tacks of others, but strove also to capture him by their
arch flatteries.

"Sir,"--said Mr. Crittenden, in one of his most eloquent bursts, in the
House of Representatives,--"it is not my duty, perhaps, to defend the
President of the United States. * * * I voted against Mr. Lincoln, and
opposed him honestly and sincerely; but Mr. Lincoln has won me to his
side. There is a niche in the Temple of Fame, a niche near to
Washington, which should be occupied by the statue of him who shall,
save this Country. Mr. Lincoln has a mighty destiny. It is for him, if
he will, to step into that niche. It is for him to be but President of
the People of the United States, and there will his statue be. But, if
he choose to be, in these times, a mere sectarian and a party man, that
niche will be reserved for some future and better Patriot. It is in his
power to occupy a place next Washington,--the Founder, and the
Preserver, side by side. Sir, Mr. Lincoln is no coward. His not doing
what the Constitution forbade him to do, is no proof of his cowardice."

On the other hand, Owen Lovejoy, the fiery Abolitionist, the very next
day after the above remarks of Mr. Crittenden were delivered in the
House, made a great speech in reply, taking the position that "either
Slavery, or the Republic, must perish; and the question for us to decide
is, which shall it be?"

He declared to the House: "You cannot put down the rebellion and restore
the Union, without destroying Slavery." He quoted the sublime language
of Curran touching the Spirit of the British Law, which consecrates the
soil of Britain to the genius of Universal Emancipation,

[In these words:

"I speak in the Spirit of the British law, which makes Liberty
commensurate with, and inseparable from, the British soil; which
proclaims even to the stranger and the sojourner the moment he sets
his foot upon British earth, that the ground on which he treads is
holy, and consecrated by the genius Of UNIVERSAL EMANCIPATION.

"No matter in what language his doom may have been pronounced; no
matter what complexion incompatible with Freedom, an Indian or an
African sun may have burnt upon him; no matter in what disastrous
battle his Liberty may have been cloven down; no matter with what
solemnities he may have been devoted upon the altar of Slavery; the
first moment he touches the sacred soil of Britain, the altar and
the go