The Kansas herald of freedom., 1858-11-06
m. nllnoi. s4usrl.-wha, Greeley Says

In speaking of the contest in Illinois
against Douglas, and the probability Of
electing Lincoln, the Editor of the Ne~
York Tribune says:
"Yet there is a contingency in which
even he Q4incoln) might be elected-a
manner of eifecting such choice-that
would cause such election to be viewed
with regret by Republicans in other
States, and which would give them, in'
our Judgment, abundant reason for ex-
pressing that regret. We allude to Sc
cret coalition between certain Republican
leaders and the little faction of postmas-
ters, tide-waiters and Federal Office seek
ers who, for the sake of their dirty ,pud-
ding present and hoped for, pretend TO
approve the Lecompton fraud, and are
now bounding on the track of Senator
Douglas. Any conspiring or conniviDg
with this pack on the part of the Repub-
licans of Illinois, 10 matter by what name
CLOSED, under what pretext veiled, would
be regarded by Republicans, in other
States, with profound disfavor.
For, while the Republicans of Illinois
have the undoubted right 70 designate
their own candidates and representatives,
the Republicans of other States have an
equal right-which does not seem to be
every where conceded-to express their
appreciation of the conduct of statesman,
even though belonging to an adverse party
and residing in the State of Illinois,
And it is not to be disguised that they do
regard the course of Senator Douglas
throughout the Lecompton struggle, with
an emphatic approval which borders Oh
admiration. They have seen him sepa-
rate himself from triumphant and almost
invincible Administration, which had
honors to dispense and millions to dis
burse, Drawing the denunciations of party
organizations and party press, which had
for twenty years borne him on from tri-
umph to triumph, and from indulgence and
obscurity to opulence and distinction
they have seen him incur the deadly and
unquenchable hatred of the Slave Power,
blasting in a moment all his reasonable
hopes of attaining the Presidency through
the machinery and the spell of the Dem
ocratic party-and for what? Changes
like John Calheun's, from PROSTATE mi
nority to an invincible majority, are easily
accounted for but when q statesman, so
high in position, in power and in hopes,
separates himself from triumphant ma
jority to fight momentous battle ON the
side of minority to whom he had al
ways stood in deadly opposition, it is
scarcely reasonable to attribute that change
to any motive which does not honor his
conscientiousness and his courage. And
it seems to us particularly ungracious in
those to whom he has thus lent the weight
of his powerful arm, to unite with his and
their implacable adversaries in disparaging
his motives, belittling his influence, and
lparalyzing his exertions. However point
ed may be our future differences-andw we
| do not mince phrases with statesmen
whom we believe counseling and doing
wrong-we shall never forget that in the
Lecompton struggle he proved faithful, ir
defiance of great temptation, not to oul
principles, but to his own-that, when the
President, followed by four-tifths of the
Democrats in Congress, did his utmost tc
fulfill the Republican predictions that the
stump speech" in the belly of the Ne.
braska bill was lure and fraud, judge
Douglas, fully counting the cost, insisted
that it should be regarded and obeyed al
) living truth-and that, mainly through
his efforts aiding the natural resistance o
the Republicans, Kansas was snatchet
from the jaws of the Slave Oligarchy, anc
fearful civil war averted. If this course
) was taken, these consequences braved, by
Mr.. Douglas, solely upon the strength o
his convictions of right and of the mora
weight of the pledges given in the Nebras
ka bill and the..Cincinnati platform, no pub
lie man in our day has evinced nobler ii
deity and courage. And if, as is alleged
; he took his course only because he foresav
that any other wonld bring ruin on him
self and his party, then has he evinceC
!, prescience and sagacity Which is not 81
; common among our statesmen that it ma!
be dismissed from the public service with
out some attestation of esteem and graft
tude.