ADDRESS DELIVERED BY THE Hon. a. B. HUNT ON THE LIFE AND TIMES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN AT THE FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH OF ALAMEDA. SUNDAY EVE.. FEB. 12. 1899 It being the 89th Anniversary of the BIRTH OF Abraham Lincoln 6 Lincolnlanl o< Address Mr. Hunt said: Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen, — if there is anything in this world that will inspire a man to make a magnificient speech, it is the subject this evening, and this grand audience that I see before me. I shall not endeavor to talk to 3-011 in a lauda- tory st3^1e. I am a little too old to commence that st3de of orator3', and if I were to attempt it, I am posi- tiveh' certain that I would make an absolute failure. I want to talk to 3'ou exactl3- as I think Abraham Lincoln would like to hear me talk if he were here. I want to talk to 3'Ou in a sensible, quiet, colloquial manner, and I want to tell you as many facts as I can. Abraham Lincoln's ancestors and his parents were the poorest of the poor. The3' belonged to a class in those da3^s called poor whites. The3' had no political recognition or distinction, and but ver3' little social position. After Mr. Lincoln had been nominated for President, a reporter from the Chicago Tribune went down to Springfield, and he said to Mv. Lincoln I think 3'Ou had better give me the historv of 3^our earlv life, and I will write it up, and it will- make a good cam- paign document. Said Mr. Lincoln, ''There is not a thing in m3' ear^- life that would interest a single human being; there is nothing of it; it is all told in one line of Gray's Elegv, and that is 'The short and simple annals of the poor.'" 2 Daniel Boone left the State of Virginia in the 3'ear 1769, and went into what was known as the "far west", west of the Bine Ridge Mountains, and return- ed in a couple of years, and told fabulous stories of the wonderful country that he had visited. Eleven 3^ears later, in 1780, Abraham Lincoln, the grand-father of the President, emigrated with his family, consisting of his wife and five children — two daughters and three sons, with their neighbors across the mountains, and settled in what was known afterwards as Hardin Coun- ty, Kentuck}'. This was in 17S0. Four years later, in 1784, while Abraham Lincoln was at work in the field, he was shot dead by an Indian, who approached him unawares. The three sons he left were Mordecai, Josiali and Thomas, their ages being in the order named. Josiah had gone to a neighboring fort for assistance, and Mordecai ran to the log cabin and got a rifle, and from between the logs shot the Indian dead. Thomas, the father of the President, was then six years of age, and \ras standing by the body of his father when the Indian was killed. The family continued to reside in Hardin Coun- t\^ until 1S06, when 'I'homas Lincoln was married to Nanc}' Hanks. A daughter was born; then a sou, and the son's name was Abraham Lincoln, and were he alive to-day, he would be ninet}' years of age. They continued to live "in Kentucky until 1816, when Thomas Lincoln, with his family, removed to Indiana, to what was then known as Spencer County, at a place called Pigeon Creek, subseqnenth' called Gentr^-ville. There he lived for two vears, when the mother of Abraham Lincoln sickened and died. vShe was buried 3 out upon the hillside, and the next spring when a preacher came along from Kentucky, he preached her funeral sermon. A little more than one 3^ear later, Thomas Lincoln, the father of Abraham Lincoln, went back to the State of Kentucky and married Mrs. Sarah Johnson. She had three children, one son and two daughters. She was the widow of Daniel Johnson, who was the former jailer of Hardin County. They moved with her children to Spencer County, Indiana, where the daughter and son of Mr. Lincoln had remained. Here, it is due to her to say that Mrs. Lincoln, the step- mother, made a good mother to the children of Thomas Lincoln. She lived to a good old age. She lived to see her step-son the President of the United States. She died on the loth day of April, 1869. Abraham Lincoln's father, Thomas Lincoln, lived to be past 70 years of age, and he died in Illinois in Cole County on the 17th day of January, 185 1. The early school days of Abraham Lincoln were few. He went to school a while in Kentucky, and he probably learned to read. This schooling and what he received in the State of Indiana was all the school- ing he ever liad. Probably one year would cover his entire school da3\s. At school in Indiana- he studied Pike's Arithmetic, Murr3''s Grammar and Webster's Spelling Book, and very early developed a precocity for reading. He read everything in sight. In those daj'S it did not take long to read everything. It is asserted that he read the Bil)lc, Easop's Fables, and Robinson Crusoe, and what bo^- did not read Robinson Crusoe? He read the Life of Washington, and the History of 4 the United States, and the first law book he ever read was the Statutes of Indiana. At eleven years of age he commenced to grow ph3-sicall3' at a rapid and astonishing rate, and when he was i6 j^ears of age he shot right up, and before he w^as 17 3'ears of age, his height was 6 feet 2 inches. The people about Gentrj-ville w^here the Lincolns lived were a good natured, prosperous class of settlers. It is said that the whole count}' M-ould turn out to a log rolling, to attend church, or to a social dance. It ma}^ astonish 3'ou a little, but I will have to tell 3'ou that in those da3'S when the3' attended those social gatherings in that countr3', the ladies all took their wdiisky toddies, but the men went them one better, the3' took their whisk3^ straight. They w^ere brim fulb running over with superstition, and it would not have been health3' for a man to have lived in that couiitr}' in those da3^s, and in this regard to have disagreed wath the other settlers. The}- thought that the flight of a bird in at a window, or the crossing of a hunter's path bv a dog, or tlie breath of a horse upon a child's head, to be a token of bad luck to somebodv, and to commence a work on Friday was to be followed with certain and sure disaster. I'ence rails could only be split bv the light of the moon, and ]:)()tatocs ])lanlcd bv the full of the moon, and as I sav, the whole couutrv was submerged in superstition. The point I want to make right here, is that this state of things so impressed itself u})on the mind f)f 3'oung Lincoln that it never left him. It iollowed him to the grave. It shows von how lasting the earlv impressions are upon ihc vouug. It was said b}- his 5 law partner, "Sir. Herndou, that on the da}- Lincoln left Springfield, in talking over their business, on the eve of going to Washington, he said to Mr. Herndon, "I shall never return to Springfield; that is fixed upon niv