The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-11-03
THE MAKERS OF THE NATION
By Clark Mills Brink. ARTICLE XIV.

One day, in 1884 a mass meeting was being held in Jacksonville, H., to con- acts of President Jackson. who had caused the Government deposits to be withdrawn from the United States bank young lawyer, only 2l years old. had been called upon to present series of resolutions sustaining the President As soon as he had done this Josiah Lam bert, prominent lawyer, afterward At- tor r1ey General of the Stale. made a bit tio. g. in, the course of which he took occasion to abuse sths-young man who had presented the resolutions. and flatly | to contradict him In statement of fact. Then the boy, for he was such in both years and appearance1 rose to reply. He nrst called on some Well-knowu Wings to give testimony on the question of fact, and all were compelled to certify that his statement of the case had been cor | rect. Then he proceeded to speak on | the qiestion at issue-and he spoke for an hour. so effectively, so eioauently | constrained to flee in dismay, while the crowd went wild with enthusiasm. At the close of the. address his admirers ly. and then seizing the young orator | they bore him in triumph on their shoul- ders out of the court house and around the public square cheering him and call mated the title by which he was known for the rest of his life. and sd began the public political career which made Stephen A. Douglas the leader of the in the nation itself. And what, at the time doubtless seemed more important, that one speech changed Morgan County from Whig to Democratic county: and kept it Democratic until several years later, when Douglass removed to another county. Such a political and oratorical triumph for such d stripltng is almost unparalleled in the history Of A iron
 Douglass was the son of physician in Brandon, Vt. He was educated at the academy of his native town and at the | then famous academy of Canandaigua, N. Y. So earnest a student was he that during his three years at Canandaigua | he not Cnlv, mastered the classical stu 1 dies of that institution. but In addition l completed nearly the entire course in l law so successfully that he was nearly | prepa ed for admission to the bar Then | the young man, anticipa ting the famous advice of Horace Greeley, went West, !" i End made his way to Jacksonville Pe- l fore he wat quite of voting age he had l been admitted to practice law in the | State of Illinois. and within few months had 50 wen the confidence of his party leaders that he was asked to pre- l sent the resolutions at the mass meeting referred to above. How he acquitte | himself on that occasion we have seen: ] Within ten years from that day he h3'i l ,b,cn States attorney, member Of the l Lcgisl slature. IL glstrar of the land office, | ks ct;tsIy of State Judge of the Supreme :. Court, and member of Concress, to which office he was elected in lS43, He of stature, with a high forehead, raven hai", an9ble mannfrs and the courage ,S t;, oi his his eonxieos: % 5:e, From that time vnI member of either the lower House of 1 Congress- or the Senatc and almost from the outset he held leading position. 1 When, Mir. Douglass was serving as | Hi nf Cf1r,r-mp Cnnrt if li9 Joe Smith. the Mormon apostle. The Mormons were then living at Nauvoo, Ill. and Smith was arrested on some criminal charge and brought before Judge Douglass for trial, A mob of +UO men rushed into the court room to lynch the accused and hang him on a gallows that they had been thoughtful enough to erect in the square outside. The Sheriff declared himself unable to pro- toct the prisoner. On this Douglas stood
 up and, speaking by name to big Ken tuckian in the front of the approaching
 mob, said; ''i appoint you sheriff of this court room" The gigantic fellow. fiat
 tered by the recognition, obeyed orders CTS, and, calling on some of his acquaint- ances for assistance to help throw oth- CTS out of the windows and ordering still others to get out he. soon had the room 1 appoint an impromptu sheriff. but his
 nerve" had saved Joe Smiths necl;
 from the halter. d favor which neither Smith nor the Mormons ever forgot, and for which they afterward did Doug las more than one service in their turn.
 During the yeas when MT. Douglas
 was member of the national Legisla-
 ture. many stirring questions came be- fore that body for action. On all party
 measures he was q strenuous Democrat
 Among the measures considered during those years might be named the anne N alton of Texas, the Mexican war, the Oregon boundary anG the compromise bill of 1850. Of the annexation of Texas he was an ardent supporter. It will be I, memttred that previous to this time Texas had gained its independence from | Mexico. In 1S44 President Tyler suhIGit- ted treaty for the annexation of the | State, Eut this treety was not accepted | by the Senate.
 This vote however, did not settle the question. The Southerncrs and many in the North, were determined to aGd that vast territory to cur own. Nor was this | determination based simply on the desire to increase the size of the fled that might be opened to slavery Foreign na- ticns were seeking commerciGl priW, leges in the rev State. Calhoun and Douglas claimed that England was aim ing to acquire Texas as an English col ony. Mexico was s'renuously attempting
 to alienate the "lcne star from the | United States and holding out special ent. World it not be fer wiser to annex Texas, especially since Texas wished such lirion. than to have a rival nation on our borders-a rival nation, too, that might and probably would seek alliance with European powers, thereby becOm- Ing a perpetual menace to our peace and safety? These were some of the ar gumeuts used by Douglas and his party | friends, ard, as they could command
 votes as well as arguments, the meas ure was passed when 1t was brought up again and Tyler signed the bill on March ,, 1A5 the very last day of his term.
 But with the admission of Texas there sprung up at once the question of terri
 tory. Mexico had Eevcr formally re- cognized the independcpcc of the rebel lious State. and assuming that !nde-
 pendence, the two Stltes did not agree
 on the question of boundary. Texas
 clain:sd that her territory extended to
 the Rio Grande. This claim MeXicl would not concede. but insisted that her terri.cry included all that district lying between the Rio Grande and the Nueces, | Mexico was d weak nation and there fore Mexico was wrong. 1t is not difh- Cult to understand how the advocates of anneXation satisf 4d their judgment
 the promoters of the Mexican war jus 1 tlfied themaelves for their course. The | President HIr. Polk. ordered General | Taylor to occupy the territory and when an attack was made by the Mexicans he declared that war existed by the act l of Mexico.
 t.fter the contest was once begun MT
 Douglas supported the administration with all the power of his eloauence and Influence He made a speech in the House that for logical acumen. for | strength and eloquence of expression ana | for it's immediate effects not 0niy upor his own reputation as a debater and | hf- is1