that both of these great advocates were adopted citizens of the same state, at different periods resident of the same town, and personal friends from early manhood; both were nominees of their respective parties and ran against each other for the highest office in the gift of the nation, in the same campaign, the bitterest and most exciting political canvass in the history of American politics, and after "life's fitful fever," their lances at rest, both of these great champions now lie in monuments erected to their memories in the State of their love and adoption, and the places where they fought their mental tournaments and tested their strength and valor are held in precious memory as a part of the history and glory of the State of Illinois.

That Douglas knew his rival well is seen in his reply to his friends on the Sunday afternoon he was leaving Washington for Chicago to enter upon his canvass.

A number of senators, members of Congress and other public men had called at the Douglas home, on "I" Street, to pay their respects and wish him success in his campaign, when one of the visitors remarked to Douglas that he had noticed that a Black Republican lawyer, named Lincoln, had been selected as his opponent and he presumed the Senator would have an easy victory.

"Quite the contrary, gentlemen," said Douglas, "I assure you that I have the hardest struggle of my life before me. As you know, during my early twenty years in Congress, I have been constantly engaged in earnest discussions with all the public men of the day on all public questions, but I have never met the superior of Lincoln, as a skillful, persuasive, and powerful orator."

The world has returned its verdict on the barbarisms of slavery, which, a few years ago were defended even from the pulpit as of divine origin, and sanctioned by Holy Writ; It has also probably passed upon the relative merits of these giants in debate: That one was imperial, confident, aggressive and polished; the other deliberate, persuasive, simple and direct, but of the two, one was the greater. A brief sentence only from his opening speech at Springfield in June, 1858, is required to

show Lincoln's marvelous skill in presenting the issue in a crisp form that all could understand, "That a house divided against itself cannot stand.”

The truth and beauty of these words, evidently a paraphrase of one of the parables in the Sermon on the Mount of "a foolish man who built his house upon the sand", were quickly caught by the listening ears of the anxious people.

Some six months later, Mr. Seward, in a speech at Buffalo, in October, 1858, in more ambitious language to improve upon Lincoln's definition, declared the issue to be an "irrepressible conflict." But this vague semi-philosophic expression did not possess the ring, and snap, nor rapid movement, to reach the hearts of the masses.

In a Senate speech afterwards, bidding for the nor ination for President, Mr. Seward lost his last chance at the coming Convention at Chicago, when he forgot to mention his "irrepressible conflict" doctrine; forgot that slavery was a moral wrong; declared there was no North nor South; that all was peace, and that the spirit of John Brown's body was not marching onward, nor anywhere, except into a criminal's grave.

When the New York delegation arrived at Chicago in a special train with Mr. Thurlow Weed at its head, a very notable man, who had for years been the Warwick of his party in making governors and presidents, who never held an office, nor wanted one, his delegates decorated with silk hats, were quite imperious and quite ready to believe that nothing further was necessary than to confirm the nomination of Mr. Seward.

On the second ballot, however, Lincoln lacked only three and a half votes, and while the Convention was proceeding to take a third ballot, Judge Cartter, of Cleveland, asked permission to change four votes of the Ohio delegation from Chase to Lincoln. The Convention took the hint, a stampede followed, and the call of the states on the third ballot was never announced.

The result caused many wounds, which were slow in healing, and in Mr. Seward's case, his wound remained long an open sore, as shown by scraps of information scattered among the

writings of such eminent and accurate authors as Nicolay and Hay, Murat Halstead, Gideon Welles, Thurlow Weed and others.

In the campaign which followed Lincoln's nomination, Mr. Seward, who, it seems, had never met Lincoln, passed through Springfield on a stumping tour, but did not inform him of his approach, nor of his arrival, much less did he call when he arrived, but Lincoln, learning that Seward was on the train, hurried on foot to the station, entered the car and shook hands with the courtly Seward, who remained seated and did not rise during the brief interview, when Lincoln withdrew.

