poured forth his soul in that famous telegram: "Glory to God in the highest; Ohio has saved the Nation."

Ohio indeed had redeemed herself and by a decisive majority had rallied to the support of Abraham Lincoln and universal liberty in America.

Today every Ohioan must read with pride the record of our state, in this fateful test, for liberty and union. Most appropriately has the writer of this monograph given generous space to the obsequies of Lincoln within the borders of our state. It was James G. Blaine who said in describing the funeral ceremonies in which Ohio had a conspicuous part:

For seventeen hundred miles, through eight states of the Union whose population was not less than fifteen millions, an almost continuous procession of mourners attended the remains of the beloved President. There was no pageantry save their presence. There was no tribute but their tears. * * * A countless multitude of men, with music and banner and cheer and the inspiration of a great cause, presents a spectacle that engages the eye, fills the mind, appeals to the imagination. But the deepest sympathy of the soul is touched, the height of human sublimity is reached, when the same multitude, stricken with a common sorrow, stands with uncovered head, reverent and silent.

The Ohio State Archæological and Historical Society is fortunate in having as its Vice-President one so peculiarly qualified to make the contribution in these pages. Daniel J. Ryan from his boyhood days has been deeply interested in everything relating to the history of his native state. He served two terms as Secretary of the State of Ohio and his reports bear testimony to this interest. They include in addition to the routine matters relating to his office a number of papers of distinct historic value. He was at the head

of the Ohio commission that gave our state honorable and conspicuous representation at the Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. Later he was one of the tax commissioners of Ohio and he has for forty years been an officer in the Ohio State Archæological and Historical Society. He has contributed not only to the publications of that Society but to magazine and periodicals a number of valuable monographs. He is the author of books on Ohio history. Of the well-known standard work, "History of Ohio, The Rise and Progress of an American State," by Randall and Ryan, Mr. Ryan is the author of volumes 3 and 4 and joint author of one of the remaining volumes. Those interested in the history of our state are his debtors. No future history of Ohio can be written without frequent reference to his fundamental work. Lincoln and Ohio has occupied his spare moments for some time past and the thoroughness with which he has collected and used his materials is attested in the following pages.

C. B. GALBREATH.

LINCOLN AND OHIO

BY DANIEL J. RYAN

CHAPTER I

LINCOLN'S FIRST CONTACT WITH OHIO STATESMEN

Lincoln's contact with Ohio men and influences began with his entrance into the Thirtieth Congress, December 6, 1847. The Mexican War was in full tilt, and the Whig party was opposing it. Two Ohioans one in the Senate and one in the House were conspicuous leaders in a bitter antagonism that was combating war legislation on every hand. They were representing the anti-slavery Whigs, who saw in the war a Democratic move to add slave territory to the Union. These leaders were Senator Thomas Corwin' and Representative Joshua R. Giddings.2 The former had delivered in the Senate a passionate philippic, which will forever rank among the classics of American eloquence, against the Polk administration and the War. Giddings maintained the same attitude in the House, opposing appropriations and war measures. This opposition of Corwin and Giddings was heartily approved by the

Thomas Corwin born in Bourbon county, Kentucky, July 29, 1794; served as a wagon-boy in the war of 1812; elected to the Ohio Legislature in 1822 and in 1829; member of Congress 1831-1841; Governor, 1841-43; United States Senator, 1845; Secretary of the Treasury under President Filmore, 1850-52; member of Congress, 1859-61; Minister to Mexico from March 1861 to May 1861; died in Washington, D. C., December 18, 1865.

Joshua Reed Giddings born in Athens, Pennsylvania, October 6, 1795; in 1805 came with his parents to Wayne township, Ashtabula county, Ohio; volunteer in the War of 1812; admitted to the bar, 1820; elected to the Ohio Legislature, 1826; member of Congress, 1839-1859; conspicuous as an anti-slavery leader; Consul-General in Canada from 1861 until he died, in Montreal, Canada, May 27, 1864.

ultra anti-slavery Whigs, but it was received rather coldly by the party at large. It was not a patriotic position and was not sanctioned by the American people. They had their sons in a foreign land fighting a foreign foe, and a refusal to pay for their services, munitions and food was an insupportable position. Besides the Americans were winning victories; a militant spirit was throughout the land, and the people were exultant in the triumph of our arms at Palo Alto, Monterey and the City of Mexico.

Under the influence of these events and the pressure of resultant public sentiment, the Whig party was silenced, and Senator Corwin found himself deserted by his colleagues who had pledged him their support in the Senate. The most powerful of these deserters from his cause were Webster of Massachusetts and Crittenden of Kentucky. In the House Giddings found himself in the same position. The indifference of the Whig party to the Mexican War was its death knell, as was the conduct of the Federal party in the War of 1812; for no party which fails its country in a foreign war can live.

Congressman Lincoln was an ardent admirer of Corwin-"Tom" Corwin, as his friends lovingly called him -and they frequently met at the Whig breakfasts which Senator Webster had made famous in Washington. But neither the influence of the powerful Webster, nor the charms of the companionship and eloquence of Corwin, radical fellow Whigs though they were, could induce him to oppose the war. He believed it to be unjustly initiated, and thus far agreed with his Whig associates, but he voted in every way to sustain its prosecution. Notwithstanding his disagreement with Corwin,

they were fast friends, and continued so, and in after years when power came to the obscure congressman from Illinois, he made Corwin Minister to Mexico.

His relations with Giddings were more intimate. Both "messed" at Mrs. Spriggs' boarding house on Capitol Hill, and many an evening and walk were filled. with discussion on their respective positions, and for the first time Lincoln got a graphic view of Ohio politics from one of its most courageous characters. A friendship grew between the two that lasted until Giddings' death, and, as with Corwin, Lincoln remembered his old messmate when the opportunity came, for he appointed him Consul-General to Canada.

While both were Whigs, they differed radically on the slavery question. Their relationship continued when both became associated with the subsequently formed Republican party. Lincoln was opposed to slavery; he believed it to be a great moral wrong. But he was firmly convinced that there was no power in Congress, under the Constitution, to interfere with its existence in the states. He was opposed to its extension, and he believed Congress had no power for that purpose. His stand was, that while Congress was powerless to free the slaves in the states, it was equally so to make slaves in the territories. As he afterwards said, "this government cannot endure half slave and half free"; he was satisfied it would not last under the blazing rays of a fierce public opinion, and he felt that it would rot where it lay. His own words were, "let us draw a cordon, so to speak, around the slave states, and the hateful institution, like a reptile poisoning itself, will perish by its infamy." He was even willing to destroy it by purchase or colonization, but never by unconstitutional