Again, after extended comment on the extra charges of General Cass upon the Treasury for military services, he continued in a still more sarcastic vein:  “But I have introduced General Cass’s accounts here chiefly to show the wonderful physical capacities of the man.  They show that he not only did the labor of several men at the same time, but that he often did it at several places many hundred miles apart at the same time.  And at eating, too, his capacities are shown to be quite as wonderful.  From October, 1821, to May, 1822, he ate ten rations a day in Michigan, ten rations a day here in Washington, and near five dollars’ worth a day besides, partly on the road between the two places.  And then there is an important discovery in his example—­the art of being paid for what one eats, instead of having to pay for it.  Hereafter if any nice young man shall owe a bill which he cannot pay in any other way he can just board it out.  Mr. Speaker, we have all heard of the animal standing in doubt between two stacks of hay and starving to death.  The like of that would never happen to General Cass.  Place the stacks a thousand miles apart, he would stand stock-still midway between them and eat them both at once; and the green grass along the line would be apt to suffer some, too, at the same time.  By all means make him President, gentlemen.  He will feed you bounteously—­if—­if—­there is any left after he shall have helped himself.”

Lincoln’s most important act in the Congress of 1848-9 was the introduction of a bill for the gradual abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia.  But the state of feeling on the subject of emancipation was so feverish at the time that the bill could not even be got before the House.

The Whig National Convention met at Philadelphia the first of June, to nominate a candidate for the Presidency.  Lincoln attended the Convention as a delegate from Illinois.  During the campaign of 1848 he labored earnestly for the election of General Taylor.  This campaign made him known more generally throughout the country, as he spoke in New York and New England as well as in Illinois and the West.

While in Washington, Lincoln kept up a free correspondence with his friend and law-partner Herndon, which affords many interesting glimpses of his thoughts and views.  In one of these letters, endeavoring to incite Herndon to political ambition, he wrote:  “Nothing could afford me more satisfaction than to learn that you and others of my young friends at home were doing battle in the contest, endearing themselves to the people and taking a stand far above any I have ever been able to reach in their admiration.  I cannot conceive that other old men feel differently.  Of course, I cannot demonstrate what I say; but I was young once, and I am sure I was never ungenerously thrust back.  The way for a young man to rise is to improve himself in every way he can, never suspecting