The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-09-28

covery by which he could make a new man
out of an old one and have enough of the
stuff left to make a little yellow dog. Just
such a discovery has General Jackson's pop
ularity been to you. You not only twice
made President Of him out of 1t, but you
have had enough Of the stuff left to make
Presidents of several comparatively small
men since; and it is your chief reliance now
to make still another" This is very Lin
colnish. and one discerns in 1t something
of his character and humor. but not much
famous in later years. At the time of the
delivery of this speech Mr.. Lincoln was
thirty-five years old. Both of the speeches
were of a kind that would scarcely be lis
tened to in Congress nowadays. and that
Of Mr.. Lincoln certainly gave no sign of
the power that. less than fifteen years later.
was TO enable him TO meet and beat Stephen
A. Douglas in the greatest political de-
bate in American history. Mr.. Lincoln
proceeded In a half serious and half humor-
Gus vein. concluding with a personal refer
ence. He said:
But. in my hurry. / was very near clos
Ing On the subject OF military tails before
L was done with 1t. There is one entire
article of the sort 1 have not discussed yet;
/ mean the military tail you Democrats
are now engaged in dovetailing on to the
ident, General CasS. Yes, sir, all his olog-
raphers have been on hand, tying him to a
tying a dog to a bladder of beans. True,
the material they have is very limited; but
they 5Ssd ddiy re. at it With w,tbo might rss; afd main and he he
evaded IT without pursuit. AS he did both
under orders 1 suppose there was, to him,
thev are made to constitnte q large part
of the tail. He was not at Hulfs surrender,
but he was close by He was volunteer
battle of the Thames; and. as you said in
1910 that Harrison was picking huckleberries
two miles off while the battle was fought.
to say Cass was helping Harrison pick
huckleberries. This is about all, except the
mooted question of his broken sword. Some
authors say he broke it; some say he threw
it away, and some others. who ought to
know: say nothing about it. Perhaps 1T
would be a fair historical compromise to
say If he did not break it he did not do
anything else with 1t.
BY the way, Mr.. Speaker. did you know
lam a military hero? Yes, sir, in the days
of the Black Hawk war / fought, bled and
came away. Speaking of Cass's career re-
minds me of my own. l was not at stu.
as Cass was to Hulls surrender; and. like
him. l saw the place very soon afterwards.
It is quite certain did not break my SWORD.
broke his sword the idea is he broke it in
desperation. bent the musket by acct
dent. If General Cass went in advance of
me in picking huckleberries. / guess l sur
PASSED him in charges upon the wild onions.
more than 1 did, but l had a good many
bloody struggles with the mosquitoes: and.
although | never tainted from loss OF blood
! can truly say / was often very hungry.
Mr.. Speaker, if I should ever conclude to
doff whatever our Democratic friends may
suppose there is of black-cockade federal
ism about me, and, thereupon. they shall
take me up as their candidate for the pres
idency, I protest they shall not make fun
of me. as they have Of General Cass. by
attempting to write me into a military hero.
These extracts do not appear in any
biography of Lincoln, and it is believed
they are now printed for the first time in
any newspaper. Hay and Nicolay's Life
of Lincoln alludes to the speech thus:
As it is the only one of Lincoln's popular
served entire 1t should be read by those
who desire to understand the manner and
spirit of the politics OF 1913. Whatever
in it. considering it as a speech delivered
in the House of representatives, with no
dreds Pf0p orheTs G under like circumstances
1t is an extremely able speech.
After giving a brief and imperfect outline
OF the speech the biographers continue:
He then enters upon an analysis of the
position of Cass and his party which IL full
Of keen observation and political intelli-
gence, and his speech goes on to its rollick.
ing close with a constant succession OF
bright, witty and striking passages. In
which the orators own conviction and en-
joyment of an assured success is not the
least remarkable feature.
1t certainly was a brilliant and humorous
speech in a way, but it did not discuss any
public question and was not a suitable
speech to be delivered in Congress-, though
no less so than many others. 1t is a long
reach from this speech to the immortal
Gettysburg address, delivered fifteen years
later.