consecrated to the use of man; while through all, and over all, were an overwhelming sense of obligation, of chivalric loyalty to truth, and upon all, the shadow of the tragic end. "Nearly all the great historic characters are im- possible monsters, disproportioned by flattery, or by calumny deformed. We know nothing of their peculiarities, or nothing but their peculiar- 123 COLONEL ROBERT G. INGERSOLL, OE PEORIA As he appeared in 1861 when he departed from Peoria as Colonel of the 11th Illinois Cavalry ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS ities. About these oaks there clings none of the earth of humanity. "Washington is now only a steel engraving. About the real man who lived and loved and hated and schemed, we know but little. The glass through which we look at him is of such high magnifying power that the features are ex- ceedingly indistinct. "Hundreds of people are now engaged in smoothing out the lines of Lincoln's face — forc- ing all features to the common mould — so that he may be known, not as he really was, but, ac- cording to their poor standard, as he should have been. "Lincoln was not a type. He stands alone — no ancestors, no fellows, and no successors. "He had the advantage of living in a new country, of social equality, of personal freedom, of seeing in the horizon of his future the perpetual star of hope. He preserved his individuality and his self-respect. He knew and mingled with men of every kind; and, after all, men are the best books. He became acquainted with the ambi- tions and hopes of the heart, the means used to accomplish ends, the springs of action and the seeds of thought. He was familiar with nature. 125 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS with actual things, with common facts. He loved and appreciated the poem of the year, the drama of the seasons. "In a new country a man must possess at least three virtues — honesty, courage and generosity. In cultivated society, cultivation is often more important than soil. A well executed counter- feit passes more readily than a blurred genuine. It is necessary only to observe the unwritten laws of society — to be honest enough to keep out of prison, and generous enough to subscribe in pub- lic — where the subscription can be defended as an investment. "In a new country, character is essential; in the old, reputation is sufficient. In the new, they find what a man really is; in the old, he generally passes for what he resembles. People separated only by distance are much nearer together than those divided by the walls of caste. "It is no advantage to live in a great city, where poverty degrades and failure brings despair. The fields are lovelier than paved streets, and the great forests than walls of brick. Oaks and elms are more poetic than steeples and chimneys. "In the country is the idea of home. There you see the rising and setting sun; you become ac- 126 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS quainted with the stars and clouds. The constel- lations are your friends. You hear the rain on the roof and listen to the rhythmic sighing of the winds. You are thrilled by the resurrection called Spring, touched and saddened by Autumn — the grace and poetry of death. Every field is a pic- ture, a landscape; every landscape a poem; every flower a tender thought, and every forest a fairy- land. In the country you preserve your iden- tity — your personality. There you are an aggre- gation of atoms, but in the city you are only an atom of an aggregation. "In the country you keep your cheek close to the breast of Nature. You are calmed and en- nobled by the space, the amplitude and scope of earth and sky — by the constancy of the stars. "Lincoln never finished his education. To the night of his death he was a pupil, a learner, an in- quirer, a seeker after knowledge. You have no idea how many men are spoiled by what is called education. For the most part, colleges are places where pebbles are polished and diamonds are dimmed. If Shakespeare had graduated at Oxford, he might have been a quibbling attorney or a hypocritical parson. "Lincoln was a great lawyer. There is noth- 127 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS ing shrewder in this world than intelligent hon- esty. Perfect candor is sword and shield. "He understood the nature of man. As a law- yer he endeavored to get at the truth, at the very heart of a case. He was not willing even to de- ceive himself. No matter what his interest said, what his passion demanded, he was great enough to find the truth and strong enough to pronounce judgment against his own desires. "Lincoln was a many-sided man, acquainted with smiles and tears, complex in brain, single in heart, direct as light; and his words, candid as mirrors, gave the perfect image of his thought. He was never afraid to ask — never too dignified to admit that he did not know. No man had keener wit or kinder humor. "It may be that humor is the pilot of reason, People without humor drift unconsciously into absurdity. Humor sees the other side — stands in the mind like a spectator, a good-natured critic, and gives its opinion before judgment is reached. Humor goes with good nature, and good nature is the climate of reason. In anger, reason abdi- cates and malice extinguishes the torch. Such was the humor of Lincoln that he could tell even unpleasant truths as charmingly as most men can tell the things we wish to hear. 128 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS "He was not solemn. Solemnity is a mask worn by ignorance and hypocrisy — it is the pre- face, prologue, and index to the cunning or the stupid. "He was natural in his life and thought — master of the story-teller's art, in illustration apt, in application perfect, liberal in speech, shocking Pharisees and prudes, using any word that wit could disinfect. "He was a logician. His logic shed light. In its presence the obscure became luminous, and the most complex and intricate political and meta- physical knots seemed to untie themselves. Logic is the necessary product of intelligence and sincer- ity. It cannot be learned. It is the child of a clear head and a good heart. "Lincoln was candid, and with candor often deceived the deceitful. He had intellect without arrogance, genius without pride, and religion without cant — that is to say, without bigotry and without deceit. "He was an orator — clear, sincere, natural. He did not pretend. He did not say what he thought others thought, but what he thought. "If you wish to be sublime you must be nat- ural — you must keep close to the grass. You 9 129 ABRAHAM, LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS must sit by the fireside of the heart; above the clouds it is too cold. You must be simple in your speech; too much polish suggests insincerity. "The great orator idealizes the real, trans- figures the common, makes even the inanimate throb and thrill, fills the gallery of the imagina- tion with statues and pictures perfect in form and color, brings to light the gold hoarded by memory the miser, shows the glittering coin to the spend- thrift hope, enriches the brain, ennobles the heart, and quickens the conscience. Between his lips words bud and blossom. "If you wish to know the difference between an orator and an elocutionist — between what is felt and what is said — beween what the heart and brain can do together and what the brain can do alone — read Lincoln's wondrous speech at Get- tysburg, and then the oration of Edward Everett. "The speech of Lincoln will never be forgot- ten. It will live until languages are dead and lips are dust. The oration of Everett will never be read. "The elocutionists believe in the virtue of voice, the sublimity of syntax, the majesty of long sentences, and the genius of gesture. "The orator loves the real, the simple, the nat- 130 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS ural. He places the thought above all. He knows that the greatest ideas should be expressed in the shortest words — that the greatest statues need the least drapery. "Lincoln was an immense personality — firm but not obstinate. Obstinacy is egotism — firm- ness, heroism. He influenced others without effort, unconsciously; and they submitted to him as men submit to nature — unconsciously. He was severe with himself, and for that reason lenient with others. "He appeared to apologize for being kinder than his fellows. "He did merciful things as stealthily as others committed crimes. "Almost ashamed of tenderness, he said and did the noblest words and deeds with the charm- ing confusion, that awkwardness that is the per- fect grace of modesty. "As a noble man, wishing to pay a small debt to a poor neighbor, reluctantly offers a hundred- dollar bill and asks for change, fearing that he may be suspected either of making a display of wealth or a pretense of payment, so Lincoln hesi- tated to show his wealth of goodness, even to the best he knew. 131 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS "A great man stooping, not wishing to make his fellows feel that they were small or mean. "By his candor, by his kindness, by his perfect freedom from restraint, by saying what he thought, and saying it absolutely in his own way, he made it not only possible, but popular, to be natural. He was the enemy of mock solemnity, of the stupidly respectable, of the cold and formal. "He wore no official robes either on his body or his soul. He never pretended to be more or less, or other, or different, from what he really was. "He had the unconscious naturalness of Na- ture's self. "He built upon the rock. The foundation was secure and broad. The structure was a pyra- mid, narrowing as it rose. Through days and nights of sorrow, through years of grief and pain, with unswerving purpose, 'with malice towards none, with charity for all,' with infinite patience, with unclouded vision, he hoped and toiled. Stone after stone was laid until at last the Procla- mation found its place. On that the Goddess stands. "He knew others, because perfectly acquainted with himself. He cared nothing for place, but 132 ABRAHAM, LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS everything for principle; little for money, but everything for independence. Where no principle was involved, easily swayed — willing to go slow- ly, if in the right direction — sometimes willing to stop; but he would not go back, and he would not go wrong. "He was willing to wait. He knew that the event was not waiting, and that fate was not the fool of chance. He knew that slavery had de- fenders, but no defense, and that they who attack the right must wound themselves. "He was neither tyrant nor slave. He neither knelt nor scorned. "With him, men were neither great nor small — they were right or wrong. "Through manners, clothes, titles, rags and race he saw the real — that which is. Beyond accident, policy, compromise and war he saw the end. "He was patient as Destiny; whose undeci- pherable hieroglyphs were so deeply graven on his sad and tragic face. "Nothing discloses real character like the use of power. It is easy for the weak to be gentle. Most people can bear adversity. But if you wish to know what a man really is, give him power. 133 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS This is the supreme test. It is the glory of Lin- coln that, having almost absolute power, he never abused it, except on the side of mercy. ' 'Wealth could not purchase, power could not awe, this divine, this loving man. "He knew no fear except the fear of doing wrong. Hating slavery, pitying the master — seeking to conquer, not persons, but prejudices — he was the embodiment of the self-denial, the courage, the hope and the nobility of a Nation. "He spoke not to inflame, not to upbraid, but to convince. "He raised his hands, not to strike, but in bene- diction. "He longed to pardon. "He loved to see the pearls of joy on the cheeks of a wife whose husband he had rescued from death. "Lincoln was the grandest figure of the fiercest civil war. He is the gentlest memory of our world." — Published by permission of C. P. Farrell, of New York, pub- lisher of "Dresden Edition" of Ingersoll's Complete Works. 134 g p s 2 c ^ * tr :r. ~; g | g <5 5 5' ' E. :*"" I 2" II r O ^-"^ - C3 ft 2 "'s ')? c;W ; rS.H5-.8i O 0! o ~ c t- £<« Ki o"5 § ffi o 5 = © Q CO Q * 8 ' -.- § C3 <-+- **> t- O £2 GC 3 o v- -^ c _ - .~ ~ c o sr =- c --• ST -* B I £ ' § 3 8 1 — ~ a* «*- c m- r - P S» 5*r5 -^ 'X — • as ?a '-. £,. *". . /"• sT- g" p~ ~ § *■* *>. p 5! < 5 r- r - Z &-' «■ - P ~ Sj 2 :-• § fe a or; p ~ r c ^ c- g £ sf >£ § ^ 2. r^ — *" -" - *-- t? -V / K — - — <• ^ c C .— "2 ,«i o — "2 5 : s» 3 ft vs 3 S £. "* ~- -2 ft .7) r &; €S_2 - GO J s* ■•- - —U" '"• Cilj in the \\ i «t, lie location i* no •uij-, lur tbc God of Nature i ■ I'm ■ ■ l.j the ;UMe»: Hi t| then . Of the I there anj- oe- breathing of at t the particular favorite ■ .11.1 ill* 1 u E 5 I' E - * == ?" 2 I % i* 5 I =■ * -^ » « =: s- ~ 3 « -5.7? ? 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(Ortuhrr 10, 1926 "J nam ani Jitarft Utnroln an& Uouglaa wltett a bog" ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS Abraham ICtnrnln lij C&wrgr iFttrij As years merge into years, still grows apace The strength, the majesty of that gaunt face; The greatness of that soul, that master mind; Still grows that heart more wonderfully kind. As some tall mountain that has slipped away Behind us on the trail through all the day, And yet at night, full many a long mile past, Still looms behind, more glorious, more vast. George Fitch, poet and humorist, achieved fame while a writer upon the Peoria Transcript. This tribute from his pen is full of feeling and understanding of America's simplest yet greatest character. 139 ABRAHAM LINCOLN Original ambrotypc in possession of Chas. B. Smith, city editor, Peoria Star ABRAHAM, LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS ABRAHAM LINCOLN This picture, now published for the first time, is from an ambrotype made in Peoria in the earlier fifties, it is believed, by H. H. Cole, a pioneer of the art who died in 1925 at the age of 94. It was given by Mr. Lincoln to the late Richard D. Smith, of Pekin, who at that time conducted a store in Washington, 111. The original, in its black case 2^ x3 inches in size, as clear and clean-cut as when first made, is in the possession of his son, Chas. B. Smith, city editor of the Peoria Star, who has been offered as high as $1,000.00 for it. "Dick" Smith's store in Washington was the ren- dezvous for such "giants of those days" as Lin- coln, who practiced law in Tazewell and Wood- ford counties; Richard Yates, the old War Gover- nor; Robert G. Ingersoll, "Roaring Dick" Ogles- by, "Long John" Wentworth, "Long" and Sam Jones; John A. Logan, "the Black War Eagle"; and others whose names are woven in the history of stormy days that came in ' 6 1. 41 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS JUDGE DOUGLAS— HIS SPEECH IN PEORIA, OCTOBER 16, 1854 In the former edition of "Lincoln in Peoria" regret was expressed that we had been unable to find anywhere an account of the speech made by Judge Douglas upon that occasion. Since then — in nosing around amongst copies of old newspapers in the basement of the Peoria Library — we resurrected the following in the Peoria Daily Union of October 21st, 1854. It will be noted that the account is only extracts made by the editor. It seems strange that a speech of such importance — lasting over a period of nearly three hours — should find no place in any of the publications of the life or speeches of Douglas. It will also be noted that, throughout, Douglas was acting on the defensive. From the Peoria Daily Union, October 21st, 1854 After returning his thanks to the democracy of Peoria for the kind reception extended to him, Judge Douglas proceeded to discuss the principles of the Nebraska Bill, and to defend himself against the attacks of his opponents. Before entering upon the merits of the case he referred briefly to the number and political character of the opposi- tion speakers who had been detailed to follow 143 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS him through the State. In an abolition settle- ment an abolitionist was deputed as the organ of denunciation and abuse. In another place, where the Whigs were not wholly abolitionized, a half Whig was selected. In a Democratic locality, the duty was assigned to any disaffected Democrat who was willing to unite with the opponents of the Nebraska Bill and denounce its author. It would only be fair that his antagonist should be one who would proclaim the same sentiments in Knoxville that were uttered in Peoria. If this were done, every true Whig in Peoria would turn his back upon the "fusion" advocates. His sentiments could be uttered in any locality. His principles were broad and national, and could be proclaimed with equal freedom in New Eng- land or New Orleans — in the east or the west — the north or the south. Not so with his oppo- nents. Their principles were too sectional to ex- tend beyond the Ohio, and were designed to array the North against the South. The principle of the Nebraska Bill was to allow the people of the territory to decide domestic ques- tions for themselves. It had been urged that there was no necessity for organizing the territory at this time, that it 144 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS was a new idea; that no person desired it. Such assertions were now only used to deceive the peo- ple. They were not true. The people of Ne- braska had held elections, and sent delegates to Congress to urge an immediate organization of the territory. Col. Benton himself had strenuously favored the opening of that country to settlers. Ten years ago Judge Douglas had brought for- ward a proposition to organize a territory. Then no one objected to it. After working at it for ten years, his opponents had just found out that it was unnecessary and useless to organize this territory. But there were good substantial reasons for the course he pursued in urging the measure. It was necessary for the protection of the large number of emigrants annually passing from the east of the distant shores of the Pacific. Under the existing law, every emigrant incurred a penalty of a thousand dollars and imprisonment for entering the Indian Territory. Should the great highway to the Pacific be blocked by the danger of fine and imprisonment? For more than a thousand miles through that region there was no protection to persons or property — no judges to enforce obedi- ence to law. Was it right that this vast extent of country should be left in such a situation? 10 145 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS Opponents of the Nebraska Bill do not like the principle which allows the people to settle the slavery question themselves. Is that principle right? Oh yes, exclaim some, but, say they, you should not disturb the Missouri Compromise. The Nebraska Bill was made to conform to the compromise of 1850, and was taken word for word from these measures. Was not every Demo- crat pledged to sustain the compromise of 1850? The Democrats, at Baltimore, pledged the party to carry out those principles. The Whigs did the same, and Gen. Scott accepted the nomination under that pledge. The compromise served as a model for the Nebraska measure, because it was necessary to conform to that principle. How long have abolitionists been in favor of the Missouri Compromise? When he entered Con- gress, he found a line dividing slavery from free- dom. It did not then occur to him that slavery south of the line was right. When the annexation of Texas was proposed, the abolitionists attempted to get up a slavery agitation; and in 1845 the line was extended to keep down that agitation. In 1848 were acquired California, Utah and New Mexico. The abolitionists wanted the Wil- 146 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS mot Proviso applied to the whole country. He thought the slavery controversy might be avoided by extending the line to the Pacific. A bill for that purpose, on his own motion, passed the Sen- ate by a majority of ten. It went to the House, and his friend Lincoln voted against it, and it was defeated. (Here, Mr. Lincoln pleasantly remarked that Douglas was a "doughface." Douglas re- plied that "doughface" meant something soft — but Lincoln's face was hard enough.) Who, asked Judge Douglas, produced the slavery agitation in 1848? Those who voted down his proposition. Those who denounced him then for wishing to carry out the Missouri Compromise now denounce him for not wishing to carry it out. His speech in favor of extending the line was quoted against him by every abolition lecturer and writer in the country. He was blamed for changing. Honest men will change, and give their reasons for so doing. He changed because he could not carry out the measure. The abolitionists changed in order to be opposed to him. In 1848, every abolition paper opposed the extension of the line, and published him as the "solitary exception" in favor of it. They then called him "traitor" for being in favor of the meas- 147 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS ure, and they now apply the same epithet to him for being against it. What was the position of the parties on this question during the presidential election? Mr. Van Buren, nominated at Buffalo, was in favor of abolishing slavery everywhere in the territories. This applied to the country south of the line as well as north, and would effectually blot out the Missouri Compromise. Such being the position of the abolitionists then — why do they denounce him (Douglas) for sanctioning its repeal now? They tried to repeal it in 1848, and failed. He tried recently, and succeeded. Under these cir- cumstances, he thought abolitionists had better say no more about it. How was it with the Whigs? Did they not nominate Zachary Taylor, and pass resolutions to prohibit slavery in the territories? Thus they were pledged to blot out the Missouri Compro- mise. Did the Whigs regard it as sacred? Opposi- tion to it was then a Whig measure; but Douglas had now effected its repeal, and the Whigs oppose him for doing so. The Democrats nominated Gen. Cass. He wrote the "Nicholson letter," which was familiar to all, denying the right of Congress to legislate 148 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS upon the subject of slavery. The Missouri Com- promise was considered unconstitutional, and ought to be blotted out. Thus, six years ago, all parties were united in favor of blotting out the line. The great diffi- culty was to find a substitute. After the Missouri Compromise had been killed by the refusal to extend the line, he delivered its funeral oration at Springfield, and his enemies now quote that speech against him. After the death of the Missouri Compromise by abandoning the line, the slavery agitation shook the Union from one extremity to the other, and it became necessary to adopt some other measure to restore quiet to a distracted country. At this juncture Henry Clay left his retreat and entered the Senate, not as a partisan, but as a patriot, to give the nation the benefit of his wise counsels. Cass and Webster were his compatriots. The rest of them followed his lead for ten months, attempting to effect an adjustment of the difficulties and dangers to which the Union was then exposed. Whigs and Democrats in the Senate met daily as friends of the Union to consult upon the best policy to be adopted. They were in favor of the principle of allowing the people to settle the question for 149 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS themselves; and the compromise measures rest upon that principle. On his return to Chicago, in 1850, he found the authorities in open rebellion to the law of the land. Sick and feeble as he was, he came forward to defend and explain the compromise measures. His fellow citizens heard him. and reaction imme- diately occurred. The obnoxious act of the coun- cil was repealed, and Chicago was redeemed from the odium of treason to the Government. An elec- tion was then pending in the State and the com- promise measures* were endorsed by a large major- ity of the people. When the legislature met, res- olutions were adopted recognizing the binding force of the compromise and instructing the sena- tors from Illinois as to their duty in the forma- tion of future territory. Those resolutions em- braced the principle of the compromise measures and the Nebraska Bill. In favoring that bill he had obeyed the instructions of his legislature; and for so doing, he was now termed a "traitor." Was it right that he should thus be denounced, and burnt in effigy, because he had obeyed the in- structions of the legislature, which, at the time, was known to reflect the will of a large majority of the people of the State? 