AMERICAN PROBLEMS by WILLIAM E.BORAH 1924

LINCOLN THE ORATOR 37
he had had the advantage of years of association
with the strong- minds of a most stirring
period and a wide experience in the halls of
legislation. Bold, resourceful, ambitious, he
had no superior and few equals as a debater in
the Senate of the United States,
of which he
was then the most interesting and striking figure.
At the time of the debate he was at the
very zenith of his popularity and in the full
and imperious possession of all his great powers,
both natural and acquired. He went into
the contest with the spirit of victory strong
upon him and inspired by the devotion of followers
who thought it was not his to lose. The
debate, as we know, took place in the open air
m the presence of thousands of anxious followers.
The theme, the surroundings, the momentous
consequences which all dimly foresaw as
soon to follow—for each spoke to and for a distinct
civilization—make this debate unique,
exceptional and profoundly interesting even
now and must have made it vastly more interesting
and absorbing to those who listened or
who read of it as it progressed.
In the give and take of the close grip of the
contest, in the finesse and brilliant fencing
which sometimes seem essential in that kind of
a deadly intellectual encounter, in the adroit