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forgotten that the whole power of Buchanan's administration was used to aid in his defeat. The patronage of the Federal Government, in the hands of the unscrupulous Slidell, was used against him.

There was something almost heroic in the gallantry with which Douglas threw himself into the contest, and dealt his blows right and left, against the republican party on the one hand, and the Buchanan administration on the other. Douglas's great power as a leader, and his personal popularity, are exhibited in the facts that every democratic member of Congress from Illinois stood by him faithfully, that the Democratic State Convention indorsed him, and that no considerable impression against him could be made by all the power and patronage of the administration. There is, on the whole, hardly any greater personal triumph in the history of American politics, than his re-election.

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No extracts from these debates can do anything like justice to their merits. They were entirely extemporaneous, and the reports which were made and widely circulated in book and pamphlet, while full of striking and beautiful passages, of strong arguments, and keen repartee, are disappointing and unsatisfactory to those who had the great pleasure of listening to them.

At the discussion at Freeport, Lincoln replied, with perfect fairness and frankness, to various questions of Douglas; questions skillfully framed to draw out unpopular opinions, and such as should be especially obnoxious to the extreme anti-slavery men. Lincoln answered all without evasion. He then in turn propounded certain questions to Douglas, and among others, questions designed to expose the inconsistency of the Senator, in upholding his doctrine of "popular sovereignty," and that part of the Dred Scott decision in which the court declared that the people-the "popular sovereigns," had no right to exclude slavery. His second

1. The popular vote stood thus: Lincoln, 126,084; Douglas, 121,940; Buchanan, 5,091. Douglas was elected by the party with a minority vote, because some democratic senators, representing republican districts, held over.

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interrogatory was: Can the people of a United States territory, in any lawful way, against the wish of any citizen of the United States, exclude slavery from its limits, prior to the formation of a state constitution." It was in reference to this that a friend of Lincoln said: "If Douglas answers in such a way as to give practical force and effect to the Dred Scott decision, he inevitably loses the battle; but he will reply, by declaring the decision an abstract proposition; he will adhere to his doctrine of squatter sovereignty,' and declare that a territory may exclude slavery." "If he does that," said Mr. Lincoln, "he can never be President." "But," said the friend, "he may be Senator." "Perhaps," replied Lincoln, "but I am after larger game; the battle of 1860 is worth a hundred of this."

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It was obviously impossible to reconcile Douglas's position at Freeport, and elsewhere, that "the people could exclude slavery if they pleased, and that their right to do so was perfect and complete, under the Nebraska bill," with the decision of the Court, that the people of the territory could do nothing of the kind. The Court said that a master had the right, under the Constitution, to take, and hold his slaves, in all the territories. If so, slavery could not be excluded by the people of the territory. Lincoln, in one of those terse, clear sentences, into which he often condensed a whole speech, exposed the absurdity of this. Douglas holds," said he, "that a thing may lawfully be driven away from a place where it has a lawful right to go." his appreciation of the momentous issue: to be unselfish. I do not pretend that I would not like to go to the United States Senate." ** * * "But I say to you, that in this mighty issue, it is nothing to the mass of the people of the nation, whether or not Judge Douglas or myself shall ever be heard of after this night. It may be a trifle to us, but in connection with this mighty issue, upon which, perhaps, hang the destinies of the nation, it is absolutely nothing."

He thus describes "I do not claim

At their last joint discussion in October, at Alton, where

Lovejoy, twenty one years before, had been killed because of his fidelity to freedom, Lincoln, in closing the debate, said: "Is slavery wrong? That is the real issue. That is the issue that will continue in this country when these poor tongues of Judge Douglas and myself shall be silent. It is the eternal struggle between these two principles-right and wrong throughout the world. They are two principles that have stood face to face from the beginning of time; and will ever continue to struggle. The one is the common right of humanity, and the other the divine right of kings. It is the same principle in whatever shape it developes itself. It is the same spirit that says: 'You work, and toil, and earn bread, and I'll eat it.' No matter in what shape it comes, whether from the mouth of a king who seeks to bestride the people of his own nation, and live by the fruit of their labor, or from one race of men, as an apology for enslaving another race, it is the same tyrannical principle."

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"On this subject of treating it (slavery) as a wrong, and limiting its spread, let me say a word. Has anything ever threatened the existence of the Union, save and except this very institution of slavery? What is it that we hold most dear among us? Our own liberty and prosperity. What has ever threatened our liberty and prosperity, save and except this institution of slavery? If this is true, how do you propose to improve the condition of things by enlarging slavery? By spreading it out and making it bigger? You may have a wen or cancer upon your person, and not be able to cut it out lest you bleed to death; but surely it is not the way to cure it, to engraft it and spread it over your whole body. That is no proper way of treating what you regard as wrong. You see this peaceful way of dealing with it as a wrong-restricting the spread of it, and not allowing it to go into new countries, where it has not already existed. That is the peaceful way, the old fashioned way, the way in which the fathers themselves set us the example."

CHAPTER X.

LINCOLN BECOMES PRESIDENT.

DOUGLAS RE-ELECTED TO THE SENATE.-LINCOLN ASSESSED FOR EXPENSES OF THE CANVASS.-VISIT TO KANSAS.-CALLED TO OHIO. -SPEAKS AT COLUMBUS AND CINCINNATI.—IN THE NEW ENGLAND STATES.-SHRINKS FROM THE CANDIDACY.-COOPER INSTITUTE SPEECH. NOMINATED FOR PRESIDENT.-HIS ELECTION.

Lincoln, weary

THE great intellectual conflict was over. but not exhausted, returned to his home at Springfield, and when the returns came in, it appeared that he had won the victory for his cause, his party, and his country. The republican state ticket was elected; he had carried a majority of the popular vote, but he was again baffled in obtaining the position of Senator, which he so much desired. A sufficient number of Douglas democrats elected two years before from districts now republican, still held over, and inequalities in the apportionment enabled Douglas to control a small majority of the Legislature, although defeated in the popular vote.

As soon as this became known, a perfect ovation was given to that popular idol. After a little rest, the Senator started for Washington, by way of the Mississippi river. Popular receptions awaited him at St. Louis, at Memphis, and at New Orleans. Taking a steamer to New York, on his arrival in that city, he was welcomed by a great concourse of people, and this welcome was repeated, with the utmost enthusiasm, at Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington.

Lincoln was resting quietly at his little cottage in Spring

field. He had been speaking constantly from July to November, for both he and Douglas, when not engaged in joint discussion, were speaking elsewhere. He was cheerful, and apparently so gratified with the result, that he almost forgot his personal disappointment. It does not appear that the honors lavished upon his rival disturbed his sleeping or waking hours. At the end of the canvass, both Douglas and Lincoln visited Chicago; Douglas was so hoarse that he could scarcely articulate, and it was painful to hear him attempt to speak. Lincoln's voice was clear and vigorous, and it really seemed in better tone than usual. His dark complexion was bronzed by the prairie sun and winds, but his eye was clear, his step firm, and he looked like a trained athlete, ready to enter, rather than one who had closed a conflict.

On the 16th of November, in reply to a letter of the Chairman of the State Committee relating to the expenditures of the canvass, he says:

"I have been on expense so long, without earning anything, that I am absolutely without money now to pay for even household expenses. Still, you can put in two hundred and fifty dollars for me towards discharging the debt of the committee. I will allow it when we settle the private matter between us."

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This, too, is exclusive of my ordinary expenses during the campaign, all of which, added to my loss of time and business, bears heavily on one no better off than I am." 1

He owned at this time the little house and lot on which

1. The letter is as follows:

SPRINGFIELD, Nov. 16, 1858. HON. N. B. JUDD-My Dear Sir: Yours of the 15th is just received. I wrote you the same day. As to the pecuniary matter, I am willing to pay according to my ability, but I am the poorest hand living to get others to pay I have been on expense so long, without earning anything, that I am absolutely without money now for even household expenses. Still, if you can put in two hundred and fifty dollars for me towards discharging the debt of the committee, I will allow it when you and I settle the private matter between us. This, with what I have already paid with an outstanding note of mine, will exceed my subscription of five hundred dollars. This, too, is exclusive of my ordinary expenses during the campaign, all of which being added to my loss of time and business, bears pretty heavily upon one no better off than I am. But as I had the post of honor, it is not for me to be over-nice. You are feeling badly, and this, too, shall pass away,' never fear.

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