The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1861-06-19

terwards and was elected member of III,
Legislature, from Morgan county. His ris.
from that time was brilliant and rapid, and
until betrayed by the Southern leaders fol
whom he had done SO much, marked BY
hardly single defeat .
In 1887 he was appointed by Presiden,
Van Buren Register of the land Office a
Springfield. In the same year he received
the Democratic Nomination Coz Congress in
distri,t embracing the whole northern par
Of the State. His competitor was John T.
Stuart, Esq. Of Springfield Something
over 36 900 votes were cast, and Mr.. Stuart
was declared elected by majority of fue.-
Neither Mr.. Douglas nor Mr.. Stuart nor any
one else have ever been able to say which
candidate actually received the majority, but
it is certain that Mr. Stuart obtained the
seat. In 1S4O Mr.. Douglas was appointed
Secretary Of State. In l84l he was chosen
by the Legislature Judge of the Supreme
Court. In 1S43 he was nominated for Con
gress, and was elected by 400 majority in 9
Whig District. He was reelected in ls44
by, 1900 majority, and again in 1446 by
5000 majority. The same year he was
chosen by the Legislature to a seat in the
United States Senate, which he took on the
4th Of March, 1847, and has occupied with.
out interruption ever since. His present
term would have expired March 4th, 1865.
Mr.. Douglas career in Congress Is familia,
to almost every citizen of Illinois. Hardly
. measure of national moment has been be.
fore that body during the past seventeen
years without receiving the imprint Of his
strong and comprehensive intellect. The
Oregon bill, the Jackson resolutions, the ad.
mission respectively Of Florida, Iowa, Wis.
consin, Minnesota and California, the mari.
West. the war with Mexico, the compromise
measure of 1850, the Kansas and Nebraska
Act, the Pacific Railroad bills, the Clay yton-
Bnlwer treaty and the Lecompton Constitu-
ton, all bear the marks of his energy and
ability In q greater degree than of any other
contemporary statesman. In the Democrat
ic National Convention of 1852, Mr. Douglas
received 90 votes for the Presidential nomin-
alton and in the Convention Of 1855 he re-
ceived 12l. We need hardly recur to the
Conventions of Charleston and Baltimore
last year, where the delegates from the
North clung to him with the energy of des-
peration, and where the South deliberately
broke the party in twain for the purpose
of defeating the only candidate who could
have been elected. and thus affording them
selves pretext for destroying the Union
It is little enough to say, in concluding this
biographical sketch, that for the past four
years at least the Democratic party has e1is-
ted in and by Stephen A. Douglas Neither
Jrckson nor Van Buren,, in their palmiest
days. ever reigned with more perfect and un.
questioned sway than he. in the great polit.
ical division to which. he belonged
Mr.. Douglas was married April z. I847,
to Miss Martha d. Martin, of Rockingham
county, n. c., by whom he had three chill
dren, two Of whom are living. She died Jan.
10, 1853. He was again married Nov. 90,
1855. to Miss Adele Cuts, daughter OF James
Madison Cults, ESQ.,, second comptroller OF
the Treasury, by whom he had daughter,
who died about year and half ago"
The following graphic account Of his last
illness and death, is given by the Chicago
Tribune, the bitter opposer OF the political
views Of Senator Douglas. prefer to give
the account Of this paper, to show that the
unparalleled grief, occasioned by the death
of him whose memory we to-day embalm,
is not confined to the political friends who
acknowledged him as their great leader, and
who loved him with an alteration bordering
upon worship, but that it is shared in by old
political enemies, and finds its way through
the festered coating of cankered animosi-
ties, to thrill the hearts of all: "
''The intelligence of the decease of the illus.
trious Senator, fell yesterday upon commu-
nifty not unp epared for so sad an event, as
the loss to the country, and our State, ofone
whose place can be but lily filed.
When lately Senator Douglas returned to
this city, heappeared as the object and recip,
lent ofa noble ovation, memorable among all
The welcomes ever rendered by Chicago to
those she delighted TO honor he made his
last speech to an immense audience, whosfo
the last time heard the full tones Of his voice
in an open and manly stand on the import
ant issues Of the day, wherein spoke the pa
triot and the true man, spoke, and then sank
through the painful gradations' Of q chamber
Of illness, to silence cvermore.
That meeting viii never be forgotten by
those who witnessed it's glorious proof, how q
common love Of country had blotted out party
lines, abolished political enmities, and made
to be recognized only the tests of faithfulness
TO the country and the laws. This was the
of the life work of Senator
Douglas. Long protracted labors and exer-
tons, physical and mental had taxed con.
stitution that must have been Of iron to en-
dure so much.
Grave fears had been entertained in Mr..
Douglas behalf on the more recent occasions
Of his severe illness. He was not well when
ne appeared before his audience 1t National
Hall, Wednesday evening, May LIST, and spoke
with difhc0lty, not noticeable to his audience.
but confessed to several OF those friends who
about him to grasp bis hand. To
one Of these he stated that he was unfit to
appear in public, and should now seek rest,
4 rest he so much needed, ere he again en-
tered on his duties at Washington. Little
did he or those he addressed, deem that his
work was done, its rest the grave.
Senator Douglas was accompanied on his
Journey to Chicago by his wife, leaving the
two sons ut school in Georgetown. ID. c.
They took their accustomed quarters at the
Fremont House The next day, May Cd, a
physician was called It was known about
town that Judge Douglas was III, then that
MS condition Was serious. and since then
The anxiety fhis friends has been incessant,
until their worst fears are realized in his
1ecease, which took place yesterday morning.
1t was not until some ten days since that
Senator Douglas illness assumed an alarm
ing type. From the first he had been at
tended by some Of our best medical talent,
nd latterly it was thought desirable to sum
mon hither DR.. Miller Of Washington, in
whose care Mr.. Douglas had passed through