The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1860-07-06

by a senator for the purpose of imputing to me
a mercenary motive for my official conduct
Under these circumstances, silence on nv part
in regard to the fact might be construed into q
confession of guilt in reference to the impeach.
ment of motive. therefore say to the Sena
tor that his insinuation is false, and he knows
it to be false, if he has ever searched the rec.
ords or has any reliable information upon the
subject. am not the owner of slave and
never have been, nor have ever received and
appropriated to my own use one dollar earned
by slave labor. 1t is true that l once had ten.
dered to me, under circumstances grateful to
my feelings, plantation with large number
of slaves upon it, which l declined to accept,
not because l had any sympathy with aboli.
tionists or the abolition movement, but for the
reason that, being a northern man by birth, by
education and residence, and intending always
to remain such, it was impossible for me to
know, understand, and provide for the wants,
comforts and happiness of those people. re:
fused to accept them because l was unwilling
to assume the responsibilities which was in.
capable OF fulfilling. This fact is referred to
in the will OF my father-in-law as reason for
leaving the plantation and slaves to his only
daughter, (who became the mother of my in
FAINT children), as separate and exclusive es.
tate, with the request that if she departed this
life without surviving children the slaves should
be emancipated and sent to Liberia at the ex.
pense of her estate; but in the event she should
leave surviving children, the slaves should de-
scend to them, under the belief expressed in
the will, that they would be happier and bet.
ter off with the descendants of the family, with
whom they had been born and raised, than in
a distant land where they might find no friend
to care for them. This brief statement, relat.
ing to private and domestic affairs, (Which
ought to be permitted to remain private and
sacred). has been extorted and wrung from me
with extreme reluctance, even in vindicatiOn
of the purity of my motives in the performance
of high public trust. As the truth compelled
me to negative the insinuation so Extensively
made by the senator from Ohio, God forbid
that l should be understood by any one as be.
ing willing to cast from me any responsibility
that now does, or ever has attached to any
member of my family. So long as life shall
last-and l shall cherish with religious venera.
ton the memory and virtues Of the sainted
mother of my children-so long as my heart
shall be filled with parental solicitude for the
happiness of those motherless infants, l implore
my enemies, who so ruthlessly invade the do.
nestle sanctuary, to do me the favor to believe
that have no wish, no aspiration, to be con.
sidered purer or better than she who was, or
they who are, Shareholders.
Sir, whenever my assailants shall refuse to
accept like amount of this species of proper
ty rendered to them, under similar circumstan.
ces, and shall perform domestic trust with
equal fidelity and disinterestedness, it will be
time enough for them to impute mereenary
motives to me in the performance of my official
duties"
PERSONAL APPEARANCE.
The Rev. WIN. II. M1LBURN, the blind
preacher, in his interesting book, "Ten
Years of Preacher Life" gives the following
graphic sketch of his impressions of Mr..
DOUGLAS:
The first time l saw Mr.. Douglas was in June,
1888, standing on the gallery of the Market
House, which some of my readers may recollet
as situate in the middle of the square of Jack
sonville. He and Colonel John J. Hardin were
engaged in canvassing Morgan county for Con-
gress. He was upon the threshold of that great
world in which he has since played so promi-
nent part, and was engaged in making one of
his earliest stump speeches. / stood and lis
tened to him, surrounded by motley crowd of
lakewood farmers and hunters, dressed in
homespun or deerskin, my boyish breast glow
ing with exultant joy, as he, only ten years my
senior, battled so bravely for the doctrines Of
his party with the veteran and accomplished
Hardin. True. had been educated in political
sentiments opposite to his own, but there was
something captivating in his manly straight
forwardness and uncOmpromising statement of
his political principles. He even then showed
signs of that dexterity in debate, and vehement.
impressive defamation, of which he has since
become such master. He gave the crowd
the color of his own mood as he interpreted
their thoughts and directed their sensibilities.
His first-hand knowledge of the people, and his
power to speak to them in their own language.
employing arguments suited to their cOmpre.
hnn n1sv 80
by frontier metaphor which refused to be
forgotten, and his determined courage. which
never shrank from any form of difficulty or dan.
ger, made him one of the most efectiye stump.
orators have ever heard. SCI
Less than four years before he had walked
into the town of Winchester, sixteen miles
miles southwest of Jacksonville, an entire
stranger. with thirty. seven and a half cents in
his pocket, his all of earthly fortune. His first
employment was as clerk of a "Vandu," as the
natives call Sheriff sale. He then seized the
birch of the pedagogue, and sought by its aid
and by patient drilling, to initiate a handful of
boys into the sublime mysteries of Lindley
Murray. His evenings were divided between
reading newspapers, studying Blackstone, and
talking politics. He before long, by virtue of
his indomitable energy, acquired enough of
legal lore to pass an examination, and ITO stick
up his shingle," as they call putting up law
yer's sign. And now began series of official
employments, by which he has mounted with
in five and twenty years. from the obscurity of
avillage pedagogue on the borders of civiliza.
tion to his present illustrious and commanding
position. In the twelve or thirteen years that
had elapsed from the time of his entering the
State, friendless, penniless youth, he has
served his fellOw-citizens in almost every off.
cial capacity, and entered the highest position
within their power to confer.
No man, since the days of Andrew Jackson,
has gained a stronger hold upon the confidence
and attachment of his adherents, or exercised
more dominating authority over the masses of
his party than Judge Douglas. Whether upon
the stump, in the caucus, or the Senate, his
power and success in debate are prodigiOus.
His instincts stand him in the stead of imagina-
ton, and amount to genius.
Notwithstanding the busy and boisterous po-,
litcal life which he has led with all its engross-
ing cares and occupations, Mr.. Douglas has,
nevertheless by his invincible perseverance,
managed to redeem much time for self-imprOve-
ment. He has been q wide and studiOus reader
of history and its kindred branches. Contact
with affairs has enlarged his understanding and
strengthened his judgment. Thus, with his un-
erring sagacity, his matured and decisive cha
racter, with q courage which sometimes ap-
pears to be audacity, but which is in reality
tempered by prudence, will that never sub.
mits to an obstacle, however vast, and know.
ledge of the people, together with power to
lead them, incompatible in this generation, he
may be accepted as a practical statesman of
the highest order. a
The correspondent of the New York
Times, describes Mr.. DOUGLAS as follows: