During Lincoln's administration, John Van Buren, son of President Van Buren, and distinguished alike for his brilliant wit and his eloquence, visited Washington, and, dining with the President, the latter recalled and described to the son, the night which Van Buren and he had passed so pleasantly at the country inn on the prairies of Illinois.

CHAPTER V.

CONGRESS AND THE BAR.

LINCOLN TAKES HIS SEAT IN CONGRESS. HIS COLLEAGUES AND ASSOCIATES. HOW HE IMPRESSED THEM. HIS FIRST SPEECH.SPEECH ON THE MEXICAN WAR.- DELEGATE TO NATIONAL CONVENTION. HIS CAMPAIGN SPEECH. INTRODUCES BILL TO ABOLISH SLAVERY IN DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. - SEEKS APPOINTMENT AS COMMISSIONER OF LAND OFFICE.- DECLINES TO BE GOVERNOR OF OREGON. AT THE BAR.— DEFENDS BILL ARMSTRONG.- - LINCOLN AS AN ADVOCATE, LAWYER AND ORATOR.

IN December, 1847, Lincoln took his seat in Congress. (the 30th) the only whig member from Illinois. His great rival, Douglas, had already run a brilliant career in the House, and now for the first time had become a member of the United States Senate. These two had met at Vandalia, and in the Illinois Legislature had always been rivals, and each was now the acknowledged leader of his party. The democratic party had, since the year 1836, been strongly in the majority, and Douglas in his state, more than any other man, directed and controlled it. Among Lincoln's colleagues in Congress from Illinois, were John Wentworth, John A. McClernand and William A. Richardson. This Congress had among its members many very distinguished men. Among them were ex-President John Quincy Adams; George. Ashman, who presided over the convention which nominated Lincoln for President; Caleb B. Smith, a member of his cabinet; John G. Palfrey, the historian of New England; Robert C. Winthrop, speaker; Jacob Collamer, postmaster-gen

eral; Andrew Johnson, elected Vice-President with Lincoln on his second election; Alexander H. Stephens, Vice-President of the Confederacy; besides Toombs, Rhett, Cobb, and other prominent leaders in the rebellion.

In the Senate were Daniel Webster, John P. Hale, John A. Dix, Simon Cameron, Lewis Cass, Thomas H. Benton, John J. Crittenden, Mason and Hunter from Virginia, John C. Calhoun, and Jefferson Davis. Lincoln entered Congress as the leader of the whig party in Illinois, and with the reputation of being an able and effective popular speaker. It is curious to learn the impression which this prairie orator, with no college culture, made upon his associates. Robert C. Winthrop, a scholarly and conservative man, representing the intelligence of Boston, says, when writing thirty-four years thereafter: "I recall vividly the impressions I then formed, both of his ability and amiability. We were old whigs together, and agreed entirely upon all questions of public interest. I could not always concur in the policy of the party which made him President, but I never lost my personal regard for him. For shrewdness and sagacity, and keen practical sense, he has had no superior in our day and generation." 1

The vice-president of the Confederacy, Alexander H. Stephens, writing seventeen years after Lincoln's death, and recalling their service together in Congress, from 1847 to 1849, says:

"I knew Mr. Lincoln well and intimately, and we were both ardent supporters of General Taylor for President in 1848. Mr. Lincoln, Toombs, Preston, myself and others, formed the first Congressional Taylor club, known as The Young Indians,' and organized the Taylor movement, which resulted in his nomination." * "Mr. Lincoln was careful as to his manners, awkward in his speech, but was possessed of a very strong, clear, vigorous mind."

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* "He always attracted and riveted the attention of the House when he spoke. His manner of speech as well as thought was original. He had no model. He was a man of strong convictions, and what Carlyle would have called an earnest man. He abounded in anec

1. The Lincoln Memorial Album, p. 165.

dote. He illustrated everything he was talking about by an anecdote, always exceedingly apt and pointed, and socially he always kept his company in a roar of laughter." 1

From the time they parted as members of the Taylor Club, until the Hampton Roads Conference in 1865, of which hereafter, these two remarkable men did not again

meet.

Lincoln took a more prominent part in the debates than is usual for new members. On the 8th of January, 1848,

"By way

writing to his young partner, Herndon, he says: of experiment, and of getting the hang of the house,' I made a little speech two or three days ago on a post-office question of no general interest." (He was second on the Committee of Post-offices and Post Roads.) "I find speaking here and elsewhere almost the same thing. I was about as badly scared, and no more than when I speak in court.” Writing to his partner again soon after, he gave the young gentleman some very good advice. "The way for a young man to rise," said he, "is to improve himself every way he can, never suspecting anybody wishes to hinder him. Allow me to assure you that suspicions and jealousy never did help any man in any station." And it may be truthfully added, as will hereafter appear, that no man was ever more free from these faults than Lincoln.

On the 12th of January, 1848, he made an able and elaborate speech on the Mexican war, which established his reputation in Congress as an able debater. Douglas, long afterwards, in their joint debate at Ottawa, charged him with taking the side of the enemy against his own country in this Mexican war. To which Lincoln replied: "I was an old whig, and whenever the democratic party tried to get me to vote that the war had been righteously begun by the President, I would not do it. But when they asked money, or land warrants, or anything to pay the soldiers, I gave the same vote that Douglas did."'

1. Lincoln Memorial Album, p. 241.

2. Lincoln and Douglas debates.

He had offered resolutions calling on the President, Mr. Polk, for a statement of facts respecting the beginning of this war, and speaking to these resolutions said:

"Let him answer, fully, fairly, and candidly. Let him remember he sits where Washington sat, and so remembering let him answer as Washington would answer.'

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"But if the President," he said, "trusting to escape scrutiny by fixing the public gaze upon the exceeding brightness of military glory, that attractive rainbow that rises in showers of blood, that serpent's eye that charms to destroy, plunged into it (the war) and was swept on and on till disappointed in the ease with which Mexico might be enslaved, he now finds himself he knows not where."

On the 27th of July, after he had, as a delegate from Illinois, aided to nominate General Taylor for President, Lincoln made what is called a campaign speech to promote his election against Cass, the democratic candidate. For that purpose the speech was very effective. It is full of satire, sarcasm, and wit; some of it rather coarse, but it was designed to reach and influence a class of voters by whom coarse and keen illustrations would be appreciated. The following extract will exhibit its characteristics:

"But in my hurry I was very near closing on the subject of military coat-tails before I was done with it. There is one entire article of the sort I have not discussed yet; I mean the military tail you democrats are now engaged in dovetailing on to the great Michigander. Yes sir, all his biographers (and they are legion) have him in hand, tying him to a military tail, like so many mischievous boys tying a dog to a bladder of beans. True, the material they have is very limited, but they drive at it might and main. He invaded Canada without resistance, and he outvaded it without pursuit. As he did both under orders, I suppose there was to him credit in neither of them; but they are made to constitute a large part of the tail. He was volunteer aid to General Harrison on the day of the battle of the Thames, and as you said in 1840 that Harrison was picking whortleberries, two miles off, while the battle was fought, I suppose it is a just conclusion with you to say Cass was aiding Harrison to pick whortleberries. This is about all, except the mooted question of the broken sword. Some authors say he broke it; some say he threw it away, and some others, who ought to know, say nothing about it. Perhaps it would be a fair historical compromise to say, if he did not break it, he did not do anything else with it."