mind," and for years before his death he believed that he would die a tragic death. Mr. Wells, the Secretary of the Nav\% and a member of Mr. Lincoln's cabinet, is authorit}^ for the statement, that on the afternoon before his assassination, when the last meeting of the cabinet was held, and as thc}^ were about to separate Mr. Lincoln said ''We are going to hear verv shorth' of some great national event." He did not speak it in a manner as though it referred to himself, but only as an impression that was fixed upon his mind, and when he was asked why he so thought, he said "I had a dream last night, and I have dreamed that same dream before every great battle of the war," and they asked him what it was, and he said ''I dreamt I was aboard a ship and moving with great rapidity towards a dark and indefinable shore." In 1830 Air. Lincoln was 21 vears of age, on the 1 2th day of February, and on the ist of March, following, the famil}- — the daughter, vSarali Lincoln, having died a few years previous — consisting of Thomas Lincoln, the father, the step-mother, her son and two daughters and their families, started from Gen- tryville in Spencer County, to go further west. The father of Abraham Lincoln was in debt, his lands were mortgaged, and he had to go; the\' loaded their house- hold goods into a lumber wagon, got into the wagon, hitched two voke of oxen to it, and Abraham Lincoln drove the oxen" until they got to Illinois, and there 6 the}' settled, Abraham Lincoln clcarino np the gronnd with Dennis Hanks, one of their relations, and there he and Dennis Hanks split three thonsand fence rails. Thomas Lincoln set to work resolntel}', and bnilt him a log cabin, and there the famil\- started to live. Two 3'ears later Abraham Lincoln enlisted in the Black Hawk War. There was no particular idea of patriotism about that. He never contended that there was. He went to the War, and the boys elected him Captain of his company, and he and the company served the time of their enlistment and then most of the compau}' went home. Lincoln being out of a job, re-enlisted and sta3'ed a little while longer. Then he went back to Sangamon County, and there he settled in what was called New Salem, on Sangamon River. It was a prosperous village, and there was some navi- gation on the river, and the first afternoon he arrived there he was chosen Clerk of an Election Board, and before night he captured the whole town by telling- Indiana varus. There was a man there by the name of Denton Offut, and he run a steamboat cm the river, and he eot Lincoln to cro down on his flat boat to New Orleans, and he went down and came back. I will have to tell you a little incident right here, because it illustrates the character of Lincolu, as well as anvthiug. It is said th.at when Mr. Lincoln got mad, which he very seldom did, thai he was mad all over, and people had to look out and get out of the way. There was a settlement called Clary's Grove, souie. fi\e or six miles from New Salem. There was a rough crowd wyi there and they used to go down to New vSalem, and in the language of those days, clean 7 out the town, and woe to the store-keeper or grocer}-- man and his little shanty, if it was their idea to attack it. Denton Offut said a fellow by the name of Arm- strong, who rilled that part of the country in that sec- tion was not as good as Abraham Lincoln, and the Clary's Grove crowd heard of it and a wrestling match was arranged between Armstrong and Lincoln, and the settlers bet their coon skins upon one or the other. It was about an even thing when they were wrestling, but Abraham Lincoln thought he detected an unfair advantage being taken by Armstrong, and he took him by the nape of the neck with his long arms, and shook him verv much the way that a black-and-tan terrier would shake a rat if he got mad at him. Abraham Lincoln from that time was the hero of the bo3'S, and the hero of the town. Years rolled on, and the Arm- strong familv was a friend of Mr. Lincoln from the da}^ of the wrestling match to the day of his death. Years afterwards, one of the Armstrong boys was ar- rested for murder, and thev went to Lincoln, and want- ed him to defend him, and he did defend him, and he cleared him, and I will tell vou a little thing here — it shows the ingenuity and keenness of Mr. Lincoln. A witness swore that he saw the fatal blow struck in the night time in a full moon, and that he could not be mistaken. Air. Lincoln pressed him, question after question, and made him state this fact a great number of times, then ]\Ir. Lincoln drew an old almanac out, and asked him what time the moon set that night; the witness was confounded because the almanac showed that the moon had been down two hours, and was set when he swore that the defendant struck the fatal blow 8 and committed the murder. The first political office that Mr. Lincoln lield was that of Post Master. President Jackson appointed him Post Master of New Salem, and it is said that he used to carry the post office around in his hat. It was the onl}' post office they had in those days. Somebody persuaded him to stud}- surveying, and he concluded he would, and he studied it, and became a good sur- veyor, and became deputy County Surveyor of San- gamon Count}', and when he would go on a surveying- trip, he would take letters to the people in the country. In 1S32 he was a candidate for the Legislature, and was beaten, and in ICS34 he was again a candidate, and was elected from New Salem. He did not cut any figure in that Legislature. He sat quietl}' and listened to what was done; in other words, he took in the situa- tion. He returned home, and the next two years, 1836, he was re-elected to the Legi'=;lature. And right here, I want to tell you, in my judgement it marked a start- ing point in the life of Abraham Lincoln, iind I will tell you why. In that Legislature there were 9 mem- bers from Sangamon County. There were 2 senators and 7 asseml)lvmen. One of the senators was John 'l\ Stewart, afterwards a member of Congress. Mr. Lincoln studied law at times, and lie would walk from New Salem a do/en or fifteen miles to Spring- field, and get a law l)()ok of j\lr. Stewart, and walk l)ack again, to study law the best he could. Stewart took a liking to him, and afterwards tcok liim in as a partner. Now, then, for the Legislature of 1836. There were the nine members from vSangamon Countw Thcv 9 were known as the long nine, becanse there was not a man of them that was less than 6 feet in height, and the average weight was more than two hnndred ponnds, and they jnst carried that Legislatnre by storm. An^'- thing the}' wanted done, was done. Abraham Lincoln was the chief of them all. They looked np to him. The}^ recognized him as snch. It was said b}' those who talked abont legislatnres sometimes in those days, that