and fantastic arrangement of words, by which a man can prove a horse-chestnut to be a chestnut horse. I will say here, while upon this subject, that I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the states where it now exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so. I have no purpose to introduce political and social equality between the white and the black races. There is a physical difference between the two, which, in my judgment, will probably forever forbid their living together upon a footing of perfect equality, and inasmuch as it becomes a matter of necessity that there must be a difference, I, as well as Judge Douglas, am in favor of the race to which I belong having the superior position. I have never said anything to the contrary, but I hold that, notwithstanding all this, there is no reason in the world why the negro is not entitled to all the natural rights enumerated in the Declaration of Independence-the right to life, liberty, and the pursuits of happiness. I hold that he is as much entitled to these as the white man. I agree with Judge Douglas he is not my equal in many respects-certainly not in color, perhaps not in moral or intellectual endowment. But, in the right to eat the bread, without the leave of any one else, which his own hand earns, he is my equal, and the equal of Judge Douglas, and the equal of every living man.'

Touching the question of respect or weight of opinion due to deliverances of the United States Supreme Court,-an element which entered largely into this national contest, Mr. Lincoln said: 'This man sticks to a decision which forbids the people of a territory from excluding slavery, and he does so not because he says it is right in itself-he does not give any opinion on that, but because it has been decided by the court, and being decided by the court, he is, and you are bound to take it in your political action as law; not that he judges at all of its merits, but because a decision of the court

is to him a 'Thus saith the Lord.' He places it on that ground alone, and you will bear in mind that, thus committing himself unreservedly to this decision, commits him to the next one just as firmly as to this. He did not commit himself on account of the merit or demerit of the decision, but it is a 'Thus saith the Lord.' The next decision, as much as this, will be a Thus saith the Lord.' There is nothing that can divert or turn him away from this decision. It is nothing that I point out to him that his great prototype, Gen. Jackson, did not believe in the binding force of decisions, it is nothing to him that Jefferson did not so believe. I have said that I have often heard him approve of Jackson's course in disregarding the decision of the Supreme Court pronouncing a National Bank unconstitutional. He says I did not hear him say so; he denies the accuracy of my recollection. I say he ought to know better than I, but I will make no question about this thing, though it still seems to me that I heard him say it twenty times. I will tell him though, that he now claims to stand on the Cincinnati platform, which affirms that Congress cannot charter a National Bank, in the teeth of that old standing decision that Congress can charter a bank. And I remind him of another piece of history on the question of respect for judicial decisions, and it is a piece of Illinois history belonging to a time when the large party to which Judge Douglas belonged were displeased with a decision of the Supreme Court of Illinois, because they had decided that a Governor could not remove a Secretary of State. I know that Judge Douglas will not deny that he was then in favor of overslaughing that decision by the mode of adding five new judges, so as to vote down the four old Not only so, but it ended in the Judge's sitting down on that very bench as one of the five new judges to break down the four old ones'. In this strain Mr. Lincoln occupied most of his time.

ones.

But, if the opponents of Judge Douglas were elated at the animated effort put

forth by his rival, at Ottawa, the debate which followed at Freeport gave ample opportunity for the Judge to exhibit his great intellectual prowess, nor did he fail to improve it.

At this meeting, Mr. Lincoln propounded certain questions, and to these prompt and vigorous response was made. 'He desires to know, If the people of Kansas shall form a Constitution by means entirely proper and unobjectionable, and ask admission into the Union as a state before they have the requisite population for a member of Congress, whether I will vote for that admission? Well, now, I regret exceedingly that he did not answer that interrogatory himself before he put it to me, in order that we might understand, and not be left to infer, on which side he is. Mr. Trumbull, during the last session of Congress, voted from the beginning to the end against the admission of Oregon, although a free state, because she had not the requisite population for a member of Congress. Mr. Trumbull would not, under any circumstances, consent to let a state, free or slave, come into the Union until it had the requisite population. As Mr. Trumbull is in the field fighting for Mr. Lincoln, I would like to have Mr. Lincoln answer his own question, and tell me whether he is fighting Trumbull on that issue or not. But I will answer his question. In reference to Kansas, it is my opinion that, as she has population enough to constitute a slave state, she has people enough for a free state. I will not make Kansas an exceptional case to the other states of the Union. I hold it to be a sound rule, of universal application, to require a territory to contain the requisite population for a member of Congress before it is admitted as a state into the Union. I made that proposition in the Senate in 1856, and I renewed it during the last session, in a bill providing that no territory of the United States should form a Constitution and apply for admission until it had the requisite population. On another occasion, I proposed that neither

Kansas, nor any other territory, should be admitted until it had the requisite population. Congress did not adopt any of my propositions containing this general rule, but did make an exception of Kansas. I will stand by that exception. Either Kansas must come in as a free state, with whatever population she may have, or the rule must be applied to all the other territories alike.'

