flock into the court-house, and up through the aisle to the very seat of justice, where it lay panting and trembling. With wonderful readiness and skill the advocate seized the incident, and, likening it to the sacrifice of the Paschal Lamb, made an appeal to the jury so powerful as to secure by his remarkable and effective oratory not alone the acquittal of the prisoner, but also the applause of those who had previously believed him to be guilty.

It was on November 27, 1855, that Mr. Logan married Miss Mary S. Cunningham,-a daughter of Captain J. M. Cunningham, his old friend and companion-in-arms of the Mexican war,—and, removing to Benton, established there his home and law-office.

In 1856, the people again insisted upon his representing them in the State Legislature, to which body he was elected in November during the famous "Fremont Campaign." During sessions of that Legislature he was conspicuous in his advocacy of some of the most important measures devised for the best interests of the State-the intervals between sessions being devoted to the practice of his profession.

LOGAN,

THE CONGRESSMAN, BEFORE THE WAR-AT THE CHARLESTON CONVENTION-THE AUCTION-BLOCK AND SLAVEPENS OF THE SOUTH-HIS EFFORTS TO AVERT THE WAR.

By 1858, his reputation both as lawyer and legislator had so widened that he was nominated as a Representative in the Thirty-sixth Congress, and, notwithstanding his comparative youth and the fact that his competitors numbered among them the most prominent men of the district (the Ninth), which at that time comprised sixteen counties of Southern Illinois, was triumphantly elected by the largest majority ever given to a Congressional Representative from that district.

Congressman Logan took his seat December, 1858, at

what will be remembered as the most exciting period prior to the outbreak of the Rebellion. Stephen A. Douglas"The Little Giant"-was then the leading Democrat of the Northwest, and especially of Illinois. It was to be expected, therefore, that Mr. Logan would defer to him, and, so far as he could with consistency, follow his lead in all matters of public weal. But even then, his impetuous spirit with difficulty brooked the insults daily heaped upon every man who dared to call a halt to the rampant fire-eaters then in Congress, who seemed bent upon ruling or ruining the Union. He worked incessantly for the welfare of his constituents, and so well did he succeed that, in November of 1860, he was unanimously renominated and re-elected by an increased majority to the Thirty-seventh Congress.

Mr. Logan attended the National Convention at Charleston, S. C., and for the first time beheld the veritable auctionblock and slave-pens of the South. His generous nature revolted at the barbarity of slavery, thus in its very nakedness brought right beneath his eyes, and his mind foresaw the fall of that inhuman "institution" at no distant day. He saw that the spirit of tyranny and oppression manifested by the leaders of the Democratic Party toward every man north of Mason and Dixon's line" boded ill for them. He felt, as did every free man, that very soon must cease the forbearance that had been shown to men who knew no bounds to their demands, and who were ready to subordinate everything to their lust for wealth and power and the perpetuation of human slavery. Hence, when the Congress assembled in December, 1860, he was in no frame of mind to endure the intensified fanaticism and threatening manner of the Southern Representatives. His speeches made at that time, as a Democrat, are replete with patriotic fire and love of the Union. Imbued with this spirit he was most active in striving to bring about what was known as the "Crittenden Compromise"-believing, as did many other patriotic men,

that that measure would avert the horrors of a civil war. But all effort seemed powerless before Fate. The tide was too strong. Boldly and bravely Mr. Logan exerted himself to breast it, urging moderation upon his party and its older leaders while eloquently avowing his own devotion to the Union and his abhorrence of the meditated treason.

THE ABOLITION LEADER LOVEJOY THREATENED WITH VIOLENCE IN THE HOUSE-FREE SPEECH ABOUT ΤΟ BE CHOKEDLOGAN COWES THE BLUSTERING FIRE-EATERS AND SECURES LOVEJOY A HEARING.