Abraham Lincoln was the cunningest member, and had the longest head in that Legislatnre. The ^^Ji^g nine were capable of doing anything. The}- wanted to move the capitol, and they conclnded they wonld take it to Springfield. IHoomington wanted it, and half a dozen other towns concluded thev wonld have it, and twice the bill was laid on the table, and defeated. However, the Legislature, on the da}- before it ad- journed, took up the bill, and it was passed, removing the capitol of Illinois from the village or city of Yan- dalia to Springfield, and there it remains to-day. Right here I want to tell you, and I will read to yon, but I shall not read much, that in those days to be called an anti-slavery- man was about the same as b^ing called in that country a petty larceny thief. Some pro-slavery resolutions were adopted by the Leg- islature. They were snch as you might imagine they would be, and the day before the Legislature adjourned Abraham Lincoln concluded, he not having voted on those resolutions, that he would file a protest and that it should go on record in the assembly. He tried to get the long nine to back him up, but they would not, and that was the long and short of it. There was one man however of the long nine who did, and he was lO Dan Stone, one of the members from Springfield. I have got a cop}- of that protest here, and I am going to read it to vou. Remember this was placed npon the records of the General Assembly of Illinois on the . 3rd day of March, 1837, and I now read it — Protest of Lincoln and Stone. "Resolutions upon the subject of domestic slavery having passed both branches of the General Assembly' at its present session, the undersigned hereby' protest against the passage of the same." The}' believe that the institution of slavery was founded on both injustice and bad policy, but that the promulgation of abolition doctrines tends rather to increase than abate its evils. They believe that the Congress of the United States has no power under the Constitution to interfere with the institution of slavery in the different States. They believe that the Congress of the United States has the power under the Constitution to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia, but that the power ought not to be exercised unless at the request of the people of the District. The difference between ^lese opinions and those contained in the above resolutions is their reason for entering this protest. Dan. Stone. A. Lincoln. Representatives from the county of vSangamon. I tell yon that it is a sign-board — a gnide board in the life of Mr. Lincoln. Tlie Legislatnre adjotirned on the next day, which was the 4th day of March, 1837, and twenty-fonr years from that day Abraham II Lincoln was inaugurated President of the United States of America. When I was a boy — that was some time ago, I lived in New York State, and there was what we called the main road. My mother's farm was on that road. There were cross-roads about every three-quarters of a mile crossing the main road at right angles, and there w^as one farm between my mother's farm and the corner. On the corner where the cross-road intersected the main road stood a guide board and it said "28 miles to Jamestown." I used to wonder if I would ever go to Jamestown. Well, I never did, but at one time I went by there some thirt}- or forty miles distant. Do yen know what was on those resolutions at the time they were filed in the General Assembly, but no one saw it? I can imagine what was then written between those lines by the hand uf destinv. It was "24 years to the White House and Abraham Lincoln President of the United States of America." Mr. Lincoln, when the Legislature was over, went back to New vSalem. He studied law, and Mr. Stewart said he would take him in and make him a partner, and so he went down to Springfield to see if he could get a place to live. He went into the store of Joshua F. Speed, an enterprising young merchant, who was there from Kentucky, and he asked Speed what it would cost to fit up a room for him to live in, and Speed figured it up, and he made it out $17. Well, said Mr. Lincoln, ''as little as that is, I have not the money to pay it; if you will trust me till Christmas, and I make a go of the law business here, I will pay 3'ou, and if I do uot, you probably never will get your 12 pay in this world." Why, Speed looked up at him, and he said that he never saw so melanchol}- a look upon the face of a man in his life as Lincoln then had. It seemed as though he felt as if he did not have a friend on earth. Speed said '']Mr. Lincoln, you need not bother about that; if you will occupy the room I have got up stairs with me. there is a good big bed in it, and it is a good large room, and it shall not cost you a cent." Lincoln asked *^'How do 3'ou get up there?" Speed said '^Go up those stairs." So, Abe started up with a few clothes in his satchel, and a law book or two, and ver}- soon he came down with as good natured and as beaming a face as nortal man ever had, and he said, ''Well, Speed, Tve moved." Well, he had moved. There was a man by the name of William Butler, a man of wealth, and he had taken great inter- est in the removal of the capitol from Vandalia to* Springfield^ and he offered to board Mr. Lincoln, and he lived there with Butler for years, and his biographer says the idea of compensation never entered the head of Butler. Lincoln was then full fledged in the law, and around about Springfield at that time there were a lot of \'oung men, the like of which has never been seen in the United States since that day. There was a crowd of practicing attorneys in and around Spring- field then unknown to fame who afterward became dis- tinguished, and whose lives became a part of this great nation. There was' Abraham Lincoln, the President of the United States. There was Stephen A. Douglas^ a candidate for the presidency of the United States^ and he received, when Mr. Lincoln was elected, the 13 next highest vote, and was for man}- j^ears a United States Senator. There was O. H, Browning, many years afterwards a United States Senator. There was John A. McDougall, who became Attorne\' General of the State of Illinois, and subsequently a United States Senator from the State of California. There was Ed- ward D. Baker, afterwards a member of Congress from Illinois, and a United States Senator from Oregon, and was killed while a Colonel in the Civil \\'ar, at Ball's Bluff. There was Iv3'man Trumbull, i8 years a United States Senator from the State of Illinois. There was James Shields, a United States Senator from tlie State of Illinois. There was David Davis, appointed by President Lincoln to a seat upon the Supreme Bench of the United States, and subsequenth^ chosen a United States Senator from Illinois. And I might name many more of them that