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ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

An Address by William McKinley, Before the Mar
quette Club, Chicago, February 12, 1896.

Mr. President, Gentlemen of the Marquette Club, and My
Fellow Citizens:
It requires the most gracious pages in the world's his
tory to record what one American achieved. The story of
this simple life is the story of a plain, honest, manly citizen,
true patriot, and profound statesman, who believing with all
the strength of his mighty soul in the institutions of his
country, won because of them the highest place in its gov
ernment — then fell a precious sacrifice to the Union he held
so dear, which Providence had spared his life long enough
to save. We meet to-night to do honor to this immortal hero,
Abraham Lincoln, whose achievements have heightened human
aspirations and broadened the field of opportunity to the
races of men. While the party with which we stand, and
for which he stood, can justly claim him, and without dis
pute can boast the distinction of being the first to honor and
trust him, his fame has leaped the bounds of party and
country, and now belongs to mankind and the ages.
What were the traits of character which made Abraham
Lincoln prophet and master, without a rival, in the greatest
crisis in our history ? What gave him such mighty power ?
1

To me the answer is simple : Lincoln had sublime faith in the
people. He walked with and among them. He recognized
the importance and power of an enlightened public sentiment
and was guided by it. Even amid the- vicissitudes of war,
he concealed little from public review and inspection. In all
he did, he invited, rather than evaded, examination and
criticism. He submitted his plans and purposes, as far as
practicable, to public consideration with perfect frankness
and sincerity. There was such homely simplicity in his
character that it could not be hedged in by the pomp of
place, nor the ceremonials of high official station. He was so
accessible to the public that he seemed to take the whole
people into his confidence. Here, perhaps, was one secret of
his power. The people never lost their confidence in him,
however much they unconsciously added to his personal dis
comfort and trials. His patience was almost superhuman;
and who will say that he was mistaken in his treatment of
the thousands who thronged continually about him ? More
than once when reproached for permitting visitors to crowd
upon him, he asked, in pained surprise: "Why, what
harm does this confidence in men do me ? I get only good
and inspiration from it."
Horace G-reeley once said: "I doubt whether man,
woman or child, white or black, bond or free, virtuous or
vicious, ever accosted, or reached forth a hand to Abraham
Lincoln, and detected in his countenance or manner, any
repugnance or shrinking from the proffered contact, any
assumption of superiority, or betrayal of disdain."
Frederick Douglas, the orator and patriot, is credited
with saying: "Mr. Lincoln is the only white man with
whom I have ever talked, or in whose presence I have ever
been, who did not consciously or unconsciously betray to me
that he recognized my color."
George Bancroft, the historian, alluding to this charac
teristic, which was never so conspicuously manifested as
during the darker hours of the war, beautifully illustrated it
in these memorable words : " As a child, in a dark night,
2

on a rugged way, catches hold of the hand of its father for
guidance and support, Lincoln clung fast to the hand of the
people, and moved calmly through the gloom."
His earliest public utterances were marked by this confi
dence. On March 9, 1832, when announcing himself as a
candidate for Representative in the Illinois Legislature, he
said that he felt if his duty to make known to the people his
sentiments upon the questions of the day :
" Every man is said to have his peculiar ambition," he observ
ed, " and whether it be true or not, I can say, for one, that I have no
other so great as that of being truly esteemed by my fellow men by
rendering myself worthy of their esteem. How far I shall. succeed
in gratifying this ambition is yet to be developed. I am young and
unknown to many of you. I was born, and have ever remained, in
the humblest walks of Uf e. I have no wealthy or popular relatives
or friends to recommend me. My case is thrown exclusively upon
the independent voters of the county. * * * jjut jf tim
good people, in their wisdom, shall see fit to keep me in the back
ground, I have been too familiar with disappointments to be very
much chagrined."
In this remarkable address — to me always pathetic —
made when he was only twenty-three, the main elements of
Lincoln's character and the qualities which made his great
career possible are revealed with startling distinctness. It
expresses the experience of the noble young man of to-day
equally as well as then. We see therein "that brave old wis
dom of sincerity," that oneness in feeling with the common
people, and that supreme confidence in them, which formed
the foundation of his political faith.
Among the statesmen of America, Lincoln is the true
democrat; and, Franklin perhaps excepted, the first great
one. He had no illustrious ancestry, no inherited place or'
wealth, and none of the prestige, power, training, or culture
which were assured to the gentry or landed classes of our
own- Colonial times. Nor did Lincoln believe that these
classes, respectable and patriotic however they might be,
should, as a matter of abstract right, have the controlling
influence in our government. Instead, he believed in the all-
pervading power of public opinion. 3

Lincoln had little or no instruction in the common school;
but, as the eminent Dr. Cuyler has said, he was graduated
from " the grand college of free labor, whose works were the
flat-boat, the farm, and the backwoods lawyer's office." He
had a broad compreheaeion -of the central idea of popular
government. The Declaration tjf Independence was his
hand-book; time and again he expressed his belief in freedom
and equality. On July 1, 1854, he wrote:
"Most governments have been based, practically, on the denial
of the. equal .rights of men. Ours began by affirming those :rights.
They said ' some men are too ignorant and vicious to share in gov
ernment.' ' Possibly so,' said we, ' and by your system you would
always keep them ignorant and vicious. We proposed to give all a
chance ; and we expected the weak to grow stronger, the ignorant
wiser, and all better and happier together.' We made the experi
ment, and the fruit is before us. Look at it, think of it ! Look at it
in its aggregate grandeur, extent of country, and numbers of popu
lation. "
Lincoln believed in the uplifting influences of free govern
ment, and that by giving all a chance we could get higher
average results for the people than where governments are
exclusive and opportunities are limited to the few. No
American ever did so much as he to enlarge these oppor
tunities, or tear down the barriers which excluded a free
participation in them. In his first message to Congress, at
the special session convening on July 4, 1861, he gave signal
evidence of his faith in our institutions, and their elevating
influences, in most impressive language. He said:
" It may be affirmed without extravagance that the free insti
tutions we enjoy have developed the powers and improved the condi
tion of our whole people beyond any example in the world. Of
this we now have a striking and an impressive illustration. So large
an army as the Government has now on foot was never before known
without a soldier in it but who has taken his place there of his own
free choice." [Then what followed in his message is, to me, the
highest and most touching tribute ever spoken or written of our
matchless Volunteer Army of 1861-'65 by any American statesman,
soldier, or citizen from that day to this:] " But more than this,
there are many single regiments whose members, one and another,
possess full practical knowledge of all the arts, sciences, and pro
fessions, and whatever else, whether useful or elegant, is known in
4

