Abraham Lincoln and constitutional government

PART ONE Published by Chicago Legal News

Sold by A. C. McClurg & Co.

COPYRIGHT 1916

BY

BARTOW A. ULRICH

T DEDICATE This life of Abraham Lincoln and treatise on constitutional government to the Press Club of Chicago, which bears in its hand the ever brilliant torch of intelligence, knowledge and liberty that enlightens the world and defends the rights of the people.

Preface

There have been so many books, essays, and speeches written about the immortal Abraham Lincoln, that one might well ask why I should attempt at this late day the difficult task of adding one more to the thousands already in existence. In answer I will say that whenever I return to the sacred precincts and final resting place of one whom I knew and admired in my early years, whose imperishable fame and illustrious services never will be forgotten, nor whose memory will ever perish from the history of the world, I feel impelled to add one more laurel wreath to that victorious brow, and to recount a few more cherished memories of that useful, unselfish, and patriotic life; and above all to show what he accomplished to advance and perpetuate constitutional government in the world.

A thousand years from now, and longer, Springfield and the tomb of Lincoln will be the Mecca of countless lovers of liberty and justice from all over the world, who will come here to visit and express their devotion to the great Mastermind of the Nineteenth Century, who saved the Union during its most perilous days, and liberated four million slaves from a degrading bondage. This republic and the entire world owe a great debt of gratitude for the kindly manner in which, at an early date, Springfield received and appreciated the latent talent of the young, honest, and homely man who had the good fortune to make his home there. He was fortunate in meeting such friends as John T. Stuart, William Butler, Joshua Speed, Lyman Trumbull, O. H. Browning, Judge David Davis, Edward B. Baker, and Leonard Swett, all of whom aided him greatly in getting a start in life.

"Everbody in Springfield knew the story of how Lincoln rode from New Salem to Springfield on a borrowed horse with a pair of old saddle bags, two or three law books and a few pieces of nondescript clothing and about $7 in his pocket. Every one knew, too, how he found that he could not scrape together $17 for bedroom furniture and how his friend Speed offered him half his own bed in a room over the latter's store. He and Speed both took their meals with William Butler, who was afterwards treasurer of Illinois."

There may be those who deem it a great privilege to visit the tomb of Peter the Great, founder of the despotism of Russia, or the tomb of Frederick the Great, founder of the reigning family of Prussia, or the tomb of Napoleon, victor in many viii Preface

battles, but I consider Lincoln superior in his achievements for the universal good of humanity to any one of these proud and overpowering masters of men, and would therefore rather visit his than any of their final resting places.

However, no one will cherish for a moment the idea that the immortal Lincoln rests within the dust under his tomb at Oak Ridge, for Lincoln still lives. No assassin's knife or pistol can harm him now. He lives in the minds and hearts of countless millions throughout the nations which encircle the globe, and he will continue so to live for many decades to come. His deeds live to overcome tyranny and human oppression in this and other lands, and to fight their advancement at every step. At his call, contained in his immortal words and works, today, if needed, a great army of men will arise, as in the days of the Civil War, to put down the enemies of freedom and progress. God grant that the day may not be near when this call will be needed in the land, made sacred by the blood of heroes of the Revolution and of the Civil War, yet it may be nearer than we know.

In order to comprehend the lives and characters of Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, Oliver Cromwell, Martin Luther, Peter the Great, or other world rulers or reformers, one must realize and admit that there exists outside the control of man, a universal mind, acting above and beyond human foresight, but using as instruments suitable personages to accomplish great and far-reaching results. In order to gain a certain well-defined object which dominates them, the lives of these men demonstrate, or carry out to its legitimate purpose, a principle, thus fulfilling the designs of a universal governing power superior to themselves. Thus governments are established and religions propagated for the advancement, up-building, and regeneration of the world of mankind.

Houston Stewart Chamberlain, in his work entitled "The Foundation of the Nineteenth Century," says: "Nature knows no greater power than that of one great, strong man."

When a great ruler, powerful in mind and body, endowed with extraordinary ability and character, is born into this world, it does not necessarily follow that his parents should be the occupants of the palace of an emperor, the owners of the luxurious dwelling of a multi-millionaire, or the favorite citizens of a populous city, for some of the world's greatest characters have been born in simple dwellings, of parents possessing no other qualifications to favor them than honesty and respectability. The parents of Abraham Lincoln were residents of the humble log cabin, now prominent in the history of the United States as the birthplace of many celebrated people, its location in the virgin

Preface ix

forest near a sparkling river, uncontaminated by the overgrowth of humanity. Thus young Lincoln was chosen from the western wilds of America.

