Omaha daily bee., 1908-07-26

mer Of 1855 ne met Abraham Lincoln in
a series Of Joint debates. the prize con-
tested for being the seat IN the federal
senate, then held by Douglas. Lincoln's
work IN these debates gave him rank as
the most successful OF American stump
speakers, for his arguments not only
served 10 crystalline the struggling ele-
ments in the party which he represented
70 as to enable Il three years later 10
enter upon a national canvass with easy
promise Of success, but they also served
TO make him the candidate OF his party.
The spirit in which Lincoln Joined this
Hateful meeting with Douglas is best IL
Illustrated by an anecdote related long
afterward by Leonard SWEET.
II believe, Abe. you can beat Douglas
for the senate. You can carry the leg
islature II you make the best use OF
your opportunity said SWEET to Lincoln
on the eve of the first debate.
mo, Len, 1 can't beat him for the
senate. but I'll make him beat himself
for the presidency
In the course or Joint debate he asked
Douglas what would become of popular
sovereignty II the bred Scott decision were
accepted by law. Douglas replied that the
territorial legislature could hold slavery
bdNht IL " ny lAbAAAbANApAAf ~ ANNNN ~
s~triction and impediment. Douglas had to
make that answer to placate the free soil
democrats Of Illinois. 1t assured his re-
election to the senate. But It also alien
ated the slave-state democracy from him,
and thereby precluded any chance he might
otherwise have had for the presidential
nomination Of the united democracy In 1850.
But" pursued Mr.. Sweet, lat the mo-
ment when Lincoln said he would make
Douglas beat himself for the presidency,
he had no more idea of being nominated
and elected to that office than he had Of
being crowned emperor of China"
Davis, ConkIinE, Garfield and Blaine.
After the civil war came a new genera
ton OF superb stump speakers, a generation
which included Henry Winter Davis,
Roscoe Conkllng, James A. Garfield and
James G.. Blaine. Davis, who was for sew
eral terms a member Of congress from
Maryland, died too soon for the full ripen-
ing of his fame and influence, but he lived
long enough TO make for himself an I'M
usual place in our political history. Those
who opposed him called him impracticable,
yet friend and foe alike bore cheerful wit
ness to the gifts Of speech which enabled
him to sway with ease the most turbulent
assembly. Fierce, imprisoned, and at
times vindictive. he was for a dozen years
the most powerful orator south Of Mason
and Dixon's line.
Conkling brought to the stump the
methods of the partisan chief, and he was
never so much at home as when In the
thick of the fray. He was without creative
genius, but he was an irresistible cham
pion, and In the ability to vigorously set
forth the ideals of his own party or to
ridicule with invective and sarcasm those
Of his adversaries he was without an equal
In his time. He was master of what Cicero
called the apt classic and ornate style Of
oratory, and his brilliant, melodramatic
career was due mainly to his use of it
a use which made him supreme in his
ability to enforce his immediate purpose.
Had some Of his traits of character been as
skilfully adjusted to his ambition as was
his gift OF speech his political end would
not have been in sorrow.
Garfield, like Conkling, owed his political
triumph to his gifts as an orator: and in
truth a collection of his speeches would
furnish a complete epitome of the history
Of the era of which he was a part. The
least of his speeches were marked by
thought and Imagination. and they often
rose into splendid and stirring eloquence.
A master OF clear, condensed statement.
"he gathered up at the climax of speech, 4"
wrote an old associate, "all of the forces OF
statement and logic he had been marshall
Ing, and hurled them upon his listeners
with tremendous force" while his ges-
lures became so analytic and forcible that
he seemed, at times, to be beating down
opposition with s~ledge-hammer blows,
throwing his arguments forward like a
shot from a cannon" No stump speaker
from 1866 to 1880 was in greater demand in
all parts OF the country than Garfield.
Blaine had the equipment Of a great
popular orator, and he early gained and
maintained until the end a hold upon the
affections Of the people surprising that
enjoyed by any other American statesman
save Henry Clay. He was, Colonel Nc.
Clure tells us, THE most magnetic man ]
have ever met" The animosities which at
tend upon long continued leadership cost
Blaine the presidency, for which he was n
candidate in four national conventions but
never the foremost place accorded to him
by the rank and file OF his party. and the
memory OF him that endures is that of
one or the ablest, bravest, and most
ardently beloved OF our public men,-Rufus
rockwell Wilson in Brooklyn Eagle.