The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-09-05
sToDDARD,s Lire OF LINCOLN.
The Contest with Douglas-The Grail Split
teri acknowledgements Relations

volume IS one connected with the remarkable
speech delivered by Lincoln in the course of his
contest against Douglas for tho Illinois Senator
ship THE speech In which he affirmed with more
posltlveHess than DIR Seward the existence Of
an Irrepresslbie conflict between slavery and
freedom BY this utterance he had stridden for
ward TOO tar IN advance of the Republican party
IN his State, and it was unquestiona5ly charge
able with his defeat There was also reason 10
rear that 1t would render him an unavailable
candidate for the Presidency, and so. perhaps it
would had the speech been so widely reao cut
SIDE OF illinois as Mr. Stewards similar dec
all the immediate and possible CON
sequence of what they deemed the
rash and unlucky disclosure Of LncoIn's opfn-
ions. One Of them, a Dr. Long. did not hesi-
tate % avow his regret y wish" he said 1T
were wiped out of existence Don't you wish IL
nowf Mr.. Lincoln, we are told, turned sad,
earnest, half contemptuous smile upon the
mourner. We'll, now, Doctor he saId IF
had to draw pen across and erase my whole
life from existence, and / had one poor gift OF
choice left as to what should save from the
wreck should choose that speech, and leave it
to the world INCREASED There is no doubt that
between the lines of that speech might have
been discovered the germ of the emancipation
proclamation, or at least of a spirit which, in
supreme exigency, might have recourse to that
expedient
We learn from this narrative precisely what
foundation there for the designation of rail
splitter. which proved SO effective in the presi-
DENTAL campaign. During the Illinois conven-
ton, held at Chicago, in May 1860, which made
lincoln its candidate for the presidency, an old
man bore into the "wigwamp two fence-rails
purporting to be from lot made by Abraham
Lincoln and John Hanks, in the Sangamon bot
tom, IN the year $780, Mr. Lincoln, being pres
ent, was obliged to respond to the vociferous
demand for the railsplitter, and he did it most
discreetly. Gentlemen he said. II suppose
YOU want to know something about these things
Well the truth Is, IN the year 1880 John Hanks
and did make some rails, in the Sangamon
bottom, to fence piece of land. I don't know
whether these are some of those rails or not
The fact is, don't think they are a credit to the
makers. But I do know this. I made rails
then, and think could make better rails than
these now
With regard to Lincoln's domestic relations--a
topic which could-not be altogether passed over
in a personal hiography-Mr. Stodd4rd writes
with reserve and delieaey, as will appear from
the following extract What is known as hap
piness had been denied him in his home rela-
tions-faithfuL devoted loving as his wife as
suredly was, and utterly true to her as was he
himself, The one love which can insure the
highest married happiness had come to him
once, audit had been buried years and years ago
scandal ever assailed the purity of his domestic
life. No smallest stain bIotted the clear record
of his integrity. OF all the citizens Of Spring
field he was the best known, most highly hon
0rcu UCSt D6IOV0U. Dut BH0S0 ire SufoS OF lu-
man life which We're as daily bread to the men
and women who loved and honored him were
impossible possessions to the man whose merry
jokes they were so fond of repeating, and for
whom they and others invented such wealth
OF varied humor over and above all that he ever
uttered. On another unpleasant subject the
biographer touches briefly and sternly Sneak
ing of the widespread diseontent in the spring
OF 1868 with the conduct of the war, he says:
HIS ELincoln'sl very family was attacked IN
tardly calumny. Not few bitter tongues round
ly asserted that Mrs. Lincoln herself was in
constant correspondence. as spy, with the
chiefs of the rebellion. Through her they OBJ
tanned the secrets Of the Cabinet and the
plans of the generals in the field The lnsan-
ity of the accusation does not seem to have
been considered. 1t was of no avail that she
was as ignorant of Cabinet matters as if she
had been in Maine. and that she did not see
enough of her husband TO ask his over weary
brain question about the war. 1t was
equally unimportant, though strictly true,
that she refused to open her own private
letters and insisted that all which came to her
through the mails should first be opened by
one of the Presidents private secretaries. The
absurd and wicked SANDER refused to die. and
it is barely possible that someobtuse or ignorant
people accept it as a truth to this very day
Mr.. Stoddard shows that Lincoln deserved
peculiar credit for the appointment of Stanton
to the secretaryship of war; which was at first
which proved so beneficial to the Northern eal,se
The President, 1t seems, had some time before
conceived species of antipathy TO Stanton It
seems that during the summer of the year 1855
Mr.. Lincoln had gone to Cincinnati as one of the
associate counsel in the great Mccormick reaper
case. The leading counsel on his side was Mr.
Stanton, and the latter gentleman had imbibed
bitter prejudice, political otherwise, against
his ungainly colleague from Illinois. Such was
in consequence his habitual and pointed rude
ness that Mr.. Lincolns self-respect compelled
him to retire from the case. When he Got home
treated as bv that man from Penpsylyania. - Il
is true that when Lincoln called Stanton to
his Cabinet he considered it Indispensable to
recognize the war Democrats. whose support had
vastly strengthened his administrator and the
Union cause. Nevertheless, the selection of q
man who had deeply wounded him did honor
both to his sliscernnlent and his maenaninitvl
70 friends who Expressed 4 fear ~ mischief H