LINCOLN ON THE MISSOURI.
Having permanently left the service of the American Fur Company,
Captain La Barge spent the three years, 1857–59, mainly on the lower
river, not generally going above Council Bluffs. In the summer of
1859 he built a fine new boat, one of the best that ever went up the
river. Pierre Chouteau, Jr., having heard of his undertaking, sent to
him and offered any assistance that might be needed. The Company still
cherished a high appreciation of Captain La Barge’s services and would
gladly have taken him back into their employ. The captain thanked Mr.
Chouteau, but never took advantage of his offer. When he had finished
his boat he named her the _Emilie_, for one of his daughters. Soon
after this he received a polite note from Mr. Chouteau, telling him
to order a complete stand of colors for the boat and he would pay the
bill. The captain was much embarrassed, for he knew that Mr. Chouteau
had made the offer under the impression that the boat had been named
in honor of his wife. When La Barge declined his generous offer and
explained why, Mr. Chouteau said: “That’s all right. I am glad you have
told me so frankly. You did well to name the boat for your daughter.”
[Sidenote: THE “EMILIE.”]
The _Emilie_ was one of the famous boats of the Missouri River. She was
225 feet long, 32 feet beam, with a hold 6 feet deep, and could easily
carry 500 tons. She was a sidewheel boat, built on the most approved
lines, and an exceedingly beautiful craft. Captain La Barge was
designer, builder, owner, and master, and set out on his first voyage
with her October 1, 1859, his forty-fourth birthday.
Before the boat was completed he entered into a contract with the
Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad, which had just reached the Missouri
River at St. Joseph, to run from that point up and down the river in
connection with the road. The _Emilie_ was accordingly taken at once up
the river, and remained all the fall in that section, going up as far
as Fort Randall once or twice.
[Sidenote: LINCOLN AT COUNCIL BLUFFS.]
[Sidenote: LINCOLN’S SPEECH.]
It was during the boating season of 1859 that Captain La Barge first
saw Abraham Lincoln. Among the more obscure incidents in that great
man’s career were his visits to the Missouri River in the summer
and fall of this year. In August he visited Council Bluffs, and in
December several towns in Kansas. The purpose of his first visit was
not political, although during his stay at the Bluffs he was induced
to make a political speech.[43] He had evidently come out to take a
look at the great West, and possibly also to make some investments in
real estate. At any rate, in November following he purchased from N.
B. Judd lot 3, block 1, of Riddle’s Subdivision of Council Bluffs. In
1867 this property was conveyed back to Mr. Judd by the Lincoln heirs.
It is a very singular fact that the adjoining lot 4 of this subdivision
was owned by Clement L. Vallandigham, Mr. Lincoln’s greatest political
enemy.
[Sidenote: UNION PACIFIC.]
General Grenville M. Dodge, who later became a distinguished officer in
the Civil War, was at this time engaged in surveys for the proposed
Union Pacific railroad. He had just come in from the plains, and
Lincoln, hearing of the fact, sought him out and had a long talk with
him in regard to his surveys. His great interest in the matter and
his skill in drawing out information soon gave him all that the young
surveyor knew. The latter thought no more of this at the time than that
possibly he had been giving away secrets that belonged to his employers
only. In 1863, while in command of the district of Corinth, Miss., he
received a dispatch from General Grant directing him to proceed to
Washington and report to the President. He was a good deal perturbed
over the matter, for he feared it might be something pertaining to his
military work that had not given satisfaction. When he appeared before
Mr. Lincoln he found that the President wanted to consult with him
in regard to the eastern terminus of the proposed Pacific railroad,
which would soon have to be determined. Mr. Lincoln had remembered the
conversation in Council Bluffs, and now sought assistance from the same
source from which he drew so freely on the former occasion. The result
was that Council Bluffs instead of Omaha was fixed as the terminus, and
that is why the Union Pacific railroad begins just across the river in
Iowa, and not, as would have seemed natural, on the west shore of the
river.