were then in and about Springfield. They used to hold their debates, and it was generallv iu Speed's store, and they got into a wrangle there one night, and Stephen A. Douglas, magnetic and feiocious jumped up and says ''this is no place to talk politics; we will talk it out in the Presbyterian Church." It was a bluff you know. Abe Lincoln said "we will discuss it," and the}- started right in, and it was decided who should talk first, and Lincoln was tlie last one to talk on his side, and they were a week at it, and when they got through Lincoln had the biggest audience of them all, and the}' printed his speech in the Springfield Journal. I have got to hurr}'. There is a great deal to be said. This was in 1836 and 1837. ^^^ ^^3^ ^^'^'- 14 Lincoln was again returned to the Legislature — this time from Springfield, and again in 1840 he was re- turned from Springfield, making four times. In the Legislature of 1S38 Air. Lincoln was the unanimous choice of his party for Speaker of the Assembl}-, and received all of their votes. Of course he was beaten by a few votes. The Democrats were in the majorit}'. The same thing occured in 1840. This shows you that Mr. Lincoln's mind and power and influence were spreading themselves out from the little villages of New Salem and Springfield and permeating the great State of Illinois, and I must tell you one thiug right here before I forget it, because it is so good. It occurred in 1S36 before Mr. Lincoln had moved down to Springfield. He was there discussing politics, and they used to get very angrj^ in those discussions and debates, and sometimes while the speaker from the rostiiim was arguing politics to the extent of his voice,, the crowd on the outside was arguing the same thing to the extent of their fists. At a great big meeting in Springfield — Mr. Lincoln had not got down there to> live — the}' did not know him ver\' much then — every body had their talk, and Abe Lincoln came last, and. had his talk, and there was a man there by the name of George Forquer. He was a law^-er, a brilliant sort of a man,, a prett}' good fellow, but unfortunately,, Forquer had just changed his politics from a Whig,, which he had been nearly all the da3''S ot his life, which is now nearly synon\"mous \vith Republican, to a Dem- ocrat, and after his conversion to demccrac}-, the Presi- dent I am sorry to tell you appointed him Register of the United vStates Land Office at a salary of $3000 a 15 year. He had to support the power that appointed him, whether he thought it was right or wrong, and he started in to do it. So, after Abe had got down from the rostrum, Forquer climbed up, and he did go for Lincoln good. He said in substance he was sorr}' it devolved upon him to take that 3'oung man down, but it had to be done, and he would give him a talk and a lesson that he would remember the balance of his life. It was not so much what Forc[uer said 3^ou know, but it was the manner in which he said it — the supercili- ous, overbearing wav and air that Forquer talked about Abe Lincoln, raised the ver^^ hair from Abe's head, and a fellow near b}' watched him, and he said Mr. Lincoln was laboring under intense excitement. It just wrought him up, and I will show 3'ou further on, that when Mr, Lincoln got mad, woe to the man who stood in his wa\\ He w^ould shake' him a great deal worse than he did Armstrong. Well, when Forquer closed Lincoln climbed up on the platform, and he com- menced to talk to the crowd. I must tell 3'ou a little incident before I tell vou what he said. Forquer had built the prettiest little cottage in Springfield, and had painted it all nice, and erected a lightning rod on top of it. You can imagine what the people around Springfield and around Gentr^-ville thought of a light- ning rod. The\^ did not understand the philosophy of it, and did not know what it ment, but they had got the idea that a man who would put a lightning rod on his house was running counter to the Alniight}^ and if the Almightv was going to hit him, which he might, there ought to be some wa^^ to stand the Almight}' off. After Forquer had closed Lincoln got up, and said i6 "What Mr. Forqiier says is true. I have j^ot nothing. I never had any edncation, I never had any learning; my people were poor," bnt he said ''we tried t« live an honest life; we have tried to do what was right; we intend to stand b}- our political principles, and onr political doctrines, and I want to tell yen right here that I will die in my tracks before I will change my poli- tics from a Whig to a Democrat to get appointed to an office that is worth $3000 a year, and then be compelled to erect a lightning rod over my house to screen a guilty conscious from the vengence of an offended God." You people who have attended a political meeting, and know how they cut up, will understand the noise they made — they howled and hooted and yelled, and Forquer got up and left, and he never for- got the scorching 3'oung Lincoln gave him. It was the talk of the town for years after, the skinning Lin- coln gave Forquer. Right here I will read to you a brief of Mr. Lincoln in a law case, although it did not happen until years afterwards. When Lincoln was practicing in Springfield, there came into his office one day an old decrepit woman, and she had no money — she had nothing, and her husband had been a soldier in the Revolutionary War, and an attorney in vSpiingfield had collected $400 as pension money, and wanted to keep one-half of it for his fee, and it worked on Lin- coln pretty well, and he said ''I am going o\er and demand that money, and if he don't give it up I will skin him." He did not give up the money, and they brought the suit. They put the old woman on the stand, and of course she had to cry. She would not 17 have been worth a thing as a client if she had not cried. Lincoln cried a little, and got the jiu"y to cry, and thej^ brought in a verdict giving her the whole $400. iVnd now I want to read you that brief, because there ma}' be some la\v3'ers here who will be interested in it. The night before the case was tried Mr. Lincoln wanted Herndon to get him a history' of the Revolu- tionary War. He wanted to get full of it so he could talk it next dav to the jur^-. Here it is. It is a skel- eton brief. There is no meat to it, it is just skin and bones. It reads as follows: — "No contract — No professional services — unreasonal)le charge — money retained by defend- ant — not given by plaintiff — Revolutionary War — Describe \"alley Forge privations — Ice — soldiers bleeding feet — plaintiff's husband — soldiers leav- ing home for Army — skin Defendant — close." If ever there was a man that did get sorel}' tried it was ]\Ir. Wright the defendant on that occasion, for said judge Davis who tried the case "Mr. Lincoln was fearful in his denunciation, and there