The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-04-14
I2s<oll<<tieoz Of 1llpeolp
TIE lawyer, polltieiap, and Statesmap.
as9osepb MediIl knew b'p,

more. When the speech was finished 1
found myself standing at the top of the
reporters table, shouting and yelling like
one possessed. Every one else present was
wrought up to the same condition.
"At length bethought me of my notes
for the Tribune. | had none. In my ex-
element | had quite forgotten my duties
as reporter. | turned to my fellow re-
porters They were in the same fix and
for the same reason. The speech was not
reported and never can be reproduced
from memory.
'tBut learned one lesson from this mis-
adventure. There were but two good
newspaper shorthand reporters in Illinois
at that time. | went back to Chicago and
chartered one of them for the Tribune
when he might be needed. He was Bob
Hit, since better known as the Hon.
Robert r. Hit, Congressman from Hi
nois and long chairman of the Committee
on Foreign Agairs."
During the Senatorial campaign of 1858,
which engaged Mr.. Lincoin's activity
before he became an avowed candidate for
the Presidency, Mr.. Medill met him often
on political business. When he went to
Springfield he dined several times at the
Lincoln house and partook of the fare
prepared by Mrs. Lincolns hands Even
at this early time Mr.. Medill formed the
opinion, which his subsequent experience
only confirmed, that Mr.. Lincoln was of all
the practical politicians" of his day the
keenest and the shrewdest. In organizing
a party, securing the doubtful votes by
presenting the issues rightly before them,
and in all the details of practical" work
of a campaign Lincoln had no equal among
Republicans in Illinois in those days. To
send quinine to a farmer sick with the
prevailing illness of the frontier, 'fever'n
j I. L.. -
devices. He had a master-hand at circu-
lars. He sometimes addressed them Ito
my friends signed "A. Lincoln" At
other times he wrote the addresses and
circulars which were signed by the central
committee.
1t was in this campaign of 1858 that Mr..
Lincoln delivered in the representatives
hall at Springfield that famous speech
famous for its Notwithstanding for the
ultimate extinction of slavery as thing in
itself radically wrong" Such sentiments
were far in advance of the public sentiment
of that time, even in the radical Northern
States, and Mr.. Lincoln was considered by
not few of his friends to have committed
political harikari by this speech. But
knowing Mr.. Lincoln as he did Mr.. Medill
felt assured that the speech was no
dithyrambic outburst of sentiment, that
deliberate motive lay behind. 1t was
1Otf 1ONONS1, uAli1 CdlS buC4CdtlCl,
when Mr.. Lincoln was President,
that opportunity offered to confirm
this surmise. For, with all his bonhommie
and apparent openness, Mr.. Lincoln was
most Secretiye man, even to his close
friends. But visiting at the White House
in the course of the civil war Mr.. Medill
found the President in mood which
seemed favorable to confidence, and
squarely put the question: "Why did you
dafiN-ar that roHi0ol cnaaaah or he
State House in the spring OF 1882"
With what seemed like affected surprise
Mr.. Lincoln exclaimed: "Ohr' Then,
lapsing into reserve, he put the counter
question: What do you think was the
reason ?"
Getting no answer he saw fit to lay aside
his reserve and made this characteristic
explanation:
well, after you fellows had got me into
that position of standard-bearer, l con-
cluded to take a stand that reflected the
real heartfelt thoughts of our party on that
terrible slavery question. 1t was ground
we could afford to be beaten on in the pre-
iminary battle with slavery. So l con-
cluded to say something that would make
everybody think"
And he did He then" SAYS Mr.. Medill,
made the issue on which he was afterward
elected. He went deeper into the heart of
the great issue than even Seward
ventured."
Those who remember this Springfield
speech may also recall how much use
Douglass made of it in the campaign of
1858 70 alarm the Conservatives and warn
them against the reckless demagogue,"
his opponent, who would emancipate the
slaves. And in his reply to these attacks,
Mr. Lincoln illustrated another phase of
his character by his artful defense of the
speech until, as repeated and explained by
himself on the stump, it appeared to the
most cautious voter as the inevitable out
come of the question from the very nature
of things NEWTON MACMILLAN.
Copyright, 1895, BY S. S. Mcclure Limited