[Sidenote: LINCOLN IN KANSAS.]
Late in the fall of 1859 Mr. Lincoln visited Kansas. He arrived at St.
Joseph December 1, _via_ the new Hannibal and St. Joseph railroad. He
was met at the station by D. D. Wilder and M. W. Delahay, who escorted
him at once to the ferry. Mr. Wilder was a member of the reception
committee, and had spent several days in the office of Lincoln &
Herndon the previous summer. While waiting for the boat they sat down
on the bank, and Lincoln talked freely of the recent exciting political
events in Illinois. The party then crossed to Kansas, the first stop
being at Elwood, where Lincoln spoke on the night of December 1. The
next day he went to Troy, Kan., where he gave an address, and in the
evening he made a speech at Doniphan. The following day he went to
Atchison and spoke in the Methodist church. Lincoln’s speeches on these
occasions were essentially the same as that delivered at a later date
at Cooper Union, New York. Lincoln seems to have gone to Leavenworth on
the 4th of December. He remained there two or three days, delivering
two speeches at Stockton’s Hall and holding a public reception. His
long stay at this place was probably due to his having to wait for the
steamboat to take him back to St. Joseph. He left Leavenworth on the
7th of December, accompanied by Mr. Parrott, the Kansas delegate to
Congress.
[Sidenote: LINCOLN ON LA BARGE’S BOAT.]
It was on the occasion of one of these visits to the Missouri River
that Captain La Barge met Mr. Lincoln. It is understood that Mr.
Lincoln made his journey to Council Bluffs by boat, either from St.
Louis or St. Joseph, and returned home across the State; and that on
his Kansas visit he went back by boat from Leavenworth to St. Joseph in
December. On one of these trips he traveled on Captain La Barge’s boat.
The Captain retained with great distinctness his impressions of the
appearance and personal peculiarities of the distinguished passenger.
The tall and relatively slender build of Mr. Lincoln, his high hat,
sallow complexion, and not very elegant costume, gave him a somewhat
comical appearance at first sight. He seemed to La Barge rather quick
in his movements, and apparently a good walker. The captain noticed
that he was scarcely ever alone, there being always someone listening
to him. Although he made no speeches on his way up, he had an audience
all the time, and his agreeable address, and interesting way of putting
things, made him a constant center of attraction.
[Sidenote: LINCOLN’S ELECTION.]
La Barge remembered that he frequently came into the pilot-house, and
asked many questions, particularly about the fur trade and the Indians.
He expressed his desire to make a visit to the upper country. Before
he left the boat he asked La Barge if he would not procure for him a
fine buffalo robe and send it to him, giving him to understand that he
should of course expect to pay him well for all expense he might be
put to. La Barge promised to do so. Lincoln was not at this time much
talked of for the Presidency, and in Missouri was unpopular on account
of his attitude toward slavery.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: THE NEGROES FREED.]
Captain La Barge did not take his boat down the river in the fall of
1859, because the ice cut him off. She was laid up a little below
Atchison. He himself went to St. Louis, and in February returned with
his family. In the spring of 1860, when the ice was about to break up,
the citizens of Atchison offered to furnish fuel for the boat if La
Barge would attempt to cut through the ice to St. Joseph. He undertook
it, running his boat up on the ice until her weight broke it in, and
in that way succeeded in getting through. The captain remained in the
service of the railroad all summer, running to Kansas City and Omaha
and intermediate points. In the fall he started for St. Louis, but was
caught by the ice at Liberty, Mo., and compelled to lay up his boat
there. It was at this point that he first heard of Lincoln’s election.
When John Baxter, keeper of Liberty Landing, came on board with the
news, La Barge said to him: “Up go all your niggers.” “Oh, you don’t
think that’ll make any difference, do you?” “Up go all your niggers,”
replied La Barge; “they will all be set free.” “And they were all set
free,” remarked the captain in narrating this dialogue, “and mine with
the rest, for I had some.”
