The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-10-08


tears and horror, intensifying the sem
timent against slavery more than thA
press or the pulpit, or the mebbing and
murder of Abolitionists.
The slave power entrenched In the
White House and senate. the house of
representatives and the courts, con-
trolling the machinery of the Demo-
cratic and largely of the Wig parties.
and repeatedly and recently sustained
In the elections. felt confident that eX-
treme measures for securing Kansas
could be safely pushed. With the whole
strength of the administration behind
the conspirators. the Lecompton con-
stitution fastening slavery on the new
state was fraudulently adopted against
the protest, clearly ond emphatically
expressed. Of four -fifths Of the voters
and sent to congress for approval.
Douglas, alone. of the Democratic lead
ers. felt the force of the rising tide of
popular Indignation and awakening
conscience. Against the threats and
opposition Of the president and the
southern senator's he opposed the en-
dorsement of the LeCOmptOn consti-
tuition, broke from his party organiza-
tion. and demanded that under every
safeguard for fair election the con-
stitution should be submitted to the
people Of Kansas. He stood boldly by
his principle of squatter sovereignty
and rallied the masses of the Demo-
cratic party of the north.
DOUGLAS THE LITTLE GIANT"
While Douglas had satisfied the north
with the doctrine that the verdict of the
people upon their state government
should prevail, he appeased the south
with the understanding that the whole
question was subject to the decision of
the courts. The pro-slavery leaders
who never took a step in the dark knew
that a decision in an unnoticed case be-
fore the supreme court court would be
decided in their favor. Douglas was
hailed by the northern wing of the
party as its savior and rode trium-
phantly as the Little Giant" upon the
wave Of popular approval. when the
Dred Scott decision demolished his
beautiful fabric of squatter sovereignty
and a less resourceful or weaker man
would have been buried in its ruins.
Dred Scott. a slave. had been carried
by his master into the free state of Ill
inois. and also into the territory where
slavery was prohibited by the ordin-
ance Of 1881. The master was for years
a resident of these places. Dred Scott
married there and had two daughters.
Moving subsequently into Missouri
himself and family were reinslaved. He
claimed that II the master took his
slave into a free state voluntarily and
made that his residence the slave be-
came free by operation Of law, and de-
manded the release of himself and fam
lily. The English courts from Mans
fields time had so decided and such had
been the uniform course of American
decisions, with the modification that
the owner had a right to transit
through free state to another slave
state. The case had been for several
years in the courts without attractings
any attention. With ten thousand free
and two thousand slave state voters.
and the demand for Douglas for a fair
election on this question too formidable
to be resisted, Kansas seemed speedily
destined to join the Union free, and the
Little Giant" to be the hero of the
hour. Suddenly the country was amaz-
ed and shocked by the opinion OF Chief
Justice Taney, concurred in by the four
judges from the slave states. Not only
were all previous decisions reversed
and bred Scott. his wife. and two
daughters, condemned to slavery. but
the court decided that property in
slaves was recognized by the constitu-
ton, that neither congress. nor the peO-
pie Of the territories had the power to
prohibit it. that the negro was excepted
from the Declaration of Independence,
was property as sacred as any other
form of legal possession. and had no
rights which a white man was bound
to respect.
Such were the political conditions
when Douglas entered the list for re-
election to the senate form Illinois.
President Buchanan and his adminis-
tration and all the influence OF the
Southern leaders were arrayed against
i'm, n hn nf ,t.-
Loyalty supported him. and John j.
Crittenden. the leader Of the Southern
Wings, with Horance Greeley, the
leadr Of the anti-slavery forces in the
North. and many other men Of COM
manding influence favored his election
on the ground that it would hopelessly
divide the Democratic party and force
Douglas to so with the anti-slavery
party. The contest became q national
issue of the first Importance and an
overwhelming victory and triumphal
re-entry into the senate seemed sure
for Douglas One man blocked the
way, and with such tremendous force
and superb ability that his effort con-
solidated the free sentiment Of the
country. abolished slavery and saved
the Union. That man was Abraham
Lincoln.
RIVALS IN YOUTH.
Lincoln and Douglas were rivals in
youth for the hand Of the lady who
married the former and contestants
in after years for the United States
senate and presidency. Douglas had
been for more than q decade without
peer on the platform in Illinois. and
Lincoln, after years of effort had come
to be recognized as the only orator
who could be safely pited against him.
Douglas possessed national fame.
while Lincoln had only a state reputa-
tion. l heard Horace Greeley. who
knew better than any one the intel
lectual powers of the politicians of
his time. say that though many men
could excel Douglas in single speech,
he had no equal in the country in a
debate prolonged for days or weeks.
He could misstate and then demolish
his adVersary's position that it was
next to impossible to make clear to
an audience wherein lay the falsehood
He had the faculty of extricating him.
self from an apparently hopeless di.
lemma with an audacity and adroit-
ness which won the applause of his
hearers. He intuitively saw the weak
point or his opponent and rushed to
attack with resistless boldness and
energy. His unscrupulousness and
untruthfulness which would have de-
stroyed other speakers. made him the
most dangerous of debaters. When
he had the right on his side he mar
shalled the forces Of truth with such
surprising skill and logical power that
his friends proudly named him the
Little Giant.
Lincoln had humor and pathos and
Douglas possessed neither. Lincoln's
faculty of being at once at home with
his audience in the easy familiarity
which makes them both friendly and
receptive was the genius Of popular Or
atory. But with these elements he had
a singularly lucid power OF statement
and was master Of logic. Unlike Dou-
glas. he was weak unless lie knew no
was right. His whole nature must be
stirred with the justice Of his cause for
him to rise above the commonplace.
But once convinced that he was bat.