one of the two best things he ever originated was this. He was trying
a cause in Illinois where he appeared for a prisoner charged with
aggravated assault and battery. The complainant had told a horrible
story of the attack, which his appearance fully justified, when
the district attorney handed the witness over to Mr. Lincoln for
cross-examination. Mr. Lincoln said he had no testimony, and unless
he could break down the complainant's story he saw no way out. He had
come to the conclusion that the witness was a bumptious man, who rather
prided himself upon his smartness in repartee, and so, after looking at
him for some minutes, he inquired, 'Well, my friend, what ground did you
and my client here fight over?' The fellow answered, 'About six acres.'
'Well,' said Mr. Lincoln,'don't you think this is an almighty small crop
of fight to gather from such a big piece of ground?' The jury laughed,
the court and district attorney and complainant all joined in, and the
case was laughed out of court."
III
A GREAT ORATOR AND HIS SPEECHES
The fame of Abraham Lincoln as an orator was made secure by his debate
with Douglas in 1858, his political speech at Cooper Institute in
February, 1860, his oration at the dedication of the Soldiers' Cemetery
at Gettysburg in 1863, and his second inaugural address in March, 1865.
Neither of these four distinct examples of argument and eloquence has
ever been surpassed in their separate fields. That was the judgment of
his contemporaries, and it is confirmed by the succeeding generation,
not only of his own countrymen, but of competent critics throughout the
English-speaking world. His style commanded the highest praise from the
French Academy. It was commended as a model for the imitation of princes.
His debate with Douglas was a gladiatorial combat between oratorical
Titans. It had no precedent and has not been repeated. His speech
at Cooper Institute, as an example of political reasoning, made him
pre-eminent upon what the Americans call the "stump." His historical
analysis, concise statement, faultless logic, and irresistible
conclusions made it a model which has been studied and imitated by
campaign speakers ever since its delivery. The brief oration at
Gettysburg, covering only thirty lines of print, ranks with the noblest
utterances of human lips. No orator of ancient or modern times produced
purer rhetoric, more beautiful sentiment, or elegant diction.
Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "Many passages in his letters, messages, and
speeches ... are destined to wide fame. What pregnant definitions,
what unerring common sense, what foresight, and on great occasions
what lofty and, more than national, what human tones. His brief speech
at Gettysburg will not easily be surpassed by words on any recorded
occasion."
The occasion was the dedication of the battle-field as a soldiers'
cemetery, November 19, 1863. Edward Everett delivered a masterly
oration, and President Lincoln, being present, was introduced for a few
remarks. With profound earnestness and solemnity he spoke five minutes
to a breathless audience. His remarks were so brief that it is possible
and appropriate to include them here. They could not be considered out
of place in any volume of literature on any subject. They cannot be
printed or read too often:
"Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this
continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the
proposition that all men are created equal.
"Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation,
or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met
on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion
of that field as a final resting-place for those who here gave their
lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper
that we should do this.
"But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate--we cannot consecrate--we
cannot hallow--this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who
struggled here have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or
detract. The world will little note nor long remember what we say here,
but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us, the living,
rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who
fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be
here dedicated to the great task remaining before us--that from these
honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they
gave the last full measure of devotion; that we here highly resolve that
these dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation, under God,
shall have a new birth of freedom; and that government of the people, by
the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."
The next day Mr. Everett, who was considered one of the most
accomplished of American orators, sent Lincoln a note in which he said,--
"Permit me to express my great admiration of the thoughts expressed
by you with such eloquence, simplicity, and appropriateness at the
consecration of the cemetery. I should be glad if I could flatter myself
that I came as near to the central idea of the occasion in two hours as
you did in two minutes."
It has always been a popular impression that Lincoln's speech was
written upon the cars, _en route_ to Gettysburg from Washington on
the morning of the ceremonies, but General Fry, of the army, who was
detailed from the War Department as his escort on that occasion and was
with him every moment, says that he has no recollection of seeing him
writing or even reading a manuscript, nor was there any opportunity
during the journey for him to do so. Colonel Hay, his private secretary,
says that he wrote out a brief speech at the White House before leaving
Washington, and, as usual on such occasions, committed it to memory; but
the inspiration of the scene led him to make material changes, and the
version given here, copied from Nicolay and Hay's Biography, was written
out by the President himself after his return. While it may not be
exact, it is nearly accurate.