was no rule of Court to restrain him." Mr. Lincoln was finallv elected to Congress. He took his seat in Congress on the 7th day of December, 1847. ^'^ ^^"^^'^ Congress were man}- men who afterwards became distinguished in the history of this country. There was Andrew Johnson who was afterwards \"ice-President and succeeded Mr. Lincoln as President of the United States. There was the venerable John Quinc}' Adams who had been President of the United States. There was Geo. Ashmann who was Chairman of the Convention that nominated Mr. i8 Lincoln in Chicago, There was Alexander H. Stevens, who was snbseqnentl}' the Vice-President of the Southern Confederacy'. There was Howell Cobb and Robert Tombs, and I could name over a great many men whose lives afterwards l^ecame a part of the history of this great nation. Lincoln at the close of that Congress went back to Illinois, and he had been oppo.sed to the Mexican War, and consequenth' as a matter of course he was unpopular, and did not seek a re-nomination. He returned to Springfield and con- tinued the practice of the law. There are two law cases to which I will 3'oiir attention to, and then we will pass on. Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Herndon were partners, and they were employed by the Illinois Central Railroad Company, a great corporation. The Count}' of IVlcLean had brought action against the Company to recover taxes, and Lincoln and Herndon were employed, and they were sent a retaining fee of $250, and they won the case in the lower Court, and it was carried to the Supreme Court of the State, and they won it there. Mr. Lin- coln went down to Chicago and presented a bill of $2000 in addition to the $250 received as a retainer for their services. "Why," said the Superintendent of the road, ""that would have employed Daniel Webster in a law suit." and they would not pay it. Abe Lincoln felt hurt — he felt bad. He turned around, and left the office. He started for Springfield. He got down as far as Bloomington, and he met O. H. Browning, and some of the other great lawyers of Illinois, and he told them about it, and they said to Mr. Lincoln, ''That is a shame; yoii sue that compau}^ for $5000, and we ^9 will stand by you, and we will see that 3-011 get the money 3-ou have earned." Mr. Lincoln sued the rail- road compan}'. The compan}- never came into Court to fight it. A default judgment was obtained, and it was proven b}^ six attorne3's that the fee was a reason- able one, and a check was drawn, and it was paid. Would 3'ou like to know who the Superintendent of that railroad was? It was George B. McClellan, whom Abraham Lincoln afterwards appointed Commandei in Chief of the Armv of the United States. There was another case in which ^Ir. Lincoln was interested, and it was this: j\Ir. ]\IcCormack hi.L brought an action against a man on a patent right. Mr. Lincoln was emplo3-ed, and a man b3- the name of Herrin from Penns3-lvania was emplo3'ed to make the mechanical part of the argument. Lincoln prepared himself with great care. He was to meet Air. Reverd3' Johnson, the greatest law3-er in the United States then upon patent cases. He went down to Cincinnati expecting to make that argument, and whom did he iind there? Somebod3- had scared Lincoln's client, and he had gone and emplo3-ed Mr. Stanton, whom I will tell vou of in a few minutes. Stanton was one of fellows who would ride right over ever3' thing and ever3'- bod3^, and nothing could stand in his wa3'. Lincoln was a man from the west — tall, lean and lank — in the sum- mer time with a great long coat coming almost to his feet, and perspiring so that 3-ou could trace something like a map of the United States on his back, and the3' put it up between Stanton and Herrin not to allow Lincoln to speak, although Mr. Lincoln was entitled to make the argument b3' reason of his first emplo3'ment 20 in the case, and Herrin saj'S, "Who is going- to make the argnmeiit in this case?" and Mr. Lincoln who was always diffident said, "I expect Mr. Stanton will make it," expecting of conrse that Mr. Stanton would sa\\ "Mr. Lincoln, 3'on are the senior counsel iu the case, and 3-0U make the argument;" but instautly Stanton said,, "All right, I will make the speech." Lincoln thought that was pretty rough, and he did not take much interest in the case after that. It was his first visit to Cincinnati, and he stayed aronnd and did not make many acquaintances, and went home, and when he got home, he said to Herndon, "I was never treated so bad in ni}- life as I was b}' that man Stanton. '"" That w^as in 1857. In less than seven 3^ears from that time Mr. Lincoln was President of the United States,, and he appointed Edwin M. Stanton as his Secretary of War, and he did make a grand Secretar}- of War. Will 3"ou tell me that Lincoln did not manifest in these things the elements of a great mind? Ls it an}' wonder he said in his inaiigural address, "With malice towards none, and charity to all'" — well, let us get back to Illinois. In 1S54 the Kansas and Nebraska IHll was passed. Mr. Lincoln had become known throughout the State. He was again elected to the Legislature — the Legislature of 1854-5. Before that Legislature he was a candidate for United States Senator, and when the Legislature met the Republicans were within five- votes of electing him and at Lincoln's request thev voted for L3'man Trumbull. The five votes were Anti- Nebraska Democrats; Trumbull had previously been a Democrat, and on the third ballot when it became 21 apparent that these five men would go over and elect Whitesides, a rank Democrat, to the Senate of the United States, Abraham Lincoln begged of his friends who were supporting him to leave him and vote for Trumbull. Stephen A. Logan, then a member of that Legislature, a great lawyer in Illinois, begged of Lin- coln to withdraw his declination, and take one more ballot. "No," says Lincoln "you are sure of Trumbull, I might be defeated; vote for Trumbull," and the}^ voted for him, and he was elected and represented the State of Illinois in the United States Senate for iS vears. That was in 1855. Now, great events came crowding upon the nation. They came crowding upon ]\Ir. Lincoln. The Republican Convention met in the City of Blooming- ton on the tfth day of ^a;3i^i85K^ All the. great men of the party were there. William H. Bissell, who had ridden at the head of the Second Illinois Regiment at the Battle of Buena \"ista, was their candidate for Governor, and was nominated and elected. Norman B. Judd was there. Leonard Swett was there. Lyman Trumbull was there, and it was understood that when the Convention was over that Mr. Lincoln was to make a speech. He was called on, and came forward, and that speech never was reported. The reporter who commenced to take it down, and who had often taken Mr. Lincoln's