Mr. Douglas next proceeded to answer another question proposed by Mr. Lincoln, namely, Whether the people of a territory can in any lawful way, against the wishes of any citizen of the United States, exclude slavery from their limits prior to the formation of a state Constitution. Said Mr. Douglas: 'I answer emphatically, as Mr. Lincoln has heard me answer a hundred times from every stump in Illinois, that in my opinion the people of a territory can, by lawful means, exclude slavery from their limits prior to the formation of a state Constitution. Mr. Lincoln knew that I had answered that question. over and over again. He heard me argue the Nebraska Bill on that principle all over the state in 1854, in 1855, and in 1856, and he has no excuse for pretending to be in doubt as to my position on that question. It matters not what way the Supreme Court may hereafter decide as to the abstract question whether slavery may or may not go into a territory under the Constitution, the people have the lawful means to introduce it or exclude it as they please, for the reason that slavery cannot exist a day or an hour unless it is supported by local police regulations. Those police regulations can only be established by the local legislature, and if the people are op posed to slavery they will elect representa tives to that body who will, by unfriendly legislation, effectually prevent the introduction of it into their midst. If, on the contrary, they are for it, their legislation will favor its extension. Hence, no matter what the decision of the Supreme Court may be on that abstract question, still the right of the people to make a slave territory or a free territory is perfect and com

plete under the Nebraska Bill.' This right or freedom of the people thus to act, and which Mr. Douglas so strenuously advocated, was commonly termed 'Popular Sovereignty,' and, as one of the battlecries in the great contests, was most effectively used.

One of the most interesting features of this memorable debate, covering as it did almost the whole issue involved in the canvass, consisted of the following interrogatories propounded by Mr. Douglas, and Mr Lincoln's replies:

Mr. Douglas: I desire to know whether Lincoln to-day stands, as he did in 1854, in favor of the unconditional repeal of the Fugitive Slave law?

Mr. Lincoln: I do not now, nor ever did, stand in favor of the unconditional repeal of the Fugitive Slave law.

Mr. Douglas: I desire him to answer whether he stands pledged to-day, as he did in 1854, against the admission of any more slave states into the Union, even if the people want them?

Mr. Lincoln: I do not now, or ever did, stand pledged against the admission of any more slave states into the Union.

Mr. Douglas: I want to know whether he stands pledged against the admission of a new state into the Union with such a Constitution as the people of that state may see fit to make?

Mr. Lincoln: I do not stand pledged against the admission of a new state into the Union, with such a Constitution as the people of that state may see fit to make.

Mr. Douglas: I want to know whether he stands to-day pledged to the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia?

Mr. Lincoln: I do not stand to-day pledged to the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia.

Mr. Douglas: I desire him to answer whether he stands pledged to the prohibition of the slave-trade between the different states?

Mr. Lincoln: I do not stand pledged to the prohibition of the slave-trade between the different states.

Mr. Douglas: I desire to know whether he stands pledged to prohibit slavery in all the territories of the United States, North as well as South of the Missouri Compromise line?

Mr. Lincoln: I am impliedly, if not expressly, pledged to a belief in the right and duty of Congress to prohibit slavery in all the United States territories.

Mr. Douglas: I desire him to answer whether he is opposed to the acquisition of any new territory unless slavery is first prohibited therein?

Mr. Lincoln: I am not generally opposed to honest acquisition of territory; and, in any given case, I would or would not oppose such acquisition, according as I might think such acquisition would or would not aggravate the slavery question among ourselves.

It was with great vigor and adroitness that the two distinguished combatants went over the ground covered by the above questions, at the remaining five places of debate, all of which were attended and

Douglas' admirers allowed that, in more than one instance, he was flatly and fairly floored by Lincoln's logic, wit, good humor and frankness. Douglas, while more brusque and resolute, was also rather the superior of the two in a certain force, directness and determination, that greatly helped his side. But it was, altogether, about an equal match in respect to the ability displayed by these foremost champions. Both of them were self-made men; both of them able lawyers and politicians; both sprang from obscurity to distinction; both belonged to the common people; and both were strong and popular with the masses. The portrait which we give of Mr. Doug las (Mr. Lincoln's will be found in another part of this volume) represents him at this victorious stage in his career.

As for the result, Lincoln took more of the popular vote than Douglas, but the latter secured a majority in the legislature, -sufficient to insure his re-election to the United States senate, and this majority

would probably have been greater, but for the hostility towards him of a certain portion of his own party, who favored a more thorough southern or pro-slavery policy than Douglas would consent to.

In May, 1860, the Republican Nominating Convention met at Chicago, Ill., and after successive ballots, Mr. Lincoln was chosen standard-bearer of the party in the presidential contest. His election followed in November ensuing. Mr. Douglas failed of a nomination at the Democratic convention. Secession raised its gory front. Forgetting past differences, Douglas magnanimously stood shoulder to shoulder with Lincoln in behalf of the Union. It was the olive branch of genuine patriotism. But, while proudly holding aloft the banner of his country in the councils of the nation, and while yet the blood of his countrymen had not drenched the land, the great senator was suddenly stricken from among the living, in the hour of the republic's greatest need.