St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-11-08

Democratic, and had a speciousness about
it which at first maize it popular, but as
soon as the animus of the South was dis
covered, there was revulsion in public
opinion, and Kansas became the entering
wedge for an attempted d solution of the
Union, Douglas was defeated for the
presidency in the Cincinnati convention
md Breckenridge became the nominee of
lis party for vice president, and from this
inc forth the South began to plot to with
lraw from the Union and ''set up shop for
tself." Buchanan, the president, was
plant tool in their hands; Chief Justice
fancy had decided that ''black men had no
rights which white men were bound to re-
Spect;" Floyd manipulated the war depart
inent; even the guns of the rebels were
pointed against the flag that waved over
the ramparts of Fort Suinpter; and
still the North was scarcely awake
to consciousness of the terrible storm
that loomed up in the distance. Douglas
remembered all these things. especially my
opposition to his doctrine. and now that all
reconciliation with the South was at an
end, he felt that come what might the
Union must and should be preserved. 1t
was no longer struggle about Kansas: it
was fight for the Union. and men who
had opposed each other in the bitterest of
party spirit. like myself and the Little
Giant stood now upon one common plat
form in defense of the unity of the states.
l mention this little incident to show
that Mr.. Douglas had wonderful compre-
hension of national affairs, and like all
other great men did 0notslose sight of the
little things which in the aggregate make
the great; hence his knowledge of my oppo-
sition to him in the far-otf Northern city of
st. Paul.
johnson and Douglas stood side by side
when met them in the anteroom of the
senate. There was striking resemblance
between the two men. johnson being by
far the tallest. Both had what might be
called massive heads. if anything, Douglas
brain being the largest in proportion to his
physical organization. johnson had worked
himself up from tailor to a senator. and
just at the time | saw him he stood at the
very pinnacle of his fame. He stalked among
the lions of the South the greatest lion of
them all, and kept them at bay. Inside the
senate and the house. outside among the
people, the union sentiments uttered by
Andrew johnson were creating the most
intense excitement. while the telegraph was
flashing his speech to every part of the
country. No wonder that Stephen A. Doug
las sympathized with johnson and was
among the very first to compliment him.
No man in the North had done more
to sustain the cause of the South than
had Douglas, and for all this he had
been defeated by the very men whom he
had battled for on many hard-fOught po-
litcal field, and he plainly saw that John
son was right and the South was wrong. 1
had seen Mr.. Douglas in the full tide of his
glory, when the South petted and fawned
upon him-when the Democracy of the
North idolized him and followed his leader
ship-when even his opponents conceded
his great ability but now he was not the
Douglas of former days. The old fire had
gone out of him, and in the senate he
sought rather to throw oil on the water than
strike lances with his former political
friends. Even while johnson was deliver
ing his speech Douglas sat in his chair
listlessly swinging his short legs, which did
not reach the floor, and when he arose to
address the senate with his small yet thick
set body, his large head and powerful voice.
it was rather to implore gentlemen of the
SOnth to ''go slow" than to de.
nounce them for their treason and
their meanness. In truth Douglas was
heart-broken. His voice, his actions, his
looks all showed it. In the conflicting ele-
ments which surrounded him he could see
no escape but defeat The South had gone
back on him-the North was overwhelm-
ingly in the hands of the Republican party,
and his only course was to slide gradually
into the Union sentiment and affiliate with
those who for years had been his unrelent-
ing political foes. Had he at this time
arisen above these feelings. and. casting all
party fealty aside. struck out boldly for
the Union. as he did prior and subsequent to
this period-had he made one of those grand
efforts which marked his earlier years in the
defense of the flag. and had he died the
next minute he would then have gone down
to his grave in blaze of glory; but he
halted, trimmed. hoped against hope, and
his life faded out to nothingness. The
prestige of his greatness had departed
forever in this lost opportunity. But.
after the blow had been struck by the South,
Douglas rallied again He wheeled into
the Union line and became an eminent
counselor with good Abe Lincoln, and had
he lived would no doubt have occupied an
important position in the army, if not at the
very head of it. for it was very generally
believed that Mr.. Lincoln had rendered him
the position of commander-in-chief in place
of Scott, who was getting too old for the
arduous duties imposed upon him One