Mr. Douglas professes. These two intervening years must be spent in strengthening our position. It is well that the probable complexion of the next presidential struggle is exposed to view thus early. If the time were shorter, we might expect to see the nation inveigled by false pretenses into the support of Douglas for president, to be cheated anew after the inauguration as it was successively by Pierce and Buchanan. There is time enough for the people to comprehend the true state of things. Mr. Douglas is an able political tactician; but the republicans must be more than ordinarily clumsy in conducting the operations on their side, if they allow him to so manage affairs as to become the next president. [Louisville Democrat, November 23, 1858] FROM ABROAD Correspondence of the Louisville Democrat CHICAGO, Nov. 18, 1858 As the great, though little, Douglas was stopping at the Tremont House, (a hotel, by the way, where may be found all the luxuries of oriental life,) only a few persons had the supreme honor of joining hands with the "favorite son," and your worthy correspondent among the number. He appeared in good health, (not your worthy correspondent,) quietly smoking a weed, and occasionally indulging in a chat with any and every one who chose to converse. Perhaps you have never seen him-well S. A. Douglas is a man standing five feet two or three, with a head big enough for six feet two, and a forehead prominent and intellectual enough for any man of any nation. His hair, which was once brown, is thin and gray; his eye cool and gray; his nose not prominent, but striking; his mouth large and firm. His whole face is round, and seems too large even for such broad shoulders as support it. Small as he is, you would choose him out of a crowd, for a splendid model of intellectual cultivation. He is only small in body-his head is a miracle of mind. But I am digressing, and becoming tiresome. After listening to the disconnected sentences from a few loquacious, petty politicians the great event of the evening was heralded with a hundred guns; a thousand torches lit the streets; a million jets of light made the city more like day than night, and all the available male population of this Western New York, promenaded the streets, engrossed with the all-absorbing question "Shall Stephen be the next President?" M. CHAPTER XIV CRITICISM OF STUMP METHODS [Washington (D. C.) Union, September 15, 1858] MR. LINCOLN AND MR. DOUGLAS-MR. DOUGLAS AND MR. LINCOLN We take it for granted, so far as the democratic party are concerned, that they utterly abhor and detest the puerile and treasonable doctrines of Mr. Lincoln, who is now canvassing the State of Illinois. They hold no opinions in common with him. They regard all his political associates, North, Middle, and South, as political incendiaries, wholly unworthy of public confidence, and himself as one of the most reckless and unprincipled of them all. Mr. Lincoln belongs to that class of politicians who have, for twenty-five years, sought to array one section of the Union against the other. He has recently proclaimed in the Illinois canvass that free and slave labor are incompatible elements in the same government. We like to call things by their right names. Mr. Lincoln, is, then, either a shallow empiric, an ignorant pretender, or a political knave. We know nothing of his age and little of his life. He has been out of Illinois, and, we doubt not, has had the advantage occasionally of an association with men of liberality and intelligence. If he is not a knave, then he is a very weak, and therefore, as a politician, a very dangerous man. We are, then, utterly opposed to the election of Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Douglas, to Mr. Douglas and Mr. Lincoln. We deny that the democratic party are called upon to take the one or the other. It is said that, if Douglas should fail of an election, Lincoln would be successful. That may or may not be so. It is not a question for the democracy to consider. [New York Herald, October 13, 1858] EXHAUSTED TO THE DREGS.-The controversy in Illinois between Douglas and Lincoln, on Kansas, the Kansas-Nebraska bill, Lecompton, popular sovereignty, Dred Scott, the Declaration of Independence, State Rights and niggers in every style, in all its variations, has been drawn off by these two tremendous spouters to the very dregs. From Lincoln to Douglas, and from Douglas to Lincoln, their discussions have degenerated into the merest twaddle upon quibbles, "Forgeries,” falsehoods, and mutual recriminations of the most vulgar sort. Reduced to such extremities for their speeches, and considering that the Illinois election does not come off until November, the best thing that Douglas and Lincoln can do, is to close up their debates sine die, and go home, and keep quiet till after election. Having exhausted their field of legitimate debate, and having descended into the dirty arena of personalities, they may possibly come to "the noble art of self-defence," unless their friends take them away. Let them be drawn off before they try the logic of Morrissey and the Benicia Boy, or who shall answer for the nose of "Old Abe," or the "knob" of the "little Giant." [Evening Post, New York, October 21, 1858] ILLINOIS POLITICS Correspondence of the Evening Post PRINCETON, ILL., October 18, 1858 The present political canvass in Illinois is a singular one, and, I think, without a parallel in the history of electioneering campaigns in this country. I say it is without parallel, for I do not believe that another instance can be shown where two individuals have entered into a personal contest before the people for a seat in the United States Senate an office not directly in the gift of the