"And the Lord said unto Samuel, * * * Fill thine horn with oil, and go, I will send thee to Jesse the Beth-le-hemite, for I have provided me a king among his sons." (And Jesse sent and brought to him David, the shepherd boy.) "Now he was ruddy and withal of a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look to. And the Lord said, Arise, anoint him: for this is he."

When the boundless prairies, the primeval forests, and the rushing rivers of the unsubdued West and South had done their work in building up physically this future president and emancipator, when his vigorous and clear intellect was ready to fulfill its purpose, he strode bravely into the camp of modern enterprise and civilization, and in a short time became its leading spirit.

Those who considered themselves qualified to hold the place of superiority above the masses, and regarded themselves as patricians, on account of their birth or their wealth, found in the case of this man of humble origin, that he was their superior, notwithstanding his lack of advantages and social position in early life. They would have barred him out of their clubs, their exclusive circles, the halls of congress and the state legislature, on account of his want of so-called gentle breeding, but the people, the voters, for whom he acted, soon placed him in the front ranks.

The aristocracy of nature is superior to the aristocracy of wealth or imperial grandeur. The phrase, "all men are created equal", which is inserted in the Declaration of Independence, has been and is a source of annoyance to many in this country who would be aristocrats, and especially to those residing in the slave states at that time. The wealthy citizens of New York, Baltimore, Charleston, Richmond, and Boston, at the time of Lincoln, did not consider him their social equal when they first met him ; but when they heard his eloquence, became acquainted with his character, and knew of his achievements, they realized that he was a man of great ability and destined to fill an important place in his country's history. Originally starting with great natural gifts, in their development, he was surpassed by few men of his time.

There ever seems to be in this world a continual controversy over the equality, or inequality, of mankind, but a truly noble nature, reared apart from the corrupting and enervating influences of civilization, is often found superior to the child of fortune, educated amid the luxury of culture and refinement. Abraham Lincoln was the personification of the ideal of personal liberty, and the equality of all men in the sphere of political rights, under the constitution of the United States. No law existed then, or exists today, to prevent the election of the people's choice to any of the different legislative branches of government, or even to the presidential chair.

In one of Lincoln's addresses to one of the regiments, August 22, 1864, he said, "I happen, temporarily, to occupy this White House. I am a living witness that any one of your children may look to come here, as my father's child has. It is in order that each one of you may have, through this free government which we have enjoyed, an open field and a fair chance for your industry, enterprise, and intelligence; that you may all have equal privileges in the race of life, with all its desirable human aspirations. It is for this the struggle should be maintained, that we may not lose our birthright — not only for one, but for two or three years. The nation is worth fighting for, to secure such an inestimable jewel."

BARTOW A. ULRICH.

Chicago, Illinois, 1916.

Contents m

Contents

PART I. ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

Preface vu

Chapter I. First meeting with Abraham Lincoln I

Carl Schurz on Lincoln's personal appearance 3

Peter Vredenburg's reminiscences 4

Fourth of July in Heidelberg 4

Stephen A. Douglas 5

Lincoln on Temperance 5

The Little Still-house. 6

Lincoln on the liquor question 7

The petty practitioners of a petty town 8

The Lincoln-Shields "Duel" 9

The Springfield bar "

