Page:Life and Works of Abraham Lincoln, v3.djvu/21

 Rh could understand him. This characteristic of his mind and heart gave a peculiar complexion to his speeches, whether at the bar, or in discussing the great political issues of the time. He always preferred to do more than justice rather than less to an opponent. It was often noticed that he stated his opponent's argument with more force than his opponent himself had done. In the opening of his argument, his friends would often feel for the moment that he was surrendering the whole ground in debate. They had no need to concern themselves on that subject; it would always turn out that he had only surrendered fallacious grounds, on which it was unsafe to rely, while the solid foundation on which his own faith rested was left intact, as the enduring basis on which he would build his argument. He was a very conscientious man; his anti-slavery opinions had their seat in no mere political expediency, but in the very depths of his moral nature. In the summer of 1856 he delivered a speech to a very large audience assembled on the public square in this city; the population of this country were at that time very largely of Southern origin, and had those views of slavery which prevailed in the States from which they came. Yet Lincoln made a very frank avowal of his opposition to slavery on moral grounds, and drew his argument from the deepest roots of natural justice; yet he presented the case with such irresistible eloquence that his speech was received with the greatest favor, and often with bursts of hearty applause. That speech went far in all this region to establish his reputation as a popular orator.