speeches, wrote for five minutes or ten, and then threw down his pen, and said that he could not follow him. It was said by one who heard that speech that if Abe Lincoln was six feet four inches in height, that on that occasion he was seven feet tall. His whole soul was in it. 22 In 1858 Stephen A. Douglas returned from Washington. He was the logical candidate of the Democrats for re-election to the United States Senate. He was heraled all over the state, and he was the re- cognized candidate of the democracy for United States Senator. Intuitivel}-, the great body of Republicans of that grand prairie state tiirned to Mr. Lincoln, ask- ing him to be their candidate, and on the 17th day of June, 1858, at their convention in Bloomington, the}- passed a resolution which said this: "That Abraham Lincoln is our first and only choice for United States Senator." Mr. Lincoln of course, knowing what was coming — understanding it — had prepared a speech for that occasion. He had made the minutes of his sj>eech in skeleton, and he invited twelve of his friends to pass their judgment upon it. They were the leading men of the State. It was a. momentous question. It was a great issue, and it was necessary that Mr. Lincoln should place him- self U|X)n record in a right manner. He read the minutes of his intended speech, and what do you think they said? One said that speech is out of time; said another, it don't go; said another, you make that speech Mr. Lincoln, and 3^ou are beaten; said another — I cannot tell you what he said, but he said it is a fool of a speech, and right before the word "^fool" he used a ver}^ profane word. Lincoln heard it all, and he got down to Herndon, his partner, and he said "Bill}-, what have you got to say about it?" Well, Bill}- sa3'S, '■'Mr. Lincoln, if you make that speech, it will make 3'ou President of the United States." W'hat do you think Lincoln said? He said, "GentlemeUy 23 those sentiments in that speech are my sentiments, and I wonld make that speech thongh I knew I were to die for making it." Now, what was that speech? All of ns have read it. In snbstance it was this: "A divided honse cannot stand. This conntry will nlti- matelv be all free or all slave. I believe it will ])e all free. I do not believe there will be any war — I do not believe there will be any blood shed, but I do believe some method will be planned and worked out wherel^y freedom shall triumph in this great nation." Those were his sentiments. The countr}' was not prepared for it. Mr. Lincoln was beaten in that contest. We all have read of it; we all know it. Mr. Douglas was elected. If Mr. Lincoln had followed the advice of his well meaning friends, and left that out of his speech, he would never liave been the candidate of the Repub- lic;ui party for President of the United States. If he had then been elected Senator, he never would have been President of the United States. Don't you know sometimes I think that after all there is a Divin- itv that shapes our ways, "Rough hew them as we mav." It seems that so far as the character of Mr. Lin- coln is concerned, that when any great moral principle was at stake, that he was a perfect giant, and no power could move him. Don't vou know it was said in the time of the War that when Abe Lincoln put his foot down, that was the end of it. There was no use talk- ing or arguing with him. But I will pass on — In 1S60 when Mr. Lincoln made his great speech at the Cooper Institute in New York City, he was recognized as a candidate for the Presidency, and was nominated in iS6c) in Chicago. Now, it is 24 digressing a little, but I guess I will tell you about it. I happened to be in that Couvention, a uieniber of the third house. It was uot log rolling, the way they are in Sacramento now, seeing who will get the most mem- bers to vote for United States Senator. I went to the great big Wigwam. I got there at 8 o'clock in the morning. I was a young man in those days, and could get around pretty quick. I went up stairs — awa}' up stairs, and it was an immense building. I got up there, and the Convention w^as in front of me, and I was right in front of the Chairman of the Conven- tion. Well, to make a long stor}- short, the^- got to voting for candidates for the Presidency-. On the first ballot Mr. Seward, who was the recognized opponent of Mr. Lincoln, received 173 votes. Mr. Lincoln received 10 1. On the next ballot Mr. Lincoln received 181 votes, and Seward some ten or fifteen more than he received on the first ballot. On the third ballot one delegation changed over two votes to Mr. Lincoln and others followed suit. When the balloting was through, everybody had a list that they kept which was easily added up. It showed that the number to elect in the first place was 233 votes. Mr. Lincoln as we figured up, got 231^, and the whisped went around "Lincoln has got 2313^ votes." You cannot change a vote after the ballot has been announced in a Conven- tion, and it was as still as death, and out of the Ohio delegation, up jumped Mr. Carter — I think his name was D. K. — I had seen him in Ohio, he was a judge there, and he was a man that stuttered fearfully, but he alwa3'S stammered just at the right time — he never make a mistake in that regard in his life. He got up. 25 a great big red siiUM)tli faced man, and he said, "]\Ir. — Pres i dent I eh — cli — change four votes from Chase to Lincoln.." If ever bedhim broke loose on this earth, it broke loose then in that Conven- tion. Men jumped up on their chairs, the}- jumped on the tables, thev jumped on their seats, thev shouted and yelled and screamed, they took off their coats, and threw them in the air. Wh}', it was impossible to main- tain order, and while this was being done, somebodv brought on the stage the likeness of Mr. Lincoln. It was the first likeness I had ever seen of him. The Convention adjourned, and you all know the history of that Convention — the election of Air. Lincoln, and his journey to Washington. It seems to me that Abe Lincoln was placed upon this earth for the A-ery mission that he executed. Take him through the whole four vears of those tr}-- ing times. He carried the burden and responsibility of that terrible War, and he was equal to it, with all the trviuij scenes and all the trvimr times. W^hv, it was thought that Mr. Seward would be the power 1)ehind the throne. Air. Chase, an egotistical, nble man, thought he ought to be the power, not only behind the throne, l)ut at the head of the throne, and evervwhere else. ThcA' ver\- soon learned that Mr. Lincoln was the President of the United States, and thev were not the President of the United States. As I said before, that although Air. Lincoln sometimes got angrv, he was a man possessed of a great deal of human nature. Evervbody found fault with. him. Horace Grcelev called him to account, and we heard the noise in tho.