favor.

Mr. Lincoln was not only a great statesman, but he was one of the
ablest, most astute, and shrewdest politicians whom I have ever
known. From my earliest recollection of him he took keen interest
in public affairs and was the foremost public man or politician in
his section of the State. He was not among the first to join the
Republican party. He clung to the old Whig party as long as a
vestige of it remained. Almost immediately after he drifted into
the Republican party, he became its recognized leader in Illinois,
and his public utterances attracted the attention of the Nation to
him.

I recollect having heard him utter the memorable words in the
Republican Convention of my State in 1858:

"A house divided against itself cannot stand. This Government
cannot permanently endure half slave and half free. I do not expect
the Union to be dissolved--I do not expect the house to fall--but
I do expect that it will cease to be divided. It will become all
one thing, or all the other."

What words of wisdom! He looked through the veil between him and
the future and saw the end more clearly than any other man in public
life. This was a carefully prepared speech, in which every word
was weighed. Some of his friends, to whom it was read, advised
him not to use the clause I have quoted, "a house divided against
itself." He was wiser than any of them. With a self-reliance born
of earnest conviction he said that the time had come when the
sentiments should be uttered, and that if he should go down because
of their utterance by him, then he would go down linked with the
truth.

I listened to much of the great debate between Lincoln and Douglas,
the greatest political debate which ever took place in this country.
I have always felt that Lincoln never expected to be elected to
the Senate in 1858. I think he saw more clearly than any of us
that the advanced position which he took in that debate made his
election to the Senate at that time impossible. He was then fighting
for a great principle. He did carry a majority of the popular
vote, but Douglas secured a majority of the Legislature.

His defeat apparently affected him little, if at all. I felt very
badly when it became apparent that Douglas had secured a majority
of the Legislature. I met Lincoln on the street one day, and said:
"Mr. Lincoln, is it true that Douglas has a majority of the
Legislature?" His reply was an affirmative. I then expressed