The _London Times_ pronounced Lincoln's second inaugural address to be
the most sublime state paper of the century. Equally competent critics
have called it a masterpiece of political literature. The following
extract will show its style and sentiment:
"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 men 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
prayers of both could not be answered--that of neither has been answered
fully. The Almighty has his own purposes. 'Woe unto the world because of
offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man
by whom the offence cometh.' If we shall suppose that American slavery
is one of those offences which, in the providence of God, must needs
come, but which, having continued through his appointed time, he now
wills to remove, and that he gives to both North and South this terrible
war, as the woe due to those by whom the offence came, shall we discern
therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers
in a living God always ascribe to him? Fondly do we hope--fervently do
we pray--that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if
God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondman's
two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until
every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn
with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must
be said, 'The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.'
"With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the
right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to 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 orphan--to
do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among
ourselves, and with all nations."
General Sherman described it accurately when he said, "I have seen and
heard many of the famous orators of the century, but Lincoln's speeches
surpassed them all. They have never been equalled. It was not his
scholarship; it was not rhetoric; it was not elocution; it was the
unaffected and spontaneous eloquence of the heart. There was nothing of
the mountain-torrent in his manner; it was rather the calm flow of the
river."
Lincoln's own comments upon his inaugural address, like everything he
ever said about himself, are unique. In reply to a complimentary letter
from Thurlow Weed, he wrote, "I expect the latter to wear as well as,
perhaps better than, anything I have produced; but I believe it is not
immediately popular. Men are not flattered by being shown that there
has been a difference of purpose between the Almighty and them. To deny
it, however, in this case, is to deny that there is a God governing the
world. It is a truth which I thought needed to be told, and, as whatever
of humiliation there is in it falls most directly on myself, I thought
others might afford for me to tell it."
Messrs. Hay and Nicolay, who were nearer to him and knew him better than
any other men, say, "Nothing would more have amazed Mr. Lincoln than
to hear himself called a man of letters; but this age had produced few
greater writers. Emerson ranks him with Æsop; Montalembert commends his
style as a model for princes. It is true that in his writing the range
of subjects is not great. He was chiefly concerned with the political
problems of the time and the moral considerations involved in them. But
the range of treatment is remarkably wide, running from the wit, the
gay humor, the florid eloquence of his stump speeches to the marvellous
sententiousness and brevity of the address at Gettysburg and the
sustained and lofty grandeur of his second inaugural; while many of his
phrases have already passed into the daily use of mankind."
But he made other speeches, equally admirable, and some of them
unsurpassed by the greatest political or platform orators. Wendell
Phillips, Henry Ward Beecher, Robert G. Ingersoll, James G. Blaine,
Benjamin Harrison, and others who have gained fame for oratory have
each given testimony for the simple yet sublime eloquence of the great
master. Many critics consider Lincoln's Peoria speech of 1854 the ablest
political argument ever delivered, and assert that no master of logic in
the world could have answered it. One of its epigrams has been quoted
thousands of times. "When the white man governs himself," he said,
"that, I acknowledge, is self-government; but when the white man governs
himself and another man besides, that I call despotism."
If Lincoln had been born in old England or in New England, if he had
been educated at a university, if he had spent his childhood and youth
in luxury and under refining influences, he might have been a greater
orator, statesman, and politician than he was, but a nature and a mind
like his required the discipline and conditions which he passed through
to attain their full development. It is an interesting subject of
speculation, concerning other self-taught men as well as Lincoln; but,
as a rule, the most powerful minds and the most influential characters
have been without the training of the schools, and by contact with
gentler and refining influences Lincoln might have acquired polish at
the cost of his rugged greatness, his quaint habits of thought and
odd but effective phrases, the homely illustrations, and the shrewd
faculty of appealing to the simple every-day experience of the people
to convince them of the force of his facts and the soundness of his
reasoning. His logic was always as clear as his candor. He never failed
to state the argument of his adversary as fairly and as forcefully as
his own. His power of analysis was extraordinary. He used the simplest
words in the language, but they strengthened every case he stated,
and no fact, or anecdote, or argument ever lost force or effect from
his style of presentation. It has frequently been asserted--and his
speeches, state papers, and private correspondence are sufficient
proof--that he could state a proposition more clearly and forcibly than
any man of his time; yet his language was that of "the plain people,"
as he used to call them. This faculty was doubtless due to his early
experience among the illiterate classes on the frontier, and certain
errors of grammar and construction which are familiar to all who have
lived among that portion of the population frequently occurred in his
compositions. At one time during his early days as a speaker he adopted
the flamboyant redundancy of style that is still popular in the South
and certain parts of the West, and often used many of the familiar
tricks of emotional orators; but his own common sense and the advice
of Judge Logan, his law partner, soon corrected this fault, and he
studied a simpler style which was much more effective. If he had been
less gifted in language he would have been quite as clear in statement,
quite as persuasive in his presentation of an argument, because he aimed
not to excite admiration, but to be understood. His earnestness was not
intended to excite the emotions, but to appeal to the reasoning powers
of the persons addressed, and his knowledge of human nature taught him
how the mind of the average man worked. At the same time he could reach
the most accomplished scholar and the most thoughtful philosopher. For
example, his letters in explanation of his delay in proclaiming freedom
to the slaves, especially that addressed to Mr. Greeley in 1863, are
masterpieces of clear and forcible writing.
