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[1] Illinois State Journal, August 9, 1860. This speech is misdated by Nicolay and Hay in the Complete Works (VI, 49) on August 14. The Journal devoted more than three columns to the mammoth occasion at the Fair Grounds, heading the first column with an elephant bearing in its trunk a banner inscribed
``WE ARE COMING!'' and caparisoned in another which announced ``CLEAR THE TRACK!''---the first known use of the elephant as symbol of the Republican party. Headlines followed: ``A Political Earthquake!'' ``THE PRAIRIES ON FIRE/FOR LINCOLN!'' The rally was described in superlatives. Five speakers' stands (other papers said ``six'') were filled simultaneously. Lincoln's arrival on the grounds occasioned a stampede for his carriage, whence he was lifted and carried above the crowd to one of the stands. After his brief remarks he escaped by stratagem on horseback while the expectant crowd massed around the carriage. The Cincinnati Gazette reporter admitted that ``Immense is the only word that describes to-day's demonstration. . . . The enthusiasm was beyond all bounds. . . . I never saw so dense and large a crowd. . . . Mr. Lincoln's bearing to-day, under such a tribute of personal popularity and admiration as I have never before seen paid to any human being, more and more convinces me of the real greatness of his character. . . . '' (Peoria Daily Transcript, August 13, 1860, copied from the Gazette.)