this House for a short time on account of the impossibility of the
House discharging its business in so small a place as the Methodist
church." This was adopted, and the House moved over to the Second
Presbyterian church. At this special session the Whigs were interested
in preventing a _sine die_ adjournment (because they desired to
protect the State bank, which had been authorized in 1838 to suspend
specie payment until after the adjournment of the next session of the
General Assembly), and to this end they sought to break the quorum.
All the Whigs walked out, except Lincoln and Joseph Gillespie, who
were left behind to demand a roll-call when deemed expedient. A
few were brought in by the sergeant-at-arms. Lincoln and Gillespie,
perceiving that there would be a quorum if they remained, started to
leave; and finding the doors locked, Lincoln raised a window, and
both men jumped out--an incident, as Mr. Herndon says, which Lincoln
"always seemed willing to forget." It was in this church, too, that
Lincoln delivered an address before the Washingtonian Temperance
Society, on Washington's birthday, in 1842. The church was erected in
1839, and stood until torn down, some thirty years later, to make room
for a new edifice.--_J. McCan Davis._]

The speech was published in full in the "Sangamo Journal" and the
editor commented:

"Mr. Lincoln's remarks on Mr. Linder's bank resolution in
the paper are quite to the point. Our friend carries the true
Kentucky rifle, and when he fires he seldom fails of sending
the shot home."


ABRAHAM LINCOLN'S FIRST PROTEST AGAINST SLAVERY.