McClures Magazine, Vol. 6, No. 4, March, 1896 | Page 7

one hundred thousand
dollars to improve the Rock River; one million eight hundred thousand
dollars to build a road from Quincy to Danville; four million dollars to
complete the Illinois and Michigan Canal; two hundred and fifty
thousand for the Western Mail Route--in all, some twelve million
dollars. To carry out the elaborate scheme, they provided a commission,
one of the first duties of which was to sell the bonds of the State to
raise the money for the enterprise. The majority of the Assembly seem
not to have entertained for a moment an idea that there would be any
difficulty in selling at a premium the bonds of Illinois. "On the
contrary," as General Linder says in his "Reminiscences," "the
enthusiastic friends of the measure maintained that, instead of there
being any difficulty in obtaining a loan of the fifteen or twenty millions
authorized to be borrowed, our bonds would go like hot cakes, and be
sought for by the Rothschilds, and Baring Brothers, and others of that
stamp; and that the premiums which we would obtain upon them would
range from fifty to one hundred per cent., and that the premium itself
would be sufficient to construct most of the important works, leaving
the principal sum to go into our treasury, and leave the people free from
taxation for years to come."
[Illustration: STUART AND LINCOLN'S PROFESSIONAL CARD.
The professional card of Stuart and Lincoln shows that the
copartnership began April 12, 1837. The card appeared in the next issue
of the "Sangamo Journal," and was continued until Lincoln became the
partner of Judge Logan, in 1841.]
THE REMOVAL OF THE CAPITAL TO SPRINGFIELD.
Although Lincoln favored and aided in every way the plan for internal
improvements, his real work was in securing the removal of the capital
to Springfield. The task was by no means an easy one to direct; for
outside of the "Long Nine" there was, of course, nobody particularly
interested in Springfield, and there were delegations from a dozen other

counties hot to secure the capital for their own constituencies. It took
patient and clever manipulation to put the bill through. Certain votes
Lincoln, no doubt, gained for his cause by force of his personal
qualities. Thus Jesse K. Dubois says that he and his colleagues voted
for the bill because they liked Lincoln, and wanted to oblige him. But
probably the majority were won by skilful log-rolling. Not that Lincoln
ever sanctioned "trading" to the sacrifice of his own convictions.
General T.H. Henderson, of Illinois, says in some interesting
reminiscences of Lincoln, prepared for this Life and hitherto
unpublished: "Before I had ever seen Abraham Lincoln I heard my
father, who served with him in the legislature of 1838-39 and of
1840-41, relate an incident in Mr. Lincoln's life which illustrates his
character for integrity and his firmness in maintaining what he regarded
as right in his public acts, in a marked manner.
"I do not remember whether this incident occurred during the session of
the legislature in 1836-37 or 1838-39. But I think it was in that of
1836-37, when it was said that there was a great deal of log-rolling
going on among the members. But, however that may be, according to
the story related by my father, an effort was made to unite the friends of
capital removal with the friends of some measure which Mr. Lincoln,
for some reason, did not approve. What that measure was to which he
objected, I am not now able to recall. But those who desired the
removal of the capital to Springfield were very anxious to effect the
proposed combination, and a meeting was held to see if it could be
accomplished. The meeting continued in session nearly all night, when
it adjourned without accomplishing anything, Mr. Lincoln refusing to
yield his objections and to support the obnoxious measure."
[Illustration: OFFICE CHAIR FROM STUART AND LINCOLN'S
LAW OFFICE.
The chair is now in the Oldroyd Collection in Washington, D.C.]
"Another meeting was called, and at this second meeting a number of
citizens, not members of the legislature, from the central and northern
parts of the State, among them my father, were present by invitation.
The meeting was long protracted, and earnest in its deliberations. Every

argument that could be thought of was used to induce Mr. Lincoln to
yield his objections and unite with his friends, and thus secure the
removal of the capital to his own city; but without effect. Finally, after
midnight, when everybody seemed exhausted with the discussion, and
when the candles were burning low in the room, Mr. Lincoln rose amid
the silence and solemnity which prevailed, and, my father said, made
one of the most eloquent and powerful speeches to which he had ever
listened. And he concluded his remarks