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would be between Mr. Seward and Mr. Lincoln. It was proposed that the Convention should at once proceed to the nomination of candidates, but an adjournment was had until morning. Had this motion to proceed at once to business been carried, it is more than probable that Mr. Seward would have been the nominee, as his, at that time, was the most conspicuous name before the Convention; but, during the night, combinations were effected in favour of Mr. Lincoln which eventually secured his nomination. Great excitement was manifested in the Convention upon its next sitting, and the interest with the audience was intense.

Upon the first ballot, Mr. Seward had 173 votes to 102 for Mr. Lincoln, with others scattering. Upon the second ballot, the chairman of the Vermont delegation, whose votes had previously been divided, announced that "Vermont casts her ten votes for the Young Giant of the West, Abraham Lincoln," when the "beginning of the end" began to be felt throughout the Convention. On this ballot, Mr. Seward had 1841 to 181 for Mr. Lincoln; and the third ballot gave Mr. Lincoln 230 votes-nearly a majority. Hereupon Mr. Carter, of Ohio, announced a change in Ohio's vote of four votes in favour of Mr. Lincoln, which raised the excitement of the Convention to the highest pitch. Now, as the choice was certain, State after State struggled to be next in succession to exchange votes for Mr. Lincoln. The whole number of votes cast at the next ballot was 466, of which 234 were necessary to a choice. Three hundred and fifty-four were cast for Abraham Lincoln, who was thereupon declared duly nominated.

When the loud applause with which the nomination was greeted had somewhat subsided, Mr. William

Evarts, of New York City, came forward, and moved that the nomination be made unanimous. The motion was seconded by Mr. Andrews, of Massachusetts; and the nomination was accordingly concurred in without a dissenting voice.

The excitement, consequent upon the nomination, spread from the Convention to the audience within the building, and from them, like wildfire, to the crowds without, to whom the result had been announced. At the close of Mr. Evart's remarks, a life-size portrait of Mr. Lincoln had been displayed from the platform, greeted with bursts of uncontrollable applause. The building vibrated with the shouts of the delighted thousands beneath its roof, and, with cheer upon cheer, the multitude in the streets caught up the glad acclaim; while, amid the boom of artillery salutes, the undulation of banners, and the tempestuous gusts of band-music, the intelligence of the people's choice flashed over the wires from Maine to Kansas, and from the Lakes to the Gulf.

A pleasant anecdote is related of the manner in which Mr. Lincoln received his nomination :—

He was at Springfield during the sitting of the Convention; and, having left the telegraphic office after learning the result of the first two ballots, was quietly conversing with some friends, in the office of the State Journal, while the casting of the third ballot was in progress. In a little time the result was received at the telegraph office. The superintendent, who was present, hastily wrote upon a scrap of paper: "Mr. Lincoln, you are nominated on the third ballot; " which he immediately sent, by a boy, to Mr. Lincoln. A shout of applause greeted the message throughout the office of the

Journal, but Mr. Lincoln received it in silence. Then he put the paper in his pocket, arose, and said quietly, before he left the room: "There is a little woman down at our house would like to hear this. I'll go down and tell her."

The news of this nomination was very acceptable to Republicans generally. Not only did they recognize in Abraham Lincoln a man of integrity and simple virtue, but one in whom was embodied the truly democratic element of free America, a freedom-lover, a rightrespecter, and a noble, talented statesman, sprung from the very heart of the masses. Confident of their man, and devoted to their principles-as embodied and set forth in the platform adopted by the Convention-they entered the contest with a zeal and industry which were without parallel in the history of the country. More noise was made in the campaign of 1840, when General Harrison was elected; but the zeal of 1860 was more rational and all-pervading, betraying a resolute purpose not to be defeated which did much towards alarming the slave-power for the perpetuity of its long-enjoyed controlling power.

The action taken by the Charleston (South Carolina) National Democratic Convention, which was convened April 23rd, 1860, is conclusive evidence that it desired the success of the Republican party, in order to consummate the long-talked-of secession of the Slave States; for the nomination of Mr. Lincoln, upon the unequivocal Free-State platform, seems to have prompted them to urge the most ultra pro-slavery views upon the Convention with the design of securing a division in the ranks of the Democracy-whose union upon one candidate must have insured the defeat of the Republicans. The

more extreme of the Southern politicians took no pains to conceal their threats of disunion in the event of a triumph of the Free-State party; though the Northern Democrats in the Convention were incredulous that the menaces would ever be carried out. But if it had been more generally believed, it is questionable if the popular vote of Mr. Lincoln would have been diminished. For those who supported him stood upon the broad, steadfast platform of human rights and God-intended equity -firmly resolved that Freedom should henceforth spread her ægis over the whole country, and slavery be left to remain as the makers of the Constitution intended, in the States then already cursed by its baleful presence.

The result of the ensuing election of November 1860, was, that Mr. Lincoln received 491,275 over Mr. Douglas; 1,018,499 over Mr. Breckinridge; and 1,275,821 over Mr. Bell; and the electoral vote, subsequently proclaimed by Congress, was

For Abraham Lincoln, of Illinois

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For John C. Breckinridge, of Kentucky
For John Bell, of Tennessee

For Stephen A. Douglas, of Illinois

The following States cast their electoral vote for Mr. Lincoln:- Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, California-sixteen in number.

The intention of the American people, in electing Abraham Lincoln to be their chief magistrate, was to restrict the extension of slavery in the Territories, and to abrogate its political power, which had threatened to become perpetual. The consequences of that election

have been widely different from what was anticipated. Possibly the people of the North would have permitted themselves to be governed by their apprehensions rather than their sentiments, had they foreseen that the insanity of the South would culminate in the terrible conflict which devastated the land; but, can there be a doubt now, when the ultimate issue of the shaking struggle between freedom and slavery is so clearly in view, that they are moving onward to better thingsthat the result of the campaign of 1860 was a thing ordained by Providence for the best?

He who does all things well, has nations as well as individuals in his keeping; and that He permitted the events of 1860-61 to culminate in civil war, must have been for some divine purpose. A few generations hence the world will look back with wonder and awe upon the appalling trial through which the Union passed; but, if they see as its fruits a nation of freemen who shudder at the crimes of their fathers in buying and selling human flesh and blood, the sacrifice will be deemed to have been not too great.

CHAPTER III.

The Secession Movement-Mr. Lincoln's "Record"-The Conspirators-The "Progress" of the President Elect from Illinois to Washington-The Inauguration-Secession-Events of the War.

THAT Abraham Lincoln was for the subversion of the Constitution, by intermeddling with slavery within the States where it existed, was widely proclaimed by the ambitious leaders of public opinion in the South. In

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