After the result of the election was known, Lincoln wrote to Seward tendering him the portfolio of the Department of State, which, after disclaiming his qualifications for the position, he accepted, but on the eve of the inauguration ceremonies, he withdrew his acceptance without explanation.

The President, to avoid a cabinet crisis before it had assembled, refused to receive Mr. Seward's declination, saying to a friend who was present, believed to be Gideon Welles: "We can't afford to let Brother Seward take the first trick."

The climax of assumption came while the Civil War was raging in all its fury, when Mr. Seward still laboring under the delusion that his party had made a grievous mistake in nominating Lincoln, and the people had made a greater one electing him, thought to correct the blunder by assuming the duties of the presidential office.

So he wrote a carefully prepared letter to the president, suggesting that he should violate his oath of office as president and permit him to assume its functions, while the president should "sit back" a little and "look on" and watch him administer his philosophic peace nostrums to a mobilized army of the enemy in actual battle.

The president replied the same day to Seward's proposition in his finest vein of epistolary writing, which sent his secretary back to his desk. The letters were filed away in the secret archives where they remained from view until both had departed from the tragic scenes of their lives.

The Muse of history has sung of Lincoln's love of justice and his greatness in all things, but we look in vain in the writings of Seward for any tribute to the excellence of that great man, his master.

In his deep and unavailing grief over the defeat and failure of his personal friend, Seward, to obtain the nomination at Chicago, Mr. Thurlow Weed shed bitter tears for the misfortunes of one whom he had long coached for the great office of his ambition. When the excitement of the hour had passed, Mr. Lincoln wrote to Thurlow Weed requesting him to visit him at his home, after which they became personal friends as well as political. Subsequently, Mr. Weed wrote to his paper, "The Albany Evening Journal," that his party had made no mistake in nominating Lincoln. During the progress of the war, the president appointed Mr. Weed as one of three special envoys to the Royal Courts and countries of Europe to discourage the recognition of the Southern Confederacy, the other two being Archbishop Hughes and Henry Ward Beecher.

Within the brief span of seven years from Mr. Lincoln's modest appearance at Galesburg, as the advocate of human rights, he was twice elected President of the United States and had led the country safely through the greatest Civil War in the history of the World. He liberated a race in bondage, and his name, beloved in every land, appeared in the bright galaxy of martyrs as one who believed in liberty for all mankind. Of him a master pen has written:

"That this man whose homely form you look upon,
Was one of nature's masterful great men;

Born with great arms that unfought victories won.
Direct of speech, and cunning with a pen,
Chosen for large designs, he had the art
Of winning with his humor, and he went

Straight to his mark, which was the human heart."

Lincoln-Douglas Debate-Charleston.

D. D. JAMES.

In the memorable canvass in '58, when Lincoln and Douglas had their celebrated joint debate, many strange things happened. History does not record a case before this where statesmen championing two opposite issues of the day took their case as an appeal to the people to be decided by them, until these two intellectual giants met on the friendly rostrum to discuss the affairs of state.

To decide on the standard of oratory is a most difficult matter, and with Lincoln and Douglas, who were so different in every particular, it certainly was only by their comparative power to move or sway an audience as to which was the greater orator.

Douglas was short in stature, florid in appearance, and every gesture he made showed the training of a school that taught men how to appeal to an audience. He was highly educated, so, having an unlimited vocabulary his speeches were free from the repetition that too often occurs with ordinary speakers.

Douglas had been before the people as a stump speaker often, and at the time of the joint debate he was called the "Little Giant," and was easily the foremost man of his party in the west. Lincoln was not an unknown man, as too many appear to think, for he had served his State in the Legislature and had been in Congress. His dress and manner were not such as to command that admiration that Douglas had commanded, but he appeared to be the antipodes of Douglas.

Lincoln's manner as he appeared to the ordinary person commanded a feeling of sympathy at first, then the stronger emotions would come upon the listener, and soon the general appearance of the speaker became forgotten because of the