The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-10-04
THE MAKERS
 OF THE NATION Bv CLARK MILLS BRINK, PHI. D.
ARTICLE XII. DOUGLAS. THE LITTLE GIANT ol

DOUGLAS. THE .LlTrLE GIANT OF
 '. DEBATE"
 One day in 1884 mass meeting was be- ing held in Jacksonville H., to consider the advisability of indorsing the acts of President Jackson, who had caused the government deposits to be withdrawn lawyer, only 2l-years old.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 Lambert. promi. of the State. made a bitter speech in op- position to the resolutions, in the course of which he took occasion to abuse .he young man who had presented the reso- lutions, and f1atly to contradict him in statement of fact Then the boy. for he was such in both years and appearance, rose to reply He first called on some well-known Whigs to give testimony on peiled to certify that his statement of the case had been correct. Then he pro- ceeded to speak on the question at issue and he spoke for an hour, so effectively. so eloquently and so conclusively that Lambert was constrained to flee in dis may, while the crowd went wild with en- his admirers passed the resolutions al- most unanimously. and then seizing the young orator they bore him in triumph on their shoulders out of the courthouse and and % calling him the Littie Giant" So originated the title by which he was known for the rest of his life. and so be- gan, the public political career which the Democratic party not only of Hi nois. but in the nation itself And what at the time doubtless seemed more im- portant. that one speech changed Morgan County and kept 1t Democratic until sev- eral years later, when Douglas removed to another county. Such political and oratorical triumph for such strfpling is almost unna lieied in the history of American politics.
 Douglas was the son of a 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 Cauandaigua he that institution. but fin addition com pleted nearly the entire course of the best universities. and also pursued course In law so successfully that he was nearly prepared for admission to the bar. Then the young man. anticipating the famous advice of Horace Greeley went West, and made his way to Jacksonville. Be- fore he was quite of voting age he had been admitted to practice law in the State of Illinois, and within few months had so won the confidence of his party lead CTS that he was asked to present the reso- lutions at the mass meeting referred to above. How he acquitted himself on that occasion we have seen, Within ten years from that day he had been States Atror- ney menlb,r of the legislature, registrar of the land office, Secretary of State, Judge of the Supreme Court and member of Congress to which office he was elect ed in 1S43. He was then 90 years of age, rather short of stature with high fore head. raven hair, affable manners and the courage of his convictions. From that time until his death in 1861 he was con- stantly a member of either the lower house of Congress or the Senate and al- most from the outset he held a leading position.
 When Mir Douglas was serving as Judge of the Supreme Court 1t was his fortune .;1S the Mormon apostle. The Mormons were then living at Nauvoo. Ill. and Smith was arrested on some criminal charge and brought before Judge Douglas for trial. mob of 400 men rushed into the court room to lynch the accused and hang him on a gallows that they had been thougnt- ful enough to erect in the square outside. protect the prisoner On this Douglas stood up and. speaking by name to big Kentuckian Tn the front of the approach ing mob, said: II appoint you sheriff of this court: Select what deputies you choose and clear this court room" The gigantic fellow, fiattered by the recogni- ton. obeyed orders. Knocking down three or four of the leaders. ana, calling on some of his acquaintances of assistance to help throw others out of the windows and ordering still others to get out, he soon had the room cleared. Douglas had
  sherin. but his nerve had saved Joe Smith neck from the halter. a favor which neither Smith nor the Mormons ever forgot and for which they afterward did Douglas more than one service In their turn.
 During the years when Mir. Douglas was a member of the national legislature many stirring que stions came beIoFe that body for action. On all party measures he was a strenuous Democrat. Among the measures considered during those years might be named the annexation of Texas, the Mexican war, the oregon boundary and the compromise bill of 1850. Of the annexation of Texas he was an ardent supporter. It will be remembered that previous to this time Texas had gained it's independence from Mexico h lo44 President Tyler submitted treaty for the annexation of the State, but this treaty was not accepted by the Senate.
 This vote, however, did not settle the question. The Southerners and many in the North were determined to add that vast territory to our own. Nor was this determination based simply on the desire to increase the size of the field that might be opened to slavery. Foreign nations were seeking commercial privileges in the new State. Calhoun and Douglas claimed that England was aiming to acquire Tex as as an English colony. Mexico was strcnuously attempting to alienate the lone star from the United States and holding out special favors If only 1t would remain independent. Would 1t not be far wiser to annex Texas. especially since Texas wished such union. than to have a