Abraham Lincoln's Lost Speech E-Book

Abraham Lincoln

• Herausgeber: Andura Publishing
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2020

Beschreibung

THE lost speech of Abraham Lincoln was delivered at the first Republican State Convention of Illinois, at Bloomington, on the 29th of May, 1856. The excitement caused among the audience by the speech was so great that the reporters forgot to take their notes, and for many years it was generally supposed that no record of the speech had been preserved. It appears, however, that Mr. H. C. Whitney, then a young lawyer of Illinois, did take notes of the speech, which he preserved; and after a lapse of forty years they were transcribed and were published in “McClure’s Magazine” for September, 1896, together with a letter from Mr. Joseph Medill, of the “Chicago Tribune,” who was present at the Convention and confirms the accuracy of Mr. Whitney’s report.

Leseprobe

ABRAHAM LINCOLN’S

LOST SPEECH

MAY 29, 1856

A SOUVENIR OF THE ELEVENTH

ANNUAL LINCOLN DINNER OF

THE REPUBLICAN CLUB OF THE

CITY OF NEW YORK, AT THE

WALDORF, FEBRUARY 12, 1897

THE lost speech of Abraham Lincoln was delivered at the first Republican State Convention of Illinois, at Bloomington, on the 29th of May, 1856. The excitement caused among the audience by the speech was so great that the reporters forgot to take their notes, and for many years it was generally supposed that no record of the speech had been preserved. It appears, however, that Mr. H. C. Whitney, then a young lawyer of Illinois, did take notes of the speech, which he preserved; and after a lapse of forty years they were transcribed and were published in “McClure’s Magazine” for September, 1896, together with a letter from Mr. Joseph Medill, of the “Chicago Tribune,” who was present at the Convention and confirms the accuracy of Mr. Whitney’s report.

By the kind consent of Mr. Whitney, and through the courtesy of Mr. S. S. McClure, the speech is now reproduced by the Republican Club of the City of New York as a souvenir of Lincoln for its Annual Dinner on the 12th of February, 1897.

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LINCOLN’S LOST SPEECH

MR. Chairman and Gentlemen: I was over at—[Cries of “Platform!” “Take the platform!”] I say, that while I was at Danville Court, some of our friends of anti-Nebraska got together in Springfield and elected me as one delegate to represent old Sangamon with them in this convention, and I am here certainly as a sympathizer in this movement and by virtue of that meeting and selection. But we can hardly be called delegates strictly, inasmuch as, properly speaking, we represent

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 nobody but ourselves. I think it altogether fair to say that we have no anti-Nebraska party in Sangamon, although there is a good deal of anti-Nebraska feeling there; but I say for myself, and I think I may speak also for my colleagues, that we who are here fully approve of the platform and of all that has been done [A voice: “Yes!”]; and even if we are not regularly delegates, it will be right for me to answer your call to speak. I suppose we truly stand for the public sentiment of Sangamon on the great question of the repeal, although we do not yet represent many numbers who have taken a distinct position on the question.

We are in a trying time—it ranges above mere party—and this movement to call a halt and turn our steps backward needs all the help and good counsels it can get; for unless popular opinion makes itself very strongly felt, and a change is made in our present course, blood will flow

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 on account of Nebraska, and brother’s hand will be raised against brother! [The last sentence was uttered in such an earnest, impressive, if not indeed tragic, manner as to make a cold chill creep over me. Others gave a similar experience.]

I have listened with great interest to the earnest appeal made to Illinois men by the gentleman from Lawrence [James S. Emery] who has just addressed us so eloquently and forcibly. I was deeply moved by his statement of the wrongs done to free-State men out there. I think it just to say that all true men North should sympathize with them, and ought to be willing to do any possible and needful thing to right their wrongs. But we must not promise what we ought not, lest we be called on to perform what we cannot; we must be calm and moderate, and consider the whole difficulty, and determine what is possible and just. We must not be led by excitement and passion to do that which our sober judgments would not approve in

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 our cooler moments. We have higher aims; we will have more serious business than to dally with temporary measures.

We are here to stand firmly for a principle—to stand firmly for a right. We know that great political and moral wrongs are done, and outrages committed, and we denounce those wrongs and outrages, although we cannot, at present, do much more. But we desire to reach out beyond those personal outrages and establish a rule that will apply to all, and so prevent any future outrages.