FOOTNOTES
[1] There is in the possession of the La Barge family in St. Louis a
large pocketbook, still in a state of excellent preservation, which was
brought from Canada by Captain La Barge’s father. In this book is a
slip of paper, worn and mutilated with age, which contains the record
of the elder La Barge’s birth.
[2] “I can safely recommend him to any traveler, as the best person
in his line I have ever met--intelligent, sober, obliging, and never
afraid to encounter any difficulty that may occur.”--_Three Years in
North America_, by James Stuart, who traveled in the United States,
1828–30, and employed La Barge to convey him on his journeys in the
vicinity of St. Louis and as far east as Vincennes, Ind. He was very
anxious to adopt the young child, Joseph La Barge, and take him to
England and educate him, but the parents would not consent.
[3] For a history of this exciting affair see “The American Fur Trade
of the Far West,” p. 267.
[4] The expeditions of General W. H. Ashley to the Rocky Mountains in
quest of beaver fur were very celebrated in those days. They occurred
in the years 1822–26.
[5] The data for the sketch here given of the ancestry of the La Barge
family are mainly derived from letters by Dr. Philemon Laberge, Sheriff
of the district of Beauharnois, Quebec, to Captain La Barge. Dr.
Laberge had chanced to come across a copy of the St. Louis _Republic_
of January 9, 1898, in which there were a biographical sketch and
photograph of Captain La Barge. Knowing that there was but one family
of the name in America, he set about to trace the relationship, and
presently sent to Captain La Barge a complete genealogical table of the
family from Robert Laberge down.
The data relating to the maternal line are gleaned from Scharff’s
“History of St. Louis.”
[6] The following tradition concerning the Lafayette visit is taken
from the obituary sketch of Captain La Barge in one of the St. Louis
papers:
“When General Lafayette visited the city in 1825 the populace turned
out to greet him. He was a French nobleman and an American patriot--two
distinctions that entitled him to the greatest courtesy. The children
of the town had gathered to welcome his coming. When he was driven
away hundreds paid homage by following the route of his carriage. To
follow was not enough for Joe La Barge. He broke from the crowd and
ran to the carriage in which Lafayette rode. Jumping upon the rear
axle, he remained there a considerable time. The crowd was horrified,
but Lafayette was too great a man to be thus wounded. Gently stroking
the lad on the head, he asked his name. The boy responded: ‘La Barge.’
‘Ah,’ said the General, ‘then we are both Frenchmen, and the only
difference is in the ending of our names.’”
[7] The term _engagé_ was applied to the common hands who did the
ordinary work of the fur trade. The term _bourgeois_ was used to
designate the person in charge of a trading post.
[8] “Captain Pratt of the _Assiniboine_ reports that he met the
_Yellowstone_ at the mouth of the Kansas River, having lost her
best pilot from the cholera, and four or five men in the space of
twenty-four hours. I fear that, in this situation, she will not be able
to continue her voyage.”--_Pierre Chouteau, Jr., to John Jacob Astor,
July 12, 1833._
[9] See account of American and Rocky Mountain Fur Companies, in
“American Fur Trade of the Far West.”
[10] This man had a long and honorable career in the West. As late as
1859–60 he was in the service of the government as interpreter on the
expedition of Captain W. F. Reynolds, Corps of Engineers, U. S. A.
[11] A curious illustration of the great changes which have taken place
along the Missouri Valley occurred a few years ago. In 1896 a farmer
was digging a well near the mouth of Grand River, Mo., several miles
from the present channel of the Missouri. A Bible was found in the
excavation, and on its cover was the name _Naomi_. The book was sent
to Captain La Barge to see if he could suggest any explanation of its
presence where it was found. The Captain recalled perfectly the fact
that the steamer _Naomi_ was wrecked at that precise spot fifty-six
years before. In those days the missionaries always left Bibles on
board the various boats, attached by chains to the tables or other
parts of the cabin, and lettered with the names of the boats to which
they belonged.
