Lincoln, the Politician Part 19

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 championship 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 worship. 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 pushing 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 LEADERSHIP

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."

[348] Herndon, 2, 68.

Then Lincoln rose from his chair, walked backwards and forwards in the hall, stopped and said that he had thought about the matter a great deal, had weighed the question from all corners, and was thoroughly convinced the time had come when it should be uttered; and that if he must go down because of that speech, he would go down linked to truth, and would say again and again that the nation could not live on injustice.[349]

[349] Lamon, 399.

This speech stands alone among American orations. Captivating in its logic, marvellous in its directness, condensed in utterance, it is as true to Lincoln as the reply to Hayne was to Webster. It is one of the most momentous addresses in American history. It became the angry battle ground of local and general campaigns. It directed the issues of national parties. In a transitional period with the hand of genius it peerlessly traced party demarcation lines. For the moment in advance of the national progress it soon became the very gospel of mult.i.tudes, the war cry of the friends of the Union. Plainer to the average man than the fine phrase of Seward as to "the irrepressible conflict," it brought home to the daily worker the issues of the hour, put him face to face with the deep meaning of the whole struggle going on in his very presence. Its strength was in this--that it put in clear speech the question that was agitating the common mind and thus gave it form and being before other men. With prophetic solemnity he indulged in the philosophic utterance that the slavery agitation would not cease until a crisis should be reached and pa.s.sed, saying: "'A house divided against itself cannot stand.' I believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved,--I do not expect the house to fall; but I do expect that it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing, or all the other. Either the opponents of slavery will arrest the further spread of it, and place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is the course of ultimate distinction, or its advocates will push it forward till it shall become alike lawful in all the states,--old as well as new, North as well as South."[350]

[350] Lincoln's Speeches, 1, 240.

Lincoln in the loneliness of his soul pa.s.sed upon the solemn issue that the hour for speech and action had come; that the time of compromise was over; that justice would no longer be trifled with; that the law of humanity spurned further outrage. He gave voice to the hitherto silent sentiments of many. The period for the judicious utterance of radical truth had come. In a few years what then seemed the outburst of a perverted att.i.tude became the common thought of the mult.i.tude.

And so again Lincoln showed his keen sense of the drift of events. In this he was wiser than the pure politicians. When events justified his foresight, some were found who cherished the notion that Lincoln was guided by self-seeking motives in his radical advocacy. Two biographers think that Lincoln was quietly dreaming of the Presidency, and edging himself to a place in advance, where the tide might take him up in 1860; that as sectional animosities, far from subsiding, were growing deeper and stronger with time, Lincoln knew that the next nominee of the exclusively Northern party must be a man of radical views, and so the speech was intended to take the wind out of Seward's sails.[351]

[351] Lamon, 406.

The biographer who sees a plotting, scheming Lincoln in all this is far from understanding the real man. For mingled with his political sagacity was a sublime communion with the mighty spirit of world justice. Elated at the approaching clash of freedom and slavery, believing that out of the conflict would come a better humanity, he rejoicingly dwelt in the pure realm of the unfettered utterance of a truth, far above the stifling valley of commonplace diplomacy. To him it was a rare moment of utter freedom without calculation, moving through regions of unclouded justice and righteous outlook.

Criticism bitter and biting of political friends did not shake his serenity or his belief in his diagnosis of the national disease. He lived so long with the solution, that he showed the calmness of a historian in judging pa.s.sing events. Slow to value highly his own service, he was proudly aware of the intrinsic worth of this utterance.

To a friend who said that the foolish speech would kill him, Lincoln replied that if he had to draw a pen across, and erase his whole life from existence, and he had one poor gift or choice left, as to what he would save from the wreck, he would choose that speech, and leave it to the world unerased.[352]

[352] Lamon, 407.

Withal, the speech was wisely framed. It aroused the fear of the Northerners with the statement that they would lie down pleasantly dreaming that the people of Missouri were on the verge of making their State free, and they would awake to the reality instead that the Supreme Court had made Illinois a slave state.[353] The dread that slavery might invade the free States of the North, as it ceased to be something more than a possibility, haunted and horrified the North. Some who bore with complacency the servitude of the black men in the distance fumed with anger as they contemplated even a prospect of a closer relation of the inst.i.tution. Thus the self interest of the North was played upon. This practical danger more than all abstract arguments awakened free communities. Douglas saw the danger of this appeal. He could no longer hold North and South. It put him on the defensive. Lincoln forced the fighting. It became necessary for Douglas to make the speech of Lincoln the basis of his discussion.

[353] Lincoln's Speeches, 1, 244.

Lincoln weighed his speech at its soul value, and measured its truth and worth in lonely struggle. No counsel could stay his purpose. He had come upon another crisis in his career. He could no longer compromise with himself in safety, the hour of decision could not be delayed. He faced defeat in all its darkness but afar he saw the star of simple duty. If he had faltered or cringed he might have become Senator, but that distinction only would have crowned him. He had the rare perception of knowing when to be firm as the earth beneath, of distinguishing between policy and principle, of ever keeping his integrity unsullied by barter or bargain. It is noteworthy that the very speech politicians deemed the graveyard of his career in reality became his apotheosis. The politician of Illinois became a national leader. From that time, he loomed large in the history of the Republican party and was regarded as wise in counsel and brave in speech. Before Seward, he put in concrete utterance the very philosophy of Republicanism. And that party had reason to regard him with favor as a possible guide in the gathering contest.

This speech gave Lincoln a prominence that led to the dramatic debates with Douglas and that fastened the attention of the nation on the combat. The Lincoln-Douglas controversy was the fruition of this Springfield speech. This address is the most fitting line of demarcation between Lincoln the Citizen of Illinois and Lincoln the Citizen of the United States.

CHAPTER XVI

THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN

The political condition of a nation is a symptom of its health or disease. Official corruption is an unfailing sign of national degeneration. Art, science and commerce may thrive, yet if dishonesty and selfishness rule in the administration of public affairs, there is no substantial progress. The real civilization of a nation can advance little beyond the state of public service. When citizens are indifferent to the general welfare, when the rights of the many are entrusted to the designing, when talent is dedicated to the acquisition of wealth or the mere promotion of art, then in spite of mountain high learning and world wide commercial prosperity, a nation is in the domain of danger.

A crisis reveals the potency of the politician and statesman. When war or internal conflict shows its "wrinkled front," then the merchant, the manufacturer, the artist, and the scientist forget their pride. The true politician is the incarnation of civil patriotism and guards the nation during the long days of peace, with an unfailing heroism like that of the soldier in the sudden test of war. The devotion of the civil hero is not spectacular and is often undervalued. The whole history of humanity has been a giant effort to beget a democracy where the genius of the few shall become the possession of many. When a nation cannot command the best heart and brain of its citizens for its service it is bankrupt.

The problem of Democratic government is the maintenance of a just balance between the radical and conservative elements of society, between anarchy and apathy. American history was for a long time largely a struggle between visionary abolitionist and slavery adherent. Northern reformers turned all Southerners into vigorous advocates of human bondage, while Southern radicals finally abolitionized the North.

Slaveholders were the children of a long established selfish interest.

Abolitionists were possessed of a vision. Neither understood the other.

Rock and cloud were not more unlike. Each saw only the injustice in the opposing position, and had no charity for the environment and traditions of the other. There could be no compromise between a Wendell Phillips and a Preston Brooks. War was the only solution.