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| Speeches of Abraham Lincoln
Speech Delivered At Worcester, Mass., On Sept. 12, 1848.
by Abraham Lincoln
(From the Boston Advertiser.)
Mr. Kellogg then introduced to the meeting the Hon. Abram Lincoln, Whig
member of Congress from Illinois, a representative of free soil.
Mr. Lincoln has a very tall and thin figure, with an intellectual face,
showing a searching mind, and a cool judgment. He spoke in a clear and
cool and very eloquent manner, for an hour and a half, carrying the
audience with him in his able arguments and brilliant illustrations--only
interrupted by warm and frequent applause. He began by expressing a real
feeling of modesty in addressing an audience "this side of the
mountains," a part of the country where, in the opinion of the people of
his section, everybody was supposed to be instructed and wise. But he had
devoted his attention to the question of the coming Presidential
election, and was not unwilling to exchange with all whom he might the
ideas to which he had arrived. He then began to show the fallacy of some
of the arguments against Gen. Taylor, making his chief theme the
fashionable statement of all those who oppose him ("the old Locofocos as
well as the new") that he has no principles, and that the Whig party have
abandoned their principles by adopting him as their candidate. He
maintained that Gen. Taylor occupied a high and unexceptionable Whig
ground, and took for his first instance and proof of this the statement
in the Allison letter--with regard to the bank, tariff, rivers and
harbors, etc.--that the will of the people should produce its own
results, without executive influence. The principle that the people
should do what--under the Constitution--as they please, is a Whig
principle. All that Gen. Taylor is not only to consent to, but appeal to
the people to judge and act for themselves. And this was no new doctrine
for Whigs. It was the "platform" on which they had fought all their
battles, the resistance of executive influence, and the principle of
enabling the people to frame the government according to their will. Gen.
Taylor consents to be the candidate, and to assist the people to do what
they think to be their duty, and think to be best in their national
affairs, but because he don't want to tell what we ought to do, he is
accused of having no principles. The Whigs here maintained for years that
neither the influence, the duress, or the prohibition of the executive
should control the legitimately expressed will of the people; and now
that, on that very ground, Gen. Taylor says that he should use the power
given him by the people to do, to the best of his judgment, the will of
the people, he is accused of want of principle, and of inconsistency in
position.
Mr. Lincoln proceeded to examine the absurdity of an attempt to make a
platform or creed for a national party, to all parts of which all must
consent and agree, when it was clearly the intention and the true
philosophy of our government, that in Congress all opinions and
principles should be represented, and that when the wisdom of all had
been compared and united, the will of the majority should be carried out.
On this ground he conceived (and the audience seemed to go with him) that
Gen. Taylor held correct, sound republican principles.
Mr. Lincoln then passed to the subject of slavery in the States, saying
that the people of Illinois agreed entirely with the people of
Massachusetts on this subject, except perhaps that they did not keep so
constantly thinking about it. All agreed that slavery was an evil, but
that we were not responsible for it and cannot affect it in States of
this Union where we do not live. But the question of the extension of
slavery to new territories of this country is a part of our
responsibility and care, and is under our control. In opposition to this
Mr. L. believed that the self-named "Free Soil" party was far behind the
Whigs. Both parties opposed the extension. As he understood it the new
party had no principle except this opposition. If their platform held any
other, it was in such a general way that it was like the pair of
pantaloons the Yankee pedlar offered for sale, "large enough for any man,
small enough for any boy." They therefore had taken a position calculated
to break down their single important declared object. They were working
for the election of either Gen. Cass or Gen. Taylor. The speaker then
went on to show, clearly and eloquently, the danger of extension of
slavery, likely to result from the election of Gen. Cass. To unite with
those who annexed the new territory to prevent the extension of slavery
in that territory seemed to him to be in the highest degree absurd and
ridiculous. Suppose these gentlemen succeed in electing Mr. Van Buren,
they had no specific means to prevent the extension of slavery to New
Mexico and California, and Gen. Taylor, he confidently believed, would
not encourage it, and would not prohibit its restriction. But if Gen.
Cass was elected, he felt certain that the plans of farther extension of
territory would be encouraged, and those of the extension of slavery
would meet no check. The "Free Soil" mart in claiming that name
indirectly attempts a deception, by implying that Whigs were not Free
Soil men. Declaring that they would "do their duty and leave the
consequences to God" merely gave an excuse for taking a course they were
not able to maintain by a fair and full argument. To make this
declaration did not show what their duty was. If it did we should have no
use for judgment, we might as well be made without intellect; and when
divine or human law does not clearly point out what is our duty, we have
no means of finding out what it is but by using our most intelligent
judgment of the consequences. If there were divine law or human law for
voting for Martin Van Buren, or if a, fair examination of the
consequences and just reasoning would show that voting for him would
bring about the ends they pretended to wish--then he would give up the
argument. But since there was no fixed law on the subject, and since the
whole probable result of their action would be an assistance in electing
Gen. Cass, he must say that they were behind the Whigs in their advocacy
of the freedom of the soil.
Mr. Lincoln proceeded to rally the Buffalo convention for forbearing to
say anything--after all the previous declarations of those members who
were formerly Whigs--on the subject of the Mexican War, because the Van
Burens had been known to have supported it. He declared that of all the
parties asking the confidence of the country, this new one had less of
principle than any other.
He wondered whether it was still the opinion of these Free Soil
gentlemen, as declared in the "whereas" at Buffalo, that the Whig and
Democratic parties were both entirely dissolved and absorbed into their
own body. Had the Vermont election given them any light? They had
calculated on making as great an impression in that State as in any part
of the Union, and there their attempts had been wholly ineffectual. Their
failure was a greater success than they would find in any other part of
the Union.
Mr. Lincoln went on to say that he honestly believed that all those who
wished to keep up the character of the Union; who did not believe in
enlarging our field, but in keeping our fences where they are and
cultivating our present possessions, making it a garden, improving the
morals and education of the people, devoting the administrations to this
purpose; all real Whigs, friends of good honest government--the race was
ours. He had opportunities of hearing from almost every part of the Union
from reliable sources and had not heard of a county in which we had not
received accessions from other parties. If the true Whigs come forward
and join these new friends, they need not have a doubt. We had a
candidate whose personal character and principles he had already
described, whom he could not eulogize if he would. Gen. Taylor had been
constantly, perseveringly, quietly standing up, doing his duty and asking
no praise or reward for it. He was and must be just the man to whom the
interests, principles, and prosperity of the country might be safely
intrusted. He had never failed in anything he had undertaken, although
many of his duties had been considered almost impossible.
Mr. Lincoln then went into a terse though rapid review of the origin of
the Mexican War and the connection of the administration and General
Taylor with it, from which he deduced a strong appeal to the Whigs
present to do their duty in the support of General Taylor, and closed
with the warmest aspirations for and confidence in a deserved success.
At the close of his truly masterly and convincing speech, the audience
gave three enthusiastic cheers for Illinois, and three more for the
eloquent Whig member from the State. |
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