The Council Bluffs nonpareil. [volume] (Council Bluffs [Iowa]) 1857-1867, 1859-02-19
Siepllen A. Douglas.


The star Of the sslittle giant" has ached
the eliminating point, and from henceforth
he descends. He has lost the golden oppor-
tunity of his lifetime, and from hencefor.h
must plod YEARLY with the common mass
of aspirants after public honor and power.
Too much of the politician, and not enough
of the man or tho statesman, has been his
ruin. When he swung loose from the vii
famous schemes of the slave propagandists,
aud threw himself manfully into the fight
for the people, and against the Lecomption
villainy, hurting thunderbolts against Pres
ident, Cabinet, and corrupt Congressman
alike, the eyes of an anxious and apprecia-
| tive people were upon him. Had he been
true to principle then, he would have be-
come the popular idol. Ability ne did not
lack, but he did lack heart commensurate
with it. Temporary seccess or defeat in
! that hot conflict, when he stood foot to foot
| in defiance with .'the powers that be-"
would not have been q feathers weight in
the popular scale. Providence handed him
! the great occasion which generally comes IN
such mems lives but once, but he was une-
quail to it. A pretty Senatorship for six
years, or hoped for Presidency through
! the SHINY avenues Of intrigue and corrup-
tion, marked the boundary Of his vision
Alas for such craftsmanship! The ''little
giant has sunk to apigny. Friends press
ed him-nay, urged importunately-but
unwashed Democracy, reveling in its sla-
very rottcnness of fI!bustory, bred Scott
decisions, and hatred of all free labor and
! free institutions, like a wizard charmed him,
and no opportunities could lift him, higher
than the level Of his moral nature. He de-
| fled the slave driving Democracy, and has
not ceased for moment 10 worship at that
shrine Condemned by the popular voice of
! his own State after Il severe canvass, in
which he poured out abuse. like water from
Il filthy pool, upon his comrades in the bat
tie of Leeoinpton, insulting men who desire
only their country's glory, the advancement
af freedom and the death Of tyranny, he
nevertheless won the parchment baub.e GER
! tifying his election, by lavish expenditure
Of as wealth, by an importation Of alien
vOters-if reports are true-and by an I'M
just appointment of the representative
district of his State. That accomplished he
visited the great center Of slavery hiibus-
tering, and hob a-notbed with its leading
! spirits, touched and tarried period at Gu
/ ba, which he is now so anxious TO wrest
from the crown Of Spain, and amid weak
and uncertain applause from mere handfuls
! Of curiosity hunting spectators IN New York,
Philadelphia and Baltimore, was set down
at his own door in the federal metropolis,
in the light Of six burning tar barrels, sur
rounded by a crowd Of noisy boys.
Alas how different from the triumphal
march Of a conqueror, which it mi ght have
been! The Democracy Of the Senate cham
Der met him with the warmth and geniality
! Of huge ice-blocks. They have dethroned
him from his Craftsmanship Of the Terrific
rial Committee, and the stigma of the &C!
was intended to be fc.t. Would lie come
/ in ike the lion or the spanicl-thaJ was the
question in all mouths. Was 1t war upon
the Admnistrat:on--hjgb noble, and states
man ike: Or WIS it tame suhsGs,iancy to
the slaye-driyins Democracy, which in
honest langu ige would mean, 'Lctme court
your favor for the nominating scramble
which is to take place in Charleston in
l86O?' lie took his place in the ranks
That sentence tells the whole story. In the
Pro- Slavery caucus he was foremost for
placing the thirty million pe!ces Of silver in
the hands Of James Buchanan, the honest,
patriotic, freed0m-lo7Ing Locomptonite--
James Buchanan for the purchase or SUBJ
dining Of Cuba. by fire and sword. The
''IIttle giant" sunk as ne rose lis hi~hes:
level was sc.hshness, if We Judge history
impartaly. The American people Lave
weighed him, pronounced him 7anljmL, and
they have sent him to tie grave If tie IN
efficient. From hence .~th he vi. i've with
the vast mass of poliura. ho?eSs. Reql:ics-
cct On peace. Having G,i. III readers adj
visei Of bis. course flom the uotse: Of his
great strife, we fit It due TO them to writer
his obituary. So let him PASS Corrs.pu'.-
lent InFfurn1enf