L6 ' €nm\\ ^nxvmxi^ Jiht^^tJg THE GIFT OF W ..J^vss^y-. .. ..%.\iQ,\.V..t :..:. 7583 Semi- Centennial Cornell Universitv Library LB3525 .129 Semi-centennial of the Lincoln-Douglas d Clin 3 1924 030 609 238 Lincoln - Douglas Debates m Illinois 1858-1908 CIRCULAR OF SUGGESTIONS FOR SCHOOL CELEBRATIONS Prepared by a Committee from the Advisory Conunission to the Board of Directors of ■;he '!!:rio'-; State Historical Library Issued by F. G. BLAIR, Superintendent of Public Instruction Spbinqfibld, Illinois Phillips Bhos., State Peintbhs. 1908 ^!\,'iip€X'^i Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, Springfield, Illinois, March i, 1908. To the Teachers and Pupils of Illinois: In publishing this well selected and valuable collection of material on the Lincoln-Douglas debates the Department of Public Instruction does itself an honor and the children of the State a distinct service. Its preparation has required the time and energy of busy, capable men and I am sure that the teachers and pupils will fully appreciate the ser- vices rendered. Although purely a labor of love on their part, I firmly believe that the assurance that they have aroused in the minds of the children of Illinois a keener interest in and a better understanding of this really great event will be an ample and a satisfactory reward for their effort. The topic for the essay to be prepared for the educational exhibit of the State fair by pupils of the graded schools and high schools for this year is the Lincoln-Douglas debates. This circular will provide these pupils with the right sort of material to use in the writing of these essays. It is requested that at least one copy of this pamphlet be placed in every school library in the State. Yours sincerely, Superintendent of Public Instruction. CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICTS, 1858. Cornell University Library The original of tiiis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924030609238 CIRCULAR 24 Semi-Centennial OP THE Lincoln -Douglas Debates in Illinois 1838-1908 CIRCULAR OF SUGGESTIONS FOR SCHOOL CELEBRATIONS Prepared by a Committee from the Advisory Commission to the Board of Directors of the Illinois State Historical Library' EDWIN E. SPARKS, Chairman, University of Ohicago. ' JAMES A. JAMES, Northwestern- University. EDWARD C, PAGE, Northern Illinois State Normal School. Issued by F. G. BLAIR, Superintendent of Public Instruction Spbingbtkld, Illinois PHiLiiips Bros., State PBraiBBs. 1908 E.V. »_>|ooq^3g»p^o„ OQi s . f?nmjop3:,^Bws„ooq JO sasBD iiB wodw o, oi P3AVOIIB ,ou 3JB .;, -:---p-^- ^'^^orxbw .::;;:::::;;;;:::;:::::::; ? '^W papaan ssfoog king 11 ^oj 33n^„^ Pinoqs "^ 16 3-iojaq sqooq jp ajul f;S. 8 6 AON « d ,9 -aj isntn sjnapnjg 20 I -suosjadwqjo loin 20 , -aaaqaqjjcojsagaitAud _^ ->^ 21 ,' ^wq-fi jjaq, a^.„- • ^ .-""-^^ \^ , es B. Fry 22 Pinoqs sjsMojjog .---'''■ _r , 22 ■^w.'l Pa^fwil B ^i £,' ' - 22 Joj ,no uaA,3 ajB^fati, 23 sasodind iBpads ao^ 25 aiqtssod SB qanm SB -/J ©ll 25 s;a[qdinBd JO pU sma ?^6i - •' ' 8S 26 -ipouad }o sa.atiioA 28 ■s^tasili p 34 "TOiM aiqeiunjaji ajB 7? V gl 34 ■"ojasnunous^iooa • ^„, "T 1^7 ' 35 ■lieaaa 0) loafqos s,oo8 „v ^ 35 ■S3Tna^^sn^3^0H p- se "«.^.«.M».---:-^^-^^^^_^ ........................... 3. - - ^. ._.j -»,■.,*! • ; , , 37 Bury Me In the Morning, by^ieputu A. i 38 Last Words of Douglas 38 Bibliography 39 vX. ^ ^ u /" u r •^. rt'-- tS J O 01 a " 01 -J S3-* ^ 01 r" TABLE OF CONTENTS. Suggestions to teachers 9 Introduction 7 Origin and Outcome of the Debates 9 An Eastern Beporter's View of Western Stump Speaking 11 As a EepuWIcan Reporter Saw It 12 ■How Douglas reached Illinois 14 The Great Debate (from the Crisis) 14 The Debate and the Debaters (from The Illini) 16 Birthplace of Douglas 18 Stephen A. Douglas, by Samuel P. Orth '. 19 Stephen A. Douglas, by Joseph A. Wallace 20 Abraham Lincoln, by David B. Locke 20 Lincoln and Douglas, by Cassius M. Clay 21 Contrast between Lincoln and Douglas, by Gen. James B. Fry 22 Douglas and Lincoln, by Stephen B. Warden 22 The Lincoln-Douglas Debates 22 The Great Debate, by Samuel P. Orth 23 As an Eastern Reporter Saw Them 25 How Douglas travelled , 25 As Douglas appeared at close of debates 26 Selections from the debates. .'. 26 Lincoln and Douglas at Freeport ; a dialogue 28 Old Dan Tucker 34 A Douglas Song 34 Oh, you can't go the Caper, Stephen 34 Wide Awake Club song 35 For Good Little Democrats 35 A Boy's Wish • • 35 A Douglas to the Fray 36 Douglas' Complaint y^. 36 Dncle Abe •}'.:. 36 Emerson on Lincoln's Literary Ability • 37 Dedication of Gettysburg Battle Field : . , 37 A Last Glimpse of the Rivals 37 Bury Me In the Morning, by Stephen A. Douglas 38 Last. Words of Douglas 38 Bibliography : 3» SUGGESTIONS TO THE TEACHERS OF ILLINOIS. The year 1908 witnesses the semi-centenpial anniversary of the memorable debate between Stephen A. Douglas and Abraham Lincoln for the vacant United States Senatorship from IHinois; but in reality the prize was larger because each became a candidate for the presi- dency two years later. Under the direction of the Illinois Historical Society, celebrations will be held this year in each of the seven places where the debates took place and on the exact day, viz: Ottawa, August 21; Freeport, August 27; Jonesboro, Sept. 15; Charleston, Sept. 18; Galesburg, Oct. 7; Quincy, Oct. 13; Alton, Oct. 15. Public attention will thus be drawn to this important event in Illinois history, and the time seems suited to a study of the debates, their origin and results, and the topics they mainly discussed. While the debates belong properly to local history, in their results they became a part of national history. To devote one or more days of the present year to a study of the debates and the debaters would seem to be time well spent. It was not the purpose of the compilers of this pamphlet to make programs for celebrating special days, but to furnish materials from which programs could be made. Only such selections as bear directly on the debates have been included, with possibly one or two exceptions. The literature on both Lincoln and Douglas is voluminous and can be drawn upon at will to supplant the material here given. Teachers can arrange the selections in this pamphlet as readings or recitations or songs in many ways to make up an attractive program for an after- noon. Some of the descriptions lend themselves naturally for readings by the teacher to the pupils, with such explanations as will make the scenes intelligible to the youthful imagination. For additional matter bearing on the debates, consult the list of books printed in this pam- phlet. The list is not intended to be exhaustive, but such volumes have been selected as are likely to be had in any community. If this booklet proves serviceable to the teachers of the State, the compilers will be compensated for their labor of love. Edward C. Page. James A. James, Edward C. Page. INTRODUCTION. Abraham Lincoln was born in Hardin county, Kentucky, Feb. 12, 1809. Little is known of his boyhood which was passed in the midst of most desolate surroundings. The family moved to Indiana when "Abe" was seven years old ; twelve years later they emigrated to Illinois, settling near Decatur. Privation, trial and labor he knew intimately in those days. All told, he attended schools, such as they were, about a year. Dur- ing the intervals of his work, he is said to have read, written and ciphered incessantly. Although knowledge was not acquired rapidly by him, he mastered such books as he could procure. Among these were the Bible, Aesop's Fables, Pilgrim's Progress, and a history of the United States. As a laborer, much sought after because of his strength and intelli- gence, he showed the characteristics for which he was always noted, such as generosity, courage, honesty, ready wit, sympathy and fair- mindedness. Flat-boatmen, surveyor and store-keeper in turn, he was, at the age of twenty-seven, admitted to the practice of law. He became the most eminent jury lawyer in Illinois, but his interest was in poli- tics. No speaker was more popular or effective. Elected to Congress in 1847, he became noted for his anti-slavery views. As he himself said, he "voted in favor of the'Wilmot Proviso in one way or another about forty, times." To the great disappointment of Mr. Lincoln, Lyman Trumbull defeated him for the United States Senate in 1855. But his career really began when during the summer of 1858 he met Stephen A. Douglas in joint debate. Objection was made by some of his friends to the statement he proposed to include in his speech accepting the nomination, which was as follows: "A house divided against itself can not stand, I believe this government can not endure permanently half slave and half free." When objection was made by his friends, he replied, "Gentlemen, I have thought much on this and it must remain. If it must be that I go down because of this speech, then let me go down linked to truth. This nation can not live on injustice — a house, divided against itself can not stand. I say it again and again." Such an outspoken statement of his convictions was to make him, although defeated by Douglas for the senate, the candidate of the northwest for the presidency in i860. 