THE WORLD'S FAMOUS ORATIONS fault about his early friend Lincobi being a ' ' grocery keeper. " I do not know that it would be a great sin if I had been ; but he is mistaken. Lincobi never kept a grocery anywhere in the world. It is true that Lincobi did work the latter part of one winter in a little still-house up at the head of a hollow. And so I think my friend, the judge, is equally at fault when he charges me at the time when I was in Congress of having opposed our soldiers who were light- ing in the Mexican War. The judge did not make his charge very distinctly, but I tell you what he can prove, by referring to the record. You remember I was an old Whig, and when- ever the Democratic party tried to get me to vote that the war had been righteously begun by the president, I would not do it. But when- ever they asked for any money, or land-war- rants, or anything to pay the soldiers there, during all that time, I gave the same vote that Judge Douglas did. You can think as you please as to whether that was consistent. Such is the truth; and the judge has the right to make all he can out of it. But when he, by a general charge, conveys the idea that I withheld supplies from the soldiers who were fighting in the IMexican War, or did anything else to hinder the soldiers, he is, to say the least, grossly and altogether mistaken, as a consulta- tion of the records will prove to him. As I have not used up so much of my time as I had supposed, I will dwell a little longer 230
