Saint Paul weekly Minnesotian. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1858-1859, 1858-09-25
The Contest in Illinois.

TIL, canvass of Illinois between LINCOLN
and DOUGLAS continues with undated
warmth. The Chicago Tribune of Friday,
the 18th, comes to us with the full report of
another great debate between the two giants
at Jonesboro, the county seat of Union coun-
ty, down in the heart of Egypt, thirty three
miles north of Cairo and about three hun
dred and fifty miles south of Chicago. The
report occupies ten columns in small type, and
is prefaced with a heading, which we copy,
as affording some idea of the affair:
Great Debate Between Lincoln and Doug
las at Observation-Disclosures Hundred Per-
sons Present-Douglas Rehearses the Same
Old Speech-He Comes to his Milk" Vol
UNFAIRLY and Old Abe takes what he has to
Spare-Lincoln Pulverizes his Freeport An
swers on the bred Scott Decision-Douglas
Impeaches the Democracy of his Friends
Thompson Campbell and R. S. Molony-
Was he drunk when he made his Joliet
Speech or was he only " Playful"-Concu-
ding Speeches by Hon. "FOr- God's-Sake
Under" and Hon. John Dougherty-Verba-
tim Report of Douglas Speech, Lincoln's
Reply and Douglas Rejoinder.
The Chicago Press and Tribune has this
editorial comment on this debate:
The JoNEsBORo DEBATE.-We publish
this morning the third public debate between
Mr.. Lincoln and Mr.. Douglas. Perhaps the
most striking feature presented is found in
the fact that Mr.. Lincoln came forward with
new and powerful argument suited to the
progress of the discussion begun at Ottawa
and continued at Freeport, while Douglas
simply rehearsed his old stereotyped har-
angue. This is the difference between the
statesman and the modntebank. Excepting
a small portion of his concluding half hour
we can pick out the whole of Mr.. Douglas
part in the JonesbOro debate from his speech
es at Ottawa and Joliet. Yet this is the man
who thinks Lincon's speech before the Re-
publican State Convention was "carefuly
prepared and committed to memory" 1t is
| not to be wondered at then, that the Grafton
was as tame in its delivery as it was tedious
and inspid in its composition.
The salient points of the discussion were
a mastery argument by MIR. Lincoln on Doug
las Freeport definition of the power of the
people of the Territories over the question of
slavery within their own limits; an exhibi-
ton of Democratic platforms in Northern H.
linois in 1850 and 1852, which Mr.. L. pro-
duced as "a good plea to bad declaration -
caustic examination of Douglas late speech
in Joliet wherein he announced that he had
overthrown Mr. Lincoln so badly that he
couldn't walk away from Ethe platform-and
several other unaccountable falsehoods, that
his whole audience knew to be falsehoods,
and which no sober man could ever have ut
tered question from Mr.. l.. whether if a
slave-holding citizen of United States Ter
ritory should petition Congress for legsla-
ton to secure him his rights in his slave
property, according to the bred Scott deci-
sion, he Douglass would vote for such legis-
latiOn.
On Mr.. Douglas side the new features were
an explanation that when he told his Joliet
talsehOods he was only playful; an impeach-
ment of the Democracy of his fIien IS Thomas
Campbell and r. S. Molony, because those
maj rs happened to be Squat on Free Soil
platforms six or eight years ago, nOtwthstan-
ding Douglas himself procured the nonina-
ton of Molony and afterwards helped him to
a snug berth in the Danville Land Office, and
Notwithstanding he endorsed both Molony
and Campbell in the day of their apostacy
and got President Pierce to appoint the lat
ter to lucrative Office in California a skill
full dodge around the angle OF the bred Scott
decision, which Lincoln had hauled him up to
mot answering whether he would or would
not give the needed legislation, but declaring
that all good Democrats were pledged to the
sprinciple of non-interventon with Territorial
affairs; and finally melancholy lampoon on
his birthplace to the effect that " Vermont is
a good State to be born in, provided you emf
CRATE when you are quite young "a senti.
ment rcciprocated by the people of Vermont
SO far as his being born there is concerned
with astonishing unanimity.
The Jonesboro audience was by far the
smallest that has yet assembled to hear either
of the speakers. There were only few over
fourteen hundred, including the six car loads
brought up by Douglas with his brass cannon
and band of music from Cairo Four car
loads of volunteers came down from Contra
liza. Unexpectedly to all, nearly one-half of
the enthusiasm and cheering on the ground
was for Lincoln.