8 Stephen A. Douglas was born in Brandon, Vermont, April 23, 1813, the son of a physician. His mother was left a widow when Stephen was a child, and when grown he was compelled to work on a farm to aid in supporting the family, attending school only during the winter months. He also learned the trade of cabinet maker. Determining to make his own way in the world, he came to Illinois when he was twenty years of age. Being admitted to the bar and entering politics, he became a typical man of the west, always contending for the rights of that section. The men of his time speak of his fearlessness and ■his quickness of apprehension ; his strong will and indomitable energy. His education was imperfect, but he overcame all obstacles by an imperious determination to succeed. Preferment came to him so often that his asking^ almost signified the granting by the people. The offices of Attorney General of lUinois, legislator, Secretary of State and Judge of the Supreme Court were given to him within the space of eight years. Three times he was elected to the House of Representa- tives and was serving a second term in the United States Senate when his place was contested by Mr. Lincoln, a situation which led to the great debate between the two. His ambition prompted him to attempt to win national regard by advocating the theory that the people of Kansas should be allowed to determine for themselves whether they would come into the Union a free or slave state. Being short of statute and yet of powerful physical strength, had won for Douglas the nickname of the "Little Giant." The debate was said to be a contest between "Old Abe" and the "Little Giant." At the close of the debate the election was held which chose a ma- jority of the State Legislature favorable to Douglas instead of Lincoln and the former was consequently returned to the Senate. Two years later he was nominated by one branch of the Democratic party^ for the presidency and was therefore an unsuccessful candidate against his old rival, Lincoln. Although an intense partisan, he was a more intense patriot and immediately upon the breaking out of the war, he tendered his services to President Lincoln. He died in 1861 and lies buried on the lake shore in Chicago. ^f ''T ^. 1 '■ 1 ' ' " 1 ' The Origin and the Outcome of the Debates. When Lincoln ended his single term in Congress in March, 1849, he retired to his law practice and gave it more exclusive attention than ever before. During the next five years he was gradually losing his interest in politics, as he himself tells us. The passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, in May 1854, fathered by Senator Douglas, with- its repeal of the Missouri Compromise, changed his whole atti- tude. Immediately he was "aroused," as he expressed it. His strong patriotism and his high conception of legal and moral justice inspired him with a new zeal and he was soon addressing politcal gatherings. Generally the ready wit and broad humor of the speeches of former days were missing. Instead, the listeners were moved by new earnest- ness and seriousness of argument. Passing by personal issues, leaving unmentioned the policies of the day, Lincoln fixed his attention upon the Kansas- Nebraska question; consequently, he came to be regarded as the natural antagonist of Douglas. , At the State fair, with its usual political tournament, these leaders came into conflict. Douglas made a speech on the first day of the fair to which Lincoln replied the next day and Douglas made re- joinder. A few days later they met again at Peoria, by arrangement. And so the issues were joined. Two years later, on the occasion of the organizaton of the Republi- can party at Bloomington, Lincoln made an impassioned speech which fixed once for all his position as popular leader of the anti-slavery sentiment of Illinois. The civil war in Kansas and the Dred Scott decision only served to arouse Lincoln to earnestness more intense than ever. In June, 1857, at Springfield, Douglas made an elaborate speech on Kansas and the. Dred Scott decision. Two weeks later at the same place, Lincoln made a telling reply. Thus again the great protagonists joined issues as they approached the campaign of 1858, in which a successor to Senator Douglas was to be elected. Of course Douglas had no rival in his own party and, of course, the Republicans could think of no one else as their candidate except Lincoln, who, alone of all of the men of the day, had with any scucess met -Douglas in political discussion. The endorsement of Lincoln was made by the Republican state convention June 16, 1858. to On the evening of that day Lincoln accepted the candidacy in a speech which was one of the most carefully wrought out and perhaps the most important of his whole life. It sounded the keynote of the entire contest. We quote the opening sentences; "If we could first know where we are, and whither we are tending, we could better judge what to do now, and how to do it. We are now far Into the fifth year since a policy was initiated with the avowed object and con- fident promise of putting an end to slavery agitation. Under the operation of that policy, that agitation has not only not ceased, but has constantly augmented. In my opinion, it will not cease until a crisis shall have been reached and passed. 'A house divided against itself can not stand.' I believe this government can not endure permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved; I do not expect the house to fall; but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing, or all the other. Either the opponents of slavery will arrest the further spread of it, and place it where the public mind shall rest In the belief that it is the course of ultimate extinction, or its advocates will push it forward till it shall become alike lawful in all the states, old as well as new, north as well as south." His closing sentences ring out like a battle cry: "Our cause must be entrusted to, and conducted by, its own undoubted friends — those whose hands are free, whose hearts are in the work, who do care for the result. Two years ago the Republicans of the nation mustered over thirteen hundred thousand strong. We did this under the single impulse of resistance to a common danger, with every external circumstance against us. Of strange discordant, and even hostile elements we gathered from the four winds, and formed and fought the battle through, under the constant hot fire of a disciplined, proud, and pampered enemy. Did we brave all then, to falter now — now, when that same enemy is wavering, dissevered and belligerent? The result is not doubtful. We shall not fail — if we stand firm, we shall not fail.. Wise counsels may accelerate, or mistakes delay it; but sooner or later the victory is sure to come." , The battle was soon on. Douglas assumed the offensive and Lincoln dogged his every foot-step. Douglas made speeches at Chicago, Bloomington and Springfield in quick succession. Lincoln followed, him at Chicago and Springfield with addresses of much force. But it was evident that Douglas, with his air of superiority, his elusive strategy in argumentation, his sentimental methods, was bound to defeat any effort to secure honest investigation or intelligent discus- sion and so was gaining an unfair advantage. Consequently, Lincoln and his managers determined to challenge Douglas to a formal debate of the questions at issue. The challenge was accepted and the terms easily agreed upon. The two men were to meet at one place in each of seven