the world; and there is scarcely one from which there could not be
selected a President, a Cabinet, a Congress, and perhaps a Court
abundantly competent to administer the Government itself."
What a noble, self-sacrificing army of freemen he de
scribes ! The like of it mankind never saw before and will
not look upon soon again. Their service and sacrifice were
not in vain — the Union is stronger, freer and better than ever
before because they lived, and the peace, fraternity and
harmony, which Lincoln prayed might come, and which he
prophesied would come, is happily here. And now that the
wounds of the war are healed, may we not, to-night, with
grateful hearts, resolve, in the words of Lincoln, that we
will "care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for
his widow, and his orphan." i
Lincoln's antecedent life seems to have been one of un
conscious preparation for the great responsibilities which
were committed to him in 1860. As one of the masses him
self, and living with.them, sharing their feelings, and sym
pathizing with their daily trials, their hopes and aspirations,
he was better fitted to lead them than any other man of his
age. He recognized more clearly than -any one else that the
plain people he met in his daily life, and ,knew so familiarly,
were, according to the dictates of justice and our theory of
government, its ultimate rulers and the, arbiters of its des
tiny. He knew this not as a theory, but from his own person
al experience. Born in poverty, and surrounded by obstacles on every
hand seemingly insurmountable but for the intervening hand
of Providence, Lincoln grew every year into greater and
grander intellectual power and vigor. His life, until he was
twelve years old, was spent either in a " half -faced camp" or
cabin. Yet amid such surroundings the boy learned, to read,
write, and cipher, to think, declaim, and speak, in a manner
far beyond his years and time. All his days in the school
house " added together would not make a single year." But
every day of his life from infancy to manhood -was a constant
drill in the school of nature and experience. His study of
books and newspapers was beyond that of any other person
5

in his town or neighborhood, and perhaps of his county or
section. He did not read many books, but he learned more
from them than any other reader. It was strength of body
as well as of mind that made Lincoln's career possible. Ill
success only spurred him into making himself more worthy
of trust and confidence. Nothing could daunt him. He
might have but a single tow-linen shirt, or only one pair of
jeans pantaloons, he often did not know where his next dollar
was to come from, bat he mastered English grammar and
composition, arithmetic, geometry, surveying, logic, and the
law. How well he mastered the art of expression, is shown by
the incident of the Yale professor who heard his Cooper Insti
tute speech and called on him at his hotel, to inquire where
he had learned his matchless power as a public speaker. The
modest country lawyer was in turn surprised to be suspected
of possessing unusual talents as an orator, and could only
answer that his sole training had been in the school of ex
perience. Eight years' service in the Illinois Legislature, two years
in Congress and nearly thirty years political campaigning, in
the most exciting period of American politics, gave scope for
the development of his powers, and that tact, readiness, and
self-reliance, which were invaluable to a modest, backward
man, such as Lincoln naturally was. Added to these quali
ties, he had the genius, which communizes, which puts a
man on a level, not onjy with the highest, but with the lowest
of his kind. By dint of patient industry, and by using
wisely his limited opportunities, he became the most popular
orator, the best political manager, and the ablest leader of
his party in Illinois.
But the best training he had for the Presidency, after
all, was his twenty-three years' arduous experience as a law
yer traveling the circuit of the courts of his district and
State. Here he met in forensic contests, and frequently de
feated some of the most powerful legal minds of the West.
In the higher courts he won still greater distinction in the
important cases committed to his charge.
6

With this preparation, it is not surprising that Lincoln
entered upon the Presidency peculiarly well equipped for its
vast responsibilities. His contemporaries, however, did not
realize this. The leading statesmen of the country were not
prepossessed in his favor. They appear to have had no con
ception of the remarkable powers latent beneath that un
couth and rugged exterior. It seemed to them strangely out
of place that the people should at this, the greatest crisis of
their history, entrust the supreme executive power of the
Nation to one whom they presumptuously called " this igno
rant rail-splitter from the prairies of Illinois." Many pre
dicted failure from the beginning.
Lincoln was essentially a man of peace. He inherited
from his Quaker forefathers an intense opposition to war.
During his brief service in Congress he found occasion more
than once to express it. He opposed the Mexican war from
principle but voted men and supplies after hostilities actual
ly began. In one of his few speeches in the House, he char
acterized military glory as "that rainbow that rises in
showers of blood — that serpent that charms but to destroy.''
When he became responsible for the welfare of the country,
he was none the less earnest for peace. He felt that even in
the most righteous cause, war is a fearful thing, and he was
actuated by the feeling that it ought not to be begun except
as a last resort, and then only after it had been precipitated
by the enemies of the country. He said in Philadelphia, on
February 22, 1861:
" There is no need of bloodshed and war. There is no necessity
for it. I am not in favor of such a course ; and I may say in advance
that there will be no bloodshed unless it is forced upon the Govern
ment. The Government will not use force unless force is used
against it."
In the selection of his Cabinet, he at once showed his
greatness and magnanimity. His principal rivals for the
Presidential nomination were invited to seats in his council
chamber. No one but a great man, conscious of his own
strength, would have done this. It was soon perceived that
his greatness was in no sense obscured by the presence of
7

