Part 10 (1/2)
CHAPTER VII
RESTLESS POLITICAL AMBITION
The termination of Lincoln's legislative career, his marriage and his increasing legal practice did not stay his hunger for political distinction. Music, society or nature did not allure him. His range of interest was limited. His pleasure was not in his fame as a counselor.
He was impatient of the tiresome devotion to detail demanded of the lawyer. Longing to be a leader in the world of events, he sought a wider field of activity for the full expression of his personality, splendidly realizing that his greatest service to himself and his fellows was in guiding and interpreting a righteous public opinion.
Lamon has portrayed Lincoln's political ambition with merciless vividness, claiming that he was never agitated by any pa.s.sion more intense than his thirst for distinction; that it governed all his conduct, from the hour when he astonished himself by his oratorical success in the back settlements of Macon County, to the day when the a.s.sa.s.sin marked him as the first hero of the restored Union; that he was ever ready to be honored, and struggled incessantly for place.[176]
Politics was his world,--a world filled with enchantment. ”In his office,” says Mr. Herndon, ”he sat down, or spilt himself on his lounge, read aloud, told stories, talked politics,--never science, art, literature, railroad gatherings, colleges, asylums, hospitals, commerce, education, progress, nothing that interested the world generally except politics.”[177]
[176] Lamon, 237.
[177] Lamon, 482.
Yet Lamon and Herndon missed the deeper unity in his life. Neither politics nor distinction was the end with him. They were the paths leading to his palace, not the palace itself. It is not too much to say that love of his kind transcended his love of distinction. At the time when he seemed lost in the maelstrom of partisans.h.i.+p, as Burns in the storm thought of the ”ourie” cattle, so Lincoln thought of those hapless sons of misfortune who were biding the ”bitter brattle” of slavery. Thus in a letter to his friend Speed, he said, ”In 1841 you and I had together a tedious low-water trip on a steamboat from Louisville to St.
Louis. You may remember, as I well do, that from Louisville to the mouth of the Ohio there were on board ten or a dozen slaves shackled together with irons. That sight was a continued torment to me, and I see something like it every time I touch the Ohio or any other slave border.”[178]
[178] Lincoln's Speeches, 1, 216.
The extent to which he mingled in political affairs is shown by his activity at a ma.s.s meeting in March, 1843, at Springfield. He was the master of ceremonies. In a careful statement, he uttered the cardinal principles of his party. He was materially steeped in the party spirit of his day. For the fifth resolution recommends that a Whig candidate for Congress be run in every district, regardless of the chances of success. ”We are aware,” it continued, ”that it is sometimes a temporary gratification, when a friend cannot succeed, to be able to choose between opponents; but we believe that that gratification is the seed time which never fails to be followed by a most abundant harvest of bitterness. By this policy we entangle ourselves.”[179]
[179] _Ibid._, 76.
Though Lincoln, at first, fought the convention system for the nomination of candidates, as undemocratic, his conversion to its champions.h.i.+p further exposes his training in the school of practical politics. The statement declared that the Whigs should not stop to inquire whether the system was just, but that while their opponents used the plan it was madness in them not to defend themselves with it.[180]
[180] Lincoln's Speeches, 1, 76.
The conclusion of this address is also a sure sign of prolonged a.s.sociation with the hue and cry of party spirit: It stated with a.s.surance that the Whigs were always a majority of the nation, and that if every Whig would act as though he knew the result to depend upon his action, that surely a Whig would be elected President of the United States.[181]
[181] _Ibid._, 79.
Political office being the reward of party service, Lincoln was a zealous worker in the ranks. He was ever at the call of the party managers for speeches or other personal work. They could not charge him with being a laggard in the day of defeat. He did not wait for waves of advancement. He was not in accord with the policy that the office should seek the man. He slowly toiled his way to the eminence he reached. While Lincoln was in Congress, Herndon wrote to him complaining of his sluggard progress in politics, and carped at the old men for usurping all the places of power and profit. In an intimate reply to his a.s.sociate, we find the plain paths he trod: ”You must not wait to be brought forward by the older men. For instance, do you suppose that I should ever have got into notice if I had waited to be hunted up and pushed forward by older men? You young men get together and form a 'Rough and Ready Club,' and have regular meetings and speeches. Take in everybody you can get. Harrison Grimsley, L. A. Enos, Lee Kimball, and C. W. Matheny would do to begin the thing; but as you go along gather up all the shrewd, wild boys about town, whether just of age or a little under age,--Chris. Logan, Redd.i.c.k Ridgely, Lewis Swizler, and hundreds such. Let every one play the part he can play best,--some speak, some sing, and all 'holler.' Your meetings will be of evenings; the older men and the women will go to hear you; so that it will not only contribute to the election of 'Old Zach,' but will be an interesting pastime, and improving to the intellectual faculties of all engaged. Don't fail to do this.”[182]
[182] Lincoln's Speeches, 1, 131-132.
Lincoln no sooner completed his long term in the Legislature than he cast his eye on a seat in Congress. ”Now, if you should hear” he wrote a friend, ”any one say that Lincoln don't want to go to Congress, I wish you, as a personal friend of mine, would tell him you have reason to believe he is mistaken. The truth is I would like to go very much.
Still, circ.u.mstances may happen which may prevent my being a candidate.
If there are any who be my friends in such an enterprise, what I now want is that they shall not throw me away just yet.”[183]
[183] Herndon, 1, 253.
Lincoln's race for the nomination was full of excitement. When he began his canva.s.s, he was a member of the firm of Logan and Lincoln. Besides Hardin, Baker and Lincoln, Logan also was a candidate. Logan deemed his long service as ent.i.tling him to the honor, while Lincoln regarded his legislative career as his claim to distinction. It is not amazing that concord did not dwell in this home of political rivalry. Herndon says he was not, therefore, surprised to have Lincoln rush into his quarters and with more or less agitation tell him that he had determined to sever the partners.h.i.+p with Logan; and Herndon states that although painfully aware of his want of ability and experience, when Lincoln remarked in his earnest, honest way, ”Billy, I can trust you if you can trust me,” he felt relieved and accepted the generous proposal of legal partners.h.i.+p.[184]
[184] Herndon, 1, 252.
The most dramatic incident in this fight was the contest between Baker and Lincoln. It was a battle between brilliancy and solidity. No man of his time surpa.s.sed Baker in das.h.i.+ng eloquence. Handsome, of winning personality, he was the idol of the young men of Springfield. Lincoln was no longer, as at New Salem, the leader of the gang. His alliance with aristocratic Mary Todd, the demands of his profession and a settled life largely sundered the partners.h.i.+p. It was a natural, not a sudden, intentional separation. Strange rumors were afloat that he was no more a friend to the lowly and that he was seeking new ways. Not free to mingle with the people, he could not readily combat the suspicion. And they were ever demanding a perfect embodiment of their conception of heroism.
They found it fully in one of the most dramatic heroes and charming personalities in the panorama of American politics--Edward D. Baker.