the cannon!" The frenzy of joy spread to the immense throng of citizens
outside the wigwam, then through the city, then through the state, then
through the neighboring states. At Washington that night some one
asked, "Who is this man Lincoln, anyhow?" Douglas replied, "There won't
be a tar barrel left in Illinois' tonight." With unprecedented
enthusiasm the republican party started on this campaign which led to
its first victory in the election of Abraham Lincoln of Illinois, and
Hannibal Hamlin of Maine.




CHAPTER XIX.

THE ELECTION.


There are two things which made the campaign of 1860 paradoxical, so to
speak. One was that the nomination was equivalent to an election,
unless unforeseen difficulties should arise. The other was that this
election might be used by the extreme Southern democrats as an excuse
for precipitating war. They threatened this.

After the nomination the committee of the convention duly called on
Lincoln to give him the formal notification. This committee included
some names that were at that time, and still more so later, widely
known. Among them were three from Massachusetts: Ashmun, then Governor,
and chairman of the Chicago convention, Bowles, editor of the
Springfield _Republican_, and Boutwell. There were also Gideon
Welles, Carl Schurz, Francis P. Blair, and W. M. Evarts. The chairman