San Andreas independent., 1861-06-22
STEPHEN ARNOLD DOUGLAS.


The distinguished subject of this notice
died at Chicago, Illinois, on the morning of
June Sd, 1861, after brief illness from that
disease SO fatal in the upper Mississippi val
ley-pneumonia.
Mr.. Douglas was born at Brandon, Ver-
Iamont, on the 23d of April, 1913, and was conse-
Equently in the forty-eighth year of his age at
Ethe time of his death. At the age of Is he
Fremoved into the county of Ontario, n Y,
Ewhere, in the office of the Messrs. Hubbell,
Ihe studied law. At the age of 90 he emigra-
Eted to the West in search of favorable To-
Ecality to establish himself at his profession
After visiting several of the larger towns and
Icites on the Ohio and Mississippi, he finally
Esettled at Winchester in the interior of Hi
nois; where, after few months employment
as teacher of a common school, he obtained
his first certificate of license to practice at
the Bar He was very successful as a law
Eger. In less than year after his license was
Eobtained he was elected at the age of %.
IAttorney General of the State, which office
Ihe resigned next year to take seat in the
to which he had been chosen bv
Efhe electors of Morgan county In the year
1887 two years after his election to the Le-
gislature), he was appointed by President
Van Buren Register of the Land Office at
In November of the same wear.
Eand when he was not yet % years of age. he
Erecelved the nomination for Congress from
Ethe Springfield District He was beaten by
Five believe Col. John j. Harding the Wing
candidate only FIVE votes In 1910. he was
appointed Secretary of State of Illinois. In
l84l he was elected by the Legislature a
Judge of the Supreme Court, and in l843 he
resigned the Judgship to run for Congress
again. He was elected by four hundred ma
Jorlty. He was reelected in 1914 by 800
majority, and in 1916 by-3 900 majority. In
| these elections his competitors were of the
first talent of the Wing party of the.State-
In 1916 hewas elected by the Legislature to
( the U. 5. Senate, and took his seat in that
/ lbody, resigning his position as member of
the House of Representatives. He was twice
reelected to the U. S. Senate, in which BODY
Ehad he lived, he was entitled to seat until
Ils64
Z In 1852 Mr.. Douglas was before the Balti-
more Convention as a candidate for the Presi
Idency. Out of 288 votes he received % on
the first ballot. In 1854 through his efforts
the Kansas-Nebraska Act became law. and
the Missouri Compromise was thereby re-
Ipealed. To the principles set forth in this
Act he has consistently adhered ever since its
adoption. In 1856 he was again candidate
Before the Cincinnati Convention. for the
Presidential nomination; but from the greater
subserriency of Mr.. Buchanan to the schemes
I OF Southern politicians, and through the ex-
traordinary efforts Of Col. John w. Forney
to secure the nomination for the "distin-
Eguished Pennsylvanian,p Buchanan was cho
sen as the standard bearer of the Democracy.
OF the re-appearace Of Mr.. Douglas in the
ECharleston Convention; of bis gigantic strug-
giles in the Senate and throughout the coun
Etry, against combined Southern opposition
to his claims for nomination of the petty
jealousies against him among Northern aspi-
rants of the implacabiity which character
lied the warfare made upon him by the late
President of the United States; of the faith
fnlness of his partizan friends at Charleston
and subsequently at Baltimore, whereby the
true became ultimately separated from the
false Democracy, and Republican was cho-
sen President of the United States; of his
noble stand in support of that Republican
Administration when the country was threat
ened by armed rebels; and of the unanimitv
pf the true Democracy in sustaining him.
we need not now speak, inasmuch as these
events are still fresh in the memory of all.
In his success as public man, Mr.. DOUGLAS
has had few equals in American history. In
deed, we can think of but two cases to com
pare with him: we mean Hamilton and CLAY.
Death obliterates all asperities we wopld
pot wish to be understood as quite ranking
Douglas with either of these. He was not
the equal of the first in talent: nor do we
think of the last in political generalship or
self-abnegation-tha noble trait which binds
e statesman with hooks of steel to the love
and veneration of his countrymen In many
respects, it is true, if success is to be rated
py the means which achieved it, Mr.. Douglas
Avas Hamiltons superior; re had not Hanil-
tons advantages of early and thorough edu-
cation either in schools or in that more ex-
f'lted university, the army hence, what fame
he enjoys was purchased by greater effort
And if he was not so great in action as Mr.
Ciay, it must be remembered that neither
NSas any other American statesman At the
period of his death, though seemingly but
the leader OF party broken and disjointed,
Mr. Douglas. in reality was more potent than
'any other living American. Had he chosen
to be less patriotic, he might have created
such diversion among northern Democrats
as would have divided the loyal States against
the policy of the Administration, and em-
bol2ened the efforts of rebellion to an extent
fatal to the perpetuity of the Union He
chose, however, TO take the noble stand-to
take it quickly, and hold on to it firmly to
the last. For this, more than every other
act of his brilliant life, Americans in after
will