the distinguished men who sat about him The most gifted
statesmen of the country: Seward, Chase, Cameron, Stanton,
Blair, Bates, Welles, Fessenden, and Dennison, some of
whom had been leaders in the Senate of the United States,
composed that historic Cabinet, and the man who had been
sneered at as "the rail-splitter" suffered nothing by such
association and comparison. He was a leader in fact as well
as name. Magnanimity was one of Lincoln's most striking traits.
Patriotism moved him at every step. At the beginning of
the war he placed at the head of three most important
military departments three of his political opponents —
Patterson, Butler and McClellan. He did not propose to
make it a partisan war. He sought by every means in his
power to enlist all who were patriots.
In his message of July 4, 1861, he stated his purpose in
these words :
" I desire to preserve the Government that it may be adminis
tered for all, as it was administered by the men who made it. On
the side of the Union it is a struggle to maintain in the world that
form and substance of Government whose leading object is to elevate
the condition of men, lift artificial burdens from all shoulders and
clear the paths of laudable pursuits for all, to afford all an unfet
tered start and a fair chance in the race of life. This is the leading
object of the Government for whose existence we contend."
Many people were impatient at Lincoln's conservatism.
He gave the South every chance possible. He pleaded with
them with an earnestness that was pathetic. He recognized
that the South was not alone to blame for the existence of
slavery, but that the sin was a National one. He sought
to impress upon the South that he would not use his office
as President to take away from them any constitutional
right, great or small.
In his first inaugural he addressed the men of the South,
as well as the North, as his "countrymen," one and all, and
with an outburst of indescribable tenderness, exclaimed:
"We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be
enemies." And then in those wondrously sweet and touching
words which even yet thrill the heart, he said:

" Though passion may have BtraiQed,it must not break our bonds
of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every
battle-field and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone
all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union when
again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our
nature." But his words were unheeded. The mighty war came
with its dreadful train. Knowing no wrong, he dreaded no
evil for himself. He had done all he could to save the coun
try by peaceful means. He had entreated and expostulated,
now he would do and dare. He had in words of solemn im
port warned the men of the South. He had appealed to their
patriotism by the sacred memories of the battle-fields of the
Revolution, on which the patriot blood of their ancestors had
been so bravely shed, not to break up the Union, Yet all in
vain. "Both parties deprecated war; but one would make
war rather than let the Nation survive; and the other would
accept war rather than let it perish. And the war came."
Lincoln did all he could to avert it, but there was no hesi
tation on his part when the sword of rebellion flashed from
its scabbard. He was from that moment until the close of
his life unceasingly devoted and consecrated to the great
purpose of saving the Union. All other matters he regarded
as trivial, and every movement, of whatever character, wheth
er important or unimportant of itself, was bent to that end.
The world now regards with wonder the infinite patience,
gentleness and kindness, with which he bore the terrible bur
dens of that four years' struggle. Humane, forgiving and
long-suffering himself, he was always especially tender and
considerate of the poor, and in his treatment of them was full
of those ' 'kind little acts which are of the same blood as great
and holy deeds." As Charles Sumner so well said: "With
him as President, the idea of republican institutions, where
no place is too high for the humblest, was perpetually mani
fest, so that his simple presence was a proclamation of the
equality of all men."
During the whole of the struggle, he was a tower of
strength to the Union. Whether in defeat or victory, he
9

kept right on, dismayed at nothing, and never to be diverted
from the pathway of duty. Always cool and determined, all
learned to gain renewed courage, calmness and wisdom from
him, and to lean upon his strong arm for support. The
proud designation, " Father of His Country," was not more
appropriately bestowed upon Washington, than the affection
ate title "Father Abraham" was given to Lincoln by the
soldiers and loyal people of the North.
The crowning glory of Lincoln's administration, and the
greatest executive act in American history, was his immortal
Proclamation of Emancipation. Perhaps more clearly than
anyone else Lincoln had realized years before he was called
to the Presidency, that the country could not continue half
slave and half free. He declared it before Seward pro
claimed the "irrepressible conflict." The contest between
freedom and slavery was inevitable ; it was written in the
stars. The Nation must be either all slave, or aU free.
Lincoln with almost supernatural prescience foresaw it. His
prophetic vision is manifested through all his utterances,
notably in the great debate between himself and Douglas.
To him was given the duty and responsibility of making that
great classic of liberty, the Declaration of Independence, no
longer an empty promise, but a glorious fulfillment.
Many long and thorny steps were to be taken before this
great act of justice could be performed. Patience and for
bearance had to be exercised. It had to be demonstrated
that the Union could be saved in no other way. Lincoln,
much as he abhorred slavery, felt that his chief duty was to
save the Union, under the Constitution, and within the Con
stitution. He did not assume the duties of his great office
with the purpose of abolishing slavery, nor changing the
Constitution, but as a servant of the Constitution and the
laws of the country then existing. In a speech delivered in
Ohio, in 1859, he said : "The people of the United States
are the rightful masters of both Congress and the Courts —
not to overthrow the Constitution, but to overthrow the men
who would overthrow the Constitution." 10

