The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1858-10-23
The Illinois StruG='c-.What Greedy says
about II.

In speaking OF the contest in Illinois,
against DorGLAs, and the probability Of e.
Getting LINCOLN, the editor Of the y. Y.
Tribune says:
Yet there IS a contingency in which even
he L'ncolu) might be elected--a manner of
etivc,ing such a choise-that would cause
such election to be viewed with regret by
Republicans in other States, and which
would give them, in our judgement, album
dant reason for regret. We allude TO Sc.
cret coalition between certain REPUBLICAN
leaders and the little faction Of poS,nas,ers,
tide walters, and Federal ottice-seekcrs, who
for the sske of,heir dirty pudding, presen,
and hoped for, pretend 10 approve the Lee
compton fraud, ana are now bounding on
the track OF Senator Douglas. ANY couspi-
racy or conniviug with this pack on the
par, Of the Republicans OF Illinois, no mat
ter by what name CLOSED, under wha, pre-
text yelled, would be regarded by Repnblr-
cans in other States with profound disfa
v0r.
For, while the Republicans Of Illinois have
the undoubted right to designate their own
candidates and representatives the Repub,i-
cans of other States have an equal right
which does not seem 20 be everywhere con-
ceded-to express their appreciation of the
conduct of a statesman, even though be-
longing 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 I.rconp.on
struggle with an emphatic approval which
borders on admiration. They have seen
him seperate himSelfirom a triumph and al.
most invlncble Administration, which had
honors to dispense and millions to disburse
Drawing the denunciations Of party orcani
cations and party presses which had for
, twenty years borne him on from ,riu,nph to
7 triumph, and from Indulgence and obscurity
to opulence and dstinctC n.-they have seen
! him incur the deadly and unauenah;ble ha-
/ tired Of the Siaye Power, Blasting in a mo-
meut all his reasonable hopes of obtaining
the Presidency through the machinery and
! the spell OF the Democratic party-and for
what? Changes like John Calhoun's from
/ PROSTATE minority to an invincible MAORI.
! ty, are easily accounted for; but when a
! statesman so high in POSITION, in power and
! in hopes, separates himself from a trium-
| plant majority to fight a monstrous battle
on the side Of a minority to whom he had
always stood i'll deadly opposition, it is
scarcely reasonable to attribute that chance
to any motive which does not honor his
consclentiousness ard 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
imp'acable adversaries in disparaging his
| motvss, belittling his influence, and paral-
wing his exertions. However pointed may
! be our future difference-and we do not
mince phrases with statesmen whom we be-
| lieve counseling and doing wrong-we shall
never forget that in tins LccoGnpton struggle
he proved faithful, in defiance of great tenn
taton, not to our principles, but to his own
that, when the President, followed by
! four ifths Of the Democrats in congress,
Ord his utmost to fulfill the predictions of
the Republicans that the "stump speech" in
the belly Of the the Nebraska bill was a
lure and fraud, Juege Douglas. fully
counting the cost, insisted that it should be
regarded and obeyed as living truth-and
that mainly through his efforts aiding the
! natural re sstance Of The Republicans, Kan
sas was snatched from the jaws of the slave
oligarchy, and a fearful civil war averted.--
If this course was taken, these consea uences
braved. by Mr.. Douglas, selely upon the
strength Of his convictions of right and of
the moral weight Of the pledge given in the
Nebraska bill and the Cincinnati Platform.
10 public man Ia our day, has evinced q no.
bier fidelity and courage. And if, as is al
legged, he took this course only because he
:oresaw that any other would bring ruin on
himself and his party. then has he evinced
prescience and sagacity which is not so
common among our statesmen that it may
be dismissed from the public service with.
out some attention of esteem and graft
/ tude,