Saint Paul weekly Minnesotian. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1858-1859, 1858-11-06
From the Daily Minnesotan Of Wednesday.
Elections Ouglas--LincOln
..SeWar6.

Illinois and New 1OrK; Wisconsin anu
Michigan; Massachusetts, and New Jersey;
voted for State Officers and Members OF Con-
gress; and in few hours more we shall
hear the news as to who is up and who IS
| down-who is victorious and who defeated ]! !!
The principal centres of interest in the
| elections yesterday, were undoubtedly the
States of Illinois and New York; for in those
| two, practically and substantially, the issue
was" Who shall be the next President Of the
| United Statess"
If STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS yesterday carried
| Illinois, he goes into the National Convention
| at Charleston, S. c., in 1860, aciM the entire
| Democratic delegation from the Testerm and
| Worth Western States .tolloacing at his back;
and will either receive at the hands OF that
Convention the Democratic nomination for
President: or else he will dictate with impe-
| rial power, who shall be its nominee in case
he does not deem it advisable that STEPHEN
A. DOUGLAS himself shall be the man; or,
| failing on both these points, he will with his
entire force bolt the Concention, and be set up
by the seceders as the Northern Democratic
candidate for the Presidency! If, on the
other hand Mr.. DOUGLAS was defeated by
LINCOLN yesterday, the power OF the former
for positice efforts, the accomplishment of any
distinctive and original policy he may conceive,
is in a great or chief measure crippled or en-
tirely destroyed; he is merely negatire man
| for the future-a man who, though not utter
! ly dead politically lves-like MARTIN VAN b.
rem did after his defeat by Polk for the Dem
| ocratic nomination in 1S44,-more IN desper-
alton and fer the destruction Of his enemies,
| than to achieve any material or direct good for
| himself on his friends!
As to his immediate antagonist, ABRA-
HAM LINCOLN, whether victorious or defeated,
henceforward he is no longer citizen Of Illinois
merely, but Man of the Nation, who will
stand before the whole country acknowledged
Statesman ofbroadcast power and abiity-as
a man who, in the mighty contest just closed
by him with STEPHEN a. DOUGLAS, surprised
his friends and utterly astounded his foes, in
Guiding his chief arch antagonist, by the dis
play of more than ordinary intellectual force;
by versatility in illustration and polntedness
in argument; by an eloquence truly states
man-like with the. exercise of a gentlemanly
| forbearance and the exhibition of an imper-
turbable good nature in AL his discussions
during the campaign, which placed him in
favorable contrast with his opponent, who in
replying to his home thrusts too frequently
allowed himself to get out of temper, and to
substitute supercillious dogmatism for argu-
ment and personal vituperation for true elo-
quence Whatever else the contest just clos
ed in Illinois may have decided, it has in ABB
KAnAM LiNUvLS undoubtedly added one more
Statesman to the national roll of greatness
Statesman after the order of HARRY CLAY
"a man who, while he captivates our judg-
mcnt by his intellectual power and our imagin-
alton by his eloquence, seizes hold also of our
affections by his genuine bon homme and So
cal fellowship
As illustrative of this latter trait of his
character, we have yet to see the Republican
of Illinois, who while proud of him for his in
tellectual qualities, did not likewise loce him
as brother, On another point Lincoln COM
pares the advantageously with Douglas. If
many years occupation of a seat in the United
| States Senate and continual prominence be-
fore the country on every important question,
have obtained for the Little Giant" the title
of Statesman, he is, after all, associated in
the popular mind, as something also of Row.
| dy Statesman of the Tom Hyer or Morrissey
| school while one campaign alone, establish
es Abraham Lincoln in that same popular
mind as a Statesman not inferior in ability !;
more consistent and elevated in his principles:
as a Statesman who represents not the rowdy
element of Young America, but that wider,
broade: and more substantial support of a
free Statc--Inteligent, Sober, Rejecting, Re-
ligious and Moral Young America, progressive
and fast in the Right and not in the Wrong.
This is the difference between the two men :
and this is about the relative positions they:
will hereafter occupy before the country, let
the election in Illinois yesterday have result
ed as it will. Defeat to DOUGLAS is ruin; but
the sure foundation of sound free principles
on which LINCOLN stands, broad as the rights
of mankind, lifts him above alike the wrecks
of defeat and the orgies of victory. Gallant
Abe Lincoln three cheers for him, any way
victorious or defeated Though we think the
returns when they come in will prove him to
be in the former glorious category
The other point of interest next to that Of
Illinois, is the election yesterday in the State
of New York The Democrats are united
there on one State ticket-the Republicans
and Americans failed to agree upon the same
set of candidates for Governor and State Of
ficers. The opposition being THUS divided, it
is rightly judged that if the Republican State
Ticket should be elected upon the distinctive
issue of Freedom as against Sham Democracy,
the Empire State may be counted upon surely
for the Republican candidate for the next
Presidency. That it will triumph or
rather that it did triumph yesterday,-we
verify believe. While its defeat would not
per sc, set aside WIN. II. SEWARD next Re
publican candidate for President of the United
States: the success of E. ID. MORGAN for
Governor andof the other Republican State Of
ficers, would practically settle the question be-
yond all cavil. The Republican. National Con-
vention would in that event only meet for
each man to rise in his place, and without
the formaEty of ballot, by reclamation NOM
mate the great Senator Of New York-him
who is the empire mind of the nation as she
is the Empire State of the nation-to be
standard-bearer for the Presidency of that
portion of the American people who in the
name of justice, humanity and human pro-
gress proclaim the non-extension and final ex-
tmction of slavery in our land by constitu-