[12] The first _Yellowstone_, built in the winter of 1830–31, is a good
example of the original river boat. It was 130 feet long, 19 feet beam,
6 feet hold: beautiful model; side wheels; single engine; flywheel;
cabin aft of shaft; ladies’ cabin in stern hold; boiler decks open;
no hurricane roof; pilot-house elevated; two smokestacks; one rudder;
6-foot wheel bucket; 18-foot wheel; stages aft; draft, light, 4½ feet;
loaded to 75 tons, 5½ feet.
In the river boats the main or forecastle deck was the first above
the water, and the one covering the hold; the boiler deck was the
second one, just over the boilers, covered by the hurricane roof; the
hurricane deck was the third deck. Upon this were situated the texas
and the pilot-house.
[13] A noted steamboat that ran on the lower river during a portion
of the fifties was the _Felix X. Aubrey_. Between the smokestacks was
the figure of a man riding at full speed on horseback. The reference
was to a horseback ride, very celebrated in its day, from Santa Fe
to Westport, where Kansas City now stands. In the year 1853 Felix X.
Aubrey made this ride in five days and thirteen hours. The distance was
775 miles.
[14] “Of all the variable things in creation the most uncertain are the
action of a jury, the state of woman’s mind, and the condition of the
Missouri River.”--_Sioux City Register_, March 28, 1868.
[15] As an example of primitive lighthouse or fog-signal work, the
story is told of a steamboat captain who always made a certain crossing
on the lower river, if at night, by the aid of the bark of a dog
belonging to a farmhouse directly in line with the course of the boat.
The dog came out on the bank whenever boats were approaching, and
saluted them vigorously until they had passed. The captain ran by this
bark with the most implicit confidence. But unhappily the dog _did_
change his position--once--and the captain ran by its bark no more, for
the next morning his own bark was a hopeless wreck upon a neighboring
sandbar.
[16] About 1856 this matter was made the subject of military
investigation under General Harney.
[17] The practicability of commercial steamboating on the Missouri
River had begun to be recognized about 1829. In the summer of that year
the _W. D. Duncan_ commenced a regular packet trade to Fort Leavenworth.
[18] Kenneth McKenzie, the ablest trader the American Fur Company
produced, was at this time in charge of Fort Union, at the mouth of
the Yellowstone, and of all the company’s operations in the tributary
country along the upper rivers.
[19] This affords a glimpse at the crafty and oppressive methods of
the company, which bore with intolerable hardship upon its employees.
To pay wages in merchandise at an advance of three or four hundred
per cent. upon their cost was a great saving to the company, but an
unqualified fraud upon its servants.
[20] Fort McKenzie was six miles above the mouth of the Marias River;
Fort Union was three miles above the mouth of the Yellowstone: and Fort
Clark was about fifty-six miles above the modern Bismarck, N. D.
[21] Log of steamboat _Omega_, May 10, 1843: “Nous venons très bien
jusqu’aux cotes à Hart où, à sept heures, nous sommes sommés par un
officier de dragoons de mettre à terre. Je reçois une note polie du
Capitaine Burgwin m’informant que son devoir l’oblige de faire visiter
le bâteau. Aussitôt nous nous mettons à l’ouvrage, et pendant ce temps
M. Audubon va faire une visite au Capitaine. Ils reviennent ensemble
deux heures après. Je force en quelque sorte l’officier à faire un
recherche aussi stricte que possible, mais à la condition qu’il en sera
de même avec les autres traiteurs.”
[22] The above description of this inspection is from “The American Fur
Trade of the Far West,” by the present author.
[23] Captain Sire, in the logbook of the _Nimrod_, Friday, May 10,
1844, says: “Il s’est passé encore longtemps avant que Messieurs les
agents faisaient leur visite. Tout se trouvait satisfaisante. J’ai
décidé de ne partir que demain matin, et pour cause.--May 11. Nous nous
mettons en route avant le jour.”
