was zealous in the
performance of public duty, radical in all his convictions, patriotic
in every thought, an unrelenting foe to all forms of corruption.
He distinguished between a friend and an enemy. He was always
ready to help the one, and, though not lacking in magnanimity, he
seldom neglected an opportunity to cripple the other.

Lyman Trumbull had entered the Senate six years before, when Illinois
revolted against the course of Douglas in destroying the Missouri
Compromise. Mr. Lincoln had earnestly desired the place, but waived
his claims. The election of Trumbull was considered desirable for
the consolidation of the new party, and the Republicans of Whig
antecedents were taught a lesson of self-sacrifice by the promptness
with which Mr. Lincoln abandoned the contest. Judge Trumbull had
acquired a good reputation at the bar of his State, and at once
took high rank in the Senate. His mind was trained to logical
discussion, and as a debater he was able and incisive. His political
affiliations prior to 1854 were with the Democracy, and aside from
the issue in regard to the extension of slavery, he did not fully
sympathize with the principles and tendencies of the Republican
party. He differed from Mr. Lincoln just as Preston King, senator
from New York, differed from Mr. Seward. Lincoln and Seward believed
in Henry Clay and all the issues which he represented, while Trumbull
and King were devoted to the policies and measures which characterized
the administration of Jackson. The two classes of men composing
the Republican party were equally zealous in support of the principles
that led to the political revolution of 1860, but it was not easy
to see what would be the result of other issues which time and
necessity might develop.

Benjamin F. Wade of Ohio had been ten years in the Senate when the
war broke out. He entered in March, 1851--the immediate successor
of Thomas Ewing who had been transferred to the Senate from the
Cabinet of Taylor, to take the place of Thomas Corwin who left the
Senate to enter the Cabinet of Fillmore. Mr. Wade was elected as
a Whig--the last senator chosen by that party in Ohio. His triumph
was a rebuke to Mr. Corwin for his abandonment of the advanced
position which he had taken against the aggressions of the slave
power. It was rendered all the more significant by the defeat of
Mr. Ewing, who with his strong hold upon the confidence and regard
of the people of Ohio, was t