150 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS Among the resolutions adopted by the House of Representatives was the following: Resolved: That our liberty and indepen- dence are based upon the right of the people to form for themselves such government as they might choose, and that this great privi- lege, the birthright of freemen, the gift of heaven secured to us by the blood of our an- cestors, ought to be extended to future gener- ations, and no limitation ought to be applied to this power, in the organization of any ter- ritory of the United States, of either a terri- torial government or state constitution, pro- vided the government so established shall be republican and in conformity with the Con- stitution of the United States. Every Democrat and every Whig in the House voted for this resolution. The only names re- corded against it are those of four abolitionists. How was this unanimity between Whigs and Democrats in favor of the great principle of the self-government brought about? Cass and Clay had first come together, and Union Whigs and Democrats afterwards united in favor of a noble principle, upon which both parties agreed to stand together. When the Whigs met at Baltimore in 1852, they nominated Gen. Scott, and adopted a plat- 151 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS form recognizing the compromise measures as a final settlement of the slavery question. The principle of the compromise was to be applied whenever new States came up for admission. The platform adopted by the Democrats also pledged our party to an observance of the com- promise measures. They did not mean that no more new territory should be admitted. They intended that the great principle should be applied to all territory to be hereafter acquired or admitted. During the campaign, in his speeches for Pierce, he had contended that the Democratic nom- inee was more favorable to the principles of the compromise than the Whig; but the Whigs then claimed it as their measure. The principle which they then sanctioned is the same as that upon which the Nebraska Bill is based. Two years ago both parties claimed it, and now every Whig is to be sent to perdition unless he goes with the aboli- tionists against Nebraska. The Whigs were to be made prisoners in the abolition camp, and con- signed to the guidance of such leaders of the new party as Giddings, Codding, Blanchard and company. The passage of the act organizing the territory 152 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS of Washington was evidence that the Whigs in- tended the principle of the compromise of 1850 should be applied in future. That territory was organized upon the princi- ple of the Nebraska Bill. In 1848, when Oregon was organized, the ordinance of '87 was forced upon it. President Polk signed the bill because it was consistent with the Missouri Compromise, the line of which was to be extended to the Pacific. But the compromise of 1850 prevented that ex- tension. Washington territory was organized in 1853, and was made to conform to the compro- mise of 1850. The prohibition imposed upon Ore- gon was repealed, and the people of Washington were allowed to do as they pleased. Only one year ago the same principle of the Nebraska Bill was recognized in the organization of Washing- ton territory; and the prohibition which had been placed upon Oregon was taken off to conform to the compromise measures of 1850. The bill organizing Washington territory, with the principle of the Nebraska Bill, passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 129 in the affirmative to 29 in the negative; not more than three or four northern Whigs voted against it. Here we see that, one year ago, the whole Whig 153 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS party voted for the Nebraska principle. In Con- gress even Giddings and Yates were found favor- ing it. Was that "treason"? Was it "infamous" to pass the same bill for Washington territory that was passed for Nebraska? The people are expected to keep silent when Whigs commit "trea- son," but a terrible cry is to be raised when Demo- crats do the same. If Whigs believed the principle wrong they ought to have said so then. To hunt him down now for doing what they then sanc- tioned is to acknowledge themselves to blame. It would not do for his opponents to answer him by speaking of the horrors of slavery. That had no connection with the principle in controversy. Some might be curious to know why the Whigs had so suddenly changed their views upon the slavery question. The reasons were easily found. The Democrats had repeatedly whipped the Whigs, and they were tired of being in the minor- ity. They must therefore seize upon some hobby to ride into power. The abolitionists stood ready to trade with them. The terms of the trade were easily arranged. The Whigs were required to adopt the abolition creed, in consideration of which the abolitionists were to allow the Whigs to have the candidates. The bargain being closed, the Whigs were to be handed over to the abolition 154 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS camp. The Whig party was thus to be sold out. In Peoria, Lincoln was expected to superintend the transfer. In Knoxville, Blanchard was selected as the agent. (Judge Douglas read portions of the abolition creed adopted in this State, to show the Whigs what principles they were now required to adopt to entitle them to a place in the new party.) A great deal had been said about the Nebraska Bill legislating slavery into that territory. He'de- nied that it did any such thing. Every man who said the bill legislated slavery into free territory, if he had read it, stated what he knew to be untrue. If he had not read it, he should not speak of what he did not know. Opponents of Nebraska can let the people south of a given line do as they please, but they are not willing to trust those north of it with the same privilege. This was wrong. He believed the people of the north who emigrated to new ter- ritories were as capable of managing their domes- tic affairs as those who remained behind. They allowed legislation upon every question affecting their welfare as a people, but they were not deemed capable of deciding the question of slavery for themselves. They were permitted to legislate 153 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS upon every subject affecting the white man, but were to be told that they had not sufficient intel- ligence to legislate for the black man — or to de- cide the question of slavery for themselves. They were fully capable of self-government, and he was willing to leave them to the exercise of all the rights extended to other portions of the Union. Having disposed of the Nebraska question Judge Douglas devoted a few moments to an ex- amination of the principles and objects of a new organization termed the "American party" or "Know-Nothings. " Their hostility was directed against foreigners and those professing the Catho- lic religion. Men were to be proscribed on ac- count of their birth-place and their religious senti- ments. This was anti-republican and subversive of the principles of the Constitution. He referred briefly to the effect which this spirit of intolerance would have exerted if it had been adopted in the early history of our country. It would have de- prived the struggling colonies of the services and assistance of a LaFayette, a Steuben, a De Kalb, a Montgomery, and a host of other brave foreign- ers who risked their lives in aiding Americans to assert and maintain the principles of self-govern- ment. This political and religious proscription 156 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS would have prevented that harmonious union among a band of patriots, of various nations and creeds, who gave to the world a declaration which proclaimed civil and religious liberty to be the sur- est and most durable foundation of a free govern- ment. The principles of the ''Know-Nothings" would have excluded such men as a Hamilton, a Gallatin, and a host of other statesmen, from par- ticipation in the affairs of the government; and would have deprived our country in the last war with Mexico of the gallant services of our dis- tinguished Senator, James Shields, who from his boyhood has been identified with our State, and whose services in civil life rank him among the statesmen of the country. Such men as he are to be ruthlessly struck down, if the "Know-Noth- ing" faction, with the aid of the abolitionists, can secure the ascendancy in Illinois. Judge Douglas particularly urged upon the Democrats to keep aloof from all such entangling alliances, and adhere to the good old principles of the Democratic party, which extended equal justice and privileges to all citizens without regard to their birth-place or their religion. At the close of Judge Douglas' speech (a very 157 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS brief outline of which we have attempted to give) , Mr. Lincoln took the stand, and after alluding to the arrangement with Judge Douglas proposed that the meeting should adjourn until after sup- per; which was accordingly done. 158 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS THE ENTRANCE OF THE MEMORIAL BUILDING Abraham Lincoln was born on Rock Spring Farm, in Hardin County, Kentucky, on Febru- ary 12, 1809. The log cabin in which he was born is still preserved surrounded by a beautiful Memorial building. Ascending the steps the visi- tor reaches the entrance over which is carved in marble an extract from the speech delivered in Peoria, Illinois, October 16th, 1854. In the following paragraph of Lincoln's ad- dress in Peoria on October 16, 1854, appeared the memorable words which are carved in stone at the entrance to the Lincoln Memorial Building: "Some men, mostly Whigs, who condemn the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, nevertheless hesitate to go for its restoration, lest they be thrown in company with the abolitionists. Will they allow me, as an old Whig, to tell them, good- humoredly, that I think this is very silly? STAND WITH ANYBODY THAT STANDS RIGHT. STAND WITH HIM WHILE HE IS RIGHT, AND PART WITH HIM WHEN HE GOES WRONG. Stand with the abolitionist in restoring the Missouri Compromise, and stand against him when he attempts to repeal the Fugi- tive Slave law. In the latter case you stand with 159 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS the Southern disunionist. What of that? You are still right. In both cases you are right. In both cases you oppose the dangerous extremes. In both you stand on middle ground, and hold the ship level and steady. In both you are national, and nothing less than national. This is the good old Whig ground. To desert such ground because of any company is to be less than a Whig — less than a man — less than an American/' 60 2 £ UJ O -1 u ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS SPEECH AT PEORIA, ILLINOIS, IN REPLY TO SENATOR DOUGLAS OCTOBER 16, 1854 As printed in seven numbers of the Illinois Daily Journal, Springfield, 111., on October 21, 1854; October 23, 1854; October 24, 1854; Oc- tober 25, 1854; October 26, 1854; October 27, 1854, and October 29, 1854. The publishers of the Illinois Journal at that time were S. and A. Francis. Lincoln's Peoria speech was written out and cor- rected at Springfield three days after its delivery. It is believed that this is the only one of his political addresses so revised. It gives evidence of profound thought and careful preparation, thus forming the basis for all of his subsequent utter- ances, including the debates of 1858 and his Cooper Institute speech. The two opening paragraphs are from the newspaper accounts of that date. Lincoln's own account follows: I do not rise to speak now, if I can stipulate with the audience to meet me here at half-past six or at seven o'clock. It is now several minutes past five, and Judge Douglas has spoken over three hours. If you hear me at all, I wish you to hear 165 ABRAHAM, LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS me through. It will take me as long as it has taken him. That will carry us beyond eight o'clock at night. Now, every one of you who can remain that long can just as well get his supper, meet me at seven, and remain an hour or two later. The Judge has already informed you that he is to have an hour to reply to me. I doubt not but you have been a little surprised to learn that I have con- sented to give one of his high reputation and known ability this advantage of me. Indeed, my consenting to it, though reluctant, was not wholly unselfish, for I suspected, if it were understood that the Judge was entirely done, you Democrats would leave and not hear me; but by giving him the close, I felt confident you would stay for the fun of hearing him skin me. The audience signified their assent to the ar- rangement, and adjourned till seven o'clock P. M., at which time they reassembled, and Mr. Lincoln spoke as follows: Illinois Daily Journal, October 21, 1854: The repeal of the Missouri Compromise, and the propriety of its restoration, constitute the sub- ject of what I am about to say. As I desire to present my own connected view of this subject, my remarks will not be specifically an answer to Judge Douglas; yet, as I proceed, the main points 167 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS he has presented will arise, and will receive such respectful attention as I may be able to give them. I wish further to say that I do not propose to ques- tion the patriotism or to assail the motives of any man or class of men, but rather to confine myself strictly to the naked merits of the question. I also wish to be no less than national in all the positions I may take, and whenever I take ground which others have thought, or may think, narrow, sec- tional, and dangerous to the Union, I hope to give a reason which will appear sufficient, at least to some, why I think differently. And as this subject is no other than part and parcel of the larger general question of domestic slavery, I wish to make and to keep the distinction between the existing institution and the extension of it so broad and so clear that no honest man can misunderstand me, and no dishonest one success- fully misrepresent me. In order to a clear understanding of what the Missouri Compromise is, a short history of the preceding kindred subjects will perhaps be proper. When we established our independence, we did not own or claim the country to which this com- promise applies. Indeed, strictly speaking, the Confederacy then owned no country at all; the States respectively owned the country within their 168 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS limits, and some of them owned territory beyond their strict State limits. Virginia thus owned the Northwestern Territory — the country out of which the principal part of Ohio, all Indiana, all Illinois, all Michigan, and all Wisconsin have since been formed. She also owned (perhaps within her then limits) what has since been formed into the State of Kentucky. North Carolina thus owned what is now the State of Tennessee; and South Carolina and Georgia owned, in separate parts, what are now Mississippi and Alabama. Connecticut, I think, owned the little remaining part of Ohio, being the same where they now send Giddings to Congress and beat all creation in mak- ing cheese. These territories, together with the States them- selves, constitute all the country over which the Confederacy then claimed any sort of jurisdiction. We were then living under the Articles of Confed- eration, which were superseded by the Constitu- tion several years afterward. The question of ceding the territories to the General Government was set on foot. Mr. Jefferson,- — the author of the Declaration of Independence, and otherwise a chief actor in the Revolution; then a delegate in Congress; afterward, twice President; who was, is, and perhaps will continue to be, the most distin- 169 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS guished politician of our history; a Virginian by birth and continued residence, and withal a slave- holder, — conceived the idea of taking that occa- sion to prevent slavery ever going into the North- western Territory. He prevailed on the Virginia Legislature to adopt his views, and to cede the Territory, making the prohibition of slavery therein a condition of the deed. 1 Congress accept- ed the cession with the condition; and the first ordinance (which the acts of Congress were then called) for the government of the Territory pro- vided that slavery should never be permitted therein. This is the famed "Ordinance of '87," so often spoken of. Thenceforward for sixty-one years, and until, in 1848, the last scrap of this Territory came into the Union as the State of Wisconsin, all parties acted in quiet obedience to this ordinance. It is now what Jefferson foresaw and intended — the happy home of teeming millions of free, white, prosperous people, and no slave among them. Thus, with the author of the Declaration of Independence, the policy of prohibiting slavery in new territory originated. Thus, away back to the Constitution, in the pure, fresh, free breath of the 1 Mr. Lincoln afterward authorized the correction of the error into which the report here falls, with regard to the prohibition being made a condition of the deed. It was not a condition. 170 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS Revolution, the State of Virginia and the national Congress put that policy into practice. Thus, through more than sixty of the best years of the republic, did that policy steadily work to its great and beneficent end. And thus, in those five States, and in five millions of free, enterprising people, we have before us the rich fruits of this policy. But now new light breaks upon us. Now Con- gress declares this ought never to have been, and the like of it must never be again. The sacred right of self-government is grossly violated by it. We even find some men who drew their first breath — and every other breath of their lives — under this very restriction, now live in dread of absolute suf- focation if they should be restricted in the "sacred right" of taking slaves to Nebraska. That perfect liberty they sigh for — the liberty of making slaves of other people — Jefferson never thought of, their own fathers never thought of, they never thought of, themselves, a year ago. How fortunate for them they did not sooner become sensible of their great misery! Oh, how difficult it is to treat with respect such assaults upon all we have ever really held sacred! But to return to history. In 1 803 we purchased what was then called Louisiana, of France. It in- cluded the present States of Louisiana, Arkansas, 171 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS Missouri, and Iowa; also the Territory of Minne- sota, and the present bone of contention, Kansas and Nebraska, Slavery already existed among the French at New Orleans, and to some extent at St. Louis. In 1812, Louisiana came into the Union as a slave State, without controversy. In 1818 or '19, Missouri showed signs of a wish to come in with slavery. This was resisted by Northern members of Congress; and thus began the first great slavery agitation in the nation. This con- troversy lasted several months and became very angry and exciting — the House of Representatives voting steadily for the prohibition of slavery in Missouri, and the Senate voting as steadily against it. Threats of the breaking up of the Union were freely made, and the ablest public men of the day became seriously alarmed. At length a compromise was made, in which, as in all compromises, both sides yielded something. It was a law, passed on the 6th of March, 1820, providing that Missouri might come into the Union with slavery, but that in all the remaining part of the territory purchased of France which lies north of thirty-six degrees and thirty minutes north latitude, slavery should never be permitted. This provision of law is the "Missouri Compromise." In excluding slavery north of the line, the same language is employed 172 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS as in the Ordinance of 1787. It directly applied to Iowa, Minnesota, and to the present bone of contention, Kansas and Nebraska. Whether there should or should not be slavery south of that line, nothing was said in the law. But Arkansas con- stituted the principal remaining part south of the line; and it has since been admitted as a slave State, without serious controversy. More recently, Iowa, north of the line, came in as a free State without controversy. Still later, Minnesota, north of the line, had a territorial organization without con- troversy. Texas, principally south of the line, and west of Arkansas, though originally within the purchase from France, had, in 1819, been traded off to Spain in our treaty for the acquisi- tion of Florida. It had thus become a part of Mexico. Mexico revolutionized and became inde- pendent of Spain. American citizens began set- tling rapidly with their slaves in the southern part of Texas. Soon they revolutionized against Mexico, and established an independent govern- ment of their own, adopting a constitution with slavery, strongly resembling the constitutions of our slave States. By still another rapid move, Texas, claiming a boundary much farther west than when we parted with her in 1819, was brought back to the United States, and admitted 173 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS into the Union as a slave State. Then there was little or no settlement in the northern part of Texas, a considerable portion of which lay north of the Missouri line; and in the resolutions ad- mitting her into the Union, the Missouri restric- tion was expressly extended westward across her territory. This was in 1845, only nine years ago. Thus originated the Missouri Compromise; and thus has it been respected down to 1845. And even four years later, in 1849, our distinguished Senator, in a public address, held the following language in relation to it: "The Missouri Compromise has been in prac- tical operation for about a quarter of a century, and has received the sanction and approbation of men of all parties in every section of the Union. It has allayed all sectional jealousies and irritations growing out of this vexed question, and harmo- nized and tranquillized the whole country. It has given to Henry Clay, as its prominent champion, the proud sobriquet of the 'Great Pacificator/ and by that title, and for that service, his political friends had repeatedly appealed to the people to rally under his standard as a Presidential candi- date, as the man who had exhibited the patriotism and power to suppress an unholy and treasonable 174 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS agitation, and preserve the Union. He was not aware that any man or any party, from any sec- tion of the Union, had ever urged as an objection to Mr. Clay that he was the great champion of the Missouri Compromise. On the contrary, the effort was made by the opponents of Mr. Clay to prove that he was not entitled to the exclusive merit of that great patriotic measure, and that the honor was equally due to others, as well as to him, for securing its adoption; that it had its origin in the hearts of all patriotic men, who desired to pre- serve and perpetuate the blessings of our glorious Union — an origin akin to that of the Constitution of the United States, conceived in the same spirit of fraternal affection, and calculated to remove forever the only danger which seemed to threaten, at some distant day, to sever the social bond of union. All the evidences of public opinion at that day seemed to indicate that this compromise had been canonized in the hearts of the American peo- ple as a sacred thing which no ruthless hand would ever be reckless enough to disturb." I do not read this extract to involve Judge Douglas in an inconsistency. If he afterward thought he had been wrong, it was right for him to change. I bring this forward merely to show 175 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS the high estimate placed on the Missouri Compro- mise by all parties up to so late as the year 1 849. But going back a little in point of time. Our war with Mexico broke out in 1 846. When Con- gress was about adjourning that session, President Polk asked them to place two millions of dollars under his control, to be used by him in the recess, if found practicable and expedient, in negotiating a treaty of peace with Mexico and acquiring some part of her territory. A bill was duly gotten up for the purpose, and was progressing swimmingly in the House of Representatives, when a member by the name of David Wilmot, a Democrat from Pennsylvania, moved as an amendment, "Provid- ed, that in any territory thus acquired there never shall be slavery." This is the origin of the far-famed Wilmot Pro- viso. It created a great flutter; but it stuck like wax, was voted into the bill, and the bill passed with it through the House. The Senate, however, adjourned without final action on it, and so both appropriation and proviso were lost for the time. The war continued, and at the next session the President renewed his request for the appropria- tion, enlarging the amount, I think, to three mil- lions. Again came the proviso, and defeated the measure. Congress adjourned again, and the war 176 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS went on. In December, 1847, the new Congress assembled. I was in the lower House that term. The Wilmot Proviso, or the principle of it, was constantly coming up in some shape or other, and I think I may venture to say I voted for it at least forty times during the short time I was there. The Senate, however, held it in check, and it never became a law. In the spring of 1848 a treaty of peace was made with Mexico by which we obtained that portion of her country which now consti- tutes the Territories of New Mexico and Utah and the present State of California. By this treaty the Wilmot Proviso was defeated, in so far as it was intended to be a condition of the acquisition of ter- ritory. Its friends, however, were still determined to find some way to restrain slavery from getting into the new country. This new acquisition lay di- rectly west of our old purchase from France, and extended west to the Pacific Ocean, and was so sit- uated that if the Missouri line should be extended straight west, the new country would be divided by such extended line, leaving some north and some south of it. On Judge Douglas's motion, a bill, or provision of a bill, passed the Senate to so extend the Missouri line. The proviso men in the House, including myself, voted it down, because, 12 177 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS by implication, it gave up the southern part to slavery, while we were bent on having it all free. In the fall of 1848 the gold-mines were dis- covered in California. This attracted people to it with unprecedented rapidity, so that on, or soon after, the meeting of the new Congress in Decem- ber, 1849, she already had a population of nearly a hundred thousand, had called a convention, formed a State constitution excluding slavery, and was knocking for admission into the Union. The proviso men, of course, were for letting her in, but the Senate, always true to the other side, would not consent to her admission, and there California stood, kept out of the Union because she would not. let slavery into her borders. Under all the circumstances, perhaps, this was not wrong. There were other points of dispute connected with the general question of slavery, which equally needed adjustment. The South clamored for a more efficient fugitive slave law. The North clamored for the abolition of a peculiar species of slave-trade in the District of Columbia, in connection with which, in view from the windows of