The Evansville daily journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ia. [i.e. Ind.]) 1848-1862, 1860-07-30
A Garb1ed Misrepresentation.


The following unfair and dishonest arti-
Gle has been kept standing" in the En-
guireT Office, and published in every issue Of
that paper for over seven weeks. We took
measures soon after the first publication to
set Mr. Lincoln right in the ma tier, but
there has been some unavoidable delay in
getting at the true circumstances in regard
to the Galena speech. We can now offer
some facts for consideration which will
show the shamelessuess of our opponents,
and the strait to which they are subjected for
the want Of truth TO sustain their sinking
cause.
Here is the dish which has been set be-
fore the starving readers of the Enquirer
for seven weeks, to their sore discomfort for
want Of better aliment, and the saving to
the pockets of the proprietors of that eco
nomical paper Of (say) thirty cents per
day-so,ne $I2 in all-in the way of type
setting.
ABE LINCOLN, THE HONEST MAN.
In 1856, IN a speech in Galena, Mr.. Lin
coin pledged himself to abide the decision
81 lDt ADtl tiCLttt NOuIL uPOu Tue pOHCL OA
Congress to exclude slavery from the Ter
ritories and branded those who refused to
recognize the decision as settling the ques-
tion in the following emphatic language
q Do YOU say that such restriction ofsavery
would he unconstitutional, and that some
Of he States would not submit to its en-
forcement? grant you that an uncOnsti-
tutional act IS not a law; but | DO not ask
aud viii not take your construction. The
Supreme Court is the tribunal to decide
such a question, and zee a0W submit to
as decision and if you do also, there eoiH
be an end Of the mdtter.-Will you? If not
who are the disunionists, you or we ?"
nincoln, in his Jonesboro speech in 1853,
(as published by the Tribune,) two years
after the above declaration, " that he would
submit said.
The Supreme Court ofthe United States
has decided that any congressional prohibi-
ton of slavery in the Territories is uncon-
stitutional."
In his Springfield speech of July H.
1858, Lincoln used the following language
g | never stood opposed to a decision of
the Supreme Court till this (Meaning the
bred Scott decision.)
And the following is found among his
/ speeches delivered in the campaign of 1858:
4 q have always hated slavery, and | al
/ ways believed it in course of ultimate ex-
tinction. fl were in Congress, and vote
/ should come up on a question, aohether
/ sIagery should be pr0hiJited an a aeao terrific
/ q5, an spite or the Dred Scott decision, by
the Supreme Court of the United States) |
+ WOULD VOTE THAT 1T SHOULD"
1t has been Int;mated that Mr. Lincoln
owes his nomination to the fact that he was
the only man in the Republican party whose
I honesty was above suSDiciOQ.
Reader, pass Abe Lincoln's " honesty"
as disclosed in the above record, around
among Your neighbors and friends, and sub
init his honesty to their candid Judgment
See if they will decide that a man who
keeps up the abolition agitation, to the dan
/ ger of the peace of the country, in utter vio-
/ lation of his solemn pledges, can pass mus
/ ter as an 1" homes" man.
Now for the facts in regard to the alleged
/ extract from Mr.. Lincolns Galena speech.
/ Mr.. L., in the canvass of 1856, made over
/ fifty speeches. Verbatim reporting of
1 speeches was not then much in vogue in
4 Illinois, aud none of these speeches were
/ put in print So far as known. One only of
/ these speeches was delivered at Galena. In
regard to this one we have the following
! HAtIiCuAtLS iIOAA tuC pen vi tdC OLig PclSoh
who made any record of the speech.
/ 4" Mr.. Lincoln made a two hours speech
at Galena in 1856. The points Mr.. Lincoln
made on the charge that the success of Re
publicanism would result in disunion were
these
lst. The Democrats, who make the
charge, all proclaim that they will not dis
solve the Union.
! 2d. The Republicans proclaim the same
/ seutiments; and if they should succeed
/ they would have no motire to dissolve the
/ Union.
ain answer to the allegation, that to pro-
! hibit slavery in the Territories would be
unconstitutional, and therefore would be
Nresisted, and result in disunion, Mr.. Lincoln
argued that it was constitutional, and to
prove his position, cited the action of the
founders Of the Republic, and the opinion
of Chief Justice Marshall and urged upon
his hearers, that as the Fathers of the Re-
public and the trainers Of the Constitution
had acted in accordance with the views now
held by the Republicans, and rs the Su-
preme Court had also given its opinion on
the matter, those who would forcibly resist
prohibito should be denounced dis
unionists and not the Republicans.
"Any phraseology used, in writing a
sketch of his argument from memory, which
commits Mr.. Lincoln to any and every de-
cision of the Supreme Court as a poitica
rule Of action, and which binds him to
change as the Court changes, does injustice
to Mr.. Lincoln. He certainly is not to be
held responsible for such phraseology and
it must be remembered that his allusion to
the Supreme Court amounted simply to
this-that the opinion of Chief Justice
Marshall was identical with that held by
Republicans and he cited it as cumulative