FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159   160   161   162   163   164   165   166  
167   168   169   170   171   172   173   174   175   176   177   178   179   180   181   182   183   184   185   186   187   188   189   190   191   >>   >|  
try met at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on the 22d of February of that year, to consider the necessity of a new organization. A little later, Mr. Herndon, in the office of Lincoln, prepared a call for a convention at Bloomington, Illinois, "summoning together all those who wished to see the government conducted on the principles of Washington and Jefferson." This call was signed by the most prominent Abolitionists of Illinois, with the name of A. LINCOLN at the head. The morning after its publication, Major Stuart entered Mr. Herndon's office in a state of extreme excitement, and, as the latter relates, demanded: "'Sir, did Mr. Lincoln sign that Abolition call which is published this morning?' I answered, 'Mr. Lincoln did not sign that call.' 'Did Lincoln authorize you to sign it?' 'No, he never authorized me to sign it.' 'Then do you know that you have ruined Mr. Lincoln?' 'I did not know that I had ruined Mr. Lincoln; did not intend to do so; thought he was a made man by it; that the time had come when conservatism was a crime and a blunder.' 'You, then, take the responsibility of your acts, do you?' 'I do, most emphatically.' However, I instantly sat down and wrote to Mr. Lincoln, who was then in Pekin or Tremont--possibly at court. He received my letter, and instantly replied, either by letter or telegraph--most likely by letter--that he adopted _in toto_ what I had done, and promised to meet the radicals--Lovejoy and such like men--among us." Mr. Herndon adds: "Never did a man change as Lincoln did from that hour. No sooner had he planted himself right on the slavery question than his whole soul seemed burning. _He blossomed right out._ Then, too, other spiritual things grew more real to him." Mr. Herndon had been an Abolitionist from birth. It was an inheritance with him; but Lincoln's conversion was a gradual process, stimulated and confirmed by the influence of his companion. "From 1854 to 1860," says Mr. Herndon, "I kept putting into Lincoln's hands the speeches and sermons of Theodore Parker, Wendell Phillips, and Henry Ward Beecher. I took 'The Anti-Slavery Standard' for years before 1856, 'The Chicago Tribune,' and 'The New York Tribune'; kept them in my office, kept them purposely on my table, and would read to Lincoln the good, sharp, solid things, well put. Lincoln was a natural anti-slavery man, as I think, and yet he needed watching,--needed hope, faith, energy; and I think I _warmed him_." It is state
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159   160   161   162   163   164   165   166  
167   168   169   170   171   172   173   174   175   176   177   178   179   180   181   182   183   184   185   186   187   188   189   190   191   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
Lincoln
 

Herndon

 

office

 
letter
 

morning

 

ruined

 

things

 

instantly

 

slavery

 

Illinois


Tribune

 
needed
 

inheritance

 
change
 
sooner
 

planted

 

blossomed

 

burning

 

question

 

spiritual


Abolitionist

 

putting

 

purposely

 

Chicago

 

Standard

 
watching
 

energy

 

warmed

 

natural

 

Slavery


companion

 

influence

 
gradual
 

process

 

stimulated

 

confirmed

 

Beecher

 

Phillips

 

Wendell

 

speeches


sermons
 
Theodore
 

Parker

 

conversion

 

However

 
Abolitionists
 

LINCOLN

 
prominent
 
signed
 

principles