nearly through. He has been going on as
if he were making a statement of a case. It is interjected with
argument; but it is largely statement of positions. It is declaratory
and follows the form of a poem, not an argument. It assumes premises; he
says "I think so." It has reason back of it, but it is the reason of
things proven. It is fortified by matters of general acceptance. It has
logic, but the logic of things existing inherently, not made. And at
last, more earnestly than before, he says:

"On the point of my wanting to make war between the free and the slave
states, there has been no issue between us. So too when he says that I
am in favor of introducing a perfect social and political equality
between the white and the black races. These are false issues upon
which Judge Douglas has tried to force the controversy. There is no
foundation in truth for the charges that I maintain either of these
propositions. The real issue in this controversy--the one pressing upon
every mind--is the sentiment upon the part of one class that looks upon
the institution of slavery as a wrong, and of another class that does
not look upon it as a wrong. The sentiment that contemplates the
institution of slavery in this country as a wrong is the sentiment of
the Republican party. It is the sentiment around which all their
actions, all their arguments, circle, from which all their propositions
radiate. That is the real issue. That is the issue that will continue in
this country when these poor tongues of Judge Douglas and myself shall
be silenced. It is the eternal struggle between these two
principles--right and wrong--throughout the world. They are the two
principles that have stood face to face from the beginning of Time, and
will ever continue to struggle. The one is the common right of humanity
and the other the divine right of kings. It is the same spirit that
says: 'You work and toil and earn bread, and I'll eat it.' No matter in
what shape it comes, whether from the mouth of a king who seeks to
bestride the people of his own nation and live by the fruit of their
labor, or from one race of man as an apology for enslaving another race,
it is the same tyrannical principle."

What had come over Lincoln? He was no longer awkward. A divine grace
permeated his being. The October sun threw glory upon his brow, gave us
a look into his deeply illuminated eyes, left nothing of the great nose
and mouth but their strength, the sculptural im