The Council Bluffs nonpareil. [volume] (Council Bluffs [Iowa]) 1857-1867, 1860-07-28
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LINCOLN, THE CANDIRTK.

/ Men VINO hare Tor many Year, 9eeu Sff0-
ming their course for the Presidency, are
careful Of their public utterances. and try
TO say the right thing IN the right place, thas
Al the right time il may be brougt: cut, and
! made TO tell toward the grand result
| Abraham Lincoln has been 30 far shove the
suspicion of having designs upon The White
House, tka, his letters and speeches have
been allowed to fall quietly into the burial
Of old files, il We except shs speeches made
IN the celebrated Senatorial campaign. OF
coarse, everybody goes to looking up the
new candidates record, and the .pscial sub
jseE Of marvel is that man who has not
aimed at she Presidency coald have written
aud said, st the yari Us points Of his polIs-
ical life, exactly those things which give
him strength dav. and 20 show him the
most perfect representative Of the Republic
can platform Of 1860 there is in the country.
Ssither be nor bis friends could desire 20
change his record At sii.<s lt shows nim as
a Wing. the same anti-siayery man ha IS
to-day, and proves that be has been guided
10 straight course By principles thoroughly
seated 10 bis life.
While in Congress, his voses upon the
questions growing out Of the Mexican war
were always on the side OF freedom and
with the Northern Wings. tie accounted
the war unnecessary, IN agreement with the
whole intelligent opposition OF the North.
/ Bu, something more than hisvots upon The
( Mexican war question have been found in
| his CongrsssIona! record. |, seems that
Wendell Phillips & Co., those political Ish-
naelites whose hand is against every man,
particularly IL be wishes veal to a govern
ment which taley h=.e s=.e, havs ascertained that
be introduced measure for a stringent
fugitive slave law, applicable to the Distric,
Of Columbia. When the discovery was
made, it looked badly, and very naturally
gave his friends serious apprehensions Of
It's effect upon bis prospects. But they
looked up the record also, and found that
this measure for a fugitive slave law was
attached and merely incidental to a bill
iuir ,duced by himself for the gradual abo-
liion of slavery IN the District of Columbia.
The provision for the return Of fugitves
was made for the purpose Of removing OBJ
iections TO the bill. one of which was that,
# slavery should be abolished in the District,
il would become the resort and refuge of
fugitives from the adjoining States. The
bill itself showed the anti-slavery character
Of tbe laap, and the provision was simply
made TO enable him TO carry his most beneh-
cent measure, for without it, he could hope
for nothing. So IL turns out that Wendell
Phillips Il Co. have unwittngly beep the
means Of discovering that which proves to
tho country that Abraham Lincoln, thirteen
years ago, was as much Of an anti. slavery
man "a he is to day, and that he then took
an active and 4 leading part in the endsavor
fra. ba ~ ta
acCursed Institution.
Thus 1t mas proved with everything, SO
far, pertaining to his record. His letters,
models of condensation, aud remarkable
for theH power Of statement, all tend to
Illustrate the genius Of the man and the
consistency Of his life. His letter upon the
Massachusetts, two years amendment, and
ths proposed fusion Of the American and
Republican elements, was an apple Of gold
Ia picture of silver. Ii Strengthened out
that matter in the light of a sound, strong
Judgment judgment proved sound and
strong bv events that have since transpired.
Thus ii - with his letter to the Jefferson
supper in Bostan--as literary document,
one Of the most remarkable we ever met
Ia one brief letter he summed up Jefferson
showed that he knew him, bad weighed
his principles and could state them, and
exhibited the man whom the Democrats
worship, and the Democratic party itself in
modern times II is safe to challenge the
production Of any specimen OF modern
epistolary literature that, in the same space
contains and suggests so much AZ the JET
fersou letter.
Now If Mr. Lincola had written these
letters and shaped his Congressional record
with reference to the position he stands In
to-day, he could have done no better than
he has done, yet nobody believes or mis-
trusts that he thought Of the Presidency.
50 with his Illinois campaign. He was put
forward by the Republicans OF Illinois as
their champion, TO enter the lists with Judge
Douglas-put forward as their strongest
man. The prize that he struggled for was
not the Presidency, but seat in the SEN
ate. vet. If he had been ambitious for the
former he could not have spoken better for
himself, or done more to show his fitness
for the post to which he has now been nomi-
mated. His expostions Of Republican
principles in those remarkable discussions
nre the best things in the present field Of
literature.
There are some peopla who honestly re-
gard Abraham Lincoln as second-rate
man, who comes into favor BY the rule of
sxpedisncy. His productions show him to
be one of the foremost men of the time.-
Beyond this, IL any one supposes that an
unobtrusive lawyer. living in small town,
can by his personal power and native worth,
win to himself, and hold the enthusiastic
admiration and love of the largest party in
the State of Illinois, and DO il all without
h h rfr bod ba
for Judgment in the matter. The man
chosen from all others 20 meet Judge Doug
las. was the ablsst man. and the manner in
which he acquitted himself didhonor to the
estimate Of his party. his man is the Re-
publican candidate for the Presidency, and,
thank God, isto be elected.