The Kenosha telegraph and tribune. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1859-1860, 1860-05-31

IL ClmeS. LII was democratic moaGuI
/ then, [ believe. AT any rate, Ger
e Cass, scolded Honest John Davis, {
/ Massachusetts,, soundly for taking ava
e the last hours of session so that b
(Cass) couldn't crowd it through. j
S propos of Gen. Cass: if I am not great
r ly mistaken he has prior claim to m
n distinguished friend, to the authorshi
e of Popular Sovereignty. The old Ger
: eral has an infirmity for writing letters
v Shortly after the scolding he gave job
s Davis, he wroth his Nicholson letter.
t Douglas (solemnly)-"God Almight,
| placed man on the earth, and told hin
to choose between good and evil. Tha
5 was the origin of the Nebraska bill |"
, Lincoln-"Well, the priority of inven
ton being settled, let us award all credi
to Judge Douglas for being the first t,
: discover it"
f 1t would be impossible, in these lines
to give an idea of the strength of Mr.
Lincoln's argument. We deemed it BY
far the ablest effort Of the campaign
from whatever source. The occasion
was a great one, and the speaker was
every way equal to it. The effect pro
duced on the listeners was magnetic
No one who was present will ever for
get the power and vehemence of the
following passage
"My distinguished friend says it is an
insult to the emigrants to Kansas and
Nebraska to suppose they are not able
to govern themselves. We must not
slur over an argument of this kind, be.
cause it happenes to tickle the ear. II
must be met and answered. I admit
that the emigrant to Kansas and Ne.
braska is competent to govern hinesezf,''
the speaker rising to his full height,
''but I deny has right to goverm any 9th.
er person WITHOUT THAT PERSONS CON-
SENT" The applause which followed
this triumphant refutation of cunning
falsehood, was but an earnest of the
victory at the polls which followed just
one month from that day.
When Mr.. Lincoln had concluded
Mr. Douglas strobe hastily to the stand.
AS usual he employed ten minutes in
telling how grossly he had been abused.
Recollecting himself, he added "though
in a perfecly courteous manner 20 He
then devoted half an hour in showing
that it vas indispensably necessary to
California nmigrants, Santa Fe traders
and others, to have organic acts provid.
ed for the Territories of Kansas and
Nebraska-that being precisely the
point which nobody disputed. Having
established this premise to his satisfac-
ton, Mr.. Douglas launched forth into
an argument wholly apart from the po-
sition taken by Mr.. Lincoln. He had
about half finished at six o'clock, when
an adjournment to tea was effected.
the speaker insisted strenuously upon
his right to resume in the evening, but
we believe the second part of that speech
has not been delivered to this day.
After the Springfield passage, the two
Seakers went to Peoria and tried it
again with identically the same results.
A friend who listened to the debate in
formed us that after Lincoln had finish
ed, Douglas, "haden't much to say"-
which we presume to have been MIR.
Douglas view of the case also, for the
reason that he ran away from his antag-
onist and kept out of his way during
the remainder of the campaign.
During this exciting campaign. Mr..
Lincoln pressed the Slavery issue upon
the people of Central and Southern
Illinois, who were largely made up of the
emigration from Kentucky, Tennessee,
Virginia and North Carolina, with all
the power Of his mind He felt the
force of the moral causes that must in.
fuence the question, and henever failed
to appeal to the moral sentiment of the
people in aid of the argument drawn
from political sources, and to illuminate
his theme with the lofty aspirations of
an eloquence, pleading for the rights of
humanity. A eyolution swept the
State. For the first time majority OF
the Legislature of Illinois was opposed
to the Democratic Administration fthe
Federal Government. A United States
Senator was to be elected in place of
General Shields, who had yielded to
the influence of his less scrupulous col
league, and, against his own better
Judgment, had voted for the Kansas
Nebraska act. The election came on,
and number of ballots were taken, the
almost united opposition voting steadily
for Lincoln, but the Anti-Nebraska
Democrats for Trumbull.
Mr. Lincoln became apprehensive that
those men who had been elected as
Democrats. though opposed to Judge
Douglas, would tnrn upon some third
candidate, of less decided convictions
than Judge Trumbll, and possibly elect
a Senator who had little or nothing in
common with the then inchoate Repub-
lican party. To prevent such a consul
nation, he went personally to his
friends, and by strong persuasion, in
duced them to vote for Trumbull. He
thus secured, by an act OF generous sac
rifice a triumph for the cause of right,
and an advocate of it on the floor of the |
Senate, not inferior in earnest zeal for |
the principles of Republicanism, to any |
member Of that body.
Some of his friends on the floor of
the Legislature wept like children when
constrained by Mr.. Lincoln's personal
appeals to desert him and unite on
Trumbull. 1t is proper to say in this
connection, that between Trumbull and
Lincoln the most cordial relations have |
always existed, aud that the feeling of
envy or rivalry is not to be foud in the
breast of either.
From this thorough conviction of the
growing magnitude of the slave question
and of the need of a strong effort to pre-
serve the Territories to freedom, Mr..
Lincoln was among the first to join in
the formation of the Republican prrty,
although the public opinion around him
was strongly adverse to that movement.