New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1866-09-06
STEPHEN A. D0nGLAS

honor to the late Stephen A. Douglas 1t IL not often
that statesmen find their euogists among Of their
own generation. The men who stand around the
grave of Douglas were his companions. They
| knew him WELL In the course Of nature he should
still be with them-for Douglas died COMPARE
lively young in the very fullness of his life In fact
the orator who will to-day discuss his career almost
old enough to have been his father.
It is thrty-two years since Douglas, poor
wayfaring Yankee boy, went to seek his fortunes in
the State which afterward hOnOrod him one of hor
most eminent citizens. He wandered early from bis
Green Mountain home, with nothing but PLAN New
England education and determination to rise. Tired
of cabinet.makng and teaching, he engaged in what
was called " studying law" The fame of Jackson
filed the land and the smart Yankee not oppressed
with scrupes, saw that the sign in Tennessee was the
star of conquest His great rival, Lincoln, was keep
ing post-ofce fresh from the glorics of the Black
Hawk war. Andrew johnson was Mayor of little
mountain town in Tennessee, Jefferson Davis, a
lieutenant OF Dragons, was chasing the Indians
Seward was grieving over his defeat as Governor,
Breckenridge was studying the oratons Of Cicero
against Catiline at Kentucky college, Chase was
endeavoring to gain a law practice in Cincinnati,
Sumner was entering the Boston bar Broderick was
cutting stone Grant schoolboy in his teens,
Farragut was watching the honor of his flag on
the torrd coasts of Brazil and the orator
of to-day, tired of war and law, had entered
politics and become the NewYork Secretary of state.
Unlike many Of these men, Lncon especially, Doug
las, blossomed early. He belonged TO that hardy
breed of men who suit any soil and every latitude.
Torrid or frgid, sunshine or SHOW, the life in him
was enduring Ho believed in the rowdy virtue OF
American politics, and had much Of the rowdy in bis
nature. He managed his debates very much AZ hr.
Heenan manages his prize-fghts, and conquered by
sheer humping. The records of our Senate show no
debates brutal and yet more powerful than those
of Douglas, especially upon tho Nebraska bill; and
il was during this debate that he showed the amazing
power which made his personal influence while he
lived greater than that Of any American statesman
We say american statesman" and yet We cannot
rank Mr. Douglas among the men whose lives have
become part of the nations history by the very ma
tonalty of their services and their fame. His career
in Illinois was that of ono who conquered by
energy, audacity. and qualities Of mind and body
that made him the leader Of mob. As popu-
lar leader no one possessed many elements OF sue
cess as AIR Douglas, and when We say this we have
answered the highest demands OF his fame.
Conscience would have made him Radical,
but by pandering TO an Illinois mob, he
managed to be for the greater part of his
career always victorious by surrendcrng him
self to tho spirit Of Slavery, he became conspicuous
as leader of the extreme pro-Slayery wing OF the
Democratic party. During the period of the South
ern domination that succeeded the fall Of Van Barren,
when public men Of the North strove 20 Guido
each other in pandcring 10 the South, Mr.. Douglas
went beyond them all, and offered up tho Missouri
Compromise sacrifice for the Presl-
dency. What the extreme men OF the
South did not dream of doing, what they
scarcely dared 10 ask, Mr.. Douglas did.
The repeal of the Missouri Compromise was the great
event of his public life. II is not for us TO con-
slider his aferthought OF an argument called Popular
Soyereignty"-not argument, indeed, but an excuse
and Precipitation. The nation saw only an ambitions,
striving politician, clamonng for the Presidency
and willing 10 rise upon the ruins OF
sacred time onored compromise. Whether their
Judgment was the true one or not we have not the
power to soy, but certainly the American people thus
believed, and Douglas lost the confidence that
otherwise would have made him President. Even
the Missouri Compromise would not propitiate the
South; and at Cincinnati the men for whom he had
incurred public scorn, for whom he had rsked his
fame and fortune, abandoned him with cowardly
timdity and selected James Buchanan.
This deserton convinced the aspiring Senator that
the system Of Slavery added to other sins that Of du
pcity and heartlcssness From the moment Of Mr.
Buchanan's election, Mr. Douglas ceased to act with
the slave power. Had he lived through the war, this
might have been the turning-pont Of an illustrous
and useful career. He created the AntiLecomp-
-.tI
much courage as could be expected from q statesman
who would insist upon being politician. lie saw
nothing grander in system than the Democratic
party, and TO this party be chung with suporsti-
tious tenacity. But one step higher and he
might have become the leader Of the American peo-
pie. He refused that step in l5je, when the
country yearned for him, when leaders Of the
Republican party were willing to carry his coors
Rather than abandon ali organization that was really
in the hands of thieves and money changers, he stood
begging in the Senate for his old committee only 10 be
repulsed with contempt by the South, and TO 60 to
Illinois and do their bidding. Ii was the want OF
moral purpose which makes men create expedients
that in the case Of Douglas led him 10 seek third
party when he ran for the Presidency. His friends in
the South sacrificed him for Breckinrdge while other
friends in the North, claiming to follow his prin'
cples, walked him. bridge, to the side OF the
victorious Lincoln. 1t is in these last days
of his career that we find the real merit Of Douglass
hie Taking him all in all, as one Of the lustes men
Of this generation, his fate reminds US of Spanish
Matador who goes down to the arena gorgeous with
spanges and feathers and valiant with his spear He
threw the red rag at the country and made magnf-
cent fight. But matadors have msfortupes, and this
from Illinois was tossed and gored and trampled, dy