While walking thus along the side of the road I met Mr. Lincoln for the first time, and in the course of a two days’ journey we became quite well acquainted.  If he had been admitted to the bar at that time, he had not become known as a lawyer out of his own immediate circuit.  He was going to Vandalia as a member of the Legislature.  He was one of the ‘Long Nine,’ as it was called, from Sangamon County, who by their successful manoeuvring and united efforts succeeded in getting the seat of government moved from Vandalia to Springfield.  During my stay of a few weeks in Vandalia I frequently met Mr. Lincoln.  He was a very pleasant companion; but as we walked along the road on the occasion referred to, talking about indifferent subjects, nothing impressed me with any idea of his future greatness.”

When Lincoln took his seat in the first session of the new Legislature at Vandalia, his mind was full of new projects.  His real public service was now about to begin, and having spent his time in the previous Legislature mainly as an observer and listener he was determined during this session to identify himself conspicuously with the “liberal” progressive legislation, dreaming of a fame far different from that he actually obtained as an anti-slavery leader.  As he remarked to his friend Speed, he hoped to obtain the great distinction of being called “the De Witt Clinton of Illinois.”

It was at a special session of this Legislature that Lincoln first saw Stephen A. Douglas, his great political antagonist of the future, whom he describes as “the least man” he ever saw.  Douglas had come into the State from Vermont only the previous year, and having studied law for several months considered himself eminently qualified to be State’s attorney for the district in which he lived.  General Linder says of the two men at this time:  “I here had an opportunity, better than any I had previously possessed, of measuring the intellectual stature of Abraham Lincoln.  He was then about twenty-seven years old—­my own age.  Douglas was four years our junior; consequently he could not have been over twenty-three years old.  Yet he was a very ready and expert debater, even at that early period of his life.  He and Lincoln were very frequently pitted against each other, being of different politics.  They both commanded marked attention and respect.”

A notable measure effected by the “Long Nine” during this session of the Legislature was the removal of the State Capital from Vandalia to Springfield.  It was accomplished by dint of shrewd and persistent management, in which Lincoln was a leading spirit.  Mr. Robert L. Wilson, one of his colleagues, says:  “When our bill to all appearance was dead beyond resuscitation, and our friends could see no hope, Lincoln never for a moment despaired.  Collecting his colleagues in his room for consultation, his practical common-sense, his thorough knowledge of human nature, made him an overmatch for his compeers, and for any man I have ever known.”