the Capitol, a sort of negro livery-stable, where droves of negroes were collected, temporarily kept, and finally taken to Southern markets, precisely like droves of horses, had been openly maintained for 178 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS fifty years. Utah and New Mexico needed terri- torial governments; and whether slavery should or should not be prohibited within them was an- other question. The indefinite western boundary of Texas was to be settled. She was a slave State, and, consequently, the farther west the slavery men could push her boundary, the more slave coun- try they secured; and the farther east the slavery opponents could thrust the boundary back, the less slave ground was secured. Thus this was just as clearly a slavery question as any of the others. These points all needed adjustment, and they were held up, perhaps wisely, to make them help adjust one another. The Union now, as in 1820, was thought to be in danger, and devotion to the Union rightfully inclined men to yield somewhat in points where nothing else could have so in- clined them. A compromise was finally effected. The South got their new fugitive slave law, and the North got California (by far the best part of our acquisition from Mexico) as a free State. The South got a provision that New Mexico and Utah, when admitted as States, may come in with or without slavery as they may then choose; and the North got the slave-trade abolished in the District of Columbia. The North got the western boun- dary of Texas thrown farther back eastward than 179 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS the South desired; but, in turn, they gave Texas ten millions of dollars with which to pay her old debts. This is the Compromise of 1850. Preceding the Presidential election of 1852, each of the great political parties, Democrats and Whigs, met in convention and adopted resolutions indorsing the Compromise of '50 as a "finality/' a final settlement, so far as these parties could make it so, of all slavery agitation. Previous to this, in 1851, the Illinois Legislature had indorsed it. During this long period of time, Nebraska had remained substantially an uninhabited country, but now emigration to and settlement within it began to take place. It is about one third as large as the present United States, and its importance, so long overlooked, begins to come into view. The restriction of slavery by the Missouri Compromise directly applies to it — in fact was first made, and has since been maintained, expressly for it. In 1853, a bill to give it a territorial government passed the House of Representatives, and, in the hands of Judge Douglas, failed of passing only for want of time. This bill contained no repeal of the Missouri Compromise. Indeed, when it was assailed because it did not contain such repeal, Judge Douglas defended it in its existing form. On January 4, 1854, Judge Douglas introduces a 180 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS new bill to give Nebraska territorial government. He accompanies this bill with a report, in which last he expressly recommends that the Missouri Compromise shall neither be affirmed nor repealed. Illinois Daily Journal, October 23, 1854: Before long the bill is so modified as to make two territories instead of one, calling the southern one Kansas. Also, about a month after the introduction of the bill, on the Judge's own motion it is so amend- ed as to declare the Missouri Compromise inopera- tive and void; and, substantially, that the people who go and settle there may establish slavery, or exclude it, as they may see fit. In this shape the bill passed both branches of Congress and became a law. This is the repeal of the Missouri Compromise. The foregoing history may not be precisely accur- ate in every particular, but I am sure it is suffi- ciently so for all the use I shall attempt to make of it, and in it we have before us the chief material enabling us to judge correctly whether the repeal of the Missouri Compromise is right or wrong. I think, and shall try to show, that it is wrong — wrong in its direct effect, letting slavery into Kan- sas and Nebraska, and wrong in its prospective 181 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS principle, allowing it to spread to every other part of the wide world where men can be found in- clined to take it. This declared indifference, but, as I must think, covert real zeal, for the spread of slavery, I can- not but hate. I hate it because of the monstrous injustice of slavery itself. I hate it because it de- prives our republican example of its just influence in the world; enables the enemies of free institu- tions with plausibility to taunt us as hypocrites; causes the real friends of freedom to doubt our sin- cerity; and especially because it forces so many good men among ourselves into an open war with the very fundamental principles of civil liberty, criticizing the Declaration of Independence, and insisting that there is no right principle of action but self-interest. Before proceeding, let me say that I think I have no prejudice against the Southern people. They are just what we would be in their situation. If slavery did not now exist among them, they would not introduce it. If it did now exist among us, we should not instantly give it up. This I believe of the masses North and South. Doubtless there are individuals on both sides who would not hold slaves under any circumstances, and others who would gladly introduce slavery anew if it were out 182 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS of existence. We know that some Southern men do free their slaves, go North and become tip-top abolitionists, while some Northern ones go South and become most cruel slave-masters. When Southern people tell us that they are no more responsible for the origin of slavery than we are, I acknowledge the fact. When it is said that the institution exists, and that it is very difficult to get rid of it in any satisfactory way, I can under- stand and appreciate the saying. I surely will not blame them for not doing what I should not know how to do myself. If all earthly power were given me, I should not know what to do as to the exist- ing institution. My first impulse would be to free all the slaves, and send them to Liberia, to their own native land. But a moment's reflection would convince me that whatever of high hope (as I think there is) there may be in this in the long run, its sudden execution is impossible. If they were all landed there in a day, they would all per- ish in the next ten days; and there are not surplus shipping and surplus money enough to carry them there in many times ten days. What then? Free them all, and keep them among us as underlings? Is it quite certain that this betters their condition? I think I would not hold one in slavery at any rate, yet the point is not clear enough for me to 183 ABRAHAM; LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS denounce people upon. What next? Free them, and make them politically and socially our equals? My own feelings will not admit of this, and if mine would, we well know that those of the great mass of whites will not. Whether this feeling ac- cords with justice and sound judgment is not the sole question, if indeed it is any part of it. A uni- versal feeling, whether well or ill founded, cannot be safely disregarded. We cannot then make them equals. It does seem to me that systems of gradual emancipation might be adopted, but for their tar- diness in this I will not undertake to judge our brethren of the South. When they remind us of their constitutional rights, I acknowledge them — not grudgingly, but fully and fairly; and I would give them any legis- lation for the reclaiming of their fugitives which should not in its stringency be more likely to carry a free man into slavery than our ordinary criminal laws are to hang an innocent one. But all this, to my judgment, furnishes no more excuse for permitting slavery to go into our own free territory than it would for reviving the Afri- can slave-trade by law. The law which forbids the bringing of slaves from Africa, and that which has so long forbidden the taking of them into Nebraska, can hardly be distinguished on any 184 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS moral principle, and the repeal of the former could find quite as plausible excuses as that of the latter. The arguments by which the repeal of the Mis- souri Compromise is sought to be justified are these: First, That the Nebraska country needed a territorial government. Second, That in various ways the public had repudiated that compromise and demanded the repeal, and therefore should not now complain of it. And, lastly, That the repeal establishes a principle which is intrinsically right. I will attempt an answer to each of them in its turn. First, then: If that country was in need of a territorial organization, could it not have had it as well without as with a repeal? Iowa and Minne- sota, to both of which the Missouri restriction applied, had, without its repeal, each in succession, territorial organizations. And even the year be- fore, a bill for Nebraska itself was within an ace of passing without the repealing clause, and this in the hands of the same men who are now the champions of repeal. Why no necessity then for repeal? But still later, when this very bill was first brought in, it contained no repeal. But, say they, because the people had demanded, or rather commanded, the repeal, the repeal was to accom- pany the organization whenever that should occur. Now, I deny that the public ever demanded any 185 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS such thing — ever repudiated the Missouri Com- promise, ever commanded its repeal. I deny it, and call for the proof. It is not contended, I be- lieve, that any such command has ever been given in express terms. It is only said that it was done in principle. The support of the Wilmot Proviso is the first fact mentioned to prove that the Mis- souri restriction was repudiated in principle, and the second is the refusal to extend the Missouri line over the country acquired from Mexico. These are near enough alike to be treated together. The one was to exclude the chances of slavery from the whole new acquisition by the lump, and the other was to reject a division of it, by which one half was to be given up to those chances. Now, whether this was a repudiation of the Missouri line in principle depends upon whether the Mis- souri law contained any principle requiring the line to be extended over the country acquired from Mexico. I contend it did not. I insist that it con- tained no general principle, but that it was, in every sense, specific. That its terms limit it to the country purchased from France is undenied and undeniable. It could have no principle beyond the intention of those who made it. They did not intend to extend the line to country which they did not own. If they intended to extend it in the 186 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS event of acquiring additional territory, why did they not say so? It was just as easy to say that "in all the country west of the Mississippi which we now own, or may hereafter acquire, there shall never be slavery," as to say what they did say; and they would have said it if they had meant it. An intention to extend the law is not only not mentioned in the law, but is not mentioned in any contemporaneous history. Both the law itself, and the history of the times, are a blank as to any principle of extension; and by neither the known rules of construing statutes and contracts, nor by common sense, can any such principle be inferred. Another fact showing the specific character of the Missouri law — showing that it intended no more than it expressed, showing that the line was not intended as a universal dividing line between free and slave territory, present and prospective, north of which slavery could never go — is the fact that by that very law Missouri came in as a slave State, north of the line. If that law contained any prospective principle, the whole law must be looked to in order to ascertain what the principle was. And by this rule the South could fairly con- tend that, inasmuch as they got one slave State north of the line at the inception of the law, they have the right to have another given them north 187 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS of it occasionally, now and then, in the indefinite westward extension of the line. This demon- strates the absurdity cf attempting to deduce a prospective principle from the Missouri Compro- mise line. When we voted for the Wilmot Proviso we were voting to keep slavery out of the whole Mexican acquisition, and little did we think we were thereby voting to let it into Nebraska, lying several hundred miles distant. When we voted against extending the Missouri line, little did we think we were voting to destroy the old line, then of near thirty years' standing. To argue that we thus repudiated the Missouri Compromise is no less absurd than it would be to argue that because we have so far forborne to ac- quire Cuba, we have thereby, in principle, repudi- ated our former acquisitions and determined to throw them out of the Union. No less absurd than it would be to say that, because I may have refused to build an addition to my house, I thereby have decided to destroy the existing house! And if I catch you setting fire to my house, you will turn upon me and say I instructed you to do it! The most conclusive argument, however, that while for the Wilmot Proviso, and while voting against the extension of the Missouri line, we 188 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS never thought of disturbing the original Missouri Compromise, is found in the fact that there was then, and still is, an unorganized tract of fine coun- try, nearly as large as the State of Missouri, lying immediately west of Arkansas and south of the Missouri Compromise line, and that we never at- tempted to prohibit slavery as to it. I wish par- ticular attention to this. It adjoins the original Missouri Compromise line by its northern boun- dary, and consequently is part of the country into which by implication slavery was permitted to go by that compromise. There it has lain open ever since, and there it still lies, and yet no effort has been made at any time to wrest it from the South. In all our struggles to prohibit slavery within our Mexican acquisitions, we never so much as lifted a finger to prohibit it as to this tract. Is not this entirely conclusive that at all times we have held the Missouri Compromise as a sacred thing, even when against ourselves as well as when for us? Senator Douglas sometimes says the Missouri line itself was in principle only an extension of the line of the Ordinance of '87 — that is to say, an extension of the Ohio River. I think this is weak enough on its face. I will remark, however, that, as a glance at the map will show, the Missouri line is a long way farther south than the Ohio, and 189 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS that if our Senator in proposing his extension had stuck to the principle of jogging southward, per- haps it might not have been voted down so readily. But next it is said that the compromises of '50, and the ratification of them by both political par- ties in '52, established a new principle which re- quired the repeal of the Missouri Compromise. This again I deny. I deny it, and demand the proof. I have already stated fully what the com- promises of '50 are. That particular part of those measures from which the virtual repeal of the Mis- souri Compromise is sought to be inferred (for it is admitted they contain nothing about it in ex- press terms) is the provision in the Utah and New Mexico laws which permits them when they seek admission into the Union as States to come in with or without slavery, as they shall then see fit. Now I insist this provision was made for Utah and New Mexico, and for no other place what- ever. It had no more direct reference to Nebraska than it had to the territories of the moon. But, say they, it had reference to Nebraska in principle. Let us see. The North consented to this pro- vision, not because they considered it right in it- self, but because they were compensated — paid for it. They at the same time got California into the Union as a free State. This was far the best part 190 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS of all they had struggled for by the Wilmot Pro- viso. They also got the area of slavery somewhat narrowed in the settlement of the boundary of Texas. Also they got the slave-trade abolished in the District of Columbia. For all these desirable objects the North could afford to yield something; and they did yield to the South the Utah and New Mexico provision. I do not mean that the whole North, or even a majority, yielded, when the law passed; but enough yielded, when added to the vote of the South, to carry the measure. Nor can it be pre- tended that the principle of this arrangement re- quires us to permit the same provision to be ap- plied to Nebraska, without any equivalent at all. Give us another free State; press the boundary of Texas still farther back; give us another step to- ward the destruction of slavery in the District, and you present us a similar case. But ask us not to repeat, for nothing, what you paid for in the first instance. If you wish the thing again, pay again. That is the principle of the compromises of '50, if, indeed, they had any principles beyond their specific terms — it was the system of equivalents. Again, if Congress, at that time, intended that all future Territories should, when admitted as States, come in with or without slavery at their 191 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS own option, why did it not say so? With such a universal provision, all know the bills could not have passed. Did they, then — could they — estab- lish a principle contrary to their own intention? Still further, if they intended to establish the prin- ciple that, whenever Congress had control, it should be left to the people to do as they thought fit with slavery, why did they not authorize the people of the District of Columbia, at their option, to abolish slavery within their limits? I personally know that this has not been left undone because it was unthought of. It was fre- quently spoken of by members of Congress, and by citizens of Washington, six years ago; and I heard no one express a doubt that a system of gradual emancipation, with compensation to own- ers, would meet the approbation of a large major- ity of the white people of the District. But with- out the action of Congress they could say nothing; and Congress said "No." In the measures of 1850, Congress had the subject of slavery in the District expressly on hand. If they were then establishing the principle of allowing the people to do as they please with slavery, why did they not apply the principle to that people? Again, it is claimed that by the resolutions of the Illinois Legislature, passed in 1851, the repeal 192 ABRAHAM. LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS of the Missouri Compromise was demanded. This I deny also. Whatever may be worked out by a criticism of the language of those resolutions, the people have never understood them as being any more than an indorsement of the compromises of 1850, and a release of our senators from voting for the Wilmot Proviso. The whole people are liv- ing witnesses that this only was their view. Fi- nally, it is asked, "If we did not mean to apply the Utah and New Mexico provision to all future Territories, what did we mean when we, in 1852, indorsed the compromises of 1850?" For myself I can answer this question most eas- ily. I meant not to ask a repeal or modification of the fugitive slave law. I meant not to ask for the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia. I meant not to resist the admission of Utah and New Mexico, even should they ask to come in as slave States. I meant nothing about additional Terri- tories, because, as I understood, we then had no Territory whose character as to slavery was not already settled. As to Nebraska, I regarded its character as being fixed by the Missouri Compro- mise for thirty years — as unalterably fixed as that of my own home in Illinois. As to new acquisi- tions, I said, "Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." When we make new acquisitions, we is 193 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS will, as heretofore, try to manage them somehow. That is my answer; that is what I meant and said; and I appeal to the people to say each for himself whether that is not also the universal meaning of the free States. Illinois Daily Journal, October 24, 1854: And now, in turn, let me ask a few questions. If, by any or all these matters, the repeal of the Missouri Compromise was commanded, why was not the command sooner obeyed? Why was the repeal omitted in the Nebraska Bill of 1853? Why was it omitted in the original bill of 1854? Why in the accompanying report was such a repeal characterized as a departure from the course pur- sued in 1850 and its continued omission recom- mended? I am aware Judge Douglas now argues that the subsequent express repeal is no substantial altera- tion of the bill. This argument seems wonderful to me. It is as if one should argue that white and black are not different. He admits, however, that there is a literal change in the bill, and that he made the change in deference to other senators who would not support the bill without. This proves that those other senators thought the change a substantial one, and that the Judge 194 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS thought their opinions worth deferring to. His own opinions, therefore, seem not to rest on a very- firm basis, even in his own mind; and I suppose the world believes, and will continue to believe, that precisely on the substance of that change this whole agitation has arisen. I conclude, then, that the public never demand- ed the repeal of the Missouri Compromise. I now come to consider whether the appeal, with its avowed principles, is intrinsically right. I insist that it is not. Take the particular case. A controversy had arisen between the advocates and opponents of slavery, in relation to its estab- lishment within the country we had purchased of France. The southern, and then best, part of the purchase was already in as a slave State. The controversy was settled by also letting Missouri in as a slave State; but with the agreement that within all the remaining part of the purchase, north of a certain line, there should never be slav- ery. As to what was to be done with the remain- ing part, south of the line, nothing was said; but perhaps the fair implication was, it should come in with slavery if it should so choose. The southern part, except a portion heretofore mentioned, after- ward did come in with slavery, as the State of Arkansas. All these many years, since 1820, the 195 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS northern part had remained a wilderness. At length settlements began in it also. In due course Iowa came in as a free State, and Minnesota was given a territorial government, without removing the slavery restriction. Finally, the sole remain- ing part north of the line — Kansas and Nebraska — was to be organized; and it is proposed, and carried, to blot out the old dividing line of thirty- four years' standing, and to open the whole of that country to the introduction of slavery. Now this, to my mind, is manifestly unjust. After an angry and dangerous controversy, the parties made friends by dividing the bone of contention. The one party first appropriates her own share, beyond all power to be disturbed in the possession of it, and then seizes the share of the other party. It is as if two starving men had divided their only loaf, the one had hastily swallowed his half, and then grabbed the other's half just as he was putting it to his mouth. Let me here drop the main argument, to notice what I consider rather an inferior matter. It is argued that slavery will not go to Kansas and Nebraska, in any event. This is a palliation, a lullaby. I have some hope that it will not; but let us not be too confident. As to climate, a glance at the map shows that there are five slave 196 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS States — Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky and Missouri, and also the District of Columbia, all north of the Missouri Compromise line. The census returns of 1850 show that within these there are eight hundred and sixty-seven thousand two hundred and seventy-six slaves, being more than one-fourth of all the slaves in the nation. It is not climate, then, that will keep slavery out of these Territories. Is there anything in the peculiar nature of the country? Missouri adjoins these Territories by her entire western boundary, and slavery is already within every one of her western counties. I have even heard it said that there are more slaves in proportion to whites in the northwestern county of Missouri than within any other county in the State. Slavery pressed entirely up to the old western boundary of the State, and when rather recently a part of that boundary at the northwest was moved out a little farther west, slavery followed on quite up to the new line. Now, when the restriction is removed, what is to prevent it from going still farther? Climate will not; no peculiarity of the country will; nothing in nature will. Will the disposition of the people prevent it? Those nearest the scene are all in favor of the extension. The Yankees who are opposed to it may be most numerous; 197 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS but, in military phrase, the battlefield is too far from their base of operations. But it is said there now is no law in Nebraska on the subject of slavery, and that, in such case, taking a slave there operates his freedom. That is good book-law, but it is not the rule of actual practice. Wherever slavery is, it has been first in- troduced without law. The oldest laws we find concerning it are not laws introducing it, hut regu- lating it as an already existing thing. A white man takes his slave to Nebraska now. Who will inform the negro that he is free? Who will take him before court to test the question of his free- dom? In ignorance of his legal emancipation he is kept chopping, splitting, and plowing. Others are brought, and move on in the same track. At last, if ever the time for voting comes on the ques- tion of slavery, the institution already, in fact, exists in the country, and cannot well be removed. The fact of its presence, and the difficulty of its removal, will carry the vote in its favor. Keep it out until a vote is taken, and a vote in favor of it cannot be got in any population of forty thousand on earth, who have been drawn together by the ordinary motives of emigration and settlement. To get slaves into the Territory simultaneously with the whites in the incipient stages of settlement is 198 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS the precise stake played for and won in this Ne- braska measure. The question is asked us: "If slaves will go in notwithstanding the general principle of law lib- erates them, why would they not equally go in against positive statute law — go in, even if the Missouri restriction were maintained?" I answer, because it takes a much bolder man to venture in with his property in the latter case than in the for- mer; because the positive Congressional enactment is known to and respected by all, or nearly all, whereas the negative principle that no law is free law is not much known except among lawyers. We have some experience of this practical differ- ence. In spite of the Ordinance of '87, a few negroes were brought into Illinois and held in a state of quasi-slavery, not enough, however, to carry a vote of the people in favor of the institu- tion when they came to form a constitution. But into the adjoining Missouri country, where there was no Ordinance of '87 — was no restriction — they were carried ten times, nay, a hundred times, as fast, and actually made a slave State. This is fact — naked fact. Another lullaby argument is that taking slaves to new countries does not increase their number, does not make any one slave who would otherwise 199 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS be free. There is some truth in this, and I am glad of it; but it is not wholly true. The African slave- trade is not yet effectually suppressed; and, if we make a reasonable deduction for the white people among us who are foreigners and the descendants of foreigners arriving here since 1 808, we shall find the increase of the black population outrunning that of the white to an extent unaccountable, ex- cept by supposing that some of them, too, have been coming from Africa. If this be so, the open- ing of new countries to the institution increases the demand for and augments the price of slaves, and so does, in fact, make slaves of freemen, by caus- ing them to be brought from Africa and sold into bondage. But however this may be, we know the opening of new countries to slavery tends to the perpetua- tion of the institution, and so does keep men in slavery who would otherwise be free. This result we do not feel like favoring, and we are under no legal obligation to suppress our feelings in this respect. Equal justice to the South, it is said, requires us to consent to the extension of slavery to new countries. That is to say, inasmuch as you do not object to my taking my hog to Nebraska, therefore I must not object to your taking your 200 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS slave. Now, I admit that this is perfectly logical if there is no difference between hogs and negroes. But while you thus require me to deny the human- ity of the negro, I wish to ask whether you of the South, yourselves, have ever been willing to do as much? It is kindly provided that of all those who come into the world only a small percentage are natural tyrants. That percentage is no larger in the slave States than in the free. The great major- ity South, as well as North, have human sympa- thies, of which they can no more divest themselves than they can of their sensibility to physical pain. These sympathies in the bosoms of the Southern people manifest, in many ways, their sense of the wrong of slavery, and their consciousness that, after all, there is humanity in the negro. If they deny this, let me address them a few plain ques- tions. In 1820 you joined the North, almost unanimously, in declaring the African slave-trade piracy, and in annexing to it the punishment of death. Why did you do this? If you did not feel that it was wrong, why did you join in pro- viding that men should be hung for it? The prac- tice was no more than bringing wild negroes from Africa to such as would buy them. But you never thought of hanging men for catching and selling wild horses, wild buffalos, or wild bears. 201 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS Again, you have among you a sneaking individ- ual of the class of native tyrants known as the "slave-dealer." He watches your necessities, and crawls up to buy your slave, at a speculating price. If you cannot help it, you sell to him; but if you can help it, you drive him from your door. You despise him utterly. You do not recognize him as a friend, or even as an honest man. Your children must not play with his; they may rollick freely with the little negroes, but not with the slave-dealer's children. If you are obliged to deal with him, you try to get through the job without so much as touching him. It is common with you to join hands with the men you meet, but with the slave-dealer you avoid the ceremony — instinc- tively shrinking from the snaky contact. If he grows rich and retires from business, you still re- member him, and still keep up the ban of non- intercourse upon him and his family. Now, why is this? You do not so treat the man who deals in corn, cotton, or tobacco. And yet again: There are in the United States and Territories, including the District of Colum- bia, 433,643 free blacks. At five hundred dollars per head they are worth over two hundred millions of dollars. How comes this vast amount of prop- erty, to be running about without owners? We 202 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS do not see free horses or free cattle running at large. How is this? All these free blacks are the descendants of slaves, or have been slaves them- selves; and they would be slaves now but for something which has operated on their white own- ers, inducing them at vast pecuniary sacrifice to liberate them. What is that something? Is there any mistaking it? In all these cases it is your sense of justice and human sympathy continually telling you that the poor negro has some natural right to himself — that those who deny it and make mere merchandise of him deserve kickings, contempt, and death. And now why will you ask us to deny the humanity of the slave, and estimate him as only the equal of the hog? Why ask us to do what you will not do yourselves? Why ask us to do for nothing what two hundred millions of dollars could not induce you to do? But one great argument in support of the re- peal of the Missouri Compromise is still to come. That argument is "the sacred right of self-govern- ment." It seems our distinguished Senator has found great difficulty in getting his antagonists, even in the Senate, to meet him fairly on this argument. Some poet has said: "Fools rush in where angels fear to tread." 203 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS At the hazard of being thought one of the fools of this quotation, I meet that argument — I rush in — I take that bull by the horns. I trust I under- stand and truly estimate the right of self-govern- ment. My faith in the proposition that each man should do precisely as he pleases with all which is exclusively his own lies at the foundation of the sense of justice there is in me. I extend the prin- ciple to communities of men as well as to individ- uals. I so extend it because it is politically wise, as well as naturally just; politically wise in saving us from broils about matters which do not concern us. Here, or at Washington, I would not trouble myself with the oyster laws of Virginia, or the cranberry laws of Indiana. The doctrine of self- government is right — absolutely and eternally right — but it has no just application as here at- tempted. Or perhaps I should rather say that whether it has such application depends upon whether a negro is or is not a man. If he is not a man, in that case he who is a man may as a matter of self-government do just what he pleases with him. But if the negro is a man, is it not to that ex- tent a total destruction of self-government to say that he too shall not govern himself? When the white man governs himself, that is self-govern- ment; but when he governs himself and also gov- 204 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS cms another man, that is more than self-govern- ment — that is despotism. If the negro is a man, why, then, my ancient faith teaches me that "all men are created equal," and that there can be no moral right in connection with one man's making a slave of another. Judge Douglas frequently, with bitter irony and sarcasm, paraphrases our argument by saying: "The white people of Nebraska are good enough to govern themselves, but they are not good enough to govern a few miserable negroes!" Well, I doubt not that the people of Nebraska are and will continue to be as good as the average of people elsewhere. I do not say the contrary. What I do say is that no man is good enough to govern another man without that other's con- sent. I say this is the leading principle, the sheet- anchor of American republicanism. Our Declara- tion of Independence says: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: That all men are created equal: that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, govern- ments are instituted among men, DERIVING THEIR JUST POWERS FROM THE CONSENT OF THE GOV- ERNED." 205 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS I have quoted so much at this time merely to show that, according to our ancient faith, the just powers of government are derived from the con- sent of the governed. Now the relation of master and slave is, pro tanto, a total violation of this principle. The master not only governs the slave without his consent, but he governs him by a set of rules altogether different from those which he prescribes for himself. Allow all the governed an equal voice in the government, and that, and that only, is self-government. Let it not be said that I am contending for the establishment of political and social equality be- tween the whites and blacks. I have already said the contrary. I am not combating the argument of necessity, arising from the fact that the blacks are already among us; but I am combating what is set up as moral argument for allowing them to be taken where they have never yet been — arguing against the extension of a bad thing, which, where it already exists, we must of necessity manage as we best can. In support of his application of the doctrine of self-government, Senator Douglas has sought to bring to his aid the opinions and examples of our Revolutionary fathers. I am glad he has done this. I love the sentiments of those old-time men, 206 ABRAHAM, LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS and shall be most happy to abide by their opin- ions. He shows us that when it was in contem- plation for the colonies to break off from Great Britain, and set up a new government for them- selves, several of the States instructed their dele- gates to go for the measure, provided each State should be allowed to regulate its domestic con- cerns in its own way. I do not quote; but this in substance. This was right; I see nothing objec- tionable in it. I also think it probable that it had some reference to the existence of slavery among them. I will not deny that it had. But had it any reference to the carrying of slavery into new countries? That is the question, and we will let the fathers themselves answer it. Illinois Daily Journal, October 25, 1854: This same generation of men, and mostly the same individuals of the generation who declared this principle, who declared independence, who fought the war of the Revolution through, who afterward made the Constitution under which we still live — these same men passed the Ordinance of '87, declaring that slavery should never go to the Northwest Territory. I have no doubt Judge Douglas thinks they were very inconsistent in this. It is a question of discrimination between them 207 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS and him. But there is not an inch of ground left for his claiming that their opinions, their exam- ple, their authority, are on his side in the con- troversy. Again, is not Nebraska, while a Territory, a part of us? Do we not own the country? And if we surrender the control of it, do we not sur- render the right of self-government? It is part of ourselves. If you say we shall not control it, be- cause it is only part, the same is true of every other part; and when all the parts are gone, what has become of the whole? What is then left of us? What use for the General Government, when there is nothing left for it to govern? But you say this question should be left to the people of Nebraska, because they are more particu- larly interested. If this be the rule, you must leave it to each individual to say for himself whether he will have slaves. What better moral right have thirty-one citizens of Nebraska to say that the thirty-second shall not hold slaves than the people of the thirty-one States have to say that slavery shall not go into the thirty-second State at all? But if it is a sacred right for the people of Ne- braska to take and hold slaves there, it is equally their sacred right to buy them where they can buy 208 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS them cheapest; and that, undoubtedly, will be on the coast of Africa, provided you will consent not to hang them for going there to buy them. You must remove this restriction, too, from the sacred right of self-government. I am aware you say that taking slaves from the State of Nebraska does not make slaves of freemen; but the African slave- trader can say just as much. He does not catch free negroes and bring them here. He finds them already slaves in the hands of their black captors, and he honestly buys them at the rate of a red cotton handkerchief a head. This is very cheap, and it is a great abridgment of the sacred right of self-government to hang men for engaging in this profitable trade. Another important objection to this applica- tion of the right of self-government is that it enables the first few to deprive the succeeding many of a free exercise of the right of self-government. The first few may get slavery in, and the subse- quent many cannot easily get it out. How com- mon is the remark now in the slave States, "If we were only clear of our slaves, how much better it would be for us." They are actually deprived of the privilege of governing themselves as they would, by the action of a very few in the begin- 14 209 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS ning. The same thing was true of the whole na- tion at the time our Constitution was formed. Whether slavery shall go into Nebraska, or other new Territories, is not a matter of exclusive concern to the people who may go there. The whole nation is interested that the best use shall be made of these Territories. We want them for homes of free white people. This they cannot be, to any considerable extent, if slavery shall be planted within them. Slave States are places for poor white people to remove from, not to remove to. New free States are the places for poor people to go to, and better their condition. For this use the nation needs these Territories. Still further: there are constitutional relations between the slave and free States which are degrad- ing to the latter. We are under legal obligations to catch and return their runaway slaves to them; a sort of dirty, disagreeable job, which, I believe, as a general rule, the slaveholders will not perform for one another. Then again, in the control of the government — the management of the partner- ship affairs — they have greatly the advantage of us. By the Constitution each State has two sena- tors, each has a number of representatives in pro- portion to the number of its people, and each has a number of Presidential electors equal to the 210 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS whole number of its senators and representatives together. But in ascertaining the number of the people for this purpose, five slaves are counted as being equal to three whites. The slaves do not vote; they are only counted and so used as to swell the influence of the white people's votes. The practical effect of this is more aptly shown by a comparison of the States of South Carolina and Maine. South Carolina has six representa- tives, and so has Maine; South Carolina has eight Presidential electors, and so has Maine. This is precise equality so far; and of course they are equal in senators, each having two. Thus in the control of the government the two States are equals precisely. But how are they in the num- ber of their white people? Maine has 581,813, while South Carolina has 274,567; Maine has twice as many as South Carolina, and 32,679 over. Thus, each white man in South Caro- lina is more than the double of any man in Maine. This is all because South Carolina, besides her free people, has 384,984 slaves. The South Carolinian has precisely the same advantage over the white man in every other free State as well as in Maine. He is more than the double of any one of us in this crowd. The same advantage, but not to the same extent, is held by all the citizens of the 211 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS slave States over those of the free; and it is an absolute truth, without an exception, that there is no voter in any slave State but who has more legal power in the government than any voter in any free State. There is no instance of exact equality; and the disadvantage is against us the whole chap- ter through. This principle, in the aggregate, gives the slave States in the present Congress twen- ty additional representatives, being seven more than the whole majority by which they passed the Nebraska Bill. Now all this is manifestly unfair; yet I do not mention it to complain of it, in so far as it is already settled. It is in the Constitution, and I do not for that cause, or any other cause, propose to destroy, or alter, or disregard the Constitution. I stand to it, fairly, fully, and firmly. But when I am told I must leave it altogether to other people to say whether new partners are to be bred up and brought into the firm, on the same degrading terms against me, I respectfully demur. I insist that whether I shall be a whole man or only the half of one, in comparison with others, is a question in which I am somewhat con- cerned, and one which no other man can have a sacred right of deciding for me. If I am wrong 212 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS in this, if it really be a sacred right of self-govern- ment in the man who shall go to Nebraska to de- cide whether he will be the equal of me or the double of me, then, after he shall have exercised that right, and thereby shall have reduced me to a still smaller fraction of a man than I already am, I should like for some gentleman, deeply skilled in the mysteries of sacred rights, to provide himself with a microscope, and peep about, and find out, if he can, what has become of my sacred rights. They will surely be too small for detection with the naked eye. Finally, I insist that if there is anything which it is the duty of the whole people to never in- trust to any hands but their own, that thing is the preservation and perpetuity of their own liberties and institutions. And if they shall think, as I do, that the extension of slavery endangers them more than any or all other causes, how recreant to themselves if they submit the question, and with it the fate of their country, to a mere handful of men bent only on self-interest! If this question of slavery extension were an insignificant one — one having no power to do harm — it might be shuffled aside in this way; and being, as it is, the great Behemoth of danger, shall the strong grip of 213 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS the nation be loosened upon him, to intrust him to the hands of such feeble keepers? I have done with this mighty argument of self- government. Go, sacred thing! Go in peace. But Nebraska is urged as a great Union-saving measure. Well, I too go for saving the Union. Much as I hate slavery, I would consent to the extension of it rather than see the Union dissolved, just as I would consent to any great evil to avoid a greater one. But when I go to Union-saving, I must believe, at least, that the means I employ have some adaptation to the end. To my mind, Nebraska has no such adaptation. "It hath no relish of salvation in it." It is an aggravation, rather, of the only one thing which ever endangers the Union. When it came upon us, all was peace and quiet. The nation was looking to the forming of new bonds of union, and a long course of peace and prosperity seemed to lie before us. In the whole range of possibility, there scarcely appears to me to have been anything out of which the slavery agitation could have been revived, except the very project of repealing the Missouri Compromise. Every inch of territory we owned already had a definite settlement of the slavery question, by which all parties were pledged to abide. Indeed, there was no uninhabited coun- 214 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS try on the continent which we could acquire, if we except some extreme northern regions which are wholly out of the question. In this state of affairs the Genius of Discord himself could scarcely have invented a way of again setting us by the ears but by turning back and destroying the peace measures of the past. The counsels of that Genius seem to have prevailed. The Missouri Compromise was repealed; and here we are in the midst of a new slavery agitation, such, I think, as we have never seen before. Who is responsible for this? Is it those who resist the measure, or those who causelessly brought it for- ward, and pressed it through, having reason to know, and in fact knowing, it must and would be so resisted? It could not but be expected by its author that it would be looked upon as a measure for the extension of slavery, aggravated by a gross breach of faith. Argue as you will and long as you will, this is the naked front and aspect of the measure. And in this aspect it could not but produce agitation. Slavery is founded in the selfishness of man's na- ture — opposition to it in his love of justice. These principles are at eternal antagonism, and when brought into collision so fiercely as slavery exten- sion brings them, shocks and throes and convul- 215 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS sions must ceaselessly follow. Repeal the Mis- souri Compromise, repeal all compromises, repeal the Declaration of Independence, repeal all past history, you still cannot repeal human nature. It still will be out of the abundance of man's heart that slavery extension is wrong, and out of the abundance of his heart his mouth will continue to speak. The structure, too, of the Nebraska Bill is very peculiar. The people are to decide the question of slavery for themselves; but when they are to de- cide, or how they are to decide, or whether, when the question is once decided, it is to remain so or is to be subject to an indefinite succession of new trials, the law does not say. Is it to be decided by the first dozen settlers who arrive there, or is it to await the arrival of a hundred? Is it to be decided by a vote of the people or a vote of the Legislature, or, indeed, by a vote of any sort? To these ques- tions the law gives no answer. There is a mystery about this; for when a member proposed to give the Legislature express authority to exclude slav- ery, it was hooted down by the friends of the bill. This fact is worth remembering. Some Yankees in the East are sending emigrants to Nebraska to exclude slavery from it; and so far as I can judge, they expect the question to be decided by voting 216 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS in some way or other. But the Missourians are awake, too. They are within a stoneVthrow of the contested ground. They hold meetings and pass resolutions, in which not the slightest allu- sion to voting is made. They resolve that slavery already exists in the Territory; that more shall go there; that they, remaining in Missouri, will protect it, and that abolitionists shall be hung or driven away. Through all this, bowie-knives and six-shooters are seen plainly enough, but never a glimpse of the ballot-box. And, really, what is the result of all this? Each party within having numerous and determined backers without, is it not probable that the con- test will come to blows and bloodshed? Could there be a more apt invention to bring about colli- sion and violence on the slavery question than this Nebraska project is? I do not charge or believe that such was intended by Congress; but if they had literally formed a ring and placed champions within it to fight out the controversy, the fight could be no more likely to come off than it is. And if this fight should begin, is it likely to take a very peaceful, Union-saving turn? Will not the first drop of blood so shed be the real knell of the Union? 217 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS The Missouri Compromise ought to be restored. For the sake of the Union, it ought to be re- stored. We ought to elect a House of Represen- tatives which will vote its restoration. If by any means we omit to do this, what follows? Slavery may or may not be established in Nebraska. But whether it be or not, we shall have repudiated — discarded from the councils of the nation — the spirit of compromise; for who, after this, will ever trust in a national compromise? The spirit of mutual concession — that spirit which first gave us the Constitution, and which has thrice saved the Union — we shall have strangled and cast from us forever. And what shall we have in lieu of it? The South flushed with triumph and tempted to ex- cess; the North, betrayed as they believe, brooding on wrong and burning for revenge. One side will provoke, the other resent. The one will taunt, the other defy; one aggresses, the other retaliates. Already a few in the North defy all constitutional restraints, resist the execution of the fugitive slave law, and even menace the institution of slav- ery in the States where it exists. Already a few in the South claim the constitutional right to take and to hold slaves in the free States, demand the re- vival of the slave-trade, and demand a treaty with Great Britain by which fugitive slaves may be re- 218 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS claimed from Canada. As yet they are but few on either side. It is a grave question for lovers of the Union whether the final destruction of the Missouri Compromise, and with it the spirit of all compromise, will or will not embolden and em- bitter each of these, and fatally increase the num- ber of both. But restore the compromise, and what then? We thereby restore the national faith, the national confidence, the national feeling of brotherhood. We thereby reinstate the spirit of concession and compromise, that spirit which has never failed us in past perils, and which may be safely trusted for all the future. The South ought to join in doing this. The peace of the nation is as dear to them as to us. In memories of the past and hopes of the future, they share as largely as we. It would be on their part a great act — great in its spirit, and great in its effect. It would be worth to the nation a hundred years' purchase of peace and prosperity. And what of sacrifice would they make? They only surrender to us what they gave us for a con- sideration long, long ago; what they have not now asked for, struggled or cared for; what has been thrust upon them, not less to their astonishment than to ours. But it is said we cannot restore it; that though 219 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS we elect every member of the lower House, the Senate is still against us. It is quite true that of the senators who passed the Nebraska Bill a majority of the whole Senate will retain their seats in spite of the elections of this and the next year. But if at these elections their several constit- uencies shall clearly express their will against Ne- braska, will these senators disregard their will? Will they neither obey nor make room for those who will? But even if we fail to technically restore the compromise, it is still a great point to carry a pop- ular vote in favor of the restoration. The moral weight of such a vote cannot be estimated too highly. The authors of Nebraska are not at all satisfied with the destruction of the compromise — an indorsement of this principle they proclaim to be the great object. With them, Nebraska alone is a small matter — to establish a principle for fu- ture use is what they particularly desire. Illinois Daily Journal, October 26, 1854: The future use is to be the planting of slavery wherever in the wide world local and unorganized opposition cannot prevent it. Now, if you wish to give them this indorsement, if you wish to es- tablish this principle, do so. I shall regret it, but 220 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS it is your right. On the contrary, if you are op- posed to the principle — intend to give it no such indorsement — let no wheedling, no sophistry, di- vert you from throwing a direct vote against it. Some men, mostly Whigs, who condemn the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, nevertheless hesitate to go for its restoration, lest they be thrown in company with the abolitionists. Will they allow me, as an old Whig, to tell them, good-humoredly, that I think this is very silly? Stand with anybody that stands right. Stand with him while he is right, and part with him when he goes wrong. Stand with the abolitionist in restoring the Missouri Compromise, and stand against him when he attempts to repeal the fugi- tive slave law. In the latter case you stand with the Southern disunionist. What of that? You are still right. In both cases you are right. In both cases you oppose the dangerous extremes. In both you stand on middle ground, and hold the ship level and steady. In both you are national, and nothing less than national. This is the good old Whig ground. To desert such ground because of any company is to be less than a Whig — less than a man — less than an American. I particularly object to the new position which the avowed principle of this Nebraska law gives to 221 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS slavery in the body politic. I object to it because it assumes that there can be moral right in the enslaving of one man by another. I object to it as a dangerous dalliance for a free people — a sad evidence that, feeling prosperity, we forget right; that liberty, as a principle, we have ceased to re- vere. I object to it because the fathers of the re- public eschewed and rejected it. The argument of "necessity" was the only argument they ever ad- mitted in favor of slavery; and so far, and so far only, as it carried them did they ever go. They found the institution existing among us, which they could not help, and they cast blame upon the British king for having permitted its introduc- tion. Before the Constitution they prohibited its introduction into the Northwestern Territory, the only country we owned then free from it. At the framing and adoption of the Constitution, they forbore to so much as mention the word "slave" or "slavery" in the whole instrument. In the provision for the recovery of fugitives, the slave is spoken of as a "person held to service or labor." In that prohibiting the abolition of the African slave-trade for twenty years, that trade is spoken of as "the migration or importation of such persons as any of the States now existing shall think proper to admit," etc. These are the 222 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS only provisions alluding to slavery. Thus the thing is hid away in the Constitution, just as an afflicted man hides away a wen or cancer which he dares not cut out at once, lest he bleed to death — with the promise, nevertheless, that the cutting may begin at a certain time. Less than this our fathers could not do, and more they would not do. Necessity drove them so far, and farther they would not go. But this is not all. The earliest Congress under the Constitution took the same view of slavery. They hedged and hemmed it in to the narrowest limits of necessity. In 1 794 they prohibited an outgoing slave-trade — that is, the taking of slaves from the United States to sell. In 1 798 they prohibited the bring- ing of slaves from Africa into the Mississippi Ter- ritory, this Territory then comprising what are now the States of Mississippi and Alabama. This was ten years before they had the authority to do the same thing as to the States existing at the adoption of the Constitution. In 1800 they pro- hibited American citizens from trading in slaves between foreign countries, as, for instance, from Africa to Brazil. In 1803 they passed a law in aid of one or two slave-State laws in restraint of the internal slave-trade. In 1807, in apparent hot haste, they passed the law, nearly a year in 223 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS advance — to take effect the first day of 1808, the very first day the Constitution would permit — prohibiting the African slave-trade by heavy pe- cuniary and corporal penalties. In 1820, finding these provisions ineffectual, they declared the slave- trade piracy, and annexed to it the extreme penalty of death. While all this was passing in the Gen- eral Government, five or six of the original slave States had adopted systems of gradual emancipa- tion, by which the institution was rapidly becom- ing extinct within their limits. Thus we see that the plain, unmistakable spirit of that age toward slavery was hostility to the principle and tolera- tion only by necessity. But now it is to be transformed into a ' 'sacred right." Nebraska brings it forth, places it on the highroad to extension and perpetuity, and with a pat on its back says to it, "Go, and God speed you." Henceforth it is to be the chief jewel of the nation — the very figure-head of the ship of state. Little by little, but steadily as man's march to the grave, we have been giving up the old for the new faith. Near eighty years ago we began by declar- ing that all men are created equal; but now from that beginning we have run down to the other declaration, that for some men to enslave others is a "sacred right of self-government." These prin- 224 ABRAHAM. LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS ciplcs cannot stand together. They are as opposite as God and Mammon; and whoever holds to the one must despise the other. When Pettit, in con- nection with his support of the Nebraska Bill, called the Declaration of Independence "a self- evident lie," he only did what consistency and candor require all other Nebraska men to do. Of the forty-odd Nebraska senators who sat present and heard him, no one rebuked him. Nor am I apprised that any Nebraska newspaper, or any Nebraska orator, in the whole nation has ever yet rebuked him: If this had been said among Mar- ion's men, Southerners though they were, what would have become of the man who said it? If this had been said to the men who captured Andre, the man who said it would probably have been hung sooner than Andre was. If it had been said in old Independence Hall seventy-eight years ago, the very doorkeeper would have throttled the man and thrust him into the street. Let no one be deceived. The spirit of seventy-six and the spirit of Nebraska are utter antagonisms; and the former is being rapidly displaced by the latter. Fellow-countrymen, Americans, South as well as North, shall we make no effort to arrest this? Already the liberal party throughout the world express the apprehension that "the one retrograde is 225 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS institution in America is undermining the princi- ples of progress, and fatally violating the noblest political system the world ever saw." This is not the taunt of enemies, but the warning of friends. Is it quite safe to disregard it — to despise it? Is there no danger to liberty itself in discarding the earliest practice and first precept of our ancient faith? In our greedy chase to make profit of the negro, let us beware lest we "cancel and tear in pieces" even the white man's charter of freedom. Our republican robe is soiled and trailed in the dust. Let us repurify it. Let us turn and wash it white in the spirit, if not the blood, of the Revolu- tion. Let us turn slavery from its claims of "moral right" back upon its existing legal rights and its arguments of "necessity." Let us return it to the position our fathers gave it, and there let it rest in peace. Let us readopt the Declaration of Inde- pendence, and with it the practices and policy which harmonize with it. Let North and South — let all Americans — let all lovers of liberty every- where join in the great and good work. If we do this, we shall not only have saved the Union, but we shall have so saved it as to make and to keep it forever worthy of the saving. We shall have so saved it that the succeeding millions of free. 226 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS happy people the world over shall rise up and call us blessed to the latest generations. Illinois Daily Journal, October 27, 1854: At Springfield, twelve days ago, where I had spoken substantially as I have here, Judge Douglas replied to me; and as he is to reply to me here, I shall attempt to anticipate him by noticing some of the points he made there. He commenced by stating I had assumed all the way through that the principle of the Nebraska Bill would have the effect of extending slavery, He denied that this was intended or that this effect would follow. I will not reopen the argument upon this point. That such was the intention, the world believed at the start, and will continue to believe. This was the countenance of the thing, and both friends and enemies instantly recognized it as such. That coun- tenance cannot now be changed by argument. You can as easily argue the color out of the negro's skin. Like the ''bloody hand," you may wash it and wash it, the red witness of guilt still sticks and stares horribly at you. Next, he says that Congressional intervention never prevented slavery anywhere; that it did not prevent it in the Northwestern Territory, nor in Illinois; that, in fact, Illinois came into the Union 227 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS as a slave State; that the principle of the Nebraska Bill expelled it from Illinois, from several old States, from everywhere. Now this is mere quibbling all the way- through. If the Ordinance of '87 did not keep slavery out of the Northwest Territory, how hap- pens it that the northwest shore of the Ohio River is entirely free from it, while the southeast shore, less than a mile distant, along nearly the whole length of the river, is entirely covered with it? If that ordinance did not keep it out of Illinois, what was it that made the difference between Illi- nois and Missouri? They lie side by side, the Mississippi River only dividing them, while their early settlements were within the same latitude. Between 1810 and 1820 the number of slaves in Missouri increased 7,211, while in Illinois in the same ten years they decreased 51. This appears by the census returns. During nearly all of that ten years both were Territories, not States. Dur- ing this time the ordinance forbade slavery to go into Illinois, and nothing forbade it to go into Missouri. It did go into Missouri, and did not go into Illinois. That is the fact. Can any one doubt as to the reason of it? But he says Illinois came into the Union as a slave State. Silence, perhaps, 228 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS would be the best answer to this flat contradiction of the known history of the country. What are the facts upon which this bold assertion is based? When we first acquired the country, as far back as 1 787, there were some slaves within it held by the French inhabitants of Kaskaskia. The territorial legislation admitted a few negroes from the slave States as indentured servants. One year after the adoption of the first State constitution, the whole number of them was — what do you think? Just one hundred and seventeen, while the aggregate free population was 55,094 — about four hundred and seventy to one. Upon this state of facts the people framed their constitution prohibiting the further introduction of slavery, with a sort of guaranty to the owners of the few indentured servants, giving freedom to their children to be born thereafter, and making no mention whatever of any supposed slave for life. Out of this small matter the Judge manufactures his argument that Illinois came into the Union as a slave State. Let the facts be the answer to the argument. The principles of the Nebraska Bill, he says, ex- pelled slavery from Illinois. The principle of that bill first planted it here — that is, it first came be- cause there was no law to prevent it, first came be- fore we owned the country; and finding it here, 229 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS and having the Ordinance of '87 to prevent its increasing, our people struggled along, and finally got rid of it as best they could. But the principle of the Nebraska Bill abolished slavery in several of the old States. Well, it is true that several of the old States, in the last quar- ter of the last century, did adopt systems of grad- ual emancipation by which the institution has finally become extinct within their limits; but it may or may not be true that the principle of the Nebraska Bill was the cause that led to the adop- tion of these measures. It is now more than fifty years since the last of these States adopted its sys- tem of emancipation. If the Nebraska Bill is the real author of the benevolent works, it is rather deplorable that it has for so long a time ceased working altogether. Is there not some reason to suspect that it was the principle of the Revolution, and not the principle of the Nebraska Bill, that led to emancipation in these old States? Leave it to the people of these old emancipating States, and I am quite certain they will decide that neither that nor any other good thing ever did or ever will come of the Ne- braska Bill. In the course of my main argument, Judge Douglas interrupted me to say that the principle 230 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS of the Nebraska Bill was very old; that it origin- ated when God made man, and placed good and evil before him, allowing him to choose for him- self, being responsible for the choice he should make. At the time I thought this was merely playful, and I answered it accordingly. But in his reply to me he renewed it as a serious argu- ment. In seriousness, then, the facts of this prop- osition are not true as stated. God did not place good and evil before man, telling him to make his choice. On the contrary, he did tell him there was one tree of the fruit of which he should not eat, upon pain of certain death. I should scarcely wish so strong a prohibition against slavery in Ne- braska. But this argument strikes me as not a little remarkable in another particular — in its strong resemblance to the old argument for the ' 'divine right of kings." By the latter, the king is to do just as he pleases with his white subjects, being responsible to God alone. By the former, the white man is to do just as he pleases with his black slaves, being responsible to God alone. The two things are precisely alike, and it is but natural that they should find similar arguments to sustain them. I had argued that the application of the prin- 231 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS ciple of self-government, as contended for, would require the revival of the African slave-trade; that no argument could be made in favor of a man's right to take slaves to Nebraska which could not be equally well made in favor of his right to bring them from the coast of Africa. The Judge replied that the Constitution requires the suppression of the foreign slave-trade, but does not require the prohibition of slavery in the Territories. That is a mistake in point of fact. The Constitution does not require the action of Congress in either case, and it does authorize it in both. And so there is still no difference between the cases. In regard to what I have said of the advantage the slave States have over the free in the matter of representation, the Judge replied that we in the free States count five free negroes as five white peo- ple, while in the slave States they count five slaves as three whites only; and that the advantage, at last, was on the side of the free States. Now, in the slave States they count free negroes just as we do; and it so happens that, besides their slaves, they have as many free negroes as we have, and thirty thousand over. Thus, their free negroes more than balance ours; and their advantage over us, in consequence of their slaves, still remains as I stated it. 232 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS Illinois Daily Journal, October 29 , 1854: In reply to my argument that the compromise measures of 1850 were a system of equivalents, and that the provision of no one of them could fairly be carried to other subjects without its cor- responding equivalent being carried with it, the Judge denied outright that these measures had any connection with or dependence upon each other. This is mere desperation. If they had no connec- tion, why are they always spoken of in connec- tion? Why has he so spoken of them a thousand times? Why has he constantly called them a series of measures? Why does everybody call them a compromise? Why was California kept out of the Union six or seven months, if it was not be- cause of its connection with the other measures? Webster's leading definition of the verb "to com- promise" is "to adjust and settle a difference, by mutual agreement, with concessions of claims by the parties." This conveys precisely the popular understanding of the word "compromise." We knew, before the Judge told us, that these measures passed separately, and in distinct bills, and that no two of them were passed by the votes of precisely the same members. But we also know, and so does he know, that no one of them could have passed both branches of Congress but for the 233 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS understanding that the others were to pass also. Upon this understanding, each got votes which it could have got in no other way. It is this fact which gives to the measures their true. character; and it is the universal knowledge of this fact that has given them the name of "compromises/' so expressive of that true character. I had asked: "If, in carrying the Utah and New Mexico laws to Nebraska, you could clear away other objection, how could you leave Ne- braska 'perfectly free' to introduce slavery before she forms a constitution, during her territorial government, while the Utah and New Mexico laws only authorize it when they form constitu- tions and are admitted into the Union?" To this Judge Douglas answered that the Utah and New Mexico laws also authorized it before; and to prove this he read from one of their laws, as follows: "That the legislative power of said Ter- ritory shall extend to all rightful subjects of leg- islation, consistent with the Constitution of the United States and the provisions of this act." Now it is perceived from the reading of this that there is nothing express upon the subject, but that the authority is sought to be implied merely for the general provision of "all rightful subjects of legislation." In reply to this I insist, as a legal 234 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS rule of construction, as well as the plain, popular view of the matter, that the express provision for Utah and New Mexico coming in with slavery, if they choose, when they shall form constitutions, is an exclusion of all implied authority on the same subject; that Congress having the subject dis- tinctly in their minds when they made the express provision, they therein expressed their whole meaning on that subject. The Judge rather insinuated that I had found it convenient to forget the Washington territorial law passed in 1853. This was a division of Ore- gon, organizing the northern part as the Terri- tory of Washington. He asserted that by this act the Ordinance of '87, therefore existing in Oregon, was repealed; that nearly all the members of Congress voted for it, beginning in the House of Representatives with Charles Allen of Massa- chusetts, and ending with Richard Yates of Illi- nois; and that he could not understand how those who now opposed the Nebraska Bill so voted there, unless it was because it was then too soon after both the great political parties had ratified the compromises of 1850, and the ratification therefore was too fresh to be then repudiated. Now I had seen the Washington act before, and I have carefully examined it since; and I aver that 235 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS there is no repeal of the Ordinance of '87, or of any prohibition of slavery, in it. In express terms, there is absolutely nothing in the whole law upon the subject — in fact, nothing to lead a reader to think of the subject. To my judgment it is equally free from everything from which repeal can be legally implied; but, however this may be, are men now to be entrapped by a legal implica- tion, extracted from covert language, introduced perhaps for the very purpose of entrapping them? I sincerely wish every man could read this law quite through, carefully watching every sentence and every line for a repeal of the Ordinance of '87, or anything equivalent to it. Another point on the Washington act: If it was intended to be modeled after the Utah and New Mexico acts, as Judge Douglas insists, why was it not inserted in it, as in them, that Washing- ton was to come in with or without slavery as she may choose at the adoption of her constitu- tion? It has no such provision in it; and I defy the ingenuity of man to give a reason for the omission, other than that it was intended to fol- low the Utah and New Mexico laws in regard to the question of slavery. The Washington act not only differs vitally from the Utah and New Mexico acts, but the Ne- 236 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS braska act differs vitally from both. By the latter act the people are left "perfectly free" to regulate their own domestic concerns, etc.; but in all the former, all their laws are to be submitted to Con- gress, and if disapproved are to be null. The Wash- ington act goes even further; it absolutely pro- hibits the territorial Legislature, by very strong and guarded language, from establishing banks or borrowing money on the faith of the Territory. Is this the sacred right of self-government we hear vaunted so much? No, sir; the Nebraska Bill finds no model in the acts of '50 or the Washington act. It finds no model in any law from Adam till to- day. As Phillips says of Napoleon, the Nebraska act is grand, gloomy and peculiar, wrapped in the solitude of its own originality, without a model and without a shadow upon the earth. In the course of his reply Senator Douglas re- marked in substance that he had always considered this government was made for the white people and not for the negroes. Why, in point of mere fact, I think so too. But in this remark of the Judge there is a significance which I think is the key to the great mistake (if there is any such mistake) which he has made in this Nebraska measure. It shows that the Judge has no very 237 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS vivid impression that the negro is human, and consequently has no idea that there can be any moral question in legislating about him. In his view the question of whether a new country shall be slave or free is a matter of as utter indifference as it is whether his neighbor shall plant his farm with tobacco or