^^e davs "On to. Richmond — 26 on to Richmond," and ever}^ defeat was laid to Mr. Lincoln. There was a member of Congress from Illinois named Owen Lovejoy, and he was an anti-slaver\' man from the crown of his head to the sole of his feet. I remember when a boy reading the speeches of Lovejoy in Congress. He said to those slavery fellows, ''There is an nndergronnd railroad ; the principal depot is sit- uated at my house, and I tell you here that an}^ poor slave who shall get on that railroad that connects with ni}^ house will be taken care of; and I will bid him God-speed, and 3^ou can arrest me right here if 3^ou like." And they said, "Mr. Lovejoy, the man never lived who would doubt your braver}'." Lovejoy wanted something, and he went to Abe Lincoln. He had to get it through the War Department, and Stan- ton was the Secretary of War, and he said, "Mr. Stanton, I want so-and-so done." Although Mr, Stan- ton was a great man — a great Secretary- of War — yet he was a man that had hardly a friend on earth. He was one of the most domineering men that ever breathed. Stanton says, "You cannot have it done." "Well," said Lovejoy, "I have got the order of President Lin- coln." Stanton looked at the order and said, "Lincoln is a fool," and prefaced it with a very bad word — you can imagine what it was. Lovejoy got mad, and he. went back to Lincoln and he said, "Mr. Lincoln, Stan- ton sa^'s 3'ou are a fool." Lincoln said, "Did he?" and he said, ''Yes, sir, and he repeated it. Mr. Presi- dent.'' "Well," says Abe, "Mr. Stanton understands wliat he is about, and he generally says what he thinks, and if he savs I am a fool, I I'uess I must be 27 one, and I will go over and have a talk with him. You know what his replay was after the battle of Fort Donaldson, and after the long, wear^- months of toil and defeats, and then came the first gleam of hope at that battle, and in three days General Grant took over 15,000 prisoners. There were some well-meaning people who went to Washington, and went to see the President, and they said, "Mr. President, we know that Mr. Grant won a great victory, but we are sorry to tell yon that when he fought that battle General Grant was drunk," and Lincoln said, "I reckon so; but I will tell you what: If y(ju will get me the brand of whiskv that Grant got drunk on -when he won that battle, I will order a car-load for the balance of the generals.'' Sometimes he got angry, I will tell you about it. At the time he first took office a delegation went to him from California. You know we are noted for hav- ing puritv politicians here — there are a few of them now at Sacramento. They went to Washington, and priding themselves upon their purity and their general reputation, were going to fight General Baker, who was a Senator from Oregon, for some of the Federal offices, and they started in very abruptly, and they said, "Gen- eral Baker out in our countr}' was a very immoral man, that his political life was open to c^uestion," and started on that stvle, and old Abe Lincoln's dander raised on the top of his head. He stamped his feet, and he said, "I want yon gentlemen to understand that Sena- tor Baker is my friend; and I want \'ou to understand that I will not permit you or anybody else to assail him in mv presence." Well, they very wisely con- 28 eluded they were not the President of the United States, and that Abe Lincoln was, and they were ver}' glad to apologize, and did apologize, so as to fix the matter np. Another instance was this: Mr. Julian was a mem- ber of Congress from Indiana. He had been a mem- ber of Congress for a long time. He was regularly nominated, and there was a man in his district who ran a country newspaper, and his name was Holloway, and Mr. Lincoln had appointed him Commissioner of Patents, and Julian was greatl}^ displeased, because he had been attacked by Holloway in his paper, and he said, "This fellow Holloway is doing all lie can to de- feat me in his paper." ]\Ir. Lincoln said, "Mr. Julian, Mr. Holloway is as much under obligations to support you as he is to sustain me, and I willl take care of Holloway; and if he don't quit that, off goes his head." Julian watched the newspaper, and it kept right on attacking him^ and he went and told Mr. Lincoln of it and Mr. Lincoln said, "That cannot be." Julian said "It is so, Mr. Lincoln." Mr. Lincoln rang the bell and a messenger came, and he said to that messenger, "You tell Holloway to come to me," and Holloway came; and when he left he concluded that Abraham Lincoln was the President of the United States, and that he, Holloway, was not. These things show you that while Mr. Lincoln pos- sessed great kindness of heart — possessed a great •power, and as great a man as he was, yet he would not be trifled with when the time came for action. Now, fellow-citizens, I cannot talk to you a great while longer, and I must hurry. There is one oration of his and 1 wo State papers to which I want to call 29 your attention — the oration at Gettysburg, liis second inaugural address and his Emancipation Proclamation. I want to read to you a part of that second inaugural address, because I think there is not the equal of it in the English language. I will read it to you. Said Mr. Lincoln in that address: "Fondl}' do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may soon pass away. Yet if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled up by the bondmen's two hun- dred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn b}' the lash shall be paid with another draw with the sword ; as was said 3,000 years ago SC' still it must be said, the judgment of the Lord is 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 ])ind up the Nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and orphans, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among our- selves and with all nations." I do not know what 3'ou maj^ think about it. I think that hmguage is sublime. I do not think you will find anything in Pericles, Demosthenes, Cicero or in the orations of Daniel Webster that will surpass it. A great man at the head of a great nation, raised up through adversity and obscurit}' to govern 60,000,000 of people, and in his last inaugural address to have given utterance to tliose words, I think that he was almost more than human. I will not keep 3'ou a great wliilc longer. I 30 want to sa}' to 3-011 this: do you remember what Mrs. Hemaiis said about the landing of the Pilgrims in 1620? " Not as the conqueror comes, They, the true-hearted come ; Not with the roll of the stirring drums, And the trumpet that sings of fame. Not as the flying come. In silence and in fear ; The}' shook the depths of the desert gloom With their hymns of lofty cheer. Amidst the storm they sang, And the stars heard, and the sea; And the