Year: 1868

An Incident in the Life of s. A. Douglas.


"A writer in the Rochester Union and
Advertiser, who became personally acquaint-
ed with Senator Douglas in Chicago, in the
summer of 1854, says:


1t was on the morning of the 4th of July.
Mr. Douglas was in the enjoyment of an
unusual flow of good spirits. The day and
the occasion may have much to do with this.
An involuntary expression escaped the lips
of Mr. Douglas as he heard the stiffled roar
of a far distant cannon 8 This is the Fourth
of July Gentlemen" said he to one and all,


Il we'll remember the return of this day
big with the fate of Rome l might have
quoted, it was one to me of unccmmon ex
element and interest. | was at Messina,
and at the suggestion of Captain Hunter, Of
Texas noturety, and who was subsequently,
dismissed the service for going beyond a
Just exercise of proper authority (aIthough
the act was one OF great gallantry and hero
ism, and so generally considered at the time), !,
we ordered a sort of cab or edleche to convey
MS to remote point overlooking the placid,
unmoved waters of the still and quiet Med
iterranean. Here, reclining in as graceful
n position as a gentle slope would furnish,
no one within miles of our secluded spot,
Captain Hunter, unknown to me, withdrew
from his pocket copy of the Declaration of
Independence, which, in a spirit of true
patriotism, he had stealthily concealed about
his person, the more, perhaps, to animate if
not to surprise me when we should have
reached the point of our proposed destina
ton. Without word by way of introduc
ton, he opened the little volume in his pos
session, and in q clear and emphatic manner
read to me its valued precepts and stern re-
solves. Perhaps at no period of my life had
| been so impressed or completely carried
away as | was in this instance by the force
and reasoning of this sublime and compre-
hensive paper. 1t seemed to awaken me to
a new existence, and, gentlemen, this is the
first time in my life that / ever made an
allusion even to this matter, for it has been
q" in nay memory locked" and, as it were,
''unmixed with baser matter"-and let me
now say to you that had been called upon
by the most fiattering invitation of my many
friends, giving me ample time for the fullest
exercise of my best ability, | could not have
produced such an Grafton as delivered only
to the person of Capt. Hunter on that day.
| felt myself as though | was fully and ex-
traordinarily inspired words flew and
bounded to my lips with a rapidity almost
beyond my power to give them utterance.-
1t was an occasion / shall never forget nor
one the like of which | shall ever enjoy
AT this immediate juncture the United
States ship St. Louis hove in sight, Captain
Ingraham in command, who, by some unac-
countable instinct. ordered his 'gig"
ashore, where he soon found himself in our
company, enjoying our society, our glee and
merriment. We related to him the achieve
ments of the day, the manner in which we
had celebrated the glorious Fourth-the
Captains happy manner of reading the
Declaration of Independence, my impromptu
- oration' and all that sort of thing, when
Captain Ingraham at once thought it no
more than his right that he should have
some small share in the celebration of day
so dear to them, made doubly so under the
circumstances of such an unexpected meet
ing. Acting upon his resolve. he at once
dispatched his coxswain to the ship with an
order to bring off a basket we'll etored with
cold meats and sandwiches, together with
half dozen of choice sherry, a basket of
champagne. cigars, etc. 1t was then that
we had celebration of the Fourth of July
over again; and maybe some of you think
that this concluding suggestion SO entirely
carried out by Captain Ingraham was the
best part of it-and. perhaps, said Douglas,
with smile peculiar to himself, and a slight,
well understood twinkle of his eve, 81
thought so too ~