Lincoln's rise from obscurity ll

Lincoln and Douglas I2

Horace White's recollections J3

Personal appearance of Douglas 14

Lincoln's associates at Springfield 16

Chapter II. Organization of the Republican party 19

Founded on the Declaration of Independence 19

State Fair at Springfield, October, 1854 19

The name "Republican" 20

Illinois editors and the Nebraska Bill 21

Editors at Decatur advised by Lincoln 22

Lincoln declines to be a candidate for office 23

Pennsylvania editors meet at Pittsburg 23

Anti-Nebraska convention at Bloomington, 1856 24

Call for a national convention 25

First Republican county convention 26

Resolutions of the Bloomington convention 27

The "lost speech" 28

Delegates at the Bloomington convention 29

The Bloomington ticket 31

"Deacon" Tyrell 3* xu Contents

Republican meeting in Rock Island 32

"Gennans mostly anti-Christians and Republicans" 33

The national election of 1856 33

Lincoln's address at Chicago 34

Anniversary of the Republican party 35

Chapter IX. The Trent affair 97

The Treaty of Ghent 98

Lincoln's desire for reconciliation 99

Thanksgiving proclamation, 1863 100

The Gettysburg Address 100

Proclamation of thanksgiving for Union victories 101

Lincoln's faith in God 101

National fast day, 1861 102

Belief in prayer 103

The question of slavery 104

Chapter X. Influence of West Point on democracy 109

College training versus the Declaration of Independence. ... no

Chapter XL Emancipation of the Negro in the United States and other

countries 117

Ambition of Jefferson Davis and other Southern leaders. . . 118

Northern leaders stood for liberty and union 119

The nations abolish slavery 120

Czar Alexander II. and the emancipation of the serfs 122

Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation 124

Negro Fellowship League celebrates 127

Reminiscences of the rebel conspiracy to burn Chicago 127

Chapter V. Events leading to the birth of the nation 175

Adoption of the Constitution 177

Powers of the government 178

De Tocqueville on the American Judiciary 180

Constituent and law-making power 181

Chief Justice Marshall on the judicial power 182

Lincoln and the Dred Scott decision 186

The "grand father clause" 187

Cabinet officers and Congress 189

Power of the executive 192

Contents xv

The referendum 192

The Civil Code of Switzerland 193

Stability of our Constitution 194

Part of Washington's Farewell Address 195

Chapter VI. Criticism on Constitution 197

State and National Control 200

Department of Agriculture 201

Letter of H. D. Sackett on Forest Taxation in the U. S 202

Mormonism 199

Conservation applied to children 206

Limitation of State Constitution 211

Chapter VII. National vs. state sovereignty 213

Reconciliation 219

Growth of the South 218

Chapter VIII. Causes which led to the rebellion 221

Honorable Robert T. Lincoln's letter 223

Abraham Lincoln, loyal to the Constitution 223

Writ of Habeas Corpus, suspended 225

Influence of our Constitution 225

The Holy Alliance and the Monroe Doctrine 227

Pan- Americanism and the Monroe Doctrine 229

Origin of the step 230

Pan-American growth 230

Mr. Hall on the new Monroe Doctrine argued before Political Science Academy 232

President Wilson's Latin-American policy 232

We must not retrograde 233

Chapter IX. The Thirteenth Amendment 237

The Fourteenth Amendment 238

The Fifteenth Amendment 240

The Sixteenth Amendment 241

The Seventeenth Amendment 242

The Proposed Referendum 244

The Proposed Female Suffrage 244

The Proposed Federal Control of Child Labor 244

Hobson's proposed amendment for nation-wide prohibition . . 244

Resolution to extend suffrage to women 245 xvi Contents

Chapter X. Switzerland 247

The Swiss federation 248

Constitution of the Swiss federation 250

The Swiss confederation 250

The Landegemeinde 256

Chapter XL

Portugal 261

Revolution of the 5th of October, 1910, by A. C. Courrage. . 263

Constitution of Portugal 263

Chapter XII. France, a republic 283

Constitution of France, 1791 284

The Brumaire Decree, 1799 285

Constitution of 1799 286

Senatus-Consultum, 1804 286

Napoleon compared to Washington 287

Louis Napoleon 294

Imperial policy of Louis Napoleon 291

Adolph Theirs on Modern France History 295

The present Constitution 299

The Civil Code 307

Arstide Braind — formed a new ministry, 1916 308

President Poincare predicts end of war 309

Anniversary of Franco-Prussian War 309

See new France rising out of war 311

Chapter XIII. Constitution of Norway 315

Introduction by Peter B. Olson 315

Other Constitutions.

China 333

Japan 336

German government 339

Prussia 341

Ottoman Empire 370

New Zealand 386

Iceland 395

Belgium 397

Chapter I

MEETING ABRAHAM LINCOLN WHEN I WAS SEVEN YEARS OLD AT SPRINGFIELD, 1 845. LYMAN TRUMBULL, STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS, GEN. SHIELDS, O. M. BROWNING, MISS JULIA JAYNE AND MRS. LINCOLN AT SOCIAL GATHERINGS. PERSONAL REMINISCENCES OF LINCOLN AND DOUGLAS. SKETCHES OF SOME OF LINCOLN'S CONTEMPORARIES IN SPRINGFIELD. LINCOLN-SHIELDS DUEL. REFERENCES TO LINCOLN AND DOUGLAS DEBATES BY HORACE WHITE, I913.