people, but their representatives. This contest commenced as early as the afternoon of the 9th of July last, when Mr. Douglas opened the campaign with a speech at Chicago, and was followed by Mr. Lincoln in the evening. From that time to this hardly a day has passed but one or the other of the contestants, and frequently both, have addressed the people, who have usually gathered in large crowds to hear them. [Commercial, Cincinnati, Ohio, September 23, 1858] THE ILLINOIS CANVASS While there is much, in the contest now going on, between Messrs. Lincoln and Douglas in the State of Illinois, that is calculated to excite feelings of curiosity, there is very little, either in its vicissitudes or its prospects, that merits much attention, or that can be esteemed as of interest to the public, or calculated to add to the reputation of the parties. Few debates less dignified in their external manifestations, or containing so little that was worthy to be remembered, have fallen under our observation; and it is scarcely probable that this one will come to an end and not leave both parties in a worse condition, in the esteem of the judicious, than they were in the beginning. Falsehood and personal vituperation are among the most common of the offenses committed, upon one side at least, if not upon both; while, throughout the whole, we find fallacy usurping the place of principle, and the merest sophistry offered, and it would seem received, as a worthy substitute for argument. In short, the reports represent the debate to be little more than a strife for victory between two political pettifoggers, neither of whom occupies a doctrinal position, that he can sustain against a serious attack; while each is only able to continue in the field, through the weakness of his adversary. . It is difficult to conceive of anything more illegitimate than a public canvass before the people by gentlemen, seeking as rival candidates, an office that is not in the popular gift. The senatorial office is, under the provisions of the constitution, the gift of the state as a whole, through its instrument, the legislature. The Senator, therefore, according to the theory of the Government, is the representative of the power of the State, as an independent polity, and not of the will of its individual citizens; and any attempt to forestall the action of the Legislature, either by party action or personal appeal to the people, in respect to his election, is contrary to that theory, and an offense against the sovereignty whose freedom of action they thereby seek to fetter and control. The members of the coming Legislature of Illinois will be just as free to exercise their own will in the choice of a Senator, as if neither Mr. Douglas nor Mr. Lincoln had perigrinated the State from lake to river, wrangling over what they are pleased to consider great national issues. They will still have the eminent men of the State from among whom to select the public servant; neither has any one of them the shadow of a moral right, by any form of pledge or promise, to anticipate the action of the deliberative body to which he belongs, or to restrain his own free agency as a member of the same. [Washington (D. C.) Union, September 2, 1858] STUMP CANVASSING FOR THE FEDERAL SENATE The Norfolk (Va.) Argus has some judicious remarks on this subject which we append: "The whole country is disgusted with the scene now exhibited in the State of Illinois. "As the United States Senate was to be the grand conservator of our Congress, the constitution wisely ordained that its members should not be elected by popular vote, but should be chosen by the legislatures of the respective States. The paramount object of this provision was to place the selection of a senator beyond the reach of the maddening issues of the hour to which the members of the lower house were exposed. But the spirit of the constitution is now being violated in Illinois. "An election for members of the legislature, which will have the choice of a United States senator, is about to come off, and the most malignant and reckless contest which ever disgraced the annals of American history is now going on for the senatorship. The lie has been passed, and ere long we expect the telegraph will tell us of a pugilistic encounter between the two grave senators, or a senator and the aspirant for his honors. "In the earlier days of our republic such a piece of bold effrontery and impudence would have met with its merited rebuke, but in these days of demagoguism and office-seeking it is thought nothing of; aye, a political party applauds the man who openly seeks, in violation of the constitution, an election for an office to be filled by the legislature yet to be elected by the people. How the sensible men of the opposition stand this we cannot comprehend." [Cincinnati (Ohio) Gazette, September 9, 1858] We do not quite agree with those who hold that the stump is the best way by which to judge candidates and their principles. . . . . We want good financiers in Congress. Does the capacity to make a thrilling speech afford any test of this class of men? . . . . Washington was no speech-maker, neither was Jefferson. Had the elevation of either to a high position depended on this talent, their services as public men would have been lost to this country. . . . . How many true orators, on an average, does this country furnish in a single generation? We had Clay and Webster-how many more in their life time? . . We approve of public discussions at the proper time and in a proper way. A joint canvass between candidates, under some circumstances, has its uses. That now progressing between Lincoln and Douglas is doing much to show up the latter in his true colors. Douglas is a fair |