This was the principle which governed him, and which
he applied in his official conduct when he reached the Presi
dency. We now know that he had emancipation constantly
in his mind's eye for nearly two years after his first inaugu
ration. It is true he said at the start, "I believe I have no
lawful right to interfere with slavery where it now exists,
and have no intention of doing so ; " and that the public had
little reason to think he was meditating general emancipation
until he issued his preliminary proclamation, September 22,
1862. Just a month before, exactly, he had written to the ed
itor of the New York Tribune :
"My paramount object is to save the Union, and not either to
save or destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing
any slave, I would do it ; if I could save it by freeing all the' slaves,
I would do it ; and if I could do it by freeing some and leaving
others alone, I would also do that."
The difference in his thought and purpose about "the
divine institution " is very apparent in these two expressions.
Both were made in absolute honor and sincerity. Public sen
timent had undergone a great change, and Lincoln, valiant
defender of the Constitution that he was, and faithful tribune
of the people that he always was, changed with the people.
The war had brought them and him to a nearer realization of
our absolute dependence upon a Higher Power, and had
quickened his conceptions of duty more acutely than the
public could realize. The purposes of God, working through
the ages, were perhaps more clearly revealed to him than to
any other.Besides, it was as he himself once said : " It is a quality
of revolutions not to go by old lines or old laws, but to break
up both and make new ones." -He was " naturally anti-slav
ery," and the determination he formed when as a young
man he witnessed an auction in the slave shambles of New
Orleans, never forsook him. It is recorded how his soul
burned with indignation, and that he then exclaimed, "If I
ever get a chance to hit that thing, I'll hit it hard." He "hit
it hard" when as a member of the Illinois Legislature he pro-
11

tested that "the institution of slavery is founded on botb
injustice and bad policy." He " hit it hard" when as a mem
ber of Congress he "voted for the Wilmot Proviso as good as-
forty times." He "hit it hard" when he stumped his state
against the Kansas-Nebraska bill, and on the direct issue
carried Illinois in favor of the restriction of slavery by a
majority of 4,414 votes. He "hit it hard" when he approved
the law abolishing slavery in the District of Columbia, aa
anti-slavery measure that he had voted for in Congress. He
"hit it hard" when he signed the acts abolishing slavery in
all the Territories, and for the repeal of the Fugitive Slave
Law. But it still remained for him to strike slavery its
death-blow. He did that in his glorious Proclamation of
Freedom. It was in this light that Lincoln himself viewed these
great events. He wrote a mass-meeting of unconditional Un
ion men at Springfield, 111., August 26, 1863, as follows :
" The emancipation policy and the use of colored troops consti
tute the heaviest blow yet dealt to the Eebellion, and at least one of
these important successes could not have been achieved when it was
but for the aid of black soldiers. * * * * The job was a
great National one, and let none be banned who bore an honorable
part in it. * * * Peace does not appear so distant as it did.
I hope it will come soon, and come to stay ; and so come as to be
worth the keeping in all future time. It will then have proved that-
among free men there can be no successful appeal from the ballot to
the bullet, and that they who take such appeal are sure to lose their-
case and pay the cost. And then there will be some black men who-
can remember that with silent tongue, and clenched teeth, and steady
eye, and well-poised bayonet, they have helped mankind on to this
great consummation, while I fear there will, be some white ones.
unable to forget that with malignant heart and deceitful speech they
strove to hinder it."
Secretary Seward tells how when he carried the historic
Proclamation to the President for signature at noon on the
first day of January, 1863, he said: "I have been shaking
hands since nine o'clock this morning, and my right hand is
almost paralyzed. If my name ever goes into history, it will
be for this act, and my whole soul is in it. If my hand
trembles when I sign the Proclamation all who examine thfc
12

document hereafter, will say, 'he hesitated.'" He turned to
the table, took up his pen and slowly, firmly wrote that
'^ Abraham LincohC with which the whole world is now familiar.
Then li^ looked up and said : "That will do."
In all the long years of slavery agitation, unlike any of
the other anti-slavery leaders, Lincoln always carried the
people with him. In 1854 Illinois cast loose from her old
Democratic moorings and followed his leadership in a most
emphatic protest against the repeal of the Missouri Compro
mise. In 1858 the people of Illinois endorsed his opposition
to the aggressions of slavery, in a state usually Democratic,
even against so popular a leader as "the Little Giant." In
1860 the whole country endorsed his position on slavery, even
when the people were continually harangued that his election
meant the dissolution of the Union. During the war the
people advanced with him step by step to its final overthrow.
Indeed, in the election of 1864 the people not only endorsed
emancipation, but went far towards recognizing the political
equality of the negro. They heartily justified the President
in having enlisted colored soldiers to fight side by side with
the white man in the noble cause of union and liberty. Aye,
they did more, they endorsed his position on another and
vastly more important phase of the race problem. They ap
proved his course as President in reorganizing the government
of Louisiana, and a hostile press did not fail to call attention
to the fact that this meant eventually negro suffrage in that
state. Perhaps, however, it was not known then that Lincoln
had written the new Free State Governor, on March 13, 1864,
as follows :
"Now you are about to have a Convention, which, among other
things, will probably define the elective franchise. I barely suggest
for your private consideration, whether some of the colored people
may not be let in — as for instance, the very intelligent, and especially
those who have fought gallantly in our ranks. They would probably
help, in some trying time to come, to keep the jewel of liberty within
the family of freedom."
Lincoln had that happy, peculiar habit, which few public
men have attained, of looking away from the deceptive and
13

