the army. He was present at his first inaugural, and introduced him upon that memorable occasion. It is said that at one time a California delegation called upon the President in Congress, to present a nominee for a local office, and they disputed the right of Senator Baker of Oregon to be consulted respecting the patronage of the Pacific Coast. One of them, it is said, made some remark reflecting upon the private character and morals of Senator Baker; he had forgotten that Baker was one of Lincoln's oldest and closest friends in Illinois, and Lincoln was always loyal to the men with whom he was associated in his early days. He never forgot Stephen A. Douglas, David Davis, Edward D. Baker, John M. Palmer and Lyman Trumbull, nor did they ever fail in loyalty to him.
On March 4, 1861, when President Buchanan escorted the President-elect from the executive mansion to the capitol, where he was to take the oath of office to be administered to him by Chief Justice Taney, it was fitting that he should be introduced by Baker, and that Stephen A. Douglas, who had been his opponent for the Presidency, should stand by his side.
The oratory of Baker has been the subject of some criticism, and his contemporaries, under the immediate influence of his patriotic addresses, were perhaps not altogether free from bias in his behalf. His political opponents were expected to and did criticise him as an orator. His friends may have erred, on the other side, but at this distance, free from the influence of his time, it can be safely affirmed that his speeches rank with the greatest of their kind. It seems to me from a critical and somewhat careful examination of the subject matter, the occasion and circumstances under which each was delivered, that his reply to Benjamin is worthy of a place alongside of Webster's reply to Hayne. It is full of power, and of the loftiest diction; its sentiments are those of a man whose whole life had been devoted and consecrated to the service of his country. Other speeches were more ephemeral in their nature, and were delivered
