And as they have been gazing upon this attractive picture so
long, they cannot, in the little distraction that has taken place in the
party, bring themselves to give up the charming hope. But with greedier
anxiety they rush about him, sustain him, and give him marches,
triumphal entries, and receptions, beyond what, even in the days of his
highest prosperity, they could have brought about in his favour. On the
contrary, nobody has ever expected me to be President. In my poor, lean,
lank face, nobody has ever seen that any cabbages were sprouting out.
These are disadvantages, all taken together, that the Republicans labour
under. We have to fight this battle upon principle, and upon principle
alone. I am in a certain sense made the standard-bearer in behalf of the
Republicans. I was made so merely because there had to be some one so
placed,--I being in no wise preferable to any other one of the
twenty-five, perhaps a hundred, we have in the Republican ranks. Then I
say, I wish it to be distinctly understood and borne in mind, that we
have to fight this battle without many--perhaps without any--of the
external aids which are brought to bear against us.
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