misleading influences about him, and none are more deceptive
than those of public life in our capitals, straight into the
hearts of the people. He could not be deceived by the self-
interested host of eager counselors who sought to enforce
their own particular views upon him as the voice of the
country. He chose to determine for himself what the people
were thinking about and wanting him to do, and no man ever
lived who was a more accurate judge of their opinions and
wishes. The battle of Gettysburg turned the scale of the war in
favor of the Union, and it has always seemed to me riiost for
tunate that Lincoln declared for emancipation before rather
than after that decisive contest. A later Proclamation might
have been construed as a tame and cowardly performance,
not a challenge of Truth to Error for mortal combat. The
ground on which that battle was fought is held sacred by
every friend of freedom. But important as the battle itself
was the dedication of it as a National Cemetery is celebrated
for a grander thing. The words Lincoln spoke there will live
"until time shall be no more," through all eternity. Well
may they be forever preserved on tablets of bronze upon the
spot where he spoke, but how infinitely better it would be if
they could find a permanent lodging place in the soul of every
American! Lincoln was a man of moderation. He was neither an
autocrat nor a tyrant. If he moved slowly sometimes, it was
because it was better to move slowly, and, like the successful
general that he was, he was only waiting for his reserves to
come up. Possessing almost unlimited power, he yet carried
himself like one of the humblest of men. He weighed every
subject. He considered and reflected upon every phase of
public duty. He got the average judgment of the plain
people. He had a high sense of justice, a clear understand
ing of the rights of others, and never needlessly inflicted an
injury upon any man.
He said, in response to a serenade, November 10, 1864
just after his triumphal election for a second term to the
great office of President : 14

"Now that the election is over, may not all having a common
interest reunite in a common eft'ort to save our comraoii country ?
For my own part, I have striven and shall strive to avoid placing any
obstacle in the way. So long as I:have been here I have not willingly
planted a thorn in any man's bosom. While I am deeply sensible
to the high compliment of a re-election, and duly grateful, as I trust,
to Almighty God for having directed my countrymen to a right con
clusion, as I think, for their own good, it adds nothing to my satis
faction that any other man may be disappointed or pained by the
result." It is pleasant to note that in the very last public speech
by President Lincoln, on April 11, 1865, he uttered noble
sentiments of charity and good-will similar to those of his
sublime second inaugural, which were of peculiar interest to
the people of the South. In discussing the question of re
construction, he said :
" We all agree that the seceded States, so called, are out of their
proper practical relation with the Union, and that the sole object of
the government, civil and military, in regard to those States, is to
again get them into that proper practical relation. I believe that it
is not only possible, but in fact easier, to do this without deciding or
even considering whether these States have ever been out of the
Union, than with it. Finding themselves safely at home, it would
be utterly immaterial whether they had ever been abroad. Let us
all join in doing the acts necessary to restoring the proper practical
relations between these States and the Union, and each forever after
innocently indulge his own opinion whether in doing the acts he
brought the States from without into the Union, or only gave them
proper assistance, they never having been out of it."
Mr. President, it is not difficult to place a correct esti
mate upon the character of Lincoln. He was the greatest
man of his time, especially approved of God for the work He
gave him to do. History abundantly proves his superiority
as a leader, and establishes his constant reliance upon a
Higher Power for guidance and support. The tendency of
this age is to exaggeration, but of Lincoln certainly none
have spoken more highly than those who knew him best.
A distinguished orator* of to-day has said: "Lincoln
surpassed all orators in eloquence; all diplomatists in wis
dom; all statesmen in foresight; and the most ambitious in
fame." *Hon. John J. lognUs of Kansas. 15

This is in accord with the estimate of Stanton who pro
nounced him "the most perfect ruler of men the world had
ever seen."
Seward, too, declared Lincoln "a man of destiny, with
character made and molded by Divine Power to save a nation
from perdition."
Oliver Wendell Holmes characterized him as "the true
representative of this continent; an entirely public man;
father of his country; the pulse of twenty millions throb
bing in his heart, the thought of their minds articulated by
his tongue." Bancroft wisely observed : "Lincoln thought always of
mankind,, as well as his own country, and served human
nature itself ; he finished a work which all time cannot over
throw." Sumner said that in Lincoln "the West spoke to the East,
pleading for human rights, as declared by our fathers."
Horace Greeley, in speaking of the events which led up
to and embraced the Rebellion, declared : "Other men were
helpful, and nobly did their part; yet, looking back through
the lifting mists of those seven eventful, tragic, trying, glo
rious years, I clearly discern the one providential leader, the
Indispensable hero of the great drama, Abraham Lincoln."
James Russell Lowell was quick to perceive and proclaim
Lincoln's greatness. In December, 1863, in a review of the
"President's Policy," in the Atlantic Monthly, he said:
"Perhaps none of our Presidents since Washington has stood
so firm in the confidence of the people as Lincoln, after three
years' stormy administration. *****
A profound common sense is the best genius for statesmanship.
Hitherto the wisdom of the President's measures has been
justified by the fact that they always resulted in more firmly
uniting public opinion."
Lincoln is certainly the most sagacious and far-seeing
statesman in the annals of American history. His entire
public life justifies this estimate of him. It is notable that
his stand upon all public questions in his earlier as well as
16

his later career stamp him as the wisest exponent of political
truths we have ever had.
Witnessing the Government as we do to-day, with its
debt-increasing, bond-issuing, gold-depleting, labor-destroy
ing, low-tariff policy, with what mighty force the words of
Lincoln, written more than half a century ago, come to us in
this hour and emergency! They read as if written for the
living present, not for the forgotten past. Why, do you
know, that as far back as March 1, 1843, at a Whig meeting
in Springfield, Mr. Lincoln offered a series of resolutions re
lating to the tariff, which could well be accepted here to
night? They were then instantly and unanimously adopted,
and Mr. Lincoln was himself appointed to prepare an "Ad
dress to the People of the State" upon the subjects which
they embraced. Let me read from this Address his profound
observations upon tariff and taxation and their relation to
the condition of the country.
"The first of our resolutions" said Mr. Lincoln, "declares a tariff
of duties upon foreign importations, producing sufficient revenue for
the support of the General Government, and so adjusted as to pro
tect American industry, to be indispensably necessary to the prosper
ity of the American people; and the second declares direct taxation
for a National revenue to be improper.
"For several years past the revenues of the Government have
been unequal to its expenditures, and consequently loan after loan,
sometimes direct and sometimes indirect in form, has been resorted
to. By this means a new national debt has been created, and is still
growing on us with rapidity fearful to contemplate — a rapidity only
reasonably to be expected in time of war. This state of things has
been produced by a prevailing unwillingness either to increase the
tariff or to resort to direct taxation. But the one or the other must
come. Coming expenditures must be met, and the present debt
must be paid ; and money can not always be borrowed for these
objects. The system of loans is but temporary in its nature, and
must soon explode. It is a system not only ruinous while it lasts,
but one that must soon fail and leave us destitute. As an individual
who undertakes to live by borrowing soon finds his original means
devoured by interest, and, next, no one left to borrow from, so must
it be with the Government.
"We repeat, then, that a tariff sufficient for revenue, or a direct
tax, must soon be resorted to, and, indeed, we believe this alternative
17