The Southern Democrats had at that time full sway in Congress, and choked down the opposition, or at least attempted to prevent those from speaking who were sure to condemn slavery. Sumner was stricken down with a bludgeon for daring to utter his scathing denunciations of the crimes which were perpetrated in the name of liberty, and other eloquent and determined champions of freedom narrowly escaped similar violence. Free-speech in the Halls of Congress was imperilled. It was at this time that a scene occurred in the House, in which Logan was a principal figure, that not only exhibited the personal intrepidity of "the gallant Egyptian," as he was then called, but that superior quality of moral courage which enables the very few who possess it to rise above party when that party consents to injustice or assumes a despotic spirit. "On one occasion," says the narrator," Mr. Lovejoy rose in his place in the House and attempted to speak, when several of the 'fire-eaters' thrust their clenched fists in his face, and dared him to utter a sentence at the peril of his life. It was one of those extraordinary scenes when members become excited, leave their seats, and crowd around the occupant of the floor. Lovejoy -as brave a man as ever lived-expostulated with the furious bowie-knife legislators, but they grew more and more fierce under his expostulations; in fact, it looked as though

free-speech were about to be absolutely and by open violence choked down in the House of Representatives of the United States of America-the model Republic of the West. Mr. Lovejoy had a seat directly under the Speaker's desk, and turned around to look for aid, when a young man at the back end of the House rose, walked through the centre of the House, pushed through the excited members, reached Lovejoy's side, pointed to him, and, turning to the Southern members, said, 'He is a representative from Illinois, the State that I was born in, and also have the honor to represent; he must be allowed to speak without interruption, otherwise I will meet the coward or cowards outside of this House, and hold them responsible for further indignities offered to Mr. Lovejoy. This, of course, ended the display of clinched fists, and the lacerated despots took their seats, and Lovejoy made an able anti-slavery speech." The young man was Logan.

THE BASELESS CHARGE THAT LOGAN WAS A "SECESSION SYMPATHIZER-BREAKING" OUT OF THE WAR OF REBELLION

LOGAN

LEAVES THE HOUSE, SHOULDERS A MUSKET, AND FIGHTS AT BULL RUN.

It may be well right here to allude briefly to the base and baseless charge made by some of his enemies, that at the outbreak of the war, and prior to it, he was a "secession sympathizer," and to his triumphant refutation of the same, which may be found in the Congressional Record of April 20, 1881. Senator Ben Hill of Georgia had the temerity to insinuate this charge in the United States Senate Chamber March 30, 1881. Logan instantly replied, “Any man who insinuates that I sympathized with it at that time insinuates what is false," and Senator Hill at once retracted the calumny. Subsequently, April 19, 1881, a portion of the press having in the meantime insinuated further doubts, Senator Logan proved by the record, and by voluminous documentary evidence, the utter falsity of the aspersion. That record

shows that January 7, 1861,—while still a Douglas Democrat, before Lincoln's inauguration and before even the first gun of war was fired upon Fort Sumter, -he declared in Congress, as he voted for a resolution which approved the action taken by the President in support of the laws and for the preservation of the Union, that the resolution received his unqualified approbation." Prior to that (December 17, 1860) he had voted affirmatively on a resolution offered by Morris of Illinois, which declared an "immovable attachment" to "our National Union," and "that it is our patriotic duty to stand by it, as our hope in peace and our defence in war." In a speech he made February 5, 1861, on the "Crittenden Compromise," he declared that "he had always denied, and did yet deny, the right of secession." And when he concluded his speech of vindication in the Senate, even the Bourbon Senator Brown of Georgia declared it to be "full, complete, and conclusive.” In future, then, no truthful man will dare to say that Logan was not true to the Union and opposed to secession "before the war, at the beginning of the war, and all through the war." *

At last the crisis came when every man must take his stand either for or against his country. The dreaded cannons' roar was heard above Fort Moultrie, and, with that sound, redoubled threats of a forcible dismemberment of this Union. Logan saw that the enemy could no longer be stayed in his wicked infatuation; that the time for action had arrived; and hurriedly leaving unanswered a "call of the House," he crossed the Potomac and, musket in hand, fought as a private in the ranks all day long in the first battle of Bull Run-being among the last to leave the field.

*For fuller evidence on this point see pp. 288-292.