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1. 1860
- Southern Illinois University Press
- Chapter
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1 1860 SPRINGFIELD CORRESPONDENCE, 21 MAY 1860 AS THE EVENTS OF THE LAST WEEK HAVE RENDERED SPRINGFIELD, IN n one respect at least, the central city of the north, I have thought that some mention of the occurrences that have recently disturbed its monotonous quietude, might not be devoid of interest to the readers of the Journal . Having had greatness thus suddenly thrust upon her, she deports herselfin the eye ofthe nation as bravely as ifshe had achieved greatness or been born great. With the undisturbed self-possession that seems the exclusive heritage of la jeunesse Americaine, she has quietly taken her position as the political "object of interest," and bears her honors as coolly as if rockets and cannon were no novelty in the backwoods, and as if it were the most natural thing in the world that rail maulers should walk composedlyinto the company of princes. When the lightning came down from Chicago, on Friday [MaYI8], to tell us that the nation had honored the honest man whom we have so long delighted to honor, the deep and earnest enthusiasm of the hearty western populace burst forth in the wildest manifestations of joy. The Cerro Gordo cannon-El Cyclope-was dragged from its dignified repose in the State House, to rouse on alien prairies the echoes that once sounded over the chaparral of the south-Lincoln banners, decked in every style of rude splendor, fluttered in the high west wind, and the very church bells signalled the triumph of stainless honor and pure conservatism by clangor that was unecclesiastically merry. At night the town gathered in the rotunda of the capitol, and listened to the speeches of several gentlemen who were kind enough to furnish a thread to hang shouts and cheers on; then proceeded with banners and music to the residence of the illustrious nominee. Soon the tall, gaunt form of the future anchor of the republic appeared in his 1 LINCOLN'S JOURNALIST doorway, and in a few good-humored and dignified words he thanked them for their kind manifestations of regard. For a while the clear air trembled with their noisy joy, and then the hard-handed multitude rushed to grasp the hand that years ago was as hard as any there, and that is as honest now as the one which wrote ''Aristides'' on the envious Democrat's shell in the time that sophomores love to call the "grand old days." On Saturday morning an immense concourse of the people met at the Great Western railroad depot to receive the committee appointed by the late convention to make to Mr. Lincoln the formal announcement ofhis nomination . As the train came rushing in, the delegation was welcomed with round after round of rousing, electrifying western cheers. A procession was speedily formed to escort the committee to their hotel. Conspicuous in the line of march was a squad of enthusiastic Republicans, with venerable fence rails, borue a la militaire, which Lincoln might have rived in his stalwart youth, in the days when a pen would have been an awkward toy in his hand, and the coon-skin cap shaded his blacklocks so comfortablyas to leave no want for the civic crown. From the hotel the crowd adjourned to the State House, and listened with eager interest to a series ofbriefand effective speeches, by Hassaurek, a keen and logical German from Ohio, whose sharp hits and dear deductions elicited frequent applause; two noble representatives of Yankee Republicanism , Amos Tuck of New Hampshire, and the genial Gov. Boutwell of Massachusetts, who lives kindly in the commencement dinner memories of Brunonians [graduates ofBrown University]; Carter of Ohio, and Kelly of Pennsylvania; and that wonderful German of the northwest, whose knowledge of our institutions is no less perfect than his mastery of our language, Carl Schurz, whose name has become a watchword offreedom on two continents. A noteworthy feature in these speeches was the spirit of absolute confidence and certainty of complete triumph that animated them. No more of the martyr-spirit offour years ago; no more ofthe forlorn-hope appeals; no more of that feeling of contention against overwhelming odds, or of that blind dependence on the offices of Providence, which animated the champions offreedom in that glorious defeat. But every heart seemed filled with the dauntless energy which comes from a premonition ofsuccess, and fired with the infectious enthusiasm which kindles through the vast extent of a great and growing and victorious organization. 2 [3.90.242.249...