is now denied by no one. But which system shall be adopted ? Some
of our opponents, in theory, admit the propriety of a tariff sufficient
for a revenue; but even they will not in practice vote for such a
tariff; while others boldly advocate direct taxation. Inasmuch,
therefore, as some of them boldly advocate direct taxation, and all
the rest — or so nearly all as to make exceptions needless — refuse to
adopt the tariff, we think it doing them no injustice to class them all as
advocates of direct taxation. Indeed, we believe they are only delay
ing an open avowal of the system, till they can assure themselves
that the people will tolerate it. Let us then briefly compare the
two systems. The tariff is the cheaper system because the duties,
being collected in large parcels at a few commercial points, will
require comparatively few officers in their collection ; while by the
direct tax system the land must be literally covered with assessors
and collectors, going forth like swarms of Egyptian locusts, devour
ing every blade of grass and other green thing.
"By this system (the protective) the man who contents himself
to live upon the products of his own country pays nothing at all.
Surely our country is extensive enough and its products abundant and
varied enough, to answer all the real wants of its people. In short,
by the protective system the burden of revenue falls almost entirely
upon the wealthy and luxurious few, while the substantial and labor
ing many who live at home and upon home products, go entirely
free. "By the direct tax system none can escape. However strictly
the citizen may exclude from his premises all foreign luxuries — fine
cloths, tine silks, rich wines, golden chains and diamond rings — still
for the possession of his house, his barn, and his homespun, he is to
be perpetually haunted and harassed by the tax-gatherer. With
these views we leave it to be determined whether we or our oppo
nents are the more truly democratic on the subject."
Perhaps it was not entirely accidental that these views
of Mr. Lincoln found almost literal expression in the Repub
lican National platform of 1860. Nor is it strange that this
year, as in 1860, no chart is needed to mark the Republican
position upon this great economic question. The whole world
knew a year in advance of its utterance what the Republican
platform of 1860 would be, and the whole world knows now,
and has known for a year past, what the Republican platform
of 1896 will be.
Then the battle was to arrest the spread of slave labor
in America; now it is to prevent the increase of illy-paid and
18

degraded free labor in America. The platform of 1896, I
say, is already written — written in the hearts and at the
homes of the masses of our countrymen. It has been thought
out around hundreds of thousands of American firesides —
literally wrought out, by the new conditions and harsh expe
riences of the past three years.
On the great questions still unsettled, or in dispute be
tween the dominant parties, we stand now just as we did in
1860, for Republican principles are unalterable. On the sub
ject of protection to American labor and American interests
we can re-affirm, and will re-affirm, the Lincoln platform of
1860. It needs neither amendment nor elaboration. Indeed,
we could begin the platform of 1896 in the exact words with
which the fathers of the Republican party began the plat
form of 1860. Its first plank, you will remember, reads as
follows :
"Resolved, That the history of the Nation during the last four
years has fully established the propriety and necessity of the organ
ization and perpetuation of the Eepublic^n party, and that the causes
which called it into existence are permanent in their nature, and
now, more than ever before, demand its peaceful and constitutional
triumph." This was said near the close of the last Democratic Ad
ministration, which for a time controlled all branches of the
National Government. With what truth it applies to the
present Democratic Administration which for two years fol
lowing March 4, 1893, again had control of all branches of
the National Government.
Now let me read the Lincoln platform on the tariff,
adopted on May 17, 1860, by the second Republican National
Convention, and I submit whether it does not express the
sentiment of the great majority of the people of Illinois, and
of the whole country, even better to-day than it did then.
Here is what it said:
" Resolved, That while providing revenue for the support of the
General Government by duties on imports, sound policy requires such
an adjustment of these imports as to encourage the development of
the industrial interests of the whole country; and we commend that
policy of National exchanges which secures to the workingmen liberal
19

wages, to agriculture remunerative prices, to mechanics and manu
facturers an adequate reward for their skill, labor and enterprise,
and to the Nation commercial prosperity and independence."
Better protection no Republican could ask or desire; and
poorer none should advocate or accept! We are faithfully
wedded to the great principle of protection by every tie of
party fealty and affection, and it is dearer to us now than
ever before. Not only is it dearer to us as Republicans, but
it has more devoted supporters, among the great masses of the
American people, irrespective of party, than at any previous
period in our National history. It is everywhere recognized
and endorsed as the great, masterful, triumphant, American
principle — the key to our prosperity in business, the safest
prop to the Treasury of the United States, and the bulwark
of our National independence and financial honor.
The question of the continuance or abandonment of our
protective system has been the one great, overshadowing, or
vital question in American politics ever since Mr. Cleveland
opened the contest in December, 1887, to which the lamented
James G. Blaine made swift reply from across the sea, and it
will continue the issue until a truly American policy, for the
good of America, is firmly established and perpetuated. The
fight will go on, and must go on, until the American system
is everywhere recognized, until all nations come to understand
and respect it as distinctly, and all Americans come to honor
or love it as dearly, as they do the American flag. God grant
the day may soon come when all partisan contention over it
is forever at an end!
The Republican party is competent to carry this policy
into effect. Whenever there is anything to be done for this
country, it is to the Republican party we must look to have it
done. We are not contending for any particular tariff law,
or laws, or for any special schedules, or rates, but for the
great principle — the American protective policy — the tempo
rary overthrow of which has brought distress and ruin to
every part of our beloved country.
It may be asked what the next Republican tariff law will
provide. I cannot tell you. I cannot tell you what the sched-
20

