of Mr. Lincoln to a great leader. It taught him that principles rather than men are to be followed and have the devotion of true men.

MR. LINCOLN A CONGRESSMAN.

December 6, 1847, Mr. Lincoln took his seat in the Thirtieth Congress, as a member of the Lower House. He was elected the autumn before, and made an active canvass of his district, which gave him the highest majority it ever gave to a whig. In his canvass he discussed the annexation of Texas, the war with Mexico and all the affiliated measures of the pro-slavery democracy, protesting against the whole; and also the importance of a protective tariff to the industries of the country which were then suffering, as he claimed, by a democratic reduction of the tariff.

Mr. Polk was then president, and it was his custom, in his messages, to set forth the raiding practices of Mexico upon the territory of the United States, as though against the laws of nations, and patiently borne by us till forbearance had ceased to be a virtue, and, that war had been declared against Mexico only when she had practiced war upon us, when the simple facts were that we had sent our army all the way from the Nueces to the Rio Grande, some two hundred miles into the Mexican territory, and provoked the Mexican soldiers to raid upon our outposts. Mr. Lincoln took up this matter in a series of resolutions, which he offered, asking of the president information as to the spots where our settlements had been invaded, the particular spot where our peaceful citizens had been murdered, by Mexican soldiery, and for detailed information as to particulars. They were so full of "the required spots" where Mexican outrages had been committed upon our quiet citizens that they got the name of the "spot resolutions." In view of the facts in the case, they made the president's messages ridiculous. Mr. Lincoln made a characteristic speech in behalf of the resolutions, but, as the whigs were in the minority, the resolutions were laid on the table. The whigs in Congress were in a dilemma. They did not believe in the war; knew it had been provoked and forced upon the Mexicans

by our government to filch from them their territory, and yet, if they did not vote supplies to carry it on, and support our soldiers in their dangerous exposures, they were called unpatriotic and barbarous. In a speech in Congress, January 12, 1848, Mr. Lincoln, in a cool, clear and exact statement of the facts in the showed how the country stood in relation to the war, and how it placed the whig party.

On the first of June, 1848, the whig convention met at Philadelphia, to nominate a candidate for the presidency. Henry Clay was the idol of the party, but he had been defeated. Mr. Lincoln had seen him and lost his former confidence in him. Mr. Lincoln was in the convention, and did not approve of nominating Clay.

General Taylor, a nominal whig, though he had not voted for forty years, had come back from the Mexican war covered with the glory of a military chieftain. His career had been a succession of victories, which the democratic papers all over the country had magnified into most magnificent and brilliant exploits of military genius. His dispatches had been the simple, unpretending facts of what his army had done. Their modesty was praised as much as his military genius. He was the herothe Cincinnatus of the hour. The democrats made his glory and fired the country with it, and the whigs in convention caught it upon their banner. They nominated General Zachary Taylor as their candidate. Of course it put them in an awkward position to glorify General Taylor and denounce the war that made him their candidate and was sure to elect him. But this was their good luck, and Lincoln urged his nomination and that they should make the most of the tide in his favor. He counseled saying as little as possible about the beginning of the war which the whigs were in no way responsible for.

Mr. Lincoln took up the canvass in behalf of General Taylor with great zeal, going first from Washington to New England and making several speeches there. He canvassed Illinois and in his own district gave Taylor almost as large a vote as he had got himself when elected to Congress.

Early in the winter Mr. Lincoln returned to Congress, and

went as a recognized anti-slavery man, who would do as much against slavery as the constitution would permit him to do. He was a constitutional man, loyal to that great charter of American liberty as to the rights of man and conscience. In his first session in Congress he had voted forty-two times for the Wilmot Proviso, had stood with John Quincy Adams stoutly for the right of petition, and was counted as an ally of Joshua R. Geddings and men of his convictions and conscience. During this session he prepared a bill for the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia with the consent of the people of the District. But some of the people who agreed to his plan at first, withdrew from it, and time was not permitted him to begin anew, and so his bill fell through before coming to a vote. His service in Congress closed with honor and profit to himself.