One reason for Lincoln's power over his audiences was his intense
sincerity. He carried his conscience into every discussion, he took no
position that he did not believe was right, and he made no statements
that he did not believe to be fair and true. Another was the sympathy
he excited; when he related a story he laughed all over, and his own
enjoyment was so contagious that the effect was greatly increased.
He once said to Mr. Depew, in reference to some criticisms which had
been made upon his story-telling, "They say I tell a great many stories;
I reckon I do, but I have found in the course of a long experience that
common people"--repeating it--"common people, take them as they run,
are more easily influenced and informed through the medium of a broad
illustration than in any other way, and as to what the hypercritical few
may think I don't care."
His pathos was quite as effective as his humor. His natural tenderness,
his affectionate disposition, his poetic temperament, his sympathy for
the weak and the sorrowful, and his comprehensive love of all that was
good inspired him with a power to touch the hearts of the people as no
other man in this country has ever been able to do. James H. McVicker,
the famous actor, once told the author that the most marvellous
exhibition of elocution he ever witnessed was Lincoln's recitation of
the Lord's Prayer, and said that Lincoln told him at the time that it
was the sublimest composition in the English language.
Lincoln had the advantage of a photographic memory which could retain
almost any passage in literature, and he was able to repeat long
passages from Shakespeare and other plays and poems which pleased him.
It was only necessary for him to read them over once or twice and they
remained in his memory forever. He developed this faculty early in life,
and it was the greatest enjoyment allowed the humble people among whom
he lived to hear him recite passages from the books he had read and
declaim selections from "The Kentucky Preceptor," which was a standard
text-book in those days. He could repeat with effect all the poems and
speeches in other school-readers, and his talent at mimicry furnished
amusement for the neighborhood. The traditions of Gentryville tell us
that the neighbors seldom gathered for a "raising," or a "quilting,"
or a "paring," or a "husking-bee" without hearing Abe Lincoln "take
off" the itinerant preachers and politicians whose peculiarities had
attracted his attention and appealed to his sense of humor. He attended
all the trials in the neighborhood, and frequently walked fifteen miles
to the town of Boonevile when court was in session there. His faculty
was so well known in that part of the State that the lawyers and others
who gathered on such occasions would invariably induce him to make a
stump speech or imitate some backwoods orator. His essays and rhymes
were much admired, and an itinerant Baptist preacher was so impressed
with one of his speeches on temperance that he sent it to friends in
Ohio, where it was published in a newspaper; the first of his writings
to appear in print. Another essay on "National Politics," written when
he was nineteen, gave him great local reputation for literary talent.
One of the lawyers who practised in that circuit and was considered a
very high authority declared that "the world couldn't beat it."
It is also related that he frequently interrupted harvesting, threshing,
and other business events which drew the neighbors together by
delivering political speeches, burlesquing local orators and preachers,
and repeating doggerels of his own composition that referred to local
affairs. His humor often exceeded his discretion, and we are told of
coarse satires and rhymes which excited the amusement and admiration of
a community, but did him no credit. Sometimes these ebullitions of wit
involved him in trouble, particularly on two occasions when he wrote
some verses about the deformed nose of his employer, of which the owner
was very sensitive.
Lincoln never attempted serious oratory until he went to New Salem,
where he discovered Shakespeare and Burns, whose writings had a
powerful influence upon his literary style and taste. These eminent
authorities were introduced to him by a worthless loafer and fisherman
named Jack Kelso, who was too lazy to work, but had a love of learning
and literature and an unusually good education for his time and
surroundings. Mutual tastes brought the two together, and Lincoln would
sit evening after evening on the porch of Offutt's store or lie all
day Sunday on the ground under the shade of a tree listening to Kelso
discourse upon his favorite authors and repeat over and over the poems
of Burns and fine passages from Shakespeare which he had committed to
memory long before. There is no doubt that Burns, Shakespeare, and Kelso
seriously interfered with the grocery business and contributed to the
financial disaster which terminated Lincoln's first and only commercial
enterprise. It was a long time before he obtained copies of his favorite
poets, but no books were prized more highly by any man.
Lincoln's first experience in debate was gained while he was a clerk in
Offutt's store and attended the meetings of a debating club, which were
held at different places in the neighborhood and sometimes so far away
that he was compelled to walk seven or eight miles for the privilege.
