That this was not the mere flattery of partial friends became manifest to him by other indications; by an increased correspondence filled with general commendation, and particularly by numerous invitations to deliver speeches in other States.  The Republican Central Committee of New Hampshire wrote him that if Douglas came, as was expected, to that State, they desired Lincoln to come and answer him.  The Central Committee of Minnesota wished him to come there and assist in their canvass.  There was an incessant commotion in politics throughout the whole North, and as the season advanced calls came from all quarters.  Kansas wanted him; Buffalo, Des Moines, Pittsburgh wanted him; Thurlow Weed telegraphed:  “Send Abraham Lincoln to Albany immediately.”  Not only his presence, but his arguments, and ideas, were in demand.  Dennison, making the canvass for Governor of Ohio, asked for a report of his debates for campaign “material.”

That men in all parts of the Union were thus turning to him for help and counsel was due, not alone to the publicity and credit he had gained in his debates with Douglas in the previous year; it grew quite as much out of the fact that by his sagacity and courage he had made himself the safest, as well as the most available, rallying-point of the Republican party and exponent of Republican doctrine.  The Lecompton quarrel in the Democratic party had led many prominent Republicans on a false trail.  In Douglas’s new attitude, developed by his Southern speeches and his claim to readmission into regular Democratic fellowship, these leaders found themselves at fault, discredited by their own course.  Lincoln, on the contrary, not only held aloft the most aggressive Republican banner, but stood nearest the common party enemy, and was able to offer advice to all the elements of the Republican party, free from any suspicion of intrigue with foe or faction.  The causes of his Senatorial defeat thus gave him a certain party authority and leadership, which were felt if not openly acknowledged.  On his part, while never officious or obtrusive, he was always ready with seasonable and judicious suggestions, generous in spirit and comprehensive in scope, and which looked beyond mere local success.

Thus he wrote from Springfield to Schuyler Colfax (afterwards Vice-President of the United States), July 6, 1859:  “I much regret not seeing you while you were here among us.  Before learning that you were to be at Jacksonville on the 4th, I had given my word to be at another place.  Besides a strong desire to make your personal acquaintance, I was anxious to speak with you on politics a little more fully than I can well do in a letter.  My main object in such conversation would be to hedge against divisions in the Republican ranks generally, and particularly for the contest of 1860.  The point of danger is the temptation in different localities to ‘platform’ for something which will be popular just there, but which, nevertheless, will