Greenbrier independent. [volume] (Lewisburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1980, 1896-04-16


} the opportunity to prepare himself
for the great estate to which he had
come, plucked as it were, from OBJ
scurity by caprice Of fortune.
Accepting the doctrine of inspi-
ration as the law of the universe, /
still stand to this belief; but l must
qualify it as far as it conveyed the
idea that Mr.. Lincoln was not as
we'll equipped in actual knowledge
Of men and affairs as any of his con-
temp0raries. Mr.. Webster once
said that he had been preparing for
his reply to Hayne for thirty ears.
: Mr.. Lincoln had been i'm unconscious
training for the presidency for thirty
years. His maiden address as a can.
didate for the Legislature, issued at
the ripe old age of twenty-five.
closes with these words, " But if the
good people In their wisdom shall
see fit to keep me in the background,
l have been too familiar with disap-
pointment to be very much cha
grined." The man who wrote that
sentence was the man who, thirty
years later, wrote this sentence :
1.-THE mystic chords of memory,
and patriotic grave to every living
heart and hearthstone all over this
broad land, will yet swell the chorus
of the Union when again touched,
as surely they will be, by the angels
of our better nature" Between
, those two sentences, joined by kin
dred, som bre thought, flowed a life
current
Strong without rage, without o'ernow-
ing full.
pausing never for an instant; deepen
ing whilst it ran, but nowise chang
ing its course or its tones ALWAYS
the same, calm, patient, affectionate,
like one born of destiny, and as in a
dream, feeling its resistless force.
THE DEBATE WITH DOUGLAS.
1t is needful to complete under
standing of Mr.. LiDcoln's relation to
the time and to his place In the DO
litical history of the country that the
student peruse closely the four
speeches to which I call attention
they underlay all that passed in the
famous debate with Douglas; all
that their author said and did after
he succeeded to the presidency. 49,
Ihey stand to-day as masterpieces
OF popular oratory. But for our
present purpose the debate with
Douglas will suffice; the most extra
ordinary intellectual spectacular the
annals of our party warfare affords. |
Lincoln entered the canvass un-
known outside the State Of Illinois.
He closed it renowned from one end
of the land to the other.
Judge Douglas was himself unsur-
passed as stump speaker and ready
debater. But from the first to last
Judge Douglas was in that memora-
BILE canvass at a disadvantage. His
bark rode upon an ebbing tide; Lin
coins upon flowing tide. Slavery
was the issue now; and the whole
trend of modern thought was set
against slavery. The Democrats
were even then hopelessly divided.
The little giant had to face a trian-
gular opposition embracing the Re-
publicans, the administration, or
Buchanan Democrats ahd the rem
nant of the old Wings, who fancied
that their party was still alive and
thought to hold some kind of balance
of power. Judge Douglas called the
combination "the allied army" and
declared that he would deal with it
" Just as the Russians dealt with the
allies of Sabastopol-thati is, the Rus
slams did not stop TO inquire when
they fired broadside whether it hit
an Englishman, a Frenchman or
Turk" 1t was something more
than a Witticism when Mr.. Lincoln
reJoined: "In that case, beg he
will indulge us whilst we suggest to
him that those allies took Sabasto-
pol.
DEFEAT THAT LED TO VICTORY.
He followed the center-shot with
volley after volley of exposition SO
clear, of reasoning so close, of illus
tration- so pointed and, at times, of
humor so incisive, that, though he |
lost his election-though the allies
did not then take Sabastopol-his
defeat counted for more than Doug
las' victory, for it made him the
logical and successful candidate for
President of the United States two
years later.
What could be more captivating
to an outdoor audience than Lincoln's
description of two PERSONS who stand |
before the State as candidates for the |
Senate, to quote his PREDATORY
words? "Senator Douglas" he
proceeded, "is of world wide re-
nown. All the anxious politicians
of his party have been
looking upon him as certainly \
to be President of the United States. |
They have seen in his round, jOlly |
face pOstoffices, land offices, marshal |
ships and cabinet appointments,
chargeships and foreign missions,
bursting and spreading out i'm won
derful exuberance, ready to be laid |
hold of by their greedy hands. And
as they have been gazing upon this
attractive picture so long they can
not. in the little distraction that has
taken place in the party. bring them
selves to give up the charming hope
but with greedier anxiety they rush
about him, Sustain him and give
him marches, triumphal entries and
receptions beyond what in the DAYS
of his highest prosperity they could
have brought about i'm his favor
On the contrary, nobody has ever
expected me to be President. In
my poor, lean, lank face, nobody
has ever seen that any cabbages were
sprouting."
CHEEKY tones deepened into harsher
notes; elimination and recrimina-
tion, the two gladiators were strung