White Cloud Kansas chief. [volume] (White Cloud, Kan.) 1857-1872, 1860-06-21

cold and Douglas at Springfield, durin,
the progress Of the State Fair, in Octo
Der. We remember the event as viviill
as though it transpired yesterday, and il
view ofthe prominence now given to tn
chief actor in that exciting event, it can
not fail to be interesting to all. i- 81 q
The affair came of on the 4th day o
October, 1854. The State Fair had beer
in progress two days. and the Capita
was full Of all manner Of men. The Ne
braska bill had been passed on the previ
Gus twenty second of May. Mr.. Douglas
had returned to Illinois to meet an out
rtged constituency. He had made frag
mentary speech in Chicago, the peopl,
filling up each hiatus in a peculiar and
good humored way. He called the peo
pie q mob-they called him q rowdy.-
The "mob" had the best of it, both then
and at the election which succeeded
The notoriety of all these events had stir.
red up the politics of the State from bot
tom to top. Hundreds of active pol.
ititcians had met at Springfield, expecting
tournament Of an unusual character
Douglas, Breese, KGrner, Lincoln,
Trumbull. Matteson, Yates, Codding,
John Calhoun, { of the order Of the Can
dle-Box,) John NJ. Palmer, the whole
house of the McConnells, Singleton,
known to fame in the Mormon War, J
Thos. L. Harris, and host of others
Several speeches were made before and
several after the passage between Lincoln
and Douglas, but that was justly held to
be the event of the season.
We do not know whether a challenge
to debate passed between the friends of
the speakers or not, but there was a per-
fectly amicable understanding between
Lincoln and Douglas, that the former
should speak two or three hours and the
latter reply in just as little or as much
time as he chose. Mr.. Lincoln took the
stand at two o'clock-a large crowd in
attendance. and Mr.. Douglas seated on a
small platform in front of the desk. The
FIRST half hour of Mr.. Lincoln's speech
was taken up with compliments to his
distinguished friend Judge Douglas, and
dry illusions. to the political events Of the
past few years. His distinguished friend
Judge Douglas had taken his seat, as sol
emn as the. Cock-Lane ghost, evidently
with the design of not moving a muscle
till it came his turn to speak. The
laughter provoked by Lincoln's exordi
um, however, soon began to make him
uneasy, and when Mr.. L. arrived at his
(Douglss') speech pronouncing the Mis-
souri, Compromise ga sacred thing which
no ruthless hand would ever be reckless
enough to disturb" he opened his lips
far enough to remark. ga first rate
speech !" This was the beginning of an
amusing colloquy.
yes" continued Lincoln, $50 affect
tomato was my friends regard for this
line, that when Texas was
admitted into the Union. and it was found
that strip extended north of &c 30.
he actually introduced bill extending
the line and prohibiting slavery in tho
northern edge Of the new State"
"And you voted against the bill, said
Douglas.
Precisely so," answered Lincoln; l
was in favor of running the line a great
deal further South"
"About this time,.' the speaker contin-
ued. "my distinguished friend introduced
me to particular friend of his. one Da-
vid Wilmot, of Pennsylvania" Laugh
ter.)
II thought" said Douglas. "you
would find him congenial company"
$50 1 did," replied Lincoln. I had
the pleasure of voting for his Proviso. in
one way and another about forty times
It was Democratic measure then, be-
lieve. At any rate Gen. Csss scolded
Honest John Davis, of Massachusetts,,
soundly for taking away the last hour of
the session so that he (Cass) couldn't
crowd it through. Apropos of Gen.
Cass If l AM not greatly mistaken he
has prior claim to my distinguished
friend, to tae authorship of Popular Sow
The old gentleman has an in
trinity for writing letters. Shortly after
he scolding he gave John Davis he wrote
his Nicholson letter
Douglas (solemnly )-"God Almighty |
placed man on the earth, and told him to
choose between good and evil. That was
he origin of the Nebraska bill"
Lincoln-"Well, the priority of inven-
ion being settled. let us award all credit
% Judge Douglas for being the first to
discover it."
1t would be impossible, in these limits,
o give an idea Of the strength of Mr.
argument. We deemed it by
ar the ablest effort of the campaign. from
whatever source. The occasion was a
great one. and the speaker was every way
squal to It. The effort produced on the
listeners was magnetic. No one who
was present will ever forget the power
and vehemence of the following passage:
"My distinguished friend says it is an
insult to the emigrsnts to Kansas and Ne
.rssks to suppose that they are not able
o govern themselves. We must not
ilur over an argument of this kind because
I tickles the ear. It must be met and
answered. admit that the emigrant to
( nsas and Nebraska is competent to
govern himself. but." the speaker rising to
lis full height, "Idsny his right TO gov-
I'm any other pe-son WITHOUT THAT PER
os's CONSENT" The applause which
ollowed this triumphsl refutation Of
,unning falsehood, was bat an earnest
IL r. II