or reward upon earth, had undertaking the cause-took his seat in the prisoner's box, and with a stony firmness" listened to the reading of the indictment.

Lincoln sat quietly by, while the large auditory looked on him as though wondering what he could say in defense of one whose guilt they regarded as certain. The examination of the witnesses for the State was begun, and a well-arranged mass of evidence, circumstantial and positive, was introduced, which seemed to impale the prisoner beyond the possibility of extrication. The counsel for the defense propounded but few questions, and those of à character which excited no uneasiness on the part of the prosecutor-merely, in most cases, requiring the main witness to be definite as to time and place. When the evidence of the proscecution was ended, Lincoln introduced a few witnesses to remove some erroneous impressions in regard to the previous character of his client, who, though somewhat rowdyish, had never been known to commit a vicious act; and to show that a greater degree of illfeeling existed between the accuser and accused, than the accused and the deceased. The prosecutor felt that the case was a clear one, and his opening speech was brief an ! formal. Lincoln arose, while a deathly silence pervaded the vast audience, and in a clear but moderate tone began his argument. Slowly and carefully he reviewed the testimony, pointing out the hitherto unobserved discrepancies in the statements of the principal witness. That which had seemed plain and plausible, he made to appear crooked as a serpent's path. The witness had stated that the affair took place at a certain hour in the evening, and

that, by the aid of the brightly shining

oon. he saw the

prisoner inflict the death-blow with a slung shot. Mr. Lincoln showed that, at the hour referred to, the moon had not yet appeared above the horizon, and consequently tho whole tale was a fabrication. An almost instantaneous change seemed to have been wrought in the minds of his auditors, and the verdict of "not guilty" was at the end of every tongue. But the advocate was not content with this intellectual achievement. His whole being had for months been bound up in this work of gratitude and mercy, and, as the lava of the overcharged crater bursts from its imprisonment, so great thoughts and burning words leaped forth from the soul of the eloquent Lincoln. He drew a picture of the perjurer, so horrid and ghastly, that the accuser could sit under it no longer, but reeled and staggered from the court-room, while the audience fancied they could see the brand apon his brow. Then, in words of thrilling pathos, Lincoln appealed to the jurors, as fathers of sons who might become fatherless, and as husbands of wives who might be widows, to yield to no previous impressions, no ill-founded prejudice, but to do his client justice; and as he alluded to the debt of gratitude which he owed the boy's sire, tears were seen to fall from many eyes unused to weep. It was near night when he concluded by saying, that if justice was done as he believed it would be-before the sun should set, it would shine upon his client a freeman. The jury retired, and the court adjourned for the day. Half an hour had not elapsed, when, as the officers of the court and the volunteer attorney sat at the tea-table of their hotel, a messen

ger announced that the jury had returned to their seats. All repaired immediately to the court-house, and while the prisoner was being brought from the jail, the courtroom was filled to overflowing with citizens of the town. When the prisoner and his mother entered, silence reigned as completely as though the house were empty. The foreman of the jury, in answer to the usual inquiry from the court, delivered the verdict "Not guilty!" The widow dropped into the arms of her son, who lifted her up, and told her to look upon him as before, free and innocent. Then, with the words, "Where is Mr. Liocoln ?" he rushed across the room and grasped the hand of his deliverer, while his heart was too full for utterance. Lincoln turned his eyes toward the west, where the sun still lingered in view, and then, turning to the youth, said, "It is not yet sundown, and you are free." I confess that my cheeks were not wholly unwet by tears, and I turned from the affecting scene. As I cast a glance behind, I saw Abraham Lincoln obeying the divine injunction, by comforting the widow and the fatherless.

CHAPTER IV.

THE STATESMAN.

Mr Lincoln's Marriage. Election to Congress. His firsh Speech in the House. Pertinent Extracts. War. Subjugation. Right of Revolution. Indemnity. Peace. Confiscation. The Model President. Platforms. One of Honest Abe's Jokes. The Scathing and Withering style. The great Democratic Ox-gad. How much a man may Sub. Visit to New England. Retires to Private Life. The Kansas Bill rouses him. He takes the field again. Campaign for Fremont. The Principles of the Republican Party. Debates with Judge Douglass. The Campaign of 1858. Shooting over the line. The Kentucky Girls. The Speech to the Children in New York. Nomination to the Presidency. What Douglass said of his color. The Campaign of 1860.

On the 4th of November 1842, Mr. Lincoln was married to Miss Mary Todd, daughter of Hon. Robert S. Todd of Lexington, Kentucky.

A man of family, a recognised leader in the ranks of the Whig party, a successful lawyer, and one whose popularity was daily increasing, it is not a matter of wonder that in 1848 Mr. Lincoln's fellow citizens should have deemed him an appropriate man to represent them in the National Congress.

Accordingly he was returned for the central district of Illinois in the Fall of 1846, and took his seat in the house of Representatives at Washington, on the 6th day of De cember, 1847, the opening of the thirtieth Congress.

Mr. Lincoln was comparatively quite a young man when he entered the House, yet he was early recognised as one of the foremost of the Western men on the floor. His Congressional record, throughout, is that of a Whig of those days, his votes on all leading national subjects, beind invariably what those of Clay, Webster or Corwin would

have been, had they occupied his place. One of the most prominent subjects of consideration before the Thirtieth Congress, very naturally, was the then existing war with Mexico. Mr. Lincoln was one of those who believed the Administration had not properly managed its affairs with Mexico at the outset, and who, while voting supplies and for suitably rewarding our gallant soldiers in that war, were unwilling to be forced, by any trick of the supporters of the Administration, into an unqualified indorsement of its course in this affair, from beginning to end. In this attitude, Mr. Lincoln did not stand alone. Such was the position of Whig members in both Houses, without exception.

On the 12th of January, 1848, he made his speech in the House, from which we make the following extracts as being pertinent to the issues which at present divide the country:

(In Committee of the Whole House, January 12, 1848.) Mr. Lincoln addressed the Committee as follows: MR. CHAIRMAN ; Some, if not all, of the gentlemen on the other side of the House, who have addressed the Committee within the last two days, have spoken rather complainingly, if I have rightly understood them, of the vote given a week or ten days ago, declaring that the war with Mexico was unnecessarily and unconstitutionally commenced by the President. I admit that such a vote should not be given in merè party wantonness, and that the one given is justly censurable, if it have no other or better foundation. I am one of those who joined in that vote; and did so under my best impression of the truth of the case. How I got this impression, and how it may possi