to Chicago, where he delivered
another eloquent address, along the same lines as the one delivered
at Springfield, to tens of thousands of people. Very soon thereafter
he was taken ill with pneumonia and passed away.

He was a man of extraordinary intellect. He did his full part, at
one of the most critical periods of our history, in saving the
Nation. His speeches in and out of Congress are among the most
able and eloquent delivered by any American statesman.

CHAPTER VI
SPEAKER OF THE ILLINOIS LEGISLATURE AND A MEMBER OF CONGRESS
1860 to 1865

The election of Mr. Lincoln was made the pretext for secession.
It has always seemed to me that the South was determined to secede
no matter at what cost; and it has also seemed to me that this
determination was not due to the great body of the people of the
South, than whom there were no better, but to the jealous politicians
of that section, who saw the gradual growth in wealth and power of
the Northern States threaten their domination of the National
Government, which they had firmly held since the days of Washington.
They saw that domination slipping away, and they determined to form
a nation of their own--in which slavery, indeed, would be paramount;
but it was not so much slavery as it was their own desire for
control that influenced them.

As soon, therefore, as Mr. Lincoln was elected President they began
the organization of a Government of their own. President Buchanan
declared in his message that the Southern States had no right to
secede--"unless they wanted to," as some one aptly expressed it;
in other words, that he had no right under the Constitution to keep
them forcibly in the Union, and thus the constitutional opinions
of the President harmonized effectively with the purposes of the
secessionists. Fortunate it was that Mr. Buchanan had so short a
term remaining after the election of Mr. Lincoln. Had a year or
two elapsed, the Confederacy would have been firmly and irrevocably
established.

It has never been quite clear to my mind whether Mr. Buchanan cared
to preserve the Union or not. In the heat and passion of that day,
we all thought he was a traitor. As I look back now and think of
it, remembering his long and distinguished service to the country
in almost every capacity--as a legislator, as a diplomat, as
Secretary of State, as President, I think now he was only weak.
His term was about expiring, and he saw and feared the awful
consequen