When about seven years old I remember Abraham Lincoln as one of a number of politicians and members of the legislature in Springfield who visited our home in Second street. This must have been prior to his term in the House of Representatives in Washington. Among our guests were frequently Stephen A. Douglas, Lyman Trumbull, James Shields, and others who later became famous. Among the friends of my sisters who were at these social gatherings, were Mrs. Lincoln, formerly Miss Todd, Mrs. Trumbull, formerly Miss Julia Jayne and Mrs. N. W. Edwards, sister of Miss Todd.

Springfield was very new and primitive in those days. There were not many amusements, except the simple ones we provided for ourselves. The social gatherings in the home gave more pleasure than all the artificially stimulated outside entertainment does nowadays. I remember the first time I met Abraham Lincoln. It was just such an old-fashioned party to which he had been invited at our house. I was a little lad and had been sent up to bed before the party began.

But one of the guests had failed to come, and the company wished to dance the quadrille. My sister came upstairs and dragged me out of bed to complete the figure of the quadrille. I slipped hurriedly into my clothes and crept downstairs, half awake, yawning, and not in the best of tempers. Mr. Lincoln was leaning against the fireplace in the sitting room. I remember that I was particularly impressed by his height. He towered above everybody else in the room.

He had a very charming manner and was really the life of the party and made all the guests laugh with his inexhaustible fund of stories and anecdotes. His strong face lighted up radiantly and he had one of the most agreeable smiles I have ever seen. Of course I can't say that his grace of manner can be stretched to include the way he went through the stately and dignified steps of the quadrille.

Mr. Whitney in his book entitled, "On the Circuit with Lincoln." speaks of Lincoln as having often engaged in social sports before he came to Springfield. He took part in the games and dances at weddings, husking bees, etc. He says :

"Mrs. Lincoln was a Miss Todd, born in 1818, being nine years Lincoln's junior. She was the daughter of Robert S. Todd. She came of an old Virginia family on one side, and had direct connection through another line with General Andrew Porter of Pennsylvania, a well-known soldier of the Revolution. Miss Todd was accomplished in music, dancing, the languages, and the arts and refinements of life. Her acquaintance with Lincoln began in Springfield and in a short time ripened into friendship, affection and love with occasional lapses in favor of Stephen A. Douglas and other swains then in vogue at the capital. Miss Todd was acquainted with Lincoln for two or three years previous to their marriage." He undoubtedly took part with her in the social entertainments of the select circle in Springfield where there were the usual quadrilles and dances popular at that time.

That which impressed itself on my memory more than anything else was the towering figure of Mr. Lincoln, standing by a mantlepiece in our parlor, with his elbow resting upon it, quietly overlooking the guests of the evening. He was rather awkward in society. Few realized then that he would become our future president and the great character in history into which he developed. He possessed a large fund of good humor, and consequently always was a welcome visitor. He used this gift later to great advantage in trying times after he became president. When overcome with anxiety, humor was to him a relief and he often turned the prevailing gloom into a moment of enjoyment by reciting some amusing story applicable to the occasion.

Mr. John Hay and Mr. John G. Nicolay, both of whom I knew intimately in Springfield, state in their history of Abraham Lincoln: "He was (in 1849) s^ tne center of interest of every social group he encountered, whether on the street or in the parlor. Serene and bouyant of temper, cordial and winning of language, charitable and tolerant of opinion, his very presence diffused a glow of confidence and kindness. Wherever he went he left an ever-widening ripple of smiles, jests and laughter. His radiant good fellowship was beloved by political opponents and partisan friends."

I often saw Mr. Lincoln with one of his sons on the side-porch of his home in Eighth street, and on the street between his home and law office. He always had a pleasant word or a joke to tell when meeting those he knew, and his kind but rather plain face would light up with a smile. He was six feet, four inches tall, and very strong, having developed to a great degree physically when young through hard work on the farm and in the forest, as well as by his several ventures with flatboats on the Mississippi river. This superior prowess and vitality often was not fully realized by his opponents until they came into personal contact with him. During these days he did not always dress in the fashionable style of lawyers like Douglas and Trumbull, and often wore a coat which was rather the worse for wear.

Had Mr. Lincoln employed a good barber and an artistic tailor his large strong body, like that of George Washington's or Czar Alexander II., would not have seemed so awkward as it looked in ready made clothes which did not fit.