ules and rates will be, but they will measure the difference
between American and European conditions — and will,
moreover, be fully adequate to protect ourselves from the in
vasion of our markets by Oriental products to the injury of
American labor — and will in no case be too low to protect
and exalt American labor, and promote and increase Ameri
can production. I can not better answer this grave inquiry than by an
illustration of Mr. Lincoln's. Someone asked him, "How
long a man's legs ought to be." He said: " That is a very
serious question; and I have given much thought to it a great
many times. Some should be longer and some shorter; but I
Avant to tell you that a man's legs ought always to be long
enough to reach from his body to the ground." And so I
tell you, my inquiring free trade friend, that the legs of the
next Republican tariff law will be long enough to firmly sup
port the American body politic; sustain the public Treasury;
lift up our National credit; and uphold the dignity and in
dependence of American labor, and the enterprises and occu
pations of the American people.
No one need be in any doubt about what the Republican
party stands for. Its own history makes that too palpable
and clear to admit of doubt. It stands for a reunited and
recreated Nation, based upon free and honest elections in
every township, county, city, district and State in this great
American Union. It stands for the American fireside, and
the flag of the Nation. It stands for the American farm, the
American factory and the prosperity of all the American
people. It stands for a Reciprocity that reciprocates, and
which does not yield up to another country a single day's
labor that belongs to the American workingman. It stands
for international agreements which get as much as they give,
upon terms of mutual advantage. It stands for an exchange
of our surplus home products for such foreign products as we
consume but do not produce. It stands for the reciprocity of
Blaine; for the reciprocity of Harrison; for the restoration
and extension of the principle embodied in the reciprocity
21

provision of the Republican tariff of 1890. It stands for a
foreign policy dictated by and imbued with a spirit that is
genuinely American; for a policy that will revive the National
traditions, and restore the National spirit which carried us
proudly through the earlier years of the century. It stands
for such a policy with all foreign nations as will insure both
to us and them justice, impartiality, fairness, good faith,
dignity and honor. It stands for the Monroe doctrine as
Monroe himself proclaimed it, about which there is no
division whatever among the American people. It stands
now, as ever, for honest money, and a chance to earn it by
honest toil. It stands for a currency of gold, silver and'
paper with which to measure our exchanges that shall be as
sound as the Government and as untarnished as its honor.
The Republican party would as soon think of lowering the
flag of our country as to contemplate with patience or without
protest and opposition any attempt to degrade or corrupt the
medium of exchanges among our people. It can be relied
upon in the future as in the past, to supply our country with
the best money ever known, gold, silver, and paper, good the
world over. It stands for a commercial policy that will
whiten every sea with the sails of American vessels, flying the
American flag, and that will protect that flag wherever it
floats. It stands for a system which will give to the United
States the balance of trade with every competing nation in
the world. It is for a fiscal policy opposed to debts and
deficiencies in time of peace, and favors the return of the
Government to a debt-paying, and opposes the continuance of
a debt-making policy.
And, gentlemen of the Marquette Club, let me tell you
that the Republican party true to the advice and example of
the immortal Lincoln, is going to make the campaign this year
upon its own ground, not upon its opponent's. That is to
say, the Republicans of the country are not going to help the
Democratic leaders obscure the issue on which their party has
been wrecked and the Administration stranded, by taking up
every new incident about which a hue and cry may be raised.
22

On the contrary, they will not be led off by side issues, but
they will everywhere courageously insist that the people in
November shall judge the Administration and its party by
their works and not by any new and boastful protestations by
them. They will give due credit for any sporadic outburst of
patriotic fervor for our rights in foreign countries that the
Administration may choose to indulge in and rejoice that it is
at last on the right side of a great question, which is where
the Republicans have always been. But the Ship of State
shall not be lured into shallow waters by false lights. No
new-born zeal for American rights, or the National honor,
from any quarter whatever, can raise an issue with the grand
old Republican party which for forty years has steadfastly
maintained it both at home and abroad. The new convert
belongs to our ranks, and he is welcome, but he should re
member that he cannot put patriotism at issue with the party
which has been the very embodiment of patriotism from its
birth to the present hour.
Gentlemen of the Marquette Club, and my fellow citizens,
let us cherish the principles of our party and consecrate our
selves anew to their triumph. We have but to put our trust
in the people; we have but to keep in close touch with the
people; we have but to hearken to the voice of the people, as
it comes to us from every quarter; we have but to paint on
our banners the sentiment the people have everywhere ex
pressed at every election during the last three years,
'¦'¦ Patriotism., Protection and Prosperity'''' — to win another most
glorious and decisive Republican National victory.
The greatest names in American history are Washington
and Lincoln. One is forever associated with the independ
ence of the States and formation of the Federal Union; the
other with universal freedom and the preservation of that
Union. Washington enforced the Declaration of Independ
ence as against England; Lincoln proclaimed its fulfillment
not only to a down-trodden race in America, but to all people
for all time, who may seek the protection of our flag. These
illustrious men achieved grander results for mankind within
28

