, 1860-05-16

tioual Republican Convention, as candidate
for the Presidency, We are actuated not by our
great love and esteem for the man, by any
open Or secret hostility to any other Of tic en-
ineat gentlemen named for that high Office, nor
hy a feeling Of Stats pride or Western sec
toaal'sm, hut by profound and well-matured
conviction that his une1cepnonable record, bis
position between the extremes Of opinion in
the party, his spotless character 81 q citizen,
and his acknowledged ability as statesinau,
will, in The approaching canvass, give him All
Advantage before the people which no other
candidate can claim We are not disposed to
deny that Mr. sEwAnr is, the question
Ct availability being set aside, the first
choice Of perhaps q majority Of the rank
and file Of The party; that Gen. CAMERON has
claims upon Pennsylvania which his friends
will not willingly have overlooked; that the
s1ates nan-hke qualities, irfls1ibl, honesty and
marked executive ability of SALMON P. CHASE
eu1itle him to high place in Republican es-
teen that Mr.. BATES pure life and noble
aims justly command the confidence Of troops
II friends; tLat the cliralric WADE has ex-
tor.ed the admiration Of the North and West;
that FEssESDES, for bis gallant service must
bs gratefully remembered; and that Jons
MCLEAN whose life is without a stain, and
whose love Of country has meyer been chal~
}snged, must be remembered as strong and
uacxceptional man. But Illinois claims that
Me. LINCOLN, though without the ripe expe-
EArEs and MCLEAN, OF 4fh. fire Of FEssESDES
and WADE, has that rare and llnppy combius-
tien ot qualities which, as q candidate, enables
him to outrank either.
I. By his own Il otion, he is not candidate
He has never sought, directly or indirectly,
for the first or second place On the ticket.
The movement in his :avor is spontaneous.
1t has sprung up suddenly and with great
strength, its roots being in the conviction that
he is the man to reconcile all differences in our
:anka, to concilate all the now jarring ele-
mens., and to lead forward to certain victory.
Having never entered into the field, he has
put forth no personal effort for success, and
hs has never made, even by implication,
pledge Of any sort By which his action, i he
il President, will be Influenced for any man,
any measure, any policy. He will enter upon
the contest with no clogs no embarrassment;
and this fact is q guaranty Of glorious tn
umph.
II. Inall the fundamentals Of fRepublicanism,
he is radical up to tho limit to which the par-
~, with due respect for the rights Of the South,
proposes 10 80. But nature has given him
that wise conservatism which has made his
action and his expressed opinions 50 conform
to the most mature sentiment Of the country
on this question Of slavery, that no living man
cau put bis aagcr on one Of bis speeches OF
any oue Of his public ACTS as State lcgisla.
tor Or Us member Of Congress, to which
valid objection can be raised. His avoidance
Of extremes has not been tho result Of ambi.
1ioa which measures words or regulates acts
but the natural consequence Of an equa.
abs nature and in men.ai constitution
that is never cif its balance. While no ono
doupls the strength Of mis- attachments to the
Republican cause, or doubts that he is rep
resen1ative man, Nil who know him see that
bs occupies the happy moan between thai
alleged radIcalism' which binds the older
Anti-Shvcry men to Mr.. Seward, and that
conservatism, which dictates the support ot
Judge Bates. Seward men, Bates men, Cam.
eron men and Chase men can all accept him
AZ as their second choice, and be sure that il
him they nave the nearest approach to what
they most admire in their respective fayorites
which any possible compromise will enable
them to obtain.
I'LL Mr.. LINCOLN has no new record tt
make. Originally ! whie though early re-
cruit Of TIA. great Republican party, he ha,
nothing to explain for the satisfaction Of New
Jersey, Pennsylrania or the West Hisopin
ions and ro.ea on the Tariff will be acceptabl,
to all sections except the extreme South, rlvr
Republican SIN expects no support Commit
Ted within proper lini.ations, set up BY econ
omy and constitutional obligation, to the in,
proyement Of rivers and harborr, to that mos
boniflceut measure, the Homestead bill and +
the speedy construction Of the Pacific Rail
road, he need write no letters to soften dow,
cid asperites, growing out Of these. questions
which must Inevitably play their part in lh
esIvAss before US, Ho il all TINT Pannsylya
niA an4 the West hayea right to. demand
e: ~. lie is \. Southern man by birth Ant
edncation, who has never departed from tb
principles which he learned from the states
-tnea Of tue period ii. which he first: saw tn
light a Kontuckiap, animated BY the htpe
that bring ,hs. Kentucky delegation here, ,
Western man, TO whom isaseetionalism is IN
xnown. be Is that 'ca;adidaste a5ou6ad whom Al
oppoas0ts fte;e4t6snsi;asna II Hunzao oeeSaycrv
North and sonth en- rally: ,:o-,,x.s:
T. NJ: I1xco1< Is map Of the*pddo,tpsse
For his position, he }s rot indebted to fa,nil,
Influence; the partiaEity Of friends or tho art
,es the politician. All his .azly lifs. d la6qF.
in tho fell. in .the .say:mil, - = boatnssnf o,
the Wabash ohio, and NissEi:sippii'. Ei !. far
msr IN Illinois. b has Tint sympathy w;itb. &,
nen who toll and rot. that viii nak, b,n