The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-11-14
Interesting Review of the Life of
the Martyred President and His
Services to the Nation.
WELL RECEIVED BY SCOTS
WHO APPLAUDED THE ELOQUENT
UTTERANCES OF THE SPEAKER.
Personal Reminiscence Related 10y
Mr.. Choate, Who Knew Lincoln
Over Forty Years Ago.

Choate, United States ambassador to Great
Britain, this evening delivered the in
augural lecture at the Philosophical Insti-
tuition of Edinburgh, taking as his theme,
THE Career and Character of Abraham
Lincoln" Lord Rosebery, who presided,
introduced Mr.. Choate as follows:
MIR. Choate is one of that choice sue
cession of men whom the United States
have sent to this country. He has en-
deared himself to US in a remarkable de-
gree by his brilliant and genial qualities.
For his discourse he has selected one of
the most interesting subjects within the
range of possibility, the great man whom
he personally knew in the f1esh-Abraham
Lincoln.
Mr.. Choate was given a Scotch welcome
OH arising to speak. In the course of his
address he said:
II offer no apology for asking your at
tention to Abraham Lincoln-to his unique
character and the parts he bore in two
important achievements of modern history,
the preservation of the integrity of the
American Union and the emancipation OF
the colored race. During his brief term of
power he was probably the object of more
abuse, vilification and ridicule than any
other man in the world; but when he fell
by the hand of an assassin, at the very
moment of his stupendous victory, all the
nations of the earth We'd with one another
in paying homage to his character; and the
thlrty-fve years that have since elapsed
f@ry established his place in his
factors not of his own country alone but
of the human race. Fiction can furnish no
match for the romance OF his life, and
biography will be searched in vain for such
startling vicissitudes of fortune, SO great
power and glory won out of such humble
beginnings and adverse circumstances"
Mr.. Choate then told of the squalid Ken
lucky home in which Lincoln was born, of
thn iorr1f hot thn Mo IN
the then Western wilds and of the rude
society in which the boy grew to man
hood. Next he recounted the circumstances
Of Lincolns fiatboat trip to New Orleans;
the family's removal on his return, TO Ilh-
nois; his participation in the Black Hawk
war and his election to the Legislature
after an unsuccessful attempt at store
keeping, and continued:
'At the age Of twenty-five he became a
member of the Legislature of Illinois, and
so continued for eight years, and, in the
meantime. qualified himself by reading
such law books as he could borrow at ram
dom-for he was too poor to buy any-to
be called to the bar. For his second quar-
ter of century-during which a single
term in Congress introduced him into the
arena of national questionable gave HIM
self up to law and politics. In spite of his
soaring ambition, his two years in Con-
gress gave him no premonition of the great
destiny that awaited him. Year by year
his knowledge and power, his experience
faculties seemed to grow by what they fed
on. His power of persuasion, which had
always been marked, was developed in con-
genial questions and subjects. Little by
little he rose to prominence at the bar. and
became the most effective public speaker
I'm the West Not that he possessed any
of the graces of the orator, but his logic
was invincble. and his clearness and force
of statement impressed upon his hearers
the convictions of his honest mind. while
his broad sympathies and sparkling and
genial humor made him a universal fav-
orite as far and fast as his acquaintance
extended.
LINCOLN AS A LAWYER
'"These twenty years that elapsed from
the time of his establishment as a lawyer
and legislator in Springfield, the new
capital of Illinois, furnished fitting thea
ter for the development and display of his
great faculties, and with his new and en-
larged opportunities, he obviously grew in
mental stature in this second period of his
career, as If to compensate for the absolute
lack of advantages under which he had
suffered in youth. AS his powers enlarged,
his reputation extended, for he was al
ways before the people, felt warm SYM
pathy with all that concerned them, took a
Jealous part in the discussion OF every pub
lie question, and made His personal influ-
ence ever more widely and deeply felt. . .
''In those early days in the West every
necessarily a politician. constantly en-
gagged in the public discussion of the many
questions evolved from the rapid devel-
opment of town, county, state and federal
affairs. Then and there, in this regard,
public discussion supplied the place which
the universal activity of the press has
since monopolized, and the public speaker
who, by clearness. force. earnestness and
wit could make himself felt on the ques-
tions of the day, would rapidly come to the
front. In the absence of that immense
variety of popular entertainments which
now feed the public taste and appetite
the people found their chief amusement IN
frequenting the courts and public and po-
litical assemblies. In either place he who
impressed, entertained and amused them
most was the hero of the hour. They die
not discriminate very carefully between
the eloQuence of the forum and the elo-
quence of the hustings. Human nature
ruled both alike, and he who was the most
effective speaker in a political hatangue
was often retained as most likely to win in
a cause to be tried or argued. And / have
no doubt in this way many retainers came
had no charms for HMM his eager pur.
suit of fame he could not afford to make
money He was ambitious to distinguish
himself by some great service to mankind
and this ambition for fame and real pub
lie service left no room for avarice I'm nj.
composition. However much he earned
he seemed to have ended every year hardl,
richer than he began it, and yet as the
years passed. fees came to him freely. On.
of f1,OO0 is recorded-a very large profes
sional fee at that time, even in any par
of America, the paradise of lawyers. / la.
great stress on Lincolns career as law
yer-much more than his biographers do
because in America state of things ex
lists wholly different from that which pre-
walls in Great Britain. The profession O
the law always has been-and is to thi
day-the principal avenue to public life
and I am sure that his training and ex
rerience in the courts had much to do will
the development of those forces of intel
lect and character which he soon displaye,
or a broader arena.
ut was In a political controversy o
course, that he acquired his wide reputa
ton, and made his deep an,
lasting impression on the peopl
of what had become tn
powerful State of Illinois. and on the PEG
pie OF the great West, TO whom the pc
l:tical power and control of the Unite
States were already surely and swift
passing from the older Eastern States
1t was this reputation and this impress
| sion and the familiar knowledge of hi
| character which had come to them fror
| his local leadership, that happily inspires
| the people of the West TO present him a
| their candidate, and to press him upon tn
Republican convention of 1860 as the ii
| and necessary leader in the struggle 10
| life which was before the Nation. Tha
struggle. as you all know, arose out of tn
| terrible question of Slavery-and i mus
| trust 10 your general knowledge of TN
| history OF that question 10 make intelli
| g:be the attitude and leadership of Lincoi
as the champion OF the hosts OF freedom