No one doubted after this that Lincoln could defend himself. He became
doubly respected as an opponent, for his reputation for good-humored
raillery had been established in his campaigns. In a speech made in
January he gave another evidence of his skill in the use of ridicule.
A resolution had been offered by Mr. Linder to institute an inquiry
into the management of the affairs of the State bank. Lincoln's
remarks on the resolution form his first reported speech. This speech
has been unnoticed by his biographers hitherto; and it appears in none
of the editions of his speeches and letters. It was discovered in the
"Sangamo Journal" for January 28, 1837, by Mr. J. McCan Davis, in the
course of a search through the files instituted by this Magazine.
[Illustration: MARY L. OWENS.
Born in Kentucky in 1808. Lincoln first met Miss Owens in 1833 at
New Salem, where she made a short visit. In 1836 she came back to New
Salem, and a warm friendship sprang up between them. The question
of marriage was discussed in a disinterested way. Miss Owens left
Illinois in 1838, and in 1841 she married a Mr. Jesse Vineyard. The
letters written to her by Mr. Lincoln she herself gave to Mr. Herndon
for publication.]
Lincoln began these remarks by good-humored but nettling chaffing of
his opponent.
"Mr. Chairman," he said: "Lest I should fall into the too
common error of being mistaken in regard to which side I
design to be upon, I shall make it my first care to remove
all doubt on that point, by declaring that I am opposed to the
resolution under consideration, _in toto_. Before I proceed to
the body of the subject, I will further remark, that it is not
without a considerable degree of apprehension that I venture
to cross the track of the gentleman from Coles [Mr. Linder].
Indeed, I do not believe I could muster a sufficiency of
courage to come in contact with that gentleman, were it
not for the fact that he, some days since, most graciously
condescended to assure us that he would never be found wasting
ammunition on _small game_. On the same fortunate occasion he
further gave us to understand that he regarded _himself_
as being decidedly the _superior_ of our common friend from
Randolph [Mr. Shields]; and feeling, as I really do, that I,
to say the most of myself, am nothing more than the peer of
our friend from Randolph, I shall regard the gentleman from
Coles as decidedly my superior also; and consequently, in
the course of what I shall have to say, whenever I shall have
occasion to allude to that gentleman I shall endeavor to adopt
that kind of court language which I understand to be due to
decided superiority. In one faculty, at least, there can be no
dispute of the gentleman's superiority over me, and most other
men; and that is, the faculty of entangling a subject so that
neither himself, or any other man, can find head or tail to
it."
[Illustration: LINCOLN AND HIS SON THOMAS, FAMILIARLY KNOWN AS "TAD."