[24] It appears that the company’s bond was to have been put in suit;
but the United States Attorney would not bring the case to trial unless
he could get La Barge as a witness. When La Barge got back to St. Louis
Sarpy came on board and told him to make himself scarce immediately.
The Captain hastened to St. Charles and took service on the _Iatan_,
where he remained until the storm had blown over. The case was finally
compromised through the influence of Thomas H. Benton.
[25] While detained at the Omaha villages the crew had cut and piled
about fifty cords of wood.
[26] The original journal is silent about this affair, but the facts
were suppressed, says Captain La Barge, by clerk Finch, of the American
Fur Company, in order not to expose the questionable conduct of
Campbell and Matlock in regard to the annuities. La Barge himself wrote
the following marginal note opposite the entry for June 9: “The Indians
fired on the boat while we were lying there and killed Charles Smith,
deckhand.”
[27] _The Republican_, March 19, 1849, in an editorial notice of the
event, thus referred to Captain La Barge: “There is no Captain on the
Western waters more highly esteemed than Captain La Barge. He is a St.
Louisan born, and has been familiar with the river from early life.”
[28] This island took its name from the fact that it was a famous
dueling ground. Its history in this connection dates from the past
century, but its fame rests upon a few celebrated contests, among which
the following may be noted: Thomas H. Benton and Charles Lucas fought
here twice, on August 12 and September 27, 1817. In the last encounter
Benton killed his antagonist. Joshua Barton, brother of the first U.
S. Senator from Missouri, and Thomas C. Rector fought here June 30,
1823, and Barton was killed. The most celebrated duel of all took place
August 27, 1831, between Major Thomas Biddle, Paymaster U. S. A., and
Congressman Spencer Pettis of St. Louis. Both principals were killed.
Another duel occurred in which one of the principals, B. Gratz Brown,
editor of the _Democrat_, received a wound in the knee. When dueling
fell into disuse the island became a noted resort for prize-fighters.
Overlooking the island stood a large cottonwood tree, near which these
duels were fought. It was certainly more than two hundred years old,
and it fell from old age, July 18, 1897.
[29] The City of St. Louis passed an ordinance at this time that
vessels should be moored with iron cables, and it placed permanent
rings in the levee for that purpose, so that boats could not be cut
loose in case of fire.
[30] The Aricara language is related to that of the Pawnees, which La
Barge, as we have seen, had learned in his first years in the Indian
country.
[31] La Barge Avenue, St. Louis, extending from Union Avenue west to
the city limits, was in part given by Captain La Barge and recorded in
his name. A later generation, with an amazing indifference to the work
of one of the most noted characters in the history of the city, has
changed the name to “Maple Avenue.”
[32] One of the medical officers accompanying the troops, and possibly
the surgeon in this case, was Dr. George L. Miller of Omaha, Neb.,
who had early established himself in the West to seek his fortune
there, and afterward became one of Nebraska’s most eminent citizens
and well known throughout the country. He had gone up with the troops
for temporary service because they had no regular surgeon. Dr. Miller
returned to Omaha on the _St. Mary_, and many years later prepared
an account of his personal experiences on the trip. His reference to
Captain La Barge is interesting in this connection. He described him as
“a short, stout, alert, and energetic man, with the eye of an eagle,
which had been trained by twenty years’ service as a student of the
mysterious and muddy waters of the Missouri.” A few years before these
reminiscences were written by Dr. Miller, Captain La Barge’s brother
John died, and Dr. Miller had mistakenly understood it to be his old
river friend of 1855. The event called forth this further reference to
the Captain: “The death of Joe La Barge, the brown-faced and black-eyed
pilot, two or three years ago, caused a pang of regret in the hearts of
tens of thousands who dwell along the valley of the great river, and
who knew and admired him both in character and calling.”
[33] For a vivid picture of those early steamboat days, see
_Everybody’s Magazine_, October, 1892.