As Mr. Lincoln became more acquainted with educated men and society, he felt more intensely his lack of early education; and he returned from Washington to his home resolved to make up for his deficiency as much as he could. So he took up the study of geometry and went through the first six books of Euclid. His success among educated men surprised him. He felt a constant gratitude to them for their appreciation of his motives and their kindness to him. He was always self-deprecating, and often wondered how others could think so well of him. This self-deprecation was greatly magnified by his conscious lack of an education.

RETURN TO HIS PROFESSION.

On his return from Congress Mr. Lincoln took up again the practice of his profession; and now for a number of years had one of the most peaceful and enjoyable portions of his life. He had attained a conspicuous place among his countrymen; had formed a large acquaintance among the great and good; had put his original obscurity far behind him; had in his profession a way to obtain an honorable living and be useful; had a wife and little family; had books, friends, appreciative society; all of which he enjoyed in their full measure.

By the distinguished lawyers who knew him well and practiced with him, he was profoundly appreciated as a man and lawyer. Judge Caton, said of him: "He applied the principles of law to the transactions of men with great clearness and precision. He was a close reasoner. He reasoned by analogy and enforced his views by apt illustrations. His mode of speaking was generally of a plain and unimpassioned character, and yet he was the author of some of the most beautiful and eloquent passages in our language, which, if collected, would form a valuable contribution to American literature. The most punctilious honor ever marked his professional and private life." Who will ever know what society, literature, learning, the country and humanity, have failed to have that is rich and grand, because his great soul was cheated of an education by the hard fortune of his early years?

Judge Breese, said of him: "For my single self, I have for a quarter of a century, regarded Mr. Lincoln as the finest lawyer I ever knew, and of a professional bearing so high toned and honorable as justly, and without derogating from the claims of others, entitling him to be presented to the claims of the profession, as a model well worthy the closest imitation."

Judge Drummond, said of him: "I have no hesitation in saying that he was one of the ablest lawyers I have ever known. No intelligent man who ever watched Mr. Lincoln through a hard-contested case at the bar ever questioned his great ability. With a probity of character known of all, with an intuitive insight into the human heart, with a clearness of statement which was itself an argument, with uncommon power and felicity of illustration-often it is true, of a plain and homely kind— and with that sincerity and earnestness of manner which carried conviction, he was, perhaps, one of the most successful jury lawyers we have ever had in the state. He always tried a case fairly and honestly. He never, intentionally, misrepresented the evidence of a witness, or the argument of an opponent. He met both squarely, and, if he could not explain the one, or answer the other, he admitted it. He never misstated the law according to his own intelligent view of it."

In 1852, on the death of Henry Clay, Mr. Lincoln delivered a eulogy on that famous statesman of his day. The eulogy was calm, and probably quite less enthusiastic than he would have given before his visit to Ashland. The closing words are worth repeating here. "Such a man the times have demanded, and such, in the providence of God, was given us. But he is gone. Let us strive to deserve, as far as mortals may, the continued care of Divine Providence, trusting that in future national emergencies, he will not fail to provide us the instruments of safety and security." No instrument, since the days of Washington, has seemed to the lovers of our republic, so providential as Mr. Lincoln himself. To no other have his words such a profound application. And it seems almost certain, that in the generations to come, he will be held as the preserver of the country of which Washington was the father.

But great national events were in progress. The northern section of the country was rapidly overgrowing the southern. The great northwest was inviting settlements. The western prairies were attracting the hardy and enterprising from the eastern states and Europe. It was becoming clear that the balance of power was soon to be in the north. The political leaders of the south who were devoted to slavery, were getting uneasy and absolute in their determination to rule or ruin. In 1850, the free state of California was admitted to the Union. There was no balancing slave-state to come in with it. California had grown to a free state on territory won from Mexico by the pro-slavery war. This was a result not in the original

calculation.

In the whig canvass for General Scott, in 1852, Mr. Lincoln took but little interest, and General Pierce, who ran against him, was elected.

In 1854, the Missouri Compromise of 1820, which shut slavery out of the whole northwest, was abrogated, with a view to force slavery into Kansas and Nebraska. This was an act of bad faith, which stirred Mr. Lincoln deeply. Northern democrats, particularly Mr. Douglas, acted in complicity with the south in the matter, and this stirred northern blood far more