The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1861-06-14

There never was q crisis in which Doug
las finched. There never was an hour when
he hesitated or doubted. There never was
q moment when Douglas ibid not know
what to d." and never, never, did he fail to
do what his mind directed should be done.
Once assured Of what ought to be done, he
never asked who opposed, or who followed
him, he met the issue boldly, and to his
honor and bis renown let it be said he never
failed! if failure, did come, it was not
through him. We might mention incidents
wherein his peculiar courage shone forth
most lustrously, but over his coffin is not
the place to speak of the conflicts in which
others sustained an ignominious defeat.
But there is one point in bis history and
character of which the occasion will permit
us to speak without reserve, and that is his
private history. Mr.. Douglas was emf
nently social. He had rare social quali6ca-
tions. His conversational powers were truly
extraordinary. He was generous in the
extreme. He was free from selfishness. he
was benevolent in the true sense of the
term. He never sought to make money
for moneys sake. With what he had he
was bountiful to all. He was ambitious, but
who is not. He was ambitious, but hon
orably so. When boy, working in the
cabinet workshop, in the little Vermont
village, his ambition was to become the
best workmen in the State. When at
school he was ambitious to be at the head
OF his class, and to pass all rivals. When
reading law, he was ambitious to be in the
first ranks of his profession. When teach.
er he was ambitious of leaving memory of
usefulness to the pupils under his charge.
When he entered the legal profession his
ambition was to overtake those who had
the start of him; as prosecutor be was
ambitious to be known as man fit for the
Office. As legislator he was ambitious
of the credit of opposing evils that he fore
saw. and of adopting policy that would
result in good to his State. AS a judge he
was ambitious OF a name unstained with
the suspicion of turpitude, and honorable
from the distinction he gave to the Office.
AS representative he was ambitious of
being identified with bis countrys glory.
As a Senator he was ambitious of that ex-
cellence which would Justify him in exclaim-
ing with fervor equal to that of the SYRIA
cusan-"I am Senator. in the Senate
House."
His ambition never led him to depart
from fixed principles. We know personally
that the Presidency had no extravaganza
charms in his eyes. His official ambition
was satisfied with a seat in the Senate-a
Senate in which he was without a Peer.
The Presidency he knew and has often as
sured us in the privacy of confidential in.
| al ,,so
nOwn as statesman. If he allowed his
name to be used for that Office, it was for
the qualification of friends to whom he was
so devotedly attached and not from any
personal desire. His was an ambition to
be useful to his country, to become part of
its history, to live hereafter in the records
of her glory, her distinction, and her re-
nown.
But to appreciate the excellence of Mr..
Douglas, it was necessary to see him when
the Senator, the statesman, the public SER
want, were forgotten, and he stood before
you at his own freside in the character of
husband, father, neighbor and friend. Then
| the true excellence of the man shone forth
in all its purity, then he was neither orator
or statesman, but the whole souled genial
friend, the Incompatible companion, the
confiding host, the generous man; the affec>
tionate parent. No one who has ever been
admitted to that inner circle of his life ever
departed without confessing that Stephen
A. Douglas, the Statesman, Orator, and
Senator, was but poor rival compared
with Stephen A. Douglas, the friend, com.
panion, father and husband.
And now, on this third day of June, we
are called upon to make the sad announce
ment that the man whose deeds have filled
the pages of his country's history for years,
is no more.
In death be has conquered his enemies.
In the general woe, in the universal lamen-
tation, there is no word of unkindness. The
bitter conflicts of the past, the horrid i'm
precations, the fierce invectives, the scandal
lous libels which have attended his progress
through life, are heard no more. They are
forgotten, and we trust will never be re.
called. In the grave let all enmities be
buried, and over his tomb let there be
nothing but evergreens, and flowers,
of the most fragrant odors. Let it be re-
membered that at the tomb of Douglas there
will be no more sincere mourner, no one
more stricken with grief than his old rival
and mpetitor-Abraham Lincoln
Mr.. Douglas more than any
American statesman was remarkable for his
consistency. We have read every speech,
report, document, letter, and remark of his
that ever found its way into print, and the
whole constitutes volume of consistent de.
votion to fixed principles. A short time
ago, packing our private papers, we had
occasion to read over some hundred or more
private letters written by him previous to
| November, 1860. They were mostly of the
most confidential nature. In thus writing,
under the most sacred confidence, and dur.
ing times of great excitement, he poured
forth his feelings and opinions respecting
men and measures with the utmost freedom.
And yet there is not a word or line in
the whole series that would not be an adj
ditional proof of his unselfsh patriotism,
and his sterling personal integrity. They