stock it with horned cattle. Now, whether this view is right or wrong, it is very cer- tain that the great mass of mankind take a totally different view. They consider slavery a great moral wrong, and their feeling against it is not evanescent, but eternal. It lies at the very foun- dation of their sense of justice, and it cannot be trifled with. It is a great and durable element of popular action, and I think no statesman can safely disregard it. Our Senator also objects that those who oppose him in this matter do not entirely agree with one another. He reminds me that in my firm adher- ence to the constitutional rights of the slave States I differ widely from others who are co-oper- ating with me in opposing the Nebraska Bill, and he says it is not quite fair to oppose him in this variety of ways. He should remember that he took us by surprise — astounded us by this meas- ure. We were thunderstruck and stunned, and we reeled and fell in utter confusion. But we rose. 238 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS each fighting, grasping whatever he could first reach — a scythe, pitchfork, a chopping ax, or a butcher's cleaver. We struck in the direction of the sound, and we were rapidly closing in upon him. He must not think to divert us from our purpose by showing us that our drill, our dress, and our weapons are not entirely perfect and uni- form. When the storm shall be past he shall find us still Americans, no less devoted to the con- tinued union and prosperity of the country than heretofore. Finally, the Judge invokes against me the mem- ory of Clay and Webster. They were great men, and men of great deeds. But where have I assailed them? For what is it that their lifelong enemy shall now make profit by assuming to defend them against me, their lifelong friend? I go against the repeal of the Missouri Compromise; did they ever go for it? They went for the Compromise of 1850; did I ever go against them? They were greatly devoted to the Union; to the small meas- ure of my ability was I ever less so? Clay and Webster were dead before this question arose; by what authority shall our Senator say they would espouse his side of it if alive? Mr. Clay was the leading spirit in making the Missouri Compro- mise; is it very credible that if now alive he would 239 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS take the lead in the breaking of it? The truth is that some support from Whigs is now a neces- sity with the Judge, and for this it is that the names of Clay and Webster are invoked. His old friends have deserted him in such numbers as to leave too few to live by. He came to his own, and his own received him not; and lo! he turns unto the Gentiles. A word now as to the Judge's desperate as- sumption that the compromises of 1850 had no connection with one another; that Illinois came into the Union as a slave State, and some other similar ones. This is no other than a bold denial of the history of the country. If we do not know that the compromises of 1850 were dependent on each other; if we do not know that Illinois came into the Union as a free State, we do not know anything. If we do not know these things, we do not know that we ever had a Revolutionary War or such a chief as Washington. To deny these things is to deny our national axioms — or dog- mas, at least — and it puts an end to all argument. If a man will stand up and assert, and repeat and reassert, that two and two do not make four, I know nothing in the power of argument that can stop him. I think I can answer the Judge so long as he sticks to the premises; but when he flies 240 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS from them, I cannot work any argument into the consistency of a mental gag and actually close his mouth with it. In such a case I can only com- mend him to the seventy thousand answers just in from Pennsylvania, Ohio and Indiana. t6 241 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS LINCOLN IN PEORIA, 1832 The year 1832 was a season of romance and adventure. Black Hawk had terrorized the inhabi- tants of northern Illinois — the country was but sparsely settled — Peoria contained but twenty- two buildings, including the Court House, store and blacksmith shop. An Indian agency had just been established and there was a branch of the American Fur Company in charge of John Ham- lin, the first signer to the call for Lincoln to come to Peoria and reply to Judge Douglas on October 16th, 1854. It is more than probable that the two met here for the first time in that year (1832). It is a great temptation to extend our story beyond the confines of Lincoln in Peoria, the more so that today as I write, the 16th day of June, 1 926, is the anniversary of Lincoln's muster out from the company of Captain Elijah lies — ninety-four years ago — and his start upon the Peoria trail. We vision a tall, gaunt, pathetic figure, whose horse — borrowed — had been stolen, trudging parched, deserted prairies or seeking rest beneath silent forests. Day after day be pursued the weary way from Whitewater, Wisconsin, by way of Dixon, Illinois, at last to catch a view of a beauti- 243 CHIEF BLACK HAWK (1767-1838) From an original oil portrait by R. M. Sully, painted at Fortress Monroe, while Black Hawk was confined there in 1833. This portrait is now the property of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS ful lake lying enfolded by wooded hills, a promise of Peace and Rest — PEORIA. We transport ourselves on the wings of imag- ination back through the years to that eventful day and are seated upon a puncheon bench in the solitary store when Abraham Lincoln, then but twenty-three years of age, enters. Here are gath- ered the hunters, trappers and voyagers — yes, and a few Indian traders. There was companionship which Lincoln loved so much — and rest. Here Lincoln and Major John T. Stuart, his companion (later his law partner), weary with traveling by foot, purchased a canoe and departed from the shore of Lake Peoria for Havana. There the canoe was sold and Lincoln walked across country to his home in New Salem and Stuart walked to Springfield. 245 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS HOW LINCOLN AND PEORIA SAW EACH OTHER How many times did Lincoln visit Peoria? How many Peorians now living knew him? Where did he stay while here? How was he regarded when a young man riding from court to court and stop- ping in Peoria during a session? Some of these questions can be answered with a fair amount of accuracy. Others can not. There is no doubt but that Lincoln visited Peoria many times; that he tried cases here; that he was known in Peoria as a promising young politician and lawyer long before he became known to the State at large; and that Peoria was the scene of his activi- ties as an abolitionist, a lawyer and a politician. FIRST HERE IN 1832 Lincoln was elected to the legislature of Illinois in 1834, when Peoria was but a hamlet just start- ing into active growth. The town had been for- mally organized the year before and incorporated by charter from the State — though the settlement was founded in 1819 and court had been held here as early as 1825. There is no probability that Lincoln visited Peoria before the Black Hawk war. But there is every probability that, during and after that war, he passed through Peoria at one time or another. 246 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS When Lincoln became a legislator, the county of Sangamon included the present county, Menard county and portions of Logan and Mason coun- ties. Tazewell county adjoined it. Absorbed with the duties of legislation and the politics of his own county, it is not likely that he visited Peoria again until the campaign of 1840, when he was a presidential elector on the Whig ticket. During that campaign he stumped the State with great vigor, and it is altogether likely that he was at one time or another a speaker in this vicinity and a guest in Peoria — though the only Peoria paper published at the time — the Northwestern Register and Gazette — gives no record of his presence. THE VISIT OF 1844 Following this campaign Lincoln began the active practice of law again and from this time on it is certain that he visited Peoria a great many times. There is an amusing record of his visit to Peoria in 1844: "William Fisher, a member of the Springfield, 111., band in 1844, recalls that Lincoln and other townspeople boarded a car on the Wabash Rail- road for Meredosia, on their way to Peoria, where there was to be a Henry Clay convention. The motive power was a string of mules. After going 247 ABRAHAM, LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS ten miles the mule passenger met the freight. There was nothing else for the passengers to do but to get out and lift their car off the single track, to let the freight pass, and then lift it on again. Fisher relates that Lincoln was one of the prominent PEORIA HOUSE IN 1854 lifters. He would get his back to the car, let his lanky body down to get a low hold and then 'lift his best/ Fisher writes: 'He gave us a good example. There was no shirking nor feigning on his part.' " WAS BOLD ABOLITIONIST At this time Lincoln was noted for his good humor, his great strength, his inexhaustible fund 248 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS of stories, his abolition sympathies and his ab- stinence, which was a remarkable thing in those days, when practically everyone used whisky as a beverage. When he came to Peoria he put up at the Planters' House, which afterwards became the iiiiji|liiiiiiiiiHii CLINTON HOUSE IN 1854 Peoria House, and was located at the northeast corner of the Court House Square, and at other hotels. He was no frequenter of the bar after court, but was much more apt to be found in various homes about the city discussing the aboli- tion movement, with which he was even then in sympathy. Moses Pettengill, a prominent Peorian of the time, was a particular friend of 249 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS Lincoln's, and many of his nights were spent at the old Pettengill house, which still stands at the corner of Liberty and Jefferson streets, next to the Herald-Transcript building. Lincoln knew every abolitionist in Peoria. There were not many of them either in those days. It was just a little dangerous for an ordinary man of ordinary fight- ing ability to talk abolition too loudly in this vicinity. It is said that Lincoln was one of half a dozen men who dared to do this in Peoria in the early fifties. John King, who often carried Lin- coln's carpet bag to the hotel when a boy, is authority for the statement that Lincoln once ad- dressed an abolition meeting in Peoria in the late fifties, just after the Parmley hall had been com- pleted. The address was begun under the trees in the Court House Square, but was interrupted by rain. Lincoln immediately announced that the meeting would be continued in the hall and made for the door; but the owner of the hall, who heard the announcement, beat the crowd to the door and, locking it, walked away with the key in his pocket HIS LAST APPEARANCE The debate with Douglas in 1854, in the Court House park, is fully described elsewhere. So is the answer to Douglas in 1858, which was probably Lincoln's last appearance in Peoria. 250 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS Peoria did not give Lincoln a majority in the election of 1860. But when the call for troops came, the response was instant and hearty. There was not a more loyal city in the north during the war, and the affection for Lincoln grew mightily in the succeeding years. The Lincoln majority was overwhelming in 1864. When the news of the assassination came, Peoria was stunned. It had come home to all by this time that Lincoln was not only president and emancipator, but a neigh- bor and friend. V « <*Jv §|§§e| v.*fty* r %-.;'' TV?* *:-.:«w-t;. :■-;•■-> F" TUVJ ■ "jJm- < «i *,V ? •"if 5^S=|1m55 w 1 i a 33acl *n kV*" -:i km m $2; ;1 * DM ^^^^^^^ e~, i. I38ISS? ^w 3^ ^i'^9^ 9P"" MASSASOIT HOUSE IN 1854 251 FROM A DAGUERREOTYPE MADE IN 1854 THE OLD MARKET HOUSE AT PEORIA, ILL., IN 1854 THE OLD MARKET HOUSE The old market house of my boyhood days — Allison's livery stable, close by the bowling alley, the wooden shutters closed, the building with beer kegs in front. Beyond, the Washington House — Fred Streibich, the pro- prietor, probably back behind the desk, or perhaps, yes that's it, over at John A. Hudson's grocery and the market, for court is in session and Lincoln and a crowd of jolly judges and lawyers will be there. How they will feast and what rare stories they will tell! In front of the grocery wild ducks are piled six feet high, prairie chickens, wild turkeys and quail are there, together with wild geese and, occasionally, a deer may be seen hanging by its hind legs. At the market they give away the livers. For a quarter one may buy a market basket full of spare ribs, tenderloins and pigs' feet. Reynolds' hams cost more, for they are sugar cured over hickory coals and the ruler of Germany buys them for the Imperial table. It is a picture of the middle 50's. Boats, side-wheelers, from St. Louis at the wharf bound for LaSalle, to connect with the railroad for Chicago. The "Ocean Wave," "Connecticut," "Gladiator," "Avalanche," "Prairie State" and "Prairie Bird." Farm wagons loaded with such vege- tables, berries and melons as are grown nowhere else on earth with such delicious flavors as at Peoria. A warmth comes to my heart as I look upon the picture and think that in Peoria, at least, Abraham Lincoln found good cheer and comfort. H. H. Cole, the artist, made a daguerreotype from which this picture is taken. To him we acknowledge our indebtedness 253 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS LINCOLN'S CENTENARY CELEBRATION IN PEORIA From the Peoria Herald Transcript, February 13, 1909 Many cities in Illinois are celebrated as hold- ing Lincoln-Douglas debates. Peoria heard a Lincoln-Douglas debate, however, four years be- fore the great series noted in history. This fact, so little known or remembered that it has been denied by many old citizens, is never- theless true and is witnessed by a reproduction of a note in Lincoln's handwriting referring to his meeting with Douglas in 1854 in Peoria. It was, in fact, at Peoria in that year that Lincoln made his first formal declarations in regard to the slave question and began the fight which culminated six years later in his election to the presidency. The year 1858, during which time the famous seven debates took place, also saw a meeting be- tween the two men in Peoria. It was not a for- mally scheduled meeting. Nevertheless it took place, Douglas speaking in the afternoon and Lin- coln in the evening, as was the case in 1854. (Error — Douglas spoke the day before. B. C. B.) CAUSE WAS PECULIAR The cause of the Peoria meeting of 1854 was peculiar. It is best explained by Hon. Horace 254 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS White, who, at the ninth annual meeting of the State Historical Society in Springfield, told of the circumstances. At the time the country was in a ferment over the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, which was regarded by northern men as almost a death blow to all opposition to slavery in the border States. Illinois, though largely tainted with slave beliefs was nevertheless indignant, and Senator Doug- las felt called upon to defend his course, he having introduced the repeal bill. On the evening of September 1 he spoke in Chicago. White was on the platform as a reporter. The reception was chilly. There was no violence, but the audience was distinctly unfriendly. Douglas decided to make no more speeches in that part of the State during the campaign. TOOK TRUMBULL'S PLACE His next appearance was at Springfield during the State Fair in the large hall of the State House, October 3. By this time the Republicans were aroused and Senator Lyman Trumbull was slated to reply to Douglas. For some unknown reason he could not appear. Lincoln, a Springfield citizen and then becoming very prominent in the State, was asked to take the place of Trumbull. He did not reply on the 3rd, but on the 4th he did make 255 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS a speech. It was virtually his first appearance as a candidate for senator in opposition to Douglas. It was not thoroughly prepared and was evidently only an introductory speech, for by arrangement it was repeated twelve days later in Peoria, on October 16, 1854. Here Douglas and Lincoln spoke. Douglas spoke in the afternoon and occu- pied three hours of time. Following him Lincoln asked for an adjournment until after supper. It was granted, and then came the speech which out- lined the great emancipator's position on the slav- ery question for the first time. Mr. White, who heard this speech, declares that it was superior to Webster's famous reply to Hayne in the United States Senate. Mr. White speaks of Lincoln's characteristic Kentucky accent and also of the pronounced effect which the speech had upon Douglas, who ap- proached Lincoln after the debate and proposed Quits. This offer was accepted, but was broken by Douglas afterwards and Lincoln continued fol- lowing him over the State answering his speeches. B. C. Bryner published in the Herald-Tran- script of October 22, 1908, the following account of the 1854 debate: SPOKE AT OLD COURT HOUSE The old Peoria court house fronted upon 256 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS Adams street, and the entrance to the court room, which was on the second floor, was by means of outside stairways, terminating upon a portico, and from this portico these great men delivered their addresses to the assembled thousands. How vividly the picture comes to mind of farmers upon horse- back and in gaily decorated wagons upon which were borne hickory saplings with the leaves still remaining at the top to which was fastened the American flag. Upon one of these wagons, or floats, were a number of young girls in white dresses with sashes across their breasts, upon which were the names of the States then in the Union. These girls remained all night at my mother's house, sleeping upon the floor, upon which she had placed mattresses and blankets. Probably it was the girls and their night frolicking that served to fix this occasion so firmly in my memory. An ardent Democrat, Stephen A. Douglas ap- peared to my boyish imagination as the invincible "little giant," and when I beheld Abraham Lin- coln I could hardly picture him as the Jack in plume and doublet who was to overcome my hero. The addresses of these two men were not pre- cisely in the nature of debate. A newspaper of the period says as follows: "On Monday, October 16, Senator Douglas, by appointment, addressed a 17 257 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS large audience at Peoria. When he closed he was greeted with six hearty cheers; and the band in attendance played a stirring air. The crowd then began to call for Lincoln, who, as Judge Douglas had announced, was, by agreement, to answer him." That the atmosphere was tense and that intan- gible ' 'something in the air" whose influence is felt, yet scarcely understood, must have affected me with the others. When four years later Mr. Lincoln was engaged in the memorable debates of 1858, his position was constantly being mis- stated and he made use of his remarks upon the occasion of which I write to clearly define his opin- ions upon the subjects then occupying the public attention. JUDGE McCULLOUGH'S ACCOUNT OF LINCOLN'S SPEECH IN 1858 Judge David McCullough, in his splendid his- tory of Peoria County, says: ' 'Never in the history of Peoria County have its people had the privilege of hearing so many and such masterly speeches as during the cam- paign of 1858. Within a radius of fifty miles Mr. Lincoln spoke at least five times, Douglas four, Carl Schurz once, Schuyler Colfax once, Judge Kellogg a number of times, with other 258 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS speakers nearly every night, who, in ordinary times, would shine as bright political stars. Dur- ing that campaign, from July 9 until the day of the election, a period of just one hundred days, Sundays excluded, Mr. Douglas made one hundred and thirty speeches. Thenceforth the battle was to be with the administration wing of his party, while Mr. Lincoln fast rose in the minds of the people to the front rank of living statesmen." An acrid bitterness seems to enter into the old Transcript's account of the speech made by Doug- las the day before that made by Lincoln on July 19, 1858. A few sarcastic truths may be pardoned, believing, as its best thinkers and writers did, that Douglas was doomed. Throughout the cam- paign, and particularly the debates, the speeches of the two men were given equal prominence. They were printed on consecutive days and sometimes to the exclusion of other news, so widespread was the interest and so eager were subscribers to read the progress of the discussion. Douglas made no big speech in Peoria either, except the one delivered the day before that given by Lincoln, and the Tran- script's account of that is interesting in the extreme. Commenting upon the speech and the effect it had upon the great crowd which heard it the fol- 259 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS lowing is given, quoted directly from the files of the Daily Transcript, a Lincoln newspaper. THE DOUGLAS DEMONSTRATION "Well, the Hon. Ajax Dunderguns has been in town, delivered his speech and taken his departure. There was a crowd of people — and such a crowd. It was as solemn and sullen as if it had been called out to attend a funeral. There was no life, no energy and no enthusiasm in it. We never in our life witnessed a popular gathering so utterly de- void of animation. The little Senator's most elo- quent and earnestly delivered passages were re- ceived by the audience with sullen silence. A large crowd was gotten out — variously estimated at from three to five thousand persons — just as large crowds are always gotten out — by extensive ad- vertising and a liberal use of money. Extra trains were run on all the railroads and passengers brought in at half price. Judge Douglas spoke at Lewistown, and was brought up to Elmwood in a carriage Tuesday evening, where it was arranged that he should stop until yesterday morning, when he would be met by a deputation of his friends from this city. "At Elmwood the distinguished demagogue's arrival and presence created no noise nor display, and people seemed to know little about his ar- 260 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS rangements, and cared less. We chanced to call at Montgomery's hotel, a few minutes after his arri- val, and found him quietly smoking upon the veranda and making himself agreeable to several admiring Locofocos. Until the arrival of the spe- cial train from this city at about 10 o'clock in the morning, not more than a dozen of the goodly citizens of Elmwood troubled themselves to call upon him. "The special train brought with it about sixty gentlemen from this city, who were escorted to the judge's hotel quarters by a band of music. About a hundred of the citizens of Elmwood, more than two-thirds of whom, we are told, were Republicans, followed the Peoria delegation to the hotel, where Judge Douglas was brought out by Captain Moss of this city. Ten or twelve men made an abortive attempt to cheer, after which the judge took off his hat and excused himself from saying anything on account of a bad cold. 'The company then moved down to the train, where, after waiting for the arrival of the train from Galesburg, which came in well loaded, the cars started and in due course of time reached the depot in this city. Here a large concourse of people had gathered ready to receive the Senator, which was done amid a tolerable display of banners. 