court with it before its adjournment. I met Lincoln at the west gate of the Court House square, quite alone, coming from court, which had not, even then, adjourned. He was grave, gloomy, thoughtful and abstracted. I handed him the paper, which contained a wood cut of Fremont, and remarked: "It's a shame for a man with such a head as that to beat Judge McLean." Lincoln took the paper quite mechanically, and looked at it for a moment with no show of interest, and then handed it back, with the remark: "I don't see anything wrong about that head." I felt rebuked, for my remark was really unjust; but looking again, I said, handing him back the paper, "I think that a man who parts his hair in the middle, like a woman, ain't fit to be President." He took the paper again, quite mechanically, looked at the picture for a moment, and then, with no remark at all, handed it back, and resumed his walk; gloomy and abstracted.

A day or two later he was ready to return home. He had collected $25 or $30 for that term's business thus far, and one of our clients owed him $10, which he felt disappointed at not being able to collect; so I gave him a check for that amount, and went with him to the bank to collect it. The cashier, T. S. Hubbard, who paid it, is still living in Urbana and will probably remember it. I do not remember to have seen him happier than when he had got his little earnings together, being less than $40, as I now recollect it, and had his carpet-bag packed, ready to start home.

James H. Matheny, one of his life-long friends, has informed me that Lincoln's first real specific aspirations for the Presidency dated from the incident of his being named in the convention as a candidate for Vice-President, at that time, and it is certain, that, from thenceforth, all of Lincoln's energies and finesse were directed to its achievement; but that he did not then discern the road that led to the desired goal, is manifest from his letter to me, written three months thereafter, in reference to the nomination of Lovejoy for Congress.

And so it probably was that, either by the enthusiastic prophecy of Dubois on May 29th, or by the vote for VicePresident on June 19th, 1856, the idea of becoming a candidate for President was first lodged in Lincoln's mind; and in either case, I was the John the Baptist who was the forerunner of the great news.

Now, I am willing to concede, nay, I believe, that from that time Lincoln trimmed his sails to catch the breeze which might waft him to the White House: but the conclusion is not correct that Lincoln was demanded by the people; and that the nomination was accorded to the spontaneous and universal demand of the nation, independent of any political finesse on the part of his political friends.

Contrariwise, the leader chiefly indicated was Seward; and, after him, the popular sentiment was divided between Chase, Bates, Lincoln and one or two others; but not including Cameron, whose strength did not emanate from the people.

After the periods above indicated by me, there was considerable loose talk about Lincoln for a place on the ticket for 1860, but it was the mere possibility only; and not anything so substantial as faith, or even a cheerful hope. Herndon, always enthusiastic, wrote a stirring letter to me on April 1st, 1859, in which he said, "Work and 'put money in thy purse' for 1860. This 1860 is 'a going' to be the great struggle of America," but made no reference whatever to or about Lincoln or to his possibilities; and no newspaper deemed it of sufficient consequence to mention his name for the position till May 4th, 1859, when the Central Illinois Gazette, a weekly paper, edited by J. W. Scroggs, brought Lincoln out; but the article excited no attention and produced no results, as Lincoln had already been spoken of feebly at home in that connection, and the article thus discounted.

On the evening of January 6th, 1859, of the day succeeding the day that Stephen A. Douglas was elected to the Senate, a small party of Lincoln's most intimate personal