He used to call it "practising polemics." Occasionally the club met in
a vacant store at New Salem, and Lincoln's first serious speech was
delivered on one of those occasions.
His first political speech was delivered at Pappsville, where a
crowd had been attracted by an auction sale. He was then beginning
his first campaign for the Legislature, and although his remarks are
not remembered, an incident of the occasion remains one of the most
precious heritages of that neighborhood. While he was speaking, one of
his friends became involved in a fight on the edge of the audience,
and when the orator saw that he was getting the worst of it, Lincoln
suspended his remarks, jumped from the dry-goods box which served as
his platform, seized the assailant of his friend by the collar and the
seat of his trousers, threw him ten or twelve feet, resumed his place,
and finished his argument.
In the reminiscences of Joshua Speed, who was perhaps the most intimate
friend Lincoln ever knew, is an account of a great mass-meeting at
Springfield at which Lincoln made a speech that produced a lasting
impression and "used up" George Forquer, a prominent lawyer and
politician, so completely that he was practically driven out of the
campaign. Forquer had been a Whig, but changed his politics, and was
rewarded by the Democrats with an appointment as Register of the United
States Land Office. He owned and occupied one of the finest houses in
Springfield and attached to its chimney the only lightning-rod in that
part of the State. Forquer had made a long address at the meeting and
Lincoln had been assigned to the duty of answering him. Forquer alluded
to this arrangement in a contemptuous manner, and spoke slightingly of
Lincoln's youth and inexperience. When Lincoln came to reply he admitted
his youth and inexperience, which, he added, were faults that would be
corrected by time, and then said,--
"I am not so young in years as I am in the tricks and trade of the
politician; but whether I live long or die young, I would rather die
now than change my politics for an office worth three thousand dollars
a year, and have to erect a lightning-rod over my house to protect my
conscience from an offended God."
The people of Springfield appreciated this hit so keenly and quoted
it so freely that Forquer was compelled to retire from the canvass to
escape ridicule.
From this time on Lincoln was always on the stump whenever there was a
political contest in Central Illinois, and was recognized as one of the
ablest, as he was one of the most popular and effective, campaigners.
His speeches began to show maturer intellect, a more careful study and
expanding power, and his hold upon his friends and his influence in his
party and with the public at large were increasing with every political
campaign. As early as 1837, when he was a candidate for Speaker of the
Lower House of the Legislature, he had acquired considerable reputation.
In the fall of that year, with a few other young men of Springfield,
he organized a lyceum for mutual improvement, and his ability was
recognized when he was the first of its members to be invited to make a
public address, which was carefully prepared and delivered in January,
1838. The subject was "The Perpetuation of our Political Institutions,"
and it created such an impression that it was published in full in the
_Sangamon Journal_, February 3, 1838. Few men of twenty-nine years,
with the advantage of a university education and a complete library
for reference, could produce so profound and statesmanlike a paper,
and his philosophical analysis of the principles of the Declaration of
Independence and his conception of the political duty of the citizen
were remarkable for their truth and force.
Lincoln had acquired such great fame as a speaker that in 1840 he was
named upon the Harrison electoral ticket, with the stipulation that
he should canvass the State. He was then only thirty-one years old,
but was regarded as the ablest of the Whig stumpers in Illinois. In
the Clay campaign of 1844, in the Taylor campaign of 1848, and in the
Scott campaign of 1852 he devoted almost his entire time to political
work, for which he received no compensation. Ambitious politicians and
loyal party men were expected to contribute their services free and pay
their own expenses in those days, and while Lincoln's pocket suffered,
his fame and popularity spread, and he had the satisfaction of knowing
that in all the State no man possessed the confidence of the public so
completely as he and none was listened to with more attention or greater
respect. In 1856, during the Frémont campaign, he was recognized as the
foremost leader on the Republican side, and had a narrow escape from
being nominated for Vice-President.
While in Congress he made three set speeches in the Hall of
Representatives, all carefully prepared and written out. The first was
an elaborate defence of Whig doctrines and an historical discussion
of the Mexican War, the next was on the general subject of internal
improvement, and the third was a humorous and satirical criticism of
General Cass, the Democratic candidate for President. All of these
speeches were printed in pamphlet form for home circulation and were not
intended to influence the action of the House. His first participation
in debate was, however, a great success. Soon after the Presidential
campaign of 1848 opened, Representative Iverson, of Georgia, accused the
Whigs of "having taken shelter under the military coat-tails of General
Taylor," their Presidential candidate. This seemed to touch Lincoln's
sense of humor, and he made a brief reply, taking "Military Coat-Tails"
as his text. Ben Perley Poore, the famous newspaper correspondent, who
was then in his prime, describes the scene as follows: