Evening star., 1922-02-12

took concrete form at meeting of
fifteen editors of Illinois newspapers.
The meeting was held on Washing
tons birthday at Decatur, and from
there was issued call for delegate
state convention of the Anti-Se-
braska party--in other words. a free
soil party.
I INCOLN. unlike a lot of leaders
possessed of little courage. did
not hesitate to attend the Decatur
meeting. The later convention was
scheduled to meet at Bloomington in
May. Lincoln saw that between those
two dates the issues could be much
more clearly defined and the conven-
ton a better ordered affair.
AT that period the democratic party
still remained sufficiently under the
sway of Douglas to make him the
dominant figure at-the state conven-
t;on. His candidate, William 4. Rich
ardson. was chosen as the party nom
inee for governor. In due course was
tended by not less than 500 delegates
of many parties. but all anti-Douglas.
1t may have been just then that Lin
, coin. seeing that the Little Giant
was fast losing his strength. decided
to test his own strength as a leader
to the full.
The Bloomington convention nomi-
sol
governor. He had been democrat.
an earlier recognized follower of
Douglas. but eight years before had
broken with him. He had denounced
disunion and in 1854 had opposed
with vigor the Nebraska bill. There
was perhaps no other figure in Amer
lean public life. who could have COM
pared with Lincoln as an organizer
of new movement such as this. He
was in his very element. That con-
master speeches-an address never
reported His final words formed an
appeal to join the new party, to
Come as the winds come when forests are
Come rs the waves come. when navies are
stranded
All over the country at about the
same time the new party was taking
form in Illinois the same movement
was in progress. Lincoln's name was
attached to it's leadership in the west
as clearly as that of Salmon p. Chase
in Ohio, or that of William H. Seward
in New York. AS we know. the first
years work nationally ended in the
nomination at Philadelphia of John
c. Fremont for President. Of William
L., Dayton of New Jersey. for Vice
President, and then defeat for both
by James Buchanan of Pennsylvania
and John c. Breckenridge of Ken
lucky.
DUT the republican convention had
done for Lincoln what he had
desired more than a nomination. 1t
had given him over one hundred
votes-a clear expression of his fit
ness to be one of it's chief leaders.
This was not bad showing
for small town lawyer who
had joined in the movement to start
a new state party, already a national
party, but a few months before. At
the convention his friends had mus
tered for him more strength than ma
tional figures such as Charles Sum-
ner. David Wilmot, Preston King,
Nathaniel p. Banks and Cassius NJ
Clay. New. England, PENNSYLVANIA
and California had. besides his, own
neighboring states, been generous in
their support. Matters had gone
much worse with Douglas. His eyes
had been fixed upon the democrtic
nomination for the presidency. 1t
had gone to Buchanan. whom he had
classed an "old fogy" four years
earlier
The campaign preceding the elec-
tion was busy one for Abraham
Lincoln. He. was the head of the
Fremont electoral ticket in Illinois
and made about Fifty addresses. 1t
was in this contest that he said to
the democrats: 1--WE do not want to
dissolve the Union: you shall not!"'
No person is ever quite able to
say just why one man is classed
success and another defined failure.
In the same way we are never quite
able to discover just how men rise
to great power and wide influence.
The banker. the lawyer. the author.