every free white male citizen above the age of twentyone years, having resided within said District for the period of one year or more next preceding the time of such voting for or against this act, to proceed in taking said votes in all respects not herein specified, as at elections under the municipal laws, and with as little delay as possible to transmit correct statements of the votes so cast to the President of the United States; and it shall be the duty of the President to count such votes immediately, and if a majority of them be found to be for this act, to forthwith issue his proclamation giving notice of the fact; and this act shall only be in full force and effect on and after the day of such proclamation.

Sec. 7. That involuntary servitude for the punishment of crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall in nowise be prohibited by this act.

Sec. 8. That for all purposes of this act, the jurisdictional limits of Washington are extended to all parts of the District of Columbia not included within the present limits of Georgetown."

Mr. Lincoln then said, "that he was authorized to say that of about fifteen of the leading citizens of the District of Columbia to whom this proposition had been submitted, there was not one but who approved of such a proposition. He did not wish to be misunderstood. He did not know whether or not they would vote for his bill on the first Monday of April; but he repeated that out of fifteen persons to whom it had been submitted, he had authority to say that every one of them desired that some such proposition as this should pass."

While a member of Congress, Mr. Lincoln was elected

to the Whig Nominating Convention of 1848; before which he advocated the claims of Gen. Taylor to the presidency, and after the nomination he was persistent in his efforts to accomplish the election of his favorite candidate. And, without much conceit, a resemblance may in many things be traced between the characters, if not the careers, of Rough and Ready and Honest old Abe; they might exchange epithets appropriately. Mr. Lincoln's district gave Taylor a heavier majority than any other Whig but Lincoln himself was ever honored by, in that quarter of the country; the result doubtless in some measure of his persevering ardor and energy.

In 1849 he was a candidate before the Illinois legislature for United States Senator, but the Democrats were in the majority and Gen. Shields was elected over Lincoln; in 1852 he was a warm supporter of Gen. Scott, and looked upon by the Whigs of Illinois as one of their most efficient leaders.

After his retirement from Congress, Mr. Lincoln took no prominent part in politics for a number of years. His private affairs claimed his attention; he had married, his family was increasing, but he was not rich, and is not so to-day; he therefore devoted himself very assiduously to the pursuit of his profession until 1854, when the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, and the consequent wide-spread agitation throughout the country, drew him again into the arena of politics. As might have been predicted by any one familiar with his previous sentiments and course, he vigorously opposed the Nebraska bill; he took the stump against its author, Mr. Douglas, and battled it with immense energy. The efforts of its opponents were in some measure successful in Illinois, and for the first time a majority of the legislature about to elect a United States

Senator was unfavorable to the democratic party. Ninetenths of this majority were Whigs, and desired Mr. Lincoln's elevation to the vacant seat in the upper House of Congress, but the other tenth had been Democrats and were unwilling to cast their votes for a Whig. The republican party was then only in its conception; the various elements of an opposition were chaotic, and it was necessary to manage skilfully in order to accomplish their coalescence. Mr. Lincoln himself earnestly entreated his political friends to give up their preference for him. He succeeded in inducing them to vote for Judge Trumbull, an anti-Nebraska Democrat, who was thus elected to the United States Senate. This was in 1855, and indicates both the pre-eminence Mr. Lincoln had won among those who had been his allies for so long, and the amount of his influence with them; first in that they should have selected him for so high a position over such men as Yates, Logan, Grimshaw, and Browning; and next that he should have been able to persuade them to waive that preference and cast their votes as he desired. It also pointed to the importance he was likely to attain in the counsels of the new party, though the absolute leadership of that party doubtless then seemed entirely beyond his ambition. However, at the first Republican National Convention, at Cincinnati, in the following year, the delegates from Illinois presented his name for the VicePresidency, thus signifying the hold he had upon their respect and regard. He also headed the Fremont electoral ticket in that State, at the ensuing election, and worked earnestly and persistently in support of the ticket during the canvass.

His name, however popular in Illinois, and wellknown throughont the entire North-West, did not

become national until the furious contest between himself and Douglas in 1858, whose fame has already spread throughout the country, but is now destined to become still more familiar to all, of every phase of politics, who take an interest in public affairs. The course of Stephen A. Douglas in Congress had provoked everywhere the most remarkable difference of opinion, and excited in every quarter of the land the most intense political strife; but no where was the agitation and excitement more intense than in his own state of Illinois. The two old parties were both disrupted; the Whigs and a portion of the Democrats concurred in a reprehension of Mr. Douglas's conduct; the Administration was, for its own reasons, bitterly opposed to him: while, on the other hand, his personal influence and popularity, which had always been enormous, the fact that he was regarded by many as the destined victim of governmental spite and the representative of sturdy political independence, together with the immense strength of party affiliations and associations, conspired to give him hosts of followers. His term of office in the Senate had expired, and the legislature was to be elected which should appoint his successor. A re-appointment would be to him an endorsement by his own State, and a presentation to the Democratic party of his claims for the Presidency. This fact was thoroughly understood by himself, by the politicians of all sorts and grades, and by the country. The Republicans, therefore, deter mined to make a great struggle, and, if possible, defeat him on his own ground. At their nominating convention at Springfield, Mr. Lincoln was unanimously designated the Republican candidate for Senator; he was

also desired to stump the State as the representative man of the Republican doctrine.

The contest which ensued was one of the most hardly fought that has ever occurred in our political history. The State was stumped with extraordinary thoroughness, both candidates taking the field, arguing the whole matter with all the powers of logic, and wit, and eloquence at their command, while the country looked on eagerly for the result, and the population of the state attended to hear the arguments of the two rivals, and determine for themselves how they should act. Each had warm friends; each was emphatically the representative of a great party and of a great principle; personal feelings were concerned, and a great public question of the very highest consequence was at issue. What gave the strife a very peculiar aspect, imparting additional intensity and interest, was the fact that the two candidates repeatedly discussed the mooted questions in each other's presence. The ability manifested by each on these occasions was marked, and is acknowledged by his opponent. It is, in fact, impossible to imagine any stronger illustration of Democratic institutions, any more remarkable feature of American life and character, than this appeal to the people by the champions of two great opposing parties. Instead of wheedling at courts, or intriguing in cabinets, or writing diplomatic notes, or bargaining for office and emoluments, or even arguing in senates, and convincing educated and talented assemblies; here were two men, both sprung from the people, both possessed of remarkable energy of character, both elevated to the leadership of their respective parties; one had long been prominent in the councils of the nation, had been often