congressional districts : Ottawa, Freeport, Jonesljoro, Charleston, Galesburg, Quincy and Alton. They had already spoken in the dis- tricts in which Chicago and Springfield were located. Douglas was to speak one hour at Ottawa, Lincoln to reply for one hour and a h&lf, and Douglas to make a half hour's rejoinder. Lincoln was to open and close at Freeport, and so on alternately. This gave Douglas four openings and closings and Lincoln only three; but Lincoln agreed to it, probably not altogether out of good nature, for in regard to a similar arrangement on an occasion several years before, he said "My consenting to it was not wholly unselfish, for i suspected, if it were understood that the judge was entirely II done, you Democrats would leave and not hear me ; but by giving him the. close, I felt confident you would stay for the fun of hearing him skin me." Soon after the debates were begun it was evident that Douglas was now on the defensive. Under the impartial rules of debate and con- fronted by audiences made up of friend and foe, his artful expedients, his adroit evasion, his equivocal logic were no match for the keen analysis, the unerring logic, the concise statement, the profound earnestness and the fervid eloquence of his opponent. And so the campaign was fought and the election for members of the Legislature was held. The Republican ticket received 125,430 votes, and the Douglas ticket 121,609. But by virtue of an unfair legislative apportionment, the Democrats had 54 votes on joint ballot in the General Assembly and the Republicans only 46. So Douglas .was re-elected Senator. Such were the immediate results of the contest. The indirect results were far reaching. In the first place, Lincoln had compelled Douglas to declare that the people of a territory, in spite of the Dred Scott de- cision, might contrive to keep slavery out of the territory. This greatly angered the south and irrevocably set that section against Douglas' aspirations for the presidency. As a result, the Democratic party was irreparably rent in twain in i860. In the second place, with Douglas, of Illinois, as the northern Democratic candidate for the presidency in. i860, the Republicans were compelled to nominate an Illinois candidate, if they hoped to carry the State, and of course that state was necessary to secure national success. Therefore, the logic- of the situation compelled the nomination of Lincoln, the only man who had ever met Douglas successfully in de- bate; the only man who had won more votes than he in a popular ejection. It is not fulsome praise to say that from the standpoint both of forensic merit and of far-reaching results the Lincolin-Douglas de- bates stand among the momentous events of all nations and of all ages. AN EASTERN REPORTER'S VIEW OP WESTERN STUMP SPEAKING. "It is astonishing how deep an interest in politics this people take. Over long weary miles of hot and dusty prairie the processions of eager partisans come — on foot, on horsebock, in wagons drawn by horses or mules; men, women, and children, old and young; the half sick, just out of the last 'shake'; children in arms, infants on the maternal breast, pushing on in clouds of dust and beneath the blazing sun; settling down at the town where the meeting is, with hardly a chance for sitting, and even less opportunity for eating; waiting in anxious groups for hours at the places of speaking, talking, discussing, litigious, vociferous, while the war artillery, the music of the bands, the waving of banners, the huzzal " of the crowds, as delegation after delegation appears; the cry of the peddlei -rending all sorts of wares, from an infallible cure of 'agur' to a monster Wii,. ^r melon in slices to suit the purchasers — combine to render the occasion a scene of confusion and commotion. The hour of one arrives and a perfect rush is made for the 12 grounds; a column of dust is rising to the heavens and fairly deluging those who are hurrying on through it. Then the speakers come with flagB, and banners, and music, surrounded by cheering partisans. Their arrival at the grounds and immediate approach to the stand is the signal for shouts that rend the heavens. They are introduced to the audience amidst pro- longed and enthusiastic cheers; they are interrupted by frequent applause; and they sit down finally amid the same uproarious demonstration. The audience sit or stand patiently throughout, and, as the last word is spoken, make a break for their homes, first hunting' up lost members of their families, getting their scattered wagon loads together, and, as the daylight fades away, entering again upon the broad prairies and slowly picking their way back to the place of beginning." — Special correspondence from Charleston, Illinois, to the New York Post, Sept. 24, 1858. AS A REPUBLICAN REPORTER SAW IT. (Special Correspondence of the Missouri Democrat, a Republican Paper.) St. Louis, Wednesday, Sept. 29, 1858. A brief visit to our sister State of Illinois, will convince anyone who may be skeptical on the subject, that the temperature of the political atmosphere east of the Mississippi, is of tropical intensity. The excitement pervaded all sections of the State and all classes of its citizens. We, In Missouri, -are no strangers to political contests of a fierce and absorbing character, but the pending one in Illinois, surpasses anything we have ex- perienced. Our neighbors' minds are so wholly concentrated In the canvass, that one might say, they would not be sensible to the throes of an earthquake, any more than the Roman and Carthagenian. armies were at Thrasimene. We put up at the St. Nicholas, where we met Mr. Lincoln next morning. No two men could exhibit a stronger contrast than he and Douglas. The contrast is so marked, morally and intellectually, as physically. Douglas is short and thick; Lincoln is tall and slender. The former is fleshy and ruddy In the face; the latter Is spare, and his complexion dark. He is considerably over six feet, and hence the sobriquet of Long Abe. His weight at present is one hundred and sixty-eight pounds — several pounds more than it was when he commenced his canvass. He speaks in a genial, humorous style, and eschews rant and boisterous declamation, while Douglas seldom utters anything else. He is scrupulous In his statement of facts, and treats his opponent with a deference which the latter is In- capable of reciprocating. Judging from the speech which Lincoln delivered that day, I should think he, more than any public man of the present time, infuses the milk of human kindness, and the frankness and courtesy of a gentleman of the old school Into his discussions. He says nothing calculated to wound the feelings of Douglas, except the feelings of , ambition, and that his arguments sorely wound. He wins his way rather than forces it, while his opponent deals in exaggerated statements, glaring sophistries, and coarse, fierce declamation. Douglas has cast his fortunes on a sentiment — the antipathy of the white to the black race, and he spares no effort, and disregards all considerations of justice or honesty In his labors to blacken the Republican party with the odium of negro equality. He is conscious that all debates on the acknowledged doctrines- of both parties must result in his discomfiture, and consequently the staple of his speeches is a tirade of vulgar demagogism, as slanderous as it Is absurd. Whatever incidental topics he may treat. It will be found that the substance of his speeches in this canvass is an Invocation of prejudice — a prosecution of the Republican party for sentiments which they repudiate, and from which their dogmas vindicate them completely. Lincoln, on the contrary, confines himself to the record, and measures the language in which he enforces his charges against Douglas and the National Democratic party. He has not once dur- ing the canvass suffered himself to be betrayed into exaggeration or vlndl- .13 cativeness, much less into acerbity of temper; whereas Douglas has fallen into an impotent passion several times, and expressed himself in disgusting- epithets applied to his opponents. When the time came for going to Jacksonville, Lincoln and Blair were induced by their admiring friends at Springfield into a carriage which took up its appointed place in the procession that marched to the depot. From an early hour in the morning Springfield