years he was
a Republican, but in the contest just mentioned he was the earnest
advocate of the election of Mr. Douglas to the Presidency and
was himself the Democratic candidate for Congress in the Peoria
District. His competitor was Judge Kellogg, a gentleman of well-known
ability and many years' experience in Congress. Immediately upon his
nomination, Ingersoll challenged Kellogg to a series of joint
debates. The challenge was accepted, and the debates which followed
were a rare treat to the throngs who heard them. The discussion
turned upon the vital issues yet pending at the outbreak of the
Civil War, issues which were to find their final determination
on the field of battle. Possibly, with the exception of the historic
debates two years earlier, between Lincoln and Douglas, the country
has known no abler discussion of great questions. It was then for
the first time that Ingersoll displayed the marvellous forensic
powers that at a later day--and upon a different arena--gave him
world-wide renown.

It was at a period subsequent to that just mentioned that he became
an agnostic. I recall no expression of his during the early years
of our acquaintance that indicated a departure from the faith in
which he had been reared. That his extreme views upon religious
subjects, and his manner, exceedingly offensive at times, of
expressing them, formed an insuperable barrier to his political
advancement, cannot be doubted. But for his unbelief, what political
honors might have awaited him cannot certainly be known. But
recalling the questions then under discussion, the intensity of
party feeling, and the enthusiasm that his marvellous eloquence
never failed to arouse in the thousands who hung upon his words, it
is probable that the most exalted station might have been attained.
To those familiar with the political events of that day, it is
known that the antagonism aroused by his assaults upon the citadel
of the faith sacred to the many, compassed his defeat in his
candidature in 1868 for the Governorship of Illinois. His explanation
was, that his defeat was caused by a slight difference of
opinion between himself and some of the brethren upon the highly
exciting question of total depravity.

Some years later, the nominee of his party for the Presidency
was exceedingly obnoxious to him. Meeting the Colonel the morning
after the adjournment of the convention I inquired, "Are you happy?"
To this he replied, that he