[49] It is fair to say that my view of this “duel”
is not that of other writers. Lamon, p. 260,
says that “the scene is one of transcendent
interest.” Herndon, p. 260, calls it a “serio-comic
affair.” Holland, pp. 87-89, gives a brief,
deprecatory account of what he calls “certainly
a boyish affair.” Arnold, pp. 69-72, treats
it simply enough, but puts the whole load of the ridicule
upon Shields. Nicolay and Hay, vol. i. ch. 12,
deal with it gravely, and in the same way in which,
in the preceding chapter, they deal with the marriage;
that is to say, they eschew the production of original
documents, and, by their own gloss, make a good story
for Lincoln and a very bad one for Shields; they speak
lightly of the “ludicrousness” of the affair.
To my mind the opinion which Lincoln himself held
is far more correct than that expressed by any of
his biographers.
[50] Serious practice only began with him when he
formed his partnership with Judge Logan in 1841; in
1860 his practice came to an end; in the interval
he was for two years a member of Congress.
[51] A story is told by Lamon, p. 321, which puts
Lincoln in a position absolutely indefensible by any
sound reasoning.
[52] For accounts of Lincoln at the bar, as also for
many illustrative and entertaining anecdotes to which
the plan of this volume does not permit space to be
given, see Arnold, 55-59, 66, 73, 84-91; Holland, 72,
73, 76-83, 89; Lamon, 223-225, ch. xiii. 311-332; N.
and H. i. 167-171, 213-216, ch. xvii. 298-309; Herndon,
182-184, 186, 264-266, 306 n., 307-309, 312-319, 323-331,
ch. xi. 332-360.
[53] Holland, 95; but per contra see Herndon,
271.
[54] March, 1843.
[55] By way of example of his methods, see letter
to Herndon, June 22, 1848, Lamon, 299.
[56] The treaty of peace, subject to some amendments,
was ratified by the Senate March 10, 1848, and officially
promulgated on July 4.
[57] Von Holst, Const. Hist. of U.S. iii.
336. All historians are pretty well agreed upon
the relation of the Polk administration to the Mexican
war. But the story has never been so clearly and
admirably traced by any other as by von Holst in the
third volume of his history.
[58] December 22, 1847.
[59] Printed by Lamon, 282. See, also, Herndon,
277.
[60] Herndon, 281; see letters given in full by Lamon,
291, 293, 295 (at 296); N. and H. i. 274
CHAPTER IV
NORTH AND SOUTH
The Ordinance of 1787 established that slavery should
never exist in any part of that vast northwestern
territory which had then lately been ceded by sundry
States to the Confederation. This Ordinance could
not be construed otherwise than as an integral part
of the transaction of cession, and was forever unalterable,
because it represented in a certain way a part of
the consideration in a contract, and was also in the
