legislature was his lifelong antagonist, Stephen A. Douglas. Whatever
may be said of this man's political principles, there can be no
question as to the shrewdness of his political methods. It is the
opinion of the present writer that in the entire history of our
political system no man has ever surpassed him in astuteness. Even to-
day all parties are using the methods which he either devised or
introduced. The trouble with him was that he was on the wrong side. He
did not count sufficiently on the conscience of the nation.

Lincoln was re-elected to the legislature as often as he was willing to
be a candidate, and served continuously for eight years. One session is
much like another, and in this eight years of legislative experience
only two prominent facts will be narrated. One was the removal of the
capital to Springfield. To Lincoln was entrusted the difficult task--
difficult, because there were almost as many applications for the honor
of being the capital city as there were towns and villages in the
central part of the state. He was entirely successful, and
thenceforward he was inseparably connected with Springfield. It was his
home as long as he lived, and there his remains were buried.

The prophetic event of his legislative work was what is known as the
Lincoln-Stone protest. This looks to-day so harmless that it is not
easy to understand the situation in 1837. The pro-slavery feeling was
running high, an abolitionist was looked on as a monster and a menace
to national law and order. It was in that year that the Reverend Elijah
P. Lovejoy was murdered--martyred--at Alton, Ill. The legislature had
passed pro-slavery resolutions. There were many in the legislature who
did not approve of these, but in the condition of public feeling, it
was looked on as political suicide to express opposition openly. There
was no politic reason why Lincoln should protest. His protest could do