[34] “Captain John La Barge, one of the oldest and best steam boat men
on the river, takes command of the _Chippewa_, and if the trip to Fort
Benton can be made, he will make it!”--_Sioux City Eagle_, July 23,
1859.
[35] For a complete record of this event, see letter from Alfred
Vaughn, Indian Agent for the Blackfeet--Report Commissioner of Indian
Affairs for 1859.
[36] The _Tom Stevens_ is said to have gone to the mouth of Portage
creek, within five miles of the Great Falls the same year, and one
authority states that the _Gallatin_, either in 1866 or 1867, went
nearer to the Falls than any other boat before or since. The exact
point is not stated.
[37] The Blackfeet nation, as understood by the early traders and
trappers, comprised four bands--the Piegans, the Bloods, the Blackfeet,
and the Grosventres of the Prairies. Only the first three were really
Blackfeet. The tribal affinity of the Grosventres was with the
Arapahoes. In some way these two tribes had become widely separated,
the Arapahoes going far to the south, and the Grosventres to the
country of the Blackfeet. So far did the Grosventres adopt the language
and customs of the Blackfeet that they were ordinarily considered in
early times as a part of that tribe and were commonly referred to as
Blackfeet. They were relentlessly hostile to the whites during the
first twenty-five years after Lewis and Clark passed through their
country. Next to them in point of hostility came the Blood Indians. The
Piegans were the most favorably disposed of any of the Blackfeet tribes
and were also the best beaver hunters, and it was with this band that
trade relations were first opened.
[38] There has been a good deal of confusion about this date, and it
cannot yet be considered as definitely settled. The weight of authority
is as given above. Chardon had other difficulties with the Indians
which may have been confused with this affair. Thus the journal of one
of the inmates of the Blackfoot post (whether Fort McKenzie or Fort
Chardon is uncertain) says: “February 19, 1844. Fight with the north
Blackfeet, in which we killed six and wounded several others; took
two children prisoners. The fruits of our victory were four scalps,
twenty-two horses, 350 robes, and guns, bows, and arrows, etc.” This
answers very closely to the description of the “Blackfoot Massacre” at
Fort McKenzie. If it is the same, the founding of Fort Chardon was in
1844 instead of 1843.
[39] In 1864 Malcolm Clark shot and instantly killed Owen McKenzie,
son of Kenneth McKenzie. The affair took place on the _Nellie Rogers_,
American Fur Company boat, near the mouth of Milk River. McKenzie and
Clark had some standing cause of dispute between them, and Clark shot
his opponent while the latter was in a state of intoxication. The
family of Clark have tried to screen his name from any blame in this
affair, and have claimed that the deed was done in self-defense. On the
river it was everywhere considered at the time a cold-blooded murder.
[40] By W. W. DeLacy, a civil engineer of high reputation, and closely
identified with the early history of Montana.
[41] June 11, 1866, there were seven steamboats at one time at the
levee of Fort Benton.
[42] In this sketch of Fort Benton I have drawn somewhat, for the
period after 1843, from the notes of Lieutenant James H. Bradley, as
published in vol. iii. Proceedings Mont. Hist. Soc. The notes were
taken by dictation from Alexander Culbertson. Unfortunately, as in
most cases of personal narrative, this one abounds in errors, and is
controlled throughout by the desire of the narrator to magnify his own
importance in the events he describes. The notes possess, however,
great intrinsic value, and are an important contribution to the history
of the West. Their preservation is due to the zealous forethought of
an army officer who recognized the importance of collecting original
data on the history of the West before its principal actors should have
passed away. He did not live to prepare these notes for publication
himself. They found their way to the Montana Historical Society, which,
with the intelligent zeal that has always characterized that body, has
given them to the public in a well-gotten-up volume of the society’s
proceedings.
