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cannot
charter a national bank, in the teeth of that old
standing decision that Congress 
can
charter a bank. And I remind him of
another piece of history on the question of respect for judicial decisions,
and it is a piece of Illinois history belonging to a time when the large party
to which Judge Douglas belonged were displeased with a decision of the

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Supreme Court of Illinois, because they had decided that a Governor could
not remove a Secretary of State. I know that Judge Douglas will not deny
that he was then in favor of oversloughing that decision by the mode of
adding five new judges, so as to vote down the four old ones. Not only so,
but it ended in the judge's sitting down on that very bench, as one of the five
new judges so as to break down the four old ones." In this strain Mr.
Lincoln occupied most of his time. But the debate was a very equal thing,
and the contest did not prove a 'walk over' either way.
At the meeting in Ottawa Mr. Lincoln propounded certain questions to
which Judge Douglas promptly answered. Judge Douglas spoke in
something of the following strain: "He desires to know if the people of
Kansas shall form a constitution by means entirely proper and
unobjectionable, and ask admission into the Union as a State before they
have the requisite population for a member of Congress, whether I will vote
for that admission? Well, now, I regret exceedingly that he did not answer
that interrogatory himself before he put it to me, in order that we might
understand and not be left to infer on which side he is. Mr. Trumbull during
the last session of Congress voted from the beginning to the end against the
admission of Oregon, although a free State, because she had not the
requisite population. As Mr. Trumbull is in the field fighting for Mr.
Lincoln, I would like to have Mr. Lincoln answer his own question and tell
me whether he is fighting Trumbull on that issue or not. But I will answer
his question. In reference to Kansas it is my opinion that as she has
population enough to constitute a slave State, she has people enough for a
free State. I will not make Kansas an exceptional case to the other States of
the Union. I made that proposition in the Senate in 1856, and I renewed it
during the last session in a bill providing that no territory of the United
States should form a constitution and apply for admission until it had the
requisite population. On another occasion I proposed that neither Kansas
nor any other territory should be admitted until it had the requisite
population. Congress did not adopt any of my propositions containing this
general rule, but did make an exception of Kansas. I will stand by that
exception. Either Kansas must come in as a free State, with whatever
population she may have, or the rule must be applied to all the other
territories alike."

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Mr. Douglas next proceeded to answer another question proposed by Mr.
Lincoln, namely: Whether the people of a territory can, in any lawful way,
against the wishes of any citizen of the United States, exclude slavery from
their limits prior to the formation of a State constitution. Said Judge
Douglas: "I answer emphatically, as Mr. Lincoln has heard me answer a
hundred times from every stump in Illinois, that in my opinion the people of
a territory can, by lawful means, exclude slavery from their limits prior to
the formation of a State constitution. Mr. Lincoln knew that I had answered
that question over and over again. He heard me argue the Nebraska Bill on
that principle all over the State in 1854, in 1855 and in 1856, and he has no
excuse for pretending to be in doubt as to my position. It matters not what
way the Supreme Court may hereafter decide as to the abstract question,
whether slavery may or may not go into a territory under the constitution,
the people have the lawful means to introduce it or exclude it as they please,
for the reason that slavery cannot exist a day or an hour unless it is
supported by local police regulations. Those police regulations can only be
established by the local legislature, and if the people are opposed to slavery
they will elect representatives to that body who will, by unfriendly
legislation, effectually prevent the introduction of it into their midst. If, on
the contrary, they are for it their legislation will favor its extension. Hence,
no matter what the decision of the Supreme Court may be on that abstract
question, still the right of the people to make a slave territory or free
territory is perfect and complete under the Nebraska Bill."
It was with great vigor and adroitness that the two great combatants went
over the ground at the remaining five places of debate, all of which were
attended and listened to by immense concourses. On both sides the
speeches were able, eloquent, exhaustive. It was admitted by Lincoln's
friends that on several occasions he was partly foiled, or at least badly
bothered, while on the other hand the admirers of Douglas allowed that in
more than one instance he was flatly and fairly floored by Lincoln. It was
altogether about an equal match in respect to ability, logic, and eloquence.
Both of them were self-made men; both of them were able lawyers and
politicians; both sprang from obscurity to distinction; both belonged to the
common people; and both were strong and popular with the masses.

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Though defeated by an unfair apportionment of the legislative districts for
the senatorship, yet Lincoln so ably fought the great Douglas with such
wonderful power as to surprise the nation. Heretofore but little known out
of his native State; this debate made him one of the two most conspicuous
men in the nation, and the excitement was intensified from the fact that both
from that hour were the chosen opponents for the coming presidential
contest.
At the ensuing presidential contest Lincoln was elected to the presidency,
and the gory front of secession was raised. Forgetting past differences,
Douglas magnanimously stood shoulder to shoulder with Lincoln in behalf
of the Union. It was the olive branch of genuine patriotism. But while
proudly holding aloft the banner of his nation in the nation councils, and
while yet the blood of his countrymen had not blended together and
drenched the land, the great senator was suddenly snatched from among the
living in the hour of the country's greatest need; while the brave Lincoln
was allowed to see the end—the cause triumphant, when he was also called
from death unto life.
Lincoln elected, though he was, and admitted to have received his election
fairly and triumphantly, was yet of necessity compelled to enter
Washington, like a thief in the night, to assume his place at the head of the
nation. Lincoln met the crisis calmly but firmly. He had watched the
coming storm and he asked, as he bade adieu to his friends and fellow-
citizens, their earnest prayers to Almighty God that he might have wisdom
and help to see the right path and pursue it. Those prayers were answered.
He guided the ship of State safely through the most angry storm that ever
demanded a brave and good pilot. We can only gaze in awe on the memory
of this man. He seemingly knew in a moment, when placed in a trying
position that would have baffled an inferior mind, just what to do for the
best interest of the nation.
Mr. Lincoln had unsurpassed fitness for the task he had to execute.
Without anything like brilliancy of genius, without breadth of learning or
literary accomplishments, he had that perfect balance of thoroughly sound
faculties which gave him the reputation of an almost infallible judgment.
This, combined with great calmness of temper, inflexible firmness of will,

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supreme moral purpose, and intense patriotism made up just that character
which fitted him, as the same qualities fitted Washington, for the salvation
of his country in a period of stupendous responsibility and eminent peril.
Although far advanced on the question of slavery, personally, he was
exceedingly careful about pushing measures upon a country he knew was
hardly prepared as yet to receive such sweeping legislation. An
acquaintance once said: 'It is hard to believe that very nearly one-half of the
Republican party were opposed to the issue of the proclamation of
emancipation.' Thus Lincoln avoided all extremes, and this quality alone
made him eminently fit to govern. Yet, when necessary, he was stern and
unrelenting. When the British minister desired to submit instructions from
his government, stating that that government intended to sustain a neutral
relation, he refused to receive it officially. When France demanded
recognition by the United States of the government of Maximilian, in
Mexico, he steadily refused. He was firm as a rock; he would ride post
haste twenty miles to pardon a deserter, but under no consideration could he
be induced to suspend hostilities against a people who were trying to
destroy the Union. All sorts of political machinery was invented to
manufacture public opinion and sentiment against him, but he was
triumphantly re-elected in 1864.
The morning of Lincoln's second inauguration was very stormy, but the
sky cleared just before noon, and the sun shone brightly as he appeared
before an immense audience in front of the capitol, and took the oath and
delivered an address, alike striking for its forcible expressions and
conciliatory spirit. He spoke something as follows:
"On the occasion corresponding to this, four years ago, all thoughts were
anxiously directed to an impending civil war. * * * Both parties deprecated
war, but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive, and
the other would accept war rather than let it perish; and the war came. * * *
Both read the same Bible, and pray to the same God, and each invokes His
aid against the other. It may seem strange that any man should dare to ask a
just God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's
faces; but let us judge not that we be not judged. The prayer of both could
not be answered. That of neither has been fully. * * * With malice toward

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none, with charity for all, with the firmness in the right, as God gives us
light to see the right, let us finish the work we are in to bind up the nation's
wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow
and his orphans, to all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting
peace among ourselves and with all nations."
He hated slavery from the beginning, but was not an abolitionist until it
was constitutional to be so. At the head of the nation, when precedents were
useless, he was governed by justice only. He was singularly fortunate in the
selection of his cabinet officers, and the reason was he never allowed
prejudice to prevent his placing a rival in high office.
Yes, Mr. Lincoln is probably the most remarkable example on the pages of
history, showing the possibilities of our country. From the poverty in which
he was born, through the rowdyism of a frontier town, the rudeness of
frontier society, the discouragement of early bankruptcy, and the
fluctuations of popular politics, he rose to the championship of Union and
freedom when the two seemed utterly an impossibility; never lost his faith
when both seemed hopeless, and was suddenly snatched from earth when
both were secured. He was the least pretentious of men, and when, with the
speed of electricity, it flashed over the Union that the great Lincoln—shot
by an assassin—was no more, the excitement was tremendous. The very
heart of the republic throbbed with pain and lamentation. Then the immortal
President was borne to his last resting-place in Springfield, Illinois. All
along the journey to the grave, over one thousand miles, a continual wail
went up from friends innumerable, and they would not be comforted. Never
was there a grander, yet more solemn funeral accorded to any, ancient or
modern. He was a statesman without a statesman's craftiness, politician
without a politician's meanness, a great man without a great man's vices, a
philanthropist without a philanthropist's dreams, a christian without
pretensions, a ruler without the pride of place or power, an ambitious man
without selfishness, and a successful man without vanity. Humble man of
the backwoods, boatman, axman, hired laborer, clerk, surveyor, captain,
legislator, lawyer, debater, orator, politician, statesman. President, savior of
the republic, emancipator of a race, true christian, true man.

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Gaze on such a character; does it not thrill your very soul and cause your
very heart to bleed that such a man should be shot by a dastardly assassin?
Yet on the 14th of April, 1865, J. Wilkes Booth entered the private box of
the President, and creeping stealthily from behind, as become the dark deed
which he contemplated, deliberately shot Abraham Lincoln through the
head, and the country lost the pilot in the hours when she needed him so
much.

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