a single century— from 1775 to 1865— than any other men
ever accomplished in all the years since first the flight of
time began. Washington engaged in no ordinary revolution.
With him it was not who should rule, but what should rule.
He drew his sword, not for a change of rulers upon an estab
lished throne, but to establish a new government, which
should acknowledge no throne but the tribune of the people.
Lincoln accepted war to save the Union, the safeguard of
our liberties, and re-established it on " indestructible foun
dations" as forever " one and indivisible." To quote his own
grand words:
" Now we are contending 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."
Each lived to accomplish his appointed task. Each re
ceived the unbounded gratitude of the people of his time,
and each is held in great and eyer-increasing reverence by
posterity. The fame of each will never die. It will grow
with the ages, because it is based upon imperishable service
to humanity — not to the people of a single generation or
country, but to the whole human family, wherever scatter
ed, forever. The present generation knows Washington only from
history, and by that alone can judge him. Lincoln we
know by history also; but thousands are still living who
participated in the great events in which he was leader
and master. Many of his contemporaries survived him;
some are here yet in almost every locality. So Lincoln is not
far removed from us. Indeed, he may be said to be still
known to the millions; not surrounded by the mists of antiq
uity, nor by a halo of idolatry that is impenetrable.
He never was inaccessible to the people. Thousands
carry with them yet the words which he spoke in their hear
ing; thousands remember the pressure of his hand; and I
remember, as though it were but yesterday, and thousands of
my comrades will recall, how, when he reviewed the Army
of the Potomac immediately after the battle of Antietam,
24

his indescribably sad, thoughtful, far-seeing expression
pierced every man's soul. Nobody could keep the people
away from him, and when they came to him he would suffer
no one to drive them back. So it is that an unusually large
number of the American people came to know this great
man, and that he is still so well remembered by them. It
can not be said that they are mistaken about him, or that
they misinterpreted his character and greatness.
Men are still connected with the government who served
during his entire Administration. There are at least two
Senators, and perhaps twice as many Representatives, who
participated in his first inauguration; men who stood side by
side with him in the trying duties of his Administration, and
have been without interruption, in one branch or another of
the public service ever since. The Supreme Court of the
United States still has among its members one whom Lincoln
appointed, and so of other branches of the Federal judiciary.
His faithful Private Secretaries are still alive and have
rendered posterity a great service in their history of Lincoln
and his times. They have told the story of his life and pub
lic services with such entire frankness and fidelity, as to ex
hibit to the world " the very inner courts of his soul."
This host of witnesses, without exception, agree as to
the true nobility and intellectual greatness of Lincoln. All
proudly claim for Lincoln the highest abilities and the most
distinguished and self-sacrificing patriotism. Lincoln taught
them, and has taught us, that no party or partisan can
escape responsibility to the people; that no party advantage,
or presumed party advantage, should ever swerve us from the
plain path of duty, which is ever the path of honor and
distinction. He emphasized his words by his daily life and
deeds. He showed to the world by his lofty example, as
well as by precept and maxim that there are times when the
voice of partisanship should' be hushed and that of patriotism
only be heeded- He taught that a good service done for the
country, even in aid of an unfriendly Administration, brings
to the men and the party who rise above the temptation of
25

temporary partisan advantage, a lasting gain in the respect
and confidence of the people. He showed that such patriotic
devotion is usually rewarded, not only with retention in
power and the consciousness of duty well and bravely done,
but with the gratification of beholding the blessings of relief
and prosperity, not of a party, or section, but of the whole
country. This, he held, should be the first and great con
sideration of all puljlic servants.
When Lincoln died, a grateful people, moved by a com
mon impulse, immediately placed him side by side with the
immortal Washington, and unanimously proclaimed them the
two greatest and best Americans. That verdict has not
changed, and will not change, nor can we conceive how the
historians of this or any age will ever determine what is so
clearly a matter of pure personal opinion as to which of these
noble men is entitled to greatest honor and homage from the
people of America.
A recent writer says: "The amazing growth Lincoln
made in the esteem of his countrymen and the world, while
he was doing his great work, has been paralleled by the in
crease of his fame in the years since he died." He might
have added that, like every important event of his life, Lin
coln's fame rests upon a severer test than that of any other
American. Never, in all the ages of men, have the acts,
words, motives — even thoughts — of any statesman been so
scrutinized, analyzed, studied, or speculated upon, as his.
Yet from all inquirers, without distinction as to party,
church, section, or country, from friend and from foe alike,
comes the unanimous verdict that Abraham Lincoln must
have no second place in American history, and that he will
never be second to any in the reverent affections of the
American people..
Says the gifted Henry Watterson, in a most beautiful,
truthful, and eloquent tribute to the great Emancipator:
" Born as lowly as the Son of God, reared in penury and
squalor, with no gleam of light nor fair surroundings, it
was reserved for this strange being, late in life, without name
26

or fame, or seeming preparation, to be snatched from
obscurity, raised to supreme command at a supreme moment,
and intrusted with the destiny of a Nation. Where did
Shakespeare get his genius ? Where did Mozart get his
music ? Whose hand smote the lyre of the Scottish plow
man and staid the life of the German priest ? God alone,
and as surely as these were raised by God, inspired of God
was Abraham Lincoln; and a thousand years hence no story,
no tragedy, no epic poem, will be filled with greater wonder
than that which tells of his life and death. If Lincoln was
not inspired of God, then there is no such thing on earth as
special providence or the interposition of divine power in the
affairs of men."
My fellow citizens, a noble manhood, nobly consecrated
to man, never dies. The Martyr to Liberty, the Emancipa
tor of a Race, the Savior of the only free Government among
men, may be buried from human sight, but his deeds will
live in human gratitude forever.
" Great captains, with their guns and drums.
Disturb our judgment for the hour.
But at last silence comes ;
These are all gone, and, standing like a tower,
Our children shall behold his fame ;
The kindly-earnest, brave, far-seeing man.
Sagacious, patient, dreading praise, not blame.
New birth of our new soil, the first American."

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