had been agitated with th& note of preparation. The reveille was played at six o'clock in the squarft which surrounds the capitol. Flags and music, and the movements of men in uniform, and other signs showed that the day was to be a gala-day. The special train for the occasion was not capable of carrying one-third of those who were going to the meeting. A delay of an hour ensued, for the- managers of the railroad had to tax all their resources to furnish th» requisite number of cars. Not less than a thousand persons went from Springfield to Jacksonville. The train was as long. a passenger train as I ever saw. We enumerated Republican delegations at every Intermediate town, and crowds of spectators who cheered lustily for Lincoln. The adjoining counties of Sangamon and Morgan, through which we passed, and in which Springfield and Jacksonville are respectively situated, are in a high state of cultivation. The country is level and the soil a dark rich loam. The hedges of osage orange, which are numerous, and which promise- before long to surround every field, are a novel and a very pleasing feature. Their beauty as well as utility Is remarkable in a treeless prairie. No* resident of a slave state could pass through the splendid farms of Sanga- mon and Morgan, without permitting an envious sigh to escape him at th& evident superiority of free labor. In the slave states, It would seem, that man and the soil which he cultivates are enemies. It would seem that he- must extort its produce as the tax-gatherer extorts tribute from a conquered but hostile people. In the free states on the contrary the soil seems to- shower its wealth upon the cultivator with a most generous and royal bounty. It brings forth kindly all abundance, and smiles upon him ia all the four seasons. The dumb earth itself seems to wear a cheerless aspect, and to yield its wealth charily and reluctantly to slave labor. The reception which Lincoln and Blair received at Jacksonville, was cordial and magnificent. The street which leads from the depot to the public square, was filled with people on foot, on horseback, and in vehicles, with a multitude of devices, mottoes, flags, etc. The procession might be sai4 without any stretch of fancy, to bear a striking similitude to an army with banners. The sidewalks were crowded, and mainly with the fair sex. The streets of the square were also crowded, and fair faces shone in all the windows, and white kerchiefs were waved by white hands. Any estimate of the numbers can only be conjectural. There were thousands there, but whether ten, fifteen or twenty, I was unable to determine. Prominent friends of Douglas, admitted that it was a larger meeting than that which their leader had, and they tried to account for it by the Fair which was to- commence next day, and which they said had brought many strangers to town. Whether this circumstance contributed to the magnitude and spirit of the demonstration, I am unable to say; but that the demonstration was the most remarkable and colossal one I hereby affirm. That it was superior to the Douglas demonstration which preceded it, is conceded by all who witnessed both. What rendered it so remarkable to me, was the extent to which the ladies participated in it, and the conspicuous part which was assigned to them in programme. We behold the revival of the customs of classic- antiquity in our electioneering tactics. Young and beautiful virgins clothed in white and crowned with wreaths of leaves and flowers, are seen in our political processions. American politics are reviving those ceremonies, and borrowing those influences, which the priests of Diana found so graceful and impressive. There were two barge-shaped vehicles in the procession at Jacksonville, each containing a bevy of fair young girls, numbering some twenty or thirty. Those in one wore the chaste ornament of the wreath, and carried small flags in their hands which they waved incessantly, like so 14 many goddesses of liberty. Those in the other vehicle could boast of some- what riper charms. They wore purple velvet hats, all of the same pattern, and as they passed, you would think their beauty would have entitled them to ride with the dark-browed Cleopatra in her golden barge upon the Nile. There besides, dashing equestriennes, who witched the young men with graceful horsemanship. Indeed, I question if any political meeting in the country has brought out more beautiful women or more of them than the meeting in Jacksonville, Monday. By subsequent inquiry, I learned that the place has long been famous for the charms of its female population. HOW DOUGLAS REACHED ILLINOIS. Fkom a Speech at Winchester, Illinois, Aug, 7, 1858. "Twenty-five years ago, I entered this town on foot with my coat on my arm, without an acquaintance within a thousand miles and without having where I could get money to pay a week's board. Here I made the first six dollars I ever earned in my life, and obtained the first regular occupation that I ever pursued. For the first time in my life, I then felt that the responsibilities of manhood were upon me, although I was under age; for I had none to advise with, and knew no one upon whom I had a right to call for assistance or for friendship. Here I found the then settlers of the country my friends. My first start in life was taken here; not only as a private citizen, but my first election to public office by the people was conferred upon me by those whom I am now addressing, and by their fathers. A quarter of a century has passed, and that penniless boy stands before you with his heart full and gushing with the sentiments which such associations and recollections necessarily inspire." — Philadelphia North American, Aug. 19, 1858. THE JGRBAT DEBATE. (From "The Crisis.") It was but a few minutes' walk to the grove where the speaking was to be. And as they made their way thither Mr. Lincoln passed them in a Conestoga wagon drawn by six milk-white horses. Jim informed Stephen that the Little Giant had had a six-horse coach. The grove was black with people. Hovering about the hem of the crowd were the sunburned young men in their Sunday best, still clinging fast to the hands of the young women. Bands blared "Columbia, Gem of the Ocean." Fakers planted their stands in the way, selling pain-killers and ague cures, watermelons and lemonade. Jugglers juggled, and beggars begged. Jim said that there were sixteen thousand people in that grove. And he told the truth. In the midst of that heaving human sea rose the bulwarks of a wooden stand. As they drew near their haven, a great surging as of a tidal wave swept them off their feet. There was a deafening shout, ' and the stand rocked on its foundations. Before Stephen could collect his wits, a fierce battle was raging about him. Abolitionist and democrat, free soiler and squatter sov, defaced one another in a rush for the platform. The com- mitteemen and reporters on top of it rose to its defence. Well for Stephen that his companion was along. Jim was recognized and hauled bodily into the fort, and Stephen after him. The populace were driven off, and when the excitement died down again, he found himself in the row behind the reporters. Young Mr. Hitt* paused while sharpening his pencil to wave him a friendly greeting. Stephen, craning in his seat, caught sight of Mr. Lincoln slouched into •one of his favorite attitudes, his chin resting in his hand. * Robert B. Hitt a reporter lor the Chicago Press aod Tribune. 15 But who Is this, erect, aggressive, searching with a confident eye the wilderness of upturned faces? A personage, truly, to he questioned timidly, to be approached advisedly. Here indeed was a lion, by the very look of him, master of himself and of others. By reason of Its regularity and masculine strength, a handsome face. A man of the world to the cut of the coat across the broad shoulders.- Here was one to lift a youngster into the realm of emulation, like a character in a play to arouse dreams of "Wash- ington and its senators and great men. For this was one to be consulted by the great alone. A figure of dignity and power, with magnetism to compel moods. Since, when he smiled, you warmed in spite of yourself, and when he frowned the world looked grave. The Inevitable comparison was come, and Stephen's hero was shrunk once more. He drew a deep breath, searched for the word, and gulped. There was but the one word. How country Abraham Lincoln looked beside Stephen Arnold Douglas'. Had the Lord ever before made and set over against each other two such different men? Yes, for such are the ways of the Lord. * i: ^ * H; if * Tfiere was a hush, and the waves of that vast human sea were stilled. A man — lean, angular, with coat tails flapping — unfolded like a grotesque figure at a side-show. No confidence was there. Stooping forward, Abraham Lincoln began to speak, and Stephen Brice hung his head, and shuddered. Could this shrill falsetto be the same voice to which he had listened only that morning? Could this awkward, yellow man with his hands behind his back be he whom he had worshipped? Ripples of derisive laughter rose here and there, on the stand and from the crowd. Thrice distilled was the agony of those moments! But what was this feeling that gradually crept over him? Surprise? Cautiously he raised his eyes. The hands were coming round to the front. Suddenly one of them was thrown sharply back, with a determined gesture, the head was raised,^ — and — and his shame was forgotten. In its stead wonder was come. But soon he lost even that, for his mind was gone on a journey. And when again he came to himself and looked upon Abraham Lincoln, this was a man transformed. The voice was no longer shrill. Nay, it was now a powerful instrument which played strangely on those who heard. Now it rose, and again it fell into tones so low as to start a stir which spread and spread, like a ripple in a pond, until It broke on the very edge of that vast audience. * * * * * *- * That short hour came all too quickly to an end. And as the Moderator gave the signal for Mr. Lincoln, it was Stephen's big companion who snapped the strain, and voiced the sentiment of those about him. Standing up, the very person of the Little Giant was contradictory, as was the man himself. His height was insignificant. But he had the head and shoulders of a lion, and even the lion's roar. What a contrast the ring of his deep bass to the tentative falsetto of Mr. Lincoln's opening words! If Stephen expected the judge to tremble, he was greatly disappointed. Mr. Douglas was far from dismay. It only remains to be told how Stephen Brice, coming to the Brewster House after the debate, found Mr. Lincoln. On his knee, in transports of delight, was a small boy, and Mr. Lincoln was serenely playing on the child's Jew's-harp. Standing beside him was a proud father who had dragged his son across two counties in a farm wagon, and who was to return on the morrow to enter this; event in the family Bible. * ■ * * * * • • This Lincoln of the black loam, who built his neighbor's cabin and hoed his neighbor's corn, who had been storekeeper and postmaster and flat- boatman. Who had' followed a rough judge dealing a rough justice around a rough circuit; who had rolled a local bully in the dirt; rescued women from insult; tended the bedside of many a sick coward who feared the judgment; told coarse stories on barrels by candlelight (but these are pure i6 beside the vice of great cities); who addressed political mobs in the raw, swooping down from the stump and flinging embroilers east and west. This physician who was one day to tend the sick bed of the Nation in her agony; whose large hand was to be on her feeble pulse, and whose knowledge almost divine was to perform the miracle of her healing. So was it that the physician himself performed his cures, and when his work was done, died a martyr. Abraham Lincoln died in His Name.— From Mr. Winston Churchill's novel, "The Crisis," copyright, 1901, by The Macmillan Company. THE DEBATE AND THE DEBATERS, BY COL. CLABK E. CASE. "Yet, while the_ Republicans instinctively turned to Mr. Lincoln in this emergency, they still had misgivings as to whether he was equal to the task of meeting Douglas. Curiously, even yet very few in Illinois had come to regard Mr. Lincoln as what we call a great man. How could so homely, plain, simple, unpretentious, and droll a man be great. He was simply one of the common people; that was all." Outside of Illinois, Mr. Lincoln was then but little known. Less than a year before the Lincoln and Douglas debates, he spent a week at Cincinnati trying a lawsuit in company with Edwin M. Stanton, afterwards the great war secretary during the rebellion. Reverdy Johnson was the attorney on the other side of the case. These two great men, Stanton and Johnson, were well known. Lincoln was not; he stayed in Cincinnati a week, moving freely about, yet not twenty men knew him personally, and not a hundred would have known who he was had his name been spoken. Mr. Stanton afterwards described him, from his impressions of that first meeting, as "a long, lank creature from Illinois, wearing a dirty linen duster for a coat, the back of which the perspiration had splotched with stains that resembled a map of the continent." ******* "The people of Illinois were interested from the first. Soon the debates began to attract attention beyond the limits of the State. People in other sections asked, "who is the man Lincoln?" and wondered that they had not known something of him before. As the interest augmented, newspapers both east and west took up the speeches and published them in full. Their readers awaited their publications with eagerness and read them with avidity, and men on either side made their arguments their ovm. In every home, on eyery farm, in every tavern, store shop and mill, from New York to San Francisco, the statements and arguments were repeated amd dis- cussed. "Did you see how Lincoln turned the tables on the 'Little Giant" with the 'Dred Scott decision?' asked one. 'Read It! read it aloud!' was the re- sponse. "See how Douglas answered him!" cried another; "read that!" and it was read. "The 'Little Giant' is too much for your Springfield lawyer!" said one. "The 'Little Giant' has finally found his match!" another man responded. "It's all very well for Lincoln to talk his abolition sentiments In northern Illinois," said the Douglas men, after the Ottawa and Freeport debates. "You just wait until the 'Little Giant' trots him down into Egypt, and you'll laugh out of the other side of your mouth!" **•»**** "It was curious to look into the faces of the people who assembled ,to hear Lincoln ond Douglas in these famous debates. The debates were held in open air; and, unlike ordinary political meetings, both sides were fully represented. This fact, more than anything else, had prompted Mr. Lincoln to challenge the senator to meet him face to face. 'I want to reach the democrats,' he said to his friends. They are so prejudiced that they will not attend a re- publican meeting; but they will all come out to hear Douglas and this will give me a chance at them." Hi ^^1 ^^l^v fi^^^^^H ^^M ° '^^^^'^^^l ^^^^^^^^^^^^. '"^^^■1 "^1 H LJ ABRAHAM LINCOLN. Pure was thy life ; Its bloody close Has placed thee with the sons of light, Among the noblest host of those Who perished In the cause of right. — W. C. Bryant. We rest In peace, where his sad eyes Saw peril, strife, and pain. His was an awful sacrifice, And ours a precious gain. — Whittier. I? As has been said, neither party spared either pains or expense to have its side represented in the most effective manner. The date of each joint debate was fixed long before it occurred and each party sought to make a more ■ imposing demonstration in numbers and equipments than the other Meetings were held by each party In advance, at every cross roads within a radius of fifty miles of the place where a joint debate was to occur, in order to awaken its adherenj;s to the importance of being present to encourage and support its champion. They organized themselves into great delegations which rallied at convenient points and formed in processions of men and women, in wagons and carriages and on horseback, and, headed by bands of music, with flags flying and hats and handkerchiefs waving, proceeded to the .place of meeting. Many of these processions were more than a mile in length. As they marched, the air was rent with cheers — in the republican - procession for "Honest Old Abe," and in the democratic for "The Little Giant." The sentiments printed in great letters upon the banners carried in each of these processions left no one in doubt which party it belonged to. Upon the banners of the Douglas processions were such sentiments as "Squatter Sovereignty." "Popular Sovereignty!" "Let the people rule!" "This is a white man's government!" "IvTo nigger equality!" "Hurrah for the Little Giant!" The republican processions, on the other hand, carried banners with such mottoes as "Hurrah for honest old Abe!" "Lincoln the rail-splitter!" and "Giant Killer!" "No more slave territory!" "All men are created equal!" "Free Kansas!" "No more compromise!" ******* Each party had great wagons or chariots specially fltted up, drawn by four, eight, and sometimes twenty horses, bearing young ladies each repre- senting one of the States of the Union. In the republican processions one of these young ladies was usually dressed in mourning, to represent Kansas. Over the young ladies in a Douglas chariot was displayed a banner bearing the sentiment, "Fathers protect us from negro husbands." As the processions came into town, they were met by marshals of their respective parties, on horseback, and conducted to their meeting places, greeted, as they passed through the streets, by cheers from their own parties and jeers from their opponents, which were answered in the same spirit. Finally they all as- sembled before the grand stand; seats could be provided for comparatively few, and the most of the people were standing. Democrats and republicans were packed into a solid mass together, good-naturedly talking and chaffing each other. Upon the stage were seated prominent men of both parties. A chairman and secretary, and time-keepers who had previously been agreed upon, were early in their seats, but made no effort to restrain the great crowd until after the speakers had arrived and received the deafening applause of their followers. It was a curious sight when the contestants ascended to their places on the platform — Lincoln was so tall and Douglas so short, Lincoln so angular and Douglas so sturdy, Lincoln so spare and Douglas so compact and rotund. They alternated in opening and closing the debates— the opening speaker an hour, his competitor following with an hour and a half, and the opening speaker closing with half an hour. Every moment of time was important to each speaker. The debate opened at precisely the moment fixed upon, and the moment a speaker's time expired he was called by the time keepers, after which he could only finish the sentence he had begun. (Col. Clark E. Carr in "The Ulini," by permission of A. C. McClurg & Co., Chicago. ) —2D i8 THE BIRTHPLACE OP STEPHEN A. DOUGLAo. BY JOSEPH WALLACE. Bkandon Vt., April 14, 1871. To the Editor of the State Register. "But to an Illinoisan Brandon is only of special interest, from its association with the early life of Stephen A. Douglas. I strolled this morning through the old cemetery where the father of the senator was buried. On a plain stone of bluish marble at the head of his grave is this simple inscription: Dr. Stephen A. Douglas, aied July 13, 1813, in the 32d year of his age." By his side lie the remains of his (the doctor's) father and mother, the former of whom deceased in 1829, aged 69, and the latter in 1812, in the 56th. year of her age. Benajah Douglas, the grandfather of the senator, was one of the earliest settlers of the village. He was a farmer by occupation, and ac- cumulated Considerable property for his day. I am told, however, by an old and well informed resident of this place, that the senator's talents were main- ly inherited from his grandmother, Martha Douglas, who is said to have been a woman of more than ordinary intellect and force of character. I also visited the house were Stephen A. Douglas was born, and where his father died. It is a plain little brown frame, and one and a half stories high, and has been owned and occupied by a family of the name of Hyatt for about forty years. The front portion of the building has undergone but little alteration since the date of Mr. Douglas' birth. It will be remembered that the widow of Doctor Douglas, shortly after his death, removed to a farm a few miles in the country, which she and her brother had jointly Inherited from their father, and there remained until her second marriage, when the family moved to Ontario county. New York. As I stod here in the midst of this quiet New England town, before the modest mansion where Senator Douglas first saw the light of day, I thought of the wonderful life of this wonderful man — how he was cradled and passed his boyhood in obscurity among these verdant hills and mountains; of his transition hence to Canandaigua, New York, and schooling there; of his sub- sequent removal to Cleveland, Ohio, and entrance upon the study of law; of his tedious and toilsome journey southward and westward, down the Ohio and up the Mississippi to St. Louis, and thence to Jacksonville; of his advent in Winchester, Illinois, in the character of a pedagogue; of the com- mencement of his marvelous public career at the early age of twenty-two; of the rapidity with which he ascended the rounds of the ladder of political distinction until he reached a seat in the senate of the United States, and there, from the theater of his great fame, for fourteen years, spoke to the toiling millions of his admiring countrymen, with a power, eloquence and effect rarely equalled or surpassed. I thought, too of his many journeys back and forth over the land; of the peculiar magnetism of his personal presence, and the talismanic touch of his hands; of his memorable senatorial campaign with his great rival, Lincoln, in 1858, and of his still more memor- able canvass for the presidency in 1860; and I also thought of the parting between mother and son when the young Vermonter first started out in the world. The morning young Douglas left the house on the old Granger farm his mother walked with him down to the gate that opened out into the lane and Into the United States senate and put her arms around her boy's neck and kissed him good-bye. "When are you coming back to see your old mother?" she asked of him. "On my way to congress," was his prophetic reply. There is a Patmos that rises across the way of some mortals. A good many years went by and the faithful mother used to go down to the gate of the lawn and look along the lane and go back again unconsoled. One day she saw a man coming and, though he had grown and had some of that tired look in his face which the west imprinted on its young men, the woman knew that was her boy. He held in his hand his certificate of elec- tion to the lower house of the national congress from the district in which 19 he lived in Illinois. He was on his way to congress. Long years after this, when the young man had scars on his political armor, made in contest with the giants of those days, and when he was in the race for the white house wreath and the press of the opposition was vindictive in its attacks upon him. Douglas stopped on Ms return from Washington to visit his mother, who had in the meantime moved up near the Canadian border. The wagon roads were filled with the plain people of that section who assembled at the station to meet the presidential candidate. An old woman threw her arms about the neck of her boy in the presence of the multitude and cried out: "Ah, they do not know my boy as I do, or they would not say what they do about him," referring to the attacks of the opposition. And the son, forget- ting for the moment that he was in a presidential contest, embraced the old lady and responded in the hearing of the concourse, "Thank God, I have found my mother." STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS. ^ BY SAMUEL P. OBTH. His father was a skilful physician, and his mother a woman of unusual mental prowess. The father died when Stephen was only two months old. A bachelor brother of the widow provided a home for them. Stephen attended the village school and grew into a reckless little dare-devil, who would swim the mill-pond to spite his teacher and pommel his playmates for sheer love of combat. He was a bright boy with his books, and wished to go to college. But his uncle was "close," and instead of going to college Stephen, at the age of fifteen, was apprenticed to a cabinet maker in Middle- bury. His master was a good-natured deacon, who allowed the apprentice boy time to read his favorite books, the lives of Napoleon and of Caesar and of Alexander, heroes whose traditions he wove into every phase of his own career. In truth he was the Little Napoleon of the village. He led the young people in combat and- debate. The prophecy of his babyhood that he would grow into a great giant remained unfulfilled. He became the "Little Giant" instead, scarcely five feet in height, and while he weighed, tradition says, 14 pounds when he was born, he could scarcely summon 140 pounds when he developed into manhood. Nor was his health robust. Throughout his early life he was compelled to suffer bodily discomforts. But Stephen in spite of his pigmy stature and frail health was remarkably muscular and fond of a fight. ^ :}: * =1- * * * His muscular strength was phenomenal. The pygmy who was often held upon the knees of his clients or constituents, as they familiarly consulted with him, was as powerful as an ox. One day when boarding a Mississippi flat-boat he was annoyed by a great, brawling, rawboned braggart. "Who are you, my big chicken?" Douglas asked. "I am a high pressure steamer," the bully answered. "And I am a snag," said the judge as he picked up the fellow and pitched him into the mud. * * * * * * * In spite of his diminutive stature, he was handsome in appearance. His head was massive and covered with a magnificent shock of jet black hair, which he tossed back when speaking, with a kingly gesture. His features were large and well proportioned. His eyes were restless, nothing escaped their vigilance as they flitted from object to object, and when they fixed their gaze they were piercing. His voice was superbly adapted to the needs of outdoor speaking. When on the platform, or in the court room, his manner was bold and challenging. He never evaded a conflict. It was this leonine attitude, together with his tremendous powers of speech and his stunted height that christened him early in his career as "The Little Giant." —Samuel P. Orth in "Five Great Americans" (by permission of Burrows Brothers.) 20 STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS. BY JOSEPH A. WAIXACE, ESQ. (Prom The State Register, Springfield, Ills., April 19, 1885.) The person of Mr. Douglas has been often described. He was short and thick-set, being only five feet one inch in height. In his earlier life he was slender, but grew stouter as he grew older. His head was one of unusual size, and was covered with a thick mass of dark brown hair, inclined to curl and sprinkled with grey. His forehead was broad and full, rather than high; his face round and smoothly shaven, and his coipplexion a rich dark color. His eyes were large and of a darkish blue, and deeply set be- neath heavy eyebrows. His nose was tbick and pugnacious; mouth wide and firmly set, and a chin oval and dimpled. He had a short neck, square shoulders, disproportionately short lower limbs, small, chubby hands and small feet. He generally dressed with neatness, though not always in good taste. The ensemble of his person was such that he could not be taken for the "glass of fashion or the mould of form;" but when standing on a pladorm, before an audience, he loked like an orator and a great man, as he really was. He was well styled the "Little Giant." In private and social intercourse, he was a person of the most engaging address and conversation. Indeed, his glittering success as a politician was due almost as much to the charm of his mfanners as to the superiority of his intellect. He captured the hearts of the masses, and led them as it were spellbound. "No one," says Judge Trumbull," ever gathered around more devoted followers, or more enthusiastic admirers, who were willing to do and dare more for another than were his friends for him." As a public speaker "he seemed to disdain ornament, and marched right on against the body of his subject with irresistible power and directness." His style was declamatory, and he always spoke under the influence of strong emotion. His voice was one of unusual compass, not musical nor capable of a great variety of inflections, but deep and full, and "swelling into occasional clarion blasts toward the close of an important period." He made no pretensions to the character of a wit, yet some of his terse sayings have the genuine Attic flavor." NASBY'S DESCRIPTION OP LINCOLN. The first time I saw the great and good Lincoln (alas! that "great" and "good" cannot be more frequently associated in speaking of public men) was at Quincy, 111., in October — I think it was — 1858. It was at the close of the greatest political struggle this country ever witnessed. Stephen A. Douglas was the acknowledged champion of the democratic party, a position he had held unquestioned for years. He came into his heritage of leader- ship at an unfortunate time, just when the scepter was departing from the organization which he had headed, but he was especially unfortunate in being pitted against the most honest statesman in the opposition, a man upon whose face the Creator had set the assurance of absolute, unselfish integrity — of one whose outward seeming was a true index of the inward man. Douglas was perhaps as honest as politicians usually are; he had doubtless worked himself up to the point of actually believing the lies which he had fashioned to subserve his own ends; but Lincoln had never so deceived himself. He was absolutely honest — honest all the way through — and in face and manner satisfied all men that he was so. What might happen to him never influenced either his advocacy or opposition of any measure that might come before the people. I found Mr. Lincoln in a room of a hotel, surrounded by admirers, who had made the discovery that one who had previously been considered merely a curious compound of genius and simplicity was a really great man. When Lincoln was put forward as the antagonist of the hitherto invincible Douglas, it was with fear and trembling, with the expectancy of defeat; but this 21 mature David of the new faith had met the Goliath of the old, aad had practically slain him. He had swept over the state like a cyclone — not a raging, devastating cyclone, the noise of which equaled its destructive power, but a modest and unassuming force, which was the more powerful because the force could not be seen. It was the cause which won, but in other hands than Lincoln's it might have failed. Therefore, wherever he went crowds of admiring men followed him, all eager to worship at the new shrine around which such glories were gathering. I succeeded In obtaining an interview with him after the crowd had de- parted, and I esteem it something to be proud of that he seemed to take a liking to me. He talked to me without reserve. It was many years ago, but I shall never forget it. He sat in the room with his boots off, to relieve his very large feet from the pain occasioned by continuous standing; or, to put it in his own words: "I like to give my feet a chance to breathe." He had removed his coat and vest, dropped one suspender from his shoulder, taken off his necktie and collar, and thus comfortably attired, or rather unattired, he sat tilted back in one chair with his feet upon another In perfect ease. He seemed to dis- like clothing, and in privacy wore as little of it as he could. I rememlser the picture as though I saw it but yesterday. Those who accuse Lincoln of frivolity never knew him. I never saw a more thoughtful face, I never saw a more dignified face, I never saw so sad a face. He had humor of which he was totally unconscious, but it was not frivolity. He said wonderfully witty things, but never from a desire to be witty. His wit was entirely illustrative. He used it because, and only because, at times he could say more in this way, and better illustrate the idea with which he was pregnant. He never cared how he made a point so that he made it, and he never told a story for the mere sake of telling a story. When he did it, it was for the purpose of illustrating and making clear a point. He was essentially epigrammatic and parabolic. He was a master of satire, which was at times as blunt as a meat-ax, and at others as keen as a razor; but it was always kindly except when some horrible injustice was its inspiration, and then it was terrible. Weakness he was never ferocious with, but intentional wickedness he never spared. — David B. Locke ("Petroleum V. Nasby") in Reminiscences of Abraham Lincoln, (by permission of North American Pub. Co.) CASSIUS M. CLAY ON LINCOLN AND DOUGLAS. His debate with Stephen A. Douglas not only showed great ability, but a liberal tendency. And though Douglas was the first popular speaker of his day Lincoln won on the convictions of the people; so that, although Douglas' was chosen the senator of Illinois, the debate, as taken down by stenographers, was published by the Whigs, and widely distributed as a campaign document. This brought Lincoln prominently before the nation as the liberal candidate. He was invited to speak in New York by the voung Whigs and Liberals, and I met him again for the second time, an* had on the cars a long talk with him on my favorite policy. Lincoln as usual was a good listener; and when I had accumulated all my arguments in favor of liberation he said: "Clay, I always thought that the man who made the com should eat the corn." This homely illustration of his senti- ments has lingered ever in my memory as one of the most eminent argu- ments against slavery.— Cassius M. Clay in Reminiscences of Abraham Lin- coln (by permission of North American Publishing Co.) 22 THE CONTRAST BETWEEN LINCOLN AND DOUGLAS. BY GEN. JAMBS B. FEY. Lincoln and his Illinois competitor, Stephen A. Douglas, formed a striking contrast. Douglas was low in stature, rotund in figure, with a short neck, a big bullet head, and a chubby face. His lips were forced into the fixed smile characteristic of the popular and well-satisfied public man of a period when political success depended largely upon what a man said, how he said it, and how he appeared in personal intercourse with the people; and not, as now, much upon what newspapers say of him and for him. Lincoln was tall and thin; his long bones were united by large joints, and he had a long neck and an angular face and head. Many likenesses represent his face well enough, but none that I have ever seen do justice to the awkwardness and ungainliness of his figure. His feet, hanging loosely to his ankles, were prominent objects; but his hands were more conspicuous even than his feet-^due perhaps to the fact that ceremony at times compelled him to clothe them in white kid gloves, which always fitted loosely. Both in the height of conversation and in the depth of reflection his hand now and then ran over or supported his head, giving his hair habitually a disordered aspect. I never saw him when he appeared to me otherwise than a great man, and a very ugly one. His expression in repose was sad and dull; but with ever-recurring humor, at short intervals, flashed forth with the brilliancy of an electric light. I observed but two well-defined expressions in his countenance; one, that of a pure, thoughtful, honest man, absorbed by a sense of duty and responsibility; the other, that of a humorist so full of fun that he could not keep it all in. His power of analysis was wonderful. He strengthened every case he stated, and no anecdote or joke ever lost force or effect from his telling. He invariably carried the listener with him to the very climax, and when that was reached in relating a humorous story, he laughed all over. His large mouth assumed an unexpected and comical shape, the skin on his nose gathered into wrinkles, and his small eyes, though partly closed, emitted infectious rays of fun. It was not only the aptness of his stories, but his way of telling them, and his own unfeigned enjoyment, that gave them zest, even among the gravest men and upon the most serious occasions. — ^Gen. James B. Pry in Re- miniscences of Abraham Lincoln, (permission of the North American Pub- lishing Co.) DOUGLAS AND LINCOLN. BY STEPHEN B. WARDEN. Here are two men, of whom one is great and both are true as well as able. Lincoln represents, not greatly, but with marked ability, the least objectionable form of republicanism. Douglas represents, and greatly, the most patriotic form of democracy. Lincoln magnifies the interests of keep- ing territories now free in that condition, slightly estimating, or forgetting to preserve intact, the principle without which freedom in the territories or elsewhere would be a sheer impossibility. Douglas magnifying nothing, nor depreciating aught devotes himself to the elucidation and the preserva- tion of the principle on which all real republican or democratic interests must always be dependent. — ^Warden Stephen B. A voter's version of the life and character of Stephen Arnold Douglas. (Columbus, Ohio, 1860.) THE LINCOLN-DOUGLAS DEBATES. BY AlONZO ROTHSCHILD. The political career^ of these two men started at about the same time and place. When Lincoln ehtered upon his first term in the Illinois Assembly at Vandalia, he met in the lobby a shrewd little Vermonter, four years his 23 junior, ■who, notwithstanding extreme youth and briefness of residence in the West, was conducting among the members of the legislature what proved to be a successful canvass for the office of state's attorney for the first judicial district. The newcomer was Stephen A. Douglas. Identifying him- self with the dominant party, he became as pronounced in his democracy as Lincoln was in his Whiggism. On opposite sides of the next assembly, — both of them were elected to the legislature of 1836, — they clashed, from time to time, in tactics and debate. The antagonism thus started in Vandalia was transferred the following year to Springfield, where within a few months of each other, the young men took up their residence. Here differences in character and temperament rather than in party affiliations, acted as a bar to the friendship, or even to the esteem, that is not uncommon between con- tending politicians. If Douglas took one side of a question, Lincoln might safely be looked for on the other; and their rivalry soon became a recognized factor in the spirited local contests of the day. * * * 4; * * * The Lincoln-Douglas debates, as they are called, were the most remarkable exhibitions of their kind in the history of the country. Never before nor since have two of its citizens engaged in a series of public discussions which involved questions of equal importance. Personal and purely local differ- ences were overshadowed, from the very beginning, by what the disputants had to say on issues so momentous that they were destined, within a few years, to plunge the country into civil war. Lincoln, accordingly, did not greatly exaggerate when he spoke, at Quincy, of the seven meetings as "the successive acts of a drama to be enacted not merely in the face of audiences like this, but in the face of the nation and ,to some extent, in the face of the world." To reconstruct these stirring scenes, in pen pictures, almost half a century after the curtain was rung down, is as much beyond our power as to do justice by the actors, in any summary of their speeches. Only a careful reading of the 263 pages in which the debates have been preserved will convey an adequate idea of how brilliantly, from the intel- lectual point of view, both conducted themselves. Now Douglas appears to prevail, now Lincoln. One page persuades us that slavery is constitutional, and that each commonwealth should be allowed to have "the institution," or not, as it elects. We turn the leaf, and lo! we are convinced that slavery is wrong, and ought, at least, to be restricted. The questions at issue In the debates, however, — their morals and their politics, — lie beyond the scope of our present inquiry. — RotJiscUld, Alonzo. Lincoln, Master of Men. (By permission of BougMon, Mifflin & Co.) THE GREAT DEBATE. BY SAMUEL P. OKTH. Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas were old time rivals. They had been admitted to the bar together, they had competed for political favor in the same communities, they had practiced law in the same courts on the same circuits, they had been rivals for the hand of the same maiden and had been opponents in every political struggle since the days of Jackson. Douglas had become famous, Lincoln had remained obscure; Douglas was the leader of a great national party, Lincoln was the local organizer of a new and untried party; Douglas was the proud creator of the policy of popular sovereignty, not caring "whether the people voted slavery up or voted it dovra/' Lincoln was the humble commentator on the text of the great declar- tion that "all men are created free and equal." Now these rivals met In a contest that was destined to become one of the great and glorious events in our national history It was not a rivalry of npr