Part 19 (1/2)
The former distinction of Douglas as a slave advocate made his seeming accession to the ranks of its opponents all the more marked. Stirring stories were told of his peerless courage when Buchanan told him to remember that no Democrat ever yet differed from an administration of his own choice without being crushed, and to beware of the fate of Tallmadge and Rives.
”Mr. President,” retorted Douglas, ”I wish you to remember that General Jackson is dead.”[338] Like an undaunted Abolitionist he flung aside all compromise, refused to accede to the English bill that many administration opponents welcomed as an exit from the dilemma of party recusancy. Many began to believe that Douglas was about to turn into a black Republican. He had stolen conferences with their leaders, inducing them to believe that it was policy for him to conceal his present real intention; that he would soon unmask himself and fight their battles. He often said that he had checked all his baggage and taken a through ticket.[339]
[338] Nicolay & Hay, 2, 120.
[339] Lamon, 390.
He convinced his foes that the Nebraska bill was a daring device in behalf of freedom. One Republican said that the plan of Douglas for destroying the Missouri line and thereby opening the way for the march of freedom beyond the limits forever prohibited and conceded to belong to the Slave States, and its march westward, from the British possessions to Mexico, struck him ”as the most magnificent scheme ever conceived by the human mind.” This kind of conversation made the deepest impression upon his hearers, and often changed their opinion of the man.[340]
[340] Lamon, 390-391.
In this way, Douglas triumphantly vindicated his policy of popular sovereignty for which he protested he was willing to devote all his talent and the remainder of his life. The very prospect of such a convert dazzled the vision of even radicals like Greeley. So these visionaries wandered in the dreamland of politics, and were eager to enter into an unholy alliance. Even shrewd leaders in the party built bridges for the entering of Douglas. It was rumored that Seward and others were in the plot.[341]
[341] Herndon, 1, 395.
A letter from Herndon in 1858 vividly shows the political condition of this time. Speaking of Greeley he said, ”He evidently wants Douglas sustained and sent back to the Senate. He did not say so in so many words, yet his _feelings_ are with Douglas. I _know_ it from the spirit and drift of his conversation. He talked bitterly--somewhat so--against the papers in Illinois, and said they were fools. I asked him this question, 'Greeley, do you want to see a third party organized, or do you want Douglas to ride to power through the North, which he has so much abused and betrayed?' and to which he replied, 'Let the future alone; it will all come right. Douglas is a brave man. Forget the past and sustain the righteous.' Good G.o.d, _righteous_, eh!... By-the-bye, Greeley remarked to me this, 'The Republican standard is too high; we want something practical.'... The Northern Men are cold to me--somewhat repellant.”[342]
[342] _Ibid._, 2, 63-64.
Douglas, after a heroic combat with the administration and after his triumphant champions.h.i.+p of the rights of the people of Kansas, returned as a conqueror to Illinois. He was the ideal of the Democrats of his state, save of a few office holders under Buchanan. With Lincoln it was otherwise. Despite his brilliant and consecrated service to the Republican principles, even in Illinois, in the home of his friends, all was not yet serene; he was not yet to taste the sweetness of hero wors.h.i.+p. Too proud to resort to dramatic effects, slow to express his resentment, he was almost jealous of the supremacy of his rival. A veteran in the service of freedom, he hardly welcomed the possible entrance of his old foe into the Republican arena. Mingled with personal feeling, was his knowledge of the crafty career of his opponent. Lincoln was not content that Douglas should gain the laurel of a triumphant movement in the hour of victory.
Not alone did Lincoln fear dissension in his own state, but he was also afraid that Douglas might be taken up by the Republican leaders of the party. He grew restless and gloomy at the unjust att.i.tude of Greeley, an att.i.tude that quite vanquished him. To Herndon he unburdened himself, ”I think Greeley is not doing me right. His conduct, I believe, savors a little of injustice. I am a true Republican and have been tried already in the hottest part of the anti-slavery fight, and yet I find him taking up Douglas, a veritable dodger,--once a tool of the South, now its enemy,--and pus.h.i.+ng him to the front. He forgets that when he does that he pulls me down at the same time. I fear Greeley's att.i.tude will damage me with Sumner, Seward, Wilson, Phillips and other friends in the East.”[343]
[343] Herndon, 2, 60.
He had slowly gained the confidence, more than he realized, of the rank of his party. Though loyalty to him was less pretentious, it was not the less sincere. The Republicans in Illinois did not trust Douglas; they were not deceived by his marvelous strategy. Pursuant to a wide spread sentiment, the Republican state convention, with unanimity adopted the significant resolution: ”That Hon. Abraham Lincoln is our first and only choice for United States Senator to fill the vacancy about to be created by the expiration of Mr. Douglas' term of office.”[344]
[344] Herndon, 2, 65.
One incident shows the enthusiasm of the hour. Cook County brought a banner into the convention inscribed, ”Cook County for Abraham Lincoln.”
A delegate from another county proposed to amend the banner by subst.i.tuting for ”Cook County” the word ”Illinois.” ”The Cook delegation promptly accepted the amendment, and during a hurricane of hurrahs, the banner was altered to express the sentiment of the whole Republican party of the State.”[345]
[345] Tarbell, 1, 305.
CHAPTER XV
THE DAWN OF NATIONAL LEADERs.h.i.+P
In antic.i.p.ation of his nomination as Senator, Lincoln had carefully prepared an address of acceptance. It was delivered on the 17th of June, 1858, in the presence of an immense audience at Springfield. At the time, it was perhaps the most radical speech that had yet burst forth from a Republican statesman. It is not strange that it astounded his friends. It baffled their comprehension to find him at a single stride in the front rank of the radicals. Herndon, the aggressive abolitionist, was alike bewildered, saying of the first paragraph that it was true; but asking if it was entirely _politic_ to read or speak it as it was written. Lincoln said that it made no difference; that it was a truth of all human experience; that he wanted to use some universally known figure, expressed in simple language as universally known that might strike home to the minds of men, in order to rouse them to the peril of the times; that he would rather be _defeated with that expression_ in the speech, and have it held up and discussed before the people, than to be _victorious without it_.[346]
[346] Lamon, 397.
Lamon questioned whether Lincoln had a clear right to indulge in such a venture, as a representative party man in a close contest, having other interests than his own in charge, and bound to respect the opinions, and secure the success of his party. Lamon states that at the Bloomington Convention he uttered the same ideas in almost the same words; and their recognition of a state of incipient civil war in a country for the most part profoundly peaceful,--these, and the b.l.o.o.d.y work which might come of their acceptance by a great party, had filled the minds of some of his hearers with the most painful apprehensions; the theory was equally shocking to them, whether as partisans or as patriots. Begged to suppress such speech in the future, he vindicated his utterance, but after much persuasion, promised at length not to repeat it.[347]
[347] Lamon, 397-398.
The night before its delivery, at a gathering of his close friends, Lincoln slowly read the first paragraph. No uncertain, unsparing criticisms followed. It was called ”a fool utterance,” ahead of the time, a statement that would frighten many voters.[348] Only one auditor, his partner, approved the far-reaching statement, saying, ”Lincoln, deliver it just as it reads. It is in advance of the times, let us--you and I, if no one else--lift the people to the level of this speech now, higher hereafter. The speech is true, wise and politic, and will succeed now or in the future. Nay, it will aid you, if it will not make you President of the United States.”