It must have been about this time when moving unostentatiously among his neighbors and friends, that his mind was occupied with the great issues which were pending and which would soon bring about the great Civil War with himself as the master spirit. It is stated that he said to his partner, Mr. Herndon, whom I also knew : "How hard, Oh, how hard it is to die and leave one's country no better than if one had never lived in it ! The world is dead to hope, dead to its own death struggle, made known by a universal cry ! What is to be done ? Is anything to be done? Who could do anything? And how is it to be done? Did you ever think of these things?"

Abraham Lincoln proved that human intelligence, when used in alignment with a higher power in the endeavor to do right, dominates men and nations. He proved also, like Shakespeare, that the great universities of his age had no monopoly in intellectual achievements. His intuitive understanding of metaphysics revealed to him the living divinity in his own breast.

But I hardly know any better way of describing his personal appearance than by quoting from Carl Schurz :

" 'There he stood, overtopping by several inches all those surrounding him. Although measuring something over six feet myself, I had, when standing quite near him, to throw my head backward in order to look into his eyes. That swarthy face, with its strong features, its deep furrows and its benignant, melancholy eyes, is now familiar to every American. It may be said that the whole civilized world knows and loves it. At that time he was clean shaven and looked even more haggard and careworn than later, when his face was framed in whiskers. On his head he wore a somewhat battered stovepipe hat. His neck emerged long and sinewy from a white collar turned down over a thin black tie. His lank, ungainly body was clad in a musty black frock coat with sleeves that should have been longer, but his arms were so long that the sleeves of a store coat could hardly have been expected to cover them all the way down to the wrist. On his left arm he carried a gray woolen shawl, which evidently served him for an overcoat in chilly weather. His left hand carried a cotton umbrella of the bulging kind, and also a black satchel that bore the marks of Ion? and hard usage.' "

PERSONAL REMINISCENSES NEVER BEFORE PUBLISHED.

When twelve years old said my old friend, Peter Vredenburgh, of Springfield, Illinois, I was present at the trial of a Mr. Ross. After the prisoner was brought in Mr. Lanterman appeared, accompanied by Abraham Lincoln. He seemed to be thoroughly impressed with the seriousness of the case. He took off his tall hat. removing from it a large bandanna handkerchief and a bundle of papers. He finally addressed the court in a serious manner, while the feeling and sympathy he displayed was very effective. The way he addressed Mr. Lanterman, the father of the girl Mr. Ross had married when he already had another wife, and the questions he asked him brought tears to my eyes. He said: "Do you know this man (pointing to Mr. Ross) the defendant?" The old man replied, "I know him to my sorrow." After Mr. Lanterman was through, Mr. Lincoln had witnesses to prove the man's name was Ross Dawson and that he had another wife living. Ross was convicted of bigamy and sent to the pentitentiary for the maximum time. I don't think any one in the court was more grieved over the case than Mr. Lincoln and his appearance left a lasting impression on my mind.

CELEBRATION OF FOURTH OF JULY IN HEIDELBERG.

While Abraham Lincoln was seeking knowledge and educating himself under many disadvantages in his rude surroundings, Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, Beauregard and Buckner were being thoroughly trained at the expense of the United States at West Point, and many of the sons of southern chivalry, in the sunny, luxurious South, were being educated by their wealthy parents to lord it over and to live off the labor of their inherited, so-called slave property, and to regard themselves as the exclusive aristocrats of the nation. They were taught to look down with contempt upon the poor non-slave holders of their own states and to hate the anti-slavery yankees of the North. I myself met several of these buds of southern chivalry while studying at the University of Heidelberg, Germany. Tn 1859 the American students there and in adjoining cities celebrated the Fourth of July. We chartered a small steamer, put the United States flag at one end and the flag of Baden at the other, and steamed up the Necker to a beautiful garden and resort on its bank. Toasts and speeches were in order. Many ladies and gentlemen, citizens of the United States, were invited and were present. The late Judge Henry M. Shepard, then a student of Heidelberg, and Frederick W. Matteson son of former Governor Matteson of Illinois, also a student at Heidelberg, joined in this Fourth of July celebration. The German newspapers made some very flattering references to the occasion. As it was just previous to the Civil War there were two factions in Heidelberg, one representing the South and one the North. The young men from the South would not join us in our patriotic celebration, but had a dinner by themselves at a public house in Heidelberg. Being on friendly terms with several of them and before starting with my friends from the North, I took a friendly glass of wine with them at the hotel and tried to persuade them to join us ; but they declined the invitation, thus showing the animus of the southern mind and its prejudice against the North.

STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS LINCOLN AND TEMPERANCE.

I heard Judge Stephen A. Douglas, with whom Lincoln was debating the great issues of the day, speak in Springfield. He was a short, thickset man, with a large head covered with an abundance of black hair which shook like the mane of a lion when he was delivering his eloquent address. He was a powerful speaker and a well educated man of great natural ability.

In regard to Douglas, I remember that he smoked a great deal and after speaking in public as soon as a favorable opportunity presented itself, he would visit a certain grocery store across the street from the state house and take a drink of Bourbon whiskey. It was customary in those days to sell whiskey in family groceries.

Mr. Lincoln was entirely free from these habits, as there is an abundance of proof. February 22, 1842, Mr. Lincoln delivered an address before the Washingtonian Temperance Society, Springfield, 111., which is contained in a book giving the speeches and letters, 1832-1865, published by J. M. Dent & Co., New York, in Everybody's Library, edited by Ernest Rhys.

He commenced, "Although the temperance cause has been in progress for twenty years it is apparent to all that it is just now being crowned with a degree of success hitherto unparalleled."

This is a long address and shows Mr. Lincoln's views at that time on this vital question.

THE LITTLE STILL-HOUSE.

A Sun correspondent asked if it was true as stated in F. F. Browne's "The Everyday Life of Lincoln" that in the canvass for senator in 1858 Douglas accused Lincoln of "keeping a groggery." The mythology of Lincoln, aside from the false quotations which are always turning up, seems inexhaustible, and the "groggery" is an old figure in it. The Pittsfield Eagle has looked up the Lincoln-Douglas debates again, and finds Douglas at Ottawa Aug. 21, 1858, protesting that he meant no unkindness to his opponent, whom he had known for almost twenty-five years :

"There were many points of sympathy between us when we first got acquainted. We were both comparatively boys and both struggling with poverty in a strange land. I was a school teacher in the town of Winchester and he was a flourishing grocery keeper in the town of Salem."

Of course if he kept a grocery in the days of his young manhood, he sold rum. Wet goods were an invaluable source of attraction of custom in the "store." Deacons vended "W. I." or whiskey or gin. A grocer, a grog-seller ; but Lincoln speaking whimsically in the third person in this same Ottawa debate, denied that he had ever kept a grocery :

"The judge is woefully at fault about his early friend Lincoln being a 'grocery keeper.' I don't know as it would be a great sin if I had been, but he is mistaken. Lincoln never kept a grocery anywhere in the world. It is true that Lincoln did work the latter part of one winter in a little still-house up at the end of the hollow."

From this little still-house at the end of the hollow grew Douglas's "grocery," which was transformed into a "groggery." It is possible enough that Lincoln's "saloon license" exists in facsimile as an ornament of saloons. The House that Jack Built is the progressive order of the architecture of myth. Our Massachusetts contemporary quotes, without naming, a precaution we regret, a mythical anecdote begotten of the grocery-groggery myth:

"In one of the famous debates Douglas accused Lincoln of having sold liquor over the bar. Lincoln retorted by saying, 'Mr. Douglas is quite right. I did sell liquor over a bar. But while I was on the inside selling it, Mr. Douglas was on the outside drinking it.' "

So the Lincoln legend-making, or folk-history, goes on. Possibly some wag will yet build the little still-house up at the end of the hollow, discover it, and get an association to buy it. The renewed interest in Lincoln's "liquor license" may indicate that he is to figure as a witness against the drys. — [New York Sun.]

LINCOLN ON THE LIQUOR QUESTION.

Hon. James S. Ewing, former minister to Belgium, said in his address on Lincoln in Bloomington, 1899, "I heard Mr. Lincoln define his position on the liquor question. This is authentic as it came from Mr. Lincoln himself. I am referring to a democratic meeting: the committee had placed on the sideboard in Judge Douglas's room (probably without his knowledge) a pitcher of water, some glasses, and a decanter of red liquor. As visitors called, they were invited to partake. Most of them declined. When Mr. Lincoln arose to go, Mr. Douglas said: 'Mr. Lincoln, won't you take something?' Mr. Lincoln said, 'No, I thank you.' Mr. Douglas said, 'What ! Are you a member of a temperance society?' 'No!' said Mr. Lincoln, 'I am not a member of any temperance society, but I am temperate in this, that I do not drink anything.' "