of one winter in a little
stillhouse, up at the head of a hollow. And so I think my friend the Judge
is equally at fault when he charges me at the time when I was in Congress
of having opposed our soldiers who were fighting in the Mexican war. The
Judge did not make his charge very distinctly, but I can tell you what he
can prove, by referring to the record. You remember I was an old Whig,
and whenever the Democratic party tried to get me to vote that the war had
been righteously begun by the President, I would not do it. But whenever
they asked for any money, or landwarrants, or anything to pay the soldiers
there, during all that time, I gave the same vote that Judge Douglas did.
You can think as you please as to whether that was consistent. Such is the
truth, and the Judge has the right to make all he can out of it. But when
he, by a general charge, conveys the idea that I withheld supplies from
the soldiers who were fighting in the Mexican war, or did anything else
to hinder the soldiers, he is, to say the least, grossly and altogether
mistaken, as a consultation of the records will prove to him.

As I have not used up so much of my time as I had supposed, I will dwell
a little longer upon one or two of these minor topics upon which the Judge
has spoken. He has read from my speech in Springfield, in which I say that
"a house divided against itself cannot stand" Does the Judge say it can
stand? I don't know whether he does or not. The Judge does not seem to be
attending to me just now, but I would like to know if it is his opinion
that a house divided against itself can stand. If he does, then there is a
question of veracity, not between him and me, but between the Judge and an
Authority of a somewhat higher character.

Now, my friends, I ask your attention to this matter for the purpose of
saying something seriously. I know that the Judge may readily enough agree
with me that the maxim which was put forth by the Savior is true, but he
may allege that I misapply it; and the Judge has a right to urge that, in
my application, I do misapply it, and then I have a right to show that I
do not misapply it, When he undertakes to say that because I think this
nation, so far as the question of slavery is concerned, will all become
one thing or all the other, I am in favor of bringing about a dead
uniformity in the various States, in all their institutions, he argues
erroneously. The great variety of the local institutions in the