McClures Magazine, Vol. 6, No. 4, March, 1896 | Page 3

in Illinois which showed so large an
increase in the population that the legislative districts had been
reapportioned and the General Assembly increased by fifty members.
In this reapportionment Sangamon County's delegation had been
enlarged to seven representatives and two senators. This gave large new
opportunity to political ambition, and doubled the enthusiasm of
political meetings.
But the increase of the representation was not all that made the
campaign exciting. Party lines had never before been so clearly drawn,
nor personal abuse quite so intense. One of Lincoln's first acts was to
answer a personal attack. He did it in a letter marked by candor,
good-humor, and shrewdness.
"NEW SALEM, June 21, 1836. "DEAR COLONEL:
"I am told that during my absence last week you passed through the
place and stated publicly that you were in possession of a fact or facts
which, if known to the public, would entirely destroy the prospects of
N.W. Edwards and myself at the ensuing election; but that through
favor to us you would forbear to divulge them. No one has needed
favors more than I, and generally few have been less unwilling to
accept them; but in this case favor to me would be injustice to the
public, and therefore I must beg your pardon for declining it. That I

once had the confidence of the people of Sangamon County is
sufficiently evident; and if I have done anything, either by design or
misadventure, which if known would subject me to a forfeiture of that
confidence, he that knows of that thing and conceals it is a traitor to his
country's interest.
"I find myself wholly unable to form any conjecture of what fact or
facts, real or supposed, you spoke; but my opinion of your veracity will
not permit me for a moment to doubt that you at least believed what
you said. I am flattered with the personal regard you manifested for me;
but I do hope that on mature reflection you will view the public interest
as a paramount consideration and therefore let the worst come.
"I assure you that the candid statement of facts on your part, however
low it may sink me, shall never break the ties of personal friendship
between us.
"I wish an answer to this, and you are at liberty to publish both if you
choose.
"Very respectfully, "A. LINCOLN."
"COLONEL ROBERT ALLEN."
Usually during the campaign Lincoln was obliged to meet personal
attacks, not by letter, but on the platform. Joshua Speed, who later
became the most intimate friend that Lincoln probably ever had, tells of
one occasion when he was obliged to meet such an attack on the very
spur of the moment. A great mass-meeting was in progress at
Springfield, and Lincoln had made a speech which had produced a deep
impression. "I was then fresh from Kentucky," says Mr. Speed, "and
had heard many of her great orators. It seemed to me then, as it seems
to me now, that I never heard a more effective speaker. He carried the
crowd with him, and swayed them as he pleased. So deep an
impression did he make that George Forquer, a man of much celebrity
as a sarcastic speaker and with a great reputation throughout the State
as an orator, rose and asked the people to hear him. He began his
speech by saying that this young man would have to be taken down,

and he was sorry that the task devolved upon him. He made what was
called one of his 'slasher-gaff' speeches, dealing much in ridicule and
sarcasm. Lincoln stood near him, with his arms folded, never
interrupting him. When Forquer was done, Lincoln walked to the stand,
and replied so fully and completely that his friends bore him from the
court-house on their shoulders.
"So deep an impression did this first speech make upon me that I
remember its conclusion now, after a lapse of thirty-eight years. Said
he:
"'The gentleman commenced his speech by saying that this young man
would have to be taken down, and he was sorry the task devolved upon
him. I am not so young in years as I am in the tricks and trade of a
politician; but live long or die young, I would rather die now than, like
the gentleman, change my politics and simultaneous with the change
receive an office worth three thousand dollars a year, and then have to
erect a lightning-rod over my house to protect a guilty conscience from
an offended God.'
"To understand the point of this it must be explained that Forquer had
been a Whig, but had changed his politics, and had been appointed
Register of the Land Office; and over his house was the only
lightning-rod in the town or country. Lincoln had seen the