friends met in the inner office of the Secretary of State at Springfield to counsel together about the future of the Republican party-whether it was to have any future, etc. At that time John J. Crittenden and Horace Greeley, and perhaps others, leaders in the opposition to the Democratic party, were in favor of running Douglas as the candidate for President, in opposition to the administration Democratic party, thus designing to crush out the party of Seward and Lincoln, between the upper stone of Douglas and "Anti-Lecompton," and the nether stone of Buchanan and his Lecompton constitution; and the outlook was gloomy enough, for Douglas had just been officially endorsed by his own State; had the support of the greatest Republican editor in the nation, and was apparently striding on, like a Colossus, "conquering and to conquer." On the authority of Jack Grimshaw, Herndon fixes the date of this meeting as "early in 1860." In this he is in error; the occurrence was on the night succeeding the election of Douglas, on January 5th, 1859. The persons, whom I recollect to have been present were Lincoln, Dubois, John M. Palmer, Jo. Gillespie, Jackson Grimshaw and myself; but I am of opinion that Hatch (Secretary of State), Judd (State Senator), and Peck, of Chicago, were also present. The proceedings were entirely informal-and the meeting was not held in order to bring Lincoln out for President. Palmer spoke first; and said in substance that this meeting was called in order to determine whether it was expedient to longer try to keep the party afloat, in view of the defection of Greeley—the endorsement of Douglas, etc. He said: "I am decidedly in favor of maintaining the party, and I see no valid reason for discouragement," etc., and showed good reasons for proceeding, undismayed. Others spoke in a similar strain, but no allusion was made to Lincoln's candidacy, till Jesse K. Dubois spoke; and, at the end of his speech, he said: "And I am also in favor of putting Lincoln up for a place on the ticket, either for President or Vice-President-one or the other." This

sentiment was cheered; and when Dubois had concluded, Lincoln was called for and made a modest speech, at the close of which he said, "As to the matter of my name on the National ticket"-when he was stopped by several of us; and he subsided.

The "house divided against itself" speech of June 17th, 1858-the joint debate with Douglas-the speeches in Ohio; and notably the "Cooper's Institute" speech, constituted the "stock in trade" which formed Lincoln's contribution to the "wigwam" convention; but the finesse which enabled his friends to utilize that capital to set off and overcome the great political capital which Seward had been accumulating for many years, was never exceeded in adroitness and effectiveness in this country.

In addition to the "mint, anise and cummin"-the byeplay, so to speak; the real effective work was thus, viz.:

First-The State convention which met at Decatur in the spring of 1860 enthusiastically nominated Lincoln, and also injected into the canvass the novelty and glamour of the "rail-splitting" episode: which took like wild-fire.

Second-Norman B. Judd, one of the shrewdest and most effective of politicians, being member of the National Committee for Illinois, secured Chicago as the seat of the convention.

Third-Reduced railway fares and other inducements were secured to guarantee a large attendance of Illinoisans; and in other ways the machinery of enthusiasm was set in motion for Lincoln.

Fourth-Whereas the Indiana delegation had been selected with the primary object of securing general control of the Interior Department, and special control of the Indian bureau; and the Pennsylvania delegation, in part, had been organized with the intent of controlling the Treasury Department, therefore it was essential to pander to those wishes, in order to secure the delegations, so far as might be, of those States.

Fifth-And to have a good "send off" it was needful that Indiana and Illinois should be solid for Lincoln on the first ballot.

The two chiefs of diplomacy in these various movements were Judd, Chairman of the Illinois delegation, and member of the National Committee: and David Davis, Judge of the Eighth Circuit: these men did not like each other, but nevertheless, animated by the most imperious necessity, worked in substantial accord. Judd had already secured the convention to be held at Chicago: and a delegation had been secured from Illinois, nearly solid for Lincoln: the recusant ones were prayed with and cajoled, till they, too, came over to Lincoln. Then William P. Dole, a crafty politician formerly from Indiana, and then from Paris, Illinois, was promised to be Commissioner of Indian affairs: and Caleb B. Smith, of Indiana, Secretary of the Interior: and the Indiana delegation was thus secured.

Next Yates, the candidate for Governor in Illinois and Lane, the candidate for Governor from Indiana, circulated among the outlying delegates and assured them that unless Lincoln would be nominated, it was useless for them to stay in the field-that with Lincoln, both States were sure-without him, they were hopeless: and Indiana, being an October State, that racket was worked for all it was worth.

But the crowning effort, the sine qua non of negotiations, was the securing of the Pennsylvania delegation: which was accomplished "in the wee sma' hours" of the day the balloting was had. The actual negotiators on the part of Lincoln were Davis, Swett, Logan, Judd and Dole: and on the part of Cameron: Reed, Casey and Sanderson: others were consulted, as Palmer, Herndon, Dubois, Hatch, and others--but the actual negotiation was by the parties I have named. The agreement, as finally reached, was thus:

dential.

These negotiations shall be forever secret and confi