sounding isles of the dim woods rang, To the anthem of the free." Two hundred and forty-one years had passed, and in 1861, from Cape Mendocino on the Pacific Ocean, away across the continent to the shores of Maine, and to the rock upon which the Pilgrims had landed, there was settled in this vast domain 20,000,000 of people, the descendants of that band of heroes that landed in 1620. Don't you remember the songs they sang in 1861 ? Do 3'ou not remember that song that was sung in one grand anthem by 20,000,000 of free- men, descendants of the Pilgrim Fathers in that vast empire, when Abraham Lincoln called for 300,000 volunteers to defend the integrity of that flag^the cIk^-us of which was: " We are coming, Father Abraham, Three hundred thousand strong, We are coming from the hillside. We are coming from the glen; We are coming. Father Abraham, Three hundred thousand men." 31 Don't 3'ou remember it, Mr. Me^^ers ? Don't you remember it, Mr. dishing ? Don't 3'ou remember the songs that were sung in those days b}^ the colored race with a melod}^ that no race on earth has been able to equal ? Don't 3'ou remember one of them was something like this : " Saj^ darkies, hab you seen de massa, Wid de miiffstash on his face, Go long de road some time dis mornin', Like he is gwine to leab de place ? He seen de smoke way up de ribber, Whar de Lin-kum gun-boats lay ; He took his hat, an' lef ber-ry sud-den, An' I spec he's ranud awa}-. De ober-seer he make us trouble. An' he dribe us round a spell ; We lock him up in de smoke-house cellar, Wid key thrown in, the well. De whip is lost, de han-cuff broken. But ole massa'll hab his pay ; He's ole enough, big enough, ought to k'.iow bettah, Den to went '-an' run away. De massa run, ha, ha, De darkies stay, ho, ho ; It must be now de kingdom 's comin', An' de year ob jubilo. " I recollect that. Is it any wonder that in those days the colored race, upon their bended knees, used to pray God to "Bress Abraham Lincoln and the gun- boats"? I do not think it is. Before I close I want to say a word to the young men, if you will listen. Study the life of Abraham Lincoln. Study it from the day" of his birth and his 32 obsciirit}' and his povert3% and study it with the idea and determination to learn something from it that will be a profit and a benefit to 3'ou, and those of \'ou who are seeking to make statesmen and orators of your- selves — and it is a noble ambition — go not back to ancient Greece to study the orations of the greatest ex- temporaneous orator of ancient times — Demosthenes — go not back to ancient Rome to study the orations of that peerless of all ancient orators, Marcus Tullius Cicero, but go to the battle-field of Gettysburg, and there beneath the monument reared to perpetuate the names of the men who fell in that three da^'s' awful conflict to preserve the integrity of that flag, and study the oration of Abraham Lincoln delivered at the laying of the corner-stone of that monument, and you will then have studied the finest piece of orator}- that was ever uttered by mortal man. Now, fellow-citizens, 3-ou have listened patiently to me, and I must bring this address to a close. We stand to-night upon the topmost round of the ladder of the nineteenth century' — upon the ver\- threshold of the twentieth centur}-. We are not permitted to look into the next hundred 3'ears, and see who shall be the great ones of this earth, but the past is an open book. Let us turn and glance down the ladder of the nine- teenth centur}', and what do we behold ? At the com- mencement of this centur}' Robert Fulton had not run his little steamboat upon the North River. A railroad car had never been even imagined. The wildest dreams of a fanatic had never imagiued such a thing as a telegraph or a telephone. Come up that ladder sixt3'-three 3'ears and stand upon the sixtv-third 33 round of the ladder, and what do you behold ? You behold a might}- nation involved in a gigantic civil • war — two thousand bloody battles have been fought, a million of men are under arms, and amidst the roar of cannon, the clash of arms, the shock of battle, the groans of the dying, the wails of the vanquished and the shouts of the victors — over and above all, there stands a man, serious, tall and ungainly, and he is writing in the book of time. Would you like to know what he is writing ? I will just read it to you. It is here : "Now, therefore, by virtue of the power in me vested as Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States in time of actual armed rebellion against the authority and govern- ment of the United States, and as a fit and neces- sar}' war measure for suppressing said rebellion, I do on this the ist day of Januar}-, 1863, ordain and declare that all persons held as slaves within the said designated states and parts of states, are and henceforward shall be free, and that the Execu- tive Government of the United States, including the military and naval authorities thereof will recognize and maintain the freedom of said persons." Who is he that records those immortal words? I will tell \^ou. He is the young man who drove the two yoke of oxen in 1830 from the State of Indiana to the State of Illinois. He is the disconsolate lawyer who came downstairs and said to Speed, "Iv'e moved." He is the legislator who in 1837 had the moral coti rage and power to put himself upon the records of the Gen- eral i\ssembly of the State of Illinois as saying that slavery was unjtist and bad policy, and he is now the 34 President of the United States and the Commander-in- Chief of the grandest ami}- and navy in the world, and his name is Abraham Lincoln. And now so long as the great waves of the ocean of time shall wash and beat and snrge and dash and break upon the shores of eternity, nia}- God forever continue to bless the United States of America, and the name and fame of Abraham Lincoln. Flag of the free heart's hope and home, By angel hands to valor given, Tlvy stars have lit the welcome dome, And all thy hues were born in Heaven. Forever float that standard sheet ! Where breathes the foe, but tails before us With Freedom's soil beneath our feet, And Freedom's banner streaming o'er us. (Prolonged applause.) COMPLIMENTS OF REGISTER U. S, LAND OFFICE SAN FRANCISCO, CAL. ^ ***************************************** I % I ADDRESS % * t * DELIVERED BY THE t !?■ t i-ToiV. A. B. HUNT I I OIM THE * I I I LIFE AND TIMES | ^ ^» OF J^^ t I ABRAHAM LINCOLN I •g €■ « ■ ■ » •J! ; =» ^ AT THE ^ ^ 4- •& «• I FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH % I OF AL>^M£:D>4. I 4 . * •is * •& * 4< «• J SUNDAY EVE.. FEB. 12. 1899 f •& ' * •^ * •^ * ^ ;t being the 89th anniversary of the ^ ^ . ^ f BIRTH OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN |[ ^ -' ^ •^ 'f ij^ 1^ 4f «|i l|< l)i ifi <{» 1^ 4. J|i i|i <)|;> .^ 1^ if 1)4