The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1858-07-27

pared the public mind for the premeditated 70
volt upon the Lecomptou constitution.
From that point the course of Mr.. Douglas,
ana his reasons therefor, are given ia tue
fp ech upder review; but he cannot escape the
suspicion that his paramount object was to rule
or ruin the confederation He doubtless be.
iieved bimself perfectly safe at home, under
any possible contingencies; and this was HE
fatal mistake in bis declaration of war against
the Raises policy of Mr.. Buchanan. A more
ssgscious politician, intent upon promotion,
would have acted more wisely. He would have
remembered ard would have profited from the
fate Of other distinguished boilers from the ad-
wipistrst'on aud the national organization to
which they bad belonged. He would have re-
memhered the turning point in the career of
Calhoun, ard the first cabinet of Jackson; of
JacksoDs Secretary of the Treasury, Louis
M'Lesn; of Taljmadge and Rives, aud the 90
called conservatives of their day; Of Cambre-
ling, Van Buren,, Benton, and host of others;
aud from their experience be would have under
stood the dangers of similar course.
Mr.. Douglas, too, appears to have forgotten
that when a political leader has arrived in his
own State at q certain height of popularity,
eaiousies and enmities are certain to arise in
bis party camp, which, If not skilfully managed,
are sure to crush him. Thus Benton, so long
the party dictator of his State, lived to be ut
terly annihilsted in Missouri; thus Webster
outiived bis popularity in Massachusetts,; and
thus even Henry Clay, in lS4S, found clique
of the wings of Kentucky operating against
him. In this view we fear that Mr.. Douglas has
passed his zenith in Illinois, and that he has
brought into play against him those personal
jealousies and rivalries at home from which he
has scarcely chance of escape this fall, and
from which he may never recover. Under the
wing of the administration he might safely have
defed all his party enemies but in deserving
the administration he has given them the best
Of excuses for turning upon him.
1t is impossible to read this Bloomington
speech without the conviction that Mr.. Douglas
feels that the odds are heavily against him, and
that his chances of return to the Senate are
exceedingly slim From his. unmeasured eulo.
GUM of Mr.. Crittenden and his Kansas bill one
would suspect that he would have no objection
to the support of the Know Nothings, and from
''the need of praise" which he says Is "due to
the republican party in Congress-" he may ex-
pect some manifestations of gratitude from that
side of the house; but all these overtures and
estimates are quashed when he comes to talk of
"the republican leaders (of Illinois) forming an
alliance with protested Lecompton men demo
crats) to defeat every democratic nominee.
(that Is, every Douglas nominee,) and elect re-
publicans in their places" And further on, when
he tells us that ''these boiling democrats, who
now claim to be the peculiar friends of the ma
tional administration, and have formed an al
lance with Mr.. Lincoln and the republicans,
FOR the purpose of defeating the democratic
party, have ceased to claim fellowship with the
iemocratic organization" and are operating
mot with the hope or expectation of electing
my one" of their candidates ITO Office
IN any county in the State, but merely
10 secure the defeat Of the democratic
and the election of republicans we
must give it up. If this third party of 'pro-
fessed democrats" poll throughout the State
even fifteen thousand votes, IL Is all over with
Mr.. Douglas and his party In the November
election.
The republicans are confident of success, even
should this third party Of ''professed demo-
Gratis join the Douglas party and from the
opposition vote Of 1856 for Governor, it would
appear that there is q decided anti-democratic
majority In Illinois. We fear that this demo-
cratic split has now gone too far even for the
administration to heal in season to prevent
defeat, complete and decisive. Illinois, then,
will be carried by the republicans and perhaps
Indiana from the same cause. And what then q
What IL Pennsylvania should be added to the list
from the Forney and Montgomery bolt in that
quarter and what II the opposition, from these
and other gains, should carry the next House of
Only thia The administra-
ton has yet over two years to run Having
cut loose from the wreck of the Kansas boilers,
having passed the crisis Of the late financial re-
vulsion, and having cleared away the chief OBJ
stacles of the late session, the democracy may
be reorganized upon new issues. and the whole
face of things by the year 1850 may be changed
under the reaction Of better times, and under
the auspices OF Mr.. Buchanan's conservative,
but positive and decisive administration.
Meantime, from the speech Of Mr.. Douglas
before us, it Is reduced almost to a certainty
that his closing battle upon his Kansas Nebras-
ka bill will end In his defeat, andin the occupa-
ton Of Illinois by the black republicans
GENERAL WALKERS LAST EFroRr.-General