the speech, a Dr. Long, unconsciously representing a great multitude, came into Lincoln's law-office to free his mind. He said:

"Well, Lincoln, that foolish speech of yours will kill youwill defeat you in this contest, and probably for all offices for all time to come. I am sorry, sorry,-very sorry. I wish it was wiped out of existence. Don't you wish it, now?"

Mr. Lincoln dropped the pen he had been busy with, and turned his sad, earnest, half-contemptuous smile upon the

mourner:

"Well, Doctor, if I had to draw a pen across and erase my whole life from existence, and I had one poor gift or choice left as to what I should save from the wreck, I should choose that speech and leave it to the world unerased."

With others he afterwards argued earnestly the wisdom and policy as well as the truth of that speech, both as to time and place, and most men of the party were shortly able to agree

with him.

An important result of the joint debates between Lincoln and Douglas was that the latter was forced into such explanations and to take such ground before his own constituents that he thereby lost all hope of regaining his broken hold upon the South. He was driven to the alternative of abandoning his ambitious design upon the Presidency or of splitting his own party in sunder. His subsequent choice of the latter course made possible the Republican triumph of 1860, and his temporary success in 1858 encouraged him to that determination.

The popular vote in November, 1858, showed a numerical majority of over four thousand for the Republican ticket, but that did not carry with it a majority of members of the Legislature. The friends of Douglas controlled both Houses. If, in the heat of the struggle, Mr. Lincoln permitted himself to hope for a different result, he took his defeat with equanimity. He could not have more than dimly dreamed of the immediate

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reward in store for him, but he had done his duty. He had been placed before the whole country in a strong light. He had fairly won a national reputation. He had proved himself such a leader as anxious men were waiting for. Nevertheless, those who saw him daily and believed that they knew him best had but a faint and fragmentary idea of the impression he had made, and was still making, upon others than themselves. They talked about him, more or less, during the winter of 1858-9, and they severely criticised two or three attempts he made at lecturing" on unimportant topics. Like other men, the country over, they were beginning to discuss the coming Presidential campaign and its possible candidates. It does not appear, however, that a man among them all took occasion to mention among these latter the defeated antagonist of Douglas in the recent State election.

At the county-seat of Champaign County, in the Eighth Judicial District, there was printed at that time a weekly newspaper, of good standing and circulation, called the Central Illinois Gazette. It was owned and nominally managed by an eccentric and illiterate country doctor, who never wrote for it. Its sole editor and real manager was a young man from New York who had barely a speaking acquaintance with Mr. Lincoln, though, like most of his neighbors, profoundly respecting and even enthusiastically admiring him.

In April, 1859, Mr. Lincoln was at the Doane House, in Champaign, the "railway half" of the county-seat, in attendance on business before the court. He had been to the postoffice quite early one morning, returning, with a hat half full of letters, to a chair in the hotel office. He came in, absorbed, gloomy, neither speaking to or even noticing any one as he entered. He rested his feet on the big stove in the middle of the room and began to open and read his letters.

There had been a sharp dispute in the Gazette office the previous day, between the doctor and the editor, as to the precise political course to be pursued by that journal. As the

young man now came out from his breakfast in the hotel dining-room with his mind yet full of the subject of the quarrel, he saw the well-known face and form of Mr. Lincoln, and suddenly resolved to address him and ask his advice. But something in the dark, strong face arrested him, and he waited. It was worth any man's while to study such a face as that. Mr. Lincoln tore open a letter of more than ordinary length and began to read. It was closely written in a crabbed, black handwriting, but it must have contained matter for thought. He read it half through, dropped it in his hat and sat there as if looking at something a thousand miles away. His heavy features, deeply furrowed with wrinkles and sallow with fatigue of heart and brain, seemed flabby and lifeless for a few moments. Then, and swiftly, as if the keeper of the lighthouse had kindled the great fire within, the eyes and the whole face began to light up and glow with all the radiance of the hidden life that had so long been living there. The young watcher had never before seen anything like that upon any face of living being, and he reverently forbore to speak. He was thrilled and spell-bound by something of the force of a personality which had so often swayed multitudes to the will of the orator.

"The greatest man I ever saw or heard of!" he exclaimed to himself, as he quietly slipped out of the hotel. In a few moments he was in his own office and the doctor was there before him.

"Doctor," he shouted, "I've made up my mind for whom we are going for President."

"You don't say! Who is it?"

"Abraham Lincoln of Illinois !"

"What? Old Abe? Nonsense! We might go for him for Vice-President. He'd never do for any more'n that. Seward and Lincoln wouldn't be a bad ticket. But Old Abe! Who put that into your head?"

"He did. It's no use, doctor. He's the man. You've

got to tend office to-day. I'm off for Springfield, the next train, to get material for a campaign-life editorial.”

The doctor yielded, as usual. The young editor went to Springfield and returned with his material. The article was written, and early in May it was printed. Hundreds of copies were industriously sent out, all over the State, to be quoted, commented upon, approved, and ridiculed, and the work of nominating a President, so far as Illinois was concerned, had been well begun before the nominee had been spoken to upon the subject. At the same time, a letter from the same hand, and to the same general effect, was printed in a journal published in the city of New York, but of course without attracting especial attention there.

The fact here related is a full refutation of the baseless assertion that Mr. Lincoln had anything whatever to do with the inception of what was strictly a popular movement. But the discussion and comments of people and press of course attracted the attention of those most interested, and from that time forth, naturally, both Mr. Lincoln and his friends watched closely and discussed freely all indications of the drift of public opinion with reference to the coming choice. Echoes came speedily, from every direction, repeating the enthusiastic outburst of the Champaign County editor. It looked as if some kind of a tide might be rising; but it was too early yet for reasonable calculation. There were many other distinguished names continually upon the lips of men. Hardly a State failed of putting forward one or more of its respected names in connection with the honorable competition. Plainly, a vast amount of careful work was before the party, in the nature of judicious sorting and sifting. Ordinarily, early “ mention" is sure death to nomination; but it was well for Mr. Lincoln that his candidacy began at so early a day, for even his enemies and the crisis itself worked steadily in his behalf.

CHAPTER XXIV.

THE RISING TIDE.

National Fame-The Cooper Institute Speech-Sectionalism-Illinois State Convention at Decatur-The Rail-splitter-The Republican National Convention at Chicago-The Presidential Nomination-1859.

ALL over the country, and in every part of every section, popular preparations for the Presidential campaign of 1860 began earlier than usual. Men of all parties perceived, more or less clearly, that an unprecedented crisis was at hand in public affairs.

Mr. Lincoln began to receive letters from various persons: who inquired as to his views of different questions. These were not all sent him with a friendly purpose, but his replies were at once frank and judicious. During the autumn of the year 1859 he made a number of political speeches in Ohio, and early in the winter he did the same in Kansas. Everywhere he gave renewed evidences of the ripening of his powers as a statesman and orator. His fame was growing so fast that even his best friends were compelled to recognize it. At last, a self-appointed committee of them arranged a conference with him, in a room of the State House at Springfield, to urge upon him the propriety of formally permitting the use of his name as a Presidential candidate. He heard them. He took one night to consider the matter, and the next day gave his consent. His demeanor throughout the conference was quiet, modest, thoughtful, and he expressed strong doubt of success in obtaining the nomination.

Meantime an unintended movement in his favor was made by men who had no thought of him as a rival of their own pre