261 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS "The crowd was formed into a procession and after marching through several of the principal streets brought up in the Court House square. After waiting for about half an hour the president of the day appeared upon the platform and an- nounced that Judge Douglas would be welcomed to Peoria by Washington Cockle, Esq. Mr. Cockle's speech was chiefly remarkable for three things — for its egotism, for its silly and sicken- ing man-worship, and for the impudence and audacity displayed in associating the name and acts of the arch-traitor, Stephen A. Douglas, with those of the immortal Clay and Webster. Such a connection comes with an exceedingly ill grace from the man who, it will be remembered by many old Whig residents of Peoria, traduced Clay and vilified Webster while they were living. The files of an old Democratic paper once published in Peo- ria and edited by Mr. Cockle show how much he thought of these noble statesmen when they were on the stage of action. Bah! Mr. Cockle, trump up any other capital for your idol that you choose, but for the sake of the memories of the sainted dead, for the sake of decency, and for your own sake, don't have the effrontery to stand before an intelligent audience and undertake to make the name of Stephen A. Douglas respectable at the 262 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS expense of the men whom Douglas and you both hated and reviled and traduced until the day of their deaths. "Of Mr. Douglas' speech we do not propose to speak this morning, but shall take another occa- sion to give an opinion of it. He spoke about two hours to an audience who gave him scarcely a cheer or a manifestation of applause, and then the crowd dispersed." NOTE: No better illustration can be given of the intensity of the bitterness that prevailed at this period (1858) and throughout the Civil War than the above from the pen of a reporter. After the firing upon Sumter, the followers of Douglas flocked to the support of the Administration. Amongst them were Washington Cockle, Robert G. Ingersoll and Col. John Bryner, the writer's father (all Democrats) , and they were the victims of a hatred from their former political associates unparalleled since the nation's birth. No more earnest workers for the cause of the Union can be found than were Washington Cockle and his family — the women of his household were foremost among the noble women who furnished aid to the boys in the field. (B. C. B.) LINCOLN IN PEORIA, JULY 1 9TH, 1858 In its issue of July 19, 1858, heading the local column which the Transcript called "Per- sonal" appeared this paragraph: "Hon. A. Lin- coln and Hon. Wm. Kellogg arrived in town last evening. Long Abe will mount his high-heeled shoes today and completely take the starch out of the little demagogue." On August 3rd, two weeks preceding his speech, 263 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS the paper has the following paragraph under the heading "Fun Ahead" : "The Hon. Abraham Lincoln will positively speak in this city on Thursday, the 19th inst. Turn out to hear him." The Transcript's account of the speech and the demonstration is as follows: "The political elements in central Illinois are be- ginning to get stirred up. Yesterday the honest and sturdy yeomen of the surrounding country poured into town by thousands to hear Hon. Abraham Lincoln expose the sophistries of the little dema- gogue and they were well repaid for their trou- ble. The Republicans used no extra exertions to attract a crowd upon the occasion; they contribut- ed no money to run special trains, to purchase powder to fire cannons with, or to pay for music. These clap-trap appliances were left to the Doug- lasites. The Republicans don't propose to spend any money simply for the purpose of making a great noise and for display. They believe that all that is needed to crown their cause with success is to spread the documents among the people and give them opportunity to judge of the merits of Democracy and Republicanism as expounded by the leaders. "Nothing whatever was done to get out a crowd of people except to make public the announce- 264 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS ment that Mr. Lincoln would be here and speak. He came and so did the people, and when the hour of two o'clock arrived the Court House square was thronged with the intelligent and enthusiastic masses. The meeting was really not quite so large as the one on the day previous. But whatever it lacked in numbers was more than made up in enthusiasm. Between the Douglas and Lincoln gatherings there was a marked contrast. The for- mer was altogether devoid of enthusiasm, while the latter was alive with spirit and confidence. "Hon. James Knox having been called to pre- side over the meeting came forward amid a hearty round of applause and introduced Mr. Lincoln to the audience in a short and appropriate speech. When 'Long Abe' stepped out upon the platform the welkin echoed with boisterous shouts of en- thusiasm. "Mr. Lincoln's argument was calm, convincing and complete. There was hardly a word wriggled in simply for buncombe, but everything that he said bore the stamp of truthfulness and candor. His manner of disposing of Judge Douglas' coarse epithets was admirable and left an excellent im- pression upon the audience. He remarked that he did not choose to bandy epithets with Douglas, nor did he intend to be provoked into a quarrel 265 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS with him for the obvious reason that there was nothing to be gained by such a course. He intended to meet Douglas face to face in debate, shortly, when it was quite probable that the differences between them would be adjusted and an under- standing upon such matters arrived at. In the meantime whatever statements he had made con- cerning Mr. Douglas' position or in relation to his own position he proposed to prove. And he did prove them entirely to the satisfaction, it was evident, of the vast audience. "Mr. Lincoln's exposition of the sophistries of Douglas was thorough and overwhelming. He held the 'little giant' up to the contempt and ridi- cule of his hearers and charged back upon him with splendid effect. We shall take occasion to speak of some of his principal points hereafter. "The meeting was a glorious one from first to last, and passed off to the entire satisfaction of all. We cannot but believe that it will have an important effect in awakening fresh interest and enthusiasm throughout this region." 266 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS THE SOLEMNITIES IN PEORIA Particularly impressive were the memorial serv- ices held in this city. The account in the Peoria Transcript is published in full as follows: Never in the history of our city was there such widespread feeling of sorrow, such a deep-seated seriousness of speech and action, as was manifested in our streets yesterday. The morning opened with a fall of rain and the day was hot and sultry. The streets had the aspect of a Sabbath, except for the crowd that filled them to overflowing. At about 1 1 o'clock the churches were opened and speedily filled. Services were held until 1 o'clock. There was a full attendance everywhere. At about half past two, Spencer's band, in the Court House square, commenced playing the mournful "Dead March," following it with several dirges. The yard was speedily filled with an attentive audience to hear the speaking. If it had been in electioneer- ing times the number present would probably have been put at 20,000. There were not fewer than 5,000 people in the square, many stood outside, and some sat in their carriages, in the street. At the commencement of the speaking the air was warm and sultry; the wind, however, sprang up, and towards the last it was quite comfortable. The meeting was opened by the president, Hon. Wash- 267 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS ington Cockle, who, in a brief and eloquent ad- dress, stated the object of the meeting. He said: Never since the days of Washington have we been called to mourn a chief so valued. The Nation laments the loss of her chief magis- trate; Illinois mourns her beloved son; but it is not for us to question the decrees of Providence. REV. MCLAREN SPEAKS Mr. Cockle then introduced the Rev. M. Stev- ens, who offered up a short prayer. The Rev. Mr, McLaren was then introduced. He did not come to make an address, but had been asked to repeat the few thoughts he had delivered the previous Sunday, ''When the Angel of the Apocalypse opened the sixth seal, there was silence in heaven for a space of half an hour." So in moments of unutterable anguish and sorrow, the soul stands still under its weight of grief. We have been awe-struck for the last few days at the dreadful tiding, "Abraham Lincoln is no more." It seems some vision of terror through which we have passed — some terrible nightmare from which we shall awake — but it is too true. The man who was honored throughout all the world, the man who only needed to know what was right in order to do it; who ruled without op- 268 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS pression and triumphed without exultation; the man whose life was the true type of American char- acter; wise and honest, far-seeing and simple, is dead. Great God! Can it be! Can it be that this great sacrifice of greatness and goodness was neces- sary in order to bring us out of bondage? Yet, so it seems. It seems that the Almighty would make this treasure of union more precious in the sight of this people, for who could not have been spared better than our great chief? Every history records the successful career of Charles Martel, Gustavus Adolphus and Washington as benefactors of man- kind; it will throw a double halo of glory over the name of Abraham Lincoln. OF LINCOLN'S RELIGION There are the best reasons for thinking that his religion was something better than Deism. His voice has often been heard asking the blessing of heaven upon him. While standing over the graves of our brave soldiers at Gettysburg, he felt that there is One who "maketh even the wrath of man to praise Him," and to Him he bowed his soul in submission. Who can say that when he lay there last Friday with the brains oozing from his skull, and his right hand nervously twitching, his soul was not like the martyr Stephen, already behold- ing the glories of a better land? As we have so 269 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS often obeyed his injunction to look aloft, why ought we not to follow him there where he has a better crown than any earth can bestow while our victory is turned into mourning? The first mourner is the nation, today. Is there a crime more accursed than assassination? There have been tyrants re- moved from earth by the hand of the assassin's dagger. History strives to palliate the act. But in the history of the earth there is no parallel to this. We hope that the strong arm of justice will over- take him and praying only that God will save his soul. Booth is a type of slavery. His act of the 14th of April, 1865, is a finale of the act of the 14th of April, 1841. One of the marvelous things of our time is the conciliatory spirit we are showing towards our foes. We have been so loath to credit the bitter antagonism which the South has cherished to- wards the North for forty years. Conciliation is good, Christlike; but only good, however, when it meets and induces a spirit of conciliation in others. You can't tame a tiger. You must chain him; and there are those of our foes who are so much like tigers that they must be ground down into the dust by the iron heel of Justice. Let there be no more of this sickly sentimentalism. Let the inno- 270 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS cent be spared, but let the implacable be driven into submission. Let them be met with the olive branch when they lay aside the revolver and dirk. RESOLUTIONS ADOPTED The following resolutions were then read and unanimously accepted: Whereas, It has pleased Almighty God to afflict this nation in the death of Abraham Lin- coln, the President of the United States, by the hand of an assassin; and, WHEREAS, A crime so atrocious fills our mind with horror at the wickedness of man, and with awe at the mysterious ways of Providence; there- fore, let it be RESOLVED, That with reverence and humilia- tion, we bow to the will of God, confessing our manifold sins before him, and receiving this dis- pensation of His Providence as a just chastisement for our frequent departures from His ways, and our forgetfulness of His word and commandment. RESOLVED, That we view with inexpressible horror the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, chief magistrate of the nation. RESOLVED, That the violent death of the presi- dent is a calamity of the greatest magnitude, rob- 271 ABRAHAM. LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS bing us of a kind and faithful friend, our State of its most illustrious citizen, and the nation of its appointed head, a profound statesman and pure patriot. Resolved, That our late beloved president, by the gentleness, kindness and purity of his private life, his long and laborious services in the cause of justice and humanity previous to his elevation to the chief magistrate of the nation, and by the irre- proachable integrity of his public life, his single- ness of purpose, his unwearied zeal, his faith, his patience and his hope in performing his duties. RESOLVED, That, in this, our national disaster, we reverently leave the destiny of the Republic to the All-seeing wisdom of the Supreme Ruler of the universe, praying him to have it in His holy keep- ing. RESOLVED, That, trusting in divine help, we do, once more, solemnly and irrevocably pledge ourselves and all that we have to the sacred cause in which our faithful leader fell a martyr; and that, as it has been our privilege to stand by the constituted authorities of the land, under the ad- ministration of Abraham Lincoln, while opposing an unholy Rebellion for four years past, so we pledge ourselves to support and sustain its authori- 272 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PBORIA, ILLINOIS ties, under the administration of Andrew John- son, that now succeeds until the majesty of out- raged law shall be vindicated in every portion of this land. RESOLVED, That we are admonished anew of the desperate nature of the enemy we have been fighting for the last four years; and that the honor of the nation's name and the safety of the nation's life forbid that we should parley with treason or compromise with slavery. Resolved, That we hold the accursed system of human slavery directly responsible before God and man for this atrocious crime, and that, hence- forth, since it has raised its bloody hand so high at the nation's heart, no man can sympathize with that system, or excuse the rebellion it engendered and be guiltless of his brother's blood. RESOLVED, That in the act which struck down our president, we recognize the same spirit which has for years, in the slave States, hunted man with bloodhounds, slain them with the pistol and bowie-knife, and hanged them to the branches of wayside trees for no other crime than the expres- sion of opinion; which four years ago aimed a deadly blow at the life of the nation itself; which, filling this war with innumerable atrocities, has is 273 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS made it a dark spot on the page of history, which murdered Major General McCook while riding helpless in an ambulance, burned the peaceful city of Lawrence and slaughtered a hundred defense- less inhabitants, shot in cold blood an entire com- pany of Union troops after they surrendered, on the North Missouri railroad, massacred the garri- son at Fort Pillow and shot, froze, tortured and starved to death sixty thousand prisoners of war at Andersonville, Florence, Salisbury and Libby Prison. Resolved, That we tender to the family of the deceased president our profoundest sympathy in this their great affliction. RESOLVED, That we extend to the Hon. Wil- liam H. Seward our deep sympathy in the assault made upon his person, rendering our profound gratitude to God for sparing his life from the knife of the assassin, and trusting that he may be speed- ily restored to health and the discharge of his public duties. COLONEL INGERSOLL SPEAKS Mr. Ingersoll was then introduced. Standing in the presence of death on the threshold of the great unknown, it was fitting that he should declare that he did not mourn for Lincoln any more than 274 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS he did for any dead soldier of the Union. He did not. He did not sympathize with the widow of the president any more than he did for the widow who waits for her husband's returning footsteps, and will await them until the earth closes over her form. The assassination of President Lincoln is among the least, not the greatest, crimes that slav- ery has committed. Selling women, whipping them, robbing them, and heaping upon them every cruelty that can be imagined is a greater crime than to assassinate a man. It is a greater crime to uphold the perpetrator of such acts than it would be today to say, "I believe Booth to have been right. " The Confed- eracy did a greater crime than this when she fired upon Sumter, because that act involved all that has followed. Every one of our friends who has been lost in the war has sacrificed just as much as Lincoln did when he breathed his last. The crimes of slavery are greater than these. SCORES REBEL SYMPATHIZERS The man who went down South to defend the old flag, under which the southern States had ac- cumulated wealth and power, who, having been taken prisoner, has been starved until he becomes a driveling idiot, and yet hundreds and thousands 275 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS of men up north defend the men who did this The crimes of these men are greater than assassina- tion. Some of these men live in Peoria. (I want no applause, the occasion is too solemn for it.) It has been said that this great crime is providential. He did not believe it. Assassination is contrary to the will and the express command of the Most High, but he did not believe that the laws of the universe are such that no good can result to the evil-doer. Good may spring from evil, and ever will, but not to the perpetrator. It seems as if it always takes martyrdom to endear truth to the human heart. The great republic has been cement- ed by the blood of her patriots. Patriotism itself has been made sacred by the blood of her heroes. Christ illustrated and endeared every virtue to the human heart by religion. We will think better of patriotism for the blood shed. Lincoln's blood, smote down as he was, will cement the founda- tion of this government, and the great principle of human liberty will be advanced. Human liberty is the basis of every great and good end itself. We do not fight to preserve the government alone, but fight to preserve this government in order to pre- serve liberty through the government. Liberty is greater than all. The right or wrong of any man's life has not been able to influence the world for 276 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS any great length of time. The principles of the Almighty are eternal — they govern the universe. A TOUCHING TRIBUTE The speaker went on to say that we had nursed a viper in our bosom — the viper of slavery. It has raised its head and struck down the president of the United States, and as long as he had strength he was going to fight that viper. He was not going to eulogize Lincoln. There was a prin- ciple greater than he that assassinated him. When the war broke out he thought the president was too slow, but Lincoln had the sense to see that he couldn't lead thirty millions of people. Had some brilliant genius been in the chair, he would have gone beyond the people into a despotism or found- ered the Ship of State forever, but Lincoln went right on, and all at once the armies of the enemy began to waver and fall. Grant and Sherman, Farragut and Sheridan, with Lincoln at their head, marched on until Richmond is ours. The speaker knew when he heard the bell toll in the Congre- gational church the other day (and the bell of the church tolls when there's victory) that the old apostle of liberty, Mark M. Aiken, was at the bell rope and the war was over at last. Lincoln had opened the door of reconciliation. What shall we 277 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS do? Shall we still offer them the same terms?' Forbid it, Almighty God! Shall we say, Come back, take the reins of the government and run it as you did before? He was opposed to giving a rebel- lious state a vote on either side until they repent. He thought that the rebels were under their feet, and wouldn't shake hands with them or any of their friends in the north when they come around the coffin of Lincoln with their crocodile tears. He would receive them as foes. He thought that if they had been false foes, they will not suddenly be true now. The men who have stayed by Lincoln four years are abundantly able to put down the rest of the rebellion. He didn't want any one to come in at the eleventh hour unless they were going to stay the rest of the day. LINCOLN ALWAYS TRUE What should we say more of Lincoln, unless it was that he had always been true; that having as much power as any potentate ever had, he had never abused that power; the master of guns and bayonets, he never had wronged the poorest, but had always respected their rights. He didn't believe that the same thing could be said of any other man that ever lived under the same circumstances, and yet he has been called a tyrant, and this idea had led to his assassination. The speaker declared it to 278 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS be an established principle that we always admired men who do any good for the human race. He admired the men who obtained the Magna Charta, the men who brought about the French Revolu tion and the American Revolution; but to him that day of September on which he issued his Proclamation of Emancipation was the sublimest day that the sun ever looked down upon in Ameri- ca, and when the emancipation took effect, on the first day of January, he thought it the crowning point in Lincoln's history. Lincoln was, in his view, the Great Defender of the Republic, and the name of that defender, he believed, would be the first on the roll of fame. Washington was the sec- ond. He went on to say that Washington had established the country when it was weak, but Lin- coln had saved the country when it was the most powerful on the globe, and he had saved it, too, in accordance with the eternal principles of God. The president is to be buried in Illinois. Illinois, that has been fortunate enough to produce a Grant, the ablest general in the world, and Lin- coln, the emancipator and sublime martyr to lib- erty. The audience were now going home to carry out the great principles for which Lincoln had laid down in life. He hoped some lurid bolt of Heaven would dash into pieces any man who will 279 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS defend the infamous system of slavery, whose evil is crime, murder, and assassination. He ended in a burst of eloquence that cannot be reported with any degree of success. It could not be appreciated unless heard. After the speaking the Workingmen's Society formed in a procession, and, with Spencer's Band playing the "Dead March," marched through the Streets. — p eoria Transcript, April, 1865. 280 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA. ILLINOIS THE PHILOSOPHER By Eugene Baldwin, famous Editor of the Peoria Star February, 1909 Illinois has produced no more bril- liant writer nor keener critic of current events than the late Eugene F. Bald- win, founder and editor of the Peoria Evening Star. His articles, under the head "The Philosopher," were eagerly sought after and gained national prominence. The following, written shortly after the Lincoln centennial in 1909, is from the pen of this gifted Peorian. (B. C. B.) EUGENE BALDWIN The Lincoln celebration is over and gone. For several months it has been duly exploited. Such another outpouring of editorials, special editions and illustrations by the newspapers and maga- zines, such a collection of addresses, speeches, re- miniscences was never known before on any for- mer occasion in memory of any former statesman. The danger is in overdoing the thing We are in peril of making Abraham Lincoln the steel plate engraving to which we have already reduced George Washington. Everything tended to heighten Lincoln's fame. His tragic death and the failure of the man who 281 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS succeeded him, his own unassuming and modest estimate of himself, serve to bring his character into the limelight with startling effect. During his lifetime he was little regarded. He said himself: "I have made many mistakes." Even at his death, people did not fully understand the service which he had rendered to the state. On the occasion of his death, Miles G. Halpin, recorder of the city of New York, wrote a verse which was widely copied at the time and which was held to be the best epitaph of the dead presi- dent. Halpin had been in the army and as a news- paper correspondent he had written a letter which his commander chose to consider as a reflection upon the division which he commanded. He there- upon had Halpin court-martialed and sentenced to the penitentiary. Halpin wrote under the signa- ture of "Miles O'Reilly, " a private. When Lin- coln learned of the proceedings he at once inter- posed and rescued Halpin from what had become a very awkward situation. On Lincoln's death, therefore, Halpin paid him this tribute: "And this be his epitaph nately writ, Though traitors abused him vilely He was honest and kindly, he loved a joke, And he pardoned Miles O'Reilly." People generally thought that this was the fin- 282 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS est tribute that the dead hero had received and it was copied far and wide. When news of his death reached Peoria, we were walking down the street with Enoch Emery, at that time proprietor of the Peoria Transcript. Mr. Emery was a man of affairs. He was confessedly the ablest political writer in the State. He had a good deal of literary ability, and he had been in active politics for a good many years. As we neared the Court House square, Robert G. Ingersoll was crossing the spot and a crowd of his admirers stopped him and asked him to make a few remarks. As Emery and ourself drew near the spot, Ingersoll said: "A great man has fallen in Israel this day. Abraham Lin- coln will take his station in history by the side of George Washington." At this, Emery took us by the arm impatiently and walked away, saying, "Why does Bob make these foolish and uncalled for statements? The idea that Abe Lincoln will take his station beside George Washington. Why, he'll be forgotten in five years." This sentiment was universal at the time. Part of it came from — the humor that was such a strong element in Lincoln's character. When Charles Francis Adams came to Washington to receive his instructions as minister to England, he has recorded his intense astonishment at seeing 283 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS Lincoln come into the room, dressed in an old coat with the sleeves much too short for his huge, bony arms, at the end of which swung an immense pair of hands, while his nether extremities were clad in an old pair of pants much too short, and his feet were encased in an old pair of slippers worn down at the heels. Adams was the embodiment of New England decorum and scholastic dignity. He never escaped the consciousness of his own heredity or forgot for a moment that he was the grandson of John Adams and the son of John Quincy Adams, and at this moment he had been chosen to represent the republic in the most important foreign mis- sion. Taken aback by the apparition of this gaunt, frowsy, disheveled figure, whose hair seemed to have been innocent of comb or brush for weeks, he stammered forth a few sentences expressive of his appreciation of the high honor that had been con- ferred upon him. To his utter astonishment, Lin- coln replied: "Oh, you'll have to thank Seward for that. My choice for the place was N. P. Banks or John C. Fremont, with Dayton for minister for France. But I guess it is all right. And, by the way, Seward, I've just settled that Chicago post- office and got that off my hands/' 284 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS Adams never forgot this interview, which he faithfully recorded in his diary, and he never could get out of his mind the idea that Lincoln was tremendously overrated; that he was a lucky acci- dent who had by some unforeseen combination of circumstances tumbled into place and now had no higher conception of the duties than to distribute the offices. This sentiment was general all through the east. Walt Whitman has recorded an incident that showed the popular feeling. Mr. Lincoln paid a visit to New York City and with Mrs. Lincoln attended the opera. When he alighted from the carriage, a vast crowd had assembled and the presi- dent's tall, gaunt form towered above the multi- tude. They looked at him in silence and their dis- appointment at his appearance was evidenced in the fact that he was not greeted with a single cheer or expression of pleasure or sympathy, and to add to their dislike they noted that he wore a pair of red kid gloves. The president cared nothing for dress. This came in part from his early training. As a young man, he went about the streets of Salem, barefoot- ed, with a pair of tow-cloth trousers, ''leaving six inches of blue shin exposed." One suspender served to keep the garment in place, and this was 285 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS fastened sometimes by a shingle nail, sometimes with a wooden peg. Clothes were with him a superfluity. His usual headpiece was a tall, rusty narrow-brimmed, high silk hat, the nap worn off and the headpiece only serving to heighten his figure, which needed no aid of that kind to make him remarkable, for, as he was six feet four inches in height, he, like Saul, "towered above his fel- lows." Then, too, he had a habit while sitting down of winding his legs about the legs of his chair. The cultured people of the east gazed with astonishment at him as a phenomenon suddenly spawned by the west and attempting to fill a place whose previous occupants had been men of cul- ture. Washington was the best bred man of his time. Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe — each was familiar with foreign courts. Jackson's manners were exquisite. Van Buren was affability itself. Buchanan had a grave dignity that impressed his auditors. Pierce was one of the most polite men of the age, and even Tyler had a smack of the old Virginian chivalry. In the first days of the Civil War men went in and out of the White House as they would to any other office, and they sighed when they met the president of the United States 286 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS and noted how deficient he was in all the airs and graces of life. Most great men are great actors. The first Pitt always had an eye to effect. His legs swathed in flannel to protect him from the gout, his crutch, the way in which he came into the House of Com- mons borne by his assistants — all proclaimed the studied actor. Every little detail had been care- fully thought out beforehand. Napoleon took lessons of Talma, the great French tragedian, "in order to learn how to act like a king/' Every- thing he did was designed to impress people. Even his fits of rage were often simulated in order to gain his point, as, when he seized the vase before the astonished Venetian senators and smashing it on the floor, cried: "I will smash your republic as I now ruin this vase." ■ Lincoln was the very opposite of all this. He deprecated his own ability. He frequently said that he would cheerfully resign if the nation could find some man in whom it had more confidence. He often yielded, even when he knew he was right, especially in minor matters, because he distrusted his own ability. The crowning element in his character was an unswerving honesty. He never lied, even to himself. His whole ambition was de- voted to convincing others of the soundness of his 287 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS position. In his debates with Douglas he freely said: "No one cares to hear me talk. I can only hold the crowd by assuring them that, after I am done, they shall have an opportunity of hearing Douglas skin me/' This faculty made him recep- tive. He was a good listener. He was always ready to adopt any suggestions that seemed to him to offer a more practical solution of the difficulties that lay in the way than his own plan. He told Greeley, "I am here to save the Union. If I can save it with slavery I'll do it. If I can save it with- out slavery I'll do it." Little by little he grew to a full realization of his duties. When Charles Francis Adams saw him in 1861, he was principally occupied in appointing men to office. In 1865 he had formulated a plan for reconstruction which he believed to be solid and enduring and that was founded upon his fa- mous utterance, "With malice towards none; with charity for all," and he did not hesitate to oppose Congress, believing that his own plan was better than that formulated by either house. It was this quality that gave the common people such con- fidence in him. They could rely upon his word, for he never said anything merely for effect. He was always engaged in settling the matter he had in hand and settling it on the broad basis of abso- lute justice and perfect fairness. 288 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS In this particular he stands in striking contrast with most of the great men of the world. Na- poleon was an awful liar. He never hesitated to arrogate to himself credit that belonged to another. He soon surrounded himself with a false atmos- phere of flatterers and parasites and he lived in an atmosphere of falsehood. Ney lied to him; Talley- rand lied to him; Murat lied to him, and toward the last he found it impossible to get the truth out of anybody. In opposition to this, nobody lied to Lincoln. In fact, everybody was occupied in tell- ing him that he was a failure; that his policy was wrong; his estimate of his generals and his choice of men showed his own incapacity. Greeley lec- tured him; Sumner scolded him; Wendell Phillips maligned him; Ben Wade and Henry Winter Davis issued a manifesto against him; Chase openly sneered at him; Stanton refused to obey his orders, and nobody seemed to be entirely happy unless he was criticizing Lincoln and giving him advice. The other day Rabbi Hirsch of Chicago deliv- ered an address in that city in which he laid especial emphasis upon the relations of Lincoln and Carl Schurz, then the typical German revolutionist. Hirsch said: "Let the young German American of today study the life of Lincoln, the man who led this young man, fresh from an apparently fruit- 19 289 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS less struggle against the form of slavery which existed in Germany to a wider field of service to his fellowmen, and who utilized Schurz's love of the Fatherland in the building of a broader patriotism for the country of his adoption." Here is an indication of how men falsify his- tory. In the convention of 1860 Schurz led the Wisconsin Republican delegation. He was an ar- dent admirer of William H. Seward and voted the Wisconsin delegation up to the very last for that gentleman. He went home to Wisconsin greatly disgruntled, and it was only after some weeks that he delivered an address in Milwaukee, in which he took the ground that while the best man had not been selected by the Chicago convention, yet per- haps the Republicans of the Badger State ought to support the ticket as a matter of policy. During the war he was one of the most drastic critics of Lincoln, and he finally wore out the patience of that great man. Lincoln then wrote a letter to Schurz, which is a perfect model of lofty common sense and stern rebuke for the latter's course. In it Lincoln told him: "Some people think that you have performed your part as poorly as you think I have done mine." The fact of it was, Schurz failed as a military man, for Stonewall Jackson mopped the ground with him, and his course 290 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS politically was that of a grumbler and a knocker. He caused Lincoln a good deal of trouble and he caused Grant an infinite sight more, for he was chairman of the Cincinnati convention in 1872 that nominated Greeley. He wasn't even true to that convention, for he shortly afterwards de- nounced Greeley as an incapable. To say now that Lincoln and Schurz sustained the relation of teacher and scholar is entirely wrong and mislead- ing. This is the way in which facts are distorted and history becomes a jumble of distorted views. Solemn delegations called upon Lincoln and, when he parried their attacks by a story, they groaned and went away. Old-line abolitionists took no sort of stock in him. Wendell Phillips issued a pamphlet against him, the heading of which was: "Abraham Lincoln, the Slave Hound of Illinois." On August 14, 1864, such leading men as Sena- tor Wade of Ohio, Henry Winter Davis of Mary- land, Governor Andrews of Massachusetts, Sam- uel Bowles of the Springfield (Mass.) Republican and Horace Greeley of the New York Tribune met in New York and solemnly resolved that Mr. Lincoln was not the choice of the convention; that the convention that nominated him in Philadel- phia in June of the preceding year was packed by 291 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS his officeholders, and that, under these circumstan- ces, he ought to get out of the way and allow the party to concentrate upon Fremont and Cochrane, who had been nominated in Cleveland a short time before and by the radical wing. A great many good people were caught by this effusion. Charles Sumner narrowly escaped being drawn into it, and probably would have been if the conspirators had not formulated their plans before they consulted him. During this time Anna Dickinson came to Peoria to deliver a lecture. Anna was then at the height of her powers. She was regarded as the seer and prophetess of the Re- publican party. She stood up in Rouse's hall and for two hours she derided and abused Lincoln as a colossal failure, as a man who had no apprecia- tion of the difficulties of his position and as a per- son totally unfit to be entrusted with dealing with the old slaveholders. This sentiment was so common that after his death a leading divine in New York said that pos- sibly Lincoln's assassination was a providential interposition because his yielding nature would prevent him from handling the slaveholders with that severity which their offenses merited. God had therefore taken Lincoln away in order to pre- pare the way for Andrew Johnson, who would 292 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS exemplify the stern virtues of Andrew Jackson and mete out the terrors of the law to the secession- ists. Those of us who lived through those stirring times can recall with feelings of astonishment how little we knew of the work which the Great Eman- cipator wrought, and how even his friends failed to appreciate the rugged virtues of his character, or understand what a grasp he had on the situa- tion. Not until he was dead and the general burst of sorrow from the common people echoed and re- echoed around the world, did we understand the man. He was out of touch with the cultured and scholastic element. They never did acquire a proper understanding of his intellect. They looked upon him as a huge, good-natured, uncouth fig- ure who had to be restrained and directed by such men as Thad Stevens in the House and by Stanton and Chase in the Cabinet. Hon. Clark E. Carr of Galesburg has written a book in which he has given the incidents that led up to Lincoln's speech at Gettysburg. People write about it now, dwell upon the fact that the address was listened to with awe-struck wonder by his auditors, and that at the close they burst into a long, loud chorus of approval. The truth of it is, as Carr showed, there was opposition among the 293 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS commissioners to inviting Mr. Lincoln, on the ground that he was unable to make an address upon an occasion like this. His whole forte lay upon the stump. The effort of the commission was to exploit Edward Everett. In order to give that eminent orator time to prepare his address, the dedication was postponed for two months. Mr. Lincoln read his great speech from manu- script, the closing portion of which he wrote in a room at Gettysburg. It made no particular im- pression. In fact, it was over before most of the audience knew that he was talking. A photogra- pher was preparing to take a picture of the scene, but while he was getting ready Mr. Lincoln fin- ished and sat down. Nor did the address attract any particular atten- tion until it went across the water and was re- published in The Scotsman, a paper in Edinburgh. The editor was an old Calvinistic divine. He re- published the speech and declared that nothing like it had been given to the world since the oration of Pericles at Marathon. Then it went with a rush. Mr. Carr left on record the fact that after Lincoln had finished Ward Lamon asked Mr. Everett what he thought of it, and Mr. Everett said: "I am greatly disappointed in it. The effect was entirely unworthy of him." 294 ABRAHAM. LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS Through all these obstacles and in the face of appalling difficulties, Lincoln took his weary way. He was beset on every side by pitfalls more dan- gerous than open enemies, indiscreet advisers, am- bitious rivals, foolish detractors and men whose only idea was self-aggrandizement. He said him- self, "I turn out one set of thieves only to put in another and a hungrier lot." Not until we take into account all of these facts do we appreciate the work which this great man wrought. Truly, he bore a burden greater than that laid upon the shoulders of any other man since the world began. He was often baffled. He was not seldom defeated. He was called to account by impatient patriots who wanted immediate results. His political rivals were fond of caricatur- ing his homely features. The name which he was designated in the Democratic papers was "The Old Baboon." The Copper-head sheets invariably al- luded to him as "The Smutty Old Tyrant in the White House." High position bore heavily upon him. He lost his children at a time when the bur- dens of the rebellion seemed too great to be borne. Even the occasion of his death was made the text by some perfervid religious people as a penalty for having gone to the theatre. Out of all these perils he emerged because of 295 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS his undoubted honesty and sterling integrity. The ordinary tricks of the politician he discarded. He steadily rose to an appreciation of the enormous task and he, better than any other man, rightly judged the condition by which peace was possible. Had the Union armies been invariably successful at the beginning of the war, we should probably still be called upon to deal with the problem of slavery, but out of defeat and failure and loss he finally solved the difficulty. It is his glory that he went no faster than the public were able to follow him, and almost alone of great men his character has grown with the succeeding years, so that he stands today unique in the fact that he represents the great common people. He is the popular tribune, the embodiment of the wants, desires, hopes and ambitions of the common man. It is not necessary to falsify his character, or to change in any particular the record. His humor was like that of Rabelais. He was as broad as Shakespeare. He possessed the profound common sense of Franklin, the lofty integrity of Washing- ton. He was as perfect a master of English as Pitt or Gladstone. As a leader of men he surpassed in judgment Thomas Jefferson, and in his capacity to forestall public sentiment and catch the popu- lar drift he was equaled by Andrew Jackson 296 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS alone. These qualities made him great, not only in his day and generation, but for all time. Every effort, therefore, to round and smooth the angularities of this colossal nature only dwarfs and enfeebles them. He was not a smooth, marble shaft, polished by attrition and bearing the marks of the chisel and the engraver's tool, but a huge, granite boulder cut out of the mountain, without hands, but dominating by its very size and quality the circumstances that surrounded it. Before him his contemporaries fade away and are lost. Seward and Chase, Sumner and Greeley, Phillips and Andrews, Bowles and Blair and Cameron dwindle into insignificance. Lincoln stands the great, col- ossal figure of the nineteenth century. It began with Napoleon, born amid the gloom and hor- rors of the French revolution. It ended with Lin- coln, the emancipator of a race, the great exemplar of the rights of the common people. 297 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS NEW LIGHT ON LINCOLN-DOUGLAS DEBATE IN PEORIA New interest in the historic Lincoln-Douglas debate, held in Peoria, October 16, 1854, is aroused by additional information which comes in Frank E. Stevens' "Life of Stephen Arnold Douglas." This book is published by the Illinois State Historical Society. In the section of the volume which describes the interesting events of 1854, a year in which politics became strenuous and in which excitement over Douglas' threatened rise in politics had brought pandemonium to the anti-Douglas forces, Mr. Stevens branches off to the meeting of Lin- coln and Douglas in Peoria, as follows: At the close of the political tournament, the friends of Lincoln became so enthusiastic over his anti-Nebraska speech that William Butler drew up a paper addressed to Lincoln, requesting and "urging him to follow Douglas up until election." The paper was signed by Butler, Dr. William Jayne, P. P. Eads, John Cassaday, B. F. Irwin and others. Needless to state, Lincoln accepted the invitation. The constant and great successes of Douglas obtaining distinction were offensive to the ambitions of Lincoln, who "was intensely 298 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS jealous of him and longed to pull him down or outstrip him in the race for popular favor." While between the two men there existed a friendship which was sincere as between men, between them as politicians a rivalry existed which affected Lin- coln the stronger because Douglas had been invar- iably successful in distancing the other in the race for public favor. They met at Peoria in joint debate, Douglas enjoying the opening and close. At that meeting Lincoln made substantially the same speech he made at Springfield, and while attacking Douglas and his Popular Sovereignty dogma, and while it must be admitted he discom- fited Douglas more than at any other time, it is noteworthy that he offered no substitute. He said: "When southern people tell us they are no more responsible for the origin of slavery than we, I acknowledge the fact. When it is said that the institution exists, and that it is very difficult to get rid of it in any satisfactory way, I can understand and appreciate the saying. I surely will not blame them for not doing what I should not know how to do myself. If all earthly power were given me, I should not know what to do as to the existing institution." Again: "When they remind us of their consti- 299 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS tutional rights, I acknowledge them, not grudg- ingly, but fully and fairly; and I would give them any legislation for the reclaiming of their fugitives which should not in its stringency be more likely to carry a free man into slavery than our ordinary criminal laws are to hang an inno- cent one." There was little difference in the contentions of the men upon the abstract question of slavery. It then remained for them to discuss the repeal, and that they did Douglas speaking from a knowledge of the demands made upon him by his party and a knowledge of what might have been attempted or substituted had he not accepted the Dixon amendment, and Lincoln speaking from the outside standpoint of hostility against the ac- tion which disturbed present tranquillity and gave to slavery the right to enter free territory even though it were but the right to have a vote upon the question We are told that he proposed a truce with Lincoln, agreeing to leave the stump alto- gether if Lincoln would do the same. Lincoln agreed. Handbills had been distributed at Lacon, announcing the appearance of Douglas the fol- lowing day to speak. At once the anti-Nebraska people sent to Peoria to ask Lincoln to reply and he agreed. But having agreed together to quit the 300 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS stump Douglas upon his arrival there pleaded his excessive hoarseness and Lincoln "informed his friends that he would not like to take advantage of the judge's indisposition and would not address the people." They separated then and there for the season. Certain partisan writers have censured Douglas because while at Tiskilwa he permitted Lovejoy to inveigle him into another debate at Princeton. Lovejoy challenged him. To refuse would be argued to imply cowardice. To comply meant to break the truce and lay himself open to the charge of perfidy. Stung with the bantering existence of Lovejoy, who was unable as Lincoln to take care of the repeal measure, he yielded and spoke. While some have censured Douglas for that act, the fact has been overlooked entirely or purposely omitted that Lincoln went over to Urbana and in the court house there made an anti-Nebraska speech on October 24th without an aggravating challenge like that made to Douglas to induce it. Inasmuch as the hand of the iconoclast has been at work upon the Peoria truce between Doug- las and Lincoln in 1854, the writer fortunately has been furnished by Hon. Horace White of New York City with an item of evidence which must 301 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS substantiate that which has never been doubted in Illinois before the present moment: the desire of Douglas at Peoria to discontinue their meetings for that campaign. At the time of the Peoria meeting, Hon. Wil- liam C. Goudy, the warm friend of Douglas, lived at Lewistown, Fulton county, adjoining Peoria county. The night before the Peoria meeting was spent by Douglas at the home of Mr. Goudy, who very soon detected a more than noticeable nervous- ness in his guest. "Judge Douglas, you appear to be ill at ease and under some mental agitation; it cannot be that you have any anxiety with reference to the outcome of the debate that you are to have with Lincoln; you cannot have any doubt as to your ability to dispose of him?" asked Goudy. Stopping abruptly his rapid pace backward and forward across the room, Douglas answered with great emphasis: "Yes, Goudy, I am troubled, and deeply troubled, over the progress and outcome of this debate. I have known Lincoln for many years, and have continually met him in debate. I regard him as the most difficult and dangerous op- ponent that I have ever met, and I have serious misgiving as to what may be the result of this joint debate." 302 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS The Peoria Republican of October 20, 1854, gives color to the story: "He was entitled, according to the terms of the discussion, to an hour after Mr. Lincoln had con- cluded. He arose to reply, but he had very little to say. He had talked himself hoarse in the after- noon, and with his voice had gone his arguments. He made a feeble effort to collect them, but soon became conscious that the rout was complete. The people saw, and it is scarcely too severe to assert that he himself saw, that the alluring picture of 'self-government' that he had drawn had been, by the magical wand of Mr. Lincoln, obliterated — converted into 'airy nothing/ and proved to be 'the baseless fabric of a dream/ Dr. William Jayne, one of those who signed the request for Lincoln to follow up Douglas, attests the truthfulness of the truce in a letter: January 16th, 1909. F. E. Stevens. Dear Sir: Your letter of January 14th received. Mr. Herndon's statement about the arrangement en- tered into between Lincoln and Douglas to quit speaking in the campaign, is correct. This occurred at Peoria, October, 1854. On account of hoarse- 303 ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS ness, Mr. Douglas desired to close the campaign. Mr. Lincoln complied with the request made by Douglas. Yours truly, W. JAYNE. If you desire, you can make any use of my letter you see proper. 304 A SUMMARY OP OUTSTANDING FEATURES PUBLISHED IN "ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS" A facsimile of Lincoln's speech in Peo- ria on the night of October 16, 1854, which took three hours to deliver, as written and edited by Lincoln himself. A new picture of Lincoln that has not before been published. Robert G. Ingersoll's famous tribute to Lincoln. A former (smaller) edition of "Lincoln in Peoria, Illinois," complete. Judge Douglas' address on the afternoon of October 16, 1854, to which Lincoln replied in the evening (n^ver before pub- lished in book form) . Delightfully intimate stories of early days in Peoria and the Middle West — all built around Lincoln. The famous Herndon (Lincoln's law partner) Broadside about Lincoln in Peo- ria, a valuable historical document. Facsimile reproductions of notes in Lincoln's handwriting referring to his Peoria speech. A story of Lincoln in Peoria in 1832 — when he was 23, illustrated. Facsimile copy of four-page paper, Peoria City Record, published March 4, 1854. Facsimile of the invitation extended to Abraham Lincoln to answer Judge Doug- las on October 16, 1854, signed by many Peorians. Full-page map of the State of Illinois published in 1857, showing the old land trails, many of them traveled by Abraham Lincoln. Etching of Casper Ccnant the close friend of Abraham Lincoln, who painted the smiling portrait of him from life, and interesting historical matter by Grant Wright, noted New York artist, and a former Peorian. Charles Overall, a Peoria artist, has painted two remarkable Historical Pic- tures depicting the night of October 16, 1854. One vividly portrays the thousands of interested listeners gathered before the old Peoria County Court House; the other a close-up of Lincoln as he stood, in characteristic pose, before the vast audi- ence. Address by Robert G. Ingersoll, deliv- ered at the time of Lincoln's assassination, never before published in book form. Eugene Baldwin's famous tribute to Abraham Lincoln.