, 1859-01-28


Mr. Douglas is not lighting nan. Abund-
unit Us his opportunities have been to di$tin-
gut>ll himself in that direction, hc has never
yet welded Il hludscon OF drawn trigger at
an adversary. rorn iu ! State in which thu
"code il not recognized, he las never natnl-
Tested tue slightest disposition TO set himself
at VARIANCE with his early trai1iuG. Every
body knows that his temper j.: By no 1ncara
remarkable for its sweetness. aud that llv
never lcs;lates, when matched against Il
pcacc-loyiug man, to carry lis insolence to
tue verge ol human endurance. But notwith-
standing tue possession Of these qualities be
has mingled for twenty-five years in the par,
tisnn politics Of Illinois, coming frequently iii
cunts.ct With men who would fight, without
once having his courage actually put 10 the
te.t. Up 10 Liz reccnt F" difficulty" with
Fitch, l1c has. both at Washington and in IL
lnois, played the part Of the 'Drayo' To-
ward tuch men only as Sumner. Chase und
Hale, who are known IN ignore the "codc,
willie toward men like Critte1ldcu, Davis and
S'ilcll Ii, has 1'ccn circum.pect rs to his lar-
suagc and department. 1t WAS the former
whom without proyoca'ion he threatened 10
''kick' and "Eubluc"; Tlile bc(urc tic
stern glance and the long bouy finger Of
Crittendcn, tue saecr Of Davis or the cough
OF Slidell, hc lapsed into the most laml-like
meck1css.
Icing both by training aud By constitu-
tlonal inheritance an anti-1uclist, Mr. Doug
las Should not have been tempted to assume
towards men similarly situated in tLis respect
the tenc and bearing Of follower Of tle
code" Here was the fatal error. Such
line Gl conduct amounted to quasi rccog-
milton Of the s'codc,:' and rendered lin
anenhhle TO its requirements His recent
difficulty with Senator Fitch would have
reflected no dishonor upon himself had not
his lalltuAl bearing toward non-Gghtng
Senators been trn.ned upon q Southern
1nelcl. His life, If it has been what
it ought to be, would have stood up as an i'm
penetrablc shield and bucklsr between linn
seIf and tue calu1nny Of his antagonist But
nn anti-duellist OF heart, lc was compelled
~ his own previous action to appeal to the
"code'' in yindication OF his assallel honor.
Whether the result rebounds to his credit, or
whether it has not lowered hin in Tic cstima-
ton Of every truly courageous man, wlclhor
ducllist or not, will readily enough be de-
cided by any ope acquainted with the }act=
IN the casc.
The first dispatches from Washington re-
spccling the correspondence between Mr.,
Douglas and Mr. Fitch were substantially to
this effect:
!. Douglas addressed note 10 Fitch de-
manding retraction Of certain offensive
cpithcte.
2. Fitch replied Ly asking il Douglas re-
fe'rcd to tle cpithets ho (Fitch) USED with
reference to hin (Douslas) ia Executive scs-
Zion 3; and ifso, that he reiterated them.
at this point, If re have correct UNDER
standing Of the code" OF il its rules are
founded upon common eensc, there was no
alternative left to Douglas but to percmpto-
rlly challenge his nssailant- We do not say
that ne ought to have done so; hut having
notified the world by his previous correspon.
deuce that lie held himself amenable to fbo
code, We do not Clearly scc On v1at ground
compatible with its requirements he conld
open the door to amicablc nettlcmcnt, ofter it
had been Indignantly closed in his faec nv
Fitch" But Douglas did this by note No, 3.
10 Which he went hclind the epitheta Of Fitch