The weekly Butte record., 1861-07-06
Douglas and His Successor.

1t appears that Stephen A. Douglas died
poor. Every acre of real estate owned by him
was encumbered with heavy mortgages, except
three acres and that was donated to the State
of Illinois by his wife, after his decease, as his
burial place. In view of this fact, and his
great services to his country, it is proposed to
raise by subscription, Douglas fund to be
appropriated for the release of those demands
on the tract of land near Chicago known as
his homestead. The three acres donated to
the State by his wife, is in the centre of the
tract, and to approach the grave of the patriot
and statesman it is necessary to first obtain
the consent of the sheriff. Gov Yates and
Others have issued an appeal to the people OF
Illinois and the United States in their behalf,
which will, undoubtedly, be responded to in a
liberal and patriotic spirit. California will
not be behind her sister States in testifying
her appreciation of the illustrious patriot in
this respect.
Concerning his successor, several of the H.
linos papers signifed their desire to show the
unity of the people in the present crisis, by the
appointment of a personal and political friend
of the late Senator to succeed him in the U.
S. Senate. The Tribune, the principal Re-
publican paper of Chicago, favored such a
course, and other papers generally acquiesced
1 in the justice of such policy.
In the great calamity that has befallen the
nation, by the death of the distinguished Hi
nois Senator few of his political friends, who
labored with him for the preservation of the
country from the sectional broil in which it is
now embroiled, have had the heart to contem.
plate the loss of the nation, Or designate who
should be his successor. They have felt that
a successor might, indeed, be appointed to his
seat in the Senate, but that no one could be
found to fill his place in the service of his
country Where is the giant intellect, the
mighty energy, the stern and incorruptible in
tegrity, that, though standing alone against
his sixty odd peers in the Senate, made euen
battle for the whole Union bequeathed to US
by the patriot sires of '76?
The Governor of Illinois thus had it in his
power to make good the boast of his Repubi
can friends that there was now no party il
the North but that party that was for the
whole country under the Constitution and it:
time honored flag. AS if having no Just idea
of the magnitude of the present crisis, Cover
nor Yates gave way to partizan influence
and Immediately filled his seat by the appoint
ment of 0. A. Brownson a Republican, and q
former Wing opponent of Mr. Douglas fol
Congress.
The Democracy of the Atlantic States, az
well as here, have shown that the mimic bat
ties of political warfare do not extend will
them beyond the box, and they can sink
a partizan spirit to repel the assaults of trai
tors or enemies upon their common country
1t is not so, however, with the Republicans
whose sectional organization was the mair
cause of the present rebellion. Their organi
zation must be maintained, and their partizan:
rewarded. Well, they may need such a stmu
lus to make them patriots. The Douglas De
mocracy never received the spoils of Office tt
induce them to discharge their duty.