Abraham Lincoln: The True Story of a Great Life, Volume 1 (of 2)Herndon, William Henry
History
Abraham Lincoln: The True Story of a Great Life, Volume 1 (of 2)
Herndon, William Henry
Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865
The sterling Whigs of Lowell came together last Saturday evening, at the
City Hall. The meeting was called to order by the Chairman of the Whig
Central Committee, Hon. Linus Child. Homer Bartlett, Esq., was chosen
chairman, and A. Gilman, secretary. After a few animating remarks from
the Chairman, he introduced George Woodman, Esq., of Boston, who made
a very pertinent and witty offhand speech, which was frequently
interrupted by the spontaneous plaudits of the audience. At the close of
his speech Mr. Woodman introduced the Hon. Abraham Lincoln, of Illinois.
It would be doing injustice to his speech to endeavor to give a sketch
of it. It was replete with good sense, sound reasoning, and irresistible
argument, and spoken with that perfect command of manner and matter
which so eminently distinguishes the Western orators. He disabused the
public of the erroneous suppositions that Taylor was not a Whig; that
Van Buren was anything more than a thorough Loco-foco on all subjects
other than Free Territory, and hardly safe on that; and showed up, in a
masterly manner, the inconsistency and folly of those Whigs, who, being
drawn off from the true and oldest free-soil organization known among
the parties of the Union, would now lend their influence and votes
to help Mr. Van Buren into the presidential chair. His speech was
interrupted by frequent cheers of the audience. At the close the
secretary, by request, read the letter of General Taylor to Captain
Alison, which had just been received, in which he says: "From the
beginning till now, I have declared myself to be a Whig, on all proper
occasions."
Ex-Governor Gardner, after a brief history of the Whig Convention at
Worcester, Mass., contributes this pleasing reminiscence:
"Gov. Levi Lincoln, the oldest living Ex-Governor of Massachusetts,
resided in Worcester. He was a man of culture and wealth; lived in
one of the finest houses in that town, and was a fine specimen of a
gentleman of the old school. It was his custom to give a dinner party
when any distinguished assemblage took place in Worcester, and to invite
its prominent participants. He invited to dine, on this occasion, a
company of gentlemen, among them myself, who was a delegate from
Boston. The dining-room and table arrangements were superb, the dinner
exquisite, the wines abundant, rare, and of the first quality.
"I well remember the jokes between Governor Lincoln and Abraham Lincoln
as to their presumed relationship. At last the latter said: 'I _hope_
we both belong, as the Scotch say, to the same clan; but I _know_ one
thing, and that is, that we are both good Whigs.'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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