Lieutenant James H. Bradley was born in Sandusky, O., May 25, 1844;
enlisted as a private in the 14th Ohio Volunteers, April, 1861;
re-enlisted in the 45th Ohio Volunteers, June, 1862; mustered out as
Sergeant, July, 1865; appointed Second Lieutenant 18th U. S. Infantry,
February 23, 1866; promoted to First Lieutenant, July 9, 1866,
transferred to 7th Infantry, November 28, 1871; killed in the Battle of
the Big Hole by the Nez Percé Indians, August 9, 1877.
[43] “Hon. Abe Lincoln, and the Secretary of State for Illinois, Hon.
O. M. Hatch, arrived in our city last evening, and are stopping at the
Pacific House. The distinguished ‘sucker’ has yielded to the earnest
importunities of our citizens,--without distinction of party,--and
will speak upon the political issues of the day, at Concert Hall, this
evening. The celebrity of the speaker will most certainly insure him a
full house. Go and hear ‘Old Abe.’”--_From the Council Bluffs “Weekly
Nonpareil,” Saturday Morning, August 13, 1859._
The reports upon this speech in the Republican and Democratic papers of
the town were as follows:
From the _Nonpareil_, August 20, 1859:
“ABE LINCOLN.
“This distinguished gentleman addressed a very large audience
of ladies and gentlemen at Concert Hall in this city, Saturday
evening. The clear and lucid manner in which he set forth
the true principles of the Republican party--the dexterity
with which he applied the political scalpel to the Democratic
carcass--beggars all description at our hands. Suffice it, that
the speaker fully and fairly sustained the great reputation he
acquired in the memorable Illinois campaign as a man of great
intellectual power--a close and sound reasoner.”
From the _Weekly Bugle_, August 17, 1859:
“ABE LINCOLN ON THE SLOPE.
“The people of this city were edified last Saturday evening
by a speech from Honorable Abe Lincoln. He apologized very
handsomely for appearing before an Iowa audience during a
campaign in which he was not interested. He then, with many
excuses and a lengthy explanation, as if conscious of the
nauseous nature of the black Republican nostrum, announced his
intention to speak about the ‘eternal negro,’ to use his own
language, and entered into a lengthy and ingenious analysis
of the nigger question, impressing upon his hearers that it
was the only question to be agitated until finally settled. He
carefully avoided going directly to the extreme ground occupied
by him in his canvass against Douglas, yet the doctrines
which he preached, carried out to their legitimate results,
amount to precisely the same thing. He was decidedly opposed
to any fusion or coalition of the Republican party with the
opposition of the South, and clearly proved the correctness
of his ground, in point of policy. They must retain their
sectional organization and sectional character, and continue
to wage their sectional warfare by slavery agitation; but if
the opposition South would accede to their view and adopt
their doctrines, he was willing to run for President in 1860,
a Southern man with Northern principles, or in other words,
with abolition proclivities. His speech was of the character
of an exhortation to the Republican party, but was in reality
as good a speech as could have been made for the interest of
the Democracy. He was listened to with much attention, for his
Waterloo defeat by Douglas has magnified him into quite a lion
here.”
Transcriber’s Notes
Old English lettering on the pages preceding the Table of Contents
is represented here within =equals signs=.
Punctuation, hyphenation, and spelling were made consistent when a
predominant preference was found in the original book; otherwise they
were not changed.
Simple typographical errors were corrected; unbalanced quotation
marks were remedied when the change was obvious, and otherwise left
unbalanced.
Illustrations in this eBook have been positioned between paragraphs
and outside quotations. In versions of this eBook that support
hyperlinks, the page references in the List of Illustrations lead to
the corresponding illustrations.
Running page headers are shown here as Sidenotes, usually positioned
just above the paragraph they summarize. When such Sidenotes summarize
footnotes, they are positioned above the paragraphs that referenced
those footnotes.
This is Volume I of a two-volume set. The Index for both volumes is
at the end of Volume II, and that volume also is available at
Project Gutenberg.
Page 196: “drouth” (drought) was printed that way, and in use in the
1800s.
Page 206: “5 1-2 o’clock” was printed that way.