CHAPTER XVIII TRIBUTES TO DOUGLAS [Boston (Mass.) Courier, November 6, 1858] The Buffalo Register and Times, now a supporter of the National administration but until recently in the Fillmore Whig interest, placed at the head of its columns in its issue of Thursday the following: For President in 1860, STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS [The Press, Philadelphia, November 6, 1858] A NATIONAL SALUTE OF TWO HUNDRED GUNS Will be fired this (Saturday) morning, at 12 o'clock, in honor of the recent victory of the principle of Popular Sovereignty, and especially in honor of the brilliant triumph of STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS, of Illinois, over an Administration of the General Government which has basely deserted the principles upon which it was elevated to power. [Chicago Times, November 7, 1858] DOUGLAS FOR PRESIDENT The Buffalo Republic and Times, a very able and extensively circulated paper rejoices over the success of the Illinois Democracy, and raises to its column-head the name of Stephen A. Douglas declaring for an incomparable statesman for the Presidency in 1860. [Daily Chicago Times, November 9, 1858] DEMOCRATIC GRAND DEMONSTRATION There will be a grand celebration of the recent Democratic victory by the DEMOCRACY OF CHICAGO on Wednesday evening, Nov. 17, including a grand TORCH LIGHT PROCESSION Democratics in the adjoining counties are cordially invited to be present and take part. The different railroads leading to the city will issue half-fare tickets for the occasion. Exchanges through the State will please copy. [The Press, Philadelphia, November 4, 1858] THE LATEST BUT NOT THE LAST LESSON Our latest despatches assure us that STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS has triumphed in Illinois. Never since the beginning of this Government has any political contest excited so much the public expectation and solicitude as that which was decided in Illinois on Tuesday last; and this not merely because of the principles involved, but because of the characters immediately interested. The spectacle of the entire Administration of the Federal Government with its vast patronage of a hundred millions of dollars, with its army of mercenaries and expectants, organized and rallied against one individual, standing by the principles of the Constitution and the principles and pledges of the Democratic party, was well calculated to arouse the profoundest feelings of men of all parties and in all sections of the Union. . . . . It has fallen to his [Douglas's] lot to take part in more exciting canvasses than any public man of our day. He it was who fought for the Democratic party in 1838 and in '40; in '44, when the annexation of Texas was in issue; in '46, when the Mexican war loomed upon the horizon; in 1848, when General Cass was the Democratic candidate; in 1850, when the Compromise measures became the olive branch of peace to the whole Union, and yet no message of peace to him, (for he was compelled to return to his own home and contend for those measures in the face of an infuriated multitude); in 1852, as the advocate of President Pierce; in 1854, when he applied the doctrine of Popular Sovereignty, asserted in the Compromise measures; and finally in 1856, as the heroic defender of this same glorious doctrine. And now, after all these struggles, with a career of unbroken consistency, without a blot upon his political record, even when his adversaries are compelled to stand forward and pay tribute to his courage and to his character, he has made an appeal to his own people at his own home, and he has been sustained. [New York Herald, November 5, 1858] THE ILLINOIS ELECTION Triumph of Douglas This is by far the most remarkable incident of the political canvass, --and is one of the most wonderful personal victories ever achieved by a public man. Mr. Douglas went home from Washington a proscribed Democrat. He had rebelled against the President-the official head of the Democratic Party. He refused to obey his dictation, and made open warfare upon his measures. He was denounced by the Executive organs as a deserter-as a traitor to the party-and as one with whom no Democrat could hold any terms of political friendship without forfeiting his position as a party man. When he went to his own State, to appeal to the people, he was met by the direct and vigorous hostility of the administration. His friends were removed from office,-the whole patronage of the Government was brought to bear against him, and his contest for reëlection seemed to be the desperate struggle of a forlorn hope. At the outset it was supposed that unless the Republicans should come to his rescue, he had no chance whatever of sustaining himself. There were some among the Republicans who policy as well as justice required them to aid in securing his return to the Senate. If their counsels had prevailed, Mr. Douglas would have been so seriously compromised with his own party, through his cooperation with the Republicans that he could scarcely have hoped for speedy recognition by the Democrats of the South. Fortunately for him the Republicans had other schemes and interests. They could not resist the temptation which this division among their opponents seemed to offer to place one of their own party, instead of Mr. Douglas, in the Senate. Mr. Douglas, was, therefore, compelled to fight the whole Republican party with such a portion of the Democracy as he could rescue from the influence of the Administration. A more unequal contest could not well be imagined, and it is not too much to say there is no other public man in the country who could have carried it through with so much vigor and courage, or could possibly have achieved so brilliant a success. He has stumped the State thoroughly, meeting the two Republican leaders, Trumbull and Lincoln, both men of rare ability, at every point, and maintaining his position, against the Republicans on the one side, and the Administration on the other, with the greatest firmness and self-reliance. [Indiana Journal, Indianapolis, November 5, 1858] The news by telegraph yesterday afternoon settles the case of Illinois as we expected. Douglas has won and we